Chapter 156: Household Steward and Household Assistant

"What do you think of those two men?"

Once they had settled in and felt that Lu Ping had departed, Lu Sheng looked at Tian Manyin and asked her.

Tian Manyin replied, "I know of this Lu Yunchuan. Because he spent a long time wandering the pugilistic world, he entered officialdom quite late."

"Therefore, despite being a Grand Master and a scion of the Lu clan, he is still only a junior fifth-rank official."

"A junior fifth-rank!" Repeating this official rank, Lu Sheng remarked, "Judging by rank alone, his position as the Magistrate of Jinling County is much higher than that of ordinary magistrates. Most county magistrates of major counties are capped at the junior sixth-rank."

"Of course!" Tian Manyin said with a smile. "The magistrate of Jinling County simultaneously holds the office of the Prince of Jin's Mausoleum Prefect. As for the Prince of Jin's Mausoleum Prefect, the position is mostly held by Grand Masters from the Bingzhou Lu clan who have retired from military service—"

"The ranks of these individuals usually reach the third or fourth rank."

"If Lu Yunchuan were not a Grand Master and lacked ties to Lu Hongyuan's lineage, I am afraid he would never have been able to sit in that chair!"

With that, she turned to Lu Sheng and asked, "When you questioned him like that, were you thinking of making him your Princedom Chancellor?"

"Come to think of it, this man hails from Jinyang City and shows no obvious bias toward either the Prince of Gaoyang or the Prince of Fanyang."

"Given his familiarity with Jinling County, making him the Princedom Chancellor is indeed a good choice!"

"Princedom Chancellor? We shall speak of that later," Lu Sheng said indifferently.

According to the institutions of the Great Jing court, as a substantive commandery prince, he had the authority within his own fiefdom to appoint officials to posts such as Princedom Chancellor, Imperial Historian, and Commandant. The ranks of these officials were comparable to those of a commandery governor, commandery vice-governor, and commandery military commandant.

Because he lacked an established retinue, Lu Sheng had not yet finalized candidates for these positions, nor did he know who should fill them.

"What? Do you still harbor reservations about him?" Tian Manyin asked curiously.

Judging by Lu Yunchuan's performance today, the man seemed to raise no objection to Lu Sheng taking over Jinling County.

Based on this attitude alone, she could not fathom where Lu Sheng's reservations lay.

"Indeed, I do, to some extent," Lu Sheng admitted without denial.

As the chief official of Jinling County, although Lu Yunchuan raised no objections when Jinling County was designated as his fiefdom, it was far from saying he offered wholehearted support.

At the very least, Lu Sheng had never obtained any karmic virtue from him, nor had policies such as the three-year tax exemption, which he had previously discussed with Lu Hongyuan, been transmitted downward.

Until these reasons were investigated, no matter how deferential Lu Yunchuan appeared, he could not be fully trusted.

With that thought, Lu Sheng said, "Let us speak of Lu Ping instead!" Mentioning the seemingly inconspicuous person who had been constantly by Lu Yunchuan's side, Lu Sheng continued:

"What do you think of him serving as the Household Administrator of the Prince of Jinyang?"

"Household Administrator?" Tian Manyin was immensely surprised. "You have only met him once, yet you trust this man so deeply?"

Household administrators and stewards were household officials of the nobility, usually held by individuals of absolute intimacy. Tian Manyin could hardly imagine that upon a mere first meeting, Lu Sheng already intended to bestow the post of Household Administrator upon this young Master of Records.

"He is not even a Martial Master; I fear he lacks the capability to shoulder the post of Household Administrator!" Without offering a direct objection, Tian Manyin cautiously put forward her advice.

The rank of a commandery prince's household administrator was junior sixth-rank, and officials of this rank were mostly of the Martial Master realm or above.

In Yujing City, the household administrators of commandery princes and dukes were even mostly held by Grand Masters.

For Lu Ping, who was merely a Martial Warrior, to serve as a household administrator seemed thoroughly improper in Tian Manyin's eyes.

"Heh heh!" Lu Sheng smiled slightly. "You do not yet see this man's formidable potential."

"Besides, stepping into the realm of a Martial Master will pose no difficulty for him whatsoever!"

