Chapter 289

Listening to his wife's words, Lu Yuan blinked.

Understood.

From now on, I am not just Lord Lu anymore.

I am also a junior cabinet elder.

According to the rules, according to the rites, whether it should or shouldn't, whether it can or cannot—this Lu Yuan doesn't know.

However, based on Lu Yuan's merits, he absolutely qualifies.

Giving him a position like Executive Vice Emperor would not be excessive.

Still the same saying: merit in battle, I deserve this reward.

However, although they said they would grant him such a cabinet elder status, in reality it's not much different from before.

After all, in the past, whatever Lu Yuan did, his wife fully supported it.

It's just that before, to do anything, one had to first seek an imperial edict.

From now on, it will be slightly more convenient.

For some matters, Lu Yuan can act first and report later, and outsiders won't say much.

Otherwise, someone like Kang Linfei would keep nagging and be annoying.

Of course, this refers to urgent matters; if there truly is some major issue, like military authority, then those things should still be handled as they should be.

Originally, Lu Yuan still intended to mention the matter of Tianchi.

Lu Yuan intended to say: first send people to Tianchi to investigate thoroughly and see what exactly lies underground there.

If there are spirit power mines, then that side of Tianchi cannot be returned to the Rakshasa Empire.

But if not returned…

And how could we not return it?

After all, the position of that side of Tianchi is indeed somewhat sensitive, unlike Liaobei's seaport, unlike Sakhalin Island.

Those places, to the Rakshasa Empire, are optional.

If they're gone, they're gone.

Moreover, these places originally belonged to the Great Zhou Dynasty.

But that side of Tianchi is more troublesome; it belongs to the heartland of the Rakshasa Dynasty.

If Tianchi is not returned, it's like sticking a knife into the Rakshasa Empire's chest and not pulling it out.

The Rakshasa Empire will certainly be anxious.

Of course, just the Rakshasa Empire being anxious isn't the key; the key is what the dozen or so dynasties on the Ou Bei Continent think.

State affairs are troublesome.

But after all is said and done, the Great Zhou Dynasty is still weak.

If the Great Zhou Dynasty now had tens of thousands of tanks, tens of thousands of war chariots, swords capable of striking 3,500 kilometers, and two aircraft carrier battle groups, would we still need to consider the opponent's feelings?

Tanks and war chariots, artillery conduct drills on this side of Tianchi.

The aircraft carrier battle group goes to conduct drills in the waters of the Ou Bei Continent; this side artillery booms and blasts, while that side planes whoosh and fly.

Do we still need to consider what others think?

However, one must eat bite by bite; nowadays the development of the Great Zhou Dynasty can already be described as light speed.

Just wait a few more years and it will be fine.

Of course, for now, Lu Yuan will later discuss with the cabinet to see how to put it.

Let's not tell his wife for now, let her rest easy and nurture the pregnancy.

Soon, the ministers and the people from Qingbei all came down.

Lu Yuan and Gu Qingwan also returned to normal, no longer pulling and tugging.

The ministers also didn't know what this place was for or what to do; asking the Qingbei people, they also didn't say, so everyone just wandered around.

After wandering around, Gu Qingwan then announced Lu Yuan's promotion to the cabinet.

She also mentioned that she hasn't been feeling well lately and needs to rest for a period; for court affairs, major matters are to be submitted by the cabinet, while other matters are handled independently by the cabinet.

Decided jointly by the four cabinet elders.

If the four cabinet elders have differing opinions, then it is to be submitted again.

This matter is thus settled.

Everyone was shocked that Lu Yuan became a cabinet elder at around twenty years old, though unsurprising.

Today's Great Zhou Dynasty being able to have such a prosperous age, Lu Yuan's contribution is indispensable.

That's right.

……

Twelve days later.

Shengjia Hui lun

Lu Yuan and the various ministers all followed the imperial procession back to Huangcheng.

The Liaobei matter has been resolved; Gu Qingwan directly abolished the Duhufu.

Not only the Liaobei Duhufu, but also the Duhufu of Xinyu and Zanggao were completely abolished.

Now the Great Zhou Dynasty's troops have directly taken up residence.

From now on, the land of the Great Zhou Dynasty is the land of the Great Zhou Dynasty; there is no such thing as this prefecture or that battalion.

Next, we need to abolish the local chieftain of Xinan.

Also, regarding the Liaobei matter, we gave the Imperial Court a heads-up.

Although now there are trains, making the common people's activities more convenient.

