More children, more blessings, starting from marrying a wife to fight for world hegemony

Chapter 180 North County Reform
After hearing her sister's words, Chu Qingli said expressionlessly: "My sister also knows that he has grown up, so why is she still by his side?"

"There are so many strong people around him now, and the woman surnamed Bai is stronger than my sister. My sister is now a dispensable existence in the North Palace."

Hearing Chu Qingli's words, the memories in Chu Yuqin's mind instantly dissipated, she turned her head to look at Chu Qingli and said, "Qingli, you have been in Beiwang Mansion for so long, why do I feel that you are still not giving up? "

Chu Qingli looked at the study and said: "My sister is not out of the sea of ​​suffering, so I can't give up."

Hearing Chu Qingli's words, Chu Yuqin sighed slightly, and then said: "Qingli, to me, Chen'er is the most important person to me, it is impossible for me to leave his side, and I don't Think how hard it is for me to be by his side."

Chu Qingli said lightly: "The reason why my sister has such an idea is just because he hypnotized her with hypnotism."

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

"I believe that at that time, even if I don't say anything, my sister will leave the North Palace by herself."

Seeing that Chu Qingli was still so stubborn, Chu Yuqin decided not to continue this topic, she felt that no matter how much she said, it would be useless.

But having said that, with her own sister always in the palace, how can she serve Lu Chen?

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

Last time she asked Lu Chen to give her some time, so long passed in a blink of an eye, and she still didn't keep her promise. She was afraid that if she continued to procrastinate like this, Lu Chen might think that she had broken her promise.

It seems that she has to find a chance to send her sister away. Only when her sister leaves the palace can she fulfill her promise and serve Lu Chen.

But how should we send her away?

Chu Yuqin thought for a while, and then said to Chu Qingli: "Qingli, the life in Beiwangfu is somewhat boring for you, a person who often runs around, so you are always thinking wildly, why don't you leave Beiwangfu for a while. Prince's Mansion, go out to relax, maybe you won't be thinking about it after a while."

Hearing these words, Chu Qingli showed a look of suspicion for an instant, and then she said: "Sister, is this going to send me away so that I can do some shameful things with that man?"

Seeing that her younger sister saw through her thoughts in an instant, Chu Yuqin suddenly felt her face become hotter, and she felt extremely ashamed.

Without a suitable reason, it's really not easy to send away my sister.

Chu Yuqin then said stiffly: "Qingli, I am Chen'er's aunt, how could you have such an idea!"

"Forget it, I won't talk to you anymore, anyway, no matter how much I say, you won't listen."

Having said that, Chu Yuqin turned around and left. To be precise, she escaped from this place. She felt that if she stayed any longer, her younger sister might be able to see more things. So accurate, he guessed right away that he wanted to send her away.

At this moment, Chu Yuqin regretted letting Chu Qingli enter the Northern Prince's Mansion. It is easy to ask God to send God away, and it is not an easy task to let her in and then let her go.

Seeing the back of Chu Yuqin leaving, Chu Qingli always felt that Chu Yuqin and Lu Chen had done something shameful.

However, she has no evidence and can only rely on speculation.

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

The man in the study is the root of all evil, as long as the man in the study is dealt with, maybe my sister will be able to escape from the sea of ​​suffering.

Thinking of this, Chu Qingli walked directly towards the study, she felt that it was time for her to have a good chat with Lu Chen.

But as soon as she walked to the door of the study, a Jinyiwei soldier came to the study in a hurry. Before she had time to say anything, the Jinyiwei soldier said first: "My lord, the county guard sent someone to send a few hundred thousand taels." Silver, it is said that the prince wants to build the road, and the officials voluntarily donate the money for the road construction to the prince.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen, who was writing the reform plan in the study, was stunned for a moment. After recovering, he immediately put down the brush in his hand, and then opened the door and came out.

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

"Where is the silver?"

The Jinyiwei soldier replied: "Outer courtyard, just sent."

Lu Chen immediately said: "Send the silver to the main hall of the palace, I want to have a look."

Speaking of this, Lu Chen's eyes shifted to Chu Qingli again, "Qingli, what do you want from me?"

Chu Qingli was stunned for a moment, she really planned to talk to Lu Chen just now, but after being interrupted by the Jin Yiwei soldiers, her inner thoughts dissipated in an instant.

She suddenly felt as if she was possessed by a demon, how could she have the idea of ​​talking to Lu Chen alone?

Chu Qingli immediately said: "It's okay, I just came here on patrol."

Lu Chen said lightly: "Oh, that's it, then I'll go first."

Chu Qingli quickly moved out of the way, "My lord, go slowly."

Then Lu Chen came to the hall of the outer courtyard of the Wangfu. After a while, the servants of the Wangfu brought several large boxes of silver to the hall of the Wangfu.

Seeing the wooden boxes in the hall, Lu Chen had a weird smile on his face, whether it was joy or something, he said at this time: "Open all the boxes."

The servants immediately opened the wooden boxes, and the boxes were full of white silver. Looking at the silver, Lu Chen said to himself: "7 taels of silver can be exchanged for a few hundred thousand taels, this business is really a little bit Not bad."

