In June, the scorching sun was already somewhat venomous by morning.

  Under the gaze of General Hei Jia, the patriarch's forehead was covered in beads of sweat. This wasn't due to the heat, but rather cold sweat brought on by fear. After their brief exchange earlier, the patriarch had a clear understanding of just how formidable General Hei Jia was: "General, what is it that you want? Please, speak."

  Hong Qingshan stretched out his hand and spread out his five fingers.

  "Five, fifty thousand taels of silver?" The master stuttered.

  "Five hundred thousand taels of silver? You also look down on your own life too much!" Teng Qing Shan stared at him, calmly saying, "Fifty million taels of silver! If you take out fifty million taels of silver now, I will spare your life. Otherwise..." Teng Qing Shan raised the wheel and gun, pointing the gun tip at the face of the master of the house.

  Pointed at gunpoint, the master of the house only felt a chill of cold air.

  "Governor! Five hundred thousand taels of silver, I'll do it, I'll do it!" The head of the household replied repeatedly.

  500,000 taels is a huge sum of money. But the master of the house did not dare to hesitate in the slightest.

  Teng Qing Shan demanded the silver not for extortion: "Just after entering Xuyang County, our caravan encountered a powerful gang of horse thieves! Xuyang County is vast and rich, and it will take at least six or seven days to leave its borders. If we don't severely punish this group today, I'm afraid other gangs will also have the idea that even if they fail to rob us, they won't be punished!"

  Must be punished!

  Not punishing them is not enough to intimidate other horse thieves! Let them be terrified, that's the way!

  "But, Master Teng, I don't have that much silver on me right now. When I came out, it was impossible for me to bring so much silver with me. Unless... you wait a moment. I'll immediately rush back and fetch the silver myself." The master spoke in a very soft voice at this time, fearing that he might provoke Teng Qing Shan's displeasure.

  "Huh?" Teng Qing Shan's face turned cold, "You want to leave?"

  The master of the house was shocked and repeatedly said: "No, no, I'll let my second brother go back to get it!"

  "Cut the nonsense." Teng Qing Shan said coldly, "I don't have time to wait for you to fetch the silver. Your people will come and go, who knows how long it'll take? I'm giving you a deadline of one incense stick's worth of time to produce 500,000 taels of silver! If you're short by 100,000 taels, I'll cut off both your arms. Short by 200,000 taels, and I'll cut off both your arms and legs! Short by 300,000 taels... then you won't see the sunset today!"

  The master's face turned pale in an instant, and his legs were so scared that they went soft.

  "Governor, I...I don't have that much silver now! One cup of tea time is too short!" The master of the house was so anxious he almost cried.

  Hong Qingshan sneered, "No matter if it's silver, gold, or silver notes. Even expensive weapons and treasures can be used as collateral! I'm giving you the time it takes to finish a cup of tea to come up with something worth 500,000 taels of silver."

  "Don't give me those war horses and broken copper and iron scraps! I have no place to put them!"

  "Remember, you only have a cup of tea's time!"

  Hong Qingshan's words made the patriarch so anxious that he took out a stack of gold notes from his pocket: "I, I have one thousand two hundred gold notes!" These gold notes represented one thousand two hundred taels of gold, worth ten million taels of silver.

  "My Blood Drinking Sword! I spent over a million taels of silver to forge it." The eldest son inserted his own battle sword into its scabbard and placed it on the ground.

  Hong Qing Shan indifferently glanced at the blood-drinking knife: "This knife is worth 100,000 taels!"

  "Yes, yes." The master of the house responded while he carefully thought about where else he could gather silver, anxiously sweating profusely.

  For a warrior, a weapon, armor and warhorse are all extremely expensive.

  For example, Teng Qing Shan's Wheel of Reincarnation Gun, the gun body alone used 100 kilograms of Star Pattern Steel, which is worth 100,000 taels of silver. The gun head was even cast from "Purple Light Cold Iron". The piece of Purple Light Cold Iron that made the gun head was one of the two pieces of cold iron Teng Qing Shan had obtained earlier, and it was worth nearly 200,000 taels of silver.

  That is to say...

  As for Teng Qing Shan's 'Reincarnation Spear', it was worth nearly 300,000 taels of silver!

  ……

  The soldiers of the Black Armor Army were originally still in shock, but at this moment, a smile appeared on their faces.

  "Governor-general, you're really something!"

  "That large group of horse thieves couldn't harm the master in the slightest. Master Dūn just now wielded that long spear like a fierce tiger descending from the mountain, and those thieves were all knocked flying."

  "Hah! Five hundred thousand taels of silver! Lord Du is really ruthless!"

  The soldiers among them whispered in admiration, being able to follow a formidable commander made them feel proud.

  In the carriage, Zhu Chongshi's family members stuck their heads out to look.

  "Dad, can Uncle Teng defeat so many horse thieves by himself? Is Uncle Teng more powerful than you?" The young boy looked at Teng Qing Shan in the distance with wide eyes full of admiration. Children are most likely to idolize heroes. Moreover, Teng Qing Shan was able to easily slaughter and capture the leader of the horse thieves amidst a flood-like crowd.

  This move was enough to make even Zhu Chongshi himself feel a sense of admiration.

  "Your Uncle Tian is even more powerful than your dad!" Zhu Chongshi smiled and patted his eldest son's head, "In the future, you must also practice martial arts well and become a hero like your Uncle Tian."

  "Uh-huh!" The boy nodded repeatedly.

  "Dad, I also want to learn martial arts." Another child chimed in.

