Lu Chen thought to himself, if he could use Spirit Rice to enhance the strength of the soldiers in the army, setting aside everything else, just the increase in physical strength alone could bolster the military’s combat effectiveness.
In the army of the North Country, many were ordinary people, especially the soldiers in the artillery camp, whose physical strength was far inferior to that of Martial Artists. Yet, these ordinary soldiers were tasked with transporting cannons and carrying ammunition.
If these ordinary soldiers could all beco Martial Artists, not to ntion how high their Realm might be, as long as they could reach the level of a Fifth Grade Martial Artist, the speed at which they marched with heavy weapons would be significantly increased.
Speed is crucial in warfare, and sotis, battles are won by racing against ti.
Lu Chen’s gaze was fixed on the Spirit Rice before him, thinking that he needed to find soone trustworthy to be in charge of the cultivation of the Spirit Rice.
Once he had enough Spirit Rice, the overall strength of the soldiers of the North Country could be greatly enhanced.
As Lu Chen was lost in thought, Mu Zixuan spoke, "Prince, it looks like the Spirit Rice is ready for harvest. How about I find soone to harvest it?"
Although Lu Chen had always been the one looking after the Spirit Rice, there was so much of it, it could not possibly be expected for Lu Chen to personally go to the fields and harvest it himself.
Lu Chen replied, "Hmm, yes, please trouble my consort to find so trustworthy people to gather these grains and keep them as seeds for planting at a later ti."
Having said that, he continued, "I’ll go have breakfast first. Arrange for a few carpenters to co to the Prince’s Mansion and have them wait for in the outer court. I have so work for them later."
Mu Zixuan responded, "Understood, my lord."
Then Mu Zixuan instructed a maid beside her, "Go and bring the Prince’s breakfast."
Lu Chen then went into the Wind Cloud Palace for breakfast.
By the ti Lu Chen finished breakfast and ca out, Mu Zixuan had already arranged for so carpenters to wait for him in the outer yard, and she was curious about what Lu Chen needed the carpenters for.
Since it was sothing happening within the Prince’s Mansion, she should be able to see it, so Mu Zixuan also followed Lu Chen to the outer courtyard, intending to see what he had planned.
Lu Chen arrived at the outer courtyard, saw the carpenters, and had the branches of the Dragon Phoenix Tree moved there; then he instructed the carpenters to make wooden figures inside the mansion.
Hearing that Lu Chen wanted to make wooden figures, the carpenters were baffled and unsure of their purpose, but since they were craftsn from Great Yu City, they followed Lu Chen’s orders without question, and set to work on the tree branches without much thought.
Seeing the carpenters busily at work, Mu Zixuan approached Lu Chen and asked directly, "Prince, why did you instruct them to make wooden figures?"
Lu Chen smiled mysteriously and said, "My consort, no need to worry. You’ll understand once they are ready."
Seeing Lu Chen say this, Mu Zixuan didn’t press the issue further. It seed Lu Chen suddenly rembered sothing and then added, "That’s right, there’s sothing I nearly forgot. I spoke with Junwan yesterday and said you two should get to know each other."
He then instructed Mu Zixuan’s maid, "Xiao Rou, have Lady Wu co to Wind Cloud Court."
"Yes, my lord."
After the maid went to fetch Wu Junwan, Lu Chen wrapped an arm around Mu Zixuan’s slender waist and headed towards the inner court, saying as they walked, "My consort, let’s go to Wind Cloud Court to wait for her."
Mu Zixuan softly acknowledged with a "Mm," and followed Lu Chen back to the Wind Cloud Court.
Mu Zixuan felt pressured by the thought of eting Wu Junwan, for the latter was the Princess of Great Wu and held a more exalted status.
The Mu Family had a high standing in Great Xia, but compared to the Grandeur of the Great Martial Royal Family that Wu Junwan hailed from, they ant little.
Despite the pressure, Mu Zixuan quickly adjusted her state of mind. After all, she was Lu Chen’s consort and could not afford to embarrass him.
Soon, under the maid’s guidance, Wu Junwan arrived at the core area of the North Prince Mansion.
As Wu Junwan entered Wind Cloud Court, Lu Chen and Mu Zixuan were sitting in a pavilion, seemingly discussing sothing.
Wu Junwan proceeded towards the pavilion, and upon her arrival, Lu Chen greeted her with a smile and said, "My consort, let introduce you. This is the helper I found for you – the Princess from Great Wu."
At this, Mu Zixuan imdiately got up, stepped out of the pavilion to welco Wu Junwan, and said, "Sister Wu, I have long heard about you from the Prince. Unfortunately, since you’ve been staying in the eastern courtyard, I haven’t had the chance to et you."
"Rumour has it that Sister Wu is stunningly beautiful, and seeing you today proves those rumours true."
Seeing Mu Zixuan, a consort, being so warm to her, Wu Junwan grew wary, suspecting that Mu Zixuan feared she might threaten her position and was pretending to curry favor before plotting to harm her later.
Soone who had grown up in a royal family like herself was all too familiar with the dynamics of a Harem.
However, she wouldn’t rebuff soone who offers a smile. Since Mu Zixuan was ostensibly being friendly, Wu Junwan chose not to say anything unpleasant at that mont.
With a smile, Wu Junwan replied, "Thank you for the complint, my lady."
Glancing at Lu Chen, she continued, "The Prince is indeed fortunate to have taken a consort as clever and capable as you."
Hearing the mutual business flattery between the two, Lu Chen lifted the teacup from the table, took a light sip, and then said, "Stop flattering each other and co sit down. Let talk to you about how we’re going to manage the Prince’s Mansion’s properties from now on."
