The poorest member of the Imperial Guard, the Empress begged me to embezzle.

"Minister Chu, how many more troops do you think our Great Zhou Dynasty's capital garrison and imperial guards need to expand?"

Murong Si nodded slightly and looked at Chu Xiu, asking a question.

"Your Majesty, the capital garrison needs to be expanded by 500,000 troops, and the imperial guards by 350,000 troops."

"The total of 850,000 troops will be expanded, with 100,000 elite soldiers selected from each of the four border states of our Great Zhou Dynasty to enter the capital."

"The total is 400,000 elite troops."

"The remaining 450,000 elite troops will be selected from the other nine provinces of our Great Zhou Dynasty, with 50,000 elite troops from each province sent to the capital."

Chu Xiu said with a solemn expression.

"allow!"

"The Cabinet shall issue an order to each prefecture to expand the capital garrison and the imperial guards, as well as to select the number of elite troops to be sent to the capital."

Murong Si nodded slightly and looked at Zhao Duo, the Minister of Personnel, and others.

"The ministers obey the order."

Zhao Duo and the others spoke with utmost respect.

"Is there anything else, Minister Chu?"

Murong Si did not question the civil and military officials, but directly questioned Chu Xiu.

After all, when she asked the question earlier, all the civil and military officials had already fallen silent.

"Your Majesty, I have nothing else to report."

Chu Xiu shook his head and said.

"Since Minister Chu has nothing else to say, let's adjourn the court."

Murong Si stood up, stepped down from the dragon throne, and walked out of the Golden Palace.

"Retreat from the court..."

Jiang Wan'er shouted loudly, and together with Pei Guanyin, they quickly followed Murong Si and left the Golden Palace.

"Your Majesty, we respectfully bid you farewell! Long live the Emperor!"

All the civil and military officials in the court shouted with utmost respect.

Chu Xiu strode away from the Golden Palace without saying anything to the civil and military officials, and left directly.

In contrast, the officials of the court had very mixed feelings. First, the number of troops in ordinary prefectures was expanded, and then the General Administration of Customs of the Ming Dynasty was established.

The fate of the Great Zhou Dynasty is about to change!

"Congratulations, host, for increasing the size of the Great Zhou Dynasty's army, establishing the Great Zhou Tax Bureau, and reforming commercial taxes; you have received the following rewards: twenty Yin-Yang Creation Pills, twenty Blissful Ascension Pills, ninety years of Celestial Power, and the peak of the seventh level of the Undying Golden Body Technique."

"Do you want to receive the reward?"

As soon as Chu Xiu stepped out of the Golden Palace, the mechanical voice of the Positive Energy System rang in his mind.

"So many rewards?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Xiu was taken aback; he hadn't expected the reward to be so generous.

However, considering that the Great Zhou Dynasty's army was expanded and the Great Zhou Tax Bureau was established to reform commercial taxes, it seems quite normal to receive such a generous reward.

After a pause, Chu Xiu said calmly, "I won't accept the reward for now."

Upon hearing Chu Xiu's words, the positive energy system fell silent.

After a while.

The main hall of the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters.

Chu Xiu sat upright in the main seat of the hall and said in his mind, "System, receive the reward."

The words just fell!

boom!

An incredibly powerful force appeared on Chu Xiu's body, merging into his physical form and continuously strengthening it.

In the blink of an eye, Chu Xiu's Undying Golden Body Technique reached the peak of the seventh level.

The seventh-level peak of the Undying Golden Body Technique corresponds to the external martial arts cultivation realm of the ninth level of the Celestial Realm.

Immediately afterwards, the power of ninety years of Heaven and Man appeared in Chu Xiu's dantian. The Shangqing Divine Art automatically operated, absorbing and refining the power of ninety years of Heaven and Man, allowing his internal cultivation level to break through from the peak of the eighth level of the Heaven and Man Realm to the peak of the ninth level of the Heaven and Man Realm.

"Not bad, I have now reached the peak of the ninth level of the Celestial Realm in both internal and external martial arts!"

"We're only one step away from reaching the realm of immortals!"

"Once one of them reaches the Human Immortal Realm, my strength will definitely increase dramatically!"

A smile appeared on Chu Xiu's face, and a glint of light flashed in his eyes. He said, "However, I need to calculate the number of pills I have now."