  "Me too!" chimed in a girl with pigtails.

  "Haha……" Zhu Chongshi couldn't help but laugh, "Alright, everyone will learn, everyone will learn." Zhu Tongding had set a rule for the family's descendants: regardless of whether they were male or female, they all had to cultivate internal energy and practice martial arts. If their innate talent wasn't good enough to cultivate internal energy, that was another story altogether.

  "Dad, what is Uncle Teng doing now?" Zhu Chongshi's daughter said.

  Zhu Chongshi looked at the distant Tengqingshan swindling that big boss, a smile appeared on his face, and he said: "He's making money!"

  "Oh!"

  Two boys and one girl, all three children had a look of sudden realization on their faces.

  ……

  The team on this side was in a relaxed mood, chatting and laughing. But the horse thieves were in disarray, ordinary horse thieves were terrified, just a moment ago, more than 200 horse thieves were killed by Tan Qing Shan. There were also four elite horse thieves beside the master of the house, who didn't even have the power to fight back before they died.

  Terrifying!

  The Eldest Son is the Most Terrified!

  "Hurry up, a pot of tea is almost here." Teng Qing Shan said coldly, "The things here, added up, are only worth 330,000 taels of silver!"

  Lian Er's family, San Dangjia and several others' silver bills and weapons have all been taken away, but it's still not enough.

  The big master of the house was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, and suddenly remembered something. He fiercely shouted to those around him: "Second elder, bring your Jingyu Buddha over here! Hurry up!"

  "Big brother, this is our family heirloom..." The second son of the master's household became anxious.

  "Damn you to death! Ancestral crap, bring it over quickly!" The big master roared loudly, his face ferocious. At this point, if the second master dared to waste any more words, the big master would absolutely dare to take action and kill him. The second master reluctantly took out a carved jade Buddha from around his neck.

  This small jade Buddha actually has a faint rainbow refraction.

  "Huh?" Tong Qing Shan's eyes lit up.

  "Big brother......" The second master reluctantly handed over this 'Jingyu Buddha'.

  "Cut the nonsense, I'm still alive, what can't be gotten later?" The master snatched it away and forced a smile at Tong Qing Shan, "Governor Du, this Jing Yu Buddha! It's from the Western Regions, an absolute treasure. Even with silver, it's hard to buy one. This thing is worth at least 100,000 taels of silver."

  "Heng Qing Shan said coldly: 'Jing Yu Fo, the price is 100,000 taels! Now adding up, it's only 430,000 taels of silver. Still short of 70,000 taels! The time for a cup of tea is almost up, if you can't take it out, I'll cut off your two arms!'"

  The master of the house's face changed greatly.

  "Who? Who still has a baby? A precious baby worth money? Who does?" The master of the house bellowed around.

  The surroundings were silent and still.

  It's probably because whoever has it doesn't want to take it out.

  "Are you done yet? I'll cut off both your arms, and that's being generous to let you keep your surname." Teng Qing Shan said as he raised his wheel gun, the head of which was diamond-shaped with sharp blades on both sides, capable of easily slicing through a person's arm.

  "No, no!" The master of the house shouted repeatedly, "I have more!"

  He said, taking off his outer garment, he was wearing a golden vest underneath. He hesitated to take it off and handed it over, saying: "General, this vest of mine is made entirely from the silk of golden silkworms from the southern wilderness, which is even more precious than purple gold! Wearing it keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer, and its defensive power is comparable to heavy armor! This golden silkworm vest is simply priceless!"

  Hong Qingshan's eyes lit up.

  He picked up the vest with one hand, and it was extremely light. His own clothes were made of Xuan Tie's inner armor, weighing dozens of pounds. This golden silkworm vest weighed about a pound or so.

  Good baby!

  For those martial artists with only about a thousand jin of physical strength, wearing heavy armor on their body is indeed inconvenient. So, this Golden Cicada Silk Vest is absolutely the treasure that martial artists yearn for. The price is absolutely much more expensive than the Blood Drinking Knife. Of course, for monsters like Teng Qing Shan, wearing dozens of jin of Xuan Iron inner armor and wearing a one-jin Golden Cicada Silk Vest are not much different.

  Originally, the master of the house did not want to take this treasure out.

  After all, money is easy to earn, but babies are hard to buy.

  "Consider yourself lucky, I'll spare your life." Teng Qing Shan directly put the gold and silver notes, as well as the jade Buddha on the ground into his pocket, while holding onto other things in his hand.

  "Governor, this golden silkworm brocade vest is worth at least 200,000 taels of silver. If not, my Blood Drinking Knife..." The big master's words were cut off halfway as Teng Qing Shan gave him a cold glance, scaring the big master into silence.

  Hong Qing Shan grasped two long knives, a thousand-year-old cold iron bow, and a golden silkworm brocade vest. He had gold and silver notes worth tens of thousands of taels in his pocket, as well as a piece of scenery jade Buddha. As he walked towards his own carriage team, he indifferently shouted: "Don't you let your people get out of the way!"

  "Quickly, all of you get out of the way!" The master of the house shouted repeatedly.

  On the side of the fleet, each and every one looked at Teng Qing Shan with a hint of respect in their eyes.

  In this world, it's like that, the strong will be respected.

  "Brother Qing Shan." Zhu Chongshi nodded and smiled at Tan Qing Shan, then looked around and immediately ordered, "Put away all the shields, hurry up, get on your horses, let's go!" With a single command, the convoy set off again with a loud noise.

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