As the saying goes, a scholar encounters soldiers and can't argue his point, but in fact, it's not just scholars; for the majority of the ordinary class, it's the same for you.
Li Ming is now a prominent figure, an aide-de-camp for the Imperial Court, coming back to his hometown to establish an army.
What is an army? It's a fist.
Today, having seen them once, not to mention the assets they actively handed over, even if Li Ming had acted without martial honor and directly targeted their families, coercing their property out by any means necessary, they would have had no recourse.
Now, they're eager to pay, and Li Ming accepting this money, whether for military planning or his own use, is a good thing for them—it at least means they can get by with Li Ming.
Otherwise, once Li Ming didn't accept and kept smilingly deflecting, they'd have to keep increasing their offer, never knowing how much it would take to get past him.