These elixirs must be used in order to be effective.

He closed his eyes and counted the pills in the system's storage space.

"Forty-one Yin-Yang Creation Pills and sixty Blissful Ascension Pills."

"In this way, I will keep eleven Yin-Yang Creation Pills and fifteen Bliss Ascension Pills."

"Take out the rest and give them to our Embroidered Uniform Guard."

Chu Xiu pondered for a moment, then with a flick of his sleeve, a series of white porcelain bottles appeared on the table in front of him.

After taking out all thirty Yin-Yang Creation Pills and forty-five Blissful Ascension Pills, Chu Xiu said in a deep and powerful voice, "Someone come here."

A Jinyiwei captain who was guarding outside the main hall of the Jinyiwei headquarters walked in, bowed to Chu Xiu and said, "Greetings, Lord Marquis."

"Summon Li Jingtian, Ximen Jue, and Nie Kuangren for me."

Chu Xiu said calmly.

"Yes, Your subordinate obeys."

The Imperial Guard captain responded and quickly left.

Not long after.

Swish!Swish!Swish!

Li Jingtian and his two companions appeared in the hall and bowed respectfully to Chu Xiu, saying, "Greetings, Lord Marquis."

"No need to be polite."

Chu Xiu waved his hand and said to Li Jingtian and the others.

"Thank you, Lord Marquis."

Li Jingtian and the others thanked him and said...

"I propose in the court that we establish a General Tax Office for our Great Zhou Dynasty."

"The name will be the Great Zhou Tax Administration."

"I, the Marquis, will personally take charge of the Great Zhou Tax Bureau and serve as the first Minister of the Great Zhou Tax Bureau."

"This is the detailed information about the Great Zhou Tax Administration."

"Li Jingtian, take a look."

Chu Xiu took out a small booklet from his sleeve, and with a flick of his right hand, the booklet flew swiftly toward Li Jingtian.

Li Jingtian's eyes narrowed. The Tax Bureau—he probably already knew what the Great Zhou Tax Bureau established by Chu Xiu did.

He grabbed the booklet with his right hand and began to read it carefully.

After a while.

"My lord, you are truly a saint!"

"If we can truly reform the commercial tax for our Great Zhou Dynasty, it will surely ensure the eternal stability of our dynasty and the longevity of our nation!"

Li Jingtian took a deep breath, his expression excited and filled with awe as he looked at Chu Xiu.

"Li Jingtian, would you be willing to serve as the first Left Vice Minister of the Tax Administration of our Great Zhou?"

Chu Xiu smiled slightly and looked at Li Jingtian.

"Your subordinate is willing to serve the Marquis and His Majesty!"

With unwavering determination, Li Jingtian knelt before Chu Xiu and spoke in a powerful and resounding voice.

"Madman Nie, would you be willing to serve as the first Right Vice Minister of the Great Zhou Tax Administration and take charge of the Tax Office?"

Chu Xiu nodded, looked at Nie Kuangren, and asked him.

"My subordinate is willing!"

Although Nie Kuangren hadn't read the pamphlet and didn't know what the Great Zhou Tax Commissioner did, he knew what the Right Vice Minister represented. Even if he wasn't as good as the Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries, he certainly wouldn't be much worse.

"Very good. From now on, you will be the Left and Right Vice Ministers of the Great Zhou Tax Administration."

"Li Jingtian was in charge of all matters related to the establishment of the Great Zhou Tax Bureau, and the selection of officials for the three major tax bureaus of the Great Zhou Tax Bureau, as well as the tax bureaus of prefectures and counties."

“You can use the intelligence capabilities of our Embroidered Uniform Guard to select honest and capable officials from our entire Great Zhou Dynasty.”

"Of course, we can also recruit excellent accountants and clerks from the people to serve as tax officials."

"You don't need to care about their current status. As long as they are talented, you can put them on the list."

"His Majesty said that no matter who he takes a fancy to, I only need to hand the list to His Majesty."

Chu Xiu pondered for a moment, looked at Li Jingtian, and said calmly, "Although the Great Zhou Tax Administration also needs to establish an intelligence network, establishing an intelligence network is not something that can be done overnight."

For the time being, our Imperial Guards can provide intelligence support.