51 First Court Assembly (1/2)
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.”