West Xia's envoy team quickly arrived at Great Qi. The officials of Great Qi messed with them and bargained down the custodian fees again and again. In the end, Great Qi merely gave them some gold, silver, jewelry, and silk tea leaves as ransom.
The Minister of Revenue took out the money from the national treasury with a pained expression. In the end, he looked at the Emperor eagerly, hoping that he would subsidize it with his inner treasury. There were too many natural disasters all over the country this year.
Qi Xiuyuan also knew that the national treasury was tight. He was in a good mood, and his inner treasury had substantial gains last year. Hence, he generously said that half of the ransom—no, half of the land custodian fee would be paid by his inner treasury.
