In the quiet and elegant courtyard, the white mist shrouded in it.

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

At this moment, the biting cold air was released from the room in the small courtyard, and 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 dressed in a white plain dress, and she walked lightly through the frozen stone path to the door of the room.

Chen Wanrong didn't go in directly, she bent down at the door and said, "Disciple to meet Master." ”

At this moment, a cold woman's voice came from inside the room.

"Come in!"

As soon as the words fell, the door of the wooden house opened automatically, and a cold wind blew out of the room, blowing Chen Wanrong's long skirt and skirt flying non-stop.

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

The inside of the room is like a 10,000-year-old ice cave, and everything is frozen.

At this time, Chen Wanrong's eyes looked at the bed not far away, and a woman with long silver-white hair was slowly opening her beautiful eyes.

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

Although the woman's hair is all white, her skin is extremely white and tender, and there are no wrinkles on her face, as if she is a woman who has just become an adult.

Her body exudes a holy light, and her cold temperament makes it impossible to approach.

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

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

Chen Wanrong said expressionlessly: "Back to 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 immortal fate, and countless people fight for an ethereal immortal fate, and you are a person who has immortal fate, but you don't know how to cherish it." ”

Chen Wanrong said without humility or arrogance: "The disciple has no intention of cultivating immortals, which has disappointed the master. ”

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

"This seat has asked you to come this time to tell you that this seat is about to retreat, and this retreat may be a hundred years or five hundred years."

"After the retreat of this seat, everything in the Xuanyue Palace will be handed over to you and those elders."

"This seat wants to remind you that although this world cannot accommodate the existence of immortals, and immortals will not come to this world, but Xuanyue Palace is not invincible, and there are also strong people who surpass the realm of heaven and man under the immortals, if there is a strong person beyond the realm of heaven and man one day, you and those elders may not be their opponents."

"So I still hope that after you are in the world, don't make more trouble, and be able to return to Xuanyue Palace to meditate and cultivate, and break through the realm of heaven and man as soon as possible, this seat doesn't want to see only your grave when you go out."

"I've already lost one of my disciples, and I don't want to lose a second one."

Chen Wanrong said again: "The disciple knows. ”

The white-haired woman said, "Alright, so be it." ”

As the words fell, the white-haired woman's body 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 courtyard sounded again.

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

Her master has gone into retreat, her biggest fears are gone, and there is no one to stop her from returning.

It's time to head back to North-County.

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

I don't know why, since recently, 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 love Gu for Lu Chen, so she would always think of him.

……

North County.

North Wangfu, Chunsheng Temple.

"Ahh!!h

"Ahh!!h

"It's strange, aren't I already a grandmaster, why do I still sneeze, isn't that woman thinking about me."

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

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

Seeing Xiao Wenyao staring at him with a resentful expression, Lu Chen said with a smile: "Little Ma'er, what kind of expression are you, could it be that you scolded me in your heart just now?" ”

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

Lu Chen laughed, then slapped her buttocks and said, "Don't you dare? You are a man who wants me to be a horse for you to ride, what else do you not dare? ”

"I think you've been getting bolder lately."

Xiao Wenyao didn't dare to speak, she only dared to mumble in her heart, 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 regarded her as a horse.

Lu Chen glanced out the window and found that the wind and snow outside had stopped, so he got up and said, "You have a good rest, I still have something to do, so I'll go first." ”

Seeing that Lu Chen got up, Xiao Wenyao also hurriedly got up and helped Lu Chen dress.

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

After Lu Chen left the Chunsheng Courtyard, he went to the study.

Today's weather is good, the first sunny day after the snow, after Lu Chen came to the door of the study, he did not immediately enter the study, but stood in the courtyard and basked in the sun for a while.

In the past half month, he has either cultivated a relationship with Yelu Nanyan in bed, or taught Xiao Wenyao to ride a horse, or found Bai Qingqing, a grandmaster, to practice guns, Lu Chen has not been in the sun for a long time.

Just when Lu Chen was basking in the sun, a maid came to Lu Chen, "Lord Wang, Lord Li asks to see you." ”

Lu Chen said lightly: "Let him come over." ”

Soon, the maid took Li Rui to Lu Chen.

Li Rui saluted and said: "See the prince, the prince is a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old!" ”

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

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

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

Seeing that Li Rui didn't speak for a long time, Lu Chen turned his head curiously to look at Li Ruinan, "How did Lord Li become squirming today?" ”

Li Rui coughed, and then said: "Lord Wang, the minister is looking for you this time, mainly about the matter of the official Yulu. ”

Hearing this, Lu Chen was stunned for a moment, and then he asked, "Official?" What's the matter, the officials of North County want to raise their salaries? ”

Li Rui replied, "Not really. ”

"Just ......"

Li Rui wanted to speak and stopped.

