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Time passed quickly, and half a month vanished in the blink of an eye.

Winter had already arrived, and now everyone was wrapped in thick fur clothing, even Lu Chen was no exception.

Martial artists had a certain resistance to the cold, and as a Grandmaster, Lu Chen was not at all afraid of it; even if he didn’t wear such thick clothes, he would have been fine. But not fearing the cold did not mean he couldn’t feel it —the chilling wind against his skin was somewhat uncomfortable.

Most high-ranking martial artists were like this, such as Bai Qingqing and her companions; they, too, donned thick clothing.

Winter was slightly annoying to Lu Chen, as his women had bundled up in thick furs, their graceful figures obscured by their garments, impossible to showcase their perfect physiques.

But there was nothing he could do about it; after all, he couldn’t change the weather.

The arrival of winter also brought a number of problems to North City, and at this point, Lu Chen was completely unaware of the troubles that North City would face in winter. He had spent the recent half-month preparing for the North Fre King’s invasion from the south, so he hadn’t paid much attention to the governance of North City.

In the early morning, Lu Chen woke up amidst Yelv Nanyan’s gentle jade fragrance, and after having breakfast with her, he headed to the study as usual.

When he arrived at the entrance of the study, important officials and military generals of North City were already waiting.

Now, every five days, they would collectively come to the study and report to Lu Chen the recent situation in North City, discussing events that had occurred.

At first, Lu Chen hadn’t set a rule for reporting, but gradually, people like Li Rui had formed a habit, so Lu Chen simply decided to discuss North City’s significant matters every five days.

Upon seeing Lu Chen’s arrival, Li Rui and the others immediately bowed and greeted him, “Greetings to the Prince!”

“May the Prince live thousands of years, thousands of years, thousands upon thousands of years!”

Lu Chen nodded slightly and entered the study, “Come in, everyone.”

The crowd then followed Lu Chen into the study, which seemed even more crowded today, as more people were involved in the discussion.

Generally, once an official’s loyalty reached ninety, and they held an important position in North City, Lu Chen would allow them to join the council.

Seeing the increasingly packed study, Lu Chen thought to himself that it was a good thing that the construction of the Hall of Political Affairs had begun, and the temporary hall would be set up before long. Then, they wouldn’t have to cram into this study anymore.

At that moment, Lu Chen glanced over the crowd and then said, “Old rules, speak one by one if you have any matters.”

Upon hearing this, Li Rui was the first to step forward and said, “Prince, winter has now arrived, and although North City successfully defended against the barbarian tribe’s plundering this year, there are still many commoners lacking clothing and food. Should we distribute porridge this year?”

The commoners of North City had always been poor, and despite Lu Chen having already exempted them from many agricultural taxes, they were still very much impoverished, with most struggling to feed themselves.

This was why, whenever the North Prince Mansion recruited workers, there would always be many people desperately vying to become one of the mansion’s laborers.

Once inside the North Prince Mansion, becoming one of its workers, the commoners of North City would believe they would no longer fear hunger or the cold.

Hearing Li Rui’s words, Lu Chen pondered for a moment and then said, “Continue distributing porridge. However, this year the North Prince Mansion will contribute some silver to buy food, and we will distribute it in the name of the mansion.”

Immediately understanding Lu Chen’s intention, Li Rui realized that Lu Chen was planning to win the hearts of the people. But there was no harm in that; after all, Lu Chen was now the Seignior of North City, and the entire area had become his feudal state. For the king of a feudal state, winning the people’s hearts was quite normal.

Li Rui then responded, “Yes, my Prince.”

Lu Chen inquired, “Lord Li, is there anything else you wish to discuss?”

At this point, Li Rui glanced at the other military generals led by Mu Changtian, then continued, “Prince, lately the common folk inside Yan County have been complaining about the scarcity of timber. They claim that Wanning Valley and some forests have been surrounded by Yan County’s troops, and the woodcutters simply cannot enter to collect wood.”

“Now that winter has come, if there is not enough timber, this year North City may see many freeze to death.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen was taken aback.

As a Grandmaster, although he felt the cold, he was not afraid of it. Because he did not fear the cold, he had no real notion of winter and had completely forgotten the fact that people could freeze to death during this season.

Since it didn’t directly affect him, Lu Chen rarely paid attention, but now that Li Rui had brought it up, Lu Chen quickly realized the significance.

Warming up indeed posed a troublesome issue.

As Li Rui finished speaking, Lu Chen looked over at Mu Changtian and the other military generals. At that moment, Mu Changtian stepped forward and said, “Prince, currently the forests around Yan County contain North City’s military camps or conceal North City’s secrets, so I’ve ordered the soldiers from North City to seal off most of the areas.”

Lu Chen was aware of this, especially since the artillery camp managed by Mu Jingwu took up a large area of forest, mainly to prevent spies from discovering any secrets of North City.

Sealing off those forests was the right action.

However, the issue of the commoners’ heating still needed to be addressed.

After some thought, Lu Chen said, “General Mu, when you leave the North Prince Mansion later, open up some of the less critical areas to the common people. We can’t let them freeze; if all the common people die from the cold, how are we going to develop North City next year?”