New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

As the sun rises and sets in a cycle, time flows quietly forward like water, and more than ten days have passed without us even realizing it.

As the tribal leaders who had rushed back to gather food to exchange for glassmaking technology returned, the peaceful city of Youzhou became lively once again.

The Song Dynasty officials that Tang Qian brought out of the prison were not just good-for-nothings; at least in mathematics, Xu Heng, who came from the Imperial Academy, was able to play an important role.

More than 100,000 shi of grain were delivered to the warehouse of Princess Youzhou's residence in batches. The scene was bustling with people and could not possibly be well-organized, but the accounts recorded by Xu Heng were clear and detailed, item by item.

While Tang Qian could certainly do this better, as the chief steward of the princess's residence, his responsibility was to give orders, not to do everything himself.

After more than ten days of continuous work, all the grain was stored in the granary, filling the princess's mansion to the brim.

After everything settled down, Tang Qian, the chief steward of the princess's residence, gathered the twelve tribal leaders who had been eagerly waiting together.

“Since everyone is so sincere, the Princess of Youzhou’s residence will naturally not go back on its word.” Then, he turned around and pointed to a wooden door behind him, “The Youzhou Glass Workshop welcomes all leaders to visit and provide guidance.”

Having spent ten thousand taels of silver, they had finally received their reward. The tribal leaders present were already impatient and began to instruct the accompanying craftsmen to pay close attention once inside and to remember the entire process.

Seeing the rather solemn and tense expressions on everyone's faces, Tang Qian smiled faintly: "Please rest assured, everyone. The princess promised to teach you everything you need to know, and I will certainly not hold anything back. Before you master the manufacturing process, the doors of the glass workshop in Youzhou will always be open to you."

"Hmph, I doubt a mere advisor like you would dare to play tricks on us."

It is true that the Wanyan clan is the overlord of the Jin Dynasty, but the combined strength of the people present is not weak either. If Wanyan Xi dares to play any tricks, she will surely make Youzhou a place of chaos.

Led by Tang Qian, the group filed in and the first thing they saw was the craftsmen pounding transparent ore into powder, then mixing it thoroughly with wood ash and another unknown mineral powder.

"This is the first step in making glass. All three raw materials are provided by Youzhou. If you bosses find this process too troublesome, Youzhou can do it for you. Of course, the purchase price will be higher."

It's just crushing these stones, it's not a technical job, any able-bodied man can do it, why pick on Wan Yanxi to make money.

But what does the boss mean? It's utterly baffling and nonsensical.

"What you will see next is the glassmaking process. Please follow me." The group followed Tang Qian to another production workshop, where more than a dozen blast furnaces of various sizes were set up.

Everyone initially thought it was an ironworks, but instead they saw a craftsman piling weighed raw materials into a blast furnace to roast. Under everyone's watchful eyes, the ore in the blast furnace was calcined into a gel-like substance. The craftsman casually used iron tongs to pick it out, placed it on a mold, flattened it, and trimmed off the excess. He then didn't look at it again, repeating the process of taking materials and calcining them, letting the glass in the mold cool naturally.

Everyone knew that this was the most important part of the glassmaking process, so in order to thoroughly understand the whole process, they all dispersed and gathered around a blast furnace to observe the craftsmen's actions.

The so-called calcination process is not very complicated. After watching it a few times, everyone understood it.

Gathering around Tang Qian again, the leaders beckoned to him: "Go check on the next step of the process."

Tang Qian shrugged and then spread his hands: "That's all."

"That's it?" The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, first in shock, then in anger. "What does the princess's residence mean by leaving only half? Do they expect us to send more grain?"

“It’s really gone.” Facing the angry glares of the leaders, Tang Qian also felt wronged. He pointed to the glass that had been flattened in the mold. Because it had not yet cooled down, the glass was still golden in color. “Once the temperature has completely dropped, the formed glass can be taken out.”

"Is it really that simple?"

Tang Qian smiled wryly: "The workshop is only so big. If you don't believe me, you can walk around again and see if there are any other processes that I haven't mentioned."

Looking at each other in bewilderment, the dozen or so people present had extremely ugly expressions, as if they had been fed a fly by Wanyan Xi but couldn't spit it out.

A full 120,000 shi of grain were exchanged for such a simple craft. The Youzhou Princess's Mansion must be treating them like fools.

From this moment on, the Seventh Princess Wanyan Xi gained the prestigious title of the most unscrupulous merchant in the Jin Dynasty.

At this very moment, inside the princess's residence, Wanyan Xi, in the warm pavilion, suddenly felt an itch on her nose and sneezed several times in a row.

"There's no need for you all to think that the Princess's Mansion is asking for an exorbitant amount. The Seventh Princess previously promised to provide 30,000 shi of raw materials free of charge. Youzhou is only facing a food shortage, so she is borrowing from you under the pretext of glassmaking technology to alleviate our immediate crisis. I believe you all know very well how much money can be made from 30,000 shi of raw materials and how much silver can be exchanged for it."

Tang Qian was right. Wan Yanxi's promise not to sell finished glass was indeed a significant concession. If Youzhou were to establish a monopoly on glass, they would be powerless to do anything about it.

However, while a common man is innocent, possessing a treasure is a crime. Such a profitable business being monopolized by Youzhou will naturally bring trouble. Wanyan Xi's actions can only be considered a helpless attempt to protect himself.

"Thirty thousand shi, that sounds like quite a lot. But I heard that when the Seventh Princess increased the ore collection from the people of Youzhou, the exchange rate was fifteen to one? Isn't that a bit too much of a difference?"

"To the common people, those are just useless stones, but to all of you present, they are treasures that can generate wealth. Although they are the same thing, their values ​​are worlds apart, and the exchange rates are naturally different. It's not like you can eat meat while the Princess's Mansion can't even drink soup. Business is business. Who would do something that isn't profitable? If you push too hard, the Princess's Mansion doesn't mind parting ways and returning the jurisdiction of Youzhou to His Majesty. No one should try to profit from this."

The grain stored in Youzhou's granaries is enough to feed the entire city for a year. With this buffer period, even without the glass business, Tang Qian is confident that with Wanyan Xi's support, he can create other things to continue profiting.