All the officials stood in two rows in the front, some wearing official uniforms, some wearing civil uniforms. Their clothes did not move, but the clothes of the palace guards were rustling, and they could not open their eyes due to the strong wind.
All the civil and military officials looked over here.
The four prime ministers, six ministers of the ministry, provincial governors, military leaders, royal relatives, and heads of aristocratic families were all on the list.
Fang Yun only felt the air solidify and his breathing stopped.
Under normal circumstances, Fang Yun would not feel anything if there were twice as many people, but this was in front of the gate of an imperial palace, and all the officials were about to go to court, so the momentum had been building up for a long time.
The court is the place to practice the holy way!
Hundreds of gazes mean the scrutiny of hundreds of forces.
"Wheeze..."
The horses pulling the carriages fell down in large numbers, and the carriages fell to the ground one after another, and the scholars exclaimed in surprise.
Fang Yun's clothes were suddenly lifted back, and the next moment, his literary power was released and his clothes fell back down.
Fang Yun bowed to all the officials and then walked towards the bridge leading to Youye Gate.
Many officials smiled.
The significance of Fang Yun's departure from Youye Gate is significant.
If Fang Yun goes through the Zuoye Gate to select the civil service team, he may not necessarily lean towards the Left Prime Minister, but if he goes through the Youye Gate, he will definitely not lean towards the Left Prime Minister.
Fang Yun walked forward steadily without looking around, but his peripheral vision was keeping an eye on the two teams.
It was easy to deal with the civil and military officials, but Fang Yun did not expect that this grand court meeting would also summon royal relatives and heads of aristocratic families, which was very rare.
The royal relatives came only to fulfill their duties as royal bloodlines. If they really wanted to interfere in military and political affairs, except for Prince Kang who was backed by a semi-saint family, everyone else would definitely be purged.
The heads of aristocratic families all have titles in Jing State, and they may not necessarily participate in military and political affairs when they come here, but since they are here, it represents an attitude and supports the royal family of Jing State.
These noble families would suffer the least after the fall of the Kingdom of Jing, because the monarchs of any country would welcome them with open arms. But they also least wanted the Kingdom of Jing to be destroyed.
Except for the family that Chen Guanhai belonged to, which was established after the founding of the country, all other families were established before the founding of the country. They made great contributions to Jingguo and had blood feuds with the families of the neighboring Qingguo and Wuguo.
If Jing Kingdom was destroyed, these noble families would be laughed at by the noble families of Qing Kingdom and Wu Kingdom for at least a hundred years.
After figuring everything out, Fang Yun came to the end of the military officers and literary officials.
The last-ranked official bowed and said, "Greetings, Lord Fang." Then he moved a step to the south to make room for one person to the north.
Fang Yun glanced at this person and nodded slightly. This person was a fifth-rank general in the capital, and he was not qualified to attend court meetings. Only officials of the third rank or above, plus a few low-rank officials with important matters, could attend court meetings.
Fang Yun walked past him and continued walking forward. Every time he passed someone, an official would greet him with a bow and then move aside.
Not long after, Fang Yun walked in front of a third-rank official. The official first stepped sideways and bowed to greet him, which was obviously different from the others who had greeted first and then stepped sideways.
The other side of this third-rank official is a third-rank official, who, like Fang Yun, has the additional title of Cabinet Walking Officer.
Fang Yun nodded one last time, glanced at the senior officials in front of him, and then moved into the empty seat vacated by the third-rank official.
At this moment, the Holy Court was preparing the statue of the Void Saint. It would take a few days to confer Fang Yun the title of Void Saint, and Fang Yun's new title of Shocking Saint would still need to be discussed. Fang Yun was currently just a cabinet official with the least experience, so he was ranked before all the third-rank officials and after the third-rank officials.
Fang Yun did not find Zhang Poyue. It seems that the court is afraid of problems on the front line and cannot let the leader of Dingyuan Army return.
Fang Yun stood in the team in front of the Youye Gate, motionless.
The other Jinshi stood outside the moat for a while and then made their choices.
