Although it was Qiu Yizi who wanted to rescue Dai Luanxiang's family and leave the capital, Dai's mother's horsemanship was more skilled than everyone imagined. Instead, it was this old lady, who was nearly 70 years old, who took the lead and led everyone straight to Ximing Gate.
Ximing Gate was the main thoroughfare for merchants from the western part of the Han Dynasty to travel to the capital. There were many people entering and leaving the city. In addition, the court was currently at war with the Prince of Youyan, so the inspections were more careful and strict. As a result, it was not uncommon to see a long queue of people leaving the city in front of Ximing Gate.
It was late autumn now, and the cold wind blew the fallen leaves all over the streets, making people feel cold.
The team leading Dai's mother out of the city was so long that if they and their companions followed the rules and lined up to leave the city, it would take at least an hour. By that time, the news might have leaked out, and the court would send a large army to capture them, and they would never be able to escape.
Thinking of this, Dai's mother gently squeezed the horse's belly with her legs, drove the horse across the winding team, and only stopped the horse when she reached the gate of Ximing.
The merchants and travelers passing by the pass found it very strange to see an old lady in military uniform riding a horse. They also saw that she was wearing an ornate phoenix crown on her head, which was even more rare. So they held their breath and listened to the old lady saying to the guards: "I want to go out of the city for a walk. Open the city gate for me!"
The soldier had a childish face, and it was not known whether he was loyal to his duty or he did not know the identity of Dai's mother at all, so he replied: "Please go back and line up. There is no rule of cutting in line here." His words were quite polite.
"Humph, there is no such rule? Do you know who I am?" Dai's mother put on the airs of a lady of noble rank, "Who is the chief captain on duty today?"
"It's Li Duofu, Lord Li. What's the matter? Does the old lady want to see him for something?" the soldier replied.
Dai's mother laughed and said, "Oh, it's Xiao Duozi! Go and call him over!" Seeing that the soldier was standing there in a daze, she simply shouted, "Is Xiao Duozi here? The old widow of the Dai family is here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, an officer in the uniform of a lieutenant came running out from nowhere. When he saw Mother Dai, he bowed and said, "Oh, it turns out that the old lady has come. Why didn't you send someone to inform her so that I could come out to greet her?"
Dai's mother said calmly: "You, Xiao Duozi, were a personal soldier under my old man in the past. You followed my son to fight and herd horses more than once. But you are an official of the court now. How dare I, an old widow, order you around? Stand up and speak!" Dai's mother was nearly 70 years old. If she showed off her seniority, it would be enough to scare people.
The captain stood up and smiled awkwardly: "What are you talking about, old lady? If it weren't for the cultivation of the old master and Marshal Dai, how could I be where I am today? If the old lady has anything to tell you, send someone to tell me. Shouldn't I just go and ask for your advice?"
Mother Dai smiled and said, "Everyone says that you, Xiao Duozi, are good at speaking. These few words are quite pleasant to the ear. Today, I feel in good spirits and want to take my two grandchildren out of town to play. I wonder if Xiao Duozi can make it convenient for me?"
Li Duofu said with difficulty: "Under normal circumstances, even if the old lady demolished the Ximing Gate, I would help you repair it. But now the situation is probably known to the old lady. If anything happens, I can't bear the responsibility. I hope the old lady will understand."
Mother Dai twisted her neck and said, "What is the current situation? How come I don't know? I was granted the first-rank imperial decree by the imperial court, so why can't I leave your little Ximing Gate?"
Li Duofu smiled and said carefully: "You are joking, old lady. There are rumors in the court recently that Marshal Dai did something... right? So, old lady can't do anything casually..."
Dai's mother argued with him again, "What are you talking about? Why is it that I, an old woman, can no longer understand what you are saying?"
Li Duofu was embarrassed and was about to explain, but Qiu Yizi rushed over, took out the token of the Persuasion Department from her bosom, waved it in front of Li Duofu and said, "The Persuasion Department wants to go out of the city with the old lady to do some work. What? Do they need to go through you?"
Li Duofu was shocked when he heard this and quickly turned to look at Dai's mother.
Mother Dai said, "That's right. I heard there are some rumors around my son recently. I just want to persuade him not to be deceived by the villains."
After hearing this, Li Duofu thought: Today, rumors are spreading in the capital that Marshal Dai of the front army has an affair with Prince Youyan, and the emperor is about to punish him; and Marshal Dai is a very filial person, so it is not surprising that the court asked the old lady to personally come out and give him some advice.
Since everything went smoothly, Li Duofu naturally had no reason to stop them, so he said a few more words, made way for Qiu Yizi and the others to leave Ximing Gate.
Qiu Yizi, Dai Mu and a group of six people bypassed Luoyang and headed westward day and night.
The Dai family is descended from a military family. Dai Luanxiang's son Dai Song and daughter Dai Yinping are skilled in archery and horse riding, so there is nothing to say about it. However, Dai's mother is still in good shape. She rides on a horse and gallops without losing to the young people. You can't tell at all that she is nearly 70 years old.
Qiu Yizi was curious when she saw this, so she chatted with the old lady for a while. Then she found out:
It turned out that Dai's mother was born into a martial arts family in Shanxi and Shaanxi, and had close contacts with the Yuchi family. In terms of seniority, Yuchi Lianghong had to call her aunt.
Dai Luanxiang's father led troops to Hetao to fight against the Turks. He was defeated in the first battle, seriously injured, and was chased by the Turks. At this time, Dai's mother, who was still in her teens, followed her uncle to escort the imperial officers back to her hometown. When she saw the imperial officers being chased by the Turks, she rescued them and led the martial arts people to help the imperial court kill all the Turkic cavalry.
The emperor at that time saw that this was a good story, so he simply granted the two people a marriage and bestowed the title of first-rank imperial edict on Dai's mother. At that time, Dai Luanxiang's father was only a third-rank general who conquered the north!
Therefore, this group of people moved extremely quickly. After leaving the capital, it took only two days for them to return to the dilapidated Taoist temple where they started.
At this time, among the trusted bandits sent by Qiu Yizhi to search for the wounded, three of them had already returned with 18 wounded and sick people who had strayed from the team. The people these two were looking for were not far away from here. When they heard that it was His Highness Yi Qiu Yizhi who summoned them, they were all grateful and followed here without saying a word.
Qiu Yizi saw that after these days of rest, some of them with minor injuries had recovered, while some of them with serious injuries still had some difficulty in moving their legs and feet, so he comforted them one by one and let them recuperate in this Taoist temple.
Two days later, the remaining fourteen bandits who were sent out to search for the wounded also returned. Except for the one who was seriously injured and died soon after he left the team, they brought back exactly eighty people. These eighty people were originally the elite soldiers selected by Zheng Rong from the elite soldiers of Youyan. Among them, there were several thousand commanders and centurions. For example, Shi Wei, who was in charge of the prostitute business in the warm tent camp in the army, was also selected because of his quick speech and work. Qiu Yizi had talked to most of the others before, or had met them once, so they could be considered acquaintances.
Thus, Qiu Yi had two capable generals, Yuchi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao, eighteen Yunmeng Mountain bandits as his confidants, and eighty-two of the ninety-eight elite wounded who were able to fight, excluding Dai Mu, Dai Song and Dai Yinping - it was already a very capable team.