"I hereby open the 10,235th morning court of the Ning Dynasty!" the emperor loudly announced the start of the new session.
Right away, a recorder spoke up about the provincial issues, then the judicial cases and various things regarding vassals, followed by military and scholarly reports, and finally some appointments.
Appointments of the ranks nine to seven may be approved by the local magistrates, while appointments starting from the sixth rank have to be processed in the court. With such a large country, there would be many who wait for the appointments every day.
Yunyin, sitting in the last row, observed all this. Today's court started easier, without any incident regarding Lai Wenyan.
His own image was that of a stoic official, so he didn't ask anyone and simply observed. Later he saw Wenyan standing together with another official of the Ministry of Revenue, discussing a few things.
Yunyin remembered having seen this official close to a director of Assistant Minister Ying's camp in the court. A guess appeared in his mind, which only became stronger after Wenyan explicitly observed his expression from afar.
The court today was about the Xinhu Province, a province known for being the heartland of tigers in the dynasty. There were many lonely mountains, perfectly fitting the habitation requirements of tigers, and yet also being a hotspot of martial artists.
As per customs, the order of court started with the Huangdi Province, the residence of the emperor of all mankind, the emperor of the Ning Dynasty!
Afterwards, the order would go north and walk counter-clockwise. The northern province would be the first, then the north-west, the west, south-west, south, and east. These were exactly the six inner provinces.
Going outward, the provinces start once again in the north and the procession is clockwise, going north, north-east, east, south-east, south and west.
This perfectly describes the problematic directions requiring a strong border, and the directions that are less likely to be attacked, allowing for a larger internal province.
As Yunyin thought of these, he looked over to the emperor listening to the officials discussing the issues of the Xinhu Province. There was no major issue, it was mostly about many martial arts tournaments happening around this time of the year, leading to a lower protection of the people in the cities where it happened.
Such cases happened every year, and they were the bulk of these cases.
Just as Yunyin thought the day would proceed normally, he suddenly saw a eunuch rushing into the court from the side door, walking right up to the emperor, his robe and garments signifying his status as an Imperial Eunuch!
The emperor raised his hand, halting the conversation of the officials.
From afar, Yunyin couldn't hear anything, but he saw the emperor frown after he heard of this matter.
Huangdi Ninghu looked deeply at the Imperial Eunuch, asking him whether it was true. Hearing a yes, he frowned even deeper before he stood up, "Court is dismissed!" his voice sounded throughout the court.
"Your majesty! Please reconsider!" instantly, an official from the Grand Secretariat knelt in front of the emperor.
"I have reconsidered," the emperor casually said while continuing to walk out, not even turning to look at the official.
"Your majesty, please reconsider!" the officials of the second group, ranging from six to four, all knelt down and asked the emperor to reconsider.
Officials of the Ministry of Rites to their left and right all gestured for them to kneel, so Yunyin followed.
"Your majesty, please reconsider!" he shouted along with the others, yet it only caused the emperor to halt for a second.
He reconsidered for just a moment, but seeing the first group didn't kneel, he didn't care anymore and left.
The officials all knelt on the ground, waiting for a whole minute before they rose again.
Yunyin saw frantic looks in the officials' eyes – this was a bad sign!
A day of court includes morning court and evening court. Today's morning court wasn't urgent, but the evening court is always about the specific rulings and decisions of various key matters.
Without reports and other things that consume time, the evening court is the court where the issues of several provinces can be solved. Only because of it can the morning court's rotation of provinces function, else, how could a province wait for two weeks for every ruling?
The officials looked frantic and worried, for the dismissal of the morning court often meant a dismissal of the evening court.
Those affected would be many more than the Xinhu Province's issue.
Even Yunyin felt a sense of brooding trouble.
Yesterday he didn't participate in the evening court, nor did many others, since the court is specific for several cases and only key personnel would attend, to ensure a more efficient court session.
But he knew that at the end of each evening court, the schedule for the next day's evening court would be decided.
Today would've been the day they'd have entered the schedule…
In the distance up front, Yunyin saw Assistant Minister Ying stand up and walk out of the court behind various other ministers, each of them having a frown.
If they knelt and asked the emperor to reconsider, he might've done so. But various factors wouldn't allow them to do so on a rather normal day.
Just as Yunyin was about to stand up and leave, he saw Fuliang's glance falling on him, a voice entering his mind in that moment, "Come with me," he heard.
Yunyin kept his head down and walked behind the procession of officials, positioning himself behind the fourth-rank ministry director in Fuliang's camp.
Wenyan looked at him with a deep frown, his eyes seemingly asking him why he had come, but seeing the director up front say nothing, he could only remain quiet.
The whole procession looked grand, yet the faces of officials all carried a coldness that could freeze a lake.
Yunyin and other lower officials could only remain quiet and follow the procession…