Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 180 North County Reform

Upon hearing her sister's words, Chu Qingli said expressionlessly, "Sister knows he's grown up, so why do you still want to stay by his side?"

"He has so many powerful people around him now, even that woman surnamed Bai is stronger than my sister. My sister is now a dispensable presence in the Northern Prince's Mansion."

Upon hearing Chu Qingli's words, Chu Yuqin's memories vanished instantly. She turned to look at Chu Qingli and said, "Qingli, you've been at the Northern Prince's residence for so long now, why do I feel like you still haven't given up?"

Chu Qingli looked towards the study and said, "I can't give up until my sister escapes this misery."

Hearing Chu Qingli's words, Chu Yuqin sighed slightly and then said, "Qingli, for me, Chen'er is the most important person. It is impossible for me to leave his side, and I don't think I am suffering much by his side."

Chu Qingli said calmly, "The reason why my sister has such thoughts is simply because she was hypnotized by him."

"One day, I will make my sister wake up and see the evil side of this man."

"I believe that by then, even if I don't say anything, my sister will leave the Northern Prince's Mansion on her own."

Seeing that Chu Qingli was still so stubborn, Chu Yuqin simply stopped talking about it, feeling that no matter how much she said, it would be useless.

However, with her younger sister always in the Prince's mansion, how is she supposed to serve Lu Chen?

Thinking of this, Chu Yuqin's face became a little hot.

She had asked Lu Chen for some time last time, but so much time has passed and she still hasn't kept her promise. She's afraid that if she continues to drag this out, Lu Chen might think she's broken her word.

It seems she needs to find a way to get her younger sister away. Only when her sister leaves the palace can she fulfill her promise to serve Lu Chen.

But how should we get her out of here?

Chu Yuqin thought for a moment, then said to Chu Qingli, "Qingli, life in the Northern Prince's Mansion is a bit boring for someone like you who is always traveling around, which is why you are always overthinking things. Why don't you leave the Northern Prince's Mansion for a while and go out to relax? After a while, you might stop overthinking."

Upon hearing this, Chu Qingli immediately looked suspicious. She then said, "Sister, are you planning to send me away so you can do something shady with that man?"

Seeing that her younger sister had seen through her thoughts in an instant, Chu Yuqin felt her face burning even hotter, and she felt extremely ashamed.

Without a suitable reason, it's really not easy to get rid of your younger sister.

Chu Yuqin then retorted stubbornly, "Qingli, I'm Chen'er's aunt, how could you have such thoughts!"

"Forget it, I'm not going to say anything more to you. You won't listen to anything I say anyway."

With that, Chu Yuqin turned and left, or more accurately, she fled the place. She felt that if she stayed any longer, her younger sister would probably see through her. Her sister's intuition was too accurate; she had immediately guessed that she wanted to send her away.

At this moment, Chu Yuqin regretted letting Chu Qingli into the Northern Prince's Mansion. It's easy to invite a god in, but hard to send him away. Once she's in, it won't be easy for her to leave.

Seeing Chu Yuqin's departing figure, Chu Qingli had a feeling that Chu Yuqin and Lu Chen had done something shameful.

However, she had no evidence and could only speculate.

At this moment, Chu Qingli turned her head again to look at the study not far away.

The man in the study is the root of all evil. If we can get rid of him, maybe my sister can escape her misery.

Thinking of this, Chu Qingli headed straight for the study. She felt it was time to have a good talk with Lu Chen.

However, just as she reached the door of the study, a Jinyiwei soldier rushed into the study. Before she could say anything, the Jinyiwei soldier spoke first: "Your Highness, the Prefectural Governor's Office has sent several hundred thousand taels of silver, saying that Your Highness wants to repair the road, and the officials have voluntarily donated money to Your Highness for the road repair."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen, who was writing a reform plan in his study, was stunned for a moment. After regaining his senses, he immediately put down his brush and went straight out of the room.

After opening the study door, Lu Chen first glanced at Chu Qingli, then his gaze fell on the Jinyiwei soldiers.

"Where's the silver?"

The Imperial Guard soldier replied, "It was just delivered to the outer courtyard."

