Although he wanted to invest locally, the talks with the county's ruler, Huangfu Yuan, were not going well. The other party was very indifferent and did not care much about foreign investment.
The "scholar" clans in the three central provinces all have double surnames, which, compared with Lu Ming's previous life, are Huangfu, Gongsun, Sima, etc.
Huangfu Yuan did recommend a guide, Ouyang Rong, the county's left official in charge of education, a pretty girl in her early twenties.
Lu Ming has studied all the systems in the three central provinces in the past few days and feels that the education officials are similar to moral police, whose main job is to investigate and correct people's lifestyles that are not in line with the teachings of the Three Talents.
Its military and police system is an integrated whole. Each county has three to four hundred or five to six hundred military and police officers, all of whom are from the gentry and are called the Law-abiding Soldiers. The Education Officers also belong to the Law-abiding System, but their law enforcement is flexible. When the Law-abiding Soldiers are deployed, it means the crime is serious and requires drastic measures.
As for the educational guide recommended by Huangfu Zhizheng, I am afraid he will serve more as a supervisor.
Since the era of cold weapons, the people of Anshan in Jiangbei have not dared to attack the three central provinces and have been frightened by the soldiers of the law.
The regular soldiers were all from noble families, had family heirloom armor and sophisticated weapons, and were filled with a sense of honor to sacrifice their lives for justice. They were simply not comparable to the mob of Anshan. If they were to launch a large-scale attack, the regular soldiers from the three central provinces would be assembled, given the population at the time, which would be equivalent to mobilizing tens of thousands of heavily armored cavalry and infantry. If a national war really broke out, it would become a conflict between the Kingdom of Grefenny and the Northern Territory.
Therefore, the three central provinces have always been peaceful and stable.
But the times are different now. The empire has been divided, and the Anshan area in the north of the Yangtze River has become the Principality of Montenegro.
Now that Commissioner Li has come here as the trade representative of the Principality of Montenegro, it is inevitable that he has aroused suspicion among the locals.
Looking at the little girl's face full of undisguised vigilance, Lu Ming could only shake his head helplessly.
…
Prices in the restaurant are very cheap, and people from all three classes dine there. In this respect, it is fair as there are no private rooms reserved for the nobility. Over time, all three classes have gotten used to thinking that the differences between the three classes are just the social division of labor.
However, after tasting the dishes on the table, Lu Ming coughed and could only say that they were bland and tasteless.
There are few varieties of dishes because there are very few migrant population here and there is little competition from foreign restaurants. Most outsiders move away after living here for a while because they can't stand it.
In fact, Lu Ming was also planning to leave at dawn tomorrow. Now it was evening and the safety factor of airplane flights was not as high as during the day. Although it would not be a problem if the weather conditions were good, safety still came first.
As for the three central provinces, as long as they don't affect my overall situation, I can leave them alone. I don't have the time to reform them.
Besides, what kind of ethnic group is suitable for what kind of life, and what kind of lifestyle is better? No one is a god and has no right to decide.
"Rongrong, tell me, if my Principality of Montenegro wants to reach a peace and friendship agreement with your three provinces, who should I look for? Should I look for the Lord Leader?" Lu Ming pondered for a while and suddenly asked.
Ouyang Rong frowned slightly. "Rongrong" was what her cousin Huangfu Yuan called her, but this guy just followed suit and called her that.
Holding back her unhappiness, she said, "The leader doesn't care about these mundane matters."
Lu Ming was helpless: "I want to reach a strategic-level agreement, what should I do? Should I negotiate with each county one by one?"
Ouyang Rong nodded gently: "That's right. In the past, we paid taxes to the kingdom, and each county paid its own. The Sancai sect members are united when encountering foreign enemies, but everything else is up to each county to decide for itself."
Lu Ming picked up the unpalatable drink and was too lazy to pay attention to her anymore.
…
At night, after closing his eyes in that simple hotel, Lu Ming returned to Heishan Shili Villa.
Unexpectedly, Liuli said with a strange look that Baozhu Palace had arrived at Zhenjiang Langyuan Palace, which was Alice's palace.
Obviously, there must be something important to discuss.
Lu Ming didn't care whether it was night or not. He got on the private plane and headed for Zhenjiang, with Liuli following him.
…
The main body of Langyuan Palace is an oriental-style palace complex, with magnificent buildings set between mountains and rivers.
However, there are also Western-style snow-white palaces, which complement the entire palace. In Lu Ming's opinion, it is probably similar to the combination of Chinese and Western styles in the Old Summer Palace in his previous life.
Alice likes to live in a Western-style palace called "Ninghe Palace" with a very oriental name.
