Dragon-Veined Demon Barbarians

The officials of both factions at court argued until their faces were red and their ears hot. In the end, they had no choice but to consult the Eastern Sage Pavilion.

Before long, the Eastern Sage Pavilion determined that a Void Sage's private soldiers counted as Literary Rank private soldiers. A Great Scholar could have five hundred, while a Void Sage could have one thousand. As for private soldiers granted by Jing Kingdom's noble titles, Jing Kingdom would handle those itself.

In the end, both sides at court took a step back. Fang Yun was granted a total of three thousand private soldiers. Of those, Fang Yun had to arrange the one thousand Literary Rank private soldiers himself, while Jing Kingdom's military would provide soldiers to fill the two thousand noble-title private soldier positions.

This meant that if Fang Yun had the ability, he could recruit a formidable force.

Literary Rank private soldiers did not only include members of the Barbarian Race; they could also include Human Race scholars!

Fang Yun had already learned that the Sacred Academy would send two Hanlin Academicians and four Metropolitan Graduates to serve as his private soldiers. They were all members of the War Hall and exceptionally skilled in battle.

At this point, the Left Prime Minister's scheme to reduce Fang Yun's private soldiers had failed completely.

Once Fang Yun recruited a full thousand Literary Rank private soldiers, combined with two thousand private soldiers from his noble title, his strength would rival that of an ordinary ten-thousand-man regular army. For anyone to kill him beyond the reach of the Temple of Sages' power would be a task almost impossible to accomplish.

However, private soldiers granted by noble title were supported by Jing Kingdom, while Literary Rank private soldiers had to be supported entirely by