He asked Mu Zixuan to allocate 7 taels of silver to the officials of Beijun as salaries, but before the salaries were distributed, the officials of Beijun handed over several 10 taels of silver instead.

Lu Chen squatted down, took a look at the ingot of silver in the wooden box, and then continued: "This guy Li Rui is really dishonest, even officials like Yancheng can hand over a few hundred thousand taels of silver. Tian actually came to me and asked for my salary."

Speaking of this, Lu Chen turned his head and said to the servants of the palace: "Take a count and see how much money there is."

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

Lu Chen didn't stay in the palace hall all the time, he asked the servant girl to get Mu Zixuan to deal with the silver, and then he went back to the study to continue writing the reform plan of Beijun.

When Mu Zixuan saw the 10 taels of silver in the palace hall, she was extremely shocked. When she inquired about the source, she was even more surprised. In such a poor place in Beijun, these officials in Yancheng were able to steal 50 million taels of silver.

However, Mu Zixuan didn't say anything to Lu Chen about this matter afterwards. After all, this is a political matter, and Lu Chen can handle it. As for the money, it will all be put into the treasury, which happens to be set up soon.

A few days later, the small court meeting in Beijun officially started. Lu Chen's study room must not be able to accommodate so many officials, because the Yizheng Hall has not yet been built, so Lu Chen took the palace hall in the outer courtyard as the venue for this small court meeting. Place.

Not only were all the officials from Beijun present at this meeting, but all the generals were also present.

In the morning, after Lu Chen got up, he ate something and went to the hall of the palace. At this time, the officials and generals had already arrived.

Facing this meeting, the officials of Beijun seemed very nervous, but the generals stood there like nothing happened and watched the officials discuss the meeting.

At this time, the voice of a Jinyiwei soldier came from the door, "The prince is here!"

Hearing this, the originally noisy hall of the palace fell silent instantly, and everyone shut up and waited.

At this time, Lu Chen walked through the crowd, walked directly to the chair facing the gate and sat down.

Li Rui immediately took the lead and said: "See the prince, the prince is a thousand years old!"

Lu Chen said lightly: "Excuse me."

Then Lu Chen said: "I believe everyone has heard that the main reason for the king to let you come to the palace to discuss the government this time is for the reform of Beijun."

"This king has been in Beijun for more than a year. According to the usual practice, this king wants to form his own team. However, because this king has other things before, and the barbarian army went south twice, this king has never had time. .”

"After thinking about it these days, the king has decided to make some adjustments to Beijun."

Having said that, Lu Chen turned his head and said to the Jin Yiwei soldiers beside him, "Read."

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

"From now on, Beijun will be officially abolished. Beijun is called Beiguo. Beiguo will set up the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Education. The army also needs to be reformed, and the reform of the Beijun army is divided into the following points..."

When the Jin Yiwei soldiers read the "Reform Measures", the hall was quiet, and everyone was listening to the content closely related to themselves.

After half an hour, the Jinyiwei soldiers finished reading the content on the scroll. After the Jinyiwei soldiers stopped, Lu Chen said: "Next, if you have any questions about the reform measures, or if you think it is inappropriate, can be brought up.”

After hearing Lu Chen's words, the civil servants looked at me and I looked at you, but none of them stood up.

Of course they have many doubts in their hearts, but most of them are petty officials, how dare they talk nonsense about such reform measures.

At this moment, Li Rui stood up and said, "My lord, there have been six departments in the imperial court since ancient times. Why did Beijun add the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education? I heard what the Jinyiwei soldiers read just now, and found that the Ministry of Commerce can be merged into the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Education The Ministry of Rites can be merged into the Ministry of Rites, and there is no need to set up two more departments. If there are two more departments, I think it will cause redundant officials."

Lu Chen replied: "The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education are the default departments, mainly for the future of Beijun. These two departments will be managed by me alone for the time being."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui stopped worrying about this issue. Since it was the default department, it had nothing to do with him.

However, there was another problem that made Li Rui more concerned. He immediately said, "My lord, there is a clause in your reform measures that stipulates that the land in the Northern Kingdom legally belongs to you, your lord. Anyone has only the right to use it, not the ownership. This may cause serious problems. The protests of the people."

The issue of land annexation is a matter of great concern to any dynasty, but no dynasty has dared to directly say that all the land in the world will be taken back to the court or handed over to the emperor.

Although the entire country is emperor in name, it is only in name.

The landlords will definitely not do it, and the common people will not agree to the recovery of land ownership.

Li Rui felt that Lu Chen's measure was too bold, which might cause the common people to be dissatisfied with Lu Chen.

Lu Chen said: "To take back the land ownership, one is to avoid the problem of land merger, and the other is to prepare for the future development and construction of Beijun."

"The reason why this king dares to do this is that there are naturally reasons why this king dares to do so. First of all, there are not many big landlords in Beijun, and from today, Beijun will be exempt from all agricultural taxes. As long as the common people are willing to plant land, they can get as much as they plant , and the common people can apply for land from the Northern Prince’s Mansion, and only need to pay a small amount of land fees to contract a large piece of land. This is the benefit that the king will give to the common people after the land ownership is taken back.”

