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

Yuwen Bingyu placed the cup in her hand on the table, deliberately keeping a distance from Shen An, and a hostile expression appeared on her face: "And who are you?"

"My name is Shen An!" Shen An replied.

Yuwen Bingyu raised an eyebrow slightly: "Which Shen An?"

"Shen An, the county magistrate of Qingyang City."

Before Shen An could finish speaking, Yuwen Bingyu drew her sword without warning and placed it against Shen An's neck.

Hei Lao Liu's expression changed drastically, and Zhao Long and the others who were sitting in the back row immediately came over.

The commotion caused the singing and dancing to stop, and everyone's eyes turned to them.

Sun Dafu was Yuwen Bingyu's confidant, so she immediately ordered him to come.

Tensions were high between the two sides.

Shen An remained calm: "Zhao Long, sit down. Don't be rude."

Zhao Long and the others then sat down.

"You've got some nerve. Aren't you afraid I'll just kill you?" Yuwen Bingyu asked.

"Lord Yuwen, if you wanted to kill me, you wouldn't have given me a chance to speak," Shen An said with a smile.

"Hmph, no wonder you were able to drive away the Western Barbarians and defeat Li Huaiyi's 10,000-strong army."

However, I know your purpose this time even if you don't say it. You just want to win me over to deal with Li Huaiyi and Yuwen Qin, who are eyeing you covetously.

"I'm sorry, Nanling Prefecture has no intention of fighting with any prefecture. Go back to where you came from!" Yuwen Bingyu put down the sword in her hand.

Shen An straightened his clothes but showed no intention of leaving. Instead, he shook his head and sighed, "Nanling Prefecture possesses an excellent environment and fertile soil, yet it cannot support all its people. What a waste of such good land! Now there is a way to change the situation, but you refuse. It's truly regrettable!"

Yuwen Bingyu drew her sword again: "Shen An, do you think I'll believe you just because you throw out a number? Your Qingyang County is also filled with starving corpses, isn't it? If you had that method, wouldn't things have changed long ago?"

"Who told you that my Qingyang County is still full of starving people? Why don't you send someone to my Qingyang County to take a look?" Shen An retorted.

"Heh, maybe you've already made preparations. Sending someone to check on you would be pointless." Yuwen Bingyu remained uninterested: "You'd better disappear from my sight right now, or I really will kill you! Your head must be worth a lot to Li Huaiyi!"

"Haha, quite the opposite. I am a thousand times more valuable to Li Huaiyi than I am to him when I am dead." Shen An laughed loudly. "However, whether I am valuable to Li Huaiyi is not important. What is important is that I can really increase grain production by more than 30%, to be precise, any crop. In fact, as long as you follow my requirements strictly, you can increase production by 50% without any problem."

"You still dare to spout nonsense? You have successfully enraged me!" Yuwen Bingyu's killing intent was revealed.

Sun Dafu's men also drew their knives.

Shen An remained calm. He clapped his hands and said, "Black Six, bring out our radishes!"

"Okay!"

Hei Lao Liu opened the basket and pulled out a giant radish that was nearly a meter long.

The moment this radish appeared, everyone present was taken aback.

During good harvest years, the radishes they had seen were up to 30 centimeters long, while in famine years, the radishes would shrink by half.

It was truly unbelievable that Shen An could produce such a large radish.

Yuwen Bingyu, who had just been harboring murderous intent, immediately lost half of it.

"Where did you get this radish?" Yuwen Bingyu asked.

"Of course, I grew them myself," Shen An said with a smile. "Besides radishes, there are also giant pumpkins and giant winter melons, all in my carriage. If you're interested, I can take you to see them."

Suddenly, Yuwen Bingyu felt a surge of hope that Shen An hadn't lied to her.

Since she took over Nanling Prefecture, she has worked hard to govern it, but despite the fertile land, she still cannot feed all the people.

If what Shen An said is true.

Then, feeding everyone in the entire prefecture will not only be no problem, but Nanling Prefecture will also become prosperous as a result.

