The Demonic Crown Prince

"She is Tian Qiao'er, the wife of Feng Jingxing, the Vice Minister of Rites, and also my close friend from my youth, with whom I studied and practiced calligraphy. Would it be alright if she came over so we could have a chat?"

Xu Shuying looked at Li Yuan and asked in a low voice.

"Let her come over," Li Yuan nodded.

Tian Qiao'er was very polite. She walked over and curtsied to Li Yuan, saying, "This concubine, Tian Qiao'er, greets the Prince of Qin."

"No need for formalities." Li Yuan nodded and smiled, then walked away a bit, stopping the convoy to allow the two to speak.

Tian Qiao'er got into the car, and the two of them stood side by side, shaking hands and talking, feeling quite emotional.

"Now, I have to call you Your Highness, Princess Consort," Tian Qiao'er teased with a smile.

"Why are we talking about this between us?" Xu Shuying shook her head and smiled.

"I've heard about what's been happening in the court lately. This prince, it's said, seems to have become more assertive, no longer as...unbearable as before, is that right?"

Tian Qiao'er glanced outside, unable to contain her curiosity, and asked in a low voice.

"Of course, while he wouldn't dare call himself a peerless hero, he is certainly skilled in martial arts and also remarkably talented in literature."

Xu Shuying said hurriedly.

"Oh, so you're already protecting me? I didn't say anything else, why are you in such a hurry?"

Tian Qiao'er said with a grin.

"Oh dear, Sister Qiao'er, you're so naughty, you actually tested me." Xu Shuying finally realized what was happening, blushed, and pinched her.

After the two joked and laughed for a while, Tian Qiao'er remembered what she had just said, "What did you say again? That he was also very talented in literature?"

"Of course! For example, just now I saw birds flying by the water and came up with a word puzzle, and he answered it off the top of his head, and it was even quite neat."

Xu Shuying said.

"Oh? Tell me quickly."

"I used the character '鸿' (hong) from '飞鸿' (feihong), which means 'a bird by the river,' and he used the character '荡' (dang) from '蕩漾' (dangyang), which means 'a grass growing in soup!' How about that, isn't it neat?"

"The grass comes out of soup? The grass comes out of soup... Oh my god, this prince, this prince, how wicked he is..."

Tian Qiao'er had just mentioned being thirsty and had taken a sip of water from her leather bag, but then, in a moment of reflection, she spat out a mouthful of water and laughed so hard she nearly fell over.

"What's wrong?" Xu Shuying looked at her, puzzled.

"Well, well... Ying'er, you're already married, don't you understand what's going on?"

Tian Qiaoqiao suppressed a laugh and asked.

"What does this word-splitting couplet have to do with getting married?" Xu Shuying was still puzzled.

"Okay, I'll tell you... this soup... well, he did this first, then you did that, and in the end it was all soupy..."

"Tian Qiaoqiao said in a low voice."

"That damned pervert, how dare he... how dare he harass me like that..."

Xu Shuying blushed deeply, finally understanding what had happened, and angrily cursed.

"Ying'er, you're not... still not with him, are you?"

Tian Qiaoqiao touched her two index fingers together.

"Me, of course I have it, he, he, he has a leaf with seven thorns."

Xu Shuying was naturally too embarrassed to say no. Her vanity, dignity, and the secret of their mutual agreement were things she couldn't let outsiders know. But in her panic, she unconsciously brought up something Li Yuan had casually said when he beat up Li Jun that day, thinking it was normal.

"My goodness, it turns out that the prince's nickname 'One Leaf Seven Thorns' is truly fitting."

He truly deserves to be called the peerless hero who pierced Helan Mingyue with his spear.

Tian Qiaoqiao said with envy, "The news of One Leaf and Seven Thorns spread when Li Yuan beat up Li Jun that day."

Her husband is physically weak; seven leaves and one thorn is more like it, while one leaf and seven thorns is just a dream.

The two chatted for a while longer before Tian Qiaoqiao bid farewell to Xu Shuying and left.

"What did you talk about for so long?" Li Yuan asked curiously.

"Mind your own business! You big pervert!" Xu Shuying glared at him angrily. Remembering the embarrassing details Tian Qiaoqiao had just mentioned, she blushed and her heart pounded wildly.

Could it really produce soup? For both men and women?

"Born in the Year of the Dog, huh? Always in a rush?"

Li Yuan was still not quite understanding what was going on—he had just made a casual joke and forgotten about it.

Half an hour later, they had returned to the military camp.

He went to the crafts camp first.

However, to his disappointment, the crafts camp was progressing very slowly. In one morning, they had only managed to improve five bows, and had even ruined four of them.

Both the speed and the yield rate are simply too low.

When will it take to equip this entire force?

"Your Highness, we are sorry. We are a bit slow and still need to learn and explore little by little. Our progress is a bit slow. Please forgive us."

Cui Dayong, the newly appointed battalion commander of the craftsmanship battalion, blushed and apologized to Li Yuan.

"It's not your fault, this process is indeed quite complicated." Li Yuan waved his hand, but he was a little worried. What should he do about the crafts camp?

Where can we find more artisans?

To improve combat effectiveness, personnel quality is one aspect, but weapons are the most pressing issue. Without powerful weapons, what use are these thousand-plus people, no matter how good they are at fighting?

After thinking for a long time without coming up with a good solution, Li Yuan simply stopped thinking about it. If all else failed, he would leave the capital and then capture whatever he could find along the way, bringing all the craftsmen who could make weapons into the army.

Anyway, his workshop will be built.

At this moment, training in the military camp is in full swing, and instructors at each level have been selected and are studying the relevant ideological education manuals issued by Li Yuan.

All the instructors at all levels were educated people, literate, and some could even read articles and understand military strategy.

This made Li Yuan sigh, indeed they were the elite of the Imperial Guard, and also the battle-hardened soldiers brought by the Jiang family.

You should know that if this were a local militia, it would be difficult to find even one literate person out of a thousand.

After observing the soldiers' training, Li Yuan was very satisfied.

This is a training plan that he improved based on modern training guidelines and combined with the realities of the cold weapon era; its scientific rationality needs no further explanation.

In the past, he would never have dared to train like this.

Because these soldiers usually barely get enough to eat, and sometimes don't even eat meat for a month, they would be worn out in just a few days if they were trained according to modern training guidelines.

But things are different now. Now we have three meals a day, and we can eat as much rice and steamed buns as we want. We even have meat at night.

Those who train well and receive the daily red flag for training will also receive an extra meal in the evening.

These soldiers are now training like crazy. In addition, these soldiers are originally from farming families, and hard work is their nature and character. They have worked for many years in the past, which has cultivated their tenacious character and strong endurance.

Now they receive their full pay and eat meat every day. The King of Qin treats them exceptionally well. So their motto is: train until you drop dead.

Forty percent of the training consists of physical endurance and weight training, while the rest includes unarmed combat, weapons, and archery.

At the same time, Li Yuan also established a special long-range unit to train troops in ballistae and catapults.

He's currently thinking about when to further improve the ballista and catapult.

These two types of long-range sniping and assault weapons must be deployed on a large scale.

However, time is too short now; it's not the right time.

As I said before, let's talk about everything after we leave Beijing.