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

That night!

Shen An, escorting the stolen grain, fled for his life.

Xu Houtian's men pursued him relentlessly.

As dawn approached.

Xu Houtian's men finally saw Shen An and the others.

If we give them more time, they can catch up!

however!

Luck was on Shen An's side.

They had already entered Qingyang County, and Shen An had long ago arranged for soldiers to meet them at the border.

Shen An whistled, and thousands of soldiers from the city's reserve camp appeared.

Xu Houtian's men initially didn't take him seriously, but once the two sides clashed...

Upon seeing his weapon cleaved in two by one of Shen An's men, he realized that...

They then realized how terrifying these people were.

They dared not linger in the fight and turned to run.

This area is a border region. If we go any further, we might run into the garrison of Qiangbei County. Shen An did not order his men to continue the pursuit, but instead chose to return to the city to preserve the grain that he had managed to seize with great difficulty.

Only when they arrived at the foot of Qingyang County did Shen An's heart finally settle down.

He appeared calm last night, but he was actually extremely nervous inside.

If he hadn't been careful, he would have already been captured by Xu Houtian and taken to Li Huaiyi.

He was about to lose a good opportunity, which made Shen An decide that he would never do anything that didn't require him to take risks.

"My lord, now that you're back, can you tell me what exactly caused the explosion?" Liao Bing leaned his big head close to Shen Anman.

Shen An glanced back and saw that the guy's face was full of curiosity.

"That's explosives!" Shen An replied.

Liao Bing had never even heard of the word "explosives".

To him, explosives and the power of the Dragon God were no different; in fact, they only deepened his confusion: "Medicine? Is medicine really that powerful? Could it be a divine medicine given to me by the Dragon God?"

Shen An then realized that they had a hard time understanding the word "explosives".

Moreover, he also thought that if a person could be associated with ghosts and gods, then the followers would be more loyal and their numbers would be greater.

Shen An smiled and said, "You can understand it that way."

"So, my lord, you truly are a descendant of the dragon!"

"You can think that way too!"

"Oh my, no wonder you're so amazing, my lord! You're a descendant of the dragon!" Liao Bing exclaimed in sudden realization. "But my lord, you took the divine medicine given to you by the Dragon God and lit it right away. Isn't that a terrible waste? Won't the Dragon God be angry?"

"The medicine given by the Dragon God is inedible for ordinary people, but it can be ignited and unleashes astonishing power!"

"I see. How much of that medicine do you have left? If we could all be equipped with this when we went to war, wouldn't we be able to crush other armies?" Liao Bing asked expectantly.

Shen An wanted to equip all his troops with gunpowder, but the production capacity of gunpowder in ancient times was limited and could not meet the demand.

Furthermore, with current industrial capabilities, manufacturing high-powered explosives is extremely difficult.

This is why, even though gunpowder existed as early as the Tang Dynasty and was used in military applications by the Song Dynasty, they were still defeated by nomadic tribes!

Not to mention that the current development level of the Great Liang Dynasty is far inferior to that of the Song Dynasty in ancient China.

Shen An tapped Liao Bing on the head: "What are you thinking? This is a miracle drug, can we use it casually? As long as we continue to develop our existing weapons, we can dominate the world!"

Before he could finish speaking, Shen An noticed that Xu Houtian, who had been unconscious from the bombing the night before, had woken up.

He was now bound hand and foot.

When Xu Houtian opened his eyes again, he saw Shen An, and his eyes were filled with nothing but fear.

He didn't hear Shen An and Liao Bing's conversation.

The moment he woke up, besides the pain in his body, he saw the image of being hit by a dynamite canister the night before.

He always believed he was exceptionally strong in combat.

More than a dozen burly men couldn't get close to him.

They were fearless when charging into traps during battle, but in the face of Shen An's divine dragon power, they were as fragile as a child!

Shen An looked Xu Houtian up and down. This guy was really amazing. He was at the center of the explosion, yet he only suffered minor injuries. He was truly made of steel!

Shen An smiled and said, "Xu Bingma Shi, to be able to survive the power of the Dragon God, you must be quite a figure!"

