"We pay our respects to Your Majesty the Empress Dowager!!"
The ministers collectively bowed to the Empress Dowager in greeting.
Empress Dowager Guo sat bewildered in the seat of honor, looking at the assembled court dignitaries before her, unable to describe how she felt.
She had never expected Wang Xiang to actually accomplish this!
Was the realm hers now??
Would she be the sovereign of all under Heaven from now on?
Cao Mao sat close enough to see the exaggerated changes in her expression quite clearly.
Flames suddenly blazed in her eyes. Her hands clenched tightly as she stared straight at the ministers in the distance.
Cao Mao was certain that she had begun dreaming of ruling all under Heaven.
The ministers paid their respects one by one, saying much the same things as Lu Yu-all that nonsense about the Grand General being gravely ill and hoping the Empress Dowager would step forward.
Zhaoyang Hall had never been so lively.
Nor had the Empress Dowager ever seen so many ministers. Those ministers who had once stood high above her were now utterly deferential. Even standing before her, they dared not sit without her permission.
For a court full of foxes, toying with an Empress Dowager unversed in political maneuvering was simply too easy.
Empress Dowager Guo's behavior met the ministers' expectations perfectly.
Why did the ministers favor Sima Yan over Sima You?
Simply because his hair was longer?
Wasn't it because he was easier to control than his younger brother? And the present Empress Dowager Guo yielded nothing to Sima Yan in that regard-she was even worse!
The ministers needed precisely this sort of nominal ruler, easy to fool and easy to control.
Cao Mao did not let this fine opportunity slip away. This was his first time meeting so