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

Chapter 181 What does that little man want to do?

Upon hearing Li Rui's words, Lu Chen instantly understood his meaning. The imperial court was now controlled by powerful families, who owned the most land and were the most sensitive to land issues.

If Lu Chen were to implement land reforms at this time, it would inevitably touch a nerve with the powerful families. They would then surely impeach him relentlessly and try every means to cause him trouble.

Not only aristocratic families, but also the scholar-official class would certainly criticize him.

In short, whoever owns more land is more likely to cause trouble for him.

Lu Chen then said, "The reason I am implementing reforms now is because the court's attention is focused on the war with Da Wu."

"Even if they knew about the reforms in North County, and even if they were unhappy about it, they wouldn't have much energy to manage North County at this time."

"By the time those people in the imperial court have the energy to care about the affairs of Beijun, the reforms in Beijun will have been basically completed, and everything will have settled down. By then, it will be too late for them to object."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui thought about it and felt that Lu Chen was right. If they waited until the war between Da Xia and Da Wu ended before carrying out reforms, the resistance they would encounter would be many times greater than it is now.

Now is the best time for reform. Even if some powerful officials in the court want to stop the reform in Beijun, they will not have much energy to spare for causing trouble for Beijun.

The war between Da Xia and Da Wu has entered a fierce stage. Both sides are constantly reinforcing their troops on the front lines. Da Xia has already lost two prefectures. How could the imperial court possibly have the energy to care about a vassal king messing around on his own land?

For the Great Xia Dynasty at present, it is already quite good as long as the vassal kings do not rebel and add fuel to the fire of the Great Xia's situation. As for what reforms they carry out, that is not the focus of their concern.

Lu Chen continued, "There's no need to worry about the imperial court hindering the reforms in Beijun. If you have any questions about the reform measures, raise them now. Don't wait until the time comes to implement them and then not know what to do."

At this point, the officials in the hall looked at each other, but no one spoke.

They knew very well that Lu Chen's reform measures would definitely continue, so whatever they said wouldn't really have much effect.

In fact, people have many questions about reform, such as the separation of military and government.

The separation of military and political power means that from now on, all military power in Beijun will be in the hands of the Northern King's Mansion and the Northern King. These civil officials will be left empty-handed, and the Northern King can deal with them as he pleases.

This is even more terrifying than the Xia Emperor reclaiming military power. The Xia Emperor only reclaimed military power in name; in reality, during wartime, the Xia Emperor still had to discuss important military and national affairs with some Grand Councilors.

Moreover, the Ministry of War of the Great Xia Dynasty is no longer solely controlled by the Xia Emperor.

However, the situation in Beijun was different. The separation of military and political affairs meant that the Ministry of War and other departments would not interact with each other in their work. In the future, the Ministry of War would only deal with the Northern King, and other departments would have almost no chance to interfere with the army.

The most crucial point is that the reform of Beijun did not have a minister like the Chancellor who could command all officials, and even Li Rui, the former governor, had his power greatly weakened.

However, this puts Li Rui in a somewhat awkward position. He used to be in charge of all officials in Beijun, but now that Beijun has undergone reforms, he doesn't know where to go.

Li Rui didn't ask Lu Chen how he should be arranged, and it wasn't appropriate for him to bring it up. He believed that Lu Chen had already decided what kind of position to assign him, so it was better for him not to interfere.

At this moment, Lu Chen spoke up and said, "By the way, from now on, apart from the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Education which are directly managed by me, the other five ministries will be temporarily managed by Li Rui. Above the five ministries will be ministers of state affairs, and the first minister of state affairs will be Li Rui temporarily acting as the first minister of state affairs."

Hearing this, Li Rui breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had never heard of the title "Minister of State Affairs" before, this position was above the Five Ministries and was responsible for managing the Five Ministries. In fact, this position was not much different from that of the Prime Minister, nor was it much different from his previous position as a prefect.

After Lu Chen came to Beijun, he handed over the military power of Beijun to Lu Chen. At that time, he was only responsible for the political affairs of Beijun.

Although the Northern Commandery has undergone reforms, he will still be responsible for the administration of the Northern Kingdom, which is basically the same as before.

Li Rui then asked, "Your Highness, who do you intend to have manage the national treasury?"

The Ministry of Commerce was directly managed by Lu Chen, but the national treasury was not, so Li Rui attached great importance to the selection of the person in charge of the national treasury.

This is a money bag, and everyone wants to have control over it.

Upon hearing Li Rui's question, Lu Chen smiled faintly and then said, "From now on, the national treasury will be renamed the Northern Kingdom Bank, and the person in charge of the bank will be called the president. The president will be appointed and dismissed by me personally."

