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

"My lord, this is a good opportunity, but they must have some ulterior motives!" Liu Wenyuan hurriedly advised.

"Liu Wenyuan, Liu Wenyuan, you need to change your mindset. Our lord isn't even afraid of Li Huaiyi, so why should he be afraid of those few bumpkins?" Liao Bing walked over and patted Liu Wenyuan on the shoulder.

Shen An was somewhat speechless.

Liu Wenyuan is indeed quite capable of governing and pacifying the people, but his vision and thinking are not keeping up with the change in his status.

They take those local bullies too seriously.

While it's true that we shouldn't underestimate our enemies, we also need to clearly identify who they are!

We can't treat ants like they're a formidable enemy, can we?

Liu Wenyuan's performance also made Shen An realize that if he wanted to advance further in the future, Liu Wenyuan was absolutely not capable of being his second-in-command. He needed to find a more capable second-in-command; otherwise, it would be difficult for him to get effective assistance.

Liu Wenyuan then realized that Shen An was not afraid of Li Huaiyi, so why would he target those local bullies?

He found that his old habit had resurfaced, and he kept applying his past way of thinking directly to Shen An.

But can the current Shen An be compared to the one he used to be?

Liu Wenyuan was extremely embarrassed and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Liu Wenyuan, before you do anything or say anything, you must analyze the situation realistically. Don't react without thinking!"

Even though Shen An was good at hiding his emotions, disappointment was still showing on his face at this moment.

After all, in Shen An's plan, Liu Wenyuan was his deputy, and the territory he conquered in the future would be handed over to Liu Wenyuan for management.

It seems that his ability is at most limited to managing a county.

Liu Wenyuan could sense Shen An's disappointment. He wanted to say something, but couldn't bring himself to say it. He could only nod heavily.

"Liao Bing, gather one hundred elite soldiers and follow me to Jiang Family Village!" Shen An ordered. "In order not to alert them and let them escape in advance, you need to wear civilian clothes, leave the city in batches, and hide your whereabouts. You must not be discovered by them!"

This time, we must eliminate the leaders of all four major families!

"Okay!"

Liao Bing felt that this was not difficult. The reason was simple: Shen An not only taught the soldiers how to train, but also how to dress to blend in with their surroundings. After two months of training, they had mastered the essence and were extremely good at camouflage.

Watching Shen An and Liao Bing leave, Liu Wenyuan slumped weakly into his chair.

"Sigh, is it ultimately because I'm not capable enough? No, I need to change myself. I need to show Shen An my worth, I need to let everyone see that I, Liu Wenyuan, am no ordinary person!"

Upon realizing this, Liu Wenyuan immediately rummaged through his belongings, took out paper and pen, wrote down his shortcomings, and memorized them thoroughly, engraving them deeply in his mind.

It was dusk!

Shen An arrived near Jiangjiazhuang.

Just like Heishan Village, Jiangjiazhuang has taken advantage of the terrain to build its surroundings into a fortress-like structure.

No wonder the four major families invited Shen An here.

Liao Bing and his 100 elite soldiers had already arrived nearby before Shen Anlai.

The disguise was quite good; even Shen An didn't notice where they were hiding.

This time, only eight people, led by Zhao Long, accompanied Shen An.

But apart from Zhao Long, the other seven were all handpicked by him as the strongest fighters in the army.

Zhao Long's strength is comparable to theirs.

Although he had only been Shen An's disciple for a few months, his strength had increased at an astonishing rate. Now, even when Shen An and Zhao Long fought one-on-one, Shen An could no longer defeat Zhao Long.

With the eight of them there, even if they were surrounded by a hundred people, they would be able to break through with Shen An.

Zhao Long stood in front of Shen An to prevent any sneak attacks; he needed to block the arrows immediately.

The other seven people also lined up around Shen An to ensure his safety.

"Master, someone's here!"

Zhao Long's gaze settled on an alleyway at the east end of the village, where someone was looking in his direction.

Upon realizing he had been discovered, the man quickly left.

quickly!

Footsteps echoed through Jiangjiazhuang, and hundreds of people ran out of the village.

Jiang Cheng, Liu Mohan, Wang Luotian, and Chen Fa walked out surrounded by the crowd.

Seeing that the four people were dressed in fine silks and satins, Shen An knew that they were the heads of the four major families.

