In a chaotic and famine-stricken era, I picked up an empress to be my wife.

After taking stock, Shen An was overjoyed.

With nearly 600,000 shi of grain, if we calculate based on the current price of 120 jin per shi in Daliang, after removing the husks, there would still be 60% grain left, enough to feed at least 100,000 troops for a year!

It is evident that Yuwen Qin was indeed capable, managing to preserve so much grain even during a famine.

They also received a large amount of gold and silver jewelry, which, if converted to silver, would be worth at least 300,000 taels!

In addition, there were more than thirty beautiful women from the Western Regions, all with blonde hair and blue eyes, exuding a strong exotic charm.

These women were not Yuwen Qin's women, but rather the impotent Li Huaiyi, who was trying to prove that he was still a powerful man.

He bought it from the Western Regions.

"Liu Wenyuan, keep all these women here too. Call them over to me later."

Shen An gave the order.

Liu Wenyuan suddenly recalled the scene of Liu Xiaosi and Shen An embracing earlier. When he saw that Shen An wanted to keep these beauties from the Western Regions, he breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that these adults do not dislike women!

"What kind of expression is that?"

"Hehe, my lord, I will have them dressed up and serve you in a moment."

"Serve them my ass! Don't you think they're all cash cows?" Shen An asked.

Liu Wenyuan was somewhat puzzled: "My lord, their hair is indeed yellow, like gold."

Shen An was speechless; Liu Wenyuan was still too upright.

In ancient times on Earth, Hu women were very popular. If they were trained, they could become tools to seduce men and make them unable to extricate themselves.

The benefits created will be beyond imagination.

"Don't worry about it. Once I'm done with my work, you can call them over."

"Yes."

Fifteen minutes later, Liu Wenyuan called them over.

Shen An gave them two choices.

First, they are free to leave, and they are responsible for their own lives and deaths.

Secondly, they will serve him and become his tools for currying favor with the powerful and influential! In addition to training them, he will also give each of them a monthly salary of ten taels of silver. In the future, when they get old, Shen An will also give them five taels of silver per month as a guarantee!

They were captured and brought here for amusement. Although they haven't been defiled yet, they've already resigned themselves to their fate!

Even if they end up selling their bodies anyway, the conditions Shen An offered were a thousand times better than they had expected!

If they leave this place, they will have no chance of returning home alive; they will be captured, and their fate will be uncertain.

Without hesitation, they all chose the second option.

Liu Wenyuan then understood what Shen An meant by gold.

Seeing that they agreed, Shen An asked them to introduce themselves one by one and asked Liu Wenyuan to register their names.

One of the girls, named Yumili, caught Shen An's attention.

This woman was extremely tall, at least 1.8 meters, with a pair of blue eyes that hinted at a seductive allure. Her figure was also typical of European and American styles; one glance was enough to make any man's heart flutter, thinking that this foreign woman was just too hot.

However, the coarse linen clothes she wore did not showcase her advantages at all.

Shen An decided that once everything settled down here, he would get her some swimsuits that Westerners liked to wear. The visual impact of those swimsuits would far surpass the ordinary clothes she was wearing now.

After registering them, Shen An asked Liu Wenhuan to find someone to arrange accommodation for them.

Afterwards, Shen An summoned all the people and told them that from this day forward, this place would be renamed Julu Mansion after Julu Mountain behind the city, and he would be the master of Julu Mansion!

Taxes were reduced by half, and all corvée labor was abolished!

When Shen An started talking about changing the place name and becoming the master of the land, the people remained silent, but their eyes revealed their dissatisfaction.

But when he said that taxes would be reduced by half and all corvée labor would be abolished...

They cheered with joy.

"Don't get so excited. Next, I need to tell you that once I've unified the remaining six counties of Julu Prefecture, I will reclaim all the land and distribute it to everyone according to the population!"

Shen An's words completely ignited the emotions of the ordinary people, while the gentry and nobles looked grim.

"I know some people are dissatisfied, but you've already benefited from those fields for many years, that's enough. You'd better not resist me, or your fate will be the same as the four major families of Qingyang County!"

Shen An made a blatant threat in public.

Previously, Shen An publicly killed thousands of soldiers who had been burning, killing, and looting, which made the people feel relieved. However, it was also clear that Shen An was no good person. He could bring benefits to the people, but when it came to killing, he was even more clean and efficient than Yuwen Qin.

For a moment, the local gentry and nobles all lowered their heads.

Shen An did not believe that they would let the matter rest.

But he wasn't in a hurry; he would wait until Wang Junfeng had settled things in all six counties under his jurisdiction.

To avoid worrying Dugu Meng and the others, Shen An wrote a letter and had it sent to Qingyang City as quickly as possible.

After finishing these tasks, Shen An summoned Liu Wenyuan to discuss how to govern Julu Prefecture.