Seeing Li Rui's mother-in-law talking today, Lu Chen immediately said: "Master Li, if you have something to say, if you have nothing to do, I will go back and be busy with you." ”

Seeing that Lu Chen was a little unhappy, Li Rui hurriedly said: "Before, the officials of Beijun were all issued by the imperial court, but according to the regulations of the imperial court, the officials of the fiefdom of the Great Xia vassal king were all issued by the vassal king. ”

"The imperial court has stopped allocating funds to Beijun half a year ago, so ......"

Li Rui didn't continue, he looked up at Lu Chen.

His meaning is already very simple and clear, that is, Beijun has no money, and the officials want Beiwangfu to come out.

Hearing Li Rui's words, Lu Chen laughed, and then said: "Doesn't Beijun have taxes every year, this king remembers that according to the rules of the imperial court, the vassal king does not need to pay taxes to the imperial court for the first ten years." ”

"Isn't the tax revenue of North County enough to support these officials in North County?"

Li Rui said: "Back to the prince, Beijun is poor, and the prince has been exempted from a lot of taxes since he came to Beijun, and there is indeed no silver in the treasury of Beijun. ”

"The minister has calculated, if the officials are sent out this year's money, I am afraid that there will be no money before the construction of the council hall is completed."

Now the Beiwangfu and the county guard are two accounts, the money of the Beiwang Mansion has always been managed by the Beiwang Mansion, and the taxes of the North County are managed by the county guard.

Without the appropriation of the imperial court, the little money that Li Rui managed would soon be consumed, and it was suggested that the money for the government hall would come from the treasury of the county guard's mansion.

Lu Chen exempted Beijun from so many taxes, and there was no appropriation from the imperial court, and the money managed by the county guard government during this period of time was basically only in and out, so naturally it couldn't last long.

After listening to Li Rui's words, Lu Chen was silent for a moment, as if he was thinking about something, and after a while, Lu Chen asked, "How much more money do the officials of Beijun need this year?" ”

Li Rui cautiously replied: "Back to the prince, no more than 100,000." ”

Hearing this, Lu Chen frowned and continued to ask, "How much." ”

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

For 50,000 taels alone, the Beiwang Mansion will definitely be able to take it out.

But this is only part of the officials of the North County, Lu Chen is now raising black cavalry, and raising those barbarian captives costs an unknown amount of silver every month, although there are still a lot of businesses in the North Prince's Mansion to make money, but if you spend lavishly, the money will definitely not be spent as fast.

Lu Chen then said to Li Rui: "You go back first, the king's account is not in the hands of the king, the king has to ask the princess first, as for the officials' money, the king will allocate funds in a few days, you don't have to worry." ”

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui was relieved, he also knew that the Beiwang Mansion was not short of money now, and the business that the Beiwang Mansion was doing now could make a lot of money in almost everything, and it was definitely not a problem to have more than 100,000 taels of silver a month.

The key is that the attitude of the king of the north is very important, after some vassal kings arrived in the fiefdom, they often owed the officials their salaries, which happened in every fiefdom, and Li Rui's main concern at the beginning was that he was afraid that Lu Chen would deliberately owe officials to the officials.

If Lu Chen defaults on the officials, the officials of the North County will not first think of looking for Lu Chen, the prince, but will come to him, the county guard.

Fortunately, Lu Chen did not mean to owe money.

Li Rui then said: "Minister, retire." ”

Then Li Rui left the palace with peace of mind, and 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 of the people in Daxia still liked to kneel, but Lu Chen was afraid that after his wife and concubine became pregnant, kneeling would have an impact on the fetus, so he specially asked the craftsmen to build a lot of chairs.

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

After Lu Chen came to the main hall, he found that Mu Zixuan was reading the account book, he immediately moved a chair to sit next to Mu Zixuan, and then put one hand around her willow waist and said in her ear: "Aifei, hard work." ”

Seeing that Lu Chen came to find herself at this time, Mu Zixuan was a little confused, normally, after she was pregnant, Lu Chen would not come to hug and hug herself in broad daylight, after all, Lu Chen still had to ride with Xiao Wenyao and Bai Qingqing to practice guns or something, and he didn't have time to come to him.

Mu Zixuan immediately put down the account book in her hand and asked, "Lord Wang, what is the matter with you looking for a concubine?" ”

Lu Chen didn't beat around the bush, and said directly: "In the future, those officials in Beijun will also need to be raised by the Beiwang Mansion, and I'm afraid that the money in the Beiwang Mansion will have to be divided a lot." ”

Mu Zixuan instantly understood what Lu Chen meant, and Mu Zixuan said: "It is indeed time to divide the treasury and internal funds." ”

The vassal kings of Great Xia were divided, and the feudal kingdoms were divided, and once the feudal kingdoms were divided, the imperial court would no longer allocate funds to the feudal kings' fiefs, unless there was a war, or something particularly important happened.

When the general feudal king went to the fief, he had to distinguish between the inner treasury of the royal palace and the national treasury, in order to collect most of the tax directly into the inner treasury for his own food, drink and entertainment.