Lu Chen immediately said, "Deliver the silver to the main hall of the Prince's mansion. I want to take a look at it."

At this point, Lu Chen's gaze shifted to Chu Qingli. "Qingli, is there something you need from me?"

Chu Qingli was stunned for a moment. She had indeed intended to talk to Lu Chen, but after being interrupted by the Jinyiwei soldiers, her thoughts instantly vanished.

She suddenly felt as if she were bewitched. How could she have come up with the idea of ​​talking to Lu Chen alone?

Chu Qingli immediately replied, "It's nothing, I was just patrolling around here."

Lu Chen said casually, "Oh, I see. I'll be going then."

Chu Qingli quickly stepped aside, "Your Highness, please take care."

Lu Chen then arrived at the outer hall of the Prince's Mansion. Soon after, the servants of the Prince's Mansion carried several large boxes of silver into the hall.

Upon seeing the wooden crates in the hall, Lu Chen revealed a strange smile, whether it was joy or something else, and then said, "Open all the crates."

The servants immediately opened all the wooden boxes, which were filled with gleaming silver. Looking at the silver, Lu Chen muttered to himself, "Seventy thousand taels of silver exchanged for hundreds of thousands of taels, this deal is definitely a steal."

He had just instructed Mu Zixuan to allocate 70,000 taels of silver to the officials of Beijun as their salaries, but before the salaries could be paid out, the officials of Beijun instead turned in hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Lu Chen squatted down, picked up a silver ingot from the wooden box, looked at it, and then continued, "Li Rui is really dishonest. These officials in Yancheng can hand over hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, yet he actually came to me for my salary a few days ago."

At this point, Lu Chen turned to the servants of the Prince's mansion and said, "Take a count and see how much silver there is."

After hearing Lu Chen's words, the servants of the Prince's Mansion immediately began to count the silver.

Lu Chen did not stay in the main hall of the Prince's Mansion. He asked a maid to fetch Mu Zixuan to deal with the silver, and then he returned to his study to continue writing the reform plan for Beijun.

When Mu Zixuan saw the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in the main hall of the Prince's Mansion, she was extremely shocked. When she inquired about the source, she was even more surprised. In such a poor place as Beijun, how could these officials in Yancheng have embezzled four or five hundred thousand taels of silver?

However, Mu Zixuan didn't say much more to Lu Chen about this matter afterward. After all, it was a political matter, and Lu Chen could handle it. As for the money, it was all put into the national treasury, since they were about to establish one.

A few days later, the small court assembly in Beijun officially began. Lu Chen's study was definitely not big enough to hold so many officials, because the Hall of State Affairs had not yet been completed. Therefore, Lu Chen used the main hall of the Prince's Mansion in the outer courtyard as the venue for this small court assembly.

This meeting required the attendance of all officials from the Northern Commandery, as well as all military officers.

In the morning, after getting up and eating something simple, Lu Chen went to the main hall of the Prince's Mansion, where the officials and military officers had already arrived.

The officials of Beijun seemed very nervous about the meeting, while the military officers stood still as if nothing was wrong, watching the officials discuss the meeting.

At that moment, a Jinyiwei soldier's voice came from the doorway, "His Highness has arrived!"

Upon hearing this, the previously noisy hall of the Prince's Mansion instantly fell silent, and everyone shut their mouths and waited.

Lu Chen then walked through the crowd and sat down on the chair directly opposite the main entrance.

Li Rui immediately took the lead and said, "Greetings, Your Highness! Long live the Prince!"

Lu Chen said calmly, "No need for formalities."

Lu Chen then said, "I believe everyone has already heard that the main reason I have invited you all to the palace to discuss politics is the reform of Beijun."

"I have been in Beijun for over a year now. As is customary, I should be building my own team. However, due to other matters I had in the past, as well as the two invasions of the barbarian armies to the south, I have not had the time."

"After these days of deliberation, I have decided to make some adjustments to the Northern Commandery."

At this point, Lu Chen turned to the Imperial Guard soldier beside him and said, "Read it."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, the Jinyiwei soldier took out a long scroll and began to read it.

