After the Son of Heaven announced a brief recess, the envoys of the various foreign states filed out of the main hall and entered a side hall.
Unfortunately, the arguments before the throne had been relentless, their voices rising in a clamor...
And this side hall was no quieter!
In the side hall, the foreign envoys waited.
Wei Shouzheng, the newly appointed Director of the Ministry of Rites' Office of State Guests, stood outside its doors with his hands hanging slightly open and worry written across his face.
"Wh-what am I supposed to do? My teacher never taught me this!"
As he spoke, he kept clicking his tongue and sighing.
Meanwhile, the clerks behind Wei Shouzheng wore assorted expressions as they covered their mouths with their sleeves and whispered, every last one of them glancing into the side hall.
At the end of the covered walkway, palace maids holding tea trays stood on tiptoe to peer inside, while young eunuchs laughed and chatted.
None had truly gone far. They had merely retreated behind the columns, leaving half their temples visible as they put their heads together and whispered.
Inside the side hall, swords were already drawn and bows bent.
The envoy from Joseon was the first to rise.
"Ah!! Sibal!!"
His face livid, the Joseon envoy walked into the middle of the hall and stopped facing Yeli Wangrong.
"The Tangut Li Shi has long dwelt on the western frontier, originally among the people abandoned by Great Tang. Only through the benevolent grace of Great Zhou's Emperor Taizu did she gain a foothold.
"Yet today, rather than repay that kindness, you threaten us with the 'flames of war.' How are you any different from a wolf crouching at the gate to devour the master who feeds it?!
"I have