In 214, after the warlord Liu Bei seized control of Yi Province from Liu Zhang, he set up a Salt Office (鹽府) in his administration to oversee and regulate the production and trade of salt. During this time, Lü Yi served in the Salt Office as an assistant official tasked with keeping track of profits from the trading of salt and iron. When Wang Lian was serving as Colonel of the Salt Office (鹽府校尉), he promoted Lü Yi, Du Qi (杜祺)and Liu Gan (劉幹) to the position of "diancao duwei" (典曹都尉) under him.