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Agriculture was developing in an orderly fashion, while industry had also begun to show some signs of emergence. Now, Great Yu City had nearly become an industrial city.

With the advent of the train, the connection between Great Yu City and Yan County had become much tighter. Some of the commoners from Great Yu City were finally willing to come to Yan County, which in turn, accelerated the development pace of Yan County once more.

At this moment, Lu Chen spoke up, "Alright, that's enough about agriculture. Does anyone else have any other matters?"

Then Mu Changtian stood up and said, "Prince, the Zhao King has already started a war against the Ren Prince. I'm afraid we too must start preparing sooner rather than later."

The civil war in Great Xia had already begun a month ago, with the Zhao King taking the lead in deploying troops to attack the Ren Prince, who hadn't had time to react before the majority of his territory was captured by the Zhao King.

This war was somewhat peculiar; the imperial court did not interfere at all, allowing them to fight amongst themselves. Indignant, the Ren Prince sought to ally with the Huai Prince in hopes of eliminating Zhao Country.

Once a war begins, it's not easy to stop.

The Zhao King's sudden assault on the Ren Prince likely indicated that the princes could no longer contain themselves and wanted to directly establish victory or defeat, vying for the throne.

Most princes had established connections with the seigniors. When seigniors act impulsively, it also means that the struggle between princes has reached a life or death stage.

Mu Changtian felt that if the North Prince wanted to vie for that position, he had to act quickly, heading south as soon as possible to take the supreme seat and then quell the internal strife.

As it stood, only the North Country had the strength to suppress other seigniors within Great Xia's borders.

If the seigniors were allowed to keep fighting, Great Xia might be ruined by their hands, which would not be a good thing for the North Prince.

If he delayed going south and the North Prince became Emperor, he might face a mess of problems and a nation in disarray.

If Great Xia was ruined, rebuilding it would take far more time and effort. The North Prince's ambition was to destroy other dynasties and establish a unified empire. If he wasted time and effort on rebuilding Great Xia, achieving his ambition would take forever.

Of course, that was just what Mu Changtian thought.

At this time, Lu Chen said, "Let them fight if they like to fight. As long as the Imperial Army remains in Qi Country and doesn't mobilize, we'll continue to watch the drama unfold."

Hearing what Lu Chen said, Li Rui replied, "Prince, the situation in the Capital is becoming more and more severe. If the princes continue their struggle, Great Xia is in danger of fragmentation."

"Once Great Xia fragments, it would be difficult to unify it again in the future."

At that moment, Lu Chen turned his head to look at Zhuge Zhongguang, who was sitting in the front row of the great hall.

"What does the Great Scholar think?"

Zhuge Zhongguang began to say, "This old subject believes that the North Country should not take up arms for the time being. However, the Prince is after all His Majesty's child, a seignior of Great Xia, and has the duty to stand up when Great Xia faces a crisis."

"Therefore, this old subject believes that the Prince must make a statement to the court and to the seigniors of Great Xia. Only after the Prince declares his position openly, might the seigniors across the land possibly calm down a bit."

At present, no matter how the seigniors within Great Xia expanded their troops, their military strength could not possibly match that of the North Country. Once the North Prince stepped forward and spoke a few words of deterrence, some seigniors would naturally behave more docilely.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Chen felt there was some merit to this and then said, "In a moment, I will draft a memorial to submit to the court."

"Does anyone have other matters?"

At this time, Liang Zong stood up and said, "Prince, the activities of spies from various empires within the North Country are becoming more and more frequent. I believe that with the current number of Jinyiwei Guard, it is no longer sufficient to monitor the spies from other countries, so I suggest we continue to expand the Jinyiwei Guard ranks."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen was taken aback for a moment. If it were just a minor increase in Jinyiwei Guard numbers, Liang Zong and Qin Yushan would have the authority to do so without having to report it.

If Liang Zong was the one suggesting an increase, it signified that he intended to recruit a particularly large number of people this time. Only if the expansion exceeded a certain scale would there be a need to proactively report it.

Lu Chen came back to his senses and asked, "How many people does the Brocade Guard plan to recruit?"

Liang Zong replied, "By my estimate, the Brocade Guard needs to recruit at least ten thousand people."

Upon hearing Liang Zong's words, some ministers in the great hall instantly darkened their expressions.

Even though the current Brocade Guard had not caused any conflicts with the ministers of the North Country, everyone knew that the Brocade Guard were the dogs of the North Prince, closely watched by him at all times.

The Brocade Guard were already numerous; now, with the recruitment of another ten thousand, they feared the North Prince would know when they so much as took leave for personal matters.

The ministers' loyalty to the North Prince was still not in question, but loyalty is one thing, and that did not mean they were devoid of personal schemes. Moreover, they felt uncomfortable being watched all the time while conducting their affairs.

After hearing Liang Zong's words, Lu Chen pondered for a moment. The Rain-listening Pavilion had already been discovered by various dynasties as a force under the North Prince Mansion, making gathering intelligence not as easy as before.

Professional tasks should be left to professionals; it would be better to transfer all the intelligence channels of the Rain-listening Pavilion to the Brocade Guard and have them collect information from the various dynasties.

If the Brocade Guard were to be dispatched, then recruiting an additional ten thousand people indeed would not be excessive.

With this in mind, Lu Chen said, "Agreed."

Seeing Lu Chen's approval, some ministers in the great hall felt quite depressed, but they dared not say much.

The Brocade Guard were the dogs of the North Prince, and to strike the dog one must consider the owner. If they attacked the North Prince's dogs, it would imply that they harbored other intentions.

At this moment, Lu Chen spoke to Liang Zong, "When recruiting the Jinyiwei Guard, try to use people from Great Yu City as much as possible."

Liang Zong replied, "Yes, I understand."

The people of Great Yu City were incredibly loyal to the North Prince and thus were most suitable for the Brocade Guard, which valued loyalty above all.

Lu Chen then scanned the great hall once more and, seeing that no one else stepped forward, he spoke up, "If there are no other matters, let us conclude for today."

As his words fell, Lu Chen stood up, flicked his sleeves, and left the Hall of Political Affairs directly.

When Lu Chen reached the gate of the study's courtyard, a female guard from the Prince's Mansion approached him in a flurry, "Greetings to Your Highness the Prince!"

Lu Chen asked, "What's the matter?"

The female guard replied, "An envoy from the Da Yue Dynasty has brought an invitation, inviting you to attend a poetry gathering at the Hundred Flowers Tower in three days."

As she spoke, the female guard handed over the invitation to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen received the invitation from the female guard, glanced at it, and then the corners of his mouth slightly turned upwards.

The one inviting him to the poetry gathering was Murong Xue'er; it seemed that the Da Yue Dynasty could not wait any longer, desiring Murong Xue'er to get close to him as soon as possible to probe the secrets of the North Prince Mansion.

The female guard then continued, "The Da Yue envoy's messenger is still waiting at the mansion gate for Your Highness's reply. Do you plan on attending the poetry gathering?"

Lu Chen answered directly, "Go and tell the messenger that this prince will surely attend Miss Murong's poetry gathering in three days."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"I shall take my leave."

Watching the female guard's departing figure, Lu Chen thought to himself that since Murong Xue'er was willing to come to him, there was no need for him to prolong leaving her in suspense.

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