Twenty minutes later, Great Han's public broadcasts, military radio relays, local channels in every member state, the Government-in-Exile networks of Goryeo and Area 11, and the newly connected imperial commercial rebroadcast lines all went live at once.
Outside the imperial audience hall in the Forbidden City, the hastily erected lectern was clearly still a little too high.
When Jiang Lihua stepped behind it, the central camera could only see her crown, the top of her long white hair, and a pair of red eyes. The protocol officials blanched and hurriedly ordered someone to bring over the platform prepared for the Son of Heaven.
Once the platform was in place, she stepped onto it and finally appeared fully in frame, but the microphone was still a little too high, pointing straight at her forehead.
Jiang Lihua glanced up, rose onto her toes, and reached out with both hands, struggling to pull the microphone stand down.
The metal stand let out a rather undignified squeak just as the live broadcast connection came fully online.
And so, the first thing the entire world heard was not the Son of Heaven's speech, but a slightly breathless complaint: "Why is it still so high..."
The Imperial Secretary tried to signal the technicians to cut the sound, but Jiang Lihua had already noticed the red light glowing beneath the microphone. She froze, her cheeks quickly flushing pink, then turned toward the Imperial Secretary.
"Has the speech already started?"
The Imperial Secretary could only nod with excruciating slowness. Jiang Lihua looked down again at the densely written speech Lin Cuo had prepared and murmured, "It's all that big meanie's fault. He only wrote half the instructions for the microphone height."
That remark also went out over the public channels. At first, the young officers in the front