Chapter 243: Chapter 181 What does that little man want to do?_i

Translator: 549690339

Upon hearing Li Rui’s words, Lu Chen immediately understood his meaning. The court was now controlled by the Aristocratic Families, who had the most land and were the most sensitive group toward land issues.

At this moment, if Lu Chen were to implement land reforms, it would inevitably touch the nerves of the Aristocratic Families, and they would definitely impeach him like crazy, trying every means to trouble him.

Not only the Aristocratic Families, but the Scholar Officials would surely criticize him as well.

In a word, whoever had more land would possibly jump out to trouble him.

Lu Chen then said, “The reason why I am reforming now is that the court’s attention is all on the war with Great Wu.”

“Even if they become aware of the reforms in North City, as uncomfortable as it may be for them, they don’t have the energy to attend to North City at this time.”

“By the time those in the court have the energy to care about North City’s affairs, the reforms there will have mostly been completed, everything will already have settled, and by then it will be too late for them to oppose.” After hearing Lu Chen’s words, Li Rui thought it over and felt that Lu Chen was right. If the reforms were to be tackled after Great Sum’s war with Great Wu had ended, the resistance they would face would definitely be countless times greater than now.

The best time to carry out reforms is now, even if some officials from the Aristocratic Families in the court wished to stop the reforms in North City, they wouldn’t be able to divert much energy to make trouble for North City. The war between Great Sum and Great Wu had entered a white-hot stage. Currently, both sides were continually sending reinforcements to the front line, and Great Sum had already lost two counties’ worth of land; how could the court possibly have the energy to care about a Seignior’s meddling in his own territory?

For Great Sum at the moment, as long as the Seignior doesn’t rebel or add fuel to Great Sum’s situation, that’s already quite good. As for what reforms they undertake, that’s not a focal point of their concern.

Lu Chen continued, “There’s absolutely no need to worry about the court’s obstruction to the reforms in North City, if you have any questions about the reform measures, bring them up now. Don’t wait until the implementation stage when you don’t know what to do.”

At this time, the officials in the hall looked at each other, none of them spoke again.

They were clear in their minds that Lu Chen’s reform measures were bound to continue, so whatever they said actually had little effect.

In fact, deep down, they had many questions about the reforms, such as the separation of military and civilian governance.

The separation meant that from now on, North City’s military power would be entirely in the hands of the North Prince Mansion, in the hands of the North Prince; they, as Civil Officials, would be unarmed. If the North Prince wanted to clean them up, he could do so easily.

This was even more terrifying than the Sum Emperor revoking military power, for the Sum Emperor’s revocation was only nominal. In fact, during wartime, the Sum Emperor would still have to discuss military affairs with certain military officials.

Moreover, the current Ministry of War in Great Sum was not solely dictated by the Sum Emperor.

But North City was different; the separation meant that the Ministry of War and other departments would not interact at work. From now on, the work of the Ministry of War would only be connected with the North Prince, leaving almost no possibility for other departments to intervene with the military.

The key point is that there are no positions such as Prime Minister in North City’s reform to lead the officials, and even the power of Li Rui, who once was the Prefecture Governor, has been greatly weakened.

However, this made Li Rui’s position somewhat awkward. He used to be the manager of all officials in North City, and now, after the reform, he did not even know where he should be.

Li Rui did not inquire about Lu Chen’s arrangements for him, as it was not appropriate for him to bring it up. He believed that Lu Chen must have considered a suitable position for him, and it was better not to ask.

At this moment, Lu Chen spoke, “From now on, apart from the Ministry of War, Ministry of Commerce, and Ministry of Education which I will manage directly, the remaining five ministries will be managed by Li Rui for the time being. Above the five ministries, a Minister of State Affairs will be appointed, and the first Minister of State Affairs will be temporarily served by Li Rui.” 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 furthermore, he would be managing the five ministries. This position was not much different from that of the Prime Minister or his previous position as Prefecture Governor.

After Lu Chen arrived at North City, he handed over the military power of North City to Lu Chen and since then had only been responsible for civil affairs. Although North City had reformed, the subsequent civil affairs would still be his responsibility, which was basically the same as before.

At this moment, Li Rui asked, “Prince, 1 wonder who you plan to put in charge of the treasury?”

The Ministry of Commerce was directly managed by Lu Chen, but the treasury was not, so Li Rui paid great attention to the choice of manager for the treasury.

This was the money bag, which everyone wanted to hold in their own hands. Upon Li Rui’s query, Lu Chen smiled faintly and then said, “From now on, the treasury will be renamed as North Country Bank, and the head of the bank will be called the President, appointed and dismissed by me personally.” Li Rui was stunned, thinking to himself that the North Prince was indeed unwilling to hand the treasury over to anyone else.

