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

Even though Zhu Shigui had committed a major offense, he still allowed the birthday banquet to continue.

The birthday banquet concluded in a lively and joyous manner.

Liu Wenyuan breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Shen An sitting beside him: "It seems that what happened wasn't what it seemed!"

"It seems the Western Barbarians have already started attacking other counties. It won't be long before it's Qingyang County's turn!" Shen An whispered.

"Impossible, right?"

"You don't need to question me. If you want to know about your position as county magistrate, you can find out by asking around." Shen An said and then stood up.

Liu Wenyuan immediately went to inquire.

Upon hearing this, it was indeed true!

The Western Barbarians, having been unable to capture Qiangbei County after a prolonged siege, have split into several groups. They intend to attack not only all the county towns of Yangnan Prefecture but also Yangdong Prefecture.

Given the location of Qingyang County, the dispersed troops might only number a few thousand.

But it's not something Qingyang County can withstand.

He panicked!

It doesn't matter whether he lives or dies, but if the Western Barbarians attack and breach the city of Qingyang, it will be the common people who suffer!

He wanted to beg Zhu Shigui not to run away, but he knew Zhu Shigui well; he would definitely run away faster than anyone else in this situation!

The only hope seems to be waiting for Li Huaiyi's support.

But by the time reinforcements arrive, who knows how many people will die or be injured.

For a moment, his heart was heavy with sorrow!

Zhu Shigui summoned all the county government officials, except for Liu Wenyuan, who were officially employed.

They learned that the Western Barbarians were really going to attack.

Zhu Shigui didn't waste any more words with them.

"Raise your hand if you want to leave!"

No one spoke; everyone wanted to leave, but they still had reservations.

"I know what you're worried about—are you afraid the military governor will blame us for fleeing in the future?"

No one spoke.

"Hmph, let me tell you the truth. The clerk has received news that the military governor is preparing to abandon our Qingyang County and focus all his efforts on defending Qingping County and other counties. Since he has abandoned us, we will inevitably be destroyed by the Western Barbarian cavalry, and we won't even be able to save our lives."

We're already dead, who the hell cares if the military governor won't come after us in the future?

"Now, while those idiots are still unaware of this news, let's escape this place as quickly as possible," Zhu Shigui said.

The others nodded in agreement.

"However, it would be best to make a quick buck before we leave. Borrow all the money from those big shots, find any excuses to borrow as much as you can, and don't worry about paying it back. As long as we have money, we can just use it to buy official positions later!" Zhu Shigui instructed.

"Grandpa, you're truly amazing!" Qian Guangzhi immediately began to flatter him.

"No need for flattery. You've followed me for years, I can't let you suffer!" Zhu Shigui said shrewdly. "While the others don't know yet, hurry up and go!"

"yes!"

Qian Guangzhi and others immediately went there.

Upon returning, Shen An immediately began to accelerate production in all departments and offered higher salaries.

At the same time, he needs to develop Heishan Village into a stronghold.

If the city cannot be defended, he will still have to rely on Black Mountain Village and Zhou Xuan, the Western Barbarian.

The production of repeating crossbows accelerated.

Shen An arrived in Heishan Village and began to transform it.

The first thing to do is to dig trenches and make various traps.

Based on my experience as a special forces soldier in my previous life, transforming Black Mountain Village into a series of traps and military fortresses wouldn't be a problem.

To accomplish this, Shen An transferred fifty people from the mass grave.

Now that Zhu Shigui and his men are preparing to flee, Shen An has nothing to worry about.

With the increase in the number of people and the success of the transformation, the project was launched in full swing.

The following afternoon.

Blackie Six woke up Shen An, the overseer who had just fallen asleep.

"According to Fire Phoenix's information, Zhu Shigui and his gang have started borrowing money everywhere; it seems they're preparing to flee!"

"This is great!" Shen An was overjoyed. He had been waiting for Zhu Shigui to make his escape so he could directly rob the grain in the government granary, as well as the grain belonging to the families in the city who were in cahoots with Zhu Shigui.

Under these circumstances, Zhu Shigui, who was determined to escape, didn't care about the fact that the granary had been robbed. His priority was to get away, otherwise it would be too late.

Besides, Zhu Shigui had already killed Zhang Meng and the other constables, so he didn't have many people to use.

He wanted to run away, but he didn't dare to ask the garrison outside the city to come and inquire about the matter.

"Black Six, immediately have your men stop what they're doing and enter the city in batches. Tonight, we'll rob all the major granaries in the county!" Shen An said, standing up.

Hei Lao Liu was extremely excited. Although he had previously thought, why should those officials be better than them? If officials can become officials, they can too.

But! He was just thinking about it, just talking about it to show off. He never really thought that one day he would actually rob the county government's granary!

Their people entered the county town in batches.

A group of people gathered near the county government's granary, waiting for night to fall.

Everything went more smoothly than I had imagined.

At midnight, when all was quiet, Shen An and his men made their move!

The guards of the granary saw that dozens of people had arrived, but they didn't dare to stop them. They only said a few threatening words, but when they saw that the other party wouldn't listen, they immediately chose not to stop them and let Shen An and the others load the grain onto the wagons and take it all away.

"Report this again first thing tomorrow morning, or you're dead!"

Shen An and his companions had their faces covered, and the other party had no idea who they were, thinking they were bandits. They nodded repeatedly in fear.

After completing this job, Shen An did not stop.

This time, he encountered little resistance, so from now on he would resort to open robbery, specifically targeting those who oppressed the people and colluded with Zhu Shigui.

Although they encountered some resistance along the way, they quickly succeeded due to their numerical advantage.

When they delivered the grain to the city wall, Shen An did not force them to open it. Instead, he took out five hundred taels of silver notes and threw them to the guards.

Although five hundred taels of silver was a considerable sum, Shen An did not want any casualties.

Money really is omnipotent, especially in these chaotic times!

The guards immediately opened the gate and let Shen An and the others leave. Having taken the money, the guards didn't stay any longer.

Although they hadn't heard that the Western Barbarians were about to attack, it was a fact that the entire Yangnan Prefecture had been attacked by the Western Barbarians.

They might as well take the money and run to a safe place.

With the city gates wide open, Shen An and his team successfully transported the grain away.

Upon returning and taking inventory, Shen An discovered that the grain was enough to feed tens of thousands of people for three months.

Especially the wealthy, whose homes held several times more grain than the county government's granaries.

This shows that these people have a history of oppressing the people and plundering their wealth.

With this grain, Shen An could easily assemble a force of two to three thousand people and feed them for a year.

After Shen An left, Zhu Shigui learned of the robbery of the granary just before dawn!

Zhu Shigui was furious! He was planning to sell the grain to merchants in batches, and now it had been robbed?!

"Grandpa, should we send someone to investigate this matter?" Qian Guangzhi asked.