A mere Seventh Grade Right Investigating Officer dared to be so arrogant in front of a Fourth Grade Prefect.

Lu Yuan, naturally, wasn’t going to put up with it.

He didn’t bother with the Mansion Guards surrounding him. They were only following orders.

Lu Yuan planted a foot on the Seventh Grade Right Investigating Officer’s back, dusted off his own clothes, and looked at the crowd.

"What are you all still waiting for!" The Right Investigating Officer was stubborn to the last; he actually had some backbone.

Even with a foot on his back, he still hoped the Mansion Guards would come to his rescue.

Just as the Mansion Guards were about to move forward to rescue the Right Investigating Officer, eight men charged into the Prefecture Yamen. They were Lu Yuan’s trusted retainers.

Seeing Lu Yuan enter the Prefecture Yamen, his retainers had gathered at the entrance to watch the show.

No one had noticed these men at the entrance.

Lu Yuan’s retainers caught the Mansion Guards by surprise, attacking them from behind and instantly kicking several of them to the ground.

Some even disarmed their opponents head-on, snatching blades with their bare hands.

These Mansion Guards were used to lazing about and were no match for Lu Yuan’s retainers.

Lu Yuan’s retainers were from the Zhao Mansion’s first Firearms Team, an elite and specially trained unit.

With or without firearms, each one of them could now take on a crowd single-handedly.

Watching the scene unfold, all the officials wisely held their tongues.

These well-read Civil Servants only knew how to quote classical allusions or selectively use anecdotes from the ancestors to persuade others.

To put it bluntly, they just droned on and on, buzzing like flies.

Or they would write books and novels to slander you. Lu Yuan himself had used such tactics before, but that was to clear his auntie’s name.

Such methods only worked on ministers, or even the Emperor, who had a sense of shame and some principles.

It was all well and good if the target was willing to play along with these Civil Servants.

But if they ran into someone like the Grand Ancestor Emperor, anyone who dared not to cooperate or who piped up out of turn would be slaughtered along with all the other officials.

’As for me, I have even less reason to play along with these pedants. I’m not aiming for eternal fame; living freely is the only way to go.’

This sudden turn of events made the hearts of the usually high-and-mighty officials pound with fear.

The Right Deputy Magistrate, the Right Investigating Officer’s relative, had lost all of his earlier arrogance.

Instead, it was the Left Deputy Magistrate, a man constantly suppressed by his colleagues, who slammed a hand on the table and declared, "How dare you act so lawlessly within the Prefecture Yamen!"

Lu Yuan merely glanced at the man, ignoring him.

’My first impression of this Left Deputy Magistrate is that he radiates an aura of righteousness. He isn’t a bad person, just a bit of a stick-in-the-mud. Faced with these unreasonable and ill-mannered colleagues, he wouldn’t resort to drastic measures like I would. Instead, he’d actually defend them. The Left Deputy Magistrate is a scholar; he doesn’t operate like a Military General.’

As the last Mansion Guard was kicked to the ground by one of Lu Yuan’s retainers, the scene fell deathly silent.

Lu Yuan’s retainers picked up the fallen weapons and herded the Mansion Guards, who outnumbered them severalfold, into a corner.

The Mansion Guards cowered in the corner, some squatting, some sitting, and a few even clutching their heads and begging for mercy.

Lu Yuan glanced back and said, "What a bunch of rats. Completely useless."

Lu Yuan then looked down at the Right Investigating Officer pinned beneath his foot. He grabbed the man’s ear and said, "I am the new Prefect. You got a problem with that?"

Even though his ear was being twisted to the point of searing pain, the Right Investigating Officer still insisted, "I don’t believe you!"

’Most Civil Servants receive their posts after passing the imperial examinations, then climb the ladder step by step on the shoulders of their colleagues through networking and social maneuvering. If he were really the Prefect, how could he be such a crude martial artist?’

It was precisely Lu Yuan’s roguish air that made it so difficult for the officials to believe that someone so young could be a Civil Servant.

Lu Yuan wasted no more words on the stubborn fool, pulling his Tooth Card from within his robes.

This Tooth Card, commonly known as a waist plaque, was one of a matching pair. The other half was kept at the Imperial Court, and putting them together would prove its authenticity.

Lu Yuan’s Tooth Card had been brought from the Court by the old eunuch. It was made of ivory and was engraved with his basic information: name, rank, assigned Government Office, and a few lines of his service record.

The Tooth Cards of the Divine Ling Empire were divided into five types: "Xun," "Close," "Wen," "Martial," and "Le."

Dukes, Marquises, and Earls wore "Xun" cards; Prince Consorts and Captains wore "Close" cards; Civil Servants wore "Wen" cards; Military Officers wore "Martial" cards; and ministers of the Imperial Music Bureau wore "Le" cards.

A "Wen" character was engraved on Lu Yuan’s Tooth Card.

’Though I haven’t studied the Four Books and Five Classics, I did receive nine years of compulsory education. I can casually recite, "Nine men in ten are worth a scornful glance, but a scholar is of no use at all." Or I can recite Pi off the top of my head: "3.141592653589793..." So, I figure I’m worthy of this "Wen" character.’

Pinching a corner of the Tooth Card, Lu Yuan slapped it against the Right Investigating Officer’s face.

SLAP, SLAP, SLAP, SLAP...

Lu Yuan continued, "Can you see it clearly now?"

It wasn’t just the Right Investigating Officer. Everyone gathered in front of Lu Yuan watched the Tooth Card bobbing up and down in his hand and recognized it as the Prefect’s.

At this point, who would dare step forward and call him an imposter?

The officials all fell to their knees. "Your humble servants were not aware it was Lord Prefect! We beg for your forgiveness, Lord Prefect!"

The Right Investigating Officer, who was still under Lu Yuan’s foot, threw himself completely prostrate, jostling Lu Yuan in the process.

"You idiot, you almost made me lose my balance!" Lu Yuan took a step back and straightened up.

Lu Yuan weaved his way through the crowd of kneeling officials.

Lu Yuan said nothing, and not a single person dared to raise their head.

’Among this kneeling crowd, there are few loyal officials but plenty of treacherous ones. I’ll let them kneel for a while.’

Lu Yuan walked past them all and sat back down in the main chair behind the desk.