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Although Zhuge Zhongguang obtained such a high position upon his arrival in the North Country, not a single official within the North Country had any objections, including Li Rui, who was acting as the de facto Prime Minister with the powers of a Vice Minister over state affairs.

The authority of Great Scholar Zhuge Zhongguang far surpassed that of Li Rui, his status was clearly above Li Rui’s, and yet Li Rui showed no temper whatsoever.

Zhuge Zhongguang was a Literature Saint Grandmaster, and moreover, he was one who had the potential to break through the Heavenly Human Realm; who would dare vie with him for power?

If they couldn’t surpass him in literature, and he was still a Grandmaster in the martial realm, Li Rui had no choice but to concede most of his power.

Having a Grandmaster in the Small Court of the North Country brought much harmony to the official scene, since everyone knew that beneath the Prince, Zhuge Zhongguang wielded the greatest power; no matter how hard they tried to climb, it would be futile, as the Grandmaster’s status was set in stone.

Moreover, Lu Chen did not only arrange for Zhuge Zhongguang to hold an official position. He also made arrangements for each of the scholars who had followed Zhuge Zhongguang to the North Country; however, most of them started at the grassroots level. Lu Chen did not immediately arrange very important positions for them, even if the students from the Universal Academy were his own people.

For Lu Chen, loyalty was indeed important, but capability was equally vital. If he only wanted loyalty without requiring others to have abilities, then the North Country would not be currently in need of officials.

Lu Chen’s idea was simple; he first wanted to send the scholars from the Universal Academy down to the grassroots to temper them and rectify their predisposition to idle talk. Once they had accumulated a certain amount of experience, he would then promote them.

Fortunately, their loyalty was one hundred percent. With the students from the Universal Academy placed at the grassroots level, Lu Chen could easily grasp the situation at the lower levels, even from a high position. Additionally, with the surveillance of the Brocade Guard, his control over the grassroots far exceeded that of other rulers.

The construction of the new city was booming, and nearly half of the construction of the main roads was completed. Now, the politics, economy, and military of the North Country had entered a stage of stable development.

After firearms were integrated into the army, the troops of the North Country began to practice new tactics relentlessly. Still, the North Country was most lacking in food supplies. Although Lu Chen had obtained high-yield crops like corn and sweet potatoes, time was limited, and only one round had been planted, which had not yet spread throughout the entire North Country.

To solve the food problem in the North Country and ensure it wasn’t affected by famines, it would take at least two to three years. Before that time, the North Country would need to purchase grain from other dynasties.

Luckily, the commerce of the North Country was already very developed, and the merchant caravans of various dynasties kept coming in a continuous stream. Even if the merchant caravans from the North Prince Mansion did not actively go to other dynasties to purchase grain, those caravans would bring grains from other dynasties to sell in the North Country, which somewhat alleviated the food shortage.

Seeing everything in the North Country developing in a favorable direction, Lu Chen had recently felt much less pressure. He delegated many of his tasks to Zhuge Zhongguang.

Although Zhuge Zhongguang was a person from ancient times, he was hardly less intelligent than modern people. Lu Chen didn’t need to explain much, for Zhuge Zhongguang was able to accurately implement Lu Chen’s policies, which greatly relieved Lu Chen.

With Zhuge Zhongguang and the scholars from the Universal Academy, Lu Chen no longer needed to toil as he had before. He just needed to continue with his plan of propagating his progeny and quietly wait for opportunities.

North Prince Mansion.

In the evening, the study.

The lights in the study were bright; Lu Chen had stayed a bit late at work today, as a lot of intelligence from the Capital City had arrived in the evening, and he was sorting through this information.

The conflict between his father, the Sum Emperor, and the Aristocratic Families of the South, had become increasingly apparent. The Sum Emperor wished to send troops southward, but the official members of the South Aristocratic Families strongly obstructed him, and the contradiction between the two parties had become public.

The Aristocratic Families of the South likely realized by now that the Sum Emperor intended to take action against them. Therefore, they didn’t hold back any longer and directly used various means to stop the Sum Emperor from deploying troops. Enraged, the Sum Emperor had already beheaded several officials from the Aristocratic Families.

In the past, the Sum Emperor feared the Aristocratic Families, so he rarely executed their officials. Even if those officials committed some wrongdoing, at most, they would be stripped of their official hats. Now that he had started executing officials from the Aristocratic Families, it meant he had reached the limits of his patience.

The atmosphere in the Capital City was especially tense, with a sense of an impending storm brewing.

Lu Chen sat at his desk, continuously flipping through the intelligence that had arrived at the North Prince Mansion tonight, while Qin Yushan still stood in front of Lu Chen, not immediately leaving.

After Lu Chen looked through some of the intelligence on the desk, he asked, “How is the investigation, ordered by this Prince for Commander Liang to carry out, going?”

Qin Yushan replied, “Your Highness, ever since the Emperor opened up the salt industry rights, the Dongfang Clan from the South Aristocratic Families has profited most from salt production. Even before the court had opened up the rights to operating the salt industry, they had already purchased a lot of coastal land for salt production, and they were smuggling salt into the Great Qian Dynasty.”

“Ever since the court liberalized the salt industry rights, the Dongfang Clan has been selling the previously smuggled salt openly to the whole country. In less than a year’s time, they’ve earned nearly ten million pieces of silver, and this is only the data we were able to find.”