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

Lu Chen thought to himself that if he could use spirit rice to improve the strength of the soldiers, putting aside everything else, the increase in strength alone would bring an improvement in the army's combat effectiveness.

In the army of the Northern Kingdom, many were ordinary people, especially the soldiers in the artillery battalion. Ordinary people's strength was far inferior to that of martial artists, but these ordinary soldiers were responsible for transporting cannons and carrying cannonballs.

If these ordinary soldiers were to become martial artists, regardless of their level, as long as they could become fifth-rank martial artists, their marching speed while carrying heavy weapons would be greatly increased.

Speed ​​is of the essence in war, and sometimes it is necessary to be in a hurry when fighting a war.

Lu Chen stared intently at the spirit rice in front of him, thinking to himself that he needed to find a trustworthy person to be in charge of the cultivation of the spirit rice.

Once we have enough spirit rice, the overall strength of the Northern Kingdom's soldiers will be greatly improved.

Just as Lu Chen was lost in thought, Mu Zixuan spoke up, "Your Highness, this spirit rice should be ready to be harvested. Why don't I find someone to harvest it?"

Although Lu Chen had been taking care of the spirit rice, there was still so much of it that he couldn't very well go into the fields himself to harvest it.

Lu Chen said, "Okay, then I'll trouble you, my dear consort, to find some trustworthy people to collect these rice grains as seeds, and continue planting them in a while."

At this point, Lu Chen continued, "I'll go have breakfast first. Arrange for a few carpenters to come to the Prince's Mansion and have them wait for me in the outer courtyard for a while. I'll assign them some work then."

Mu Zixuan said, "I understand."

Mu Zixuan then said to the maid beside her, "Go and bring the prince's breakfast."

Lu Chen then entered the Fengyun Palace to have breakfast.

When Lu Chen came out after breakfast, Mu Zixuan had already arranged for some carpenters to wait for him in the outer courtyard. Mu Zixuan was a little curious, wondering what Lu Chen wanted the carpenters for.

Since this matter was happening within the Prince's residence, she should be able to see it as well. So Mu Zixuan followed Lu Chen to the outer courtyard, intending to see what Lu Chen was planning to do.

Lu Chen arrived at the outer courtyard and saw the carpenters. He then had the branches of the dragon and phoenix tree moved to the outer courtyard and had the carpenters make wooden figures inside the palace.

When the carpenters heard Lu Chen say he wanted to make wooden figures, they were puzzled and wondered what use he would have for them. However, they were all craftsmen from Dayu City and would obey Lu Chen's orders without question. So, without much thought, they began to process the branches of the dragon and phoenix tree.

Seeing the carpenters busily at work, Mu Zixuan approached Lu Chen and asked directly, "Your Highness, what are the wooden figures you had them make for?"

Lu Chen smiled slightly and said mysteriously, "My dear consort, don't be impatient. You'll know once they've finished making it."

Seeing that Lu Chen had already said that, Mu Zixuan didn't press the matter further. Lu Chen seemed to suddenly remember something and then said, "Oh right, there's something I almost forgot. I told Yunwan yesterday that I wanted you two to get to know each other first."

At this point, Lu Chen said to the maid next to Mu Zixuan, "Xiao Rou, ask Madam Wu to come to Fengyun Courtyard."

"Yes, Your Highness."

After the maid went to Wu Yunwan's place, Lu Chen put his arm around Mu Zixuan's slender waist and walked towards the inner courtyard, saying as they walked, "My dear consort, let's go to Fengyun Courtyard and wait for her."

Mu Zixuan gave a soft "hmm" and then followed Lu Chen back to Fengyun Courtyard.

Mu Zixuan felt pressured about meeting Wu Yunwan, because Wu Yunwan was the eldest princess of the Great Wu Kingdom, and her status was quite noble.

Although the Mu family once held a high position in the Great Xia Dynasty, it was nothing compared to the Great Wu royal family behind Wu Yunwan.

Although she felt some pressure, Mu Zixuan quickly adjusted her state of mind. She thought to herself that she was, after all, Lu Chen's princess, and she couldn't let Lu Chen down.

Before long, led by her maid, Wu Junwan arrived at the most central area of ​​the Northern Prince's Mansion.

When Wu Yunwan entered Fengyun Courtyard, Lu Chen and Mu Zixuan were sitting in a pavilion, seemingly discussing something.

Wu Yunwan then went to the pavilion. Upon seeing Wu Yunwan, Lu Chen said with a smile, "My dear consort, let me introduce you. This is the helper I found for you, the eldest princess of Da Wu."

Upon hearing this, Mu Zixuan immediately stood up and stepped out of the pavilion to greet Wu Junwan. "Sister Wu, I've heard the Prince mention you before, but unfortunately you've always stayed in the East Courtyard, so I haven't had a chance to meet you."

"Rumor has it that Sister Wu is incredibly beautiful, and seeing her today, I can confirm that the rumors are true."

Seeing how enthusiastic Mu Zixuan, a princess, was towards her, Wu Yunwan became wary. She suspected that Mu Zixuan was afraid that she would threaten her position, so she pretended to please her first, and then dug a pit for her and tried to frame her.

Having grown up in the royal family, one would have a good understanding of what happens in the harem.

However, one shouldn't hit a smiling face. Since Mu Zixuan was taking the initiative to be friendly to him, he couldn't say anything bad at this time.

Wu Junwan said with a smile, "Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness."

