The convoy numbered a full hundred Armored Ox carriages, escorted by a guard unit of three thousand men. Its imposing procession made the farmers on either side of the road stop their work and stand watching.
Fang Yun rose from the pavilion and led Ning'an County's officials forward to greet them.
The convoy stopped, and a large number of officials stepped down from the carriages.
Fang Yun swept his smiling gaze over them and spotted many familiar faces at a glance.
Three Hanlin Academicians walked at the very front.
One was Sai Zhixue, formerly Vice Minister of Rites and a fellow native of Fang Yun's hometown. After Fang Yun had been granted the title "Paragon of Scholars," Sai Zhixue had escorted his rewards with secret orders from the empress dowager. Now he would serve as governor of Mi Prefecture!
Another was Yu Xingshu, a general from Jade Sea City. After watching Fang Yun's Military Way Duel, he had finally broken through to become a Hanlin Academician, and thus been appointed military commander of Mi Prefecture.
The third was Hu Yu, a disciple of the Minister of Literature who held an important position at the Academy. While studying at the capital's Academy, Fang Yun had met Hu Yu many times and had even received his guidance. This time, he had come to serve as dean of Mi Prefecture's Literary Academy.
This meant that, apart from the Eagle-Soaring Army, every power in Mi Prefecture would be taken over by the monarch's faction.
Unlike the other three prefectures, Mi Prefecture had only four subordinate prefectures left, so its governor, academy dean, and military commander wielded relatively little actual power. They barely stood on equal footing with the director of the Transport Office and ranked below the general of the Eagle-Soaring Army.
Of Mi