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After a while, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Household spoke up, “His Majesty’s stance is clear. The court will absolutely not provide food to the North Country. The only solution now is for us to gather food ourselves and send it to the North Country, ensuring those refugees have something to eat once they arrive there.”

“However, this would likely require the cooperation of the major aristocratic families in the South.”

Handling the refugee matter should have been the responsibility of the court, but now Sum Emperor had completely dumped it onto Crown Prince Lu Shuyun. If Lu Shuyun failed to manage the refugee issue properly, he feared his tenure as Crown Prince would be short-lived.

If he couldn’t handle the first state affair properly, the officials from other princely factions wouldn’t miss the opportunity to strike. His position as Crown Prince had been shaky to begin with. If it weren’t for Sum Emperor’s compromise with the Southern aristocratic families, he might not have been able to become Crown Prince at all.

Now with internal turmoil in Great Wu as well as in Great Qian, Great Sum was free from external pressures. It would be easy for Sum Emperor to depose him as Crown Prince.

If the officials from the other Imperial Prince Factions applied pressure, Sum Emperor could simply go with the flow and dispose of the Crown Prince. At that time, the Southern aristocratic families wouldn’t be able to say much, since Lu Shuyun indeed hadn’t managed the refugee crisis well.

After hearing the Assistant Minister’s words, Wang Yong, speaking on behalf of the Wang Family, said, “Your Highness, please rest assured. The Southern aristocratic families absolutely support His Highness the Crown Prince. We are willing to donate food to the refugees to help the court resolve the refugee crisis.”

Seeing that the representative of the Wang Family had spoken, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Household immediately said, “If the Southern aristocratic families are willing to donate food to the refugees, then we can tell the refugees that, if they are willing to go to the North Country, they will receive a year’s worth of rations.”

Lu Shuyun thought for a moment and said, “This is indeed a solution.”

If the Southern aristocratic families were willing to donate food to the refugees, then they would earn a good reputation, and Lu Shuyun would resolve the refugee crisis, which would be a favorable outcome for everyone.

However, Lu Shuyun then had another thought and continued, “Relying on the food donated by the Southern aristocratic families might not be enough. It would be best to find a way to lure these refugees to other feudal states, having the seigniors there help resolve the refugee crisis.”

Hearing this, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Household said, “Your Highness, this is a good method. I’ve heard that Qi Prince, in order to resolve the refugee problem within his feudal state, spared no effort in sending refugees to the North Country, not only offering lower grain prices but also providing a year’s worth of rations for those refugees.”

“Since these refugees are unwilling to go to the North Country, we’ll send them to other feudal states. Once they go to other feudal states, the seigniors there will naturally find a way to send the refugees on to the North Country.”

“By doing this, the pressure on His Highness the Crown Prince would also be greatly reduced.”

After hearing the words of the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Household, the look of worry on Lu Shuyun’s face gradually dissipated.

Now that they had a plan, it was just a matter of carrying it out.

Over the next half month, Lu Shuyun did as they had discussed. On one hand, he publicly promoted the Southern aristocratic families’ donation of food to the refugees; on the other, under the guise of the seigniors fulfilling their duties, he sent some of the refugees to other feudal states.

Once those feudal states took in the refugees, the first thing they did was send envoys to the North Country to negotiate the acceptance of refugees.

At first, Lu Chen had only wanted a small amount of food for the refugees, but when he found that quite a few seigniors were approaching him, he demanded more terms, especially concerning the trading conditions for North Country goods.

Lu Shuyun’s strategy had inadvertently done a great favor for the North Country. For a long time thereafter, every time Lu Chen thought of Lu Shuyun’s cunning maneuvers, he couldn’t stop laughing.

If the North Country was to develop, it would decidedly be thanks in part to Lu Shuyun’s significant contribution.

Spring was gradually passing, and summer was nearing. The population in the North Country was growing, and almost the entire spring, Lu Chen was occupied with handling the refugees’ affairs.

North Prince Mansion.

The study.

Lu Chen was dealing with the paperwork for the resettlement of displaced people when a Brocade Guard at the entrance said, “Prince, there is intelligence from Sufeng City.”

Lu Chen said indifferently, “Bring it in.”

The Brocade Guard then entered the study and placed the newly arrived intelligence in front of Lu Chen, who opened it and glanced over it.

The next moment, a smile appeared on Lu Chen’s face. He hadn’t expected the Chu Family to let Chu Xiong and the others leave so easily; he had thought the Chu Family would do everything possible to prevent their departure, fearing a weakening of their strength.

Instead of preventing them, the Chu Family even allowed Chu Xiong to take the food they donated to the displaced people up north.

But on second thought, this move was beneficial for the Chu Family. On one hand, the opposing forces within the Chu Family had disappeared, and now with only one voice, things could not be more perfect for the new Family Head of the Chu Family.

On the other hand, by letting Chu Xiong take the donated food north, the Chu Family also seized the opportunity to promote themselves. After all, Chu Xiong was the former Family Head.

With the former head of such a notable Aristocratic Family personally leading so much food up north to be donated to those in need, the Chu Family’s actions instantly maxed out their favorability with the common people.

Just then, another voice sounded outside the study.

“Prince, are you in the study? I have some intelligence that you might be very interested in,” said the voice.

Hearing the familiar voice, Lu Chen promptly told the nearby Brocade Guard,

“You may leave.”

“Yes, Prince.”

As the voice fell, the Jinyiwei Guard turned and left the study. Seeing the Guard open the door and exit, Wang Qingci immediately entered the study and closed the door behind her.

As Lu Chen sat at his desk, stamping the documents, he asked, “Tell me, what intelligence might that be which interests me?”

Wang Qingci said with a smile brimming with mischief, “It’s about the Princess Junwan of the Great Wu Dynasty. Do you have any interest in it, Prince?”

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen was momentarily startled, and the hand holding the seal stopped mid-air as he looked up at Wang Qingci.

Today, Wang Qingci was dressed in a red gown that hugged her shapely body, the silk fabric revealing just enough to set the imagination alight.

Lu Chen asked curiously, “Princess Junwan of the Great Wu Dynasty? What has she done lately?”

“I recall you mentioned recently she went to the Da Yue Dynasty, right?”

Wang Qingci replied, “She indeed was in the Da Yue Dynasty a month ago, but…”

She paused, leaving her sentence hanging.

Seeing Wang Qingci’s hesitation, Lu Chen said flatly, “But what? Finish your sentence. It seems you haven’t been disciplined by me for a while, and your ‘hide’ is itching again.”

Since Lu Chen had become a Grandmaster, Wang Qingci hadn’t returned to the North Prince Mansion except to report intelligence.

Furthermore, with Lu Chen’s focus lately being on Chu Qingli and Yelv Nanyan, Wang Qingci had not yet experienced how formidable Lu Chen had become since becoming a Grandmaster.