CH 80

And so, by the time that Wanyan Xu had seated himself on the Dragon Throne, the courtiers below the dais had already arrayed themselves in neat rows according to their rank. Kneeling down, they shouted their customary greeting of wishing him long life. If this had been a usual day, Wanyan Xu would have allowed the assembled courtiers to rise to their feet after that, but fury was boiling in his heart today. With a grim look on his face, he said coldly: “Is this considered to be you paying respect to me [1]? What loyal ministers all of you are. I was still thinking that for you to come here so early on the second day of the New Year for court, your intentions must have been to continue trying to coerce me from where you left off on New Year's Eve.”