Just as the officers and soldiers retreated slightly, five Youyan Dao ships had taken advantage of the wind and quickly docked at the ferry pier. Four or five springboards were placed on each side of the ship. In the blink of an eye, countless soldiers wearing red military uniforms of Youyan Road, holding giant shields and short swords, lined up by the river. Then he slowly advanced forward, standing only a hundred paces in front of the officers and soldiers, and then stopped to confront Qi.
Qiu Yizhi lay on the ground and raised his head to observe with difficulty. When he saw the clothes and weapons of these soldiers, he knew that they were the world-famous main infantry of the Youyan Army - "Dangya Camp", and his hanging heart suddenly dropped halfway. , stood up with his head tilted, and hid behind Toya Camp. He stood on tiptoes and looked around again, and saw that everyone who was lying on the ground had also stood upright. Apart from being covered in mud and looking a little embarrassed, no one was found injured. He finally swallowed Take this reassurance in your mouth.
Everyone escaped from the capital city of Luoyang with a narrow escape, and almost all died on the bank of the Yellow River. However, there is no road ahead. The reinforcements from Youyan Dao arrived in time and rescued them from the cliff. They all showed palms on their foreheads. Celebrate.
On top of the big ship, I saw a young general walking down quickly, hurriedly walked to Zheng Rong, supported him, and said with a cry in his mouth: "The child came a little late and frightened the father. It is really unfilial! How unfilial! My father is really suffering when he comes to Beijing. If I had known this, I would rather take my place..."
When Qiu Yizhi saw that this person was Zheng Miao, the third son with whom she was the best friend among Zheng Rong's three sons, Qiu Yizhi also hurried forward to greet him. Without much greeting, she only interrupted him and said, "I don't need to apologize now." When the time comes, why not hurry up and escort your adoptive father, master, and everyone else aboard!”
After listening to Qiu Yizhi's words, Zheng Miao finally suppressed the complex emotions of grief, anger, and happiness, calmed down, and said: "Without further delay, please ask your father to board the ship first. The child will be here by himself." Will handle it!”
After hearing this, Zheng Rong showed a pleased expression on his face. He reached out and patted Zheng Miao's shoulder and said, "Okay! Okay!" Before he finished speaking, he collapsed.
Zheng Miao was shocked when he saw it. He quickly waved to several people and ordered Zheng Rong to be carried on the boat first, and the rest of the people would follow him to board the boat and go home.
This group of people who had fled all the way from Luoyang, the capital, were not cowardly, but were really exhausted. They waited for Zheng Miao to order a retreat, agreed in unison, and then surrounded Zheng Rong and boarded the warship. In less than a bowl of tea, the more than 100 people stranded on the bank of the Yellow River had already evacuated to the warship. However, they were still uneasy and leaned on the railing to observe the movements on the bank.
Only Qiu Yizhi and Zhongli Kuang did not join the others on the boat. Instead, they mustered up their last energy and stood on both sides of Zheng Miao. They only heard Zhongli Kuang say: "Dai Luanxiang on the other side should not be underestimated. You still need to deal with it carefully. , as long as the soldiers from the Dangya camp can be safely withdrawn to Youyan, it will be a great achievement!"
Zhongli Kuang's words spoke to Qiu Yi's heart. He had just seen that the Forbidden Army under the command of Dai Luanxiang was very organized in their advance and retreat. Even if they were suddenly attacked, they could retreat in an orderly manner without giving the other side any chance to take advantage of the chaos. They were truly worthy of the reputation of "famous generals in the country".
Zheng Miao also saw that the officers and soldiers on the opposite side were majestic and their flags were clear, and he did not dare to take it lightly. So he raised the flag in his hand and pointed it in the direction of several warships behind him. At that time, he held up his shield and marched slowly and orderly. Go backwards.
Although Dai Luanxiang on the opposite side intended to command his imperial troops to come forward to capture him, seeing that Youyan's army was well-organized and advanced and retreated in a controlled manner, he couldn't help but secretly admire Youyan's army for living up to its reputation as the "strongest army in the world", so he had no choice but to restrain his men not to underestimate the enemy. Advance rashly to avoid disaster.
Although Dai Luanxiang could still command Ruoding, the eunuch supervising the army beside him had already lost his composure. He bared his teeth and shouted: "Marshal Dai, Prince Youyan is about to run back, why don't you order his arrest quickly?"
Dai Luanxiang was polite to the eunuch and explained: "Father, look across the street is the famous 'Dangya Camp' under King Youyan. It is well-equipped and well-trained. We came all the way and didn't pay much attention to the soldiers." A, if we confront him head-on, it will be no different than committing suicide. Look at the warships on the Yellow River. The crossbowmen on them are all aiming towards me. Even if we can rely on the strength of our numbers, we can defeat them. Yaying, when the enemy fires thousands of arrows, they will all be destroyed!"
The eunuch didn't care, and said: "The Za family doesn't know so much. We only know that missing the emperor's imperial edict is not a trivial matter. As for the death of these hard-working soldiers, what does it matter?"
Before Dai Luanxiang could answer, the lieutenants around him were already irritated by these words. In an instant, more than a dozen eyes stared at the eunuch with angry looks.
The eunuch felt uncomfortable when everyone saw him. The muscles on his face twitched involuntarily, and he cursed at the top of his voice: "What's wrong? What are you looking at the Zajia? Let me tell you, the Zajia is an imperial envoy with an order, and he violated the Zajia's order." , that’s rebellion!”
