169Chapter 144: Sending Wives to the Men of North City i

Translator: 549690339 |

The Barbarian Tribe’s migration into North City, if they were directly moved to places where the common folk of Great Sum congregate, could easily lead to conflicts between the Barbarian Tribe and the people of Great Sum.

But if there is no interaction between the two groups at all, it would be unlikely for the Barbarian Tribe to fully assimilate into Great Sum culture.

Therefore, Lu Chen offered a compromise by setting up counties specifically for the Barbarian Tribe to reside in North City. Of course, each household had to be registered and strictly controlled; however, as long as they were granted permission, they could also enter cities inhabited by the Great Sum people.

The most important point was that the relatives of the captured Barbarian Tribe members could directly visit them. This made the recently migrated Barbarian women in North City very happy.

However, where there is joy, there also exists sorrow. The Barbarian women whose men had died, even if they arrived at the camps of the Barbarian captives, would no longer see their men.

And there were many such women. The Barbarians practiced polygamy, not monogamy. Suddenly, two hundred thousand men perished, including some from the North Fre King’s tribe, but there were also over a hundred thousand men who were no more, leaving one to imagine how many widows the Sky Wolf King’s tribe had left behind.

The sudden increase of so many Barbarian widows in North City was not a good thing for the region.

At dawn, after Lu Chen got up and quickly ate something, he headed to his study.

In the past few days, he almost visited Yelv Nanyan every day. Although he was happy, Lu Chen didn’t spend all his time indulging in Yelv Nanyan’s tender land of warmth. Being a Seignior, he carried out his duties every day.

The study in the outer court had now become his workplace. Basically, after getting up in the morning, he would go to the study to handle all kinds of political affairs.

When Lu Chen first arrived in North City, he didn’t feel busy. However, suddenly the affairs in North City became numerous, and Lu Chen spent almost every day in the study from morning to night, often taking his meals there as well.

This made Lu Chen realize something—he simply had too few people working for him, or to be precise, too few Civil Officials.

Although North City had its own administrative foundation, previously it did not require any reforms, with a governance of non-action most of the time. The officials of North City essentially did nothing and just waited for the court to distribute the provisions and salaries.

Now that he intended to reform the entire North City, he first faced the issue of insufficient officials, followed by the problem that most of the officials lacked motivation to work, making it difficult to complete many tasks in a timely manner.

At this moment, as Lu Chen looked at the information about the officials on his desk, he furrowed his brows.

Corruption was commonplace; North City might have been poor, but those officials still found ways to line their pockets.

Not only were they corrupt, but they were also idle – these officials were no different from the good-for-nothing layabouts.

A clean-up was necessary.

Just then, a maid’s voice came from outside the study.

“Prince, Lord Li and Lord Mo have arrived,” she said.

Lu Chen calmly responded, “Let them all come in.”

As the words of Lu Chen fell, the door to the study opened slowly, and Li Rui, along with over twenty other people, entered the study.

The study now seemed a bit crowded.

Usually, a Seignior would have his own place for discussing affairs, but after Lu Chen came to North City, he initially hardly dealt with political matters and always stayed in the North Prince Mansion, so the Meeting Hall had not been built.

Li Rui initially thought that since the North Prince did not handle affairs, constructing a Meeting Hall for him would cost a substantial amount of Silver. Therefore, embracing a frugal mindset, he simply didn’t bother to build the Meeting Hall for the North Prince.

However, the Li Rui of today realized that the North Prince was not uninvolved in affairs; it was just not the time yet. Soon, the North Prince would certainly take significant actions. Li Rui could no longer afford his previous perfunctory attitude, or else, sooner or later, the North Prince would remove him from his position as Prefecture Governor.

After entering the study, everyone promptly greeted Lu Chen, saying, “We greet the Prince, may the Prince live for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand ten thousand years!”

Lu Chen nodded slightly, then said, “Speak one at a time if you have something to say.”

Unlike the court in the Capital city, Lu Chen’s “Small court” was still fairly orderly at present: speak about matters when required, without the buzzing commotion of flies from the start.

At this time, Li Rui stepped forward and said, “Prince, as affairs in North City are gradually increasing, the study of the North Prince Mansion is no longer suitable as a place for discussing political matters, and it is time to build the Hall of Political Affairs.”

In Great Sum, the Seigniors who are granted feudal statuses wield great power. Apart from their lands being nominally part of Great Sum, they possess almost any authority.

The areas governed by the Seigniors are also called feudal states, and each Seignior has their own administrative staff and Hall of Political Affairs.

Previously, it didn’t matter whether Lu Chen managed affairs or not, but now things were different.

With the increasing number of their administrative staff and the growing volume of affairs, it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss political matters crammed into such a small study in the future.

The study was already struggling to accommodate over twenty people; if the North Prince’s Staff or subordinate officials continued to grow in number, then discussing political affairs might have to move outside into the courtyard.

This was clearly unacceptable.

Hearing Li Rui’s words, Lu Chen calmly said, “Alright, Lord Li will take care of this matter.”

Li Rui bowed and responded, “As you command, Prince.”