Ever since the new regulations formulated by Lu Chen were a great success in Wuji Palace, proving that he was not just a straw bag relying on the Empress's favor and bad luck, but a talented person with real talent and learning, the atmosphere in the Ministry of Industry had completely changed. .
Lu Chen's prestige is getting higher and higher, and his influence is growing.
Today, there is no chancellor in the Ministry of Industry, only Sun Michang, the left minister, and Lu Chen, the right minister.
Lu Chen was in charge of the renovation of palaces and gardens, the construction and maintenance of official and civil roads, the casting of weapons, spiritual costumes, city defense formations and other matters. manufacturing and repair of objects.
Sun Mi Chang's authority cannot be said to be low, but compared with Lu Chen, the gap is still quite obvious.
Of course, Zhongzhou has respected the left since ancient times. Theoretically, the Zuo Shilang has a slightly higher status than the Right Shilang. In terms of authority, the Zuo Shilang should also be higher than the Right Shilang.
But who favored Lu Chen?
Respecting the left is ultimately no match for the supremacy of imperial power.
As for this man, what he fears most is comparison. He is both the minister of the Ministry of Industry and a high-ranking official of the third rank. Lu Chen shines with the new regulations, while Sun Michang has always stuck to the rules and done nothing. The two are compared and judged.
Even if the Empress was not as fond of Lu Chen as she is now, Sun Mi Chang, who had no achievements other than qualifications, could not compete for the vacant position of Minister of the Ministry of Industry based on his ability and achievements alone.
And anyone with a discerning eye can see that the reason why the Empress has kept the position of Minister of the Ministry of Industry vacant is to facilitate Lu Chen's work. Lu Chen is nominally the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, but in fact, he has far more authority than this.
After the Wuji Palace incident, the empress wanted Lu Chen to be directly promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Industry and take charge of the world's fortifications, but Lu Chen refused because of his junior qualifications and insufficient political achievements.
So in the end, they only rewarded some gold, silver, treasures and spiritual stones, and at the same time promoted Wang Qi, Zhang Xuan and others to officials, filling the vacancies of several mediocre officials in the Ministry of Industry who had been expelled by Lu Chen.
After that, Xiao Yi, who was working in the Ministry of Rites, was transferred to the Tiangong Department as deputy secretary. The five young officials who had sided with Lu Chen in the Gu Simiao incident were also transferred to The Ministry of Industry held the position of Yuanwailang.
Almost everyone who had a good relationship with Lu Chen had been promoted.
The world of the Ministry of Industry has also completely changed.
As the most easily manipulated department among the six departments of the imperial court, the impact of such a big change in the Ministry of Industry will naturally not be small.
At least those wealthy businessmen who were accustomed to relying on orders from the imperial court, as well as the nobles, aristocratic families, and clans behind them, had a much harder time.
At this time, the Duke's Mansion of Yan State.
The contemporary Duke of Yan, Zheng Yue, was sitting on the main seat in the living room, expressionlessly looking at the old steward in front of him who was bowing to him.
"Then Lu Chen returned the invitation from the Duke's Mansion again?"
He spoke slowly, with an obvious coldness in his words.
The reason why I say "again" is because as early as when Lu Chen was promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, he handed over a greeting card, hoping to have good relations with senior officials of the Ministry of Industry as before.
The result was naturally rejection.
After being rejected three times in a row, he went to visit him personally. As a result, Lu Chen was clearly at home, but the Lu Mansion closed the door and thanked the guests.
Even if he tried to get close to him after going down to court, he was ignored without saying a word.
To him, the current head of the Duke of Yan who has been hereditary since the restoration of Emperor Guangwu to this day, he did not give any face to him and looked down upon him at all.
How arrogant, how arrogant, how unruly.
But no matter how angry he was, he couldn't do anything to Lu Chen, who was now at the height of his power. For such a person, even if he couldn't make friends with him, he couldn't make enemies with him.
So he endured it, preparing to take a look at the situation first, and then look for an opportunity to see if he could make some friends.
In his opinion, as long as you are a human being, you must have a weakness, and it depends on how much you have to pay to exploit this weakness.
And there is a premise for all of this, that is, you must sit down and have a good chat with Lu Chen. Otherwise, Lu Chen will ignore him all the time. No matter how eloquent and eloquent he is, it will be meaningless.
As a result, before he could find an opportunity or an entry point, Lu Chen directly used the new regulations to give them a blow to the Duke of Yan's house.
Not to mention other things, this bidding system alone is quite fatal to the Duke of Yan.
So he directly sent a greeting card with gold jade as the cover and sky silk as the paper, asking to see Lu Chen with the utmost sincerity.
The result was obvious, the invitation was returned directly.
Lao Xu wiped the cold sweat from his face and nodded.
"If you want to return to the country, I went over early this morning to hand over the greeting card. But before I could return home, the servants of the Lu family chased me out and returned the greeting card that you specially asked me to make. I gave it to the villain, and if they, Mr. Lu, have something to say, he asked the villain to tell the prince..."
