Outside the main gate of the Jade Screen Palace, the Imperial carriage of the Emperor was surrounded by layers of human walls, three layers inside and three layers outside. Torches illuminated the night sky around it, and hundreds, perhaps thousands of martial eunuchs brandishing sharp blades sealed off all the exits of the Jade Screen Palace. Every other palace chamber trembled under the oppressive air of the approaching storm, with no lights and no sound of people, as if, apart from this place, the entire inner palace had become a ghost town!
The vast majority of people had no idea what had happened. It began with the Empress's imperial command, and the fearsome Be Careful Agency started to barge into the various chambers, arresting people with reckless abandon. At first, the consorts in each palace did raise some objections, but when they understood that even the Empress Dowager's palace had people taken away, everyone realized what was going on!
