As soon as Qin Ze finished speaking, a clamor erupted among the people.

Anger reignited in their hearts, and everyone's face was filled with rage. Immediately, a large group of people rushed towards them.

Qin Ze waved his hand, signaling the soldiers to make way. Once the people had arrived, the young scholar wearing a turban solemnly bowed and said:

"Your Majesty is unaware of this."

"These foreigners' visit to my Yan country is truly sinister; their so-called visit and establishment of diplomatic relations are nothing but high-sounding rhetoric!"

"It's laughable that the dog emperor Jin Fengluan is either too stupid or completely indifferent. She turns a blind eye to their blatant ambitions and instead grants their every request!" At this point, the scholar's face was full of anger as he glared fiercely at Mai Lirui, who was kneeling on the ground.

Mai Lirui felt uneasy, knowing he had to speak up now. He raised his head and argued:

"Nonsense! We came here to visit because we were invited by you."

“We just didn’t expect that the Great Gan is no longer what it used to be. Now a new emperor is in power. If we had known this earlier, we would have definitely asked to see His Majesty first.” Mai Lirui looked at Qin Ze, cupping his hands in a respectful manner.

Qin Ze looked at Mai Lirui with a calm and composed expression, his face completely expressionless.

Mai Lirui's words immediately enraged the crowd, and a group of people began to shout and curse. The scholar then angrily said:

"As expected of those foreign devils, they're full of lies!"

"You say one thing to people's faces and another to their backs with such ease; you're truly shameless!"

"I ask you this: you foreigners, you come to our country and immediately demand our land. Isn't that malicious?!"

"Guangyuan, Nangang, Hai'ao, Dong'an Port, you openly declare that you want to make these cities your residences for foreigners. You have quite the appetite! This is blatant aggression against my Yan Kingdom!"

"That damned imperial court doesn't take this seriously at all. Instead, they give us whatever we ask for, and besides that, they've signed a bunch of humiliating treaties that have ceded our sovereignty!"

"These traitors and you bandits treat the land and people of my Yan Kingdom like commodities, trading them at will. You bandits are here to seize my Yan Kingdom!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Mai Lirui hurriedly said, "No! You've misunderstood!"

“We never intended to seize anything; we are here simply to help you.”

“Prince Qing said that the country is experiencing internal strife, which is why he invited us to come and help. The cities you mentioned are only temporarily leased to us, not given to us.”

"Furthermore, we were unaware that the Jin family had deceived us. If we had known earlier that they were the troublemakers and His Majesty was the true ruler of the country, we certainly would not have chosen to aid them."

"Fortunately, we haven't provided the Kim family with any substantial assistance yet. Now that we understand, I think we can have a proper talk..."

He looked at Qin Ze, but before he could finish speaking, the scholar flew into a rage, ripped off his turban, pointed at Mai Lirui, and shouted:

"Dunlun, your mother!"

"His Majesty is here, how dare you speak such nonsense!"

Upon hearing this, Mai Lirui looked bewildered, while the surrounding crowd cheered.

Dian Wei was puzzled and asked Xu Chu in a low voice, "I understand the last sentence of this kid's sentence, but the first sentence must be an insult. I wonder what it means?"

Xu Chu replied in a low voice, "Fuck you..."

He paused, seemingly realizing that this wasn't quite right, and changed his wording: "What the scholar was saying was..."

Upon hearing Xu Chu's explanation, Dian Wei's eyes widened suddenly, and he nodded repeatedly involuntarily, secretly praising, "Truly a scholar."

The foreigners were bewildered and looked completely blank. The scholar then turned to Qin Ze and said:

"Your Majesty, these bandits are making all sorts of unreasonable demands, but that damned imperial court is giving them whatever they want, acting like their lackeys, fulfilling their every whim, just like a dutiful son serving his unfilial father and mother!"

"To curry favor with these foreigners, Prince Qing even married his daughter to Fan Lilun of the Hunnic Kingdom!"

"This isn't a marriage alliance, it's offering up a daughter for personal gain! Bah!"

Mai Lirui blushed and retorted, "That was their own choice. We didn't force them. Besides, they didn't get married. In fact, many of our people died."

The scholar immediately retorted, "That's what you deserve! You tried to steal a chicken but lost your rice instead! How dare you bully the people of Yan!"

Upon hearing this, Qin Ze raised an eyebrow and said in a deep voice:

"Oh? So, it was because of this marriage that such a major case occurred?"

The scholar immediately replied, "Indeed, Your Majesty!"

"These bandits used this marriage to sign a humiliating treaty with the traitorous Jin family, but on the very night of the wedding, several heroes bravely sacrificed themselves, stormed into the wedding banquet, and ruined their scheme!"

"This is truly gratifying!"

Qin Ze nodded slightly, his gaze turning coldly to Mai Lirui. Knowing he was in the wrong, Mai Lirui didn't dare to meet his eyes and quickly lowered his head.

The scholar shook his head, his face showing deep sorrow, and continued, "It's a pity that the Jin family is obsequious to outsiders, but ruthless to their own."

"They joined forces with these bandits to capture all these heroes, and then set today to behead them and display their heads to warn us that we cannot oppose these foreigners."

"...These beasts, they're helping outsiders kill their own people..."

"The foreigners are demanding compensation from us to make up for their losses, and I've heard that they've increased the amount." The scholar's face showed sorrow, his heart filled with grief, and even his voice trembled slightly.

As a native of Nangang, when the imperial army was defeated and fled back to Nanze, he still had a glimmer of hope, believing that the Jin family was the legitimate successor of Dagan and that even if the rebels took Jinling and controlled most of Dagan's territory, they were still heretics.

But after personally experiencing the incompetence and corruption of the court during this period, he realized that this so-called "orthodoxy" was rotten to the core.

This is not only disappointing, but also disheartening.

Thus, even though they are of the same ethnicity and share the same blood, how are these traitors any different from those robbers? They are no different from each other!

At this point, the surrounding people felt the same way, and in addition to anger, they also felt a deep and unbearable sorrow.

The phrase "helping outsiders kill their own people" carries a meaning that is enough to incite outrage in anyone.

After listening to these words, Qin Ze's expression grew cold. He silently squatted down and looked at Mai Lirui:

"What was signed? Show it to me."

Mai Lirui's heart tightened. At this moment, he dared not take out the documents and hurriedly lowered his head.

"Bring me a knife!" Qin Ze said coldly.

Mai Lirui's face turned completely pale instantly. He hurriedly pulled out the document from his pocket, handed it over with both hands, and said:

"This...this is a draft, it's not ready yet..."

Qin Ze snatched the document from his hand, then stood up and opened it.