Gong Mingjie’s push to levy a poll tax offended the powerful. Zhao Qian stripped him of his noble rank and erased his name from the registers. Li Mu knelt and begged three times for a chance to remonstrate, but could not sway the foolish ruler. In Zhangtai Palace, King Zheng of Qin laughed when he heard the chancellor had been dismissed. “Heaven itself is helping me!” He sent Yao Jia to Zhao with a list of six cities to offer. Gong Mingjie sang “Picking the Licorice” to declare his resolve: he would rather go to the Qin court than betray a friend, and would not stay in Zhao to keep company with rotten wood. With Lord Jianwen gone, one of Zhao’s Twin Jades was shattered, and the countdown to Qin’s conquest of Zhao began.
