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

Chapter 227 Lin Wanyun Poisons

After Zhuge Chongguang arrived in the North, Lu Chen directly appointed him as the Minister of Education, in charge of the education work of the entire North, and also gave him the title of Grand Scholar, so that he could participate in the discussion of any important military and national affairs in the future.

Although Zhuge Chongguang obtained such a high position as soon as he arrived in the North, none of the officials in the North were dissatisfied, including Li Rui, who was acting as the acting prime minister and the vice minister of state.

Zhuge Chongguang's power as a Grand Scholar far exceeded that of Li Rui, and his status was clearly above Li Rui's, yet Li Rui still had no temper at all.

Zhuge Chongguang is a Grandmaster of Literature and a person who is expected to break through to the Celestial Realm. Who would dare to compete with him for power?

Unable to compete with others in literature, and with others being grandmasters in martial arts, Li Rui had no choice but to relinquish most of his power.

With a Grandmaster in charge of the small court in the North, the officialdom of the North became much more harmonious. Everyone knew that Zhuge Chongguang held the most power below the Prince, and no matter how they climbed up, it was useless, as the Grandmaster's status was undeniable.

Moreover, Lu Chen not only arranged for Zhuge Chongguang to be an official, but also made arrangements for the students who came to the Northern Kingdom with Zhuge Chongguang. However, most of them started from the bottom. Lu Chen did not assign them very important positions right away. Even though the students of Huanyu Academy were all his own people, he could not give them important positions right away.

For Lu Chen, loyalty is important, but ability is equally important. If he only needed loyalty and didn't need others to be capable, then the Northern Kingdom wouldn't be lacking in officials now.

Lu Chen's idea was simple: first, send the students of Huanyu Academy down to the grassroots level to train them and correct their habit of talking big. After they had accumulated some experience, he would then promote them.

Their loyalty is exactly 100%. After sending the students of Huanyu Academy down to the grassroots level, Lu Chen, even though he holds a high position, can easily grasp the situation at the grassroots level. In addition, with the supervision of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, his control over the grassroots level far exceeds that of other rulers.

The construction of the new city is in full swing, and the construction of the straight road is about halfway complete. At present, the political, economic and military situation in the North Country can be said to have entered a stage of stable development.

After firearms entered the army, the Northern army began to practice new tactics. At present, the Northern Kingdom still lacks food the most. Although Lu Chen obtained high-yield crops such as corn and sweet potatoes, time was limited and he had only planted them once. They have not yet been popularized throughout the Northern Kingdom.

To solve the food problem in the North and prevent it from suffering from famine, it will take at least two or three years. Before that, the North will need to buy food from other dynasties.

Fortunately, commerce in the North was already very developed, with caravans from various dynasties coming and going in an endless stream. Even if the caravans of the Northern King's Palace did not actively purchase grain from other dynasties, those caravans would transport grain from other dynasties to the North for sale, which to some extent made up for the food shortage problem in the North.

Seeing that everything in the North was developing in a positive direction, Lu Chen finally felt less pressure recently, and he handed over many of his tasks to Zhuge Chongguang.

Although Zhuge Chongguang was an ancient person, he was not much less intelligent than a modern person. He could understand most of Lu Chen's policies and did not need Lu Chen to explain them much. Zhuge Chongguang could accurately implement Lu Chen's policies, which made Lu Chen much more relaxed.

With Zhuge Chongguang and the students of Huanyu Academy, Lu Chen no longer needed to work as hard as before. He only needed to continue his plan to reproduce and then quietly wait for the opportunity.

North Palace.

Evening, in the study.

The study was brightly lit. Lu Chen had worked a little overtime today. A lot of intelligence from the capital arrived in the evening, and he was sorting through it.

Recently, the conflict between his father, the emperor, and the powerful families of Jiangnan has become increasingly apparent. The emperor wanted to send troops south, but was obstructed in every way by officials of the powerful families of Jiangnan. The conflict between the two sides has become public.

The powerful families of Jiangnan have probably realized that Emperor Xia is planning to take action against them. So they don't care about anything else and are directly using various means to stop Emperor Xia from mobilizing troops. In a fit of anger, Emperor Xia has already beheaded several officials from these powerful families.

Previously, Emperor Xia was afraid of those powerful families, so he rarely killed their officials. Even if those officials did something wrong, he would at most remove their official hats. Now that he has started killing powerful family officials, it means that he has reached his limit of patience.

The atmosphere in Beijing right now is particularly oppressive, with a feeling that a storm is brewing.

