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

Chapter 240 The door's open, come in.

Upon hearing Qin Yushan mention the remnants of the Chen Kingdom, Lu Chen immediately put down the intelligence report he was holding. He looked up at Qin Yushan and then continued to ask, "Are they gathering in the north? Are they numerous?"

Qin Yushan replied, "There are many. The Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace has issued a summons, intending to take advantage of the internal strife in Da Xia to destroy the country."

At this point, Qin Yushan looked at Lu Chen and asked, "Your Highness, should we stop those Chen people from coming to the Northern Kingdom?"

Qin Yushan knew that the Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace had always lived in the Prince's Mansion. Anyone with eyes could see that Lu Chen was definitely interested in the Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace.

Qin Yushan was unsure whether Lu Chen had won over Chen Wanrong, so the Embroidered Uniform Guard was having a hard time handling the matter concerning Chen.

Lu Chen said with a smile, "Since they want to come, then let them come."

Lin Wanyun has been completely bewitched by him. Now she can't live without him and has become his woman. Chen Wanrong is almost there too.

Mu Zixuan and Da Zhou and Xiao Zhou have already been pregnant twice, so Lu Chen does not plan to let them have any more children. He intends to let them rest for a few years. He will focus his attention on the women with internal strength in the inner courtyard of the Prince's Mansion, and Chen Wanrong is one of them.

Chen Wanrong was too pure and holy, so he never had any impure thoughts in front of her. Lu Chen knew very well that if he wanted to have impure thoughts in front of this "fairy" Chen Wanrong, he would have to have close contact with her. He would look for opportunities to have close contact with Chen Wanrong.

It was very easy to find an opportunity to get close to Chen Wanrong, because Chen Wanrong was also looking for such an opportunity to bewitch herself; it was a two-way street.

Lu Chen then asked, "Is there any other information?"

Qin Yushan continued, "The Dongfang family plans to move directly to the Northern Kingdom. I wonder if the letter from the Dongfang family head has reached the Prince."

Because the Embroidered Uniform Guard used carrier pigeons extensively, their intelligence was delivered much faster than that of others using horses. Even before Dongfang Yi's letter arrived, Qin Yushan already knew that the Dongfang family planned to move to the Northern Kingdom.

Hearing Qin Yushan's words, Lu Chen asked curiously, "Moving to the North at this time? War has already broken out in the South, how can they possibly extricate themselves?"

Qin Yushan replied, "Their plan is to use the Dongfang family's large merchant ships to come directly to the Northern Kingdom by sea."

Upon hearing Qin Yushan's words, Lu Chen realized that the rumored large merchant ships of the Dongfang family were even larger than the warships of the Great Xia Dynasty, capable of transporting a great many things.

In order to catch the powerful families of Jiangnan off guard, the Xia Emperor also borrowed merchant ships from the Dongfang family to transport some imperial soldiers to the south.

If they come from the sea, then they are indeed not easy to be detected.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen said, "Dongfang Yi's letter should arrive in a few more days. Let them move if they want, as long as they don't get caught."

Lu Chen originally planned to have the Dongfang family act as spies, remaining undercover on his father's side until he needed them to side with him someday.

However, seeing how eager the Dongfang family was to move to the Northern Kingdom, Lu Chen had basically guessed what the Dongfang family was thinking.

They probably thought that the Xia emperor might discard them after they had served their purpose, so they simply fled in advance, letting the imperial army and the Jiangnan aristocratic families led by Lu Shuyun fight it out slowly.

Qin Yushan then said, "That's all the information we have for now. If Your Highness has nothing else to say, I'll take my leave."

Lu Chen said, "Okay, go down."

"Your subordinate takes his leave."

Qin Yushan then turned and left the study.

……

After the Great Xia Dynasty's army marched south, it engaged in fierce battles with the rebel army led by Lu Shuyun. In just one month, hundreds of thousands of people died.

The war was more brutal than people had anticipated, and many civilians chose to head north to avoid being drawn into it.

Lu Chen spread a lot of information about the land distribution in the North to the south through the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The people also knew that the land ownership in the North was not theirs, but the grain grown on the land belonged to them and they did not need to pay agricultural taxes. Based on this alone, the North was not at a loss. It was better than being affected by the war and dying in the war.

