“Faqiu Zhonglangjiang!”
“Faqiu Seal”
When the official title and seal arrived, Lu Yu was a little stunned.
It turned out that after all the effort, the famous “Faqiu Zhonglangjiang” of later generations was him.
Good heavens, by this seniority, “Hu Bayi” and “Wu Xie” would have to call Lu Yu their grand master…
Heh, Lu Yu chuckled. In the end, it was him who was the “grave robber.” Lu Yu didn’t know whether he should be happy or not.
Fine, Faqiu Zhonglangjiang it is. After all, it’s a profession with a lot of freedom. And this “Faqiu Seal” is extraordinary. According to Old Cao’s intention, with this item, he could do whatever he pleased in Yanzhou, and all the prefectures and counties had to cooperate fully!
Lu Yu pondered. From another perspective, wouldn’t Lu Yu’s “Faqiu Zhonglangjiang” be able to act with borrowed authority in Yanzhou?
With this thought, Lu Yu nodded with interest.
This was a business without capital, so he’d do it!
Thinking this way, since he was going to do it, he might as well do it better.
Lu Yu casually took a few pieces of silk, dipped his brush in ink, and began to try drawing some patterns, specifically, some forging diagrams for tools.
Of course, these were very simple, such as the Luoyang shovel, flying tiger claw, centipede hanging ladder, and so on.
These were all tools familiar from his previous life, essential for tomb raiding, and could greatly improve efficiency!
At the same time, Cai Zhaoji, sitting beside Lu Yu, held a bamboo slip, her delicate eyebrows slightly raised…
“My brother is so strange this time. He’s bestowing an official position, but why ‘Faqiu’? That’s not a flattering term.”
Pursing her cherry lips, Cai Zhaoji’s brows showed a hint of anger. Clearly, she was not satisfied with Cao Cao bestowing the title of “Faqiu Zhonglangjiang” upon Lu Yu.
It was no wonder she felt this way; as a talented woman, she was skilled at dissecting words.
How could she not know that “Fa” meant “to dig,” and “Qiu” meant “grave”? Faqiu Zhonglangjiang meant a Zhonglangjiang who “digs graves,” wasn't that clearly cursing someone?
“Sister Zhaoji, you’re overthinking it.” Lu Yu looked up and smiled at Cai Zhaoji. “‘Fa’ also means prosperous and abundant besides digging. ‘Qiu,’ besides graves, also refers to the different sized plots of land divided in rice fields. A ‘plot’ is also called a ‘Qiu’.”
“I think Old Cao… no, I think Sister Zhaoji’s brother intends to convey another meaning.”
Speaking to this point, Lu Yu seemed to notice something. He paused deliberately, then reached out to remove a cluster of small flowers from Cai Zhaoji’s hair… and then continued speaking.
“Faqiu can also be understood as ‘prosperous rice fields.’ Doesn’t this signify that Yanzhou has abundant grain? This is Cao Gong thanking me for solving his grain procurement problem!”
Is… is this really the case?
Hearing this, Cai Zhaoji paused. Not to mention, Lu Yu’s serious nonsense, even the most talented woman in the world, Cai Yan, was speechless and unable to refute.
It was like a PhD student being pulled down to the same level by a middle school student, and then the latter would use his extensive experience to make the former speechless!
“Brother Yu? Then… how did you manage to gather the grain? Recently… I heard that not only you… but even brother’s granary is full all of a sudden.”
Uh… this…
Lu Yu scratched his head. “Sister Zhaoji, please don’t worry. We… we neither stole nor robbed… this younger brother even plans to offer porridge to help the poor. Heaven will surely bless me as it sees it!”
Strictly speaking, Lu Yu’s words were not wrong…
Indeed, he neither stole nor robbed. After all, Zhou Shuren once wrote, “How can the affairs of scholars be called stealing?”
It was clearly pilfering… grave pilfering is not the same as grave robbing. It is said that even in robbery, there is a way!