Zheng Yue's eyes turned cold: "What are you talking about?"
"They asked me to tell... to tell Mr. Guo that you should not send greetings to the Lu family in the future. They, Mr. Lu, will not see... see..."
At this point, he hesitated subconsciously, but did not dare to say any more.
Zheng Yue's face suddenly became more and more ugly.
"Stop talking!"
"yes!"
Lao Xu responded loudly almost instinctively, and then said tremblingly:
"The servants of the Lu Mansion told the villain that they... Mr. Lu will not see anyone with evil intentions... who has other agendas."
Snapped! !
The moment Lao Xu finished speaking, the teacup in Zheng Yue's hand suddenly shattered without warning, and the hot tea splashed directly into Zheng Yue's hand.
However, Zheng Yue acted as if nothing was wrong, and his right hand that was burned by the hot tea did not tremble at all.
Hearing this sudden sound, Lao Xu suddenly trembled, with a look of fear on his face, and then he quickly knelt down on the ground and begged Zheng Yue to calm down.
"Okay, okay! Such an upright and dedicated Lu Qingtian, he is really good!"
Zheng Yue smiled coldly, a hint of gloom flashed in his eyes.
He has completely realized that there is no issue of sincerity between the Duke of Yan and the most favored minister of the dynasty. Lu Chen had no intention of making friends with him from the beginning, and even planned to target Yan. The Duke's Mansion took action against him.
After realizing this, Zheng Yue slowly stood up and paced back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back, his face full of thinking.
Lao Xu bowed and stood there obediently, not daring to express his anger, waiting patiently for the head of the family to finish thinking.
After a while, Zheng Yue stopped.
"Old Xu."
"The little one is here."
As if he had been granted amnesty, Lao Xu raised his sleeves and wiped the sweat from his face.
"What are your orders, Duke Guo?"
"Immediately give it to Zhao Guogong, Xing Guogong, Yuanping County Duke, Fu Wang, Mingde Prince Consort, and Yongqing County Prince."
Zheng Yue listed dozens of nobles, aristocratic families, and relatives of the emperor in one breath, and then said in a deep voice: "When I give them an invitation, I said that my prince unexpectedly got a heaven-level spiritual outfit and an immortal family some time ago. Treasures, as well as a map of a cave heaven and paradise, please come over and taste it together."
Hearing this, Lao Xu nodded hurriedly.
"Yes! Mr. Guo, I'll do it right now!"
"etc."
Just when Lao Xu couldn't wait to leave here, Zheng Yue suddenly spoke again.
Lao Xu stopped instantly.
Zheng Yue continued: "First go to Dongcheng to deliver gold and jade greeting cards to Mr. Yan Song's house. At the same time, he notified Liao Bujin and asked him to prepare a heavy gift. My father-in-law is going to visit Mr. Yan Ge tonight."
Lao Xu nodded subconsciously.
"Go ahead."
"Yes, Lord Guo!"
Luo Jing's undercurrent has never stopped. After all, no one will sit back and watch the interests in their hands be taken away.
Stealing people's money is like killing their parents. As long as their fundamental interests are threatened, they will dare to fight anyone, even if the other party is the emperor.
Lu Chen naturally knew this and was not afraid, otherwise he would not have gone to Wuji Palace to inspect the warehouses of various departments, verify the accounts and cashier details, and then directly find out various problems existing in the Ministry of Works. And formulate new regulations accordingly.
For him, no matter who the opponent is or how powerful the enemy is, there is nothing to be afraid of.
Anyway, in the officialdom, apart from promotion, he could not get any results.
As a result, with his growing prestige, he began to vigorously promote the reform of the Ministry of Industry and made comprehensive adjustments to all aspects of his jurisdiction.
For example, they stopped directly purchasing raw materials from noble families such as the Duke of Yan, consuming the spiritual stones and mithril that had filled more than half of the warehouse, and started to promote a bidding system.
The administrative machinery of the Ministry of Industry has also made corresponding adjustments with the aim of improving efficiency.
Those who should be eliminated, those who should be replaced, those who should be simplified will be simplified, and those who should be improved will be improved immediately.
Not long after, under his drastic restructuring, almost all the departments of the Ministry of Industry under his jurisdiction were given a new look, showing unprecedented vitality.
But after the Wuji Palace project was completed and the serving people received a "travel fee" that was enough for a family for three months, they did not leave Luojing City immediately. Instead, they knelt outside the palace and begged Lu Chen to arrange for them. Go to work on other construction sites.
Even if they don’t give you travel expenses back, as long as you have enough to eat.
Lu Chen's reputation for being unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness, and caring for the people like a son, also began to spread around Luo Jing at an extremely terrifying speed with the "help" of their spare no effort and personal testimonials, and storytellers in Beijing also inexplicably began to tell stories about Lu Chen in some teahouses. Since his rise to prominence.
Soon, most Luojing people knew that there was a loyal Mr. Lu in the court who served the country and the people.
Lu Chen's reputation was unprecedented.
