New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

Youzhou is more than a thousand miles away from Liaoyang, and the route is mostly mountainous. In addition, it is the dead of winter, so the glass needs to be handled with extra care. After it arrives in Liaoyang, it will take time to process and reap the rewards. A simple calculation shows that the round trip will take at least a month.

Although she was filled with anxiety, all Wanyan Xi could do at this moment was to wait patiently.

As the seventh princess of the Great Jin Kingdom, she has done everything she could for this city, which is worthy of her status as the city lord.

Tang Qian's earlier move to exchange quartz for grain greatly enhanced Wanyan Xi's reputation. What was even more commendable was that the princess's residence treated the people in the city equally, without any distinction between Jin, Liao, and Song people in terms of social class, whereas the previous rulers of Youzhou had an absolute class distinction.

For this reason alone, it is only natural that the people of Youzhou are all grateful when they mention the princess.

In this chaotic era, Youzhou was first one of the battlefields between the Jin and Liao dynasties, and now it is a strategic location fought over by both the Jin and Song dynasties.

Early in the war, most of the wealthy Liao merchants and nobles in the city fled, leaving only the poor masses. After Wanyan Xi took control of Youzhou, the Jin people she brought were the able-bodied men and guards of her tribe, and naturally they all followed her lead.

Because she was able to treat everyone fairly, it was only natural that Wanyan Xi now enjoyed such high prestige in the city. However, the Seventh Princess knew in her heart that the one who helped her achieve this was Tang Qian, a playboy from the Song Dynasty.

Unfortunately, she also knew that Tang Qian was helping her so wholeheartedly only to save his own life. Thinking of this, Wanyan Xi felt a pang of regret. He said he was willing to do anything for the princess, but in reality, he was only safe under her protection for the time being.

The Jin and Song dynasties are different. Even if Tang Qian really opened his heart to her, Wanyan Xi still needed to keep a degree of caution and vigilance in case he was a spy from the Song dynasty who had infiltrated the Jin state. Based on this mutual distrust, could the two of them really become close friends?

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed. The weather was bitterly cold, making it unsuitable for mining. Even with the most frugal efforts, the meager amount of grain obtained in exchange was far from enough to sustain the entire city. The city of Youzhou returned to its desolate state.

Tang Qian was powerless to do anything about it, no matter how many methods he had. Opening various workshops? He simply couldn't recruit any workers.

The current situation is that money can't buy food, and we're starving to death. What's the use of wages then?

After two consecutive distributions of porridge, the princess's remaining food supplies were completely exhausted, and even the princess's food supply was on the verge of shortage. There was still no news from Balha. If the food shortage problem in the city was not improved, people would soon starve to death.

On the eighteenth day, a cavalry suddenly appeared in the mountain valley outside the north gate. Balha braved the cold wind and pushed the chariot to its maximum speed. A line of black dots approached from afar in the snow-covered mountains, and was quickly spotted by the guards on the city wall.

When the procession arrived at the city gate, a messenger rode swiftly to the princess's residence. Upon learning that Barha had indeed brought the grain back to the city, Wanyan Xi, without even bothering Xiao Li to drape a cloak over her, excitedly went to wait outside the residence gate.

Balha's return was truly timely. The city had run out of food in the past few days, and everything edible outside the city—tree bark, grass roots, and so on—had disappeared. If this continued, Wanyan Xi was truly worried that the people in the city would resort to cannibalism.

"Young Master Tang is right. As soon as the glass windows were launched, the entire city of Liaoyang was deserted. They were all sold out in just two days. However, because we need to raise food, I left most of my men in the city. I was worried that the food supplies in Youzhou would be insufficient, so I transported a batch back first to relieve the immediate crisis."

Looking at the sacks piled on the dozen or so carriages, Wanyan Xi finally let out a sigh of relief. Although there wasn't much food, and it was impossible to feed all the people in the city, as long as they could have a bowl of porridge to fill their stomachs, they would have hope of surviving.

To the princess's delight, this was the first batch of grain to be transported back, and more convoys would follow.

