Chapter 180 Beijun Reform

After hearing what her sister said, Chu Qingli said expressionlessly: "My sister also knows that he has grown up, so why do she still stay with him.

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

Hearing Chu Qingli's words, the memories in Chu Yuqin's mind instantly dissipated. She turned to look at Chu Qingli and said, "Qingli, you've been coming to Beiwang Mansion for so long, why do I feel like you still haven't given up? "

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

Hearing Chu Qingli's words, Chu Yuqin sighed slightly, and then said: "Qingli, for me, Chen'er is my most important person. It is impossible for me to leave his side, and I don't want to leave him." How miserable it was to think I was around him.”

Chu Qingli said calmly: "The reason why my sister has such thoughts is just because she was hypnotized by him using hypnosis."

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

"I believe that by then, even if I don't say anything, my sister will leave Beiwang Mansion."

Seeing that Chu Qingli was still so stubborn, Chu Yuqin simply stopped continuing the topic. She felt that no matter how much she said, it would be useless.

But having said that, how could she serve Lu Chen when her sister was always in the palace?

When she thought of this, Chu Yuqin's face became a little hot.

The last time she asked Lu Chen to give her some time, so much time had passed in the blink of an eye, and she had not fulfilled her promise. She was afraid that if she continued to delay like this, Lu Chen might think that she had broken her promise.

It seemed that she had to find an opportunity to send her sister away. Only when her sister left the palace could 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, life in Beiwang Mansion is somewhat boring for you, a person who often travels around. That's why you always have random thoughts. How about you leave Beiwang Palace temporarily? Prince's Mansion, go out and relax, maybe you won't have such random thoughts after a while."

Hearing these words, Chu Qingli looked suspicious for a moment, and then she said: "Sister, are you planning to send me away so that you can do some shameful things with that man?"

Seeing that her sister had seen through her thoughts in an instant, Chu Yuqin suddenly felt her face getting hotter. She felt extremely ashamed.

Without a suitable reason, it is really difficult to send away my sister.

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

"Forget it, I won't say anything more to you. Anyway, no matter how much I say, you won't listen."

Having said this, Chu Yuqin turned around and left. To be precise, she fled this place. She felt that if she continued to stay, her sister might be able to see more things, and her sister's intuition would also be different. It was so accurate that he immediately guessed that he wanted to send her away.

At this time, Chu Yuqin regretted letting Chu Qingli enter the North Prince's Mansion. It was easy to ask the gods but difficult to send them away. It was not easy to let her in and then let her go.

Seeing Chu Yuqin's leaving figure, Chu Qingli always felt that Chu Yuqin and Lu Chen had done something shameful.

However, she had no evidence and could only rely on speculation.

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

The man in the study is the source 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 ​​misery.

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 Jin Yiwei soldier came to the study in a hurry. Before she could say anything, the Jin Yiwei soldier spoke first: "Your Majesty, the county governor's office sent someone to send hundreds of thousands of taels." Silver, it is said that the prince wants to build a road, and the officials voluntarily donated money to the prince to build the road."

Hearing this, Lu Chen, who was writing a reform plan in the study, was stunned for a moment. When he came to his senses, he immediately put down the brush in his hand and opened the door directly.

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

"Where is the silver?"

The Jin Yiwei soldier replied: "Outer Courtyard, just sent it."

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

Having said 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 had indeed planned to talk to Lu Chen just now, but after being interrupted by the Jin Yiwei soldiers, her inner thoughts instantly dissipated.

She suddenly felt as if she was possessed. How could she have the idea of ​​talking to Lu Chen alone?

Chu Qingli immediately said: "It's okay, I just patrolled here."

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

Chu Qingli quickly got out of the way and said, "My lord, walk slowly."

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

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. The boxes were full of white silver. Looking at the silver, Lu Chen said to himself: "Seventy thousand taels of silver can be exchanged for hundreds of thousands of taels. This business is really small." It’s not a loss.”

He just asked Mu Zixuan to allocate 70,000 taels of silver to the officials of Beijun. However, before the salaries were paid, the officials of Beijun handed over hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Lu Chen squatted down, picked up a piece of silver in the wooden box, looked at it, and then continued: "Li Rui is really dishonest. Even officials like Yancheng can hand over hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. Tian actually came to me to ask for my salary."

Having said this, Lu Chen turned to the servants of the palace and said, "Check it and see how much silver there is."