Li Rui was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself, "As expected, the Northern King is unwilling to hand over the national treasury to others."

Although they wanted to make the national treasury independent of the Northern King's mansion, at present, the civil officials of the Northern Prefecture did not have the ability or the courage to snatch the money bag from the Northern King.

Lu Chen then continued, "As for who will be the first president of the Northern Bank, I intend to appoint Yelü Nanyan as the first president of the bank."

Upon hearing this, the hall erupted in chaos. Li Rui hurriedly said, "Your Highness, you mustn't!"

Lu Chen said calmly, "Are you trying to say that because she's a woman, women can't hold official positions?"

"I just want to find someone to manage the money. As long as she can manage the money well and is absolutely loyal to me, it doesn't matter to me whether she is male or female."

"As for her past identity, my decision to give her an important position will appease the barbarians in the Northern Commandery and let them know that I treat all barbarians equally."

Lu Chen continued, "Oh, by the way, she was recommended to me by my queen."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui and the others were stunned. Even the princess recommended Yelü Nanyan to manage the national treasury, so they didn't seem to have anything to say.

Moreover, Yelü Nanyan is now the Northern King's woman. If they continue to oppose her, it will appear that they are opposing the Northern King's family's management of the national treasury. This is clearly an attempt to seize the Northern King's family's money bag. Li Rui dared not have such thoughts, and he was too lazy to say anything more.

At this moment, Lu Chen turned to look at Mu Changtian, "General Mo, you've gone through all that trouble to come back from Tianguang City, don't you have any questions about the military reforms in Beijun?"

Mu Changtian was originally on a special mission near Tianguang City, but after Lu Chen thought about the reform, he had someone notify him in advance to rush back. After receiving the order, Mu Changtian traveled through wind and snow and only returned to Yancheng last night.

He came all this way back and didn't offer any advice? Wouldn't that have been a wasted trip?

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, Mu Changtian said, "Your Highness's military reforms can greatly improve the soldiers' combat effectiveness. I believe that Your Highness's reform measures are already perfect and have no flaws."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen chuckled.

He then said, "Perhaps the reform measures for North County were read out all at once, and they were read out rather quickly, so you didn't remember them."

"Next, we'll discuss these points one by one. If you have any questions, please raise them."

Lu Chen then gestured to the Imperial Guard soldiers around him to continue reading the reform measures, and they spent the next day discussing them.

……

at the same time.

The Great Wu Dynasty, Imperial Palace, Qingyun Hall.

Wu Junwan lay on her side on the chaise longue, holding a piece of intelligence in her hand, reading it carefully over and over again.

She then turned to the person kneeling in the hall who had delivered the intelligence and asked, "Have you confirmed whether the heavy cavalry of the Northern Commandery has truly been wiped out?"

The man kneeling in the main hall immediately said, "Your Highness, there are many military restricted areas in the Northern Prefecture, making it difficult for our people to infiltrate, so we cannot confirm this at the moment."

"However, I heard that the Great Xia court did not recall the imperial army, but instead let Lin Xiuming take over Tianguang City. Therefore, I believe that the Great Xia must have confirmed the destruction of the heavy cavalry, which is why they did not recall Lin Xiuming, but let him continue to stay in Beijun."

Upon hearing the man's words, Wu Junwan chuckled and then said, "That's not necessarily true."

The annihilation of the Northern Commandery heavy cavalry was too bizarre, forcing Wu Yunwan to be on high alert.

The 300,000-strong army of the King of Tianlang failed to defeat the heavy cavalry of Beijun, but the rumored 200,000-strong army of the King of Beixian annihilated the 50,000 heavy cavalry of Beijun.

is it possible?

Before their spies from Dawu could even confirm whether the King of Beixian had really gone south, news came from Beijun that the heavy cavalry was gone.

The heavy cavalry of the North County were wiped out far too quickly.

It gives the impression that Beijun is deliberately hiding troops and sending these heavy cavalry on some special mission.

The war between Great Xia and Great Wu has now reached a fever pitch. At this time, the sudden disappearance of a heavy cavalry unit from Great Xia will inevitably attract the attention of Great Wu.

Wu Yunwan then said, "Immediately send more spies to Beijun. I need to get accurate information about that heavy cavalry force in Beijun."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Your subordinate takes his leave."

After the man in the main hall left, Wu Yunwan's lips curled up slightly, and then she said to herself with a smile, "I'm quite curious, what did that little man want to do?"

(End of this chapter)