But the vast majority of people still feel awe toward the imperial city, always feeling that such a place as the imperial city is not somewhere lowly commoners like us can come.

Even if one wanted to report something, they'd also feel there's no way to do it, or that the offices of the imperial city wouldn't accept such cases.

Since that's the case, simply set up a special bureau in the imperial city to handle such cases.

The location of this bureau would be placed beside the train station, the first stop upon entering the old city and the new city; visitors from elsewhere would see it as soon as they get off.

A bureau specially for handling corruption cases of officials from all over.

Colloquially called the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

As for corruption among officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty, would this method be useful?

That would definitely be useful.

As for whether it can be eradicated, to put it bluntly, that's really very difficult.

After all, even on Earth, with highly developed internet communications, corruption still exists.

As long as one is careless or inattentive, it will appear.

After all, your anti-corruption measures are improving, and the officials' corrupt methods are improving as well.

This matter is like you having Zhang Liang's plan, while I have a ladder over the wall.

However, no matter what, change is a good thing.

At the very least, and most importantly, these corrupt officials will no longer dare to openly harm ordinary people.

Or put another way, unlike before, when a county magistrate behind closed doors would dare to treat the entire county's populace as donkeys to order around.

In any case, the people's lives will definitely be better.

…………

Autumn passes, winter arrives.

Winter passes, spring arrives.

Coming and going, time flies like a white colt passing through a gap, hastening away.

In the blink of an eye, four months have passed.

In a flash, it's already late winter, about to turn to spring.

During these four months, many and varied things happened, but it wasn't busy.

After returning from Liaobei.

Lu Yuan then formally entered the cabinet to handle affairs.

However, having entered is having entered.

But Lu Yuan doesn't manage affairs, or rather, he only manages his own affairs.

For example, Qingbei has come up with some new thing, a new invention.

This again requires the Ministry of Revenue to approve funds, and the Ministry of Works to construct it.

Then Lu Yuan goes to the cabinet and gets it done in a day.

Furthermore, for major military mobilizations, as well as the earlier negotiations with the Rakshasa Dynasty, and all such major matters, Lu Yuan handles them.

As for the rest,

it's still handled by the cabinet; Lu Yuan basically doesn't worry about it.

Of course, Lu Yuan not worrying is Lu Yuan not worrying, but the cabinet still compiles a daily digest of major affairs and sends it to him; when he has a moment he glances at it.

The cabinet doesn't cause Lu Yuan much trouble.

Nowadays, Lu Yuan basically just goes to Qingbei University every day.

He really is like a teacher, each morning clutching a briefcase, then driving a small car to Qingbei.

At noon he returns to eat, then takes a midday nap, and goes back to Qingbei around three in the afternoon.

Now Lu Yuan doesn't really sleep in anymore.

Mainly because his wife's belly is big now; in another month or two she'll be due.

Naturally, nothing strenuous happens at night.

Just some minor fooling around, with his wife using her hands and feet a bit.

Most of the time it's just crouching and chatting a bit, then drifting off to sleep in a daze.

Speaking of which,

Lu Yuan also moved house.

He moved before the New Year.

Liyan came back once; after returning, seeing that there were still a few months until the New Year, she simply didn't leave.

She stayed in the Great Zhou Dynasty until the New Year.

So at that time, this move was the whole family moving in together.

At that time there were firecrackers set off and guests invited to eat, etc.

They also invited everyone from the siheyuan.

It was lively.

Of course, it's not just because of the liveliness.

This is because our own life has improved, living in a big house……

So of course we need to let people know.

Otherwise, not returning home in one's finery would be like wearing brocade at night.

Moreover, Lu Yuan now isn't short of that meal's money, and his life is good as well.

Lu Yuan likes to watch the people in the siheyuan, inwardly muttering "Lu Yuan really ought to die," while on his face putting on a fawning appearance.

There's nothing to be done, after all Lu Yuan is now an official.

Although these people don't know what official position Lu Yuan holds now, they roughly have an idea in their hearts; it shouldn't be minor.

Besides, let's not talk about Lu Yuan's official position.

Lu Yuan really is rich!!

The money from that shop, Lu Yuan had said before and nobody believed, but as time went on, even those who didn't believe had to believe.

Speaking of this big house, everyone who came in also toured it.

The decoration is incredibly luxurious!

The countertops in this courtyard are all marble.

That place is so luxurious; although everyone hasn't been to the imperial palace, they feel that even if it were the imperial palace, it would look like this.