At this point, Wu Junwan glanced at Lu Chen and then said, "Your Highness is truly blessed to have married such a smart and capable woman as the Princess Consort."

Hearing the two men exchanging pleasantries, Lu Chen picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "Stop flattering each other. Come and sit down. I'll tell you how to manage the Wangfu's properties going forward."

Mu Zixuan then took Wu Junwan's hand and said, "Sister Wu, let's go over there."

Wu Junwan said, "Okay."

The two women then sat down in the pavilion. Lu Chen then said, "The Prince's Mansion has more and more properties, and in the future, the two of you alone will probably not be able to manage them all. Therefore, the Prince's Mansion will need to recruit more talents."

At this point, Lu Chen told the two women about his plan to hold exams to recruit talent. Hearing Lu Chen's idea, the two women both felt that this method was feasible.

Currently, Mu Zixuan manages all the management personnel of the Prince's estate, and she also makes all the decisions regarding promotions. Although this ensures that everyone is a member of the Prince's own family, the Prince's estate has too many properties, and Mu Zixuan has to waste a lot of time dealing with personnel changes every day.

If there were a dedicated personnel agency responsible for testing and selecting talent, Mu Zixuan would only need to sign her consent in the future.

At this moment, Lu Chen looked at Wu Junwan and said, "Wanwan, although I'm letting you start getting involved in the Prince's Mansion's businesses now, you haven't married into the family yet, so I'm afraid I'll have to put you through this for a while. You'll temporarily assist the Princess in managing the Prince's Mansion's businesses. After you marry into the family, I'll hand over some of the businesses to you to manage directly."

Hearing Lu Chen call her Wanwan, Wu Junwan couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.

She was clearly older than this little man, yet he addressed her like that.

Although she felt a little upset, Wu Junwan didn't dwell on it. "Okay, I understand."

At this moment, Lu Chen reached out and put his arms around Mu Zixuan and Wu Junwan's slender waists, and said with a smile, "From now on, I will trouble the two ladies with the management of the Prince's Mansion's businesses. I believe that under your management, the Prince's Mansion's businesses will continue to grow and become stronger, earning more money for our Prince's Mansion."

Being embraced by Lu Chen in front of the princess made Wu Yunwan feel uneasy. Was he doing this on purpose to get closer to the princess?

She used to be a person of high status and power, so how could she not see through Lu Chen's little schemes? However, she didn't say anything more.

Anyway, she had already decided to spend her life with this young man. As long as Mu Zixuan didn't cause her trouble, she wouldn't go looking for faults with Mu Zixuan.

Just then, Lu Chen suddenly thought of something and continued, "If the two ladies have different ideas in the future, they can tell me directly."

Since they were to manage the Prince's estate together, they were bound to have different ideas in the future. To avoid conflicts between them, Lu Chen planned to make the decision himself when their ideas differed.

Mu Zixuan said, "I understand."

At this point, Mu Zixuan's gaze fell on Wu Junwan, and she continued, "Sister Wu, now that you are the prince's woman, why don't you come to Fengyun Courtyard for dinner from now on?"

"This is a tradition of the Prince's Mansion; the whole family gathers together for dinner every night."

Wu Junwan had naturally heard about this rule of the Prince's Mansion long ago.

"Okay, I'll come tonight."

Wu Yunwan looked at Lu Chen and asked, "Your Highness, you don't have that many wives and concubines yet, and Fengyun Courtyard can accommodate so many people. But what if one day your wives and concubines increase by dozens, your children by hundreds, and your children have children of their own? Would you still call your wives and concubines together for dinner then?"

Hearing Wu Yunwan's words, Lu Chen smiled and said, "That is indeed a problem."

Lu Chen didn't have many women at first, so it wasn't a big deal for them to gather together for dinner, and it even helped them get to know each other better. But as he had more and more wives and concubines and more and more children, now when they ate dinner, the children always liked to make a lot of noise, and the whole Fengyun Palace looked like a vegetable market.

Lu Chen said, "How about this, after Nan Yan and Yao Yao's child is born, we won't hold any more banquets. We'll hold banquets on major holidays."

Hearing this, Mu Zixuan was stunned for a moment. In her opinion, there was nothing wrong with the whole family having dinner together in the Fengyun Palace in a lively atmosphere, and most of the women in the Wangfu were used to it.

Unexpectedly, Wu Junwan's words led Lu Chen to cancel the banquet. Although it wasn't canceled immediately, Yelü Nanyan and Xiao Wenyao's child would be born in a few months.

Mu Zixuan felt a little regretful, but when she thought about how the Wangfu would have two more people after the birth of those two children, and that the Fengyun Palace would have even more people, it would indeed be a problem.

After all, with each additional child, there would be two more wet nurses to take care of them, and two children would mean four wet nurses. Even if the wet nurses didn't eat at the table, they would still enter the Fengyun Palace and take up space there.

Lu Chen said to Mu Zixuan, "My dear consort, please give Wanwan a proper account of the Prince's estate."

"Yes, I understand."

Mu Zixuan then took out some information about the Prince's estate and explained the estate situation to Wu Junwan in detail.

After listening to Mu Zixuan's explanation, Wu Junwan was extremely shocked. She had never imagined that the Wangfu's assets were actually more than those of the Great Wu royal family.

Lu Chen's princess is no ordinary woman. She manages so many businesses by herself, and none of them have encountered any major problems, which proves that Mu Zixuan is indeed quite capable as a princess.

This further heightened Wu Junwan's wariness of Mu Zixuan. (End of Chapter)