The refugees need to pass through the Qi Kingdom to reach the Northern Kingdom, which is a major headache for the King of Qi. When the Great Xia ceded three counties to the Great Wu, a large number of refugees poured into the Qi Kingdom. Now that the Great Xia is in civil war, the refugees are running to the Qi Kingdom again.

Left with no other choice, King Qi had to send envoys to the Northern Kingdom again to bring all the refugees back there, thus increasing the population of the Northern Kingdom once more.

When Lu Chen had the population counted again, the population of the Northern Kingdom had exceeded five million. The sudden abundance of labor led to the rapid development of the Northern Kingdom.

at the same time.

The capital of Daxia.

Inside the Imperial Garden.

Emperor Xia was playing chess with his Grand Tutor, Situ Ce. At this moment, Situ Ce's hand, which was holding a chess piece, stopped on the chessboard. He gazed at the entire board and then asked, "Your Majesty, are you really going to abandon such an important piece?"

The Xia Emperor said calmly, "For me, as long as we can achieve final victory, there is nothing that cannot be given up."

No sooner had the Emperor finished speaking than the Shadow Guard Commander appeared outside the pavilion and said, "Your Majesty, almost all the Embroidered Uniform Guards in the capital have disappeared overnight, and all the Embroidered Uniform Guards we captured have committed suicide by poison."

Upon hearing the report from the Shadow Guard Commander, Emperor Xia's face instantly darkened.

He said coldly, "Little Nine, you've got some impressive skills at making those Imperial Guards willingly commit suicide by poison!"

Generally, those who commit suicide immediately upon being captured can be considered suicide soldiers. What Emperor Xia didn't expect was that Lu Chen had actually trained so many suicide soldiers.

Emperor Xia only recently learned about the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Not long ago, the Shadow Guards accidentally discovered the existence of the Embroidered Uniform Guard while investigating matters related to Lu Shuyun. Later, through the Shadow Guards' investigation, they discovered that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was a huge intelligence agency similar to the Shadow Guards, and its intelligence gathering capabilities even surpassed those of the Shadow Guards.

The shadow guard immediately reported the matter to Emperor Xia. Emperor Xia was furious when he heard about the existence of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. He created the shadow guard mainly to collect intelligence on the entire Xia Dynasty, and also to monitor the officials. The most important function of the shadow guard was to help him do some dirty work.

Unexpectedly, someone else had also established a similar organization. Emperor Xia immediately ordered the Shadow Guards to investigate the Embroidered Uniform Guard. As it turned out, the investigation revealed that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was actually the intelligence agency of the Northern Kingdom, and it was an openly known intelligence agency.

This made Emperor Xia even angrier. He was still alive, and Lu Chen had created an organization similar to the Shadow Guards. What was he trying to do? Was he trying to usurp the throne?

In a fit of anger, Emperor Xia ordered the removal of all the Imperial Guards in the capital, but the effect was not very good. Once the Imperial Guards realized they had been exposed, they immediately went into hiding.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards were basically on single-line contact, making it difficult to capture them all by a single person. The most crucial point was that the Embroidered Uniform Guards were extremely loyal to the Northern King. Even if they were captured, they couldn't get any information out of them.

Because of the Embroidered Uniform Guard incident, Emperor Xia decisively abandoned Bai Qingqing, the deputy commander of the Shadow Guard. This was the important pawn that Situ Ce had just mentioned being discarded.

Emperor Xia has discovered that although Bai Qingqing has been transmitting intelligence about the Northern Kingdom to the court and to him, she has not mentioned any important information about the Northern Kingdom in her reports.

Most importantly, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was an open intelligence agency in the Northern Kingdom, yet Bai Qingqing, the deputy commander of the Shadow Guard, never reported anything about the Embroidered Uniform Guard in her intelligence reports.

Bai Qingqing has now climbed into Lu Chen's bed and become his bedmate, but she still knows very little about Lu Chen.

Emperor Xia couldn't believe that Bai Qingqing and Lu Chen had been sleeping in the same bed for so long without gathering any useful information. Clearly, Bai Qingqing had betrayed them.

Although it is unknown why Bai Qingqing betrayed the court, Emperor Xia will certainly not trust the intelligence she transmits in the future.

The fact that he could make a emotionless deputy commander of the Shadow Guard submit to him further deepened Emperor Xia's fear of Lu Chen, or more accurately, his fear of the power behind Lu Chen.