After listening to Lu Chen's words, the people in the palace immediately began to count the silver.

Lu Chen did not stay in the palace hall all the time. He asked the maid to find Mu Zixuan to deal with the silver, and then he went back to the study to continue writing the reform plan for Beijun.

When Mu Zixuan saw the hundreds of thousands of 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 as Beijun, these officials in Yancheng could actually embezzle four to five million taels of silver. . 6⃞ 9⃞ s⃞ h⃞ u⃞ x⃞ .⃞ c⃞ o⃞ m⃞

However, Mu Zixuan didn't say much to Lu Chen about this matter later. After all, it was a political matter, so Lu Chen could just handle it. As for the money, all the money was put into the treasury. They just happened to be setting up a treasury soon.

A few days later, the small court meeting in Bei County officially began. Lu Chen's study must not be able to accommodate so many officials. Because the government hall had not been built yet, Lu Chen regarded the palace hall in the outer courtyard as the venue for the small court meeting. Place.

Not only all officials from Bei County will be present at this meeting, but all military generals will also participate.

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

Faced with this meeting, the officials in Beijun seemed very nervous, but the military generals stood there one after another as if nothing had happened and watched the officials discuss the meeting.

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

Hearing this, the originally noisy palace hall instantly became quiet, and people shut up and waited.

At this time, Lu Chen passed through the crowd and walked directly to the chair facing the door and sat on it.

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

Lu Chen said calmly: "No courtesy."

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

"I have been in Beijun for more than a year. According to the usual practice, I have to form my own team. However, because I had other things in the past, and because the barbarian armies went south twice, I have not had time. .”

"After thinking about it these days, I have decided to make some adjustments to Beijun."

Having said this, Lu Chen turned to the Jinyi Guards soldiers beside him and said, "Read it."

After hearing Lu Chen's words, the Jin Yiwei soldier took out a long scroll and began to read.

"From now on, Beijun is officially abolished. Beijun is called Beiguo. Beiguo has the Ministry of Personnel, 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. Beiguo adopts the policy of separation of military and political affairs. The Ministry of War is managed by the King of the North alone. At the same time, Beijun The army also needs to be reformed. 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 people were listening carefully to the content that was closely related to them.

After half an hour, the Jin Yiwei soldiers finished reading the content on the scroll. After the Jin Yiwei soldiers stopped, Lu Chen said: "Next, if you have any questions about the reform measures, or what you think is inappropriate, You can bring it 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 questions in their hearts, but most of them are petty officials. How dare they talk nonsense about reform measures like this.

At this moment, Li Rui stood up and said: "Your Majesty, since ancient times, the imperial court has had six departments. Why did Beijun add the Department of Commerce and the Department of Education? After hearing what the Jinyi guards read just now, I found that the Department of Commerce can be merged into the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Ministry of Education. The Ministry can be merged into the Ministry of Rites, and there is no need to establish two more departments. If two more departments are established, I think it will cause redundant officials."

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

After hearing what Lu Chen said, Li Rui stopped worrying about this issue. Since it was the default department, it had nothing to do with him.

However, there was another issue that concerned Li Rui. He immediately said: "Your Majesty, one of your reform measures stipulates that the land in the Northern Kingdom legally belongs to you, Your Majesty. Everyone only has the right to use it and has no ownership rights. This may cause some problems." The protests of the common 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 soil in the world will be taken back to the court or handed over to the emperor.

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

Landowners will definitely not take back land ownership, and ordinary people will not agree.

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

Lu Chen said: "Recovering land ownership is, firstly, to avoid land annexation issues, and secondly, to prepare for future development and construction in Beixun."

"There are naturally reasons why I dare to do this. First of all, there are not many big landowners in Beijun yet, and from today on, Beijun will exempt all agricultural taxes. As long as the people are willing to farm, they can get what they plant. , and the common people can apply for land from the Northern Palace and only need to pay a small amount of land fee to contract a large area of ​​land. These are the benefits that the king will give to the common people after recovering the land ownership."

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

Exemption from all agricultural taxes?

Isn't this too bold?

In this era, agricultural taxes are the main source of revenue for a country!

At this time, even the general Mu Changtian couldn't help but stand up and said: "Your Majesty, is this policy of exempting all agricultural taxes a bit too radical? If there is no agricultural tax, how will the Northern Kingdom's treasury have money in the future?"

