In the Great Li metropolitan area, at Mingdi Ferry, a Cross-Continent Ferry named "Pearl" slowly rose into the air.
Emperor Song He was aboard, bound for talks with the Great Duan Cao Clan and the Great Origin Lu Clan about forming an alliance.
Sword Immortal Zhu Su had taken a temporary assignment, and the Ministry of Justice had issued her a Third-Class Pass. She did not mind in the least, but the ministry wondered whether the rank was too low and immediately asked National Teacher's Manor if it should be changed to second-class. Rong Yu's reply said only that there was no need.
With the emperor away from the Great Li Capital City, Chen Ping'an, as National Teacher, held the authority of a regent, if not the title.
Back at National Teacher's Manor from Mingdi Ferry, Chen Ping'an entered his study and eyed the "rockeries" piled across his desk. His head ached. The Great Li Ministry of Revenue's senior officials had nearly been swept up in one net. He personally had to review Minister Mu Yan's Ministry of Justice dossier, which had also drawn in embezzlement cases at two major metropolitan granaries. Then there were copies of every memorial Mu Yan had jointly submitted for deliberation, and the silver-withdrawal figures each province had compiled annually and sent to the ministry for verification. All of it needed tracing back at least ten years. Even after Rong Yu and the manor's Secretary Officials had prepared brief summaries, a book or two could hardly lay out the whole tangle. There was even a memorial from the Ministry of Works concerning the Court of Imperial Sacrifices' request to repair ritual objects. Because it involved several altars and temples, including the Great High Mystery Hall, and because "a state's great affairs are sacrifice and war"