The peaceful morning was disturbed by the sounds of drums and a loud voices proclaiming, "His Majesty The King orders all rank one and rank two officials to gather in the centre of the camp in thirty minutes. Anyone late to the roll call will be penalized according to the Imperial Court Laws."As soon as these sounds reached the ears of the ministers, they frantically got dressed and rushed towards the designated place; afraid that being late might just give His Majesty an excuse to excuse them from the court.
Thus, all the officials were gathered in small, tense little groups that stiffly discussed such important topics as to what had transpired during the night for a roll call in the morning, even though there wasn"t supposed to be a small a.s.sembly today or what their countermeasures would be if the monarch turned his ominous gaze on them.
After the roll call, His Majesty appeared in front of the officials and he had a particular determined air around him and he sent a quelling glance at everyone which in turn sent s.h.i.+vers down their spines.
The officials were even more worried.
Ai..ma!
Who had stepped on His Majesty"s tail last night?
The person had stepped on the tail but they"ll be the ones to see the mouth and hear the growling.
Peh! Peh!
That was the wrong a.n.a.logy.
They straightened their backs and bowed a bit lower.
Yes, yes, it"s a dichotomy but these foxes could do it. Never mind how.
His Majesty looked up with a slow smile and the few ministers who had any sense of situational awareness felt a s.h.i.+ver of worry slide over them while their internal eyebrows quirked in interest.
"When Zhen first took over the responsibility for this nation and its people, Zhen thought to himself that Zhen will try to make the world a better place to live in for everyone. For commoners and n.o.bles alike. For literary talents and the illiterate alike. For masters and slaves alike and for higher officials and the new recruits alike."
The monarch continued relentlessly, "However, Zhen forgot that to make the world a bit better, Zhen had to look at and see for himself what was going on around him and not blindly trust people and their reputations and characters. Zhen has been remiss in his thoughts and actions."
Then the monarch made a show of looking at everybody present with an amiable smile.
Meanwhile, the minister"s inner thoughts were, "Your Majesty, do you know that your smile has more teeth than a shark"s at present, who are you trying to bluff?"
Everyone present had frozen into the silent stillness of prey that did not want to be hunted by a powerful hunter.
Poised on her raised seat, Su Li crossed her legs gracefully and patiently waited for her words to sink in. Today she"ll make them realise what was Imperial might. They all treated her like a small kitten and she had been happy lazing around and whiling away the time with these people.
However, it seemed that they had forgotten that a cat was also a feline and a member of the same category as that of tigers, leopards and lions.
Su Li looked at everyone coldly and dictated, "Under Zhen"s regime, Zhen won"t allow people with malevolent tendencies to continue to suppress others and Zhen will give voice to the oppressed to be heard by the bureaucracy."
Afterwards, the monarch waved his hand and a new imperial edict was read by the head eunuch.
It read, "By the power vested in The Monarch by heavens itself, any Imperial Court Official found to be using his power or status to subdue or harm others in an unjust manner, either physically or emotionally will be dealt with forty floggings as a minimum punishment, while the rest of the punishment will be decided by an imperial official selected by The Son of Heaven"s at his own discretion. As ordained by the order of His Majesty, so mote it be."
The series of words rang loudly in the centre of the camp and would later be announced throughout the nation. But right now to the corresponding wording of the fourth decree, His Majesty for the first time exuded an awe-inspiring aura which was full of killing intent.
The rampaging aura of a cold, ruthless and merciless tyrant which had never been present in the emperor, surged from His Majesty in waves upon waves and for the first time since the emperor"s coronation, these so-called "pillars of the nation" realised the hidden spine of mirthil in their liege.
They also realised that the earlier by-plays in The Heavenly Hall had all been His Majesty playing around with them. While they had thought that they had seen the worse the emperor could dish out, the other person had been toying with them the way a lazy cat toys with an annoying gnat.
However, what they were seeing right now was the true face of the monarch.
The monarch further continued in his authoritarian voice, "Relay Zhen"s command to all under heavens, from this moment onwards, anyone found in violation of Zhen"s words will answer to the Imperial Court and anyone who misuses this order so as to achieve gains for themselves or to trample on their superior"s dignity will be killed without exception."
The ministers could feel their sweat trickling down their bodies. This fourth imperial decree had them trembling at the knees as well as their hearts.
Just as they thought that they"ll be allowed to go back to their tents to digest the news, they bore witness to the first punishment carried out under the decree.
A few robust men were carried into their midst. From the looks of it, they seemed to be from the military division. When a few people looked closely, they recognised this group as The Devil Snare Army"s second-rank generals.
Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air when this fact sunk into them.
They tried to gauge Ning Fu"s reaction to all this from the corner of their eyes but he stood at his position with a subservient att.i.tude, without sticking out his neck.
It was true that in front of the imperial power, every man for himself.
Subsequently, a hearing took place where it was disclosed that these generals had been bullying a ten-year-old boy who went by the name Zhou Sheng.
They had beaten him to such an extent that he had broken ribs and when His Majesty had tried to stop them, they had questioned as to who dared to interfere in the internal matters of The Devil Snare Army.
The second-rank generals also picked up the fact that the winds were not in their favour today, they bowed their heads and took their punishment without a word.
Later on, His Majesty also announced that these generals would be demoted by two ranks and let them leave the small a.s.sembly.
The Unit Commander of The Devil Snare Army was also charged with the negligence of his lower tire subordinates and fined with his salary for the next half of the year.