"Effective immediately, the Northern Commandery is hereby abolished. The Northern Commandery will be renamed the Northern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom will establish the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Education. The Northern Kingdom will adopt a policy of separation of military and political affairs. The Ministry of War will be managed solely by the Northern King. At the same time, the Northern Commandery army will also be reformed. The reform of the Northern Commandery army will be divided into the following points..."

When the Imperial Guard soldiers read out the "reform measures," the hall was quiet, and everyone listened attentively to the content that was closely related to their lives.

Half an hour later, the Imperial Guard soldiers finished reading the contents of the scroll. After they stopped, Lu Chen said, "Next, if you have any questions about the reform measures, or if you feel there is anything inappropriate, you can raise it."

After hearing Lu Chen's words, the civil officials looked at each other, but none of them stood up.

They certainly had many questions in their hearts, but most of them were low-ranking officials, so how could they dare to speak out against such reform measures?

At this moment, Li Rui stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, since ancient times, the imperial court has always had six ministries. Why should the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education be added in the Northern Prefecture? I heard what the Embroidered Uniform Guard soldiers read just now, and I found that the Ministry of Commerce can be merged into the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Education can be merged into the Ministry of Rites. There is no need to set up two more ministries. If two more ministries are set up, I believe it will lead to redundant officials."

Lu Chen replied, "The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education are pre-established departments, mainly for the future of Beijun. For the time being, these two departments will be managed solely by me."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui stopped dwelling on the issue. Since it was a pre-designated department, it had nothing to do with him.

However, there was another issue that concerned Li Rui. He immediately said, "Your Highness, one of your reform measures stipulates that all land in the Northern Kingdom legally belongs to you. Everyone only has the right to use it, not the right to own it. This may cause protests from the people."

The issue of land annexation was a major concern for any dynasty, but no dynasty dared to directly say that it would take all the land back to the court or hand it all over to the emperor.

Although the emperor nominally ruled the entire country, it was only in name.

The landlords would certainly object to taking back the land ownership, and the common people would not agree either.

Li Rui felt that Lu Chen's measure was too bold, which was likely to cause public dissatisfaction with Lu Chen.

Lu Chen said, "The purpose of taking back land ownership is twofold: first, to avoid land annexation issues, and second, to prepare for the future development and construction of Beijun."

"The reason I dare to do this is naturally because I have my reasons. First of all, there are not many large landowners in Beijun. Moreover, starting today, Beijun will exempt all agricultural taxes. As long as the people are willing to farm, they can get as much as they want. Furthermore, the people can apply for land from the Beiwang Palace. They only need to pay a small amount of land fee to contract a large area of ​​land. These are all benefits that I am giving to the people after taking back the ownership of the land."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui was taken aback.

Abolishing all agricultural taxes?

That's incredibly bold!

In this era, agricultural taxes were a major source of a country's revenue!

Even Mu Changtian, a military general, couldn't help but step forward and say, "Your Highness, isn't the policy of exempting all agricultural taxes a bit too radical? If there are no agricultural taxes, how will the Northern Kingdom's treasury have money in the future?"

Lu Chen said, "The agricultural tax collected in Beijun is not even enough to cover the salaries of the officials in Beijun. What can such a small amount of agricultural tax do? Moreover, the royal palace has a large amount of land for growing grain, and I do not need the people to hand over grain to me."

"As for where the newly established national treasury in the Northern Kingdom should collect money, it will naturally be from the new commercial tax. In the future, any goods entering or leaving the Northern Kingdom will be subject to commercial tax. In addition, I will separate a part of the Northern Royal Palace's industries and hand them over to the Ministry of Commerce for management. All the money earned from those industries will be sent to the national treasury."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, the officials were stunned once again, not expecting the Northern King to be so generous.

It's important to know that every business owned by the Northern Prince's Mansion is extremely profitable, especially the recently booming coal industry. The people in Prince Qi's fiefdom are buying coal like crazy, and the Northern Prince's Mansion has made a fortune this winter.