At this moment, Emperor Xia said to the Shadow Guard Commander, "Bai Qingqing was selected and trained by you. Now that she has betrayed the Shadow Guard, it is up to you to deal with her."

The Shadow Guard Commander immediately replied, "Your subordinate obeys."

Emperor Xia said, "Go down and leave no one alive among the Shadow Guards lurking in the North."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Your subordinate takes his leave."

The Shadow Guard Commander then left the Imperial Garden.

After the Shadow Guard Commander left, Xia Huangqi stopped playing chess, got up and walked out of the pavilion, looking at the fish swimming in the lotus pond with his hands behind his back.

He couldn't help but wonder if Lu Chen was the illegitimate son of Zhuge Chongguang and Chu Yue. But Zhuge Chongguang was already over a hundred years old decades ago, and Chu Yue was in her prime at that time. How could she possibly fall for an old man?

If Lu Chen is not the illegitimate son of Zhuge Chongguang and Chu Yue, then why would Zhuge Chongguang stand on Lu Chen's side and want to move the entire Huanyu Academy to the Northern Kingdom?

Just as Emperor Xia's thoughts were in utter confusion, a shadow guard entered the imperial garden. "Your Majesty," he said, "the merchant ships of the Eastern Family have recently been transporting grain to the Northern Kingdom. Should we intercept them?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Xia frowned, his expression turning even more grim. At that moment, it seemed as if gusts of wind were rising in the air, and the carp in the lotus pond seemed to be startled by something, sinking directly to the bottom of the water.

The Dongfang family had already reached a cooperation agreement with him, but instead of focusing on assisting the imperial army in eliminating the rebels, they started doing business.

Emperor Xia did not suspect that the Dongfang family's merchant ships had any other purpose in going to the Northern Kingdom. In his eyes, merchants pursue profit. The Dongfang family had been doing business for generations. Now that the Great Xia was in turmoil and the price of grain had risen again and again, several times over, he was not surprised at all that the Dongfang family was still thinking about making money at this time.

However, the actions of the Dongfang family made him very unhappy.

After a moment, Emperor Xia finally said, "If the merchant ships of the Eastern family need supplies, send them whatever they need directly. Also, send people to escort the Eastern family's merchant ships to the Northern Kingdom."

Although Emperor Xia did not believe that the Eastern family would turn around and lead the rebels north at this time, it was still best to take precautions.

"Yes, I understand."

"Your subordinate takes his leave."

As soon as he finished speaking, the shadow guard left the Imperial Garden.

After the shadow guard left, a cold glint flashed in Emperor Xia's eyes. In his view, the reason why the Dongfang family dared to do business at this time was because they relied on the cooperation they had reached. The Dongfang family believed that the royal family would not dare to do anything to them, so the Dongfang family was so unscrupulous.

The actions of the Dongfang family clearly showed that they did not take him, the emperor, seriously.

The Dongfang family is already behaving like this before even entering the imperial court. Who knows what they'll be like once they do enter the court?

However, Emperor Xia would not take action against the Dongfang family because of this small move. The Dongfang family is not an ancient aristocratic family and does not have a fixed power. Once the other aristocratic families in the Jiangnan area are destroyed, the Dongfang family will lose its foothold.

The easiest thing to do is to eliminate a powerful family without any real foundation.

Let the Dongfang family run rampant for a few days. After dealing with all the powerful families of Great Xia, we'll deal with the Dongfang family slowly.

……

North.

The Northern Prince's Mansion, Yunrong Courtyard.

As evening fell, the fiery red sunset filled the sky, and the crimson glow shone on the earth, turning everything into a bronze color.

At this moment, Chen Wanrong, inside the pavilion, was looking at the intelligence report in her hand, her face showing no emotion whatsoever.

At this moment, she glanced at Lin Wanyun, who was organizing intelligence.

In the past few days, Lin Wanyun has been going out every night and not returning until dawn.

As for what she went out to do, Chen Wanrong had basically guessed it in her heart. It was obvious that Lin Wanyun had gone to have an affair with Lu Chen.

Every time Lin Wanyun returned at dawn, she looked extremely tired, and her clothes were torn to shreds.

For some reason, Chen Wanrong felt that Lin Wanyun was becoming more and more mature, dignified and virtuous, and her temperament had changed a lot. She was now more like a married woman.

