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

"Alright, alright, Lao Lu, can you please show some promise?"

Xia Mingyuan rolled his eyes at Lu Xiucai and said calmly, "What's this little money? It's just a drop in the bucket. After today, we'll only make more!"

Lu Xiucai nodded repeatedly in agreement.

He now had no doubt about what Master Xia said.

Xia Mingyuan was silent for a moment, then ordered in a deep voice, "Withdraw some more of this silver and use it to find me some helpers. They need to be smart and resourceful. Money is not a problem."

"Bring your men to see me before dark."

"Okay, I'll do it right away." Lu Xiucai agreed and trotted out of the princess's mansion.

Xia Mingyuan turned to look at Zhao Hongying, "Have the rules for the competition been announced?"

Zhao Hongying nodded gently. "According to my husband's wishes, in the first round of the selection, three people from our Princess Mansion will compete, and I will be the final one. Anyone who can defeat one person will advance to the next round and receive a reward of fifty taels of silver. If they defeat two people, they will receive two hundred taels."

"If you can defeat all three of them, and even me, you will advance directly to the final showdown in the third round."

"Once the martial arts tournament begins, no one needs to register. Anyone who is willing can directly challenge on stage."

Xia Mingyuan nodded slightly, smiled and said, "Yes, the rules are simple and efficient. Even illiterate people can understand them."

After explaining things to Zhao Hongying, Xia Mingyuan changed his clothes and left the princess's mansion.

After strolling around the street for a while and making sure no one was following him, Xia Mingyuan disappeared into an empty alley in the blink of an eye.

Now he has earned more than 17,000 taels of silver, which can be converted into at least hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain, enough to support him to continue synthesizing more advanced soldiers in the system.

With a thought, Xia Mingyuan summoned the system panel.

[Ordinary soldiers: 8808.]

[Level 1 Edge Archer: 46.]

[Level 1 Vine Shield Soldier: 50.]

[Level 1 Yellow Turban Warrior: 200.]

[Level 4 Qilin Guard: 10]

After consuming four hundred ordinary soldiers, Xia Mingyuan synthesized another forty Qilin Guards and summoned them out from the system.

Forty Qilin Guards immediately filled the alley.

Xia Mingyuan swept his eyes over everyone and ordered in a deep voice, "Take off your armor, and go to the Kunlun Security compound in groups of two to wait for orders."

After giving these people instructions, the system indeed gave a prompt.

[It has been detected that the host already has fifty Qilin Guards.]

[Currently, five Dragon Warriors have been unlocked.]

Seeing this, Xia Mingyuan couldn't help but frown.

Even though the requirement of fifty Qilin Guards has been met, it seems that it is not possible to synthesize Dragon Warriors infinitely.

Next, as the level of soldiers gets higher and higher, it is likely that the synthesis conditions will become more stringent.

Eighty more ordinary soldiers were used up from the system, and Xia Mingyuan summoned five Dragon Warriors.

With a thought, five Dragon Warriors appeared in front of him.

As the five people appeared before him, the temperature in the entire alley seemed to drop a few degrees.

Unlike the Qilin Guards, these people were not very tall and strong, nor did they have obvious muscles, but they exuded a strong murderous aura from head to toe.

Each of these five people has practiced martial arts, and their strength is already close to that of Zhao Hongying.

"leader!"

The five people bowed to Xia Mingyuan with respectful expressions.

After some self-introductions, Xia Mingyuan learned the names of the five people, namely Li Mingyi to Li Mingwu, but he couldn't help twitching the corners of his mouth.

"The three of you will gather at the Kunlun Security House. In the afternoon, change into clothes representing Kunlun and participate in the martial arts competition. After winning two matches, a ceasefire will be held."

"Li Mingsi and Li Mingwu, your real names must be concealed. You are only allowed to win one match, and make it as difficult as possible. Do you understand?"

Xia Mingyuan ordered in a deep voice.

"Leader!"

The five people agreed and left the alley.

In the afternoon.

The first round of qualifiers for the first Hanyang City Martial Arts Competition officially began.

As a rare event that could bring fame in Hanyang, many martial arts schools and escort agencies sent people to participate.

But except for a few people, most of them were eliminated in just one round by Zhang Weiyi, the first player to play.

The most eye-catching one is Kunlun Security.

There were three of them, and each of them defeated two examiners from the Princess's Mansion in a row and successfully advanced.

For a time, the name Kunlun Security resounded throughout the entire Hanyang City.

"Hey, what do you think this Kunlun Security does? There are so many experts!"

"Yeah, even Coach Xu from the Tyrant Blade Martial Arts School could only manage to defeat the second person, but these three guys easily defeated two of them. In my opinion, any one of them could open a martial arts school."

"I heard that Kunlun Security is similar to an escort agency. They provide protection to people of high status and make money from it."

"However, unlike the escort agency, they not only escort the convoy, but sometimes they can also provide 12-hour personal protection."

The streets and alleys of Hanyang City were filled with such discussions.

If Daxia also had hot searches, Kunlun Security would definitely be at the top of the list right now.

However, the instigator of all this, Mr. Xia Mingyuan, sneaked into a gambling house called Changlefang.

"Sir, please come in. Are you here to place a bet on the martial arts tournament?"

"Which one do you like? How much money do you want to bet?"

As soon as he entered the door, Xia Mingyuan was warmly greeted by the waiter.

At this moment, games like Pai Gow and dice in the gambling house have long been abandoned.

All the gamblers crowded in front of a wall, holding up the silver in their hands and placing their bets.

The names on the wall are the twelve masters who successfully advanced to the finals of today's competition.

Xia Mingyuan looked at this scene and couldn't help but want to curse in his heart.

He originally wanted to start his own gambling game and make a profit from it.

However, because it had no roots in Hanyang, it was overtaken by Changlefang.

However, even so, he couldn't give up the fat meat in his mouth.

"I'm betting on Zhao Dabao to be among the top three, five thousand taels..."

Xia Mingyuan looked at the odds on the wall and saw that among the five participating Longxiang warriors, Zhao Dabao, who was using the alias of Li Mingwu, had the highest odds. The odds of entering the top three were about 1 to 5, so he placed the bet without hesitation!

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone turned around and looked at Xia Mingyuan as if he were a fool.

Among the twelve people at present, the reason why Zhao Dabao has the highest odds is that he had the most difficult time winning today's preliminary round. Not only did he barely win one game, he even injured his arm.

It is obvious that he is the weakest among the twelve!

If this person wants to be in the top three, he will have to wait until the sun rises in the west.

But there was a fool right in front of him who was betting five thousand taels of silver against that guy.

Is this because he is crazy about money?