Your Majesty said that my life is worthless, so why are you crying when I increase my troops?

"It's not much. This amount of money is just a drop in the bucket for Lord Sun."

Xia Mingyuan stared at Sun Yaozu with a slight smile on his face.

"Thirty thousand taels of silver, and I'll keep Mr. Sun safe."

"you…"

"Xia Mingyuan, you're asking for too much."

"Don't forget, my son is supervising the army in the camp, and I provide your two thousand troops with food and fodder every day!"

"Now you want another thirty thousand taels. Do you really think my Sun family's silver can grow out of the ground?"

Hearing this, Sun Yaozu almost bit his teeth.

"Master Sun, this is wrong."

Xia Mingyuan chuckled and said calmly, "If it weren't for those provisions, your son wouldn't be qualified to come to my camp."

"Those grains and fodder were merely Mr. Sun's admission tickets. As for the thirty thousand taels now, they are just compensation."

"If Lord Sun is short of money, you can bring your son back later."

"Don't worry, I, Xia Mingyuan, will ensure his safety until he comes back."

"Of course, the premise is that Lord Sun's food supply must not be cut off."

Xia Mingyuan played with the teacup in his hand, a sinister smile on his face.

Sun Yaozu's face turned pale. After a long while, he sighed and bowed to Xia Mingyuan.

"Commander Xia, we've served together before. For the sake of our past friendship, could you please offer less..."

"All my current belongings add up to no more than twenty thousand taels of silver. I beg Commander Xia to be merciful."

Xia Mingyuan smacked his lips and looked at Sun Yaozu with disdain.

"Sir Sun, you are a county magistrate, but you can't even come up with 30,000 taels of silver."

"It's only 20,000 taels, which makes it difficult for me to do this."

Sun Yaozu's mouth twitched, and he almost couldn't help but rush forward to fight Xia Mingyuan.

Since he took office, Sun Yaozu has been making money non-stop. Every single one of the people in Hanyang has been exploited by him, and that is how he built up his fortune of hundreds of thousands of taels.

Unexpectedly, after Xia Mingyuan arrived, in less than a month, he had already lost all his money.

At the moment, Sun Yaozu only has 20,000 taels left in his hands.

"Commander Xia, please be flexible."

Sun Yaozu suppressed his anger and forced a smile, "You and I are officials of the same dynasty. If Commander Xia encounters any trouble in the future, I will definitely help you with all my strength."

Xia Mingyuan sneered, "Master Sun, given your character, I'm afraid it will be hard for people to believe your promise."

"But..." Xia Mingyuan stared into Sun Yaozu's eyes, and when he saw the old man breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn't help but reveal a sly smile.

It seems that Sun Yaozu's family fortune is really going to be emptied by him.

In this case, there seems to be no need to keep him.

"Never mind, for Lord Sun's sake, twenty thousand taels is twenty thousand taels."

Sun Yaozu's heart was bleeding. He painfully took out the only remaining banknotes from the accounting office, plus a few boxes of cash, and finally paid off Sun Wenju's debt.

"Commander Xia, I have already paid my son's compensation. Can you release him now?"

"Yes, of course!"

Xia Mingyuan smiled and waved to Wang Ganger, "Go get some good fighters and bring Sun Wenju to me."

"Remember, you must ensure Mr. Sun's safety. If you encounter any blind bandits causing trouble, just kill them directly."

When Xia Mingyuan mentioned the four words "kill directly", he emphasized the tone.

"I understand." Wang Ganger's eyes narrowed, and he immediately understood what Xia Mingyuan meant.

Sun Yaozu had a blank expression on his face as he raised his teacup and took a sip.

"Commander Xia, you've already received the money. I have official business to attend to right now, so I won't be with you any longer..."

After serving tea to the guest, Sun Yaozu put down the teacup and stood up to leave.

"Wait a moment."

Just then, Xia Mingyuan's voice came from behind.

Sun Yaozu's heart trembled. He turned around and looked at Xia Mingyuan, forcing a smile. "Commander Xia, what else do you want?"

Xia Mingyuan slowly stood up and walked to Sun Yaozu. "Master Sun, now that we have discussed your son's affairs, shouldn't we also settle things between us?"

Sun Yaozu frowned upon hearing this. "Commander Xia, what's left to settle between you and me? Since you won the bet, just take it."

The smile on Xia Mingyuan's face slowly froze, and his tone was icy, "Sun Yaozu, do you think that your secret collusion with the Poison Dragon Gang can be easily let go?"

Sun Yaozu's face changed drastically, and he subconsciously took several steps back. "Xia Mingyuan, what do you mean?"

"I'm warning you, don't talk nonsense. I've wanted to kill the bandits from the Poison Dragon Gang for a long time, so why would I collude with them?"

"Really?" Xia Mingyuan sneered, took out the account book from his arms and threw it in front of Sun Yaozu.

"Then I'd like to trouble you, Lord Sun, to take a good look at this thing and give me an explanation."

Sun Yaozu's hands were shaking as he took the account book in a panic. He just took a look at it and his face turned pale.

"How did you get here?"

"Slander, all slander!"

"Commander Xia, I have never taken any money from the Poison Dragon Gang. Please do not be deceived by these treacherous people and wrongly accuse a loyal official."

Xia Mingyuan sneered, glanced at Sun Yaozu, and said lightly: "Master Sun, why are you so panicked?"

"This account book was given to me personally by Jiang Tai, the head of the Poison Dragon Gang. You, the magistrate of Hanyang County, actually have hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in your possession, and the amount is almost the same as in the account book. Don't you know whether this account book is authentic?"

Xia Mingyuan spoke in a calm tone, each word precious.

Sun Yaozu's legs went weak and he almost fell to the ground.

After a while, a fierce look suddenly flashed across his face.

"Xia Mingyuan, what on earth do you want to do?"

"Since you already know my background, you should know that these hundreds of thousands of silver coins have already drained my family's wealth. All this money has gone into your pocket. Why do you still pester me?"

"If this matter really gets out of hand and gets handed over to the higher-ups, I'm afraid you won't even get a sip of soup, let alone hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. Your efforts in Hanyang will be in vain."

"Listen to my advice and give me the account book. Let's pretend that what happened between us never happened. All the money you took from me will be yours."

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

Before Sun Yaozu finished speaking, Xia Mingyuan clapped his hands and sneered.

"Lord Sun, you are so calculating! The abacus beads are about to hit this commander in the face."

Sun Yaozu's expression froze, and he said coldly, "Xia Mingyuan, I'm doing this for your own good. I advise you not to be ungrateful."

"If you really want to report me, you won't have an easy life."

Xia Mingyuan grinned, suddenly walked forward and kicked him to the ground.

"Sun Yaozu, do you really think you have the strength to fight this commander?"