Chapter 0928: Discussion with the Elders
In the Discussion Hall of Dragon"s Fang Mountain.
As Li Luo followed Li Jingzhe, he entered a wide hall filled with people. Each of them was an elder within the Dragon"s Fang Lineage, holding considerable power. If they stepped out of the Dragon"s Fang Mountain Range and went to any city within the Dragon"s Fang Domain, they would undoubtedly be treated with utmost respect.
In fact, any orders or decisions from them could easily change the way things operated within the Dragon"s Fang Domain.
The Dragon"s Fang Domain was like a giant empire, one that was much bigger than the Xia Kingdom. In fact, each of its twelve districts was many times larger than the Xia Kingdom. One could only imagine the sheer size of it. Just how much resources and people were involved in operating so much land?
Hence, it was not far-fetched at all to say that this congregation was the heart of the Dragon"s Fang Domain.
When the elders in the discussion hall saw Li Jingzhe arrive, they stood up hurriedly and bowed to him.
Li Jingzhe waved his hand as he walked straight towards the main seat. Standing behind him, Li Luo stood upright with confidence.
He took a quick glance across the discussion hall. On the left of the main seat were the direct bloodline descendants, Li Qingpeng and Li Jinpan. On the right was the Main Hall Master of the Gold Light Hall, Zhao Xuanming. He had been with the Dragon"s Fang Lineage for over half a year now. He knew that currently, Zhao Xuanming and the Gold Light Hall had the most influence in the Dragon"s Fang Lineage, much more than the other halls.
As for the Gold Light Banner, they were the youths nurtured by the Gold Light Hall. Those youths held great potential, but their real strength had yet to be developed. Nonetheless, they were much stronger than the other three banners before Li Luo joined the Green Nether Banner. From this alone, it was clear just how strong and influential the Gold Light Hall was.
In fact, it had been said that direct descendants like Li Qingpeng and Li Jinpan had different opinions on many matters related to the Gold Light Hall over the years. However, they were still no match for it.
As the Lineage Chief, Li Jingzhe was aware of all this, but he did not force decisions onto the Gold Light Hall arbitrarily. Instead, he treated everyone fairly. Whoever was stronger would have a greater say in the matters that involved the lineage. This not only allowed the Gold Light Hall to solidify their standing, it had also created the impression that they were the next in line to succeed as the Lineage Chief of the Dragon"s Fang Lineage.
Many of the direct descendants could not understand why Li Jingzhe was acting like that. Zhao Xuanming was neither nominated nor groomed by Li Jingzhe himself. In fact, he was affiliated with the Dragon"s Blood Lineage.
Li Tianji, the Lineage Chief of the Dragon"s Blood Lineage, was the one that had nominated Zhao Xuanming for the position of Main Hall Master of the Gold Light Hall. This was not targeted directly at the Dragon"s Fang Lineage though. It was just a supervisory right of the Mountain Ruling Chief, applicable to all four lineages.
As a result, Zhao Xuanming could be considered a member of the Dragon"s Blood Lineage.
This was the reason why the jealous Li Jinpan had often acted against Zhao Xuanming all this while.
However, he was not successful. This had only helped to boost the reputation of Zhao Xuanming within the Dragon"s Fang Lineage.
At present, the Gold Light Hall controlled four districts in the Dragon"s Fang Domain. The Violet Spirit Hall and the Crimson Cloud Hall held control over three districts each. As for the Green Nether Hall, it held control over the remaining two districts.
This was a reflection of the rights and influence each hall held as all the resources, tributes, and manpower from the districts would be granted to the respective hall. In other words, it involved hundreds of millions of skygold in resources.
In the past, the halls had three districts each. The additional district held by the Gold Light Hall was taken from the Green Nether Hall.
As Li Luo pondered about all this, Li Jingzhe took a quick glance across the hall. He went straight into the main topic of today’s discussion. "I have called you all here today to discuss one thing. Let"s nominate another Hall Master for the Green Nether Hall."
As soon as he finished his sentence, whispers began going around the discussion hall. The Second Hall Master of the Green Nether Hall, Zhong Yushi, had the largest reaction. He straightened his back and his eyes lit up. As the main individual overseeing things within the Green Nether Hall, he had already been informed of this beforehand.
Currently, the Main Hall Master position of the Green Nether Hall was vacant. It only had four Hall Masters, the least amongst all the halls. Now that another Hall Master would be introduced, Zhong Yushi had naturally hoped that it would be someone from his side. In that case, he would be able to gain complete control over the hall and override Li Rouyun"s troublesome voice.
Upon hearing these words, Li Rouyun looked over at Zhong Yushi and frowned imperceptibly. She was obviously aware of what he was scheming and knew he was well prepared for this.
After all, the requirements to become a Hall Master were really stringent. Not only did one have to hold a position within the Green Nether Hall previously, they also had to possess enough power to convince the others of their individual strength. There were not many people within the two districts governed by the Green Nether Hall that satisfied both of these conditions.
In fact, the only two City Lords that fulfilled these pre-requisites had already sided with Zhong Yushi.
Therefore, the new Hall Master would surely be someone from his side. Under normal circ.u.mstances at least.