They did want to make the treasury independent of the North Prince Mansion, but currently, the civil officials of North City did not have the capability to snatch the money bag from the North Prince’s hands.

Lu Chen then continued, “As for the first President of North Country Bank, I plan to appoint Yelv Nanyan as the first bank President.”

On hearing this, the hall instantly erupted. Li Rui quickly said, “Prince, this must not be done!”

Lu Chen spoke calmly, “Are you trying to suggest that because she is a woman, a woman is not fit to hold office?”

“I am simply looking for someone to manage my finances. As long as she can handle the money and is absolutely loyal to me, it doesn’t matter whether they are a man or a woman to me.”

“As for her previous identity, my reliance on her is the perfect opportunity to appease the Barbarian Tribe of North City, letting them know that 1 treat the Barbarian Tribe without discrimination.”

Lu Chen continued, “Oh, right, she was recommended to me by my wife.”

Upon hearing what Lu Chen had said, Li Rui and the others were stunned. If even the Princess Consort recommended Yelv Nanyan to manage the treasury, then it seemed they had nothing more to say.

Moreover, Yelv Nanyan was now a woman of the North Prince. If they continued to oppose this, it would appear as though they were objecting to someone from the North Prince Mansion managing the treasury, which would be a clear sign of competing with the North Prince Mansion for control of the finances -a thought Li Rui dared not entertain, and he didn’t bother to say anything further.

At that moment, Lu Chen turned his head to look at Mu Changtian. “General Mo, you’ve rushed back from Tianguang City amidst considerable hardship. Do you really have no issues with the military reforms in North City?”

Mu Changtian had originally been on a special mission near Tianguang City, but when Lu Chen thought of reform, he had someone notify him to come back in advance. Upon receiving the order, Mu Changtian traveled day and night amidst snowstorms, only returning to Yan County last night.

To come such a long distance and not offer any suggestions, wouldn’t that be a wasted trip?

After hearing Lu Chen’s remarks, Mu Changtian replied, “Prince’s military reforms can greatly improve the soldiers’ combat abilities. 1 believe the Prince’s reform measures are already perfect and lack no drawbacks.”

At this, Lu Chen chuckled.

He then said, “Perhaps the reform measures for North City were read out too quickly just now, and you didn’t manage to remember them.”

“Next, let’s discuss each measure one by one. If you have any issues, bring them up.”

Lu Chen then signaled the Jinyiwei Guard to continue reading the reform measures, and they spent the whole next day discussing his reforms.

Meanwhile.

In the Great Wu Dynasty, Imperial Palace, Green Cloud Palace.

Princess J unwan lay sideways on a couch, holding a piece of intelligence in her hand, reading it over and over with great focus.

She then turned to address the man kneeling in the hall, who had delivered the intelligence, “Have you confirmed whether the Heavy Cavalry of North City has truly been annihilated?”

The man kneeling in the middle of the hall immediately replied, “Princess Junwan, there are many military restricted areas in North City that are difficult for our people to infiltrate, so we have not been able to confirm it for the time being.”

“However, I have heard that the Great Sum Imperial Court has not recalled the Imperial Army but has instead appointed Lin Xiuming to take over Tianguang City. Therefore, I believe that Great Sum has indeed confirmed the annihilation of the Heavy Cavalry and chose not to recall Lin Xiuming but let him stay in North City.”

After hearing the man’s words, Princess Junwan chuckled softly and then said, “That’s not necessarily the case.”

The annihilation of the Heavy Cavalry in North City was somewhat too peculiar, which made Princess Junwan raise her guard.

The Sky Wolf King’s army of three hundred thousand couldn’t defeat the Heavy Cavalry of North City, yet the rumor was that the North Fre King’s army of two hundred thousand had annihilated the fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry of North City?

Is that possible?

The spies of Great Wu haven’t even confirmed if the North Fre King truly marched south, and suddenly news comes out of North City saying that the Heavy Cavalry is gone?

Wasn’t the annihilation of North City’s Heavy Cavalry too swift?

It gave one the feeling that North City was deliberately concealing troops to have this force carry out some special mission.

Now, with the war between Great Sum and Great Wu intensifying, the sudden disappearance of a Heavy Cavalry force from Great Sum was bound to draw extra attention from Great Wu.

Princess Junwan continued, “Send more spies immediately to North City; I demand precise information about that Heavy Cavalry unit.”

“Yes, Princess Junwan.”

“I shall take my leave.”

Once the man had left the hall, the corners of Princess Junwan’s mouth subtly lifted; then, with a smile on her face, she murmured to herself, “I’m quite curious to see what that young man is up to..”