Suddenly, Lu Yu realized… he was getting further and further down the path of serious nonsense…
Cai Zhaoji looked at Lu Yu with doubt, then petted his little head, pouting her lips. “Sister is watching you, don’t do anything bad…”
Uh… Lu Yu decided to interpret Zhaoji’s words as – “If you’re going to do something bad, do it to me!”
An expert-level understanding… no, riding Sister Cai! Should… should this be understood this way?
“Cough, cough…” Clearing his throat and looking up again, Cai Zhaoji had already gracefully walked out of the study.
Instantly, Lu Yu felt a sense of emptiness and loss of interest… a certain part of his body inexplicably began to go from hard to soft.
Uh… what was he thinking!
The priority now was to increase efficiency… he needed to quickly draw these tomb-raiding tools and start secret forging.
Just then.
A clear voice came from outside the door, “Your subordinate Cao Xiu pays his respects to Miss Cai Yan…”
“General Cao is here to see Brother Yu, right? He’s in the study!” Cai Zhaoji’s voice followed.
“…Thank you, Miss Cai Yan.” Cao Xiu replied.
After that, there were the sounds of “treading” footsteps, along with a strong and powerful push of the door.
“Is something wrong?” Lu Yu, too busy to look up, was at a crucial part of drawing the Luoyang shovel…
“Young Master Lu,” Cao Xiu said loudly, “Uncle just sent someone to deliver a message, saying that ‘Prefect of Shou Zhang, Cheng Yu’ has been appointed as a military commander and has joined our Dragon Soaring Cavalry!”
“Cheng Yu? Dragon Soaring Cavalry?” Lu Yu’s eyes fixed, and the stroke of his brush became heavier.
This masterpiece, the “Luoyang Shovel,” was completely ruined.
However… compared to this “Luoyang Shovel,” what bothered him more was what Cao Xiu said.
Cheng Yu? Cao is so generous. One of the future four great strategists… you’re just giving him away?
As for this Dragon Soaring Cavalry? What is that?
Before he could ask, Cao Xiu began to explain.
“Young Master Lu is probably wondering about the Dragon Soaring Cavalry.” Cao Xiu explained. “It’s like this: Uncle has meticulously selected four thousand men from the youths of Qiao and Pei, the Qingzhou soldiers, and the Yanzhou soldiers, equipped them with all their warhorses, and formed the Tiger Cavalry and Leopard Cavalry respectively. Your command also has a thousand cavalry, and Uncle has named it the Dragon Soaring Cavalry, thus dividing all the cavalry into three parts.”
Tiger Leopard Cavalry! Dragon Soaring Cavalry?
Lu Yu’s mind conjured these two names. He was no stranger to the Tiger Leopard Cavalry, which was composed of the “Tiger Cavalry” and “Leopard Cavalry.”
The Tiger Cavalry was equipped with full armor and battle halberds, with excellent military equipment, serving as heavy cavalry used for charging into battle.
The “Leopard Cavalry,” on the other hand, leaned more towards long bows and spears, focusing on mobility, maneuvering, and mounted archery for output, resembling Gongsun Zan’s White Horse Fellows.
But Dragon Soaring Cavalry? What was its positioning? Lu Yu couldn’t quite figure it out for a moment.
Of course, he had no idea that Cao Cao’s positioning for the Dragon Soaring Cavalry was to protect Lu Yu’s safety on the battlefield. In his opinion, Yu’er was far more precious than the Tiger Cavalry and Leopard Cavalry combined ten times over.
Now, the father’s love was present, but it remained to be seen if the son was filial!
“Dragon Soaring Cavalry it is, at least it sounds more imposing than the name ‘Qiao Pei’s native troops’…” Lu Yu didn’t dwell on this issue and immediately instructed Cao Xiu, “However, I do have one matter here… you need to send someone to handle it immediately!”
“What matter?” Seeing Lu Yu’s serious expression, Cao Xiu stepped closer.
“I intend to…”
Lu Yu’s words poured out.
…
…