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

"To be frank, I am indeed more capable than you, but I don't want to risk my life to kill Li Huaiyi," Shen An explained. "But you are different; you are willing to risk your life."

This would give you another chance to kill Li Huaiyi: I will promote you to the position of county magistrate, and you will have the opportunity to meet Li Huaiyi in the future. You can then assassinate him on the spot!

At that time, whether you succeed or not, you will not survive, but this method should be the simplest of all ways to kill Li Huaiyi.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you are my ultimate weapon, would it?

This method is exactly the same as the one used in the pact to kill Zhu Shigui; there's no difference.

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenyuan felt much more relieved.

It wasn't that he thought Shen An had any ulterior motives, but rather that he realized he really had a chance to kill Li Huaiyi.

He immediately stood up and knelt before Shen An: "I, Liu Wenyuan, may never be able to repay this kindness in this lifetime, but in the next life I will surely serve you like a slave!"

"In this life, you can also repay my kindness! Just kill Li Huaiyi!" As Shen An spoke, his eyes burned with undisguised murderous intent.

"Could it be that you have a grudge against Li Huaiyi?"

"Otherwise, why would I ask you to kill Li Huaiyi!" Shen An didn't deny it: "From this moment on, we're completely on the same side, so don't disappoint me!"

Liu Wenyuan was filled with fervor: "I will absolutely not let you down!"

"Then next, follow me to Black Dragon Village, confiscate Zhu Shigui's property, and then take the money to ignore Li Huaiyi's men and have them promote you. I will have someone change the message to say that you were the one directing and commanding the defense of Qingyang County this time," Shen An ordered.

"Wouldn't this be tantamount to stealing credit?"

"You are my tool now. Your becoming the magistrate is equivalent to me becoming the magistrate as well. There's no question of stealing credit!" Shen An shook his finger. "You just need to do as I say!"

"yes!"

When the two returned to the main hall of the county government, the body had already been cleaned up. Apart from a faint smell of blood, it seemed as if nothing had happened.

The only survivor was a minor leader of Black Dragon Village named Zhu San, who was Zhu Shigui's nephew.

Shen An first ordered people to spread the news that the bandits of Black Dragon Village, disguised as ordinary people, broke into the county government office and killed Zhu Shigui and others. Starting today, the whole county will hold a three-day mourning period for Zhu Shigui, during which no lanterns or decorations are allowed and no brothels are allowed to open.

After doing all this, Shen An had Zhu San lead them to Black Dragon Village.

Zhu San dared not disobey and obediently led them to Black Dragon Village.

The location of Black Dragon Stronghold was extremely well hidden. In the past, apart from Zhu Shigui and others, no one knew its exact location!

After being led there by Zhu San, Shen An discovered that the entrance to Black Dragon Stronghold was actually inside a mountain cave.

Upon entering the cave and reaching its end, a vast open space suddenly appeared before us.

The village of Heilongzhai was built here.

The dozens of houses are still inhabited. Apart from the nearly fifty bandits who stayed behind, the rest of the people are respectable women they have captured.

Shen An is fully prepared and can immediately order an attack.

Half an hour later, the battle ended. All the bandits of Black Dragon Village were killed, and twenty-seven women who had been forcibly taken by them were rescued.

They were all listless and lifeless, having been tormented beyond recognition.

Shen An felt somewhat emotional. In prosperous times, women were worth their weight in gold, but in chaotic times, they were worthless. Shen An asked Liao Bing to register them and then send them home one by one after returning home.

After inventory, all valuable items in Black Dragon Stronghold were valued at over 50,000 taels of silver!

Shen An was shocked by this number.

How much wealth did Zhu Shigui plunder from the people? How many people did he rob and kill?

However, this did manage to feed Shen An until he was full.

With this money, he could buy enough iron to forge better equipment for his soldiers, enhance the army's close-quarters combat capabilities, and produce better equipment to develop Qingyang County!

The Black Dragon Stronghold has over two hundred weapons in total, which is not bad. We can melt them down when we get back and try to forge a harder and more resilient iron!

Shen An did not mistreat the soldiers who came with him; he gave each of the two hundred men a reward of ten taels of silver!

Don't underestimate the mere ten taels; they had never received such a sum before when they served the imperial court.

