Chapter 177 Chen Wanrong’s master, Lu Chen’s troubles

In the quiet and elegant courtyard, white mist lingers.

The stream in the courtyard is constantly flowing, making a gurgling sound.

At this time, the biting cold air was released from the room in the small courtyard. In an instant, everything in the courtyard was frozen, as if this place was in the far north.

At this time, a graceful figure appeared at the entrance of the courtyard.

Chen Wanrong was wearing a white plain dress. She walked lightly across the frozen stone road and arrived at the door of the room.

Chen Wanrong did not go in directly. She bowed at the door and said, "Disciple pays homage to the master."

At this time, a cold female voice came from the room.

"come in!"

As soon as the words fell, the door of the wooden house opened automatically, and a gust of icy cold wind blew out of the room, causing the hem of Chen Wanrong's long skirt to fly.

After the cold wind passed, Chen Wanrong stepped over the threshold and entered the room.

The room was like a thousand-year-old ice cave, everything was frozen.

At this time, Chen Wanrong looked towards the bed not far away. A woman with long silver-white hair was slowly opening her beautiful eyes.

The woman is like a fairy in the sky, her beauty is as if it should not exist in reality.

Although the woman's hair is completely white, her skin is extremely white and tender, and there are no wrinkles on her face, as if she is a newly grown woman.

Her body exudes a holy light, and her cold temperament makes people unable to get close.

At this time, the woman looked into Chen Wanrong's eyes and said, "Recently, many elders have come to complain to me, saying that you are not focusing on cultivation, and you have also sent many disciples to Beijun."

The woman's voice is pure and elegant, and has strong penetrating power, as if it is directly transmitted into the person's brain.

Chen Wanrong said expressionlessly: "Master, this is indeed the case."

After hearing Chen Wanrong's answer, the white-haired woman said: "There are very few people in this world who have immortality. Countless people fight for an illusory immortality, and you are a person with immortality. But they don’t know how to cherish it.”

Chen Wanrong said in a neither humble nor arrogant tone: "This disciple has not fulfilled his ordinary aspirations and has no intention of cultivating immortality. This disappoints the master."

The woman sighed and said, "That's all, everyone has their own choice."

"I asked you to come here this time because I want to tell you that I am about to retreat. This retreat may be for one hundred years or five hundred years."

"After I retreat, everything in Xuanyue Palace will be handed over to you and those elders."

"I would like to remind you that although this world cannot accommodate the existence of immortals, and no immortals will come to this world, Xuanyue Palace is not invincible. There are also strong people who transcend the realm of gods and humans under the immortals. If one day they appear You and those elders may not be their opponents for those who have surpassed the realm of gods and humans."

"So I still hope that after you die, you will stop causing trouble, return to Xuanyue Palace to practice meditation, and break through to the realm of heaven and man as soon as possible. I don't want to see only your grave when you leave."

"I have already lost a disciple, and I don't want to lose another one."

Chen Wanrong bowed again and said, "Disciple understands."

The white-haired woman said: "Okay, that's it."

As soon as the words fell, the body of the white-haired woman turned into countless fragments and then disappeared.

As the white-haired woman disappeared, the ice in the room was instantly lifted, and the sound of gurgling water outside the yard could be heard again.

After the white-haired woman left, Chen Wanrong also turned and left the courtyard.

Her master has gone into seclusion, her biggest worry has disappeared, and no one can stop her from returning to the country.

It's time to go back to North County.

At this moment, Lu Chen's figure could not help but appear in her mind.

She doesn't know why, but in recent times, Lu Chen's figure has always appeared in her mind from time to time.

At this time, Chen Wanrong still didn't think much about it. She guessed that maybe it was because she had been thinking about planting a love charm for Lu Chen, so she always thought of him.

…

North County.

North Prince's Mansion, Chunsheng Courtyard.

“Ah cut!!!”

“Ah cut!!!”

"It's strange. I'm already a master. Why am I still sneezing? Maybe that woman is thinking about me."

Lu Chen had just finished his activities and was sitting on the edge of the bed to rest, but as soon as he got up, he sneezed several times in a row.

At this time, Lu Chen turned to look at Xiao Wenyao who was paralyzed on the bed. Xiao Wenyao had tears in his eyes and looked pitiful.

Seeing Xiao Wenyao staring at him with a look of resentment, Lu Chen said with a smile: "Little Ma, what's your expression? Could it be that you were scolding me in your heart just now?"

