Stripping off their tall crowns, letting their long hair fall loose, and changing into plain white clothes, Linghu Qingqing and Gongyang Sanlü, accompanied by countless civil and military ministers, knelt outside the south gate of the imperial city.
The sea of white-robed figures looked exactly like people attending a funeral.
What made the scene even more baffling—and shocked everyone across the land—was Gongyang Sanlü’s suggestion: each of these top-tier nobles of the Great Jin Divine Kingdom held in their hands three lit incense sticks, the pale smoke twisting up into the sky.
This scene resembled a group of filial and virtuous descendants paying respects at the tomb of Sima Fu, the imperial lord within the royal city.
Linghu Qingqing and Gongyang Sanlü—one the Left Minister, the other the Right Minister—both wielded the greatest power in the Great Jin Divine Kingdom.
One commanded seventy percent of the generals, the other gathered seventy percent of the civil officials.
Yet both knelt outside the southern gate with hair unbound, dressed in plain white robes, backs straight, holding incense sticks, muttering loudly and repeatedly:
“Your Majesty, this old minister begs to see you.”
“Your Majesty, this old minister begs to see you.”