"How so?" Tian Manyin asked with a trace of curiosity.

Shaking his head, Lu Sheng did not elaborate. Instead, he yielded somewhat to Tian Manyin's suggestion and said, "If you do not object, we shall leave the post of Household Administrator vacant for now and have him serve as the Assistant Household Administrator."

"In this way, it will spur him to become a Martial Master as quickly as possible, and then he can be promoted to Household Administrator!"

"Leave the Household Administrator position vacant?" Hearing Lu Sheng's arrangement, Tian Manyin felt a wave of surprise and asked, "Do you hold him in such high regard that you are willing to leave the position of Household Administrator empty?"

She truly could not fathom why Lu Sheng placed such extraordinary emphasis on a young man he had only just met.

Lu Sheng offered no explanation for Tian Manyin's perplexity. Naturally, he could not tell her that this was a person wrapped in dense fortune, whose destiny was nearing that of Lu Yunchuan.

"Though I know not how his fortune came to be, if he can become my retainered vassal, he will surely bring fortune to me."

"A person capable of bringing me fortune is naturally not someone to let slip away!"

As he thought this, Lu Sheng had already made up his mind to bring Lu Ping to Yujing and observe the shifts in his fortune.

As for ability, a person who could climb to a junior eighth-rank Master of Records purely as a Martial Warrior was more than qualified to serve as an assistant household administrator in the Prince of Jinyang's estate.

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"Say no more if you will not!"

Although somewhat displeased, Tian Manyin did not press the matter further. Instead, she inquired about a matter of greater concern:

"Ah! Who on earth is that Hu Wanhai, that you hold him in such high regard?"

"Could it be that he is truly a Martial Ancestor, living in seclusion within Jinling County?"

"What motives could such a person possibly have?"

"I know not who this person is either," Lu Sheng said, leafing through the archives left behind by Lu Yunchuan. "However, upon seeing his name, I could perceive his malice!"

"Perceive his malice?" Knowing that Martial Ancestors mostly possessed such capabilities, Tian Manyin did not doubt this, but rather asked with a hint of astonishment:

"To perceive another's malice without even meeting them is an ability usually possessed by Martial Ancestors only after achieving communion between heaven and man."

"Could it be that your spiritual cultivation is not only comparable to a Martial Ancestor's, but your comprehension of heaven and earth has also made some progress?"

As the person who frequently practiced dual cultivation with Lu Sheng and understood his current cultivation level best, Tian Manyin knew that although Lu Sheng had not yet reached the ultimate limit of his profound Qi cultivation, he had already begun to comprehend heaven and earth, preparing himself to become a Martial Ancestor.

Presently, Lu Sheng's sensing of Hu Wanhai closely resembled such a manifestation.

"Unclear!" Shaking his head, Lu Sheng did not elaborate, instead asking Tian Manyin, "Who is the current Prince of Gaoyang? And why does he seem to harbor hostility toward me?"

Tian Manyin replied, "The current Prince of Gaoyang is Lu Anchen. He was born in the 892nd year of the Great Jing era and is thirty-six years old this year."

"Despite being the youngest son, Lu Anchen is endowed with extraordinary talent. Five years ago, before the previous Prince of Gaoyang passed away, he designated him as the successor to the title."

"Along with Lu Anshi and Lu Anzhi, he is known as one of the most brilliant young men of the 'An' generation!"

"Lu Anchen!" Repeating the name, Lu Sheng searched his memory and retrieved information concerning him from the Earth Rankings and the Prodigy Rankings. He smiled faintly and said, "A vassal of Anshi? Interesting! No wonder this person bears hostility toward me!"

"Indeed! Back then, he sought instruction from Lu Chunyuan but was unable to obtain it, yet you became Lu Chunyuan's student at a tender age. Upon learning of this, naturally, he would harbor hostility toward you!"

With these words, Tian Manyin added:

"However, after becoming the Prince of Gaoyang, by some unknown means, he engaged Li Tiancai, who ranks ninth on the Heavenly Rankings, to serve as the Princedom Grand Tutor."

"This man is the most formidable martial artist in Bingzhou, second only to the Prince of Wuyuan!"