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

"Xia Mingyuan, please forgive others when you can! Don't go too far!" Sun Yaozu's face became increasingly gloomy, and he stared at Xia Mingyuan coldly.

Sun Wenjuan was his son. If he really fulfilled the bet and ran naked around the city, he would lose all his face.

Sun Wenju, who was surrounded by people, turned pale and said, "Dad, please save me!"

"This Xia Mingyuan is too much. I was clearly deceived by him, which is why I lost the bet to him. He just wanted to kill me!"

Xia Xue couldn't bear to watch it anymore. She hesitated for a moment and came to Xia Mingyuan.

"Xia Mingyuan, that's enough. County Magistrate Sun is the father and mother of this county after all. Killing someone is not enough to get away with it. Why humiliate him like this?"

"If you let people run naked in public, how can you live in Hanyang in the future?"

Xia Mingyuan shook his head lazily and looked at Sun Wenju with a smile.

"Young Master Sun, if you don't want to run naked, that's fine too. Ask your father to give you another 30,000 taels of silver, and you won't have to run naked."

"By the way, add another ten thousand taels of silver. If you don't want to kowtow, we can negotiate."

"If you dare to default on your debt, I will have you stripped naked and paraded through the city. Anyway, we have the bet in hand, so no one can do anything to me."

"I, the commander, now command a vast army. Who dares to stop me? Who can stop me?"

After saying this, Xia Mingyuan laughed out loud, his face full of arrogance.

Sun Wenju's face suddenly turned pale, his whole body went limp, and he looked at his father with a pleading face.

Sun Yaozu's mouth twitched as he roared, "Xia Mingyuan, forty thousand taels of silver—you're asking for way too much!"

"You and I will both take a step back. I will add another ten thousand taels and release my son from this bet!"

"Bargaining is a waste of my time. Now I want fifty thousand taels." Xia Mingyuan looked impatient and stretched out five fingers lazily.

Sun Yaozu almost fainted, "Xia Mingyuan, don't go too far!"

"Even if the mountains don't turn, the waters will turn. In this Hanyang City, there will always be a time when you will need my help."

"Sixty thousand taels!" Xia Mingyuan spoke again.

"Zhang Weiwu, go and take off Young Master Sun's clothes for me first!"

At the command, two Qilin guards stepped forward.

"Don't come over here!" Sun Wenju retreated repeatedly, but was held down by someone from behind.

"Dad, please agree to his request, no matter how much money he has. I still want to take the imperial examination in the future! We can't let our Sun family become a laughing stock in this city!"

"stop!"

Sun Yaozu finally couldn't hold back any longer, "Xia Mingyuan, I'll give you fifty thousand taels to save my son from running naked!"

After he finished speaking, he glared at his subordinates behind him, "What are you still standing there for? Go back and get another 50,000 taels and send it over quickly!"

"Don't be impatient, Master Sun, there's still kowtows to be made!"

"You've already spent 50,000 taels. Don't you plan to give it to your son as well?" Xia Mingyuan said sarcastically.

Sun Yaozu only felt that his eyes were dark and he almost fell off the horse.

He turned around and looked at Sun Wenju. "Wenju, kneel down and kowtow to him!"

"Ah, Dad, you want me to kowtow to this kid?" Sun Wenju's eyes widened, his face full of surprise.

"Hmph, useless thing, what were you doing when you were betting with others?"

Sun Yaozu snorted coldly, "Ten thousand taels of silver to save you from kowtow. If we agree to such a losing deal, people will laugh their teeth off."

"Dad, I don't want to kowtow to this guy." Sun Wenju pleaded.

"You bastard, then just stay here and don't blame your father for not caring about your life or death." Sun Yaozu flicked the whip. He was too embarrassed to stay here, so he turned around and left.

"That damn old fox is really calculating."

Xia Mingyuan watched Sun Yaozu leave and couldn't help cursing in his heart.

If Sun Wenju ran naked around the city, it would be a disgrace to the county magistrate, Sun Yaozu.

But kowtowing outside the city would only make Sun Wenju lose face, and only a few people would see it, and few would believe it if the news was spread back. It was indeed not worth ten thousand taels of silver.

Not long after, the county officials came on horseback and brought another 50,000 taels of silver.

Xia Mingyuan turned around coldly and said, "Sun Wenju, kowtow, and I will let you go."

"If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will take you to the city to kowtow!"

Pfft!

Sun Wenju's face showed despair. He gritted his teeth and finally knelt on the ground.

"Xia Mingyuan, you wait for me. If I don't avenge this, I, Sun Wenju, will not be a human being!"

He kowtowed heavily to Xia Mingyuan, then got up from the ground with a look of humiliation on his face and turned to leave.

……

Princess House.

"Sir, did you rob our Hanyang bank? Where... where did all this silver come from?"

Lu Xiucai was stunned. He looked at the two thick stacks of banknotes in his hands, swallowed hard, and pinched his thighs until they turned purple before he was sure that this was not a dream.

"Mr. Sun is kind-hearted. He knows we are short of money, so he gave us 100,000 taels."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiucai was slightly stunned.

Could Sun Wenju be so kind?

Why haven't I heard of him being so kind and generous before? His notoriety is known throughout the city.

Xia Mingyuan waved his hand and said, "You should deposit this money into your account first, and then use it to buy 200,000 kilograms of grain and rice, and some bacon and smoked meat as military rations."

"Ah?" Lu Xiucai was stunned. "Master, why are we buying so much food? There aren't that many people here right now."

"Oh, I just recruited two thousand men, and they are now stationed outside the city. They can't be short of food, whether for food or for horses."

"Hurry up and do it!"

Xia Mingyuan said lightly.

"Okay, I'll do it right away."

Lu Xiucai took the banknote and took a few steps, but suddenly came to his senses.

"It's only been half an afternoon, and Master Xia just said... he recruited two thousand people?"

He stumbled and quickly turned around to look at Xia Mingyuan.

But he saw that Master Xia had already stood up and returned to his bedroom. He did not dare to disturb him any further and ran out of the princess's mansion with an excited look on his face.

"Dad, I know I'm wrong. Please don't hit me!"

"You rebellious son, you still dare to run? Stop right there!"

Some are happy and some are sad.

Compared to the calmness of the princess's mansion, the county government office was in an uproar at this moment.

At this moment, Sun Yaozu's face was ashen, and he was holding a rattan stick as thick as his arm, panting with exhaustion.

Sun Wenju ran for his life, begging for mercy repeatedly as he ran.

"You bastard! Who told you to go and bet with that guy? I told you to study military strategy, but you didn't even read it? You fell for such an obvious provocation, and you made me lose a hundred thousand taels of silver!"

"That's a full 100,000 taels of silver. We risked our lives to get it for a whole year, but in the end, it ended up benefiting Xia Mingyuan!"

"Sun Wenju, if you dare to run again, I will break your legs and kick you out of this house!"

In the end, Sun Wenju didn't dare to run anymore. He turned around with a pale face and fell to his knees with a thud.

"Dad, I really know I was wrong!"