If the Northern Prince's Mansion were to hand over its assets to the Ministry of Commerce for management, the Northern Kingdom's treasury would never be short of money in the future.

In this way, the Ministry of Commerce becomes very important, since it is the department that makes money.

At this moment, an official from Yancheng asked, "Your Highness, wouldn't this move be seen as competing with the people for profit?"

Lu Chen wasn't angered by the question. He calmly replied, "How could it be competing with the people for profit? Did the common people have the same industries as the Northern Prince's Mansion in the past? I separated those industries and handed them over to the Ministry of Commerce for management. Those industries then hired workers to feed the people. This is a benefit to the people. Who dares to say that I am competing with the people for profit?"

"Unless someone wants my properties, they wouldn't use the excuse of the people competing for profits, since the money earned goes into the national treasury, not into their own pockets. As far as I know, only those aristocratic families would think that way."

"However, surely no powerful family in the Northern Commandery would dare to seize state-owned assets managed by the Ministry of Commerce right under my nose?"

After hearing what Lu Chen said, everyone in the hall fell silent.

Indeed, if the properties spun off from the Northern Prince's Mansion recruit a large number of workers, the displaced people of the Northern Prefecture will have jobs and food to eat. This is a benefit to the people and is not at all a competition for profit with them.

Of course, the common people also include aristocratic families. If the money that aristocratic families cannot earn is made by the Ministry of Commerce and the Northern Prince's Mansion, they will definitely say that the Northern Prince's Mansion is competing with the people for profit.

However, such voices are unlikely to be heard in North County.

Lu Chen then continued, "By the way, I would like to ask General Mo and Lord Li whether the name of my fiefdom can be changed? You two are quite familiar with the rules of the court, so you should know this."

As far as Lu Chen knew, the name of a fiefdom could not be changed arbitrarily; basically, the fiefdom was named after the king.

He was the King of the North, so his fiefdom was the Northern Kingdom.

However, the name "Northern Kingdom" made Lu Chen feel somewhat uncomfortable; it seemed too informal.

His father disliked him and randomly gave him the title of king, which is why he had to use that title for his kingdom.

Mu Changtian replied, "Your Highness, as far as I know, it can be changed. There is such a precedent in Great Xia. However, Your Highness needs to write to His Majesty to apply for a change of title before the name of the Northern Kingdom can be changed."

"However, the title of Prince was bestowed by His Majesty after all. Both the thunder and rain are expressions of imperial favor. Although there are precedents, if the Prince were to request His Majesty to change the title, His Majesty would surely take back some of the titles."

"Moreover, judging from precedent, a vassal king who proposes to change his title will most likely be transferred away from his fiefdom and given a different fiefdom elsewhere."

Upon hearing Mu Changtian's words, Lu Chen immediately said, "Then forget it, alright, let's leave this topic at that."

Lu Chen didn't think that the Xia Emperor would grant him a new fiefdom after seeing his application. On the contrary, he felt that the Xia Emperor would take back many of his possessions, such as the order to expand the army.

Since it's so troublesome, let's not change it.

Let it be the Northland.

The name will have to be changed sooner or later.

"If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I have already had lunch prepared, and we have plenty of time to discuss the reform measures I have proposed today."

Li Rui continued, "Your Highness, your reform measures are beneficial to the Northern Kingdom in the long run, and these reform measures are unlikely to encounter any obstacles in the Northern Kingdom. However, I believe that the biggest obstacle may not be in the Northern Kingdom, but in the imperial court."

Putting aside whether Lu Chen's establishment of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education violated the rules of etiquette, the mere fact that the land ownership belonged to the Northern Prince's Mansion was enough to make the court officials condemn Lu Chen.

Land issues have always been a sensitive topic in feudal dynasties. There are few people in Beijun now, and no large landowners. With a little pressure from Lu Chen, this decree can be easily promulgated.

However, the situation is different within the Great Xia territory. Aristocratic families and officials often own the most land. For a prince to take back all the land ownership is setting a bad precedent.

Although this matter has not yet fallen on them, they absolutely will not allow anyone to set this precedent. If the vassal king does this today, then the Xia emperor might follow suit tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)