With Lu Yuan being this rich, whenever any family runs into an urgent need and can't find anyone to help, they'll inevitably have to come begging for money.

At least it's a connection, so naturally nobody dares to say anything unpleasant to his face.

That housewarming meal really gave Lu Yuan plenty to show off.

However, they didn't invite those ministers or anything.

Nor were those ministers allowed to come.

Mainly, his second daughter-in-law especially likes to act as the mistress of this house.

Lu Yuan feels that his wife being the lady of this grand residence is more addictive than being emperor in the palace.

At the time of the housewarming celebration, his second daughter-in-law, truly pregnant and bustling about, was extraordinarily happy.

Especially when standing at the doorway as the hostess, greeting guests together with Li Yan, her smile was as beautiful and captivating as a lotus blossoming in summer.

Therefore, such matters naturally cannot let those ministers come.

Now that it's here, how could his second daughter-in-law not be delighted and happy?

So, those ministers not being able to come means there's a bit less chance to show off in front of the Siheyuan neighbors, which is a little regrettable.

However, after thinking it over carefully, it's actually fine.

Being human.

Stay low-key!

After all, the housewarming celebration wasn't just with the Siheyuan neighbors; there were also Lin Fusheng and his crowd.

If Lin Fusheng and his crowd were to find out that the current emperor is his second daughter-in-law,

how would they get along in the future?

Low-key, low-key.

Over these four months, aside from Lu Yuan's family affairs,

the outside world has also undergone tremendous changes.

As for the Great Zhou Dynasty, I won't elaborate—it's changing day by day.

The whole country is really putting in great effort.

Building all kinds of factories, producing all kinds of goods.

The phrase "day by day, month by month" describes the current Great Zhou Dynasty.

Let's take the new district as an example; the new district is building only high-rise skyscrapers.

This morning when Lu Yuan went out, that building had eleven stories; by evening when he returns, it might have thirteen.

That may be a bit exaggerated, but roughly that's the situation.

Nowadays the Great Zhou Dynasty is truly thriving and flourishing.

It's really great.

Of course, as the husband of the current emperor, a senior minister of the cabinet, and the esteemed Lord Lu,

he naturally cannot just be happy along with everyone else.

These are all things Lu Yuan brought about; likewise, Lu Yuan also knows the aftereffects of this.

Take the Ami people on Earth as an example; when they developed, it was truly frenzied development.

But after frenzied development, once the bottleneck period arrived, what followed was the Great Depression, the aftereffects of all that vigorous development.

Speaking of the Great Zhou Dynasty now having built so many factories, just talking about building materials alone,

everywhere they're building high-rise skyscrapers, so they need enormous amounts of building materials.

Just the factories in this industry alone are countless.

There's stone, timber, steel, and all sorts of miscellaneous things, arising as needed.

So one day, the Great Zhou Dynasty's high-rise skyscrapers will be built to near saturation.

Then what will become of these factories?

By then they won't need so much stone, timber, and sand; won't these factories just be done for?

Behind these factories aren't just bosses, but also countless workers and artisans.

As the saying goes, "viewing a leopard through a tube"—it's not just building materials; countless industries are the same.

These things need to be done now.

In order to prevent a future Great Depression, we must now make preparations, preparing for a soft landing later.

Since three months ago, Lu Yuan has had the cabinet draft regulations to control the number of factories, whether public or private.

Without a permit signed by the Ministry of Works, none may open.

The purpose is to disperse.

Just like how the heavy industry of the "flower‑planting family" was all moved northward back then, resulting in the north being hardest hit when the layoff wave of the 1980s came.

One could say that the north was splendid when the country was founded, but by the 1980s it had become utterly destitute.

To the extent that even now the north has not recovered its vitality.

All sorts of young talents have fled; there's nothing to be done, you can't stay here anymore; those who can remain are just the well-fed few from back then, while ordinary people can only leave their homes to live elsewhere.

So now it's about control; the entire Imperial Court is involved in regulation.

Stone factories here in Huangcheng are currently only allowed to open a certain number; if exceeded, no permits are issued; where a district has fewer factories, only permits for that district are given.

Either you go open it there, or you don't open it at all.

In that case, materials here in Huangcheng will run short, delaying some projects, but for a soft landing in the future, there's nothing we can do.

The Great Zhou Dynasty's domestic policy right now is exactly this.

Overall, it's very peaceful and orderly; with Lu Yuan present, he's filled in advance the big pits that would appear in the future.

But outside the Great Zhou Dynasty, things are undergoing sudden changes!

(End of chapter)