In fact, when Lu Ming walked into the extremely luxurious and imposing reception room "Huiningxuan" on the second floor of the Ninghe Palace, he felt dizzy and really felt like he was dreaming. It was hard for him to imagine that three fairies like Princess Alice, Bizhu and Liuli could appear together. Moreover, these three fairies were all his nominal wives.
"Huiningxuan" is very big. Lu Ming vaguely understood where he should sit, which is next to Alice, in the central seat.
Bizhu and Liuli, one in the east and one in the west.
The three of them were sitting on each side, very far away. Lu Ming seemed to be unable to see Bizhu's appearance clearly from such a distance. Of course, it was mainly because he was dizzy.
Alice was wearing a snow-white gauze dress and a golden crown on her head. She seemed to have a halo around her, a truly pure little angel from the Western world.
The fluttering green silk ribbons and colorful skirt give people an unreal feeling of being surrounded by colorful clouds, as if seeing a fairy from the sky, and they want to worship her.
On Liuli's side, the sky was filled with red clouds, and the infinite charm on her pretty face seemed to be floating in the red clouds, just like a demon fox that wanted to turn the world upside down and devour the heaven and earth, appearing and disappearing in the void.
Lu Ming shook his head, and the hallucinations gradually disappeared.
"Your Highness, you should live in the Central Palace forever, which is the correct way to cultivate yourself and govern the country!" Bizhu's first words made Liuli frown slightly, and a chill came from the west.
Then Liuli smiled softly: "Sister, this is not your fault. Black Mountain is the central place where your Highness commands the overall situation. How can you leave so easily?"
Lu Ming was helpless. This little witch changed the subject and started to sow discord between him and Bizhu. Bizhu was clearly blaming her secretly.
Bizhu smiled: "Then my sister should persuade His Highness to move the center to the central palace, or should my sister and Her Highness the Princess exchange residences?"
Lu Ming was stunned. He didn't expect that Bizhu could also... He waved his hand, "Let me think about this question. In front of outsiders..."
His words stopped abruptly, and he turned around to see Alice looking at him intently with her big, clear eyes.
Lu Ming coughed, thinking that he had said too much and made many mistakes.
"How about this, I'll build a big house and we all can move in together!" Lu Ming said casually.
"Okay!" Liuli giggled.
Bizhu rolled her eyes and was too lazy to say anything more. This prince has always been messy and doesn't act like a prince at all.
"Your Highness, I came here this time for the Land of Three Talents. I suspect that the Land of Three Talents is the land of the legal system left behind by the Orthodox Law Guards!"
Bizhu’s words startled Lu Ming.
Oh, the Dharma Guardian.
In this way, the Four Guards of Tianshan were all taken shape, namely, the Baozhu Palace, the Liuli Palace, the Shenku Guard and the Zhengfa Guard.
But the Shenku Guard has already been demoted, and no one knows what the Zhengfa Guard will be like.
A piece of paper slowly floated in front of Lu Ming. It contained everything Bizhu knew about the Zhengfawei.
Zhengfawei is the inheritance of the legal system left to him by his ancestors, but it itself is not a secret inheritance in the traditional sense.
But they are of the bloodline of the Law Guardian, so naturally they have a noble character and are born with the ability to distinguish between loyalty and treachery.
Lu Ming couldn't help but shake his head as he looked at this. These concepts are already outdated. How do we define loyalty and treachery
But according to the records, this Zheng Fawei lineage definitely has its own way of preaching and influencing the world. After all, they are not the kind of missionaries who say one thing and do another.
But if you can't use their methods to rule the world again, then forget it.
Putting down the paper and looking around, Lu Ming said helplessly: "Why are you sitting so far away? Come on, let's go to another place to chat!"
…
Ten minutes later, they moved to the chess and card room. Lu Ming was not satisfied with the small reception room and the tea room, so he finally chose the chess and card room, where the four of them sat on each side of a table.
"Alice, why don't you talk much? We didn't say much the last time I came to see you. I always felt that there was a gap between you and me." Lu Ming suddenly asked with a smile.
"I'm observing." Alice blinked her clear eyes, "Observing you, and also observing your people."
Liuli chuckled: "So, Your Highness, what do you think of me?"
"I like Sister Biju more." Alice wrinkled her nose.
Liuli still had a sweet smile on her pretty face, "You are such a lovely little cutie!"
"Liuli, you should not be so rude to the Empress!" Bizhu said, looking at Alice, "Your Highness, Liuli and I have been bound together for a thousand years. We quarrel in our blood, but we will be buried together against foreign enemies! The princess married your Highness, so she should treat us two as sisters. The three of us are the closest people to your Highness. Your Highness, am I right?"
Lu Ming was sweating when he heard this. No way, Alice was so young, could she have deliberately said that she liked Bizhu more to sow discord between Bizhu and Liuli? Was she unintentional
"I know!" Alice stuck out her tongue, looking harmless, innocent and cute.