This was something that Li Rouyun understood very clearly. At present, one of the four Hall Masters of the Green Nether Hall had already sided with Zhong Yushi. The remaining one had chosen to remain neutral. As such, she had been the only one opposing him all this while. If Zhong Yushi managed to gain the support of yet another Hall Master that was aligned with him, she would completely lose any form of influence within the Green Nether Hall.
Unfortunately, there was little that she could do about it. She was part of the Western Region"s Li Family, which was a distant branch, and they could offer little a.s.sistance here. It was very unlikely that any strong and influential Duke would come forward and support her.
Originally, her plan was to leverage Li Luo"s background and nominate Ox Biaobiao. However, Ox Biaobiao was badly injured and had not recovered. It would only cause a commotion if she forcibly pushed him up for the position of Hall Master.
As such, Li Rouyun was full of worries.
She could not help but glance at Li Luo as she thought about all this. Noticing her glance, Li Luo gave her a smile of a.s.surance. He understood Li Rouyun"s worries. After all, the news of Ox Biaobiao"s recovery had been concealed by Li Jingzhe. None of the elders knew about it either.
When she saw his rea.s.suring smile, the stress she felt was slightly alleviated.
"The Green Nether Hall has always had the lowest number of Hall Masters. It"s about time we added a new one to lighten the workload and stress for all of the other Hall Masters." Zhao Xuanming, the Main Hall Master of the Gold Light Hall, was the first to speak up after Li Jingzhe. He had a slight grin on his face as he agreed with the proposition.
Hearing this, Li Qingpeng and Li Jinpan exchanged glances with each other immediately. They understood what Zhao Xuanming was so happy about. Zhao Xuanming and Zhong Yushi had always been pretty close with each other. It would not even be surprising if it was revealed that Zhao Xuanming had taken an active role in helping Zhong Yushi establish control over the Green Nether Hall.
After all, they were both Hall Masters that were not part of the direct bloodline, so it was only normal that they would band together.
"Lineage Chief, with regards to the new Hall Master for the Green Nether Hall, there are two potential candidates based on the rules and regulations. You may find more details here." Zhong Yushi stood up from his seat. There were two jade-tablet scrolls in his hands, each filled with the details of the two City Lords that he was planning to nominate.
Li Jingzhe raised his hand, and the jade-tablet scrolls flew over to his side.
When he saw this, Zhong Yushi continued respectfully, "The first individual is Yin Guizhi, the City Lord of Tianjing City. He is a fifth-grade Duke. The second is Mu Feng, the City Lord of Huangji City. He is said to have the potential to become a sixth-grade Duke.
"As City Lords, they have demonstrated their qualifications with ample experience in ruling their cities and have contributed significantly to our lineage. According to the rules, they fit the criteria to be elected as Hall Masters of the Green Nether Hall." As soon as Zhong Yushi finished his words, many elders present started nodding in agreement. They must have heard of these two City Lords before, particularly Mu Feng, as he had the potential to break through.
Generally speaking, one would need to be at least a fifth-grade Duke to be eligible. Zhong Yushi and Li Rouyun were both sixth-grade Dukes currently, while the remaining two Hall Masters were fifth-grade.
However, the Green Nether Hall was the weakest amongst all the halls. Many other halls had stronger Hall Masters. For example, the strongest Hall Master of the Gold Light Hall, Zhao Xuanming, was a bona fide eighth-grade Duke! He was significantly stronger than Li Jinpan and Li Qingpeng.
When Li Rouyun heard his recommendations, her eyes darkened a little. Those two were indeed the most promising City Lords amongst all the districts under the Green Nether Hall"s jurisdiction.
If they had chosen to side with Zhong Yushi, it would be really hard for anyone else to compete with them.
As everyone whispered among themselves, Li Jingzhe took a quick glance at the jade-tablet scrolls and memorized all the important information within them.
"I have called the two of them over to Dragon"s Fang Mountain today. If the Lineage Chief is interested, I can get them to come in immediately," Zhong Yushi continued politely. He was adequately prepared to the last detail today.
However, there was not much reaction on Li Jingzhe"s face. He placed the jade-tablet scrolls down as if he was deep in thought.
At this moment, Li Luo, who had been standing behind him all this while, took a step forward and said respectfully, "Respected Elder, I would like to nominate a candidate to be the Hall Master of the Green Nether Hall as well."
When the words came out from his mouth, everyone"s attention turned towards him immediately.
Zhong Yushi calmly replied, "I understand that Banner Leader Li Luo might have made remarkable achievements in recent days. However, according to the rules and regulations, only a Hall Master has the right to make a nomination."
This was a cunning man who knew how to phrase things eloquently. He would only repeat the rules and regulations as everyone in the lineage knew that this was what the Lineage Chief deemed important.
Li Luo smirked in response, only taking out a plaque from his sleeve. At this point, Zhong Yushi"s mouth turned a little crooked.
This was the plaque of the Main Hall Master of the Green Nether Hall.
With the plaque in his hands, there was no doubt that he possessed some of the authority of the Main Hall Master now. According to the rules and regulations, he was indeed fit to nominate someone for the position.
Zhong Yushi"s eyes narrowed a little and secretly exchanged glances with Zhao Xuanming at the side. In the end, he lowered his eyes and gave in.
It was time to see what the brat had up his sleeve.