the court; and on the next day, (being) Yî-khâu, the king died.
2. The Grand-Guardian then ordered Kung Hwan[1] and Nan-Kung Mâo[1] to instruct Lü Kî, the marquis of Khî[2], with two shield-and-spearmen, and a hundred guards, to meet the prince Kâo outside the south gate[3], and conduct him to (one of) the side-apartments (near to that where the king lay), there to be as chief mourner[4].
On the day Ting-mâo, (two days after the king's death), he ordered (the charge) to be recorded on
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 We know nothing more of these officers but what is here related.
- ↑ The marquis of Khî was the son of Thâi-kung, a friend and minister of king Wăn, who had been enfeoffed by king Wû with the state of Khî, embracing the present department of Khing-kâu, in Shan-tung, and other territory. His place at court was that of master of the guards.
- ↑ All the gates might be called 'south gates.' It is not certain whether that intended here was the outer gate of all, or the last, immediately in front of the hall, where the king had given his charge. Whichever it was, the meeting Kâo in the way described was a public declaration that he had been appointed successor to the throne.
- ↑ 'The mourning shed,' spoken of in Part IV, viii, ch. 1, had not yet been set up, and the apartment here indicated—on the east of the hall of audience—was the proper one for the prince to occupy in the mean time.
the south. Outside the second was held 'the outer levee,' where the king received the princes and officers generally. Outside the fifth was held 'the audience of government,' when he met his ministers to consult with them on the business of the state. Inside this gate were the buildings which formed the private apartments, in the hall leading to which was held 'the inner audience,' and where the sovereign feasted those whom he designed specially to honour. Such is the general idea of the ancient palace given by Kû Hsî. The gateways included a large space, covered by a roof, supported on pillars.
