With a million soldiers, the empress begged me not to rebel

After a while, several of the best chefs in the county were brought to Lu Yan trembling with fear.

"First, one hundred roast suckling pigs, then fifty beggar's chickens, one hundred kilograms of braised beef in soy sauce, and one hundred kilograms of braised pig's trotters..."

When Lu Yan announced the names of the dishes, his saliva sprayed out like rain.

The yamen runners around were all stunned and their saliva was almost flowing into a river.

"Oh, and there's wine! Girl's red wine, the best kind. As much as you can get! I'm going to drink to my heart's content today!"

"Sir, Shannan County doesn't have much daughter red wine left. I'm afraid..."

A cook reminded cautiously.

"Not much? If not much, go to Qingshui County and get it!"

"I don't care, there must be enough daughter's wine tonight!"

"If anyone dares to spoil my mood, I'll let him know why the flowers are so red!"

“Han Sheng, go to our restaurant and bring a few singers and dancers over. It must be lively tonight!”

Han Sheng grinned and said, “Don’t worry, sir, I promise to make the brothers happy and forget about Shu!”

As night fell, the county government office was decorated with lights and became bustling with activity.

The soldiers were all in high spirits and sat around the table, waiting for the feast to begin.

Lu Yan sat in the main seat, looking at the brothers in front of him who had risked their lives for him, his heart filled with lofty ambitions.

"Brothers, today we have returned with a great victory and annihilated the barbarians! This is all thanks to you! Come, cheers!"

Lu Yan raised the wine jar and spoke loudly.

"cheers!"

The soldiers shouted in unison and drank the wine in the jars.

After drinking the wine in the jar in one gulp, Lu Yan wiped his mouth and said with a heroic smile:

"Great! Great! Brothers, eat and drink as much as you can! We won't go home until we're drunk!"

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, the atmosphere became more lively.

Lu Fei stood up shakily, holding the wine glass.

He walked up to Lu Yan and said vaguely:

"Sir, I... I, Lu Fei, would like to offer you a toast! Being able to follow you, sir, is... it is the honor of my life!"

Lu Fei drank a glass of wine and continued:

"Without you, there would be no Shannan County today, there would be no... there would be no us today!"

Everyone present nodded in agreement.

Yes, they understand best the hardships and hard work Lu Yan has endured over the years.

Suppressing bandits, developing commerce, training the army, which one was not done by him personally?

If it weren't for this man.

How could they have the stable life they have today?

How could I have the fame, wealth and power I have today?

The underground generals were even more excited.

They patted their chests and said with red faces:

"I will follow Master Lu for the rest of my life! If I disobey you, I will be struck by lightning!"

Zhang Xun also stood up excitedly, his face flushed, and said loudly:

"Sir, the barbarians have been pacified, Shannan County is well established, and the construction of a branch county is imminent."

"Calling it a 'county' is no longer appropriate and will not effectively govern Shannan."

"In my opinion, it's better to... it's better to..."

Zhang Xun hesitated, as if he had something difficult to say.

"Not as good as what? Zhang Xun, when did you become so fussy?"

Lu Yan glanced at him sideways and said impatiently.

"Why not...why not call it 'country'?"

Zhang Xun finally plucked up the courage to speak out what was on his mind.

As soon as these words came out, the whole place fell silent.

"Call yourself a country?!"

Lu Yan almost spit out a mouthful of wine, and his face turned red from choking.

"Zhang Xun, are you crazy?"

"With a tiny place like ours, you dare to start a new nation?"

"You are tired of living and want to rebel!"

Zhang Xun waved his hands quickly, sweat on his forehead:

"Sir, that's not what I meant!"

"What I mean is that Shannan County is now strong and wealthy, like a small country!"

"Calling ourselves 'country' will show off our might and frighten those ignorant people into silence!"

Han Sheng also echoed:

"Sir, what Zhang Xun said makes sense!"

"Our Shannan County is now more powerful than some small countries! It's only natural to call it a 'country'!"

Lu Yan rubbed his temples and felt a headache.

These guys don’t even know their last names after drinking a few cups of horse urine!

Call yourself a country?

Damn it, they actually thought of that!

If this gets to the ears of the imperial court, won't he be charged with treason?

"Alright, alright, stop talking!"

Lu Yan waved his hand impatiently.

"We'll talk about claiming the throne later! Now, let's drink!"

Seeing that Lu Yan seemed unhappy, the generals did not dare to mention the matter again and could only drink and eat meat obediently.

Lu Yan began to ponder in his heart.

Shannan County is so powerful now that other counties and prefectures have to stand aside!

No tiny country can compare to us!

It’s still called a “county”, isn’t it shameful?

Although Zhang Xun and Han Sheng are bold, what they said is true.

Simply calling it "country" is worthy of our strength, and it can also scare away those blind people!

However, calling it a "country" now is a bit too high-profile.

We have to wait for the approval of those old guys in the court.

Let’s not talk about calling it a “country” first, let’s just talk about beating the barbarians down this time!

If the empress knew about this, look at the current performance of our Shannan County.

Look at how prosperous life is now!

I bet that those people in the court won’t give us a big reward?

Maybe, it is not impossible to directly upgrade Shannan County to a county and then appoint me as the prefect!

……

And at this time.

Empress Chen Qingwan was still kept in the dark.

I never dreamed that Lu Yan had already defeated the barbarians!

What they didn’t know was that the situation in Shannan County had already changed!

At this moment, she was in Qingzhou, thousands of miles away, experiencing a scene that was like hell on earth.

The cloudless sky was like a huge furnace, scorching the earth.

The fields are cracked and no grass grows. The riverbeds are dry and all the fish and shrimps are dead.

Chen Qingwan was riding on a horse, looking at the tragic scene in front of her, her heart aching.

The gorgeous robe was out of tune with the dilapidated surroundings, further highlighting her inner anxiety.

"This...this is hell on earth!"

"A drought that occurs only once in a century..."

Chen Qingwan murmured to herself, a feeling of powerlessness surged in her heart.

She was full of anticipation for this trip.

He brought Lu Yan's strange but effective products back to Beijing, ready to do something big.

Who would have thought that when passing Qingzhou on the way, he would run into this incident.

Chen Qingwan sighed and dismounted.

Walked up to an old woman in ragged clothes.

He took out a few pieces of exquisite pastries and handed them over.

"Old man, eat something first."

The old woman took the cake with trembling hands and began to eat it greedily.

Chen Qingwan looked at her and felt even more uncomfortable.

These are just a few pastries, what problem can they solve?

Qingzhou is so big and there are so many people affected by the disaster. How much can her little bit of food help?

"Qiao'er, distribute the dry food I brought to the victims."

"Your Majesty, this...this is our rations for the journey back to the capital!"

Chen Qingwan immediately replied firmly:

"If you run out of food, you can buy more, but if you lose your life, you lose everything!"