In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 821 Ten Thousand Heavenly Dragons

"How can we obtain the Dragon Beard Grass from the Lu family?"

Chen Dao turned to Yang Zheng and asked, not forgetting the purpose of his visit to Youzhou.

"Mr. Chen, there's no need to rush!"

Yang Zheng replied confidently, "Five days from now, the Lu family will host a banquet for all the invited martial artists of the upper three ranks. At that time, the Lu family will announce the conditions for obtaining the medicinal herbs. We only need to attend the banquet and then act according to the situation!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Dao nodded and said no more.

Soon after, the food was brought up one after another by the waiter. The four men, who had been eating dry rations for two days, looked at the food on the table and immediately had a great appetite, devouring the food in a whirlwind.

After finishing their meal, the four of them did not leave the restaurant. Instead, they booked two guest rooms and planned to stay there for a few days.

So, for the next few days, Chen Dao and the other three stayed temporarily in Youzhou Prefecture.

"The Lu family truly controls everything!"

Standing in front of the guest room window, Chen Dao gazed at the scenery outside, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

Over the past few days, Chen Dao occasionally went out for walks to see the scenery and people in Youzhou City. After experiencing it firsthand, Chen Dao realized that Yang Zheng's description of the Lu family was not exaggerated at all, but rather underestimated the Lu family.

Almost all the shops in the entire Youzhou Prefecture City belong to the Lu family, and even the Shengyan Tower where Chen Dao and his group are currently staying is a property of the Lu family!

The entire population of the prefecture depended on the Lu family for survival, either farming for them or working for them...

In short, although the Lu family was not the emperor, their influence in Youzhou Prefecture was greater than that of the emperor. The Lu family, which monopolized all agriculture and commerce in the prefecture, was the true master of this city.

It was precisely because the Lu family monopolized everything in this city that this once prosperous city became so lifeless.

The people living in this city saw no hope whatsoever. Like tireless machines, they worked diligently for the Lu family, just to fill their own stomachs and survive.

Anyone from the Lu family is a superior person in this city!

Whenever members of the Lu family passed through the city, the people on the street didn't even have the courage to look up at them. Just two days ago, Chen Dao even witnessed a young man from the Lu family, dressed in fine clothes, forcibly taking away a family's fifteen-year-old daughter right in front of them.

The family seemed to have gotten used to this kind of thing; their faces were numb, and although they might have been angry, they dared not show it at all.

To this day, Chen Dao still remembers the mocking look on the face of the young man from the Lu family. He seemed to be hoping that the family would rebel so that he could punish them, but unfortunately...

Under the tyranny of the Lu family, the people in the city had long been numb. They were used to things like the forced abduction of women and dared not resist the Lu family. Otherwise, it would not just be one person who would suffer, but the whole family.

This is the current situation in Youzhou. Ordinary people are not even as good as livestock. People from the Lu family, even those with the lowest status within the Lu family, are considered Heavenly Dragons in Youzhou. Ordinary people would be committing a great sin if they even looked up at them, let alone provoked them.

In short, in Chen Dao's view, the entire Youzhou was strange and distorted. It was not like a normal place at all, but rather like a slave society, where the vast majority of the population were slaves of the Lu family, and the Lu family were the slave owners who were high and mighty!

"The Lu family is even more powerful than the emperor!"

Standing behind Chen Dao, Chen Cheng said that he thought he had suffered enough back then, but after seeing the lives of the people of Youzhou, he realized that compared to their suffering, his own suffering was nothing!

At least no one in his family has starved to death, but the people of Youzhou...

Walking down the street, Chen Cheng saw that every person had lifeless eyes and a blank expression. Every now and then, he would see people fainting on the road due to hunger. In both the east and west markets, he could also see many people selling their children, which aroused his sympathy and made him unable to bear to look at them.

…………

…………

Another day passed.

Chen Dao and his three companions finally left the restaurant and set off for the Lu family manor in the north of the prefectural city.

The short 20-mile journey was not a problem for Chen Dao and his group. However, since the Lu family's banquet was in the evening, the four of them were not in a hurry to travel. Instead, they walked slowly towards the Lu family manor.

"That must be the Lu family manor."

As the sun was about to set, the Lu Family Manor, which was called a manor but was in fact almost indistinguishable from a city, appeared before the four of them.

Looking at the manor in front of him, which had both city walls and gates, Chen Dao couldn't help but show a look of surprise.

Compared to the Wang Family Manor that Chen Dao had visited, the Lu Family Manor was obviously much more magnificent; it was more like a city than a manor!

Although its scale is not comparable to that of Youzhou Prefecture, it is probably not much different from that of Taiping County!

And this city of such size is actually a family manor...

This shows just how illustrious the Lu family was!

"Not bad!"

Li Qiao nodded slightly: "Although the Lu Family Manor is called a manor, it is in fact no different from a city! Tens of thousands of Lu family members live in the city, and there are also a large number of serfs who work for the Lu family. The population inside is no less than fifty thousand!"

Fifty thousand people!

This number undoubtedly shocked Chen Cheng and Chen Dao.

It's worth noting that even in Taiping County, the county seat, the permanent population is only around 100,000, which is considered a relatively large county seat.

Yongliang County, which is not far from Taiping County, probably has a population of less than 50,000!

The Lu Family Manor, however, has a population of 50,000, which exceeds the permanent population of Yongliang County.

"The clansmen living in this manor are only a part of the Lu family!"

Yang Zheng added, "There are many other Lu family manors of varying sizes in other parts of Youzhou. Although they are not as large as the one in front of us, the total population of all of them is still quite large. The total number of Lu family members should not be less than 100,000!"

One hundred thousand people...

Chen and Dao couldn't help but gasp. One hundred thousand people in one family—what a terrifying number!

You must know that the Lu family members are not ordinary people, but the "Heavenly Dragons" of Youzhou!

They don't need to farm or do any work; they are supported by the people of Youzhou!

Supporting dozens or hundreds of Celestial Dragons might not be a problem for Youzhou, a province with a population of tens of millions; supporting a hundred thousand Celestial Dragons...

That is by no means an easy task.