At this moment, judging from Lan Linxue's attitude, no one could stop her.

Therefore, these people had no choice but to worship their living Buddha—Lan Xiuyuan.

Lan Xiuyuan knew that Lan Linxue was targeting him. The officials in Jiangnan could not withstand Lan Linxue's methods, let alone his ruthlessness.

Lan Xiuyuan turned his head slightly and looked at Lan Linxue, saying, "Brother, the treasury deficit is not a rare occurrence. Even if you wanted to investigate an account of several million taels of silver, it would take a long time to find out. This deficit of nearly three million taels of silver, even if you threw it all into the river, you still wouldn't be able to come up with it!"

Upon hearing this, his subordinates immediately nodded like lapdogs, then looked at Lan Linxue with hope.

Lan Linxue smiled slightly, turned to look at Lan Xiuyuan: "Fifth brother, why are you deliberately undermining your elder brother? Now that the dam is in such a bad state, what are we going to do? I absolutely need the money today, or we'll fill the river and confiscate our property!"

Upon hearing the words "confiscate property," two of the people below immediately fainted.

Lan Linxue glared at her disdainfully, "Pathetic!"

Lan Xiuyuan thought for a moment, "How about this, let them raise 500,000 taels first, to urgently repair this dike, and then..."

"One million taels!"

Lan Linxue said in a sinister tone, then stared at the officials below, "One million taels of silver, not a penny less! If you dare to reduce it even a little, you can expect your homes to be confiscated tomorrow!"

Immediately, people started wailing and crying again, spouting nonsense like "we can't get anything even if we try."

Lan Linxue smiled coldly, then waved her hand again.

Immediately, several more guards went over and threw the remaining people into the Qinhuai River.

"If you dare utter another word of dissent, I'll throw your Yangzhou prefect in jail!"

After saying that, Lan Linxue gave a cold laugh. "You people don't need to play the poor card with me. I know all your tricks for making money. A painting for thousands of taels, an inscription for tens of thousands of taels. Hmph, don't you have salt merchants and silk tycoons behind you? Now is the time for them to step in. You adults can give them this opportunity. Remember, bring the silver up to me by noon tomorrow. I don't want to say anything else! Get out!"

The people on the west side wanted to cry, but when they saw Lan Linxue's gloomy face, they didn't even have the courage to cry anymore.

Only Jiang Ming, after being helped up with great difficulty, looked at Lan Xiuyuan, let out a long sigh, and left with a face full of sorrow.

Lan Linxue looked at the group of people, then suddenly turned to Lan Xiuyuan with interest and said, "Fifth Brother, I heard that the Prime Minister's birthday is coming soon, isn't it?"

Lan Xiuyuan nodded. "We're almost there!"

Lan Linxue laughed even more slyly, "Oh dear, the Prime Minister must be over seventy this year, with disciples all over the world. I'm afraid his birthday gifts can't be lacking! However, the officials in Jiangnan are probably going to be impolite this year! With millions of taels of silver tied up, they'll probably have to sell everything they own! I think it's good enough if the Prime Minister doesn't have to pay them back. You should tell the Prime Minister that I'm using this money to buy him a long life in the afterlife. Repairing rivers and building dikes, benefiting the world, that's a great act of cultivation! Hahaha!"

Lan Xiuyuan was so angry that his face turned ugly. He bowed and said, "If there's nothing else, Your Majesty, I'll take my leave now! My leg is still not well, and I can't stand for too long!"

Lan Linxue waved her hand generously, "Go! Go! Get some rest! If Jiang Ming and the others come to you to borrow money, tell them to get lost! The Prime Minister is celebrating his birthday!"

As she spoke, Lan Linxue laughed loudly, while Lan Xiuyuan turned and left with a gloomy face.

After Lan Xiuyuan had walked away, Lan Linxue turned to look at Jun Yannuo beside her and said coldly, "How many people would be needed to repair all the embankments on both sides of the Qinhuai River?"

Jun Yannuo paused for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "Such a large project, and it's the rainy season, will probably require at least a thousand people."

Lan Linxue nodded, then turned to look at the wind and rain outside. "I'll give you two thousand men. Transfer all the people from the counties I mentioned below to guard the Qinhuai River embankment to the death. My wife and children are all coming too. I want to build the Qinhuai River embankment so it won't leak for a thousand years!"

As she spoke, Lan Linxue softly uttered the names of four counties.

Jun Yannuo was stunned after hearing this.