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

Shen An originally planned to focus on both offense and defense, but now, under extreme circumstances, he has to face the combined forces of the three families, whose total strength is close to 400,000.

Even if he made the people feel the oppression of Li Huaiyi and the imperial court, the maximum number of troops he could gather in a small county like Qingyang was only about 25,000.

With a difference of more than ten times, if they were to engage in a head-on confrontation on the battlefield, unless they possessed firearms, relying solely on swords, which are harder and more resilient than firearms, would certainly not be enough.

Therefore, Shen An focused all his energy on defense, accumulating food supplies, building repeating crossbows, and constructing defensive facilities.

At the same time, Shen An once again spread rumors that the imperial court was coercing people to pay the poll tax, and that the original imperial edict was that whoever did not pay the poll tax would die!

Shen An has now changed it to: anyone who doesn't pay the poll tax will have their entire family punished! Everyone must pay!

Shen An originally planned to wait until other regions could not withstand the pressure and rebelled first, then he would guide the people to refuse to pay the poll tax, so that he would not become the target of public criticism.

But now, he has to face attacks from three sides at the same time. In order to get the people to voluntarily join him in resisting the powerful enemy, he can no longer worry about that!

The news sent panic through the entire population of Qingyang County.

Shen An had previously redistributed land to them, and they thought their good days were finally here, but what about now?

The court's repeated threats and coercion drove them to despair!

Not only can most of them not even afford to gather enough, but even if they did, what good would it do?

They still lived in poverty.

The people spontaneously organized themselves into representatives and went to the county government, hoping to come up with a feasible solution.

Shen An originally wanted to force them to rebel, but Liu Wenyuan told Shen An that he could tell the people that as long as they joined the city garrison, the government would pay for it!

This way, they will not only be grateful, but also prevent rumors from spreading that they, the people of Qingyang County, are rebelling!

As for whether to pay or not? We'll have to wait a few months until the deadline given by the imperial court is over before we can decide!

Liu Wenyuan also calculated that by then, there would definitely be many people rebelling in various places, and the imperial court might abolish the poll tax in order to control them.

At that time, without spending a single penny, we can gain the gratitude of the people and acquire a large number of troops!

Upon hearing this, Shen An suddenly felt that Liu Wenyuan's large forehead was full of wisdom!

This method is a hundred times better than he had thought of before!

Shen An had originally planned to find other strategists to serve as his second-in-command.

But now it seems that if Liu Wenyuan calms down and thinks things through, he is indeed very capable of being the second-in-command.

"Liu Wenyuan, you're absolutely right. Just do as you say from now on."

Upon receiving Shen An's affirmation, Liu Wenyuan felt like crying. This method was not something he came up with casually. Ever since the decree for the head tax was issued, he had been racking his brains, sleeping only two hours a day and spending the rest of his time thinking about the best solution.

The method he's talking about now was only decided on yesterday.

Having received Shen An's affirmation, he thought to himself that heaven rewards those who persevere!

Liu Wenyuan immediately announced his method to the delegates.

This put some pressure on the delegates, but it was impossible for all of them to have their families enlist in the army.

How do we collect the poll tax for the rest of the people?

Liu Wenyuan was immediately stumped and was about to think it over when...

Shen An stepped forward and said a famous saying from the new era of Blue Star: "One person serves in the army, the whole family is honored! If one person from each household serves in the army, the government will cover all the family's expenses! If more than one person from each household serves in the army, then they are an honorable family, and will be rewarded with one tael of silver for each additional person!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenyuan was immediately filled with admiration. It had to be Shen An!

This not only solved the problem, but also boosted the enthusiasm for joining the army.

Shen An didn't think much of it; he could tell that this was also based on Liu Wenyuan's foundation.

The representatives sent by the people felt as if the mountain that had been pressing down on them had been removed. They were all extremely grateful to Shen An and Liu Wenyuan, and they said that they would organize the young and strong people in the village to join the army as soon as they got back!

The following day, a large number of young people gathered in front of the county seat from all over Qingyang County.

Shen An not only accepted all their requests, but also distributed warm clothing to them and cooked several pots of mutton soup to warm them up.

In just three days, Shen An's total military strength reached 25,000 men.