Lu Chen said: "The agricultural tax collected by Beijun is not even enough for the salaries of Beijun officials. What can this agricultural tax do? Moreover, the palace has a large amount of land to grow food, and I do not need the common people to hand over food to me."

"As for where the newly established treasury in the North should collect money, it is naturally the new commercial tax. In the future, any goods entering and leaving the North will need to pay commercial tax. In addition, by then, I will peel off part of the industry of the Northern Palace and hand it over to the merchants. It is managed by the Ministry of Finance, and all the money earned from those industries is sent to the national treasury.”

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

You must know that every current industry in Beiwangfu is hugely profitable, especially the coal industry that has recently emerged. Now the people in King Qi's fiefdom are buying coal like crazy. I don't know how much money Beiwangfu has made this winter.

If the Northern Palace hands over the management of the industry to the Ministry of Commerce, then the Northern Kingdom's treasury will not be short of money at all in the future.

In this way, the Commercial Department becomes very important. After all, it is the department that makes money.

At this time, an official from Yancheng asked: "Your Majesty, will this move be suspected of competing with the people?"

Lu Chen was not angry at this question. He said calmly: "How can we compete with the people for profit? Did the people have the industries in the Northern Palace in the past? I will peel off those industries and hand them over to the Ministry of Commerce for management, and then those industries will be returned to the Ministry of Commerce." We need to recruit workers and provide food for the common people. This is to benefit the common people. Who dares to say that I am competing with the people for profit?"

"Unless someone wants the properties of this king, he will talk about people fighting for profit. After all, the money earned goes into the national treasury and not into their pockets. As far as this king knows, only those aristocratic families do this. think."

"However, there shouldn't be any aristocratic family in Beijun who dares to snatch state-owned industries managed by the Ministry of Commerce under my nose, right?"

After hearing what Lu Chen said, everyone in the hall fell into silence.

Indeed, if the industries branched out by Beiwang Mansion recruit workers aggressively, the refugees in Beijun will have jobs and food to eat in the future. This is giving profits to the people, not competing with the people for profits at all.

Of course, the common people also include aristocratic families. The money that the aristocratic families cannot earn is made by the Ministry of Commerce and the Beiwang Palace. They will definitely say that the Beiwang Palace competes with the people for profit.

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

Lu Chen continued at this time: "By the way, I would like to ask General Mo and Mr. Li whether the name of my feudal 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, the name of the feudal country is whatever the prince is.

He is the Northern King, so his feudal kingdom is the Northern Kingdom.

But the name of the country, Beiguo, always made Lu Chen feel a little uncomfortable. It seemed too informal.

Back then, his father just disliked him, and then randomly named himself a king. This caused his country to have to use this name.

Mu Changtian replied: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, it can be changed. There is a precedent for this in Daxia, but you need your Majesty to write a letter to your Majesty to apply for a change of title, and then you can change the name of the country in the North."

"However, after all, the title of Prince was given by His Majesty. Thunder, rain and dew are all due to Your Majesty's favor. Although there are precedents, if the Prince applies to His Majesty to change the title, Your Majesty will definitely take back something."

"And judging from precedents, the vassal king who proposes to change the title will most likely be transferred out of the feudal country and entrusted elsewhere."

After hearing what Mu Changtian said, Lu Chen immediately said: "Forget it, okay, let's stop this topic."

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

If it's so troublesome, then don't change it.

Let’s just say Northland.

Sooner or later the name will have to be changed.

"If you have other questions, you can continue to raise them. I have asked my servants to prepare lunch. There is plenty of time today to discuss the reform measures proposed by me."

Li Rui continued at this time: "Your Majesty, your reform measures will be beneficial to the Northern Kingdom in the long run, and there is a high probability that these reform measures will not be an obstacle in the Northern Kingdom. However, I believe that the biggest obstacle may not be in the Northern Kingdom." , but in the imperial court.”

Let's not talk about whether Lu Chen violated etiquette by establishing the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education. The mere fact that the land ownership belongs to the North Palace is enough for the ministers of the imperial court to criticize Lu Chen.

The land issue in the feudal dynasty has always been a relatively sensitive issue. There are few ordinary people in Beijun and there are no big landowners. With a little pressure from Lu Chen, this decree can be easily promulgated.

But it's different in Daxia. Aristocratic families and officials often own 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 upon them, they will never allow anyone to make such a start. If the vassal king did this today, then Emperor Xia might also follow suit tomorrow.