New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

Inside the tent, the maid Rong'er sighed softly.

She knew that from the moment she received the imperial decree to come and marry Zhao Yingluo, her heart had died. For someone whose heart had died, what did it matter who was her marriage partner?

When Zhalu trespassed into the camp, Zhao Yingluo was prepared to die at any moment. Rong'er naturally couldn't choose to live alone either. But even ants cling to life, and they were, after all, just two girls under the age of sixteen. Wanyan Xun's help gave Rong'er a glimmer of hope to survive.

If the Jin general outside were Her Highness's future husband, perhaps the two of them could truly continue to live.

Unfortunately, his first act of disobeying Princess Zhao Yingluo, and the question he asked when she was off guard, did not yield the answer he wanted.

Once things had calmed down outside the tent, Zhao Yingluo glanced at Rong'er and said without any reproach, "Don't ever do such pointless things again."

For Zhao Yingluo, who was calm and composed, the false alarm last night did not cause her too much trouble. She slept soundly in her tent and continued her journey to marry the foreign ruler the next morning.

That evening, after several days of long march, the Youzhou army led by Wanyan Xun safely arrived in Youzhou City.

On the city tower of the South Gate, the Seventh Princess Wanyan Xi stood in the wind and snow in a white dress. When she saw Wanyan Xun, the commander of Youzhou, walking out from the army outside the city, the tension in her heart dissipated.

Although it has now been ceded to the Jin Dynasty, there is almost no military force in Youzhou City capable of fighting. Wanyan Xi can only use the three hundred personal guards in the princess's mansion. If the Song people invade, the old, weak, sick and disabled people in the city will not be able to defend it at all.

After descending the city wall and mounting his horse, Wanyan Xi greeted him outside the city. The two exchanged greetings, and the Seventh Princess smiled slightly at Wanyan Xun: "The commander has made great contributions to this southward expedition. Now that Youzhou City is poorly defended, please continue to take care of it in the future."

"It is our duty to guard Youzhou City. Princess, please rest assured and stay in the city." Wanyan Xun waved to the soldiers behind him, and his generals obeyed, each leading their troops towards the military camp outside the city. "By the way, Your Highness, I brought back a princess from the Song Dynasty. To repay Tang Qian for saving my life, the Commander-in-Chief ordered me to give this princess to Tang Qian as his wife. The princess is currently in the carriage. Should we take her to Tang Qian's residence first?"

"What did you say?"

Upon hearing this, Wanyan Xi, who was on horseback, suddenly felt dizzy and almost lost her grip on the reins, nearly falling off the horse.

Wanyan Xie actually brought back a wife from the Song Dynasty for Tang Qian? What am I, the princess, supposed to do now?

Even though the anger in his chest was instantly ignited, causing his body to tremble slightly, Wanyan Xi was not completely blinded by rage.

Just as her mother said, the difference in their social statuses was too great. Even if they were truly destined to be together, it would be a tragic fate. She was destined to marry a powerful figure from the Jin Kingdom. If she didn't want Tang Qian to die, she had to bury this inappropriate feeling deep in her heart.

Even though she knew in her heart that Tang Qian was about to get married, Wan Yanxi still felt a sharp pain in her chest.

Although Wanyan Xi quickly concealed her surging emotions, the subtle changes in her pale face did not escape Wanyan Xun's eyes. With just a casual glance, Wanyan Xun had already noticed the Seventh Princess's unusual behavior.

"Since it is Hulubojilie's will, then let's do as he says." Wanyan Xi raised her riding whip and galloped towards the princess's residence.

After watching Wanyan Xi leave, Wanyan Xun remained silent for a long time before sighing softly, "I never imagined that Tang Qian would make the Seventh Princess fall deeply in love with him after I was only away from Youzhou for two months. That kid is indeed no pushover."

If he was right, Tang Qian must have used every means possible against Wanyan Xi while he was away, all in order to find another safe haven. In this way, even if he wanted to control her, he would have to be careful. If he fell out with the Seventh Princess, he, as the commander of Youzhou, would only be transferred elsewhere in disgrace.

