Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Upon hearing the soldier's words, Lu Yi and everyone else in the courtyard were stunned.

They could hardly believe what they were hearing.

After regaining his senses, Lu Yi hurriedly asked, "What! What did you say! You found something that can make the weapons used in the Northern Kingdom?"

The soldier replied excitedly, "Yes, Your Highness, our men encountered a group of fake Taoist priests. These fake priests specialize in selling useless fake pills, and many of our soldiers have fallen for their tricks, spending large sums of money to buy their useless pills."

"When our people discovered the hiding place of these fake Taoists and were about to arrest them, they happened to find them refining pills. Just then, their pill furnace suddenly exploded, and several of the fake Taoists were cut by the flying fragments of the furnace."

"I immediately noticed that the explosion of the alchemy furnace was very similar to the explosion of the iron ball, so I arrested those fake Taoists and questioned them. According to their confessions, their furnaces often exploded when they were refining elixirs."

"If we can replicate what they used to destroy their furnaces, we'll surely be able to manufacture weapons like those from the North!"

Upon hearing the soldier's reply, Lu Yi was taken aback at first, but after regaining his senses, he suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, hahaha, it seems heaven hasn't forsaken me!"

At this moment, the others in the courtyard all said, "Congratulations, Your Highness! Congratulations, Your Highness!"

"Once we manufacture weapons similar to those of the Northern Kingdom, we'll never have to fear them again!"

"The Crown Prince is truly the chosen one!"

……

Hearing the congratulations, Lu Yi's face broke into a smug smile. After laughing for a while, Lu Yi immediately stood up and said, "Take me to see those fake Taoist priests!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

The soldiers then led Lu Yi to the place where the fake Taoist priests were being held.

The fake Taoist priests were terrified when they saw Lu Yi. They thought he was going to kill them all. But when Lu Yi saw them, he had a smile on his face and didn't seem to have any intention of killing them at all.

Lu Yi glanced at the fake Taoist priests locked in the cell and said to the soldiers beside him, "They are all talented people. How can you keep them locked up? Release them immediately."

The soldiers reacted instantly and quickly opened the cell door.

Seeing this, the fake Taoist priests were dumbfounded. They sold fake pills to the Crown Prince's soldiers, but the Crown Prince didn't seem angry at all. Instead, he said they were talented people. What was going on?

Just then, the leader of the fake Taoist priests immediately knelt on the ground and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for sparing our lives!"

Seeing that their heads had all knelt down, the other fake Taoist priests quickly knelt down as well, saying in unison, "Thank you, Your Highness, for sparing our lives!"

Lu Yi said with a smile, "Get up, everyone."

Everyone then thanked him in unison, saying, "Thank you, Your Highness!"

After everyone stood up, seeing Lu Yi's smile, they were somewhat puzzled as to how Lu Yi planned to deal with them.

Should we just release them?

That shouldn't be possible, right?

At this moment, the leader of the fake Taoist priests said, "Your Highness, if there is anything we can do to help you, we will do our utmost, even at the cost of our lives."

They weren't stupid; if Lu Yi didn't kill them, he must have something to ask them.

Lu Yi said, "You are a smart man, so I will be frank."

"I need you to stay by my side and manufacture weapons."

Upon hearing this, the fake Taoist priests were stunned.

Manufacturing weapons?

They don't make weapons.

The fake Taoist leader hurriedly said, "Your Highness, we are not blacksmiths and do not know how to make weapons. There is no use for you to keep us. At most, we can only help the blacksmiths."

Lu Yi said calmly, "The weapon I want is no ordinary weapon."

"I have heard that your alchemy furnaces often explode during alchemy. I need you to write down the things that cause the furnaces to explode and to create something that can stabilize them."

Upon hearing Lu Yi's words, the fake Taoists instantly understood what he needed. However, they didn't answer immediately. Seeing their leader deep in thought, Lu Yi's face darkened, and he coldly asked, "What, you can't do it?"

Lu Yi's words instantly brought the fake Taoist leader back to his senses. He quickly replied, "We can do it! We know how to make the alchemy furnace explode!"

The fake Taoist leader knew very well that if they couldn't keep their word, they would be worthless in front of Lu Yi, and their only fate would be beheading.

Upon hearing the fake Taoist's words, Lu Yi showed a satisfied expression and then said, "Tell the soldiers what you need, and they will provide it for you."

"If anything you manufacture causes an explosion that kills people or animals, I will give you a thousand taels of gold! And when I ascend the throne, I will also bestow official titles and ranks upon you!"

The fake Taoist priests quickly replied, "Thank you, Your Highness! We will certainly not let you down!"

Lu Yi then turned to his guards and said, "Arrange the best accommodations for them and prepare the best food."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Lu Yi didn't say anything more. He then turned around and left, returning to the courtyard he had just been in.

At this moment, a military officer approached Lu Yi and asked, "Your Highness, the Northern King is now very powerful. Judging from his appearance, he will probably reach the capital in less than half a year. Should we continue to approach the capital now?"

Upon hearing this question, Lu Yi fell into deep thought. After a while, another military officer said, "With the imperial cavalry blocking our way, we may find it difficult to continue. Moreover, once the northern army marches south, we will have no choice but to give way."

"Now that Your Highness possesses the method to manufacture weapons from the North, why don't we temporarily avoid the conflict and head south? Once we have a large quantity of those iron ball weapons, we can then launch a counterattack."

Upon hearing this suggestion, Lu Yi said, "That's a good idea."

"Alright, we'll head south in a while."

Although there are Zhao King's troops in the south, Zhao King's focus is now on the capital, and he doesn't have much energy to pay attention to them.

In addition, King Zhao had previously destroyed many vassal kings, and some of their subordinates had always been dissatisfied with him. Furthermore, some of the descendants of those vassal kings harbored ambitions to re-establish their own kingdoms. If he were to head south now, and were to make some promises to those descendants of the vassal kings, they might very well pledge allegiance to him.

It wouldn't be particularly difficult for him to carve out his own territory in the south.

a few days later.

The capital of the Kingdom of Qi.

A tall, handsome man rode a white horse slowly into the capital, where people from the Qi Kingdom lined both sides of the road.

After the Northern Kingdom army captured the capital of Qi Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom soldiers did not harass the people of the capital. The Northern Kingdom army only wiped out a few powerful families, then supported a new administrator, and had the people count the land and sign agreements to change the ownership of the land.

Apart from that, the Northern army did nothing to harm the people. Most importantly, as soon as the Northern army arrived, they immediately announced a tax exemption, which made the people feel more favorably toward the Northern King.

After laying the groundwork, Lu Chen finally arrived at the capital of Qi Kingdom. (End of Chapter)