Xu Houtian was originally most afraid of Li Huaiyi, but now he is most afraid of Shen An, and even more afraid that his family will be implicated.

His personal experience told him that Shen An was definitely a descendant of the dragon and possessed the power of the dragon god.

He was genuinely afraid that Shen An would retaliate against his entire family.

He immediately pleaded, "County Commandant Shen, I beg you, please don't let the Dragon God take revenge on my family, okay?"

Although this was a bit of a leap in thought, Shen Andun felt it would save him a lot of words: "If you want your family to be alive, tell them everything you know about Li Huaiyi!"

Xu Houtian quickly told Shen An everything he knew.

After hearing this, Shen An was very dissatisfied.

What Xu Houtian knew was almost all that Yang Ke had told him before; there were no new secrets.

"That's all?"

"Please don't disbelieve me, Dragon God above! I would never dare to deceive the Dragon God!" Xu Houtian cried anxiously, fearing that Shen An would not believe him and would bring disaster upon his family.

"If you don't believe me, just kill me, but please don't kill my family, they are innocent!" Xu Houtian pleaded again.

"Alright, stop crying, I believe you!" Shen An said.

Xu Houtian's emotions returned to normal, and he quickly expressed his gratitude again.

"No need for thanks. Although you are a loyal and righteous person, you are also Li Huaiyi's man, a traitor who betrayed his master for his own benefit, and the one who almost endangered my life last night. So I will kill you and Yang Ke and hang your heads on the city wall!" Shen An said coldly.

"As long as my family is spared, I will give my life to atone for my sins!" Xu Houtian said resolutely, showing no fear of death whatsoever.

"OK!"

Shen An didn't press the matter further. Since Xu Houtian couldn't provide him with any useful information, the only option was to kill him!

"Phew..."

Shen Anla stopped her horse, jumped down from the carriage, and pulled Yang Ke out of the carriage behind.

"Liao Bing, you're in charge of taking care of their lives!"

Shen An gave the instructions.

"County Commandant Shen, you can't kill me! I'm a hero who helped you steal grain! Doing this will discourage people!" Yang Ke said hurriedly.

"Damn it, what a load of crap! It would be our hearts that would be chilled if we didn't kill you!" Liao Bing slapped him across the face.

Yang Ke was so dizzy from the beating that he started begging for mercy again.

Xu Houtian remained silent throughout the entire process, bravely facing his death.

Liao Bing beheaded them with two strokes and hung their heads on the city wall.

Gather the people and tell them in public the identities of Yang Ke and Xu Houtian.

This made the people cheer with joy and put their minds at ease.

After doing all this, Shen An secretly ordered Liao Bing to spread the word that he was a descendant of the dragon and possessed the divine power bestowed by the dragon.

He did this in the name of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, hoping to use superstition to strengthen cohesion and prepare for attracting more followers in the future.

Liao Bing understood Shen An's intention: "I will handle this matter perfectly."

"However, we cannot allow the royal family to become hostile towards us right now, so you must tell the outside world that the royal family is the Son of Heaven, and the dragon is merely serving Heaven. I, as a descendant of the dragon, serve the royal family, and everything I do is only to assist the royal family and resolve conflicts in the world! We must use this to bind the royal family! In the future, we might even be able to gain benefits from them!" Shen An reminded him.

"good!"

Liao Bing immediately went to do this, while Shen An returned to the county government office to count the grain and fodder.

The two grain depots combined are enough to feed 10,000 people for five years.

This greatly alleviated the pressure on Shen An's food supplies.

However, wanting to rise to power in this chaotic world, he killed Li Huaiyi to avenge his parents.

This is far from enough.

To completely defeat Li Huaiyi, he needed to obtain more food and recruit more soldiers.

After all the grain was stored away, it was already night.

Shen An then summoned Liu Wenyuan, Liao Bing, and others to the county government office.

"I've called you here today to tell you that I have a plan to increase our food supply!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenyuan and the others perked up. They had long wanted to know what Shen An's method for solving the food problem was.