Of these, 15,000 were locals from Qingyang County, while the remaining 10,000 were either original soldiers of the city's garrison or recruits secretly from other places.

Fifteen thousand local residents is already the limit within Qingyang County.

After all, Qingyang County only has a population of over 40,000. Unless women, the elderly, and children are all brought over, which is not realistic, the land still needs to be cultivated and society still needs to develop. Not everyone has to join the army.

"My lord, do we still need to recruit more soldiers?" Liao Bing looked at the roster with some worry.

"How many more people do you think you can win over if you keep recruiting?" Shen An asked.

Liao Bing scratched his head and said, "I don't know either."

"Let me tell you the truth now. At present, 25,000 men is our limit. Soldiers are willing to serve a warlord not only because of the benefits and treatment, but also because they need to see if the warlord is powerful enough. Although we have defeated the Western Barbarians and the 10,000 Black Spirit Army led by Yang Ke, and there are rumors that I am a descendant of the dragon, these are far less attractive than Li Huaiyi's position as Jiedushi and his hundreds of thousands of mercenaries."

"Therefore, people in the surrounding area who want to join the army will definitely go to Li Huaiyi and others, while those people far away from us have never heard of our achievements and will not come," Shen An analyzed.

"My lord, according to you, it will be difficult for us to recruit more people. Should we expand our forces?" Liao Bing asked.

"As long as we successfully defend the city and make those who covet us pay a sufficient price, that will be our golden reputation for recruiting soldiers and horses, and we will naturally continue to expand our army," Shen An replied.

Liao Bing's eyes regained their sparkle, and he abruptly stood up: "Then let's fucking fight them! Let Li Huaiyi and the others taste our power!"

"Alright, stop recruiting for now. Train your soldiers well according to the training requirements I set. I look forward to their performance after your instruction!" Shen An said expectantly.

Liao Bing clenched his fist: "My lord, I will absolutely not let you down!"

After Liao Bing left, Shen An summoned Hei Lao Liu: "The informant I asked you to bribe must find out Yuwen Bingyu's true intentions as soon as possible. Is she cooperating with me as agreed, or does she want to be my enemy like Li Huaiyi?"

"My lord, I have just received the relevant information."

"explain!"

"The news that you are the illegitimate son of the Prince of Zhennan reached Yuwen Bingyu's ears a few days ago."

"What was her attitude?"

"After learning the news, she did not make a clear demand like Li Huaiyi to take action before the spring, nor did she have her subordinates start training like Yuwen Qin did. Instead, she did nothing."

But her strategist, Mr. Mingyue, kept urging her that this was an excellent opportunity and should not be missed.

"Once we capture you alive, we'll get the treasure left behind by the Prince of Zhennan, making her incredibly wealthy and ensuring a better life for the people of Nanling Prefecture." Blackie Liu said angrily, "I also heard from my informant that after you left Nanling Prefecture, he kept urging Yuwen Bingyu and Li Huaiyi to cooperate against you. Luckily, Yuwen Bingyu didn't immediately agree to that old bastard's offer, otherwise you would have been facing enemies on three sides. He's truly a wicked bastard!"

"Mr. Mingyue..." Shen An murmured the name three times, then suddenly thought of the forces that were secretly spreading rumors that he was the son of the Prince of Zhennan.

That old bastard always tries to incite Yuwen Bingyu to join forces with others against him.

Could this old man be connected to the forces that spread rumors?

Shen An currently knows nothing about that force. If he doesn't find out who they are, he might be tricked by them one day before he even realizes anything.

A cold glint flashed in Shen An's eyes: "Black Sixth Brother, does Mr. Mingyue hold any official position?"

"No, he is Yuwen Bingyu's personal advisor."

With this answer, Shen An became even more certain that the old man was connected to that force.

Shen Andang ordered, "Have your bribed mole work with you to capture Mr. Mingyue! Remember, you must be absolutely certain before you act. Do not alert Yuwen Bingyu. Make her think that the old bastard has suddenly disappeared, not that he has been kidnapped."

Blackie Liu's eyes darted around, and he chuckled, "This isn't difficult. Within five days, I'll definitely bring that old bastard here and make him kneel before you."