Crown Prince of the Empire, I quit!

Early that morning, Qin Ming sighed slowly after reading the situation report from the front line.

He has assembled his soldiers and will be the second group of troops to enter the mountains today to support the front.

Because there was no task of clearing the way, everyone carried a lot of things.

This should have been a reassuring thing, but bad news kept coming from the main battlefield on the front line.

Up to now, 30% of the huge amount of gunpowder prepared by Qin Ming’s troops has been used up.

But the number of Yan Guangshou's troops only decreased by about 70,000.

It stands to reason that after losing so many troops in battle, the morale of the entire army would inevitably be weakened.

But the Yan army wouldn't.

They were all made up of slaves, and the entire Yan Dynasty had clear class divisions. Even if they were arranged to be cannon fodder on the battlefield, they had no complaints.

This resulted in Yan Guangshou still having a lot of energy left.

But then the imperial army, which had been peacefully holding off in Xishan, suddenly launched an attack together with Yan Guangshou!

The pressure on the front lines is even greater.

"Your Majesty, the arsenal is already overloaded. How about... stopping the internal combustion engine work first?"

Before leaving, Song Dingsheng found Qin Ming and explained the situation specifically.

The bills for collecting silver from major factories, plus Qin Ming's previous accumulation, already amounted to tens of millions of taels of silver.

But a lot of this money was spent on building factories and maintaining the operation of the entire dynasty.

This was followed by another war with the Northern Dynasty.

It makes them spend money like water.

Any battle anywhere would cost tens of thousands of silver coins.

Seeing this situation, Song Dingsheng decided to stop the most expensive research on the internal combustion engine.

This will allow for more spare capacity to supply the front-line troops.

"No, the internal combustion engine must continue."

Qin Ming immediately shook his head and made a decisive decision.

He knew many people might not understand this decision.

But this concerns their subsequent development and the emergence of tanks.

Even if we can't make tanks, making some small combat vehicles can bring huge changes to the battlefield.

"But Your Majesty, the internal combustion engine costs us tens of millions of taels of silver every month. I feel that the current technology is sufficient, and we are just putting it on hold for a while..."

As expected, Song Dingsheng began to stammer and argue.

"Then let me ask you, if a train originally took several hours, could the time be reduced by 30% after being equipped with an internal combustion engine?"

"yes……"

"Continuing research will have a significant impact on all aspects of our lives. No matter how much it costs, we must not stop."

"Ok."

Song Dingsheng nodded, and after telling Qin Ming the follow-up plan, he sent him into the Taiping Mountains.

The mountains and forests in the Taiping Mountains are covered with dense vegetation.

If there are overgrown weeds and bushes, it will affect the march of the army.

For this reason, Qin Ming arranged an advance team to clear the road to facilitate subsequent advance.

Their results were very good. In just a few days, they had cleared a path large enough for them to move forward.

"set off!"

After gathering thousands of soldiers, Qin Ming gave orders to everyone.

Troops loaded with supplies began to cross the Taiping Mountains.

Qin Ming's troops were divided into three waves.

The first group led the way, and the second group caught up with supplies, handed over the supplies to them and replenished them.

The last group brought all the supplies and resupplied them again. With the support of hot air balloons, they could cross the mountains safely and be equipped with all the firearms before leaving the mountains.

The news that Qin Ming went into the mountains was kept secret.

Up to now, apart from the large number of Feng Camp soldiers who stayed behind in the original place, only some trusted generals knew about it.

Even Yan Guangshou still felt that he was playing chess with Qin Ming.

On the other side, the Xishan battlefield.

Wu Qingye has put aside his current main battlefield mission and come here to lead the troops.

The imperial army seemed to have received a request from Yan Guangshou to cooperate in suppressing the Qin Ming front, and shifted its forces here.

In a short period of time, they reversed their previous momentum of inevitable defeat when encountering Southern Dynasty soldiers and defeated the front-line troops arranged by Wu Qingye.

"General, the Sun family mines in Xishan, Wulong Ridge, Honglin Mountain, Taihetan and other places have all been attacked."

Xishan is different from the Central Plains. It is located in the northwest region and has many natural barriers to defend.

As soon as Wu Qingye arrived here, he ordered his men to occupy various advantageous areas.

However, due to limited troop strength, they only cared about the beginning and not the end.

Some areas that were not critical were captured by the Northern Dynasty troops.

This made the generals of the Northern Dynasty even more excited, and they all felt that the situation had reversed.

"Withdraw the soldiers from all the dangerous places and take back all the important and unimportant places that have been taken away."

Wu Qingye pondered for a moment and gave the order directly.

"General, if you withdraw the soldiers, we may lose the battle."

"Don't worry, they don't dare."

Wu Qingye remembered that Qin Ming had told him about the current situation of the imperial army.

They have a large number of people, but no one can take the lead.

Now they are immediately gaining momentum, which will give the Northern Dynasty troops confidence.

By then, there will be some soldiers who dare to fight against me head-on.

That's the trouble.

Therefore, the most urgent task is to destroy their momentum!

As long as they are ahead strategically and put pressure on the other side, they will go downhill further and further.

"Yes!"

Soon, Wu Qingye's troops began to move.

The imperial army was not like Yan Guangshou, who had so many slave cannon fodder available.

In just one night, Wulong Ridge, Honglin Mountain, Taihetan and other places were all captured.

Wu Qingye personally led his team to fight with the enemy.

In one go, they used up 20% of the gunpowder in the entire Xishan Fortress and killed tens of thousands of Northern Dynasty soldiers.

As he expected, all the imperial troops fled before dawn.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wu Qingye re-consolidated the Xishan defense line and made it impregnable.

The Northern Dynasty troops who came to investigate found that the number of bunkers in various fortresses and the depth of the trenches were much greater than before.

When the news reached Yan Guangshou's ears, he was furious!

"Asshole! Asshole!!"

"What kind of genius is this! How could he fight such a pathetic battle? The Northern Dynasty had hundreds of thousands of troops, and they had to retreat over fifty miles after losing less than 10% of their troops?"

"Is your life so precious?"

The angry Yan Guangshou kept roaring and slamming the table to vent his anger.

In just a few days, his troops exceeded their mission.

Most of Chen Pi's artillery fire had been consumed, and even the fight with Yan Guangshou began to turn into hand-to-hand combat.

But the Xishan battlefield gave him a chilling feeling!

Yan Guangshou, furious, wrote a letter and handed it to the messenger from the Northern Dynasty.

"Give this to your emperor! Tell him that if you continue to fight like this, I will return to the Yan Dynasty immediately!"