"Your Highness, you did not witness firsthand how popular the glass windows were when they were sold. The grain obtained in exchange for this batch alone could sustain Youzhou for more than half a year."

In a side hall of the mansion, Balha took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Wanyan Xi: "This is His Majesty's edict, instructing me to bring it back to His Highness. His Majesty praised the glass tea set we presented. In addition, the design drafts for the underfloor heating and fireplace that His Highness ordered me to bring have also won His Majesty's favor. The council hall in the palace has already begun renovations."

Wanyan Xi was completely bewildered: "Glass teaware? What is that? Why don't I know about it?"

Barha then pointed to Tang Qian standing to the side: "Before leaving, Young Master Tang gave me two sets of tea sets. Oh, and this contract as well. Please keep it safe, Your Highness."

Upon receiving another letter from Barha, Wanyan Xi merely glanced at it before her mouth dropped open in astonishment: "Twenty thousand taels of silver? Is that the price of another set of glass teaware?"

"This is all thanks to the strategy given by Young Master Tang." Speaking of the bidding a few days ago, Balha's expression was beaming, and he spoke vividly, making those who heard him feel a surge of excitement. "When the price was raised to five thousand taels, I was overjoyed. After that, neither the Third Prince nor the Fourth Prince was willing to give in. When it reached twenty thousand taels, my hands were trembling."

This sum of silver was too much, and to prevent any mishaps during transport, Balha had the final victor, the fourth prince Wanyan Aru, sign a supplementary contract and affix the seal of the Prince of Yu, so that Wanyan Xi could later return to Liaoyang to claim the silver.

Wanyan Xi nodded and instructed Xiao Li to put the contract away. Right now, the biggest crisis in Youzhou City is the food problem. As for this money, it can only be considered icing on the cake. However, the fact that so much silver could be easily exchanged for stones that can be found everywhere in the mountains and fields made Wanyan Xi look at Tang Qian with a strange sense of admiration and respect.

Such a skill in turning decay into magic is enough for this Great Jin princess to call Tang Qian "sir".

Just as Wanyan Xi was about to open her father's edict, a series of shouts from outside the mansion made her stop temporarily. A short while later, a mansion soldier appeared outside the hall: "Your Highness, a large number of citizens have gathered outside the mansion. They have learned that the princess's mansion will be distributing porridge again today, and they are all kneeling in front of the gate and refusing to leave, shouting 'Long live the princess!' to thank Your Highness for saving their lives."

Wanyan Xi smiled faintly, called Tang Qian to accompany her out of the mansion. Surrounded by a group of guards, the two arrived at the mansion gate and saw that the streets were filled with kneeling people. At this point, they could naturally feel whether the princess's mansion was truly for the people.

At this moment, several ragged young men gathered together in the crowd. Although they were also kneeling on both knees, their eyes, shooting out through the gaps in the crowd, were fixed on Wanyan Xi. As Ye Yilie's bodyguards, they had been waiting for just such an opportunity to take advantage of the chaos and kill Wanyan Xi in one fell swoop.

As the crowd began to slowly rise under Wanyan Xi's persuasion, the young master still did not give the signal to make a move. The group exchanged glances and communicated silently.

This is a golden opportunity that will not come again. If we let Wanyan Xi, who has appeared in public today, go, it will be much more difficult to assassinate her again in the future.

However, since the young master did not give the order, they could not act on their own. They could only watch helplessly as Tang Qian protected Wan Yanxi behind him and turned to return to the mansion. The two figures disappeared behind the door, and the assassination attempt by the group had to be abandoned.

"Wanyan Xi's prestige in Youzhou is growing day by day, and she has personal guards protecting her. If we had made a move just now, we would have become the target of everyone's attacks, and none of us would have been able to escape. It would be better to find another opportunity to make a move when the guards around her are weak."

To find out exactly where Wan Yanxi is going and when she will go out, we'll have to rely on that kid Tang Qian.

"The Jurchens love hunting. Once spring arrives, Wanyan Xi will surely be unable to resist the temptation, and that will be the time for us to strike."