Of course, Beijun is different, now Beijun is poor to death, and there is not much tax, and Luchen does not need to rely on the people's taxes to collect money, and Beiwangfu wants to set up an inner treasury and a national treasury, just to facilitate future appropriations.

Mu Zixuan continued at this time: "But who should hand over the treasury to? Does the prince have an ideal candidate in mind? ”

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

Although the palace is very rich now, it is not sure that one day it will become more than the silver in the treasury, especially after the development of the northern county in the future, once the tax comes up, the treasury is likely to be richer than the inner treasury of the northern palace.

So it's best to hold the money bag firmly in your hand from the start.

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

First of all, the person who manages the treasury must be 100% loyal to him, and secondly, the person who manages it must have a certain amount of experience.

Lu Chen sighed and said: "Don't talk about the treasury, now the official structure of the entire North County is similar to a grass platform team, and there are not many people who can use it, it seems that the official structure of the North County must be adjusted first." ”

The reason why the feudal state is called a state is naturally because the feudal vassal king has a lot of autonomy, including the right to appoint and dismiss officials.

Usually the vassal king went to his own feudal state, and the first thing he did was to form his own team, which was the so-called small court, and the imperial court had six departments, and the feudal kingdom also had six.

Lu Chen has been in Beijun for more than a year, and even the six departments have not been determined, and the rights and responsibilities are not clear.

Of course, the most important reason is the lack of capable people in Beijun, and Lu Chen can't find so many civil officials to form the six departments.

Lu Chen glanced down at Mu Zixuan's stomach at this time, and then stretched out his hand and gently stroked Mu Zixuan's stomach, thinking in his heart that when Mu Zixuan and Zhou Youyou had a child, the system was a reward talent.

Once it was the Jinyi Guard, and once it was the Black Cavalry, which shows that the reward for having a child is likely to be talent.

In this way, Mu Zixuan and her belly are not only pregnant with their own children, but also with the civil officials they want.

I hope that when Mu Zixuan and the three of them give birth again, the system will be able to reward themselves with some capable people, now there is too much shortage of civil officials in Beijun.

At this time, Mu Zixuan said: "Lord Wang, do you want to try to temporarily hand over the treasury to Sister Nanyan for management." ”

Hearing this, Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.

Yelu Nanyan does have a wealth of management experience, and her favorability towards him has reached a hundred, it is impossible for her to rebel.

However, Yelu Nanyan was the princess of the Sirius King in the past, and handing over the treasury to a person who was once the princess of the Sirius King would definitely cause some people to be dissatisfied.

Mu Zixuan continued: "Sister Nanyan is now the woman of the prince, and the concubine body has recently called Sister Nanyan to deal with the affairs of the palace together, and the concubine body finds that her ability to manage the accounts is not much worse than that of the concubine body, if she only temporarily hands over the treasury to her to manage, the concubine body thinks that there should be no problem." ”

"And with the charm of the prince, the concubine believes that the prince will soon be able to find the talent to take over the treasury, so it is only temporary for her to manage the treasury."

"The concubine thinks that there is another great importance for her to manage the treasury, that is, to appease the barbarians in Beijun, if you let the barbarians know that Sister Nanyan, who was once the princess of the Heavenly Wolf King, can be entrusted with important tasks by you, then it proves that you do not reject the barbarians, so that those barbarians can see hope."

Lu Chen married Yelu Nanyan before, and he had a very big political role, that is, to appease the barbarians in Beijun, especially the barbarians of the Heavenly Wolf King tribe.

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

It is equivalent to the political marriage between the barbarian Heavenly Wolf King tribe and the Northern Palace.

Of course, even if Yelu Nanyan is not the princess of the Heavenly Wolf King, Lu Chen will still want to take her for himself after seeing her, and political marriage is only secondary here for Lu Chen.

After thinking for a while, Lu Chen said with a smile: "Concubine Ai, if you let Nanyan manage the treasury, aren't you afraid that when the time comes, she will have power in her hands and her status in the palace will be higher than yours?" ”

Mu Zixuan replied with a smile: "The status of the women in the Northern Wangfu is not something that anyone can fight for, but it is given by the prince. ”

In other places, once a woman has power, the man is likely to be subject to the woman.

But it's different in the North Palace, Lu Chen has absolute authority in the North Palace, and all the women in the inner court are centered on him.

Mu Zixuan is a person who knows the effect of dragon and phoenix tea, so she is not worried at all that Yelu Nanyan's status will be higher than herself because she has power in her hands, unless it is Lu Chen who wants Yelu Nanyan's status to be higher than her.

If Lu Chen really wants to let Yelu Nanyan's status be higher than her, or even abolish her position as princess, it is not something that she can stop as the daughter of a criminal minister.

But after more than a year of living together, Mu Zixuan believes that Lu Chen is not that kind of person, her trust in Lu Chen is 100%, which is also the benefit of 100% favorability, and there is no intrigue between husband and wife at all.

(End of chapter)