Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2442 Civil and Military Officials Gathered in the Palace

Inside the imperial kitchen, more than a hundred chefs were busy preparing for tonight's banquet.

Inside the palace hall, one of the senior eunuchs was directing a group of junior eunuchs and palace maids to clean, decorate, and arrange tables and chairs. They were going in and out, busy as hell.

In the warm room, Li Xiang listened to the noises outside while leisurely reading a book. It was a rare chance for him to take a break from his busy schedule.

No one knows who wrote this book, but it collects together what many travelers have seen and heard while traveling around the world. The content is quite interesting and it's nice to read it for fun.

Before it got dark, people started entering the palace.

In this northern part, when winter comes, it gets dark very quickly.

These people arrived before it got dark, which was considered quite early.

Wang Meng and Zhuge Liang from the six ministries, Wei Xiaokuan and Tian Feng from the Censorate, and others came hand in hand and entered the palace.

Guanglu Temple Minister Jia Sidao, Governor Ji Dan who came to Beijing to report on his work at the end of the year and others got off the carriage, exchanged greetings, and walked into the palace one after another.

Yue Fei, Yue Yun, Yue Lei, Chang Yuchun, Chang Mao and others arrived almost at the same time. After some polite words, they walked forward.

These generals who were away had only returned to Luoyang a few days ago.

Changsun Sheng, Wei Qing and other foreign relatives were all together, talking and laughing happily, and went straight into the palace.

Among the royal family, Li Jing, Li Siyuan and others also came one after another. They were all very calm and talked and laughed freely.

All the civil and military officials in the court, no matter they were from the central faction or the local faction, soon gathered in the main hall of the imperial palace and took their seats one after another according to the arranged seats.

The time has not come yet, Li Xiang has not come yet, and a large group of people are sitting in their seats, talking to each other.

Hundreds of court officials were divided into different small circles inside and outside the court, and they greeted each other.

Perhaps it was because there had been so much unrest in the past few years that they finally had a peaceful year this year. Or perhaps it was because the old year was about to end and the new year had officially begun, everyone was very happy and did not care much. They were talking and laughing happily.

Wang Meng sat together with Zhuge Liang, Li Jing, Yue Fei, Chen Pingping and others, putting aside their grudges and chatting in a relaxed manner.

It has nothing to do with government affairs or romance, it is just like any other daily routine, with lively greetings.

These people are the ones with the highest status in the court today.

Wang Meng was originally the top civil official. Although Zhuge Liang had been transferred from the local to the central government only one year ago, he was showing a tendency to surpass many of his predecessors and become the third civil official after Wang Meng and Guan Zhong.

Li Jing is considered the number one person in the military, but he is no longer leading the troops.

As for Yue Fei, he is currently the most powerful person in the military. Even though they all hold the same position in name, he is qualified to mobilize troops from several states in foreign wars, which makes him at least half a head more powerful than other generals.

Although Chen Pingping's official position could not compare with the others, he was not only one of the most powerful eunuchs in the palace, but also the one who controlled the huge Fushuifang after Mao Xiang. His actual power was no less than that of the others.

Not long after, another eunuch, Eunuch Liu, came out and looked at the group of officials below.

When everyone saw him, they immediately fell silent and stared at him in amazement, as if waiting for him to convey something. Eunuch Liu smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, everyone. His Majesty is still changing clothes. I just came to order the dishes to be served. You can chat about your own things."

After all, Eunuch Liu was one of the most senior eunuchs in the palace, and he was the one who served the emperor closely, although most of the court officials were unwilling to associate with him as a eunuch.

Moreover, the Rebellion of the Ten Eunuchs of the previous dynasty was still fresh in their minds, and many court officials were still wary of them.

However, after all, he is always with the monarch, so there is no need to curry favor with him, but there is no need to provoke him either.

So, most people just nodded politely to indicate that they already knew.

Among them, Wang Meng thought for a moment, waved his hand to call someone over and said, "Eunuch Liu, does His Majesty have any other arrangements today?"

Eunuch Liu hunched over, trying to be respectful, and then replied in a low voice, "Although your majesty has not said it explicitly, I guess that your majesty just wants to have some fun with you gentlemen, and has no other intentions."

Now, for the vast majority of officials present, big and small, Eunuch Liu, as the emperor's close attendant, has no need to curry favor with them.

However, the one in front of him was different. If he got into trouble with this one, he would be wasting his life.

Wang Meng was worried that Li Xiang would take this opportunity to do something else. First, they had hardly lived a peaceful life in the past few years, so they had to be allowed to be peaceful for a few days. Second, the emperor sometimes tended to be radical, but as his subjects, they preferred to develop steadily at this stage.

Therefore, Wang Meng felt relieved when he heard this and said, "Thank you, Eunuch Liu."

Eunuch Liu smiled without saying anything, and began to order people to serve the dishes.

The palace maids came in from the side door carrying plates like a stream of water. The small dishes were placed neatly and orderly on the table of the court officials. Then, the main dishes came, one plate after another, brought up by the palace maids. Finally, there was the wine, which looked like a mutton-fat jade bottle, exquisite and delicate.

The group of people stared in amazement and looked at each other in bewilderment.

The dishes served by the palace maids were very exquisite, and it was obvious that the chefs in the palace were very skilled. However, they lacked "portions". Looking at them, they were basically only one-fifth the size of ordinary dishes, and seemed like they could be finished in one bite.

'What does it mean? ’

The ministers were all wondering what the emperor, who had not yet appeared, meant. Was he telling them to be frugal?
"Your Majesty is here!"

Suddenly, a eunuch's shrill voice was heard, and then Li Xiang, dressed in the emperor's uniform, strode over and walked towards the dragon throne at great speed.

"Your Majesty, we are here to pay our respects. Long live the Emperor!" Nearly a hundred people stood up together and saluted in unison towards the dragon throne.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

There were hundreds of court officials, and almost all of them withdrew their hands at the same time, and then sat down one after another.

Li Xiang looked around at these people. They were all the backbone of his Great Jin. Each of them would be the backbone of the Great Jin now or in the future. The future development of the Great Jin was in his hands, and also in the hands of these backbones.

He was very happy, picked up the wine glass at hand and said, "To bid farewell to the old year and to welcome the new year, everyone, today we are the king and his subjects, and we will drink this cup to the full!"

"Cheers to our emperor." Everyone raised their glasses and gestured from a distance.