Surprise! The villain is my brother, stay calm!

Magistrate Du was originally loyal to the Mo Long Order. Besides, the Mo Long Order had been passed down in their Du family for who knows how many generations. So he had no intention of being loyal only to the Chu family. Anyway, he would listen to whoever held the Mo Long Order.

When Lu Zhanyan told him about his ambitions, he naturally followed Lu Zhanyan.

However, what shocked him was that after those county magistrates were killed, secret guards who looked exactly like them directly replaced them and their words and deeds were 70% similar.

Du Huaiming was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. He wondered if he had not agreed to follow the prince at that time, would he have ended up like this?

In the past few months, Prince Lu has been resolute and ruthless. He directly replaced those officials who colluded with the bandits.

As for those who have evidence but have not made any serious mistakes, they are given a chance to pledge their loyalty.

In this way, in just a few months, he had successfully taken control of the entire Yanzhou.

Even County Magistrate Du was shocked by Prince Lu's intelligence and fierce methods, and secretly felt fortunate that he was able to surrender so early.

In addition, through talking with the officials who colluded with the bandits, they also learned about the situation of the largest bandit nest - Jiuquzhai, and figured out those routes.

Now, the anti-bandit operation has finally begun.

At this moment, flames shot up into the sky from the peak of Jiuquzhai Mountain, and the bandits and the army engaged in a fierce battle.

Under the leadership of Zhou Wu and Governor Du, the army was in high spirits, fought bravely and gradually gained the upper hand.

However, the enemy was not to be outdone and fought desperately, trying to turn the situation around.

But how can these guards be compared with these bandits?

In the fierce battle, time passed by minute by minute. County Magistrate Du successfully killed the most difficult bandit leader, Poison Bee, and Zhou Wu also captured the second in command, Red Scorpion, alive.

"The leader of Jiuqu Village is dead! You won't be killed if you surrender your weapons!!"

County Magistrate Du used his sword to lift up the head of the boss, the poisonous bee, and showed it to everyone.

The boss's expression was still filled with anxiety and surprise.

"The second in command of Jiuqu Village has been captured alive! Disarm him and we won't kill him!!"

When the bandits learned that their leader was dead and their second in command was captured alive, they no longer had the will to resist and they dropped their weapons and stayed where they were.

"Victory!" Cheers rang out and the officers and soldiers cheered with excitement.

Lu Zhanyan looked at the corpses all over the ground and a smile appeared on his face.

Now that the largest bandit stronghold has been cleared out, the other small strongholds will no longer be a concern.

After a hard battle, they finally broke through Jiuqu Village, eliminated the bandit force, and even seized a lot of gold, silver and jewelry, which was directly used by Lu Zhanyan to invest in the construction of Yanzhou, and the other part was rewarded to the soldiers who were dispatched to suppress the bandits.

Everyone can get more than ten taels, and the guards can get more than twenty taels. After all, they cannot take any credit for killing the bandits, so they can only make up for it in this way.

The soldiers who benefited were all pleasantly surprised, and they also had respect and gratitude for the new prefect.

From then on, there was no Jiuqu Village in Yanzhou anymore, and all the bandits were sent to serve. As for the captives captured by the bandits, they could choose to serve, with food and accommodation provided, as well as wages.

Today, Yanzhou is building new city walls and opening up roads, and the more people serving, the better.

The largest bandit nest was wiped out, and Lu Zhanxing asked County Magistrate Du to arrange people to clear out other small mountain strongholds.

The Yanzhou officials, who had been ineffective before, actually wiped out all the bandits that threatened the people after a new prefect came.

Since then, Lu Zhanyan, the new prefect, has been respected and appreciated by the people.

From then on, they no longer had to be nervous when passing through the mountain roads.

The old governor of Yanzhou stroked his beard and smiled with satisfaction. A memorial was also sent back to the capital, expressing what Prince Lu had done after becoming the prefect, and his words were full of praise.

However, he did not know that the soldiers who wiped out the biggest bandit were 5,000 elite guards.

This garrison had a total of 30,000 people and was the last line of defense for the Yanzhou border. It was not allowed to be deployed unless there was an enemy attack. The old governor thought that it was the thousands of officers and soldiers under the command of Governor Du who wiped out the enemy, otherwise it would not be praise but impeachment.