Xiao Wenyao whispered: "The slave family doesn't dare."

Lu Chen laughed, then slapped her on the buttocks and said, "Don't you dare? You want me to ride for you as a horse, what else can you not dare to do?"

"I see that you have become more and more courageous recently."

Xiao Wenyao didn't dare to speak, she only dared to whisper in her heart that what she wanted to ride was a real horse, a horse that could gallop on the grassland, but every time Lu Chen distorted her meaning and mistook her for a horse.

Lu Chen glanced out the window and found that the wind and snow outside had stopped. Then he stood up and said, "You should have a good rest. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

Seeing Lu Chen get up, Xiao Wenyao quickly followed suit and helped Lu Chen get dressed.

Now Xiao Wenyao has also learned to serve others. After all, she is Lu Chen's little slave girl. These are all things she should learn.

After Lu Chen left Chunshengyuan, he went to the study.

The weather was good today. It was sunny after the snow. When Lu Chen came to the door of the study, he did not enter the study immediately. Instead, he stood in the yard and basked in the sun for a while.

In the past half month, whether he was cultivating a relationship with Yelu Nanyan in bed, teaching Xiao Wenyao how to ride a horse, or practicing spearmanship with the master Bai Qingqing, Lu Chen had not been out in the sun for a long time.

While Lu Chen was basking in the sun, a maid came to Lu Chen and said, "Your Majesty, Master Li wants to see you."

Lu Chen said calmly: "Let him come over."

Soon, the maid brought Li Rui to Lu Chen.

Li Rui saluted and said: "See you, Your Majesty. Your Majesty is a thousand years old!"

Lu Chen said while basking in the sun, "Well, no courtesy."

"Tell me what's going on."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui hesitated for a moment and did not speak immediately.

Seeing that Li Rui had not spoken for a long time, Lu Chen turned to look at Li Rui Nan curiously, "Why has Mr. Li become so coquettish today?"

Li Rui coughed, and then said: "Your Majesty, I am looking for you this time mainly about official salaries.

Hearing this, Lu Chen was stunned for a moment, and then he asked: "Official salary? What, the officials in Beijun want to increase their salary?"

Li Rui replied: "That's not the case."

"only……"

Li Rui hesitated to speak.

Seeing Li Rui talking to his mother-in-law today, Lu Chen immediately said: "Master Li, if you have something to talk about, if you have nothing to do, go back and do your work."

Seeing that Lu Chen was a little unhappy, Li Rui said quickly: "Before, the salaries of officials in Beijun were all paid by the imperial court. However, according to the regulations of the imperial court, the salaries of officials in the fiefdoms of the Daxia vassal were all distributed by the vassal king."

"The imperial court stopped allocating funds to Bei County half a year ago, so..."

Li Rui did not continue speaking. He raised his head and stared at Lu Chen.

His meaning is very simple and clear, that is, Beijun has no money, and the officials' salaries have to be paid by Beiwang Mansion.

Hearing Li Rui's words, Lu Chen laughed, and then said: "Don't there be taxes in Beijun every year? I remember that according to the rules of the court, the vassal king did not have to report to the court for the first ten years. Tax."

"Isn't the tax revenue from Bei County enough to support these officials in Bei County?"

Li Rui said: "Back to the prince, Beijun is poor. In addition, the prince exempted a lot of taxes after coming to Beijun. There is really no money in Beijun's warehouse."

"I've done some calculations. If all the officials' salaries are paid this year, I'm afraid there will be no money before the construction of the Yizheng Palace is completed."

Now the Beiwang Mansion and the County Sheriff's Mansion are two separate accounts. The money of the Beiwang Mansion has always been managed by the Beiwang Mansion, while the tax revenue of Beijun is managed by the County Sheriff's Mansion.

Without the appropriation from the court, the little money Li Rui managed would be quickly consumed, and it was suggested that all the money for the government palace would come from the treasury of the county governor's house.

Lu Chen exempted Bei County from so many taxes, and there was no funding from the court. During this period, the money managed by the County Sheriff's Mansion was basically only going in but not going out, so naturally it wouldn't last long.

After listening to Li Rui's words, Lu Chen was silent for a moment, seeming to be thinking about something. After a while, Lu Chen asked: "How much salary do the officials in Beijun need this year?"

