As soon as the emperor spoke, the hall fell silent.
None of the officials qualified to attend the New Year's Tribute in the hall were fools. Naturally, they could sense that something seemed amiss.
Could His Majesty be about to announce something momentous? Several senior officials exchanged glances.
"Read the decree." The emperor raised his eyelids, looked down at those below, and spoke dispassionately.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Eunuch Zhao replied. A young eunuch immediately approached bearing an imperial decree of yellow silk. Eunuch Zhao received it with both hands and stepped before the assembly.
"Duan Yanxing, receive the decree!"
Standing among the assembled officials, Duan Yanxing felt his head buzz, and his face turned deathly pale. Not daring to delay, he hurried out of the ranks and knelt. "Your subject Duan Yanxing respectfully awaits Your Majesty's decree!"
The moment he finished speaking, the blood throughout his body ran cold, the chill piercing his marrow. In an instant, the entire hall fell deathly silent, with only the ministers' breathing audible.
Eunuch Zhao's face remained expressionless, his voice neither hurried nor slow.
"By the mandate of Heaven, the emperor decrees: Duan Yanxing, commander of the Imperial Guard, a military official of the subordinate third rank entrusted with command of the Imperial Guards, ought to have been an example to all ministers and led by his own conduct. Yet he has disregarded imperial grace, bought and sold official posts, consorted with courtesans and lodged with prostitutes, murdered for wealth, plotted against officials, and abused his authority for private gain... We abhor his crimes. Under the law, he must be severely punished without leniency. Let him be stripped of office and taken to the Heavenly Prison to await judgment. Respect this decree!"
The decree listed seven charges against Duan Yanxing in all. Once he