Yang Yun

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Yang Yun passed the martial examinations with high honors and was intended to receive an outside appointment as a Principal Seventh Rank Company Commander. After offending someone while saving a woman, he was instead demoted and sent to Yanling as a constable. By the time he explains his circumstances to Tang Wen, he has spent seven or eight years there without advancement 37 39.

The woman he rescued gave him the upper-grade earth-rank Fish-Dragon Nine-Turn Art, on the condition that he pass it only to benefactors—not to children, parents, or siblings. Yang Yun practiced it himself but taught no one until he recognized Tang Wen as a benefactor 39.

His Martial Jinshi qualification exempts him from kneeling before officials. During his first meeting with Tang Wen, he therefore gives a martial artist’s cupped-hand salute, which Tang initially mistakes for improper arrogance 21 22.

Appearance

• Thick eyebrows and large eyes, with a keen, piercing gaze 21.
• A beard, which he strokes while praising tea and discussing Tang Wen’s prospects 21 23.

Personality

Yang Yun takes pride in his martial qualifications but is frustrated by his stalled career. He considers routine work catching thieves and bandits too limited to earn the major merits needed for promotion. His ambition centers on the vacant Criminal Clerk position, which would give him authority over constables and criminal justice 37.

He expresses genuine anger at coastal piracy and regrets lacking the power to restore peace. He also condemns Kang Qingfeng’s attempts to seize Tang Wen’s property as outright robbery. Nevertheless, he remains cautious about confronting the Six Fan Gate and agrees to investigate Kang only with strict limits on his involvement 22 40 42.

His assistance is not uniformly selfless. He supports Zhang Hongjiang’s plans to extract donations and taxes from Tang Wen, and later uses threats of battlefield service to pressure petty offenders into selling themselves into the Tang household 26 41. Tang Wen says Yang never accepts silver directly, although he readily accepts valuable wine and other gifts 23 38 42.

Abilities & Skills

Fish-Dragon Nine-Turn Art

An upper-grade earth-rank inner cultivation method specializing in lightness skills. Yang Yun gives Tang Wen its manual and explains its use 39.

• Personal mastery: Third turn after five years of practice 39.
• Demonstrated capabilities: Leaping onto a second floor and traveling seven or eight meters in one step 39.
• Higher-level potential: Yang describes ninth-turn mastery as enabling leaps of roughly a dozen zhang and gliding with outstretched arms; it does not grant true flight 39.
• Transmission restriction: May be taught only to benefactors 39.

Investigation and Constabulary Work

• Investigates the Tang family’s background before reporting on Su Mei Island to Zhang Hongjiang 26.
• Arranges Tang Wen’s access to the imprisoned artisan Tang Jun through Constable Liu 31.
• Screens the prisoners sent to Su Mei Island, stating that none are serious offenders 41.
• Agrees to gather information on Kang Qingfeng, but refuses further involvement or public acknowledgment of his help 42.
• Authority limit: Cannot release or even approach Qiao Xiao after Kang forbids access; the Six Fan Gate outranks local constables 28.

Administrative Knowledge

• Explains the wartime system for converting donations of silver, grain, and fodder into military merit and noble advancement 22.
• Reports Tang Wen’s pirate victory and helps connect him with Zhang Hongjiang to collect his promotion documents 26 28.
• Identifies the practical difference between an honorary noble title and a title backed by an official post 23 28.

Equipment / Items

• Fish-Dragon Nine-Turn Art manual — Received from the woman he rescued; later given to Tang Wen in gratitude 39.
• Grape wine and canned tuna — Gifts from Tang Wen following their first shared meal 23.
• Promotion gift set — Two bottles of grape wine, goblets, a wine opener, and a gilded lighter, prepared by Tang Wen to support Yang’s pursuit of office 37 38.
• Wine and cosmetics gift box — Additional wine, rouge, lipstick, and perfume intended for Yang and his wife 42.

Relationships

• Tang Wen — Friend and benefactor. Their relationship develops from an official visit into mutual assistance: Tang supplies hospitality and career-related gifts, while Yang provides introductions, recruits, information, and a cultivation manual 21 37 39 41 42.
• Zhang Hongjiang — Prefect and senior official. Yang reports on Tang Wen to him and carries out his arrangements concerning military merit, taxation, and labor for Su Mei Island 26 28 41.
• Li Liao — Old classmate, close friend, and sworn younger brother. They passed the Martial Jinshi examination together. Yang recommends him as a commander for Tang Wen’s Personal Guard Army while warning that sheltering him carries political risks 48.
• Kang Qingfeng — Six Fan Gate official whose superior authority obstructs Yang’s work. Yang condemns his extortion but fears the consequences of opposing him openly 28 40 42.
• Qiao Xiao — Tang Wen’s imprisoned bodyguard. Yang alerts Tang to his arrest, reports his beatings, and is instructed by Zhang to watch over him 28 40 42.
• Wu Yunxian — Provincial official responsible for assessing lower-ranked officials. After Wu praises Tang Wen’s wine, Yang seeks more bottles to help pursue the Criminal Clerk post 37.
• Unnamed rescued woman — Her rescue led to Yang’s career setback; she gave him the Fish-Dragon Nine-Turn Art 39.
• Unnamed wife — Tang Wen includes cosmetics for her among Yang’s gifts 42.

Story Role / Major Arcs

First Visit to Su Mei Island

• Visits Tang Wen with more than a dozen constables following the defeat of seventy-two pirates 21 26.
• Reveals that Zhang Hongjiang’s father has been devastated by the destruction of a Western painting of Apollo, giving Tang an opening to cultivate the prefect’s favor 22.
• Explains how wartime donations can raise Tang’s title and allow a larger personal guard force 22.

Official Patronage and the Six Fan Gate Dispute

• Brings Tang’s resources and pirate victory to Zhang’s attention, helping initiate his promotion to Second-Rank Baron 26 28.
• Notifies Tang of Qiao Xiao’s arrest and introduces him to Zhang when local constabulary authority proves insufficient 28 29.
• Announces approval of Tang’s count title, accepts assistance with his own promotion efforts, and gives Tang the Fish-Dragon Nine-Turn Art 37 38 39.
• Attends the banquet with Kang Qingfeng and subsequently keeps Tang informed about Qiao Xiao’s mistreatment 39 40 42.

Recruitment and Continued Assistance

• Delivers three or four hundred petty offenders and refugees to Su Mei Island. Promises of food, housing, payment, and family accommodation—combined with threats of battlefield service—persuade the entire group to enter Tang household service 41.
• Their recruitment supplies the popularity needed to upgrade Tang’s Great Landlord Space to version 2.0 41.
• Agrees to investigate Kang Qingfeng discreetly. His own hoped-for promotion remains pending, though he reports promising signs 42.
• Sends Li Liao to Tang with a recommendation letter, identifying him as a suitable overall commander and a stronger martial artist than himself 48.