51 First Court Assembly

Su Li sat on the Dragon Throne in The Heavenly Hall looking at the various ministers of the Imperial Court as they knelt at the second broad step of the stairs leading up to the throne. The ministers were paying obeisance to her one by one with their three kneelings and nine kowtows, all the while shouting for her to live for ten thousand years.

Su Li thought to herself that if she really had to play the part of a male Monarch for thousands upon thousands of years, won't she go mad with anger and frustration at her situation. To the ministers below, her distracted appearance made her look taciturn.

The courtiers thought to themselves that had it been some other prince sitting at the head of the imperial power, wouldn't that person have smiled and laughed to high heavens and tried to show off the might of his power.

Thankfully, His Majesty seemed to realise the gravitas of his position. This clearly depicted that he realised that along with all the power, he had to shoulder the innumerable responsibilities as well.

Meanwhile, Su Li surveyed everyone who was paying homage in The Heavenly Hall to her or rather to Imperial Power and its owner. This made her realise the fact that though the distance between her and everybody present was that of just three steps but these three steps separated them into sovereign and his subjects.

It may seem the difference of just a few paces but in reality, they were as far away from each other as the earth and the sky. Swiftly coming to terms with her identity, she raised her hand and the eunuch by her side passed on her permission to let everybody rise.

Su Li tried to get comfortable on her seat.

No, not seat. It's The Dragon Throne.

She had to emphasize this point.

There was the throne itself, a great three-leaved affair. Over the ample seat in the centre, with a high backrest, two great wings spread off from the central division. It was made of white marble and jade, liberally sculptured with Chinese art. At its sides lay dragons, each one swinging the scaly horror of his folded tail toward the central seat, their heads projected outwards.

Below the throne were the three steps, on the broad second one of which the ministers were still performing the grand bows. It was all a very lavish affair in itself.

It wasn't a leather chair.

It wasn't a wicker chair.

It wasn't even a revolving chair or a foldable one.

No, It was the one and only Dragon Throne.

Su Li sighed to herself while trying to subtly get more comfortable on it but to no avail.

At this point, she would have taken any of the above options than the one readily available to her.

The problem being, it wasn't comfortable to sit on.

The backrest didn't have any cushions to support the body and less said about the seat, the better. Huh.

Su Li herself felt so fatigued. She hadn't even had any rest since the time of her kidnapping in the last world and come to think about it, she hadn't had anything to eat in all that time as well.

For the rest of the assembly, all the six ministries showed their books to her and gave suggestions for the new appointments to be made now that a new dynasty had been established.

Meanwhile, the other members of the imperial clan stood to one side with their heads hanging low, without saying a single word. It wasn't that they didn't want to place their own people in those ministries, it was just that nobody had a grasp of His Majesty's thoughts and temperament as of now so, no one wanted to stick their necks out at this time.

His Majesty was an Imperial Son that the late emperor had sent as a hostage to the Northern barbarians when war wast. He had just been a wee child of four summers old at that time. Now, the late emperor had departed from the mortal world, a new dynasty was established and that small child was seated at the seat of supreme power.

Su Li just sat on the throne, silently watching the heated and lively debate happening below. Whenever someone tried to reiterate their points to her, she nodded her head slightly in the direction of that person, pretending she understood everything that was going on.

In a few minutes, her head started hurting from all the cacophony of voices. Fed up of all the noise, she struck the imperil desk in front of her and everyone turned silent.

Thank God.

For a moment it had felt that she was visiting a fish market.

"Is this how our country's affairs are settled? Is this the audience hall or your own backyard?"

Everyone was stunned by the harsh words and again fell to their knees in fear. Truly, they had forgotten that the present Son of Heaven wouldn't allow them to talk over each other to drive home their point.

"Zhen doesn't want to recreate a scene of the fish market in the audience hall so the beloved ministers should behave in a way befitting their stations. Rise."

Suffering through the intense pressure of emperor's aura, the ministers finally finished their discussion and the assembly was about to end when an old minister suddenly bowed and said: "Your Majesty, this minister has a request to make."

"Speak." Su Li's voice was low which created an illusion that the emperor had the natural dominance of a monarch.

"Your Majesty, the Devil Snare Army will be returning to the capital a few days later. They have won and suppressed our neighbours in the East. How are you planning to receive them? If you could give us your orders then, everything can be prepared accordingly."

Everyone waited for His Majesty's response with bated breath.

The Devil Snare army was the biggest army unit in the country comprising of a million soldiers.

The Unit Commander of Devil Snare army was Ning Fu.

The fact that Ning Fu had won the war was a thing to celebrate.

The only unfortunate part is that His Majesty had just ascended the throne.

There was a chance that the monarch might not feel comfortable with someone who had so much military power in his hands when he himself was in the early days of his governance so, everyone wanted to hear His Majesty's response.

After all, this might give them some clues on the monarch's next course of action and they might plan accordingly as well.

Su Li had no idea what the minister was talking about so, her expression turned dark at once.

Not to mention, that she had no idea what to reply or why her orders were asked for regarding this matter specifically on the first day of court assembly.

If an army was returning triumphant, wasn't it customary to receive them with all the pomp and show and the complete nine yards?

What orders were they asking her for?

She contemplated asking the system for help but rejected that idea as soon as she thought about it.

She didn't trust it one bit so wasn't willing to ask or receive its help.

On the other hand, it was clear from how the question had been framed, that it was a trap.

Su Li could clearly see everyone's sneaking glances at her face.

She drummed her fingers on the arm of her throne and contemplated how to answer them without giving away anything.

This doublespeak really wasn't her thing.

The Devil Snare army, hmm...

Several long minutes passed, while His Majesty pursued his lips and kept looking at the minister who had raised the question.

Slowly, the said minister again gave her a kowtow "This subject has misspoken."

She replied amicably, "If you know that you have stepped out of bounds in front of me, go back home and take a few days off to reflect on your mistakes."

Su Li had said those words to gloss over the issue until she had all the relevant information from the system. But, who knew that these words would shake the hearts of everyone present.

If they said that the emperor had been harsh to the minister, His Majesty didn't scold him or criticise him.

If they said that the emperor had been soft to the minister, His Majesty's one sentence had barred him from returning to court until he was summoned back.

This once again confirmed that His Majesty wasn't someone they could take lightly and neither would he allow anyone to pull the wool over his eyes or probe him for his thoughts.

The minister tried one last valiant effort to not let the monarch be angry at him any longer, "This subject deserves death."

"Let's not talk about killings today minister." Su Li replied.

With a start, he replied, "This subject knows his wrongs."

It seemed that His Majesty wouldn't forgive his faux pas so easily.

Su Li really wanted to go back and have some rest so she impatiently replied, "Good. Zhen will call you back after some time."

"This subject accepts the decree," the minister kowtowed to her once again before rising to his feet and backing up three steps. Then he turned around and walked out of the Heavenly Hall.

Afterwards, Su Li dismissed the court.

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