The memorial reached the Grand Secretariat through the Directorate of Transmission in the afternoon.
Winter days were short. The slanting sunlight filtered through the window lattice, scattering patches of light across the Hall of Literary Depths.
Three men were on duty, seated on three sides of a long desk.
Reports were piled more than half a foot high on the desk, and the charcoal brazier burned hot.
Song Yue, Minister of War and Grand Secretary of the Hall of Martial Valor, courtesy name Chengping, sat at the eastern end.
He was forty-five, with a lean, austere face. Only his eyes showed no trace of age, still and deep as an ancient well.
Song Yue was a man Feng Yan had personally promoted during his years at the Ministry of War.
Half the Feng Faction's military foundation rested on the veterans who had served under Feng Yan when he repelled the Khitan three times during the Emperor Shizong Era.
The other half rested on Song Yue's steady, methodical efforts over the years.
Incidentally, without a war underway, the Ministry of War did not participate in Cabinet Council deliberations.
Thus, on most days, Song Yue merely sat in attendance to make up the numbers.
Kou Yuan, Minister of Revenue and Grand Secretary of the Hall of Literary Depths, courtesy name Fuan, sat at the western end.
He was about forty-five or forty-six, lean and dignified, with three strands of long beard falling to his chest. He sat as straight as a pine.
His grandfather was none other than Kou Zhun, Chief Minister during Great Zhou's Taizong Era.
Unfortunately, Kou Zhun had never had a son, only a daughter. Kou Yuan was a descendant of his adopted son.
Thus, although Kou Yuan had entered the Secretariat three years ago, he had the title