In the face of this irresistible tide, they could only offer minor embellishments, unable to stir any significant waves. If even the sight of aging willows at a village entrance could evoke sighs, how much more so the imminent ruin of an enterprise passed down for centuries?
The Eldest Prince dismounted, as did Li Fusheng. The other mounted soldiers arranged themselves neatly outside the palace gate. Wearing black armbands and white mourning clothes, the Eldest Prince and Li Fusheng walked together through the palace gate.
The dead are paramount; this is tradition. Moreover, the deceased was a monarch who, in his final defiant struggle, had won considerable posthumous respect.
Inside the main hall, the officials of Cheng State knelt on the ground as the Eldest Prince and Li Fusheng walked among them.