Tang Qian was indeed a slippery eel; if one let their guard down even slightly, he could easily escape right under their noses.

"If Wanyan Xi finds out that Zhao Yingluo's marriage is entirely my idea, will she skin me alive on the spot?" Wanyan Xun chuckled, turned to beckon Wang Jian and his entourage who were following behind him, spurred his horse, and headed towards the residence where Tang Qian was currently living.

Upon learning that Tang Qian had not yet returned and was instead working on something in the quartermaster department, Wanyan Xun's brows furrowed.

It's important to know that the Youzhou Military Supply Office is not a place that can be entered and exited at will. Even the Seventh Princess's people are not qualified to stay overnight at the Military Supply Office.

Wanyan Xun ordered the servants in the mansion to take Zhao Yingluo and her entourage inside. He immediately turned his horse around and galloped to the military supply depot in the city, where he indeed found Tang Qian, who was hunched over a table in a workshop, writing furiously.

"Brother Tang, you have quite the nerve to openly defy my orders. Don't you know that no outsider is allowed in the quartermaster department except for those on night duty?"

Wanyan Xun's sudden appearance did not prompt Tang Qian to stand up and bow respectfully. He merely raised his head to glance at it, then pointed to a roll of yellow silk on the table: "This is an edict from the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty. Would you like to take a look?"

A look of astonishment appeared on Wanyan Xun's face. With a hint of suspicion, he reached out and picked up the scroll of imperial edict, only to find that it was indeed stamped with the seal of the Great Jin Emperor Wanyan Wugumai.

"Tang Qian, a staff member of the Princess of Youzhou's residence, is hereby ordered to oversee the construction of a carpentry lathe. All resources in the city are at his disposal and must be used without fail."

Wanyan Xun frowned again: "What is a woodworking lathe?"

Tang Qian didn't seem to want to answer his question. After a long silence, he sighed and put down the charcoal pencil in his hand: "It seems that I was too presumptuous. With the existing conditions, it's not that easy to increase the rotation speed."

If electricity existed in this era, he wouldn't need to go to such lengths. Even if he had to settle for using water flow for braking, he could still build this simple lathe.

Unfortunately, Tang Qian's physics skills were quite limited, and he certainly couldn't create electricity. Moreover, the environment in Youzhou was extremely harsh, with four months of the year spent frozen, and even in the sweltering summer, the water flow could not be described as turbulent.

How can a trickle of water raise the speed of a lathe to a usable level?

The only remaining option was manual braking, using a foot pedal or manual operation to get the lathe turning. But Tang Qian had tried several times, with little success each time.

Wanyan Xun put down the imperial edict and tapped the table: "Answer my question."

"Want to know?" Tang Qian rubbed his messy hair, looking quite haggard, as if he hadn't had a proper rest in a long time. "Come with me."

Following behind Tang Qian, Wanyan Xun was led to the adjacent workshop, where a simple wooden lathe was placed. Wanyan Xun, who had never seen such a thing before, immediately showed great curiosity.

"This is the woodworking lathe you mentioned? What is it used for?"

Tang Qian took out a wooden rod. Wanyan Xun took it and looked at it. The wooden rod was round, about three feet long, straight and smooth, and did not look like something handmade.

"This is... the wooden shaft used to make arrows?"

Wanyan Xun truly lived up to his reputation as a commander. With just one glance, he guessed the purpose of the wooden pole.

But this wooden pole is too perfect. Ordinary craftsmen simply cannot make it. Even a master craftsman with ten years of experience probably couldn't grind out such a round pole with such uniform size and such a straight body.

Tang Qian gave a bitter laugh: "In order to protect myself, I could only try, but the result was not satisfactory. Because the lathe speed could not be increased, the working efficiency of this lathe was too low. At most, I could only cut about a hundred pieces a day."

"Producing a hundred arrows a day? You must be joking."

What a joke! Even if an old craftsman polishes non-stop, he can only make a dozen or so a day at most, and he can't possibly make them this straight.

Looking at this astonishing machine tool, Wanyan Xun's eyes were filled with excitement.