Chen Wanrong couldn't help but wonder if it was because she had been defiled by Lu Chen that her demeanor had changed so drastically.

After finishing organizing the intelligence at hand, Lin Wanyun looked up at Chen Wanrong and said, "Palace Master, Wei Siyuan should be able to arrive in Yancheng in a few days."

Upon hearing Lin Wanyun's words, Chen Wanrong finally snapped out of her daze and said expressionlessly, "Hmm."

Lin Wanyun asked, "Palace Master, who is this Wei Siyuan? I remember you used to correspond with him?"

Lin Wanyun was not from the Chen Kingdom, so she didn't know much about the Chen Kingdom, and even less about the old forces within it.

She guessed that Wei Siyuan was most likely from the Chen state, otherwise Chen Wanrong would not have corresponded with Wei Siyuan so often.

Chen Wanrong replied, "He is a descendant of loyal officials of the Chen Kingdom. After the Chen Kingdom was destroyed, the Wei family fled the Chen Kingdom and escaped to a small island in the sea called Fengyun Island. The Wei family developed their power on Fengyun Island, waiting for the day when the Chen Kingdom would be restored."

Lin Wanyun said, "I see."

At this moment, Chen Wanrong said, "Aunt Lin, I need to go out tonight."

Upon hearing this, Lin Wanyun paused for a moment, then asked, "Where are you going, Palace Master?"

Lin Wanyun thought that she had not yet found the antidote from Lu Chen. What if Chen Wanrong was running around and the poison took effect outside?

Chen Wanrong said, "Some former officials of the Chen Kingdom have arrived in Yancheng. I will go to see them tonight."

Lin Wanyun said, "Then I'll go with you."

Chen Wanrong said, "No need, Aunt Lin, you haven't been feeling well these past few days, so please get some rest tonight."

Lin Wanyun's mind went blank for a moment.

In fact, she wasn't feeling unwell; it was just that being bothered every day had left her a bit confused, so sometimes she even felt unsteady when she walked.

Lin Wanyun said, "Alright then."

Lin Wanyun planned to ask Lu Chen that evening how long Chen Wanrong could stay outside the Prince's mansion without the antidote.

Thinking of this, Lin Wanyun continued, "Palace Master, where will you meet tonight?"

Lin Wanyun thought that if Chen Wanrong's poison wouldn't last more than one night, she would know where Chen Wanrong had gone so that she could rush to the scene as soon as possible.

Chen Wanrong replied calmly, "The restaurant in the south of Xuan Yue Palace."

Lin Wanyun said, "I understand. If the Palace Master encounters any trouble, please remember to send someone to inform me immediately."

Chen Wanrong gave a soft "hmm" and then said nothing more.

As night fell, Chen Wanrong took a carriage to the southern city. Lu Chen finished dinner and was about to go to his study to handle some government affairs when he saw Chen Wanrong leaving the Northern Prince's Mansion.

After seeing Chen Wanrong leave the Northern Prince's Mansion, Lu Chen changed his route and went to Yunrong Courtyard.

At this moment, Lin Wanyun's room was still lit up. Seeing this scene, Lu Chen's lips curled up slightly.

Working overtime there isn't really working overtime. I'd better not work overtime in the study tonight, and instead work overtime in Lin Wanyun's room.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen immediately headed towards Lin Wanyun's room.

At this moment, Lin Wanyun was sitting on a stool in the room, sewing clothes. Judging from the size of the clothes, they were obviously for children.

Although Lin Wanyun is not pregnant with Lu Chen's child yet, she already understands that if she doesn't give Lu Chen a child, he will most likely not let her go. So she plans to prepare several sets of clothes for her child in advance, since she has nothing better to do now.

Just as Lin Wanyun was diligently sewing, there was a sudden knock at the door. Lin Wanyun immediately became alert. "Who is it?"

Chen Wanrong had already left the Northern Prince's Mansion, and logically no one should be coming to her room at this time. Just then, a familiar young man's voice entered her ears.

"Aunt Lin, it's me."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's voice, Lin Wanyun's voluptuous body trembled slightly involuntarily.

Lin Wanyun quickly came to her senses. She hurriedly put down the clothes in her hands, put them all into the bamboo bag, and then put the bamboo bag into the closet in the room.

After doing all this, Lin Wanyun finally spoke, "The door isn't closed, come in."

(End of this chapter)