Looking at his attendant who had served him for a long time, Yunyin felt once more how great the paths and professions of this world were -
Among the Path of Wisdom, there are three professions which are most renowned, called the Two High and One Low Professions of Wisdom.
Scholars - the leaders of cultural arts such as painting, calligraphy and poetry.
Officials - administrators and members of the ministries, split into court officials and magistrates, hold administrative power and execute the authority of the court.
Attendants - educated servants who serve their masters, learning various mental practices that focus on assisting their master.
This is the general structure of the world of the wise.
Among attendants, there are different types - Heiluan was the Scribe Attendant, who assisted his master in scribal work and his mental tool is a shelf with various books containing knowledge Yin has told him to keep. He works as an external memory brain for Yin.
Beiluan, on the other hand, was a Steward Attendant, his talent was managerial and his mental tool was the Household Registry, containing everything about the household.
A moment later, Heiluan raised his head again and talked as if reciting from a book -
< The Ying Clan of the Yangling Province is a 5th rank Clan of the capital - they were a family of merchants for a long time until one day a prodigy scholar emerged from their family, rising in ranks rapidly under his support, becoming the pillar and later on clan leader of the clan - Assistant Minister of the Yueling Province Ministry of Revenue, Ying Fuliang. >
"This is the summary, what about the background of the assistant minister? What about the clan - are they still in the merchant business?" Yin continued to ask.
Heiluan went through the book in his mind, only to shake his head in the end.
"Master, I've sorted all the information we had, and there is nothing about the assistant minister himself. But there is one thing about his family and the clan -"
Heiluan was just about to recite again when Yin interrupted, "Just summarise them in your own words, no need to read exactly what was written."
"Yes, master! The information about the clan is that after the assistant minister became the leader, he told all the younger descendants to switch from the merchant lineage to becoming officials and scholars. This move has caused the whole clan to halt their business and invest heavily into their children, leading to them selling most of their business.
But it seems it was worth it because in just ten years, three good descendants emerged - one of whom became a magistrate, the other two became scholars.
Around the same time these descendants reached the seventh rank, the minister's wife, the daughter of a fifth-rank official, became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter.
This has been twenty years ago... it's said that the minister only had this daughter and never took concubines, so his daughter should've been his inheritor..."
"Female Scholars might still be found, but female officials are extremely rare and none have ever become magistrates or reached the court, always remaining as small members in some faraway counties with lacking talents.
Based on this and the time passed, there was no news of this daughter, so I don't know whether she gained a profession, but she shouldn't have become an official!" Yin interjected when he saw Heiluan drifting into confusion.
"What about those three? And are there any other successors in the Ying Clan?"
"Master, based on the information we have, we only know that the magistrate reached the sixth rank, while one of the scholars is said to have even reached the fifth rank! There was one more talented youth that emerged in the clan, who took the path of an official. The latest information is only a year old, and it's said he has just become an eighth-rank scholar but remained a ninth-rank official..."
"This means he hasn't met the requirement to rise in officialdom just yet? Or maybe the assistant minister hasn't had time to arrange it?" Yin was confused.
Usually their positions should've been arranged a long time ago, so it has to be that this person's qualifications haven't reached the required rank. Maybe he advanced too fast and didn't care to fulfil the requirements right away?
"Keep an eye on the Ying Clan. As for the assistant minister's family... since there's no information, it's likely that it's kept hidden, so don't look into it." Yin made a decision, his mind turning and thinking of various possibilities.
Should he interfere with this descendant of the Ying Clan?
His own power was weak, but his father was a magistrate.
While that magistrate in the Ying Clan seems to have reached the sixth rank, in fact, the rank of a magistrate only really starts from the eighth rank.
The ninth rank of magistrates was to be an assistant to a magistrate, the eighth rank managed a village, seventh rank managed a town, and sixth rank managed a county town, which is a larger town inside a county with an initial order, but not yet having its own territory.
Only at the fifth rank will it be a county with a territory, with the right to establish ministry branches, opening up twelve sixth-rank positions for ministry personnel and even a single fifth-rank official position!
On the other hand, a county town could only have up to seventh-rank officials.
It might seem to be only a single rank in difference...
But every three ranks, there was a significant rise!
Yunyin thought about this deeply - rising from the bottom to the sky, this was the accomplishment of his grandfather! Born a commoner, he slowly became the leader of a small town, which he had raised to the level of a county town!
Jie Tangshan, his father, had completed their path and rose to the fifth rank by expanding the county town to a Small County -
"Heiluan," Yin called out after thinking about it.
"Yes, master?"
"Of my father's counties' ministries... how many of the vice-directors' spots have been filled?"
"Master, all positions have been filled, but they're not equally filled. Because the magistrate has traded the position of the fifth-rank official for master's entry into the royal court, two sixth-rank officials who have fulfilled all requirements have voiced their complaints and are likely to leave the county!"
"Alright, write a letter to father for me - tell him to keep one sixth-rank position for me!"
It would be better to have an open spot now than to not have it when you need it.
As for not getting it?
That wasn't possible - his father had told him that as long as it didn't harm their core interests, he could use everything in the county and clan to allow his own rise, under one requirement: reach the sixth-rank scholar in thirty years!