After all, their stronghold, Qingyang County, was two hundred li away from Julu Prefecture.

Liu Wenyuan used to be hesitant and timid when considering things, but now he has witnessed Shen An taking over Yuwen Qin's territory.

His ambition has become apparent.

He took out a map and said, "My lord, this matter is easy to resolve. Qingping County is the border area of ​​our Julu Prefecture. As long as we take Qingping County, we can open up the road to Qingyang County. From then on, the road will be smooth and easy to govern!"

Now that Li Huaiyi has fled in such a sorry state, even if he manages to leave Julu Mountain alive, he will be severely weakened. This is the perfect opportunity for us to conquer Qingping County!

What you said makes sense.

"We received intelligence that Qingping County has 10,000 garrison troops. After General Wang returns, we can have General Liao lead 5,000 men to attack us from the north and south. This way, we can easily conquer Qingping County!" Liu Wenyuan excitedly gestured back and forth on the map.

"Good! Let's do it this way! I'll write another letter to Liao Bing and tell them to prepare five thousand soldiers and be ready to be deployed at any time!" Shen An agreed, and then he wrote another letter and had it sent to Liao Bing.

"Currently, there is still one question: where would be a suitable place for our administrative center in the future?" Shen An asked.

"Qingyang County is still more suitable. Qingyang County is surrounded by mountains on three sides, so if the enemy wants to attack us, they can only come through one channel. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack! As for Julu Mountain, although it also has mountains, there are three places where the enemy can easily advance, which is not conducive to defense." Liu Wenyuan gestured on the map again.

Shen An nodded in agreement again: "Then let's stay in Qingyang County. From today onwards, Qingyang County will be renamed Qingyang Prefecture, established as an independent prefecture, and completely separated from Yangnan Prefecture."

Establishing independent government offices was permitted in Daliang. Various warlords controlled their residences, and official positions such as Jiedushi (military governor) were not actually conferred by the imperial court. Rather, they submitted petitions to the court after taking control of a prefecture.

Nowadays, apart from the areas under central control, the region is largely under the autonomy of warlords and feudal lords.

As long as taxes are paid on time, the imperial court hopes that the various regions will fight amongst themselves, so that the local forces will be relatively weaker than the central government.

They attempted to eliminate the threat posed by warlords and feudal lords through this method.

Unfortunately, in Shen An's view, constantly letting warlords and princes fight amongst themselves would eventually breed a behemoth.

By then, the dynasty may collapse in an instant, and they will have their regrets.

Liu Wenyuan was greatly shocked. Establishing an independent government meant a complete break with the original prefecture and no longer being under their control, but it also meant bearing the wrath of the other party.

But now that Li Huaiyi has been driven away, they don't need to worry about these things at all.

Liu Wenyuan was thinking more about how his official position would rise after he established his own government, and if he became a prefect, he would bring glory to his family!

He had barely arrived when good news arrived.

"Liu Wenyuan, from now on, you can choose to serve as the prefect of either Julu Prefecture or Qingyang Prefecture, and take charge of the affairs of the entire prefecture," Shen An said.

Liu Wenyuan was so excited that he couldn't contain himself. Originally, he followed Shen An just to seek revenge on Li Huaiyi, but now he had both high-ranking officials and great wealth.

Liu Wenyuan knelt down before Shen An: "Thank you, my lord!"

"I don't like this approach. Make a choice!"

"My lord, I wish to manage the Julu Prefecture."

After replying, Liu Wenyuan quickly explained, "My desire to manage Julu Prefecture is not because I covet a larger territory, but because Qingyang Prefecture will become the center of our power and the place of supreme authority. It is most suitable for you to manage it."

Furthermore, everything in Qingyang Prefecture has stabilized, unlike Julu Prefecture where every little thing requires a lot of effort. I...

"Even if you don't say it, I know why you chose Julu Prefecture." Shen An made a pause gesture: "From this moment on, you are the Prefect of Julu Prefecture."

"Thank you, my lord! Thank you, my lord!"

On that very day, Liu Wenyuan took office and began leading the people to repair the city, which was riddled with holes.

One day later.

When Wang Junfeng returned with his troops, he had already conquered six counties. However, he did not show any joy upon his return; instead, his face was gloomy.

"What happened?"

"That Yuwen Bingyu is incredibly audacious!"

Wang Junfeng gritted his teeth and said, "When I was attacking various counties and trying to recruit the soldiers to serve you, that woman used the excuse of being a descendant of the Yuwen clan to win them over. As a result, the soldiers and officials of those six counties didn't even fight me. The officials just led their soldiers and ran away, surrendering to Nanling Prefecture! Not only did we lose our soldiers, but we also lost our supplies!"

Shen An merely chuckled, "Yuwen Bingyu does have a little bit of brains after all. Don't be angry. Tomorrow you'll come with me to attack Qingping County. Once the road is cleared, we'll deal with that bitch!"