The hundreds of people they summoned at once were indeed quite capable.

In the past, this would indeed have allowed them to dominate a region.

Even the county magistrate and the county assistant magistrate dared not be their enemy, and could only try their best to win them over.

"Why don't you bow to the county magistrate?!" Zhao Long roared, slamming his long staff into the ground.

"Heh, bow? A mere county magistrate is not worthy of our bowing!" Jiang Cheng stepped forward.

"But you, the county magistrate, should bow to us, you know?" Wang Luotian said with his nose in the air, his face full of disdain.

"Pretty arrogant!" Shen An gave a thumbs up.

"Arrogant? As the saying goes, even a mighty dragon can't suppress a local snake. Even if you go around bragging that you're a descendant of the dragon, it won't do you any good in front of us! So what if we're arrogant?" Liu Mohan swayed her waist, seemingly seductive, but her eyes were actually filled with malice: "I called you here today to give you a chance to revoke your bullshit decree to 'strike down the rich and distribute the land'."

Give us half of the grain in the county granary!

Otherwise, you won't be leaving Jiangjiazhuang today!

"It seems that coming here today is a trap," Shen An said.

"Hahaha, that's right, it's just a pity you didn't notice! We only used a little trick to lure you here!" Jiang Cheng laughed loudly.

The others followed suit, and the sound of laughter was deafening.

Shen An wasn't in a hurry. He hadn't made a move yet; he just wanted to make sure that everyone had arrived.

After the laughter subsided, Shen An gave another thumbs up: "Your plan is quite good, much better than most people's. I'd like to ask, in order to deal with me this time, did you call over the core figures of your four major families?"

"Why are you talking so much nonsense! Now I'm asking you whether you agree or not?" Liu Mohan urged.

"Why are you in such a hurry, beautiful lady? Just answer my question and I will give you the answer." Shen An said with a smile.

"Hehe, alright, here's the answer." Liu Mohan chuckled, "I heard you're quite capable, so we specially sent out our best people this time. But we didn't expect you to come with only eight people. It's a waste of all our preparations."

"We've already answered you, so hurry up and agree to our terms, or don't blame us for being impolite!" Jiang Cheng threatened.

"If I'm not mistaken, if I agree to your request, you won't release me once you get the food, right?" Shen An asked.

The four fell silent for a moment.

Wang Luotian spoke first: "I already said, just take control of him, and he'll listen to everything we say. Why bother making him agree to anything?"

"Yes, Liu Mohan, your approach is completely useless!" Jiang Cheng also chimed in.

"Hmph! A bunch of brutes, what do you know? Don't you enjoy this sense of control? Isn't it satisfying to give him hope only to have him experience despair?" Liu Mohan shook his head. "Fine, since he's seen through it all, there's no need to play along. Where are the strong men of the Liu family?!"

"exist!"

A group of strong men dressed in black shouted in unison.

"Where are the able-bodied men of the Wang family?!"

"Where are the able-bodied men of the Chen family?!"

"Where are the able-bodied men of the Jiang family?!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

The men responded with a deafening roar.

"Arrest that bastard Shen An, and kill the rest of you!" Jiang Cheng ordered.

"yes!"

Seeing that they had assembled, Shen An's lips curled into a slight smile: "Since you're courting death, I'll grant your wish. Where are Liao Bing?!"

The words had barely left his mouth!

Soldiers, including Liao Bing, who were lying in ambush nearby, suddenly surged in from all directions.

"This Shen An actually brought government troops with him! How come we didn't notice these troops before?" Liu Mohan exclaimed in surprise.

Jiang Cheng and the other two frowned, but after seeing the number of soldiers clearly...

His brows then relaxed.

Jiang Cheng angrily retorted, "What's the big deal? They only have a little over a hundred people, while we have over six hundred. What's there to be afraid of? One spit from each of us and we can drown them!"

Shen An, prepare to die!

"You fools should be the ones dying!" Shen An ordered, "Zhao Long, you'll lead the team this time. Let your master see your true strength in actual combat!"

"Kill them all! Kill them all!"

Zhao Long remained expressionless, his eyes revealing a detachment from human life.

Like a ferocious beast, he leaped into the crowd of the four major families and began to hack and slash wildly.