Chapter Ninety: The New Sovereign Holds Court

The next day.

In the imperial palace of Great Chu, the new sovereign held court for the first time.

Xiang Chong was thrilled beyond measure. He had risen early, changed into the dragon robe and ceremonial crown, and was waiting in the rear hall for the auspicious hour when the civil and military officials would bow before him, the new ruler of Great Chu.

“Mother Empress, do I look like an emperor?”

Xiang Chong lifted his chin and chest, striding about with the air of a dragon and the tread of a tiger.

Dowager Empress Li smiled. “My son is of the Xiang clan, a descendant of the founding emperor of old. Of course you look like an emperor. Especially now, in the dragon robe—you look more like one than anyone else.”

Yet the exchange between mother and son left Eunuch Chen, standing nearby, feeling oddly uneasy.

If the son was foolish, how could the mother be so muddled too?

An emperor was an emperor. He was not some stage performer—what was there to ask about looking like one or not?

But Eunuch Chen was a true servant and never forgot his duty as such.

Even if he disapproved of his masters inwardly, he would never voice it aloud.

“How many civil and military officials have arrived?” Xiang Chong asked again.

Eunuch Chen was the chief steward of the inner palace and had countless eyes and ears within the palace walls.

He knew better than anyone how many ministers had come to the main hall.

“Your Majesty, according to Chu law, officials with an annual salary of two thousand dan or more may attend court before the throne each day.”

“In the capital, there are seven hundred thirty-two civil and military officials who meet the standard.”

Xiang Chong rejoiced. “More than seven hundred people came to bow to me?!”

“Uh…”

Eunuch Chen truly did not understand.

Despite already being exalted as the Son of Heaven of Great Chu, why was he only concerned with how many hundreds of people would bow to him?

The Fan family still held the power of Great Chu in their hands, yet Xiang Chong seemed utterly oblivious, without the slightest trace of tension.

Patiently, Eunuch Chen explained, “There are more than seven hundred civil and military officials qualified to attend court, but each office must leave men behind to keep watch. In addition, there are many officials on leave for personal reasons, illness, or outside assignments beyond the capital…”

“Enough, enough.”

Only after hearing Eunuch Chen ramble on did Xiang Chong realize that the number of people coming to bow in court was not actually that great. His enthusiasm instantly dimmed.

“Just tell me directly: how many are supposed to come today, how many have already arrived, and how many are still missing? I want to severely punish those who should have come but did not!”

“Ah?” Eunuch Chen said, stunned.

On the very first day of the new reign, instead of bestowing grace and announcing a general amnesty, he intended to punish the ministers severely?

Was that appropriate?

Xiang Chong glared. “What? A minister insults the sovereign, and I cannot punish him? Where, then, is the majesty of the throne? Where is the order between ruler and subject?”

“Your Majesty is right in all things!”

Though Eunuch Chen could crush Xiang Chong with a single finger, he still knelt at once in agreement.

The old eunuch said helplessly, “Today, the civil and military officials who should have come to pay respects to the new sovereign ought to number at least three hundred sixty-five. In truth, three hundred sixty-four have arrived, leaving one still absent…”

“Someone actually dares not to come?”

Xiang Chong laughed in fury.

“Issue the decree: strip that disrespectful fool of his office, throw him in prison, confiscate his household, and then wipe out his entire clan!”

Eunuch Chen was startled. “But Your Majesty…”

Xiang Chong waved him off. “Exterminate nine generations of his family! No one is to plead for him!”

The next day.

“B-but that man is Fan Li…”

“Ahem! Ahem, ahem, ahem!!!”

Xiang Chong began coughing violently, his face turning the color of pig liver.

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?!”

Eunuch Chen smiled bitterly.

Said so sooner?

Did His Majesty ever give anyone a chance to speak?

“Eunuch Chen, didn’t I send you to the Fan residence to deliver the decree? Why has Fan Li not come?” the Dowager Empress asked with a stern face.

“This…”

Eunuch Chen had no face to say it outright, and could only glance skyward.

His meaning was simple enough: it was not yet the appointed hour. Fan Li had not come, but neither was he late.

“We’re not waiting for Fan Li anymore! I’ll hold court now!”

The mere thought of Fan Li made Xiang Chong feel uncomfortable all over.