"Alright, I'll follow you to take a look! If it's not as huge as you say, I won't let you off easily!" Yuwen Bingyu said, standing up.

"please!"

Shen An went out first, followed closely by Yuwen Bingyu. Everyone present followed suit, eager to see what the giant pumpkin and giant winter melon looked like!

After Zhao Long and the others carried out the giant pumpkin.

Everyone present looked shocked, and many people were discussing among themselves, saying that the pumpkin had come to life.

In reality, this pumpkin was only about one meter in diameter, which wouldn't be considered giant by modern standards.

But in this era, it was much, much bigger than any pumpkin they had ever seen.

A winter melon that is over 1.2 meters long is still a behemoth in this era.

Upon seeing this, Yuwen Bingyu...

I've already half-believed Shen An's claim that grain production has increased by 30%.

Their attitude also made a complete 180-degree turn.

"County Commandant Shen, you truly have not deceived me. Would you be so kind as to speak with me alone?" Yuwen Bingyu invited.

"Let's silence them first. We absolutely cannot let this incident get out!" Shen An said cautiously.

"No problem." After Yuwen Bingyu gave the order that the matter of tonight should not be revealed, she invited Shen An to a restaurant.

She ordered someone to brew plum wine, and the two of them sat by the window, drinking three rounds of wine.

Yuwen Bingyu then asked, "County Commandant Shen, the giant radishes and other things you just brought out really surprised me. It shows that you do have the ability to cultivate radishes and other things into giant shapes. However, this is still different from what you said about increasing grain production by 30%."

What truly satisfies people is grain, not radishes.

"With my method, whether it's radishes, grains, or other crops, you can increase yields."

"Then why don't you show me the grain? Why show me these things instead?" Yuwen Bingyu questioned.

"To be honest, this method of increasing production was given to me by the Dragon God in a dream."

A few months ago, I planted wheat according to his method, but it is not yet ripe, so naturally I cannot give you the finished product.

"And radishes and other similar plants can be grown in a short time, so I brought these to show Lord Yuwen," Shen An replied.

"Dragon God? Do you think I would believe that?" Yuwen Bingyu shook her head.

"If you don't believe me, then where did those giant radishes of mine come from? You must have heard that I, Shen An, possess divine weapons, right? If it weren't for the Dragon God's dream that taught me, how could I possess them?" Shen An retorted.

Yuwen Bingyu narrowed his eyes.

After a while, she still shook her head: "I don't believe in ghosts and gods, but judging from the fact that you possess divine weapons and this giant radish, I believe you must have met a hermit master who gave them to you."

To elevate your own social standing, you fabricated the identity of a descendant of the dragon.

"Think what you want. If you trust me, with just two seasons of crops, every household in Nanling Prefecture will have surplus grain!" Shen An said, pointing to the table.

"You want me to send troops to deal with Li Huaiyi, or even my brother, right?" Yuwen Bingyu asked.

"Since you've already guessed it, I have nothing to hide. It's true."

"Then I'll be frank," Yuwen Bingyu said, stating her conditions. "Besides giving me a way to increase production, you also need to tell me the secrets of these divine weapons!" She added, "If you agree to both, I'm willing to send troops to help you!"

Shen An picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and said, "The wine in Nanling Prefecture is a bit bland. If we increase the alcohol content, it will taste better."

"Don't change the subject. Will you agree or not?" Yuwen Bingyu placed both hands on the table.

Shen An would certainly not agree; this woman was truly insatiable.

Sorry, but I'm the kind of woman who'll take care of you!

He said with a mocking smile, "Tell me, if I were to cooperate with your brother using the methods for crafting divine weapons, would he agree? I even said I'd be willing to attack your Nanling Prefecture together. Do you think he would agree?"

"What do you mean by this?"

What do you mean? I'm trying to tell you that you're not the only option!

Do not be greedy; if it requires the use of divine weapons and techniques!

Shen An moved closer to Yuwen Bingyu, spitting on her face: "Why would I need to look for you?"