When Emperor Qian in the capital saw this victory report, he sighed in his heart. It was true that there was no fool in the Lu family. It had been less than half a year since they went to Yanzhou, and they had already made such a great contribution. Although he felt very happy that they could wipe out the bandits, he was more afraid.

Lu Zhanyan has no martial arts skills, but he has a very high IQ. How could such an outstanding boy not be his own son?

Emperor Qian was mixed with worry and joy, but no matter what, since this was good news, he still had to reward.

This Du Huaiming is good. He will be rewarded for killing the bandit leader!

An imperial edict was sent to Yanzhou at full speed and soon reached the hands of Lu Zhanyan and Du Huaiming.

"The Emperor, in accordance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims: I have heard that the prefect of Yanzhou, Lu Zhanyan, and the county governor, Du Huaiming, have bravely suppressed the bandits and killed countless of them... I am very pleased... I hereby commend them and give them a thousand taels of gold, ten thousand taels of silver, and a hundred rolls of silk and satin..."

After the eunuch finished reading the imperial edict, the two men took it respectfully and thanked him. Then, the eunuch handed the reward to the two men and said with a smile: "My two lords, this is His Majesty's commendation to you, please don't let him down!"

"Thank you, eunuch. We will definitely live up to His Majesty's expectations!" Lu Zhanyan and Du Huaiming said in unison.

After sending the eunuch away, Lu Zhanyan looked at the pile of treasures in front of him, took out half of the reward, and went to the military camp to reward the guards. When the guards learned that they could also get rewards, they were very excited.

His actions made the soldiers respect and be grateful to Lu Zhanyan.

Du Huaiming gritted his teeth and took out half of the reward to distribute to the soldiers who had helped him kill the bandits. His actions made these soldiers feel a stronger sense of belonging.

Yanzhou was not rich to begin with, and being able to receive military pay and have enough food and drink was considered good enough. How could they dare to hope for rewards?

Unexpectedly, with the arrival of the new prefect, their rewards became even larger.

I can't wait to go back into battle and kill the enemy to get more rewards.

Back at the mansion, Chu Yao smiled and congratulated her husband on his achievement, and also prepared a sumptuous dinner.

At the dinner table, Chu Yao suddenly retched when she smelled the fishy smell. Lu Zhanyan immediately asked the court doctor to take Chu Yao's pulse. When he learned that she was two months pregnant, he was very happy. From then on, their Lu family would have an heir.

Chu Yao also looked at her husband with surprise. She didn't expect that she would be pregnant so soon.

"Yao'er, thank you for your hard work."

Although Lu Zhanyan's eyes were cold, his tone was exceptionally gentle.

He once had feelings for Su Xianxin, but ever since he was betrayed, his heart has been sealed. Although he has taken advantage of Chu Yao, he is more driven by his sense of responsibility as a husband.

Chu Yao gently touched her belly, which was not yet pregnant, and said softly, "I am not miserable. I feel very happy as long as my husband is here."

Although she came to Yanzhou with her husband to work not long after their marriage, and although this place was not rich, with her husband's company, she still felt that every day was as sweet as honey.

Now that they have the fruit of their love, they are even more overjoyed.

After dinner, Lu Zhanyan returned to the study and summoned Xiao Lanjue to discuss something.

"The threats from Yanzhou have been dealt with. Now all that's left is construction. I've already discussed your matter with Second Aunt. My cousin is willing to marry you. I've prepared the betrothal gifts for you. Tomorrow, you can go to Xuzhou to propose marriage!"

Hearing this, Xiao Lanjue was very surprised: "Thank you for your help, my lord."

He was very grateful to Lu Zhanyan in his heart, and also thankful that the Anguo Mansion did not look down on him as a scholar with nothing. He secretly vowed that he would never let them down for their kindness to him.

Seeing Xiao Lanjue happily left the study.

Lu Zhanyan's mouth curled up slightly, then he picked up the pen, ink, paper and inkstone and began to write a letter to his family far away in the capital.

One was for grandfather, one was for Mu Qingli, and the other was for my younger brother.

Every time he saw those rather "interesting" letters written to him by Xingdi, his cold eyes would turn into gentle and doting ones.

I haven't seen you for several months. I wonder how you are doing, brother?

When he thought of Xingdi's homosexuality, Lu Zhanyan rubbed his brows with a headache. When he was not by her side, did she start to let herself go and look for handsome men?