After coughing, Lu Ming stretched out his hand, "That's right, our family is harmonious and happy, come, let's shake hands together!"
Although he knew in his heart that in front of these three guys with their own ulterior motives, his current performance was more like that of an idiot.
"What? What I said is useless, right?" Seeing that the three people had no reaction, Lu Ming glared.
"Your Highness, I am afraid of overstepping my authority, so I am waiting for my two sisters!" Liuli smiled charmingly, "Then I will be the first!" She placed her white little hand into Lu Ming's palm.
Alice blinked her clear big eyes, and stretched out her little hand and placed it on Liuli's hand.
Bizhu reluctantly stretched out her slender hand and placed it on the top.
Lu Ming put his other hand on Bizhu's hand, put his hands together and held the three of them, and said with a smile: "We must remember this moment, the Hehe and Meimei family, unite! Work hard! Strive!"
Liuli agreed with a sweet smile. The look in Bizhu's eyes clearly said, "You are so silly." Alice blinked her big eyes and suddenly said, "Don't we have to drink blood wine and swear an oath? Become sworn sisters?"
Princess Liuli giggled and withdrew her beautiful hand.
Bizhu gently pushed away Lu Ming's hand that was about to be held tightly, and said to Alice, "We should be closer than real sisters! When real sisters get married, they are no longer a family."
Alice's little hand was still in Lu Ming's palm, but she retracted it at this moment, and a trace of loss flashed across her clear blue eyes.
Lu Ming was slightly stunned, but then he understood that although his actions must be quite childish in the eyes of Bizhu and Liuli.
But Alice had never experienced this. Since the day she was born, her special identity meant that no one would get close to her. She had never experienced feelings of family love, protection, etc. Just now, several people suddenly held hands intimately, which was a very novel feeling for her.
He smiled at Alice and said, "Little guy, Bizhu, Liuli and I will protect you! Just play here peacefully and wait for awakening! Then we can talk."
Alice sighed softly, "Everyone knows that there is another person in my body, and they are all waiting for her to wake up, but..." She lowered her head sadly.
Lu Ming looked at her and gently reached out to hold her hand. "Don't worry. From what I know, she won't corrupt your mind. By then, you will still be you, and she will reshape her body."
I heard all this from Bizhu and Liuli, but Bizhu and Liuli probably don't know what this little guy is worried about at the moment.
"Really?" Alice opened her eyes wide in surprise.
Lu Ming thought that it might not be impossible for her to share a body with you. After all, in this Dharma Ending Age, it is unlikely that she would be able to reshape her body right after awakening.
He smiled and said, "Anyway, you must still exist. I can guarantee that. Otherwise, your two sisters and I will destroy her and prevent her from waking up."
Alice shook her head gently: "But I don't want her to not wake up. She is also very pitiful, isn't she?"
Lu Ming sighed inwardly, this child is really pitiful.
"Your Highness, what are you going to do about the Law Guards?" Bizhu asked.
Lu Ming thought for a moment and said, "Let's put it aside for now. Since it won't become an obstacle, it's good."
Bizhu said: "I see that the system of the Zhengfa soldiers can train a division of elite soldiers. How about I go and talk to the leader?"
It is easy to imagine that the so-called leader is the descendant of the Zhengfawei.
Lu Ming smiled and said, "I'll think about this first. Biju, has Saori returned to the East China Sea?"
Bizhu nodded slightly.
Kuroki Saori has already left Kyoto. After all, the situation in Japan is hopeless. Moreover, if she continues to stay, she might be in danger of being exposed.
Lu Ming said, "There's not much to do in the East China Sea. Saori can do the training of the Tiger Soldiers." He paused, "It just so happens that I'm going to the Western Regions. You can come with me. We went to the East China Sea together that year. I miss that time. Now the Western Regions are a dangerous place. I feel at ease with you around."
Bizhu pondered for a moment and nodded slightly.
Lu Ming was immediately delighted, but he remained calm and said, "That's great. I'll go back to Japan to prepare. You three can chat more. Liuli, take me back to Shili Villa."
Liuli pursed her lips and smiled: "Okay!"
Lu Ming glanced at Alice and said, "You can go to Shili Villa later. There are many animals there, such as monkeys. It's more fun than here."
"I still like it here!" Alice said calmly. It was obvious that the little girl also had her own pride.
Lu Ming was helpless. It seemed that he really had to choose a location to build a big house.
Shengjing feels good. It is the center of the Northern Territory and was the northern secondary capital of the previous dynasty. It would be nice to build a temporary palace there to suppress the northern barbarians.
Building a palace that looks like a high-rise building? It seems to be very unique.