Among the top ten Jinshi, three chose to enter the team in front of Zuoye Gate, and seven chose to enter the team in front of Youye Gate.
The remaining two hundred or so Jinshi walked towards the two gates. In the end, less than fifty people chose the Zuoye Gate, and most of the rest chose the Youye Gate.
This situation has never happened since Zuo Xiang came to power.
The fact that these scholars chose Youye Gate not only meant that they would not defect to Zuo Xiang and were in favor of war, but also meant that Fang Yun finally had real wings!
Before, Fang Yunkong had great power but no followers, so those people could only be considered his supporters at best.
And now, hundreds of Jinshi will become Fang Yun's followers.
Before, Jingguo only produced more than 30 Jinshi every year!
Some officials in front of the Youye Gate smiled.
Some officials in front of Zuoye Gate were also laughing. Although they were civil servants, they were not followers of Zuo Xiang or King Kang.
The man standing at the head of the civil servants remained unmoved, expressionless, and his demeanor did not change at all from beginning to end.
The old man had an elegant appearance and extraordinary temperament. He was over sixty years old but looked only in his early fifties. He was meticulously groomed, except that he had a lot more silver hair on his temples than six months ago.
The Left Prime Minister Liu Shan was the head of the civil officials of Jing State.
Fang Yun glanced at the team of civil servants opposite him. Many of them were staring at him, but there was one person who was very special.
Ji Zhibai.
Ji Zhibai was very calm and his eyes were extremely cold, but deep in his eyes, there was a fire of hatred that could not be concealed.
The two looked at each other.
Ji Zhibai clenched his fists and his eyes seemed to be spitting fire.
Fang Yun felt a little apologetic at first, but suddenly he remembered that everyone on the literary list used a few Ji Zhibai as a unit of measurement for scholars and poems, and he couldn't help but turn his head away, with a very faint smile on his face.
Many officials noticed this scene and looked at Ji Zhibai with a smile.
Ji Zhibai's teeth were chattering. He withdrew his gaze, lowered his eyelids, and stared at the ground in a daze.
When the time came, two eunuchs walked out from the left and right side gates respectively. Just as they were about to lead the two teams of officials into the left and right side gates, a very vulgar voice was heard not far away.
"Wait a minute! I am Prince Huang, and I also want to participate in the court meeting!" Ao Huang turned into a golden light and rushed over.
When Fang Yun and everyone else turned their heads to look, Ao Huang had already rushed in front of Fang Yun. He flew between Fang Yun and the third-rank official and hung in the air.
The official looked at Ao Huang in amazement. What was this yellow dragon doing
Ao Huang twisted his dragon body and pushed the third-rank official away with his tail, muttering, "You don't know how to be humble. Don't you know how to make room for me? Alas, Fang Yun, am I not late?"
Fang Yun rolled his eyes at Ao Huang, but the yellow dragon was right. It was indeed qualified to participate in the court meeting, and should be at the head of the team, but no one reminded it.
"Well, just follow me obediently. Don't say anything unless I tell you to. Otherwise, I will tell your sister." Fang Yun has discovered Ao Huang's weakness: he is afraid of his sister.
"You are so cruel!" Ao Huang glared at Fang Yun fiercely, then floated happily in the air.
The two eunuchs looked at each other and led the team into the left and right gates.
Behind the gate is a river named Jingshui, and on the water is the Jingshui Bridge.
Fang Yun walked and looked. Behind Jingshui Bridge was a road with ceremonial bands on both sides, and further ahead was Fengtian Gate.
Fengtian Gate is tall and has yellow tiles and red walls. In front of the gate there are two bronze lions, one male and one female, as tall as a person. A plaque hangs high above the gate with the three characters "Fengtian Gate" written by Chen Guanhai and Chen Sheng themselves.
Fang Yun took a closer look. The three characters were deeply embedded in the plaque, like a dragon hiding, ready to fly into the sky at any time.
However, there are slight cracks on the plaque.
