Chapter 550: Chapter 546: Application

Within a mere three days, the latest directives of the Tang Clan had been plastered over all the main peaks. The straightforward decree had some princes, who had been living a decadent lifestyle for decades, cheering about their golden days. Accustomed to a life of drunken revelry, they couldn’t stomach the bitter hardship of Foundation Building. Instantly, complaints echoed throughout the North Mountain community. Yet, the resolute determination of the clan leaders was awe-inspiring this time.

The eight hundred warriors of the Martial Hall detained all the princes who tried to take advantage, playing truant or defying orders, for concentrated training. Regardless of their pleas and cries for their parents who had always indulged them, they were turned a blind eye to.

If it’s said that the prodigal sons were the sluggards in the nobles class, they were also the most intelligent ones. They knew well that ‘the wheel squeaks loudest gets the grease’. They also understood their indulgent lifestyle was granted by their power. When they found that their complaints could not bring back their old lives, they resigned themselves to starting over with the bitter Foundation Building cultivation.

Tang Luo, meanwhile, was busier than ever during these days. Although he brought back nearly a thousand people from Red Cloud Mountain to the North Mountain community, nearly half of them were seriously injured and needed time to heal. The rest couldn’t remain idle, either. He had to classify everyone’s qualifications and arrange them into suitable courses.

Fortunately, among the hundreds of warriors who chose to follow him to North Mountain to pursue their careers, nearly a hundred of them had 1.1 talent scores. Many more had 1.2, and even a rare 1.3. This gave him faith in the future of the Marshal Star Pavilion. However, two most important issues currently needed to be addressed.

The first issue was that Du Sha was still unconscious, resulting in a vacant position of the First Star General. He still had to assign each student of the Marshal Star Pavilion specific cultivation methods and martial skills based on their unique traits so they could continue normal practice and enhancement.

The second issue, and the most crucial one, was that so far Tang Luo had been housing the members of the Marshal Star Pavilion in his mansion. This was because the newly built Martial Hall had not allocated a place for the pavilion, and this was the problem he had to fix.

Yet, there were priorities in all aspects of managing North Mountain, including even the sequence of retreats, not to mention construction. The most urgent ones were, of course, the defensive works, residences, domestic affairs office, Wind Media Department, and medicine rooms. Now, even the practice fields for the Martial Hall were temporarily merged into the North Mountain Academy, reflecting the urgency of the construction projects in the North Mountain community.

Actually, the flood happened two months ago and with the abilities of Tang Clan’s construction teams, such urgency wouldn’t have happened, because there were countless pre-existing caves, wooden forts, and stone forts in the North Mountain Community that could accommodate the entire clan comfortably. However, the pampered ladies of the clan wouldn’t accept staying in a cave or wood fort, and they all made requests to the craftsmanship department to build courtyards for their residences.

The husbands of these ladies were either serving in the Martial Hall or working as stewards in the clan. So naturally, the craftsmanship department wouldn’t refuse such requests, after all, residencies were to be built first according to the order. Therefore, the whole of North Mountain was under construction, primarily building houses and residences.

The likes of Tang Luo’s request for new premises, it would take until after the New Year to materialize. He wondered if he could advance the sequence, so he asked Cui Dayou to check who was currently in charge of the craftsmanship department.

Without disappointing, Cui Dayou found out within half a day and also made a copy of the recent public construction sequence to present to Tang Luo.

“Him?”

Seeing the name in charge of the craftsmanship department made Tang Luo frown.

At first, he thought it would just be some senior steward, but it turned out to be Tang Cunfu, one of the three representatives of the branch clans.

It’s not that he doubted his abilities. If he could organize hundreds of clan leaders from the branch clans to accuse Tang Zhi, the clan chief, and even use exchange of interests to appease several elders, he was obviously a capable man. Looking at the arranged houses and courtyards at North Mountain, it was clear he was more than competent for managing the craftsmanship department.

However, there was some previous friction between them in the clan meeting over the five-acre land order, leading to him, as an elder of the clan, taking away Cunfu’s right to propose. It’s difficult to guarantee that Cunfu wouldn’t hold a grudge over that incident. If Cunfu intended to delay him over this matter, Tang Luo wouldn’t be surprised, which made him hesitate.

Seeing Tang Luo furrow his brows at the first sight of the scrolls, and then flipping through them absentmindedly, Cui Dayou cautiously tentatively said, “Why don’t you leave this to me? I will first try to discern Representative Cunfu’s attitude, and then we can decide?”

Well-prepared Cui knew about the past friction between Tang Cunfu and Tang Luo. Back then, Tang Luo was a clan elder, but now he was just a new official attached to the Martial Hall. The difference was quite significant. If Cunfu showed some indifference, it would inevitably embarrass Tang Luo. Therefore, Cui Dayou wanted to apply for this himself- to preserve Tang Luo’s face.

“No need,” Tang Luo shook his head slightly. “If he truly holds a grudge over the impeachment incident, your application will only be met with humiliation. I’ll go there myself.”

He would bear the responsibility of his actions. Besides, he didn’t consider that he had done anything wrong. If Tang Cunfu indeed held the intention of avenging himself, it would be best for him to deal with it personally. After all, Cui Dayou was just an external official, and his status was not comparable to Tang Cunfu’s. With the excuse of being busy with public affairs, even not accepting a meeting request would be completely justified.

When such a time comes, Tang Luo would still have to personally visit him. Therefore, instead of being so passive then, it was better to visit him directly now to see what Tang Cunfu’s attitude was.

North Mountain’s Wanyun Ridge, Craftsmanship Department

If there were a place bustling more than any other in Tang Clan, it would definitely be the Craftsmanship Department situated on Wanyun Ridge. This department, which is in charge of a large number of craftsmen of Tang Clan, had become the busiest place in Tang Clan.

Whenever you come here, you would witness craftsmen working overtime, either sawing wood or burning tiles, or arguing over blueprints. Their exuberant activity made people hardly feel a bit cold in this early winter weather.

When Cui Dayou brought Tang Luo here, both of them paused at the door, uncertain of how to proceed.

In the past, wherever Tang Luo went, as soon as he reached the door, there would be either guards or servants asking for his purpose and guiding him. There was never a department like the Craftsmanship Department- with the medium-size door wide open, craftsmen in the courtyard arguing loudly, utterly indifferent to the surroundings.

A perspicacious Cui Dayou knew it might take until nightfall for the craftsmen to notice their arrival. He walked straight to a teen, dressed like a footman.

“Excuse me, where can we find the steward of your Craftsmanship Department?” Cui Dayou asked the teen who was rolling up his trousers to his knees in the cold winter.

However, the clamor in the courtyard was so loud that the footman with his eyes glued to a craftsman sawing wood didn’t hear Cui Dayou’s questions at all, completely focused on learning.

Seeing the kid’s trance, Manager Cui remembered his own past, and with a smile on his face and a note of mentoring, he gently spoke in his ear: “Don’t just watch the apprentice sawing wood, watch the master drafting!”