Fang Yun took his place at the head of the officials and surveyed the civil and military officers present, a thousand emotions stirring in his heart.
Since leaving to study at Chongwen Academy, he had never returned to Jing Kingdom. In the blink of an eye, more than two years had passed.
During those two years, not only had he changed enormously, but Jing Kingdom's officials had changed greatly as well.
Back then, among Jing Kingdom's serving officials, only Literary Prime Minister Jiang Hechuan and Jiangzhou's Academy Rector Li Wenying had been Great Scholars. Now, Right Prime Minister Cao Dean had advanced to Great Scholar as well.
Although Cao Dean never clashed openly with the Left Prime Minister, he was a true veteran of three reigns in Jing Kingdom and had always protected the Jing Kingdom Imperial House, both openly and behind the scenes. Some mocked him as "the clay statue Right Prime Minister Cao," but those with discerning eyes knew that, without him, the Left Prime Minister would long ago have gathered most of Jing Kingdom's officials into his palm.
Even after advancing to Great Scholar, Cao Dean remained as he had always been. Donning purple robes had not made him overbearing.
Besides Cao Dean, Grand General Zhou Junhu had also advanced to Great Scholar. However, Zhou Junhu had not attended court, as he was still consolidating his Great Scholar realm.
The beggar imperial uncle Zhao Jingkong was different from those two. After advancing to Great Scholar, he had made the same choice as Li Wenying: once he had briefly consolidated his realm, he had gone to an Ancient Land to temper himself and serve the human race.
Cao Dean and Zhou Junhu had used Jing Kingdom's instability and their need to assist with state affairs as reasons to