Mu Zixuan imdiately took Wu Junwan by the hand and said, "Sister Wu, let’s go over."
Wu Junwan responded, "Mhm, alright."
After the two won sat down in the pavilion, Lu Chen continued, "The Prince’s Mansion’s properties are growing, and it’s highly likely that the two of you alone won’t be able to manage them in the future, so we will need to recruit more talent to the Prince’s Mansion."
As he said this, Lu Chen told the two won about his plan to set up examinations to recruit talent. Hearing Lu Chen’s ideas, both won thought the thod was feasible.
Now, the managent personnel of the Prince’s Mansion’s properties were all arranged by Mu Zixuan alone, and promotions were decided solely by her. While this ensured that all those in charge were from the Prince’s Mansion, the breadth of properties was so vast that Mu Zixuan had to spend a great deal of ti every day on personnel changes.
If there were a dedicated human resources departnt responsible for examining and selecting talent, Mu Zixuan would only need to sign off on their decisions.
At this point, Lu Chen looked at Wu Junwan and said, "Wanyan, although I’m letting you start getting involved with the Prince’s Mansion’s properties now, you haven’t married over yet. So, there might be so inconvenience for a while. For the ti being, you’ll assist the Princess in managing the Prince’s Mansion properties.
After you marry over in the future, I’ll hand over so of the properties directly to your managent."
Hearing Lu Chen calling her ’Wanyan,’ Wu Junwan couldn’t help but give him a sidelong glance.
She was clearly older than this young man, yet he dared to address her in such a manner.
Although she felt so slight emotion, Wu Junwan didn’t dwell too much on it, "Alright, I understand."
At that mont, Lu Chen reached out his hand and wrapped his arms around the slender waists of both Mu Zixuan and Wu Junwan, smiling as he said, "In the future, the burden of managing the Prince’s Mansion’s properties will fall on you two ladies.
I believe that under your managent, the Prince’s Mansion’s properties can continue to grow and strengthen, earning more silver for our Prince’s Mansion."
Being embraced by Lu Chen in front of the Princess made Wu Junwan feel strange inside; this man was deliberately doing this, seeking to close the distance between herself and the Princess.
Having once held a high position with significant power, how could she not see through Lu Chen’s little sches? However, she didn’t say much.
After all, she had already made up her mind to be with this young man for a lifeti. As long as Mu Zixuan didn’t actively cause trouble for her, she wouldn’t go looking for problems with Mu Zixuan either.
Just then, sothing occurred to Lu Chen, and he continued, "If in the future you two ladies have differing ideas, you can tell directly."
Since he had tasked them both with managing the Prince’s Mansion’s properties, they were bound to have different ideas in the future. To prevent any conflict between them, Lu Chen decided to step in and make decisions whenever their ideas diverged.
Mu Zixuan said, "Your concubine understands."
With that, Mu Zixuan’s gaze fell on Wu Junwan as she continued, "Sister Wu, since you are already the Prince’s woman, you should also co to the Wind Cloud Court for dinner in the evenings from now on."
"This is the tradition at the Prince’s Mansion; every evening, the family gathers together for dinner."
Wu Junwan naturally had already heard about this practice of the Prince’s Mansion.
"Alright, I will co tonight."
Wu Junwan looked at Lu Chen and asked, "Prince, right now the number of your wives and concubines is still quite small, and the Wind Cloud Court can accommodate everyone. But if one day you have dozens more wives and concubines, and hundreds more children, and those children have even more children, will you still summon all your wives and concubines to dine together at that ti?"
Hearing Wu Junwan’s words, Lu Chen smiled and said, "That is indeed a problem."
Initially, there were not many won, so gathering together for dinner was unproblematic, and it also helped to build relationships. However, as the number of wives and concubines increased, along with their children, the dinner tis had beco noisy, and the whole Wind Cloud Palace sounded like a marketplace.
Lu Chen remarked, "How about this? After Nanyan and Yaoyao’s children are born, we won’t hold dinners anymore. We will just organize feasts on major holidays."
When she heard this, Mu Zixuan was taken aback. To her, gathering as a family in the Wind Cloud Palace for a lively dinner was quite pleasant, and most won in the Prince’s Mansion were used to it.
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She did not expect Wu Junwan’s comnt to lead Lu Chen to cancel the dinners. Though it wasn’t imdiate, Yelv Nanyan and Xiao Wenyao’s children would be born in just a few months.
Mu Zixuan felt sowhat regretful internally, but then she thought about how two more people would be added to the Prince’s Mansion when those children were born. By then, the Wind Cloud Palace would be even more crowded, indeed posing a problem.
Every additional child ant two more wet nurses to care for them, and two children ant four wet nurses. Even if the wet nurses did not join the table for als, they would still enter the Wind Cloud Palace, taking up space.
Lu Chen then said to Mu Zixuan, "My love, next you should give Wanyan a good rundown of the Prince’s Mansion’s properties."
"Yes, your concubine understands."
Afterward, Mu Zixuan took out so of the property docunts from the Prince’s Mansion and explained the situation in detail to Wu Junwan.
Upon hearing Mu Zixuan’s explanation, Wu Junwan was incredibly shocked. She had not expected the Prince’s Mansion to own even more properties than the Great Martial Royal Family.
This Princess consort was no simple woman; managing so many properties on her own without any major issues proved that Mu Zixuan had so real abilities as a Princess consort.
This also heightened Wu Junwan’s wariness towards Mu Zixuan.
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