This was an earth-shattering turn of events!
Panic gripped the palace, while shock swept through those outside. Almost everyone's mind was buzzing. They simply could not believe this was real. How could the emperor have suddenly died?
Although Liu Jin had merely fallen unconscious, in the Great Han, an emperor falling unconscious was tantamount to death. Decades of experience had taught them that.
The problem was that Emperor Liu Jin was different from the emperors before him. "He has no heir. Who will inherit the legitimate succession to the Great Han's Altars of State?"
Aside from a very few people who were paying attention to Liu Jin, the overwhelming majority were pondering this question: who would be the next emperor?
The emperor had to bear the surname Liu. There was no question about that. Even the Meritorious Military Nobles, who had opposed the emperor over the war against the Southwestern Yi, had never considered overthrowing the Liu Clan's rule.
The Great General's Residence.
Looking at his colleagues before him, the Great General sighed softly. "Since the emperor is about to die, the rights and wrongs of the past no longer mean anything. It is time to look ahead."
Why did the Great General and his fellows hate the emperor, and even now feel that they had done nothing wrong, while Emperor Liu Jin had been enraged to the point of dying?
This was, in fact, a phenomenon caused by differing understandings of their respective status.
Liu Jin still thought of himself as standing high above everyone, possessing unquestionable power over the lives and deaths of all his subjects beneath heaven. He believed that issuing an edict of self-reproach admitting his mistakes, and declining to hold the Meritorious Military Nobles accountable for their disrespect, had been enough.
He had never expected