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

Xia Mingyuan turned around and couldn't help frowning.

"Master Huang, I remember that your grain store has its own grain transport team, right?"

"When I came to your house in person, you thought it was not worth it for me to charge you three thousand taels of silver. I didn't force you to do it. You just let the grain transport team help you transport grain."

"After all, Mr. Huang's business is difficult, and I don't want to waste that much time."

"Oh, Master Xia, aren't you slapping an old man like me in the face?" Huang Renji was about to cry. "There's no grain transport team left at Huang's Grain Store. They've probably been wiped out by those bandits."

"Now that Huang's Grain Store no longer has its guards, it's seen as a piece of juicy meat, and everyone wants to take a bite."

"We can't even get a grain of food in now, and we're on the verge of closing down."

"We in the Huang family have elderly and children who all depend on this grain store for their livelihood. If the store goes bankrupt, how will our family survive?"

Huang Renji simply put aside his pride, rushed forward, grabbed Xia Mingyuan's hand, and cried bitterly.

"Mr. Xia, please forgive us and give us another chance. I'm willing to pay you three thousand taels of silver per month. I'll give it to you now."

Xia Mingyuan's face was full of disgust. He took a few steps back calmly and pushed Huang Renji away.

"I'm sorry, Master Huang, but I have other uses for this guard team right now. Also, three thousand taels of silver was the price a few days ago. I can't afford it right now!"

"You should stop wasting your time here and look for other escort agencies instead."

When Huang Renji heard this, his face turned pale.

Right now in Hanyang City, the largest escort agency only has one or two hundred skilled men. Which escort agency can take over the Huang family's business?

What's more, which escort agency in the world can go against the elite soldiers and generals under Xia Mingyuan's command?

If he didn't ask Xia Mingyuan to be his bodyguard, he was afraid that the next time the grain transport team arrived in Hanyang, it would be intercepted by this Master Xia again.

Fortunately, he had expected Xia Mingyuan to ask for a high price, so he was mentally prepared. He quickly wiped away his tears and said, "Mr. Xia, please give us a price. Even if it's a bit high, we at Huang's Grain Store only trust you in Hanyang City."

Xia Mingyuan sneered in his heart and cursed the old fox secretly.

He was waiting for Huang Renji's words!

"Master Huang, I heard that the price of rice in Jiangnan is mostly 70 wen per catty. If you buy in large quantities, I'm afraid the price can be lowered a bit."

"But once you bring the grain back to Hanyang, you can sell it to the people for a hundred coins per catty, making a net profit of thirty coins per catty. Bringing back hundreds of thousands or even two hundred and thirty thousand catties of grain at a time, you can earn at least six thousand taels of silver per trip. If you do this at least three times a month, and sometimes five or six times a month, you can make an average of thirty thousand taels of silver per month just from transporting and selling the grain back."

"How is it? Did I calculate this amount correctly? You said last time that the profit for a month was thirty thousand taels."

"How about this? I won't ask for much. Each time you transport grain, you give me 20,000 kilograms of grain. The total cost is only 1,400 taels. How about that? This isn't asking too much, is it?"

"this…"

"Mr. Xia, this isn't how the bill is calculated. You're asking for too much."

Huang Renji's old face flushed red, and he looked up at Xia Mingyuan in amazement.

He had thought Xia Mingyuan would ask for an exorbitant price, but he hadn't expected him to actually ask for such an exorbitant price.

They hurriedly explained, "Twenty thousand catties of grain, if we bring it back and sell it, the net profit will be six hundred taels of silver."

Now we have directly given you 20,000 jins, but not only do we not make a penny of profit, we also have to pay the purchase cost of 1,400 taels. When you calculate it all, one trip will cost 2,000 taels.

"With 180,000 jin of grain remaining, I can earn a maximum of 5,400 taels. After deducting the 2,000 taels escort fee, I can only earn 3,400 taels per transport."

"This, this rounding off, isn't it just a loss-making gain?"

At this point, Huang Renji's voice was already filled with tears.

"Why? Master Huang, are you thinking it's too expensive?"

Xia Mingyuan frowned and said calmly, "Where can I find such a reliable guard like mine right now?"

"Do you know how much it costs to support one person every day? You think it's too expensive, and so do I. If you don't want to, just find someone else. I'm not forcing you."

"This...this..." Huang Renji's face turned red and he stammered, unable to speak.

When he was organizing his own grain transport team, he calculated that no matter how many times he transported grain in a month, it would only cost two thousand taels.

Even if Xia Mingyuan had asked for a sky-high price at the beginning, saying 10% of the total profit per month, it would only be three thousand taels.

But now the minimum monthly income is 6,000 taels, and if we transport it a few more times, it might be 10,000 taels.

Isn't this just taking advantage of the situation?

"Mr. Xia, this price is really too high. Can we negotiate a little more..."

"How about this? I'll give you 1,500 taels of silver each time, which works out to a minimum of 4,500 taels a month. What do you think?"

"You want so much food, we can't eat it all even if we bring it back."

"Master Huang!" Xia Mingyuan's voice suddenly rose, and he flicked his sleeves with an unhappy look on his face.

"The price I gave you is very sincere. There is no room for negotiation."

"If it weren't for your Huang's Grain Store, which has a way to buy grain at a low price, I wouldn't take this job if I didn't get 8,000 grain silver a month!"

"No one is forcing you to do it. You have to do it on your own."

"By the way, if you come back in a few days, the price will definitely change. You can wait, maybe it will be cheaper."

After saying this, Xia Mingyuan turned and left.

Huang Renji's three sons panicked. "Dad, it's already late. Even if we earn less every month, it's better than earning nothing at all."

"Just agree to it first. If you delay any further, I'm afraid the rice merchants in Jiangnan will no longer give us priority in rice supply."

"Yes, Dad. Anyway, we are the only rice merchant in Hanyang who can transport rice to sell. Those peasants can't buy our rice and will have to starve. At worst, we can raise the price and make back the money we spent!" Huang Youcai echoed behind him.

Huang Renji's face turned pale as he listened to his three sons' repeated persuasion.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and hurriedly chased after him.

"Mr. Xia, please stay."

"I agree to your terms. We'll go with the price you set, 20,000 kilograms of grain each time!"

Upon hearing this, Xia Mingyuan stopped and turned around with a smile.

Looking at Huang Renji with a humble face, he walked up and patted him gently on the shoulder.

"Congratulations, Mr. Huang. You made a very correct decision."

"In that case, I wish us a happy cooperation in advance."

When Huang Renji heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then he felt a wave of pain in his flesh!