"It seems that the core of the legendary Holy Path Defense is in the Imperial Palace. This Fengtian Gate is the first gate of Jing State, and it will never be damaged. Moreover, the plaque contains the power of Chen Sheng and possesses great Holy Path power. Apart from the divine punishment that day, there is no power that can cause it to crack."
Everyone stood under Jingshui Bridge and did not cross the bridge.
Soon, bells and drums rang out, indicating that the king and the queen mother were going to the palace. After a while, the drums and music stopped.
"Go to court!" A eunuch shouted loudly in front of the Fengtian Palace door.
The two eunuchs led the ministers across the Jingshui Bridge, through the Fengtian Gate, and walked towards the Fengtian Palace.
Fang Yun looked up and saw a magnificent hall standing in front of him. The roof was light gold and the walls were red. The hall was built on three white marble platforms, and each platform had nine steps.
Everyone climbed the three-story, nine-step staircase and arrived at the gate of the Fengtian Hall.
The Fengtian Hall is the Golden Palace.
Except for Fang Yun, all the newly-crowned Jinshi stopped and stood in the square in front of Fengtian Hall according to their ranking in the examination.
The rest continued forward.
There is also a plaque at the entrance of Fengtian Hall with three characters "Fengtian Hall" inscribed on it. These three characters were not written by Chen Guanhai, but by Cui Sheng, the founding semi-saint of Jing State.
Everyone crossed the threshold of Fengtian Hall and continued to walk in. If it was a morning court session, there would be a ceremonial officer chanting the names of the officials, but there were too many participants in the grand court session, so there was no ceremonial officer to chant the names.
Fang Yun looked up and saw that the Fengtian Hall was magnificent, spacious and grand, and so gorgeous that it did not seem like a place on earth. However, he had seen the Dragon Palace, and after a moment of shock, he realized that the layout here was actually very ordinary.
There were many soft seats on the ground on both sides of the Fengtian Hall for officials to sit on.
Ao Huang kept pouting, not taking the most magnificent palace in Jing Kingdom seriously at all.
The deepest part of the Fengtian Hall is the Imperial Platform, and on top of the Platform is the Dragon Throne. However, the Dragon Throne is blocked by a curtain of gauze, and two people can be vaguely seen sitting inside, one is petite and the other is even smaller.
Fang Yun heard a babyish voice coming from inside: "Mother...Mother, which one is Fang...Fang Zhenguo?"
The sound was very soft and ordinary people could not hear it, but the lowest official in the imperial court, Jinshi, could hear it clearly.
Then Fang Yun saw the person behind the gauze curtain made a gesture to keep quiet, and the child didn't speak again.
After everyone stood in position, a eunuch shouted sharply, "Courtesy!"
Except for the great scholar who bowed his head slightly, everyone present bowed in the direction of the dragon throne.
"Your humble servant greets the King and Queen Mother."
Fang Yun felt the same way, and was impressed by the high status of scholars. He just bowed like that, without kneeling or performing any great ceremony, as if he was treating the king as a scholar of slightly higher status.
Since the fall of the Han Dynasty, the status of scholars has become increasingly higher, and court ceremonies have become increasingly simple.
Ao Huang imitated Fang Yun and paid his respects in an official manner, but his eyes were darting around, looking around.
"The ceremony is over." the eunuch said again.
"Give me a seat." The king's childish voice came from behind the curtain.
All officials sat in order according to their official ranks.
Ao Huang hummed and groaned as he coiled on the soft mat, looking around dishonestly. Everyone turned a blind eye, except for the little king on the dragon chair who couldn't help but said, "Little... Little Yellow Dragon!"
"You are young!" Ao Huang replied softly, but was afraid that Fang Yun would get angry, so he quickly shut up.
Some officials lamented in their hearts that the court meeting was completely ruined by Ao Huang, but the king was still young and Ao Huang was Prince Huang, so everyone could only turn a deaf ear.
The Queen Mother saw that something went wrong at the court meeting, so she coughed lightly and said, "My dear ministers, do you have anything to report?" (To be continued...)