We are all old neighbors, who doesn’t know each other’s affairs?

Beiyan itself does not have so much food, but now it is facing a drought and dares to come to Dali to ask for so much.

Was this a mockery of them or a deliberate embarrassment?

Gongye Hong was very calm: "To be honest, we in Northern Yan don't have it."

Seeing him like this, Wei Qiumao genuinely laughed. "Even in years of good harvest in Northern Yan, you don't have this much food. What makes you think we do? Could it be that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is deliberately making things difficult for me because he's unhappy with what happened just now?"

"In that case, I think it's better to give up on this matter!"

The person in charge of his own purse said so. Emperor Mingde put on an embarrassment: "The person who just spoke to the prince is my Minister of Revenue, who is in charge of money and grain. Since he said no, then we are powerless!"

Lord Cao also spoke up: "Your Highness, you should know what 10,000 dan of grain means. If you can't even do it yourself, why bother making things difficult for other countries?"

Gong Yehong's followers were somewhat furious. "Your Highness! These people were so happy to take our things just now, but now when it comes to business, they're all trying to evade us. I think they're just trying to raise the price!"

"Who are you? Your Highness the Crown Prince hasn't even spoken yet, yet you're making such outrageous remarks and making malicious speculations. I think you're deliberately instigating things with ill intentions!"

"You clearly have it in your treasury! Why are you mocking us here? If not just making excuses and waiting to raise the price, what else could you be thinking?!"

"Which eye of yours saw that there's grain in our treasury? What? Have you seen it? Stop talking nonsense here! Have you ever seen 10,000 dan of grain in your life? Do you know how much 10,000 dan of grain would weigh if it were piled up?"

"Stop talking nonsense to me! You dare to deliberately embarrass us, so don't blame us for being rude! Don't think that we are powerless to fight back just because we suffered a disaster this year. It's just that His Majesty is reluctant to start a war easily, so he treats you with courtesy! I, Luo Chengwu, am not afraid of you, Dali! If you don't believe me, just come and try!"

As soon as Luo Chengwu's name came out, many ministers in the court changed their expressions.

This unreasonable person is actually the victorious general of Northern Yan?

"Alright! General Luo, don't get angry."

Gongye Hong spoke up to stop him at this time, looking at Emperor Mingde and bowing slightly: "We are short of food, and I believe Dali is also short of troops and money after fighting for so long. Since we can't reach an agreement today, why don't you consider it and discuss it another day."

Emperor Mingde frowned, really not knowing why the other party was so sure that their Dali treasury had 10,000 dan of grain.

Gongye Hong knew when to stop, and said both harsh and good words, always giving the other party some time to consider.

With these incidents happening one after another, the banquet was about to end abruptly.

Just as Emperor Mingde stood up and prepared to take Jiang Qianruo and the emperor's grandson away, there was a noise and screams outside.

A guard came running in breathlessly, "Your Majesty, the rare and exotic beasts kept in Piaomiao Garden suddenly rioted, killed the eunuchs who were feeding them, broke through the fence, killed the guards who were guarding them, and escaped!"

The animals kept in Piaomiao Garden were said to be rare and exotic, but in fact they were just some ferocious wild beasts such as tigers, peacocks, leopards, and bears that were collected by several princes and officials from various places in order to please Emperor Mingde.

It's fun to watch them from across the fence, but once these things get out, it's no joke.

Hearing this, the timid concubines in the harem could no longer control their screams.

Jiang Qianruo turned around impatiently and scolded, "Why are you shouting? Are you afraid those beasts can't hear what's going on here?"

Concubine Cui's face turned pale, and she threw herself at the side of Emperor Mingde, tightly grasping his arm. "Your Majesty! I'm as strong as an ox, so I don't have to worry about this. But my sisters are weak, and they can't bear to hear this. Please think of a solution!"

Jiang Qianruo was speechless. Even at this time, he still didn't forget to compete for favor. His brain must be broken.

Although Emperor Mingde's arm was hurt by being grabbed, it was not easy for him to shake off his concubine at this time, so he could only suppress his anger:

"What are you standing there for? Why don't you mobilize the Imperial Guards and capture them immediately? Capture those who can be captured, and kill those who can't be captured!"

"Also, dispatch another 500 imperial guards to protect this place! Once we've captured those guys, we'll escort them out of the palace!"

It is not certain where the wild animals will go if they run away. If people scatter and something happens, they will not be rescued in time. It is better to stay in one place so that it is easier to manage.

Seeing the emperor so calm, the ministers and female relatives also calmed down a lot.

However, before the imperial guards arrived, a lightning-fast shadow ran across the white marble bridge and arrived at the main hall of the Qiong Yu Tower.

“Ahhh!!!!”

The dancer outside saw the figure clearly at the first moment.

It turned out to be a big tiger with yellow and black stripes, drooping eyes and a white forehead, and it looked very majestic.

But at this moment it was obviously a little irritable. When it heard the scream, it jumped onto the stage of Huaqing Pool in three or two steps, raised its claws as big as a human head, and slapped the screaming dancer's head to pieces.

"Protect the emperor! Protect the emperor!!!"

Lord Cao was a first-rank civil servant. He was so frightened by this scene that he almost fell to the ground, but he still stood in front of Emperor Mingde and shouted.

"Master Cao!"

Someone patted him on the shoulder, but Lord Cao was just staring at the movement outside and ignored it.

Song Taifu was embarrassed for a moment, and said in a more serious tone: "Master Cao! Please make way!"

Lord Cao came back to his senses and turned around to see that Xie Siheng and a few of his men were stopped behind him and were frowning at him.

Lord Cao's face flushed red: "It's urgent, it's urgent."

The tiger outside would not wait for anyone. It watched the dancers running away without chasing them. Instead, it turned around and ran into the hall. It waved its claws and smashed a table to pieces, biting anyone it saw.

Xie Si stood beside Emperor Mingde without moving, but several guards beside him rushed forward to stop him.

However, the tiger had cloudy eyes and a ferocious expression, with long saliva hanging from its two sharp canine teeth, as if it wanted to tear everything in front of it to pieces. It looked extremely crazy, and the guards were unable to catch it for a while.

The people from the Zhou family and the Ji family have already stood together, protected by Ji Changying and Zhou behind them, looking at the situation outside with nervous expressions.

The women from wealthy families were so frightened that they screamed and ran away in all directions. The tiger became even more violent when he heard their screams.

"roar--"

It barked and rushed towards someone casually.

There were two people between Zheng Xiangyi and the old lady of the Zhenguo Duke. She had been pushed aside in the panic just now. Now she watched the tiger rushing towards the lady of the Zhenguo Duke with horror, "Grandma!!"

She was so anxious that she pushed the person in front of her away without caring about her image and ran over at full speed.

Seeing the tiger raising its claws to slap the old lady, Zheng Xiangyi didn't know where she got the courage from, she pulled out the hairpin on her head, pounced over and stabbed the tiger in the butt.

"roar--"