At the same time, after Lu Chen implemented new regulations for projects within his jurisdiction, its terrifying effects gradually became apparent.
The people working at various construction sites suddenly burst out with extremely strong work efficiency. The originally slow progress of the project became very fast due to the work efficiency of the workers who challenged their own limits almost every day.
Lu Chen solved their worries for them, and as his reputation for benevolence spread, the workers finally stopped hiding their clumsiness and saved effort, and each one became more active than the other.
The project that originally took twenty days to complete was actually completed within fifteen days ahead of schedule. The construction period was shortened by a full five days than expected, but the budget did not increase at all, and the consumption of spiritual stones was much slower than before. The loss rate is so low that the destocking of raw material inventory has completely slowed down.
Remarkable political achievements.
The name of a national scholar is well deserved.
On the other hand, Sun Michang's side was still a pool of stagnant water.
Compared with Lu Chen, he is a mediocre official.
In the constant busyness, time flies by.
In a blink of an eye, it’s the day of the New Year Ceremony.
As the Bazhu Kingdom, clans and local envoys from various places came to Beijing one after another, the huge Luojing City was completely plunged into a sea of celebration on the ninth day of March.
The streets were decorated with lights and colorful lights, and the sound of firecrackers was endless.
The people of Luojing left their homes one after another, some gathered near Zhuque Street, and some went to Wuji Palace to watch the ceremony.
Da da da……
At this time, on the Suzaku Street that ran from north to south, under the leadership of Fu Huan, a member of the Xuanwu Army wearing heavy black armor, they formed square formations in units of one hundred people and strode towards Ziji City.
The extremely solemn military appearance made the people watching the ceremony on both sides of the road couldn't help but look grim, and they didn't dare to express their dignity.
It seemed that they were afraid of provoking these murderous gods who had defeated the Demon Queen's imperial army to the ground and flowed into rivers of blood.
Although King Cangming has returned to the Holy Realm, he still left 20,000 Xuanwu troops in Luojing, waiting for the empress's dispatch, to intimidate all directions with their extremely strong combat power, intimidate Xiao Xiao, and establish the empress's supreme authority.
Don't be too nice to the empress.
This alone is enough to show the deep love and righteousness of Holy King Cangming, and the empress's repayment to the Holy King is also obvious to all. The relationship between the two is in the eyes of many courtiers. If the empress does not have an emperor, Holy King Cangming He is 100% the Taoist companion of the empress.
Soon, all the Xuanwu Guards crossed the Xuanji Gate and disappeared from everyone's sight.
"What a force of tigers and wolves."
In Wuji Palace, on the viewing platform, a middle-aged man in military uniform couldn't help but sincerely admire the appearance of the Xuanwu Guards below.
"Such a powerful army, even though it only numbers 20,000, can defeat a hundred thousand aliens. It has the upper hand and can even crush the enemy."
"hehe…"
Next to him, another veteran in heavy armor gently stroked his long beard and said with a smile: "It was this divine soldier of the Guards who descended from the sky to defeat the Demon Queen's hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops, save His Majesty from danger, and directly establish the victory. What can be done?" An army that has accomplished such an unimaginable thing is naturally extraordinary. I am afraid that only the Holy King’s army in the Holy Realm can have such combat power in this world.”
"With such masters of tiger and wolf presence, Luo Jing will be invincible, and your majesty can rest easy."
"I might as well wait!"
They were obviously all people who knew how to fight. They could see the extraordinary qualities of Xuanwu Guard at a glance, and they all praised Xuanwu Guard.
These armored men stood at the front of the military attache team. Even Wang Qian, the commander-in-chief of the Qingning Army, was behind them. Only Gu Simiao, the Shenwu General, was in front of them.
Obviously, their status in the army far exceeds that of the military attache in the capital, second only to Gu Simiao.
In fact, they are just like the former Gu Simiao. They are in charge of military and political secrets and command hundreds of thousands of troops to guard the Eight Pillars of the Great Xia Empire. They are one of the strongest combat forces in Great Xia and the legendary A strong man in the Guiyi Realm.
As for the civil service system, the traditional civil servants headed by Yan Song had no expression on this. They just watched with eyes, nose, and heart without saying a word.
At this time, a loud shout suddenly sounded from behind:
"Your Majesty is here!"
Hearing this, everyone immediately calmed down and looked behind them.
After a while, the empress in full attire gradually appeared in front of everyone.
"I am here to see you, Your Majesty!"
"Long live your Majesty!"
After seeing the empress, everyone bowed down at the same time, with utmost respect on their faces.
"Everyone is safe."
The empress walked slowly over and said calmly.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
After receiving the order from the empress, everyone stood up and then focused their attention on the empress.
Under the gaze of everyone, the empress showed no trace of timidity on her face, and walked slowly through the crowd with her normal expression.
When she reached Lu Chen's side, she suddenly stopped.
"Lu Qing."
The empress turned her head, looked at Lu Chen, and said softly:
"Come watch the ceremony with me."
(End of chapter)
