An Audience with the Emperor, Part One

Taking advantage of the child being asleep, I hurriedly wrote out a chapter—my wife came back in the middle of the night, so tomorrow I'll post three updates to make up for yesterday's.

When the Grand Ancestor held court, civil and military officials entered and left the imperial palace through Donghua Gate, proceeding to Wenhua Hall for audiences.

Later, when the Retired Emperor took charge of the government, he favored Wuying Hall in the southwest of the imperial palace. Thus, the place where civil and military ministers came and went was changed to Xihua Gate.

After Emperor Guangde ascended the throne, he had originally continued following the Retired Emperor's rules. It was not until the summer before last that he restored the "ancestral custom" of using Donghua Gate.

However, he had not moved the place where he received ministers back to the original Wenhua Hall. Instead, he had relocated it to the Imperial Study of Qianqing Palace.

Of course, that was only in name.

In reality, because Emperor Guangde "toiled year-round" in Jingren Palace, this was where he most often received officials from outside the palace.

Last spring, a warm chamber had even been specially built in Jingren Palace for this purpose.

Enough idle chatter.

After leaving Dali Temple, Sun Shaozong took a wide detour around the base of the imperial city wall before finally arriving outside Donghua Gate.

After presenting his personal identification and waist token as Vice Minister of Dali Temple, he was soon led by the guards on duty to the vicinity of Fengxian Gate.

He handed the memorial he had prepared long ago to a eunuch for presentation, then, at the man's gesture, went to wait in an unnamed hall nearby.

The hall was long and narrow, with four-pronged official hat chairs lining both sides. There