Lu Chen sat at his desk, constantly flipping through the intelligence reports about the arrival of the Northern Prince's Mansion that evening. Qin Yushan was still standing in front of Lu Chen and had not left immediately.

After glancing at the intelligence reports on the table, Lu Chen asked, "How's the investigation I had Commander Liang conduct?"

Qin Yushan replied, "Your Highness, since His Majesty liberalized the salt industry, the Dongfang family, a prominent family in Jiangnan, has profited the most from salt production. Before the court liberalized the salt industry, they had already purchased a lot of land by the sea to produce salt and smuggled the salt to the Great Qian Dynasty."

"Since the imperial court liberalized the salt industry, the Dongfang family has been openly selling the salt they previously produced privately to the whole country. In less than a year, they have earned nearly ten million taels of silver, and this is the data we can find."

"If we include the data that we can't find, I estimate that the Dongfang family has earned at least ten million taels of silver."

Upon hearing Qin Yushan's words, Lu Chen stopped manually flipping through the intelligence and fell into deep thought.

Since the Eastern Family is the biggest beneficiary, does that mean that the Eastern Family and Emperor Xia have reached some kind of deal?

Seeing that Lu Chen was deep in thought, Qin Yushan didn't continue. After a while, Lu Chen asked, "Regarding the Dongfang family, what other information did Commander Liang and his men find out?"

Qin Yushan continued, "The Dongfang family has always wanted to enter the imperial court, but the Dongfang family is different from ordinary families. They migrated to the Great Xia from other dynasties and do not have much land in the Great Xia. In addition, they have been merchants for generations, so they have always been looked down upon by other families. Although they have some influential figures in the court, it is very difficult for their family members to enter the court."

"Over the past year, the trade between the Dongfang family and the capital has been very frequent, and their merchant ships have hardly stopped."

Upon hearing Qin Yushan's report, Lu Chen smiled. So, it's highly likely that the pawn his father planted among the Jiangnan aristocratic families was the Dongfang family.

Although the Dongfang family can be considered an ancient family, it only has money and no political status to match it, so strictly speaking, it is different from ordinary ancient families.

Since the Eastern aristocratic family desires political status and a place in the imperial court, Emperor Xia could take advantage of this opportunity to secretly form an alliance with them, first eliminating the other aristocratic families and then elevating the Eastern aristocratic family's status.

only……

Will Emperor Xia really keep his promise?

If the Dongfang family is truly Emperor Xia's pawn, will Emperor Xia discard this pawn after he has finished using it?

After all, in the eyes of the Xia Emperor, the aristocratic families were the root cause of the chaos in the Great Xia Dynasty, and he himself hated them very much. He might not keep his promise.

If the only solution is to eliminate one group of ancient aristocratic families and then support another group, then the Great Xia Dynasty may fall into a historical cycle, and perhaps in a few years, it will revert to the current situation of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Lu Chen was very curious about what his father, the emperor, would do then.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen said, "Have Commander Liang keep a close eye on the Dongfang family. Every move they make must be written down and sent to the Northern Kingdom."

Qin Yushan replied, "Yes, Your Highness."

Lu Chen continued, "Alright, it's getting late. If there's nothing else, you should go home now."

"This subordinate takes his leave." With that, Qin Yushan turned and left Lu Chen's study.

After Qin Yushan left, Lu Chen continued to look through the intelligence reports on the table. He felt very pleased with the current situation in the world.

Each dynasty and nation has its own problems, and based on the intelligence he has gathered, it will take at least two or three years for the world's situation to stabilize.

By the time the major dynasties had resolved their internal conflicts, the Northern Kingdom had grown stronger. Its commerce and trade were becoming increasingly developed. If the Northern Kingdom could complete its initial capital accumulation in the next few years, it might soon embark on the path of industrialization.

Just as Lu Chen was looking to the future, a maid's voice came from outside the door, "Your Highness, Commander Lin has arrived."

Hearing this, Lu Chen said while flipping through the intelligence, "Come in."

The next moment, Lin Wanyun pushed open the door and came in carrying a multi-tiered lunchbox.

After entering the study, Lin Wanyun said, "Chen'er, this is the midnight snack that Zixuan just made for you."

Hearing this, Lu Chen looked up at Lin Wanyun, then glanced at the lunchbox. "Thank you, Aunt Lin."

Lin Wanyun smiled and said, "It's no trouble at all, it's what I should do. Please have something to eat first."

At this point, Lin Wanyun placed the lunchbox on the desk, then opened it and took out all the food inside.