Li Rui carefully answered: "Return to the prince, no more than one hundred thousand."

Hearing this, Lu Chen frowned and continued to ask: "How much is it specifically?"

Li Rui replied again: "About fifty thousand taels."

Just 50,000 taels, the Beiwang Mansion would definitely be able to get it.

But this is only part of the salary of Beijun officials. Lu Chen now spends an unknown amount of money every month to raise the black cavalry and the barbarian prisoners. Although the Beiwang Mansion still has many businesses making money, if he spends lavishly, You definitely don’t make money as fast as you spend it.

Lu Chen then said to Li Rui: "You go back first. I am not in charge of the palace's accounts. I have to ask the princess first. As for the officials' salaries, I will allocate funds in a few days. You don't have to worry about this."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui felt relieved. He also knew that the Beiwang Mansion was not short of money now. Almost every business that the Beiwang Mansion was doing could make a lot of money, including more than a hundred thousand taels of silver a month. Down.

The key is that the attitude of the Northern King is very important. Some vassal kings often default on the officials' salaries after arriving in the fiefdom. This happens in every fiefdom. Li Rui's main concern at the beginning was that Lu Chen deliberately defaulted on the officials' salaries. .

If Lu Chen defaults on his official salary, the officials in Beijun County will not first think of looking for Lu Chen as the prince, but will come to him as the county guard.

Fortunately, Lu Chen had no intention of defaulting on his salary.

Li Rui then said: "My lord, please retire."

Then Li Rui left the palace with peace of mind. After Li Rui left, Lu Chen did not enter the study. He went directly to the main courtyard to find Mu Zixuan.

Mu Zixuan was sitting on the wooden chair in the main hall at this time. Most people in Daxia still like to sit on their knees. However, Lu Chen was afraid that if his wife and concubines became pregnant, sitting on their knees would have an impact on the fetus, so he specially asked the craftsmen to create a special chair. Less chairs.

Nowadays, Mu Zixuan is already pregnant, and her belly is a little bulging, but it is not particularly obvious, mainly because her clothes are looser.

After Lu Chen came to the main hall, he found Mu Zixuan reading the account books. He immediately moved a chair and sat next to Mu Zixuan, then put his arm around her waist and said in her ear: "My beloved concubine." ,Thanks for your hard work."

Seeing Lu Chen coming to see her at this time, Mu Zixuan was a little confused. Normally, after she was pregnant, Lu Chen would not come to cuddle with her in broad daylight. After all, Lu Chen still had to spend time with Xiao Wenyao and Bai Bai. Qingqing was riding a horse and practicing spear practice, so she didn't have time to look for him.

Mu Zixuan immediately put down the account book in her hand and asked, "My lord, what do you want from me?"

Lu Chen didn't mince words and said directly: "In the future, the officials in Beijun will also need support from Beiwangfu. I'm afraid the money from Beiwangfu will have to be divided a lot."

Mu Zixuan instantly understood what Lu Chen meant, and Mu Zixuan said, "It should indeed be divided between the national treasury and internal funds."

The vassal kings of Daxia were enfeoffed and allotted kingdoms. Once enfeoffed, the court would no longer allocate funds to the vassal king's fiefs, unless there was a war or something particularly important happened.

Generally, when a feudal prince goes to a fiefdom, he has to distinguish between the inner treasury of the palace and the national treasury. The purpose is to collect most of the tax revenue directly from the inner treasury to feed himself, drink and have fun.

Of course, Beijun is different. Now Beijun is extremely poor and does not have much tax revenue. Lu Chen does not need to rely on people's taxes to make money. The Beiwang Mansion has to separate the internal treasury and the national treasury just to facilitate future allocations.

Mu Zixuan continued at this time: "But who should be in charge of the treasury? Does the prince have an ideal candidate in mind?"

Naturally, the money bag must be in the hands of one's own people. Once the inner treasury and the national treasury are divided, the national treasury can no longer be handed over to the county governor's office.

Although the palace is very rich now, there is no guarantee that one day the national treasury will have more money than the inner treasury. Especially in the future when Bei County develops, once taxes rise, there is a high probability that the national treasury will have more money than the inner treasury of the Beiwang Palace. Money.

So it's best to keep your money bag firmly in hand from the beginning.

Hearing Mu Zixuan's question, Lu Chen pondered for a moment, "I really haven't found the right candidate yet."