Before he finished speaking, the few generals who had just spoken were not timid at all and were still staring at the fat eunuch.
Dai Luanxiang saw that the eunuch had offended the public and hurriedly tried to smooth things over and said: "There is a saying that 'if the general is outside, the emperor's orders will not be obeyed'. On the battlefield, the soldiers are fierce and dangerous, and the situation can change at any time. Naturally, there are those who can win. There are battles that cannot be won. The current Emperor Yingrui must also understand our difficulties. If you want to blame me, you can only blame Dai for being too hasty when he set off and not carrying a heavy armor and crossbow, which allowed the prince to be safe. Go across the river."
The eunuch listened for a moment, but understood in his heart: when Dai Luanxiang received the order to pursue Zheng Rong a few days ago, he originally planned to pack all the equipment before setting off, but he couldn't resist the constant urging of the eunuch himself, so he hurriedly led the attack, so he let the tiger return to the mountain. In the final analysis, you have to bear the blame yourself.
Thinking of this, the eunuch finally let out a dissatisfied "hum" and stopped talking.
So Youyan's army took this opportunity and all boarded the warship. Upon hearing the order, the river workers on the ship unfurled the warship, turned around into the wind, used the skill of rowing against the current, and continuously rowed curves on the wide Yellow River to Youyan Road. And go.
Qiu Yizhi stood next to Zheng Miao and saw Anhe Town in the distance gradually being swallowed up by the horizon. He breathed a long sigh of relief, as if he wanted to spit out all the fatigue, depression, indignation and melancholy of the past half month on the Yellow River. , but said in his mouth: "Third brother, you see that Marshal Dai Luanxiang knows how to advance and retreat, and his command is flawless. I am afraid that we will have a battle with him in the future, and we don't know how to deal with the enemy."
Zheng Miao also looked far behind and said: "Brother, you have worked so hard this time. You can rescue my father from the dragon's den and fulfill your filial piety for our brothers. You are really a benefactor to us! Come on, please come first." Accept my obeisance!" After saying that, his knees softened and he knelt down.
Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he saw it, and quickly leaned down, helped Zheng Miao up, and said: "Third brother, why do you have to do this? My foster father has been as kind as a mountain to me. If there is trouble, I will sacrifice my life to save him. This is the son of man." I can’t bear this bow!”
Zheng Miao still wanted to praise a few words, but she heard a female voice coming from behind: "Is the third highness the only one to thank Qiu Yizhi?"
Zheng Miao quickly turned around and saw Princess Yiran from Bohai, wearing a military uniform, standing behind her with her hands on her hips and her mouth pouted. She smiled, cupped her hands towards Yiran and said, "Good Princess! What you said is right. That's right, let's take a bow first!" He is similar in age to Yiran, and they often played together when they were young, and their relationship with Yiran is also very good.
Yiran didn't seem to appreciate it, and said: "What credit do I have, I'm just following you around. If you really want to thank me, you should go and thank Saint Wen from the Tianzun Sect first!" After that, he turned around and left.
Zheng Miao stood there, stunned for a long time, still unable to figure out the meaning of Yiran's words, and asked Qiu Yizhidao: "What does Princess Yiran mean by this? What does this matter have to do with the Tianzun Sect?"
Qiu Yizhi sighed and said: "Third brother, don't pay attention to her. The princess loses her temper not once or twice. As for the matter of Tianzun Sect, I will explain it to third brother when I return to Guangyang." As he said that, the conversation changed. , "My foster father was assassinated in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, and he has been on a bumpy journey. He is weak and my little brother is uneasy. We should ask An to visit him first!"
Zheng Miao felt that what Qiu Yizhi said was reasonable, nodded, and then led Qiu Yizhi to a wooden house on the deck, and said loudly to the door: "Children Zheng Miao and Qiu Yizhi are here to pay their respects to their father! "
"You all come in!" It was Zhongli Kuang's voice that came from the room.
Zheng Miao hurriedly opened the door and went in. He saw Zheng Rong lying on the bed and had fallen asleep. Zhongli Kuang was sitting on one side to take his pulse. He walked softly to the two of them and asked, "Master, how is my father's health?" ?”
Zhongli Kuang took another pulse for a while, then stuffed Zheng Rong's exposed wrist under the quilt again, then raised his head and replied: "The prince's pulse was weak when he left the capital. After this twists and turns, the pulse became more and more disordered. However, the prince has been practicing martial arts since he was a child. , I have good muscles and bones from beating. As long as I take good care of myself, I will be able to regain my strength in just half a month!”
Zheng Miao and Qiu Yizhi felt a little relieved after hearing this. Zheng Miao then said to Zhongli Kuang: "Master has also suffered on this trip, and he must be exhausted! Now we are traveling against the current and wind. It will take a whole day to cross the Yellow River. Please ask Master Let’s take a rest first.”
Zhongli Kuang nodded and said: "You two have such filial piety, I am very happy as a teacher. However, although we are out of danger now, our affairs will be even busier in the future, especially the military affairs for the defense of Youyan Road. It's an urgent matter and there can't be any delay. Come on, master, I'll tell you. If there's anything wrong, I'll blame it."
Unexpectedly, before Zhongli Kuang finished speaking, Zheng Rong woke up and said, "Mr. Zhongli, please speak. I will lie here and listen." His tone was a little weak, but his speech was still very clear.
So Zhongli Kuang nodded and said: "That student is not talented, so I ask the prince for advice!" (To be continued)