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

"Miss, you must have misunderstood Master Xia!"

"That's right, Master Xia is a great benefactor to our Xu Family Village. If it weren't for him, we would still be living in fear and on guard against the bandits from Wild Wolf Mountain!"

When they heard Xia Mingyuan call Xia Xue "Auntie", everyone in Xujiazhuang was stunned, and their attitude softened a little for a moment.

Many people even started to explain for Xia Xue.

Xia Xue listened to the people in Xujiazhuang talking to each other, her face flushed with shame, and she turned around and didn't look at Xia Mingyuan.

Seeing this, Xia Mingyuan smiled and walked forward to untie the rope on Xia Xue.

"It's really hard for Auntie. She actually ran away from the Princess's Mansion to investigate without telling my nephew. Could it be that in Auntie's eyes, my nephew is so vicious and cruel?"

Xia Xue snorted coldly, rolled her eyes at Xia Mingyuan, and said nothing.

"Aunt thinks my nephew is blind and oppressing the people. I only blame it on the original misunderstanding. But... why did you have to hide it from me and secretly run away from the princess's mansion?"

"Could it be that the last assassination didn't teach you a lesson?"

At this point, Xia Mingyuan's voice became even colder, with a hint of questioning in it.

Xia Xue stared into his eyes and opened her mouth, not knowing how to refute for a moment.

"Hongying, take ten Qilin Guards and escort Her Royal Highness the Princess back to the city!"

"From today on, without my permission, Princess Eldest is not allowed to step out of the Princess Palace!"

Xia Mingyuan glanced at Xia Xue coldly, turned his head and gave orders.

Zhao Hongying nodded, walked forward, supported Xia Xue, and wanted to take her away.

Xia Xue's face was ugly, with a bit of dissatisfaction on her face, "Xia Mingyuan, what right do you have to restrict my freedom!"

"Because I am not only your nephew, but also the guard of your house, I have the right to guarantee your safety. These are turbulent times, so please bear with me."

"If anything happens to Auntie outside today, I'm afraid I'll never forgive myself!"

After the voice fell, Xia Mingyuan no longer paid attention to Xia Xue, turned around and led his troops back to the temporary camp, leaving Xia Xue stunned in the spot.

Looking at Xia Mingyuan's leaving back, Xia Xue couldn't help stamping her feet and wanted to catch up with him to argue with him.

However, Zhao Hongying blocked her path and said, "Your Highness, the bandits from Handao Village have recently kidnapped many merchants nearby. You left the city without permission and nearly caused a disaster."

"My husband is very angry right now. It's windy out here, so you'd better hurry up and come back with me."

Xia Xue gritted her teeth, looked at Xia Mingyuan's back angrily, and turned away.

……

Xia Mingyuan returned to the military camp and Yue Hanshan hurriedly followed.

"Captain, since the Cold Blade Village has already released the hostages, why didn't you take the opportunity to surround the mountain and completely wipe them out?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Mingyuan smiled and said, "General Yue, there are no bandits left in Handao Village. The mountain is our territory!"

"what?!"

Upon hearing this, Yue Hanshan almost dropped his jaw in shock.

"Commander-in-Chief, you're kidding me, right?" Yue Hanshan said in disbelief. "How could the Cold Blade Village, with thousands of soldiers, just disappear like that?"

Xia Mingyuan waved his hand. "Didn't I tell you before? These bandits didn't divide the spoils equally, so they started fighting among themselves and killing each other. In the end, I was the one who profited."

"By the way, let's keep the matter of Wild Wolf Mountain secret for now. I plan to reserve a special force there in case of emergency."

Upon hearing this, Yue Hanshan nodded quickly and said, "Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief. I'll give the order shortly. Our soldiers will never leak any information."

Xia Mingyuan said calmly, "You currently have 1,700 infantrymen and 300 cavalrymen. We seized a lot of food during this bandit suppression operation. After tomorrow, I will provide you with another 300 infantrymen and 700 cavalrymen."

"You will take these three thousand men and station them nearby. Someone will come to teach them battle formations and tactics later. General Yue, please cooperate with us."

"Yes!" Yue Hanshan bowed hurriedly, not daring to be negligent.

"General Yue, Hongying is living with me in the princess's mansion. You don't have to worry about her safety. Li Chun is in the city. I have other tasks for him."

Xia Mingyuan slowly stood up and walked in front of Yue Hanshan.

"Also, last time Li Chun extorted 25,000 taels of silver from the Sun family father and son, I've already had him give it to the other two of you."

"Let me tell you something upfront. The soldiers I assign to you are the best of the best, and the food and fodder are plentiful. Every month, someone will come down to inspect these things. You must report everything you've spent. I, the commander-in-chief, must know where our money is going!"

Xia Mingyuan's words made Yue Hanshan tremble all over.

He had just breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly his expression became nervous and he said, "Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief. I know what's going on and will never abuse my power for personal gain."

"Not only will I not do that, as long as I, Yue Hanshan, am alive, none of the old members of Fengyu Tower will do anything to wrong you!"

"If you don't trust me, you can send someone to supervise the army."

Xia Mingyuan chuckled when he heard this, supported Yue Hanshan and asked him to sit down.

"General Yue, I feel relieved with your words."

"However, speaking of the military governor, there is indeed someone who wants to be the military governor recently. This person is not one of us, but the son of County Magistrate Sun!"

"After all, we are currently operating under the guise of suppressing bandits, right under the noses of the imperial court. In order to avoid arousing their premature suspicion, we must first stabilize this guy."

"But since he's here, General Yue, you could make him suffer a little, and even better, drive him away!"

After saying that, Xia Mingyuan winked at Yue Hanshan with a half-smile on his face.

Upon hearing this, Yue Hanshan grinned and patted his chest, saying, "That's easy to say. Sun Wenju is a guy who has never suffered any hardship."

"If he comes to the military camp, he will quarrel and leave within two days."

After leaving the military camp, Xia Mingyuan did not delay any further and went straight back to Hanyang.

When they returned to the princess's residence, Zhao Hongying came to greet them with a helpless look on her face.

"You're finally back. You locked Sun Wenju in the backyard, and he kept yelling and cursing. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I beat him up, and finally he started to behave himself."

Upon hearing this, Xia Mingyuan laughed and said, "This guy doesn't even know when to pick a fight. He chose to come and cause trouble today when there's actually going to be a war."

"Come on, I'll go meet him!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Mingyuan led his men straight to the backyard.

Sun Wenju's nose and face were bruised and swollen, his whole face was swollen like a pig's head. At this moment, he was lying in the woodshed, curled up in a ball, gritting his teeth and wailing softly.

When Xia Mingyuan saw him, he was startled. He turned around and looked at Zhao Hongying, who had an innocent face, and couldn't help but gasp.

This woman was really brutal when she started to fight.