Li Hanru frowned and said in a low voice, "The Right Chancellor goes too far. The prince only wanted an answer. How is that interrogating His Majesty?"

Zong Sibo waved a hand. "Very well. Setting everything else aside, this old man asks just one thing... May I ask the Left Chancellor: are you the Left Chancellor of the Great Xuan or aren't you? Are you His Majesty's subject?"

Li Hanru nodded. "Of course!"

Zong Sibo said, "Good. Then let me ask you this. His Majesty has taken the throne, yet his new policies are hemmed in at every turn and he has no power to move the country's troops. Whose fault is that?"

Li Hanru's expression stiffened.

Zong Sibo went on. "Left Chancellor, you and I are both ministers of the regency chosen by the Emperor Emeritus himself. Neither of us should have private motives... Hand on your heart, the Prince Who Holds the Realm has power that reaches the sky, greater even than His Majesty's. Is that good for the Great Xuan?"

Li Hanru said without thinking, "The Prince Who Holds the Realm's power was all given to him by the Emperor Emeritus. He himself..."

"But the Emperor Emeritus has abdicated. The reign name is Xiaode now."

Zong Sibo cut Li Hanru off sharply.

Then he said loudly, "Every state has submitted now. The Great Xuan is at war no more and there is peace on all four sides... All of it is the Prince Who Holds the Realm's doing, and every one of you, my lords, should keep it in your hearts and be overcome with gratitude.

But a subject's power must never rise above His Majesty's. That is no good thing for the Great Xuan."

As he said it, Zong Sibo suddenly dropped to his knees in front of Ning Chen and said loudly, "My lord prince's service will stand for a thousand years, and his name will carry its fragrance down the ages... But a new sovereign on the throne needs achievements of his own. Now there is peace across the four seas, and there's no…