Crown Prince of the Empire, I quit!

Early in the morning, Qin Ming stood below Tianhe Pass.

Chen Pi, with a tired face, came over with his soldiers to take over from him.

"Your Majesty, they have discovered our hot air balloon plan, but I have already used up most of the ammunition."

"That's right, you go back and rest first, and leave this to me and Lao Wu."

"Yes!"

Chenpi quickly led the vanguard and rushed towards the rear.

"March!"

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of hot air balloons rose up behind Qin Ming.

Peng Yuancheng's face on the city wall was extremely ugly.

He fought until almost dawn, and only then, using the light in the sky, confirmed that there was no one on Chenpi's hot air balloons.

Unfortunately it was too late.

Chen Pi's troops had already dealt a heavy blow to them. Taking advantage of the pitch-black night last night, Chen Pi stuffed explosives into the hot air balloon.

Let the hot air balloons approach them and bomb them as they fall.

Most of the city walls collapsed, all the ammunition was used up, and the imperial court had not responded to requests for help.

Under multiple pressures, Peng Yuancheng was already a little panicked.

boom!

At this moment, a huge explosion suddenly came from a hot air balloon in the distance.

"General, be careful!"

Several soldiers around rushed forward and quickly raised their heavy shields above their heads.

The violent impact made Peng Yuancheng's eardrum hurt.

"Sniper...gun!"

Without further ado, he guessed what it was.

The feedback he felt from the shield just now left him with no doubt that if he didn't have these large shields, he would most likely be killed the next moment.

A hot air balloon plus a sniper rifle, this is Qin Ming's real aerial means!

Bang bang bang!

Keeping a safe distance, Qin Ming's troops were far away and killed many soldiers holding artillery fuses on the city wall.

At the same time, the soldiers of the Fire Camp led by Liu Chuang had smashed open the city gate and rushed into Tianhe Pass to engage in street fighting with Peng Yuancheng's soldiers.

They wear new-generation bulletproof vests, carry shotguns, and are extremely brave in the narrow street fighting environment.

Turning his head left and right to look at the situation inside and outside the city, Peng Yuancheng quickly made a decision in his mind.

"Abandon the city gates and engage them in street fighting!"

His choice was correct. Defending the city gate would allow his troops to suffer a double blow from both outside and inside.

But if they moved inside the city walls and engaged in street fighting with Qin Ming's troops, Qin Ming's air advantage would be quickly blocked by the layers of houses in the city.

"The response was pretty quick."

After Wu Qingye and Liu Chuang entered Tianhe Pass, Qin Ming climbed up the city wall and commented lightly on Peng Yuancheng's leadership.

"Your Majesty, I will also go up."

Chen Pi, who was replaced from the battlefield, followed Qin Ming with a personal guard.

"You don't have to go. I have a more important task for you."

"What mission?"

"All the hot air balloons are at your disposal. Create a highway for me, clear all obstacles along the way, and bring the people back to the Southern Dynasty!"

"this……!?"

Chenpi's eyes suddenly widened.

This task is extremely difficult, because Qin Ming's request is no different from snatching someone directly from under Emperor Qian's nose.

"Don't worry, I will support you from behind. Tianhe Pass has been opened, you are not fighting alone."

"okay I know."

In response to Qin Ming's order, Chen Pi did not delay any longer and took his soldiers to clear the checkpoints stationed along the official road.

The battle between Qin Ming and Peng Yuancheng ended in less than two hours.

The reason why it ended so quickly was entirely due to Liu Chuang's vigor and ferocity.

He braved the siege of more than a dozen of Peng Yuancheng's personal guards, and armed with a long sword and a shotgun, he rushed into the enemy camp with three soldiers from the Fire Battalion and pinned Peng Yuancheng down.

Seeing that their generals had been captured, the soldiers in the city, whose hearts had long been filled with fear, all raised their hands in surrender.

"Old Liu, this is the age of firearms. Don't fight so hard next time. It would be terrible if you lose your life."

While resting on the spot, Qin Ming came to Liu Chuang, handed him a bottle of anti-inflammatory medicine, and spoke earnestly.

Liu Chuang chuckled.

He used tweezers to remove a bullet from his arm, sprinkled some anti-inflammatory medicine on it, and then sprinkled a layer of blood-activating and muscle-regenerating powder on it.

Then he said to Qin Ming:

"Your Majesty, I was a little reckless because I was anxious to take down the Northern Dynasty because of their inhumane behavior."

"But don't worry, I really calculated it this time before I went up and pressed Peng Yuancheng."

"Okay, you should recover first. I'll give you three credit for the first prize this time."

Qin Ming chatted with him while helping to wrap the bandage around him, then turned around and found Wu Qingye.

"How's the battle damage?"

"Your Majesty, the casualties in this battle were about one to twelve. The imperial court is growing stronger. Even with the hot air balloons... it doesn't seem to be enough."

Wu Qingye's face was a little gloomy.

Despite this casualty ratio, it would be a great victory in any war.

But their firearms technology, large-scale industries consisting of various factories, and railways connecting the four directions are all much better than those of the Northern Dynasty.

This casualty ratio is much lower than that of the previous Changhe battlefield.

There is only one explanation... the Northern Dynasty has become stronger!

Qin Ming nodded slowly and said:

"You've also noticed that this time the battle is much more difficult. This is why Peng Yuancheng dared to enter Tianhe Pass and engage in street fighting with us."

"The hot air balloons in the sky are made of special materials that need to be manufactured in factories. They are currently out of reach, but the Northern Dynasty's combat capabilities on the ground are indeed constantly improving."

Qin Ming's words once again made Wu Qingye feel heavy in his heart.

"Your Majesty, if we allow them to continue to develop, I am afraid that we may find ourselves in a very difficult situation in the future, being attacked by both the Yan Dynasty and the Northern Dynasty."

"Yeah, so we need to widen the gap between us and them."

Qin Ming spoke softly, his tone mysterious.

These words made Wu Qingye, who had been feeling upset, stunned for a moment.

He suddenly realized what was happening and quickly asked Qin Ming:

"Your Majesty, do you have any ideas?"

"Yes, if we can develop an internal combustion engine, we will be invincible on land."

Wu Qingye has been with him for many years, so Qin Ming doesn't have too many reservations about him.

"You mean... the arsenal?"

"That's great!"

Wu Qingye quickly remembered the arsenal that Qin Ming had spent a lot of money to build.

The cost of this factory is more than the combined cost of many other factories, including textile factories, salt factories, and dyeing factories.

"It's still uncertain now. All we can say is that it's not stable yet and we need to wait a little longer."

Qin Ming himself didn't know when his research on the internal combustion engine would be completed.

But before that, he had already spent millions of taels of silver on precious metals purchased from surrounding countries.

While the two were talking, several guards came over and said to Qin Ming:

"Your Majesty, we found several unused anti-aircraft guns in Peng Yuancheng's warehouse."

"Oh?"

Qin Ming's mind moved. He really wanted to understand the craftsmanship level of the Yan Dynasty, and this was a good opportunity.

"Take me to see it."