The Great Qian Imperial Capital.
It was still the Humble Governance Pavilion.
Emperor Longchang was now advanced in years. Apart from the regular grand court assemblies, he mostly handled affairs within the Humble Governance Pavilion.
Great Qian had seven commanderies and one capital, its territory vast and sprawling. Countless matters, great and small, occurred every day, and very few truly required Emperor Longchang's personal attention.
Take the Changning Wang Clan's recent promotion from a Subordinate Seventh Rank to a Sixth-Rank aristocratic family. By protocol, Commandery Governor Taishi Ankang needed to organize the relevant documents, draft a memorial requesting promotion, and send it to the capital for His Majesty to personally review and mark in vermilion.
In reality, however, the overwhelming majority of ordinary memorials were handled by the enormous Grand Secretariat according to established procedures. Once the three Grand Secretaries had reviewed them and found no issue, they could jointly sign and stamp them with their seals, after which they would be carried out.
Only an extremely small number of major matters, or those lucky enough to be selected for random inspection, would be placed before His Majesty for his personal review.
And that was indeed how it should be. With a nation as vast as Great Qian, if the Emperor had to personally decide every trivial matter, no amount of time would ever be enough.
A dignified Emperor would probably be drowned alive beneath mountains and seas of memorials.
Now, as Emperor Longchang grew older and his energy steadily waned, he spent even less time handling court affairs. Most of his days were spent resting in the Humble Governance Pavilion, or receiving the more outstanding juniors among his children and grandchildren.
Great Heavenly Prodigies were already the most elite prodigies in Great Qian. Barring accidents, they would certainly become