Transmigrated as the Crown Princess of a Fallen Kingdom

【The simplified Chinese edition has been retitled 《The Phoenix Sets Sail》】 One day, Qin Zheng, an engineer who worked on aid projects in Africa, transmigrated as the Crown Princess. She didn’t get a palace-intrigue script or even a chance to enjoy the Crown Princess’s luxurious life. Because the country had fallen. A eunuch held out a three-foot strip of white silk. “Your Highness, the city has fallen. Please die with dignity.” Qin Zheng: “...” What kind of opening was this? To avoid being forced to take her own life, Qin Zheng had no choice but to go to the bedside of her half-dead Crown Prince husband, pretend to be deeply devoted, and cry to buy herself time. Chu Chengji, the founding emperor of Great Chu, was a lifelong warrior. He campaigned against the Rong and Di in the north and drove back the Wu and Yi in the south, ushering in the flourishing Xuan Chu era. He spent his whole life at war and never took a wife or concubine. As a result, when he died young, he had to choose a successor from a distant branch of the imperial clan. He died in the prosperous empire he had built, only to open his eyes again at the moment of its destruction! He had been reborn in the body of the current Crown Prince, a nephew of his separated from him by countless generations. When the founding emperor learned that the territory he had once carved out had been squandered away, he laughed in anger. Just how useless were these descendants? He had built an empire that stood for centuries, and now he could rebuild it! As for the stunningly beautiful Crown Princess weeping at his bedside, the founding emperor was thoroughly dismissive: women would only slow down his restoration of the empire! Later, the founding emperor knocked on the door of the Pepper Palace night after night. “A Zheng, can I come back to our room yet?” Qin Zheng never expected that her melodramatic crying would bring her nearly-dead Crown Prince husband back to life! Though after waking up, her husband seemed to have lost his mind. He cursed his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather as if they were all his grandsons. (-ω-；) Chu Chengji: They are my grandsons and nephews, several generations removed. 【Bonus Scene】 Restoring the country was hard, and raising an army was even harder. With no money to pay the troops, Qin Zheng was so worried she couldn’t sleep. Her Crown Prince husband promptly dug up his entire family’s ancestral tombs and matter-of-factly told her to sell the burial treasures from the imperial mausoleums for cash. Qin Zheng: Σ(°Д°; Can this illness of her husband’s be cured? 1. One-on-one romance, sweet story, both leads’ first relationship A modern person building a country after it has fallen; founding emperor VS a modern woman in ancient times, empress who builds the nation 【Note】The male lead died young in his previous life, at just twenty-eight. Don’t complain that he’s old! 【Reading note】The early sections focus on survival and keeping a low profile; later comes war and the restoration of the country. The novel still has many flaws, but the author will keep working to improve. Hope you enjoy reading~ My completed novels are ready to read~ 《Transmigrated as the Villain’s Cannon Fodder Ex-Wife [Book Transmigration]》【An engineering woman works hard to cling to the villain’s leg and stay alive】 《The Empress Only Wants to Eat and Wait for Death》【A civil engineer wants to laze around but is forced to do manual labor every day】 《The Demon Emperor Is Fierce and Charming》【The Demon Emperor keeps losing his temper again and again】 Food novel 《The Little Chef at the Border Pass》【So, apparently I’m a prince with a taste disorder】 My next novel is 《Returning to the Luan》. Please add it to your list~ Blurb: Wen Yu, the most esteemed young lady in Luodu, has skin as white as snow and a face like a lotus. When the empire collapses and the Wen clan falls, she, once known across the land as the most beautiful woman in Great Liang, becomes a prize coveted by powerful warlords. She makes a thousand-mile journey to fulfill her engagement to her fiancé and borrow troops to exact revenge. But she falls into trouble along the way and is forced to travel with a ruffian. The ruffian is called Xiao Li. No one knows who his father was, and his mother was a brothel worker. Rumor has it he killed someone at eight and was thrown in prison, then became a gambling den’s enforcer at fifteen, collecting debts and earning a fearsome reputation. Wen Yu despises his vulgar, mercenary ways, while he can’t stand her haughty airs. They can barely exchange a few words without arguing. But later, even with broken bones, he carries Wen Yu through the rainy night to escape, risking his life to protect her on a six-hundred-mile journey to Southern Chen. Then, on the eve of her wedding, he braves the rain to break into her room and manages to say, “Wen Yu, don’t marry the King of Chen. Marry me instead, all right?” “I’ll restore Liang for you. I’ll avenge your Wen clan.” Wen Yu sits before her vanity in her wedding dress and looks back at him, her gaze calm and merciless. “I want an army and power. Do you have them?” - Later, Northern Wei rises like a force from nowhere and sweeps across the Central Plains. As its army marches south, the King of Chen surrenders, and Wen Yu is offered to the King of Wei as a gift. That day, the north wind howls and snow falls. Beyond the walls of the King of Chen’s palace, Northern Wei’s cavalry stretch as far as the eye can see. The man who is now the King of Wei rides slowly through the palace gates. Before the kneeling, trembling King of Chen, he lifts Wen Yu’s chin with the bloodstained tip of his sword and asks coldly, “Wen Yu, what kind of man did you marry?” - Everyone says the King of Wei hates the Wen girl who abandoned him when he was still insignificant, and privately speculate that now that she has fallen into his hands, he’ll make her suffer without end. Wen Yu does indeed suffer at his hands. That night, candles burn bright. Wen Yu is trapped on the imperial throne, her robes soaked with sweat, the gold chain around her neck clinking. The man who put the chain on her grips her chin and presses his forehead to hers. A blood-red gleam swirls in his eyes, but his expression is fragile, like a trapped beast at the end of its rope. “I have an army and power now. Will you marry me?” 【Bonus Scene】 Though King Xiao Li of Wei rose from humble beginnings, he had never lost a battle since making his name. Then he stumbled in a single encounter and nearly died at Duyu Ford, only to be saved by an old Liang army unit. They fastened a heavy black iron chain around his neck and dragged him to the central command tent. The master of the tent had a hibiscus-like face and clear, moonlit eyes. She watched coldly as his guards forced him to kneel, then said quietly, “Now do you understand, Marquis of Wei? What I want is my own army and my own power.” A beautiful, ambitious schemer VS a peasant who goes from loyal wolfdog to mad dog Theme: Refusing to bow to fate and striving to grow stronger