First of all, those who manage the treasury must be 100% loyal to him, and secondly, those who manage the treasury must have certain experience.

Lu Chen sighed and said: "Not to mention the treasury, the entire official structure of Beijun is now similar to a grass-roots team. There are not many people available. It seems that the official structure of Beijun must be adjusted first."

The reason why a feudal state is called a state is naturally because the vassal kings within the feudal state have a lot of autonomy, including the right to appoint and remove officials.

Usually when a vassal king goes to his own feudal state, the first thing he does is to form his own team, which is the so-called small court. There are six departments in the imperial court and six in the feudal state.

It has been more than a year since Lu Chen came to Beijun. Even the six departments have not been determined. The rights and responsibilities are not clear. How Beijun was managed before is still the same now.

Of course, the most important reason was the lack of capable people in Beijun, and Lu Chen could not find so many civil servants to form the Sixth Department.

At this time, Lu Chen lowered his head and glanced at Mu Zixuan's belly, and then stretched out his hand to gently stroke Mu Zixuan's belly. He thought to himself that when Mu Zixuan and Zhou Youyou gave birth to a child, the system would reward them. Talent.

Once as a royal guard and once as a black cavalry, this shows that the reward for having children is likely to be talent.

In this way, Mu Zixuan and the others are not only pregnant with their own children, they may also be pregnant with the civil servants they want.

I hope that when Mu Zixuan and the three of them give birth again, the system can reward themselves with some capable people. Now there is a shortage of civil servants in Beijun.

At this time, Mu Zixuan said: "Your Majesty, why don't you try to temporarily hand over the management of the treasury to Sister Nanyan?"

Hearing this, Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.

Yelu Nanyan does have rich management experience, and her favorability towards him has reached 100, so it is impossible for her to rebel.

However, Yelu Nanyan used to be the Princess of the Sirius King after all. Handing over the management of the treasury to a person who used to be the Princess of the Sirius King would definitely cause dissatisfaction among some people.

Mu Zixuan continued: "Sister Nanyan is now the prince's wife, and I recently asked sister Nanyan to handle the affairs of the prince's palace together. I found that her ability to manage accounts is not much worse than me. If the management of the treasury is only temporarily handed over to her, I think there should be no problem."

"And with the prince's charm, I believe that the prince will soon be able to find talents to take over the treasury, so letting her manage the treasury is only temporary."

"I think it is very important for her to manage the treasury, which is to appease the barbarians in Beijun. If the barbarians know that Sister Nanyan, who was once the Princess of the Sirius King, can be entrusted with important tasks by you, it will prove that You do not reject the barbarians, so that those barbarians can see hope."

Lu Chen's previous marriage to Yelu Nanyan had a very important political role, which was to appease the barbarians in Beijun, especially the barbarians from the Sirius King tribe.

Although Lu Chen was originally very coveted for Yelu Nanyan's body, his marriage to Yelu Nanyan was not actually a lustful move on his part, but a political marriage.

It is equivalent to a political marriage between the barbarian Sirius King tribe and the Northern Palace.

Of course, even if Yelu Nanyan is not the princess of the Sirius King, Lu Chen will still think of taking her as his own after seeing her. Political marriage is only secondary to Lu Chen.

After Lu Chen thought for a while, he said with a smile: "My beloved concubine, if you let Nan Yan manage the treasury, aren't you afraid that she will have power in her hands and her status in the palace will be higher than yours?"

Mu Zixuan smiled and replied: "The status of women in the North Palace is not something that anyone can strive for, but is given by the prince. Whoever the prince wants to have a high status can have a high status."

If it were in other places, once a woman gained power, the male master would most likely be controlled by the woman.

But it was different in Beiwang Mansion. Lu Chen had absolute authority in Beiwang Mansion, and all the women in the inner courtyard were centered on him.

Mu Zixuan is someone who knows the effects of dragon and phoenix tea, so she is not worried that Yelu Nanyan will have a higher status than herself because she has power, unless Lu Chen wants Yelu Nanyan to have a higher status than her. .

If Lu Chen really wants Yelu Nanyan to have a higher status than her, or even deprive her of the title of princess, it is not something she, the daughter of a guilty minister, can stop.

But after more than a year of living together, Mu Zixuan believed that Lu Chen was not that kind of person. Her trust in Lu Chen was 100%. This was also the benefit of 100% goodwill. There was no intrigue between the couple at all.