One Man, One Saber, Treading into the Imperial Palace

Everyone was startled by this imperial edict.

Enfeoffed as a prince.

And a First-Rank Prince at that.

In all of Great Chu, only a scant few had ever been granted the title of First-Rank Prince.

From the late reign of the Seventh Generation Chu Emperor—beginning with the New Emperor's grandfather—the granting of princely titles had already been handled with great caution.

By the Eighth Generation Chu Emperor, the longest-reigning Chu Emperor, who had ruled for nearly two thousand years, fewer than five First-Rank Princes had been enfeoffed.

And all of them had been imperial clansmen.

"What kind of move was this? How had the situation suddenly reversed?"

"Had the New Emperor bowed his head to the Regent?"

Everyone was baffled. This was the first time an emperor had admitted fault to a minister. Not only was he granting a princely title, he was even holding a banquet to apologize.

"Something's wrong, Prime Minister Han..."

"I remembered the late emperor issuing an edict: no emperors of later generations were permitted to enfeoff princes, not even commandery princes. If one truly had to be enfeoffed, the Grand Secretariat had to convene a council, together with the Imperial Observatory, Jixia Academy, the Demon Suppression Division, and the emperor. Only unanimous approval from all parties could permit it."

"So long as even one person objected, it would be impossible."

Sun Wu said, frowning.

"At a time like this, there were no procedures to speak of. Xuan Tian Pavilion had already risen above the Grand Secretariat; imperial edicts were treated like child's play."

"Removing the Regent before had already been sheer nonsense. Restoring the Regent now was no different. Where was even a shred of the New Emperor's dignity?"

"I guessed the New Emperor wanted to lure Chu Jiang to the Golden Palace Hall and