Lu Chen moved all the intelligence on the table aside, then looked at tonight's supper and found that, like usual, it was soup made with all sorts of highly nutritious ingredients.

In fact, these things are of no use to Lu Chen. He is already a Grandmaster, with abundant physical strength and energy, so he has no need for these things. It is completely unnecessary for Mu Zixuan to prepare these supplements for him.

However, since this was a token of his wife's affection, Lu Chen wouldn't say anything. Besides, there was no harm in replenishing his energy. Although he was physically strong, he still needed that kind of energy to cultivate his relationship with his wives and concubines.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen picked up a spoon, preparing to take a sip of soup.

Just then, Lu Chen's mind went blank, and he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Although Lin Wanyun has now become the head of the inner courtyard of the Prince's Mansion, she is still considered an outsider to a certain extent. Outsiders are usually not qualified to bring food to Lu Chen. Usually, it is Mu Zixuan's closest maid who brings food to Lu Chen. Mu Zixuan would not entrust the food to Lin Wanyun to bring.

Mu Zixuan was a smart woman. How could she not see that Lin Wanyun and the others had ulterior motives towards Lu Chen? Moreover, Mu Zixuan had already told Lu Chen that Chen Wanrong and Lin Wanyun might have some purpose in choosing to stay in the Northern Prince's Mansion.

Lu Chen smiled slightly, thinking, "I'm afraid there's something extra in tonight's late-night snack."

Thinking of this, Lu Chen glanced at Lin Wanyun.

Lin Wanyun wore a purple dress today, looking incredibly charming. Her voluptuous figure filled out the dress, making her appear very mature and sophisticated.

Lu Chen used the system to identify Lin Wanyun's personal information.

Name: Lin Wanyun

[Identity: Adopted daughter of Lin Gaoyuan, the Left Prime Minister of the Great Xia Dynasty. She later left the Lin family and joined the Xuan Yue Palace. A half-step Grandmaster, she is 32 years old this year. She followed Chen Wanrong, the Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace, to the Northern Prefecture, intending to use the blood of the Northern King to refine the Subduing Dragon Curse to deal with the Xia Emperor. Chen Wanrong sensed that the Great Xia Dynasty was about to fall into chaos, and the arrival of Zhuge Chongguang gave her a sense of crisis. Therefore, she planned to use the Love Gu on the Northern King in advance. In order to ensure the success of the Gu, Chen Wanrong had Lin Wanyun put the powder of male Lovebird Butterflies into the Northern King's food. As long as the Northern King consumed the powder of male Lovebird Butterflies, he would be affected by Chen Wanrong, who had consumed the powder of female Lovebird Butterflies. In their view, this would greatly increase the success rate of the Gu.]

Rating: 95

【Favourability: 100】

Seeing that Lin Wanyun's profile had been updated, Lu Chen's smile became even brighter. He wondered why Lin Wanyun had brought him a late-night snack today; it turned out that Lin Wanyun and Chen Wanrong were planning to give him medication.

However, the powder from the Butterfly Lovers used by Chen Wanrong sounds like it has the same effect as the Dragon and Phoenix Tree.

Lu Chen was unsure whether this thing would have any effect on him, so he asked in his mind, "System, can the Invulnerable Body Technique neutralize the powder of the Lovebird Butterfly?"

Yes, the powder from the lovebird butterfly is a type of aphrodisiac.

Hearing the system's reply, Lu Chen felt relieved. Since it could detoxify, there was nothing to worry about.

Chen Wanrong and Lin Wanyun didn't want to wait any longer, and he didn't want to wait any longer either. It was time to add two more women to his collection. He had always been very lusting after the beautiful woman in front of him.

Seeing Lu Chen suddenly stop eating, Lin Wanyun was startled and had a bad feeling. She was worried that Lu Chen might have discovered the butterfly powder in the soup.

Lin Wanyun immediately reassured herself that she had only used a tiny bit of powder today, which Lu Chen should not be able to detect. Moreover, the powder of the Butterfly of Love was not considered poisonous, and most importantly, it had no smell.

Then Lin Wanyun tentatively asked, "Chen'er, what's wrong?"

Lu Chen pretended to sigh and said, "Sigh, why did Zixuan make me so many nourishing foods again? How am I supposed to sleep if I eat all this so late at night?"

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Lin Wanyun breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully she hadn't noticed.

I'm still recovering from a cold and have been in bed all day, so this is the only chapter I'll be updating today. My head is still spinning, so there might be some problems with the writing. Please point out any typos or awkward phrasing, thank you.

(End of this chapter)