Since then, as Nell knew from her studies at the Academy, Lau Ge had 
succeeded Zhang as the northern leader—the leader of the Celestial 
Kingdom. After a decent interval had passed, he had thoroughly purged all 
remaining traces of Communist ideology, denouncing it as a Western imperialist 
plot, and proclaimed himself Chamberlain to the Throneless King. The Throneless 
King was Confucius, and Lau Ge was now the highest-ranking of all the 
mandarins.