He was genuinely afraid that if Fan Li arrived later and refused to perform the full ritual of three kneelings and nine prostrations, it would leave him utterly humiliated.

Better to enjoy the officials’ homage first!

“Eunuch Chen, summon the carriage. We are proceeding to the Hall of Supreme Harmony,” Xiang Chong declared grandly.

The old eunuch was at a loss for words.

Was this not the rear hall of the Hall of Supreme Harmony already? A simple turn of the corridor would lead to the front hall—what carriage was there to summon?

“Yes, summon the carriage,” Chen replied weakly.

In the front hall, the civil and military officials stood with grave expressions; none spoke, not even in whispers.

They communicated only with their eyes, clearly aware that this was an extraordinarily special day.

“His Majesty enters court.”

Suddenly, the officials heard the chief palace eunuch’s ceremonial call.

They moved with practiced ease, taking their positions according to rank and department.

Xiang Chong took his seat upon the dragon throne and looked down from above at the civil and military officials of Great Chu.

Hah!

So this was the emperor’s vantage point?

Damn, this felt amazing!

“Bow.”

Eunuch Chen knew exactly what the new emperor was waiting for, and without wasting another instant, he went straight to the point.

“We, your servants, pay respects to our sovereign. May he live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, and ten thousand times ten thousand years.”

The officials indeed knelt.

Xiang Chong watched the civil and military officials perform the three kneelings and nine prostrations, yet for some reason he felt oddly awkward.

Though their motions of kneeling and bowing were clearly practiced beyond measure, when more than three hundred people all bowed together, it was completely uneven.

Not only was the kneeling not neat and orderly, but the thunderous cries of longevity from the assembly were scattered and disjointed as well.

“Even a theater troupe sounds better than them,” Xiang Chong grumbled inwardly.

Perhaps that was simply how court was supposed to be?

Xiang Chong did not believe the entire court would dare deceive him.

Just as he had found a way to excuse both the officials and himself, he saw a towering figure approaching from outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

“The Chancellor has arrived!”

The eunuch outside the hall sang the announcement, and Xiang Chong straightened at once.

No, not straightened—rather, he tensed.

“The Chancellor? Why not call his name?” Xiang Chong muttered inwardly.

Fan Li entered the Hall of Supreme Harmony with a faint smile.

Almost at the same moment, all the officials in the court rose to their feet.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized. From both left and right, the ministers bowed to Fan Li in unison.

“We, your humble officials, greet the Chancellor.”

Though they did not kneel, only bowed, and though the wording was simple, using “greet” rather than “present our respects,”

their movements were too precise, their voices too thunderous.

In sheer momentum, they utterly crushed the earlier cries of “long live the emperor”!

“Damn it!” Xiang Chong cursed inwardly.

So the civil and military officials were not incapable of it after all—they simply did not want to bow to him. They had just been making a fool of him, had they not?

Fan Li walked to the head of the officials’ ranks and smiled faintly at Xiang Chong on the dragon throne.

That smile made Xiang Chong feel deeply ill at ease, and he also noticed the sword at Fan Li’s waist.

“Bold!”

Xiang Chong, overwhelmed by nerves, blurted out, “Fan Li, you are a subject and I am the sovereign. You come to court without bowing to your ruler, and you even wear a weapon—could it be that you intend to rebel…?”

Because he was so tense, he nearly added, “Eunuch Chen, seize him!”

Fortunately, Xiang Chong restrained himself. He also knew that Great Chu’s finances and grain stores were all secretly controlled by the Fan family’s business enterprises, and that even the most elite garrison troops were utterly obedient to Fan orders.

Seize Fan Li?

Even he could not bring himself to do something that foolish.

Fan Li smiled.

Having heard Xiang Chong question him in such a manner, of course he had reason to smile.

“Your Majesty.”

Fan Li said only those two words, yet Xiang Chong trembled with excitement all over.

“He called me Your Majesty? Fan Li acknowledges me as the emperor? Hahahaha!”

Xiang Chong could not stop grinning, and the anger and tension from moments ago were instantly cast aside.

“Well then... my dear minister, please continue?” Xiang Chong said, adopting the posture of one who values virtue and welcomes talent.

Fan Li nodded. “Your Majesty, did you not know that your minister possesses the right to enter court without hurrying, to be announced by name only after the bow, to wear sword and shoes upon the palace steps, and to see the sovereign without kneeling?”