Using money to win people's hearts is far more effective than simply making empty promises; it instantly strengthens the bond between people.

After returning home, Shen An took out five thousand taels of silver and gave it to Liu Wenyuan.

"Use this money to bribe the people around Li Huaiyi, so they can speak on your behalf and let you take over as county magistrate."

"In addition, I need you to gather more information about the capital. If any major events occur in the capital in the future, you must inform me immediately."

"Thank you, my lord, I'll go right away!" Liu Wenyuan also addressed Shen An as "lord" in the same way as Liao Bing.

Shen An acquiesced to this form of address.

He then summoned Liao Bing and Hei Laoliu.

"Liao Bing, your next step is to post notices to inform the people that the government is willing to buy hair at fifty coins per catty in order to protect their livelihoods."

"I'm afraid that won't work. Our bodies and hair are gifts from our parents; they probably won't sell them," Liao Bing said with difficulty.

"It's their choice not to sell. We need to make our willingness to acquire them clear first. I believe there are always people who can't afford to eat and who, disregarding their physical well-being, will be willing to sell."

"Once more people start selling, others will realize that selling their hair won't have any negative impact, and they'll naturally start selling it too!" Shen An said.

Liao Bing then realized what was happening: "My lord, you're right, I'll do it right away!"

After watching Liao Bing leave, Hei Lao Liu rubbed his hands together with a smile: "My lord, what are your plans for me?"

"Brother Hei, we are brothers, why have you changed how you address me?" Shen An asked.

"Hey, I've witnessed your abilities firsthand, my lord. I admire you wholeheartedly. How could I possibly be worthy of calling you brother? I'll just call you lord like them and follow you to conquer the world. Only then will I feel at ease," Black Six explained with a chuckle.

It must be said that Hei Laoliu's approach was very wise; he knew when to retire gracefully and when his identity needed to be changed, he immediately did so.

Shen An didn't care about status or titles, but if Hei Lao Liu continued to call him brother, the others would probably be unhappy.

It would be better to go along with Hei Lao Liu's wishes: "Brother Hei, the fact that we're brothers will never change. I'll never forget your initial support and trust in me. How about this, you can call me whatever you want, but don't forget, we're still brothers!"

Blackie Six felt a sense of relief: "Okay, I'll remember that!"

"Then next, I need you to find Fire Phoenix and all the channels you know to acquire Iron in your own name," Shen An instructed.

Hei Lao Liu became excited, knowing that Shen An was not far from truly rebelling.

He felt that the era of kings and nobles vying for supremacy was not far off.

"Okay, I'm sure I can handle this!"

"There's one more thing. I need to find ten experienced, skilled, and reliable blacksmiths!" Shen An instructed.

"yes!"

Two hours later.

Hei Laoliu then found ten blacksmiths, most of whom were over a hundred years old, with muscles all over their bodies, clearly blacksmiths with years of experience.

Shen An even recognized one of them!

It really is Xu the blacksmith from the village next to Qingtian Village, the one from which Feng Guaizi and his gang stole weapons from his house.

Standing in the crowd, he exuded a certain arrogance.

But when he arrived in front of Shen An, he immediately bowed and scraped, saying, "Officer Shen, it's been so long! I've really missed you!"

When the other blacksmiths saw that Xu the blacksmith was related to this constable Shen, they all showed expressions of awe.

Upon hearing this, Xu the blacksmith's face lit up with pride.

"I miss you too, Uncle Xu!"

Shen An's reply immediately made Xu the blacksmith smug. He wanted to continue cultivating the relationship, but Shen An didn't give him the chance. He immediately told the blacksmiths that they would be following him to build a furnace, and that he would double the temperature of the fire!

"Huh? Doubled? How is that possible?" Xu the blacksmith exclaimed in surprise.

The other blacksmiths all felt that Shen An didn't understand and was clearly an amateur assigning a professional a task.

No one can meet his demands.

Yang Tiejun, the leader of the other nine, stepped forward and said, "Officer Shen, you don't understand. The temperature of this fire can't possibly double! Before giving us orders, you'd better find out if what you're saying is reasonable! Otherwise, conflicts will definitely arise among us, causing incalculable losses!"