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui was startled.

Exemption from all agricultural taxes?
It's too bold, isn't it?
In this era, agricultural tax is the main source of a country's income!
At this time, even Mu Changtian, a general, couldn't help standing up and saying, "My lord, isn't the policy of exempting all agricultural taxes too radical? If there is no agricultural tax, how can the treasury of the North Kingdom have money in the future?"

Lu Chen said: "The agricultural tax collected by Beijun is not even enough for the salaries of officials in Beijun. What can this little agricultural tax do? Besides, the palace has a lot of land to grow food, and this king doesn't need the common people to hand over food to this king."

"As for where the newly established treasury of the Northern Kingdom should collect money, it is naturally a new commercial tax. In the future, any goods entering or leaving the Northern Kingdom will need to pay the commercial tax. In addition, this king will divest part of the industry of the Northern King's Mansion and hand it over to the merchants. All the money earned by those industries will be sent to the national treasury.”

Hearing Lu Chen's words, all the officials were stunned again, they didn't expect the Northern King to be so generous.

You must know that every industry in the Beiwang Mansion is huge profits, especially the coal industry that has emerged recently. Now the people in Qi Wang's fief are buying coal like crazy. This winter, the Beiwang Mansion has made a lot of money.

If the Northern Palace handed over the industry to the Ministry of Commerce for management, then the treasury of the Northern Kingdom would never be short of money in the future.

In this way, the Ministry of Commerce is very important, after all, it is a department that makes money.

At this time, an official from Yancheng asked: "My lord, will this move be suspected of competing with the people for profit?"

Lu Chen was not angry with this question, he said lightly: "How can you compete with the people for profit? Did the people have those industries in the Northern Prince's Mansion in the past? This king stripped those industries out and handed them over to the Ministry of Commerce for management, and then those industries returned To recruit workers and feed those common people is to benefit the common people, so who dares to say that the king is competing for profit with the people?"

"Unless someone wants the king's property, he will talk about people fighting for profit. After all, all the money earned has gone into the treasury, not their pockets. As far as the king knows, only those aristocratic families will do this. think."

"However, there should be no family in Beijun who would dare to snatch the state-owned properties managed by the Ministry of Commerce under the king's nose, right?"

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

Indeed, if the industries assigned by Beiwang Mansion recruit workers arbitrarily, the refugees in Beijun will have jobs and food in the future.

Of course, the common people also include aristocratic families. The money that the aristocratic families can't earn is given to the Ministry of Commerce and the Northern Palace. They will definitely say that the Northern Palace competes with the people for profit.

It's just that there is a high probability that there is no such sound in Beijun.

At this time, Lu Chen continued: "By the way, I want to ask General Mo and Master Li, whether the name of my country can be changed? You two know the rules of the court better, so you should know this."

As far as Lu Chen knows, the name of a feudal country cannot be changed at will. Basically, whatever the prince is, that feudal state is whatever the king is.

He is the King of the North, so his feudal country is the Northern Kingdom.

But the name of the country Beiguo always makes Lu Chen feel a little uncomfortable, it seems too informal.

At the beginning, his father disliked him, and then he named himself a king at will, which caused the name of other countries to use this.

Mu Changtian replied: "My lord, as far as I know, it can be changed. There is such a precedent in Daxia, but the lord needs to write to His Majesty to apply for changing the title, and then the name of the Northern Kingdom can be changed."

"However, the title of the prince is bestowed by His Majesty after all. Thunder, rain and dew are all due to your favor. Although there are precedents, if the prince applies to His Majesty for a change of title, His Majesty will definitely withdraw some things."

"And judging from the precedent, there is a high probability that the vassal king who proposes to change the title will be transferred from the feudal country and entrusted elsewhere."

Hearing what Mu Changtian said, Lu Chen immediately said: "Forget it, okay, this topic will stop here."

Lu Chen didn't think that Emperor Xia would change his fief after seeing his application. Instead, he felt that Emperor Xia would take back many of his things, such as the military expansion order.

Since it's so troublesome, don't change it.

Northland is Northland.

Sooner or later the name will have to be changed.

"If you have other questions, you can continue to raise them. The king has asked his servants to prepare lunch. Today there is enough time to discuss the reform measures proposed by the king."

Li Rui continued at this time: "My lord, your reform measures will benefit the North Kingdom in the long run, and there is a high probability that these reform measures will not hinder the North Kingdom, but I think that the biggest obstacle may not be in the North Kingdom. , but in the court."

Not to mention whether Lu Chen's addition of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education violated the etiquette system, the mere fact that the land ownership belongs to the Northern Prince's Mansion is enough to make the court ministers criticize Lu Chen.

The issue of land in feudal dynasties has always been a relatively sensitive issue. Beijun now has few people and no big landlords. With a little pressure from Lu Chen, this decree can be promulgated easily.

But the territory of Great Xia is different. Aristocratic families and officials often have the most land. You, a prince, actually took back all the land ownership. Isn't this a bad start?

Although this matter has not yet fallen on them, they absolutely do not allow anyone to make such a start. If the vassal king did this today, then Emperor Xia might have to follow suit tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)