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Translator: 549690339 |

Seeing Lu Chen come to find her at this time, Mu Zixuan was a bit puzzled. Usually, after she became pregnant, Lu Chen wouldn’t come to snuggle up with her during the day since he had to practice horsemanship and marksmanship with Xiao Wenyao and Bai Qingqing, leaving him no leisure to visit her.

Quickly setting aside the account book in her hand, Mu Zixuan asked, “My Prince, do you need something from your concubine?”

Without beating around the bush, Lu Chen said directly, “In the future, the North Prince Mansion will have to support the officials of North City, and I’m afraid we will have to allocate a considerable portion of our funds for this purpose.”

Mu Zixuan immediately understood Lu Chen’s implication and said, “Indeed, it is time to separate the state treasury and the private treasury.”

In Great Sum’s feudal system, once enfeoffed, seigniors were granted feudal states, and the court would no longer allocate funds to a seignior’s domain unless there was a war or a particularly significant event.

Typically, a seignior upon reaching his domain, would differentiate between the mansion’s private treasury and the state treasury, aiming to channel the majority of the tax revenue directly into the private treasury for his own enjoyment.

Of course, North City was different, currently on the verge of poverty, with little tax revenue. Lu Chen didn’t need to syphon the tax revenue from the people, and the establishment of separate treasuries in the North Prince Mansion was merely for the sake of convenience in fund allocation.

Continuing, Mu Zixuan said, “However, whom should we entrust with the management of the state treasury? Does my Prince have a suitable candidate in mind?”

The purse strings naturally needed to be in the hands of someone we trust. Once the private and state treasuries were divided, the state treasury could no longer be managed by the Prefectural Government.

Although the Prince’s Mansion was quite wealthy now, who knows if one day the state treasury would have more silver than the private treasury, especially after North City’s development and increased tax revenue; it was highly likely that the state treasury would become richer than the private treasury of the North Prince Mansion.

So, it was best to keep a firm grip on the purse strings from the start.

Hearing Mu Zixuan’s question, Lu Chen pondered for a moment, “I haven’t found a suitable person yet.”

First and foremost, the person managing the state treasury must be one hundred percent loyal to him, and secondly, that person must have some experience.

Lu Chen sighed and said, “Let’s not even talk about the state treasury for now; the current official structure of North City is almost like a makeshift troupe— there are hardly any useful people. It looks like we’ll need to adjust the official structure of North City first.”

A feudal state was called a state precisely because the seignior within had a lot of autonomy, including the power to appoint and dismiss officials.

Usually, upon arriving at their domain, one of the first things a seignior did was establish his own base, also known as a small court. Just as the court had six ministries, a feudal state also had six ministries.

Lu Chen had been in North City for over a year, and not even the six ministries had been established, unclear in their duties and responsibilities, North City was still being managed in the same old fashion.

Of course, the most important reason was the lack of capable people in North City. Lu Chen couldn’t find enough civil officials to establish the six ministries. At that moment, Lu Chen glanced down at Mu Zixuan’s belly then extended his hand and gently stroked it, thinking that both times Mu Zixuan and Zhou Youyou were pregnant, the system rewarded him with talents.

Once it was a member of the Brocade Guard; another time, it was a member of the Black Cavalry. This indicated that the pregnancy rewards were likely to be talents.

In this way, what Mu Zixuan and the others were carrying was not just their children but potentially the civil officials he desired.

He hoped that when Mu Zixuan and the others gave birth again, the system would reward him with some capable people, for North City was in dire need of civil officials.

At this point, Mu Zixuan suggested, “My Prince, perhaps we could temporarily entrust the state treasury to sister Nanyan.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen was taken aback.

Yelv Nanyan did indeed have extensive management experience, and with her favorability towards him having reached one hundred, it was impossible for her to betray him now.

However, since Yelv Nanyan was formerly the Sky Wolf King’s wife, entrusting her with the state treasury would definitely cause dissatisfaction among some people.

Mu Zixuan continued, “Now, sister Nanyan is one of your women, my Prince. Moreover, she has recently assisted in handling Mansion affairs, and I have found that her accounting abilities are hardly inferior to mine. If she is only to manage the treasury temporarily, I think there should be no problem.” “Besides, given my Prince’s charm, I believe you will soon find suitable talent to take over the treasury, so leaving it in her hands is only a temporary measure.”

“I also think that entrusting her with the treasury has another significant advantage, that is in placating the tribes of North City. If the Barbarian Tribe learns that sister Nanyan, who was once the wife of the Sky Wolf King, is entrusted with such responsibility, it will prove that you do not discriminate against the tribes, and they will see hope.”

Lu Chen’s marriage to Yelv Nanyan did have a significant political function, which was to calm the tribes of North City, especially those of the Sky Wolf King Tribe.

Although Lu Chen genuinely lusted for Yelv Nanyan’s body, marrying her wasn’t due to his lust, it was a political marriage.

It was equivalently a political alliance between the Sky Wolf King Tribe and the North Prince Mansion.

Of course, even if Yelv Nanyan hadn’t been the wife of the Sky Wolf King, Lu Chen would still have desired to possess her upon seeing her. A political alliance was secondary in his consideration.

After pondering for a while, Lu Chen said with a smile, “My beloved concubine, by letting Nanyan manage the treasury, aren’t you afraid that when she gams power, her status in the Mansion will surpass yours?”

Mu Zixuan replied with a smile, “The status of women in the North Prince Mansion is not up for competition, it is given by my Prince. Whoever you wish to elevate will have high status.”

If this were elsewhere, a woman with power in her hands might indeed dominate the master.

But in the North Prince Mansion, it was different. Lu Chen held absolute authority, and all the women of the inner court were centered around him.

Mu Zixuan knew the effects of the Dragon and Phoenix Tea, so she wasn’t worried at all that Yelv Nanyan would have a higher status than herself because she had power, unless Lu Chen wanted Nanyan to surpass her.

If Lu Chen truly wanted to raise Yelv Nanyan’s status above hers, even to the point of deposing her as his wife, that was not something Mu Zixuan, a daughter of a convicted man, could prevent.

However, after living together for over a year, Mu Zixuan believed that Lu Chen was not that kind of person. Her trust in Lu Chen was absolute, which was also a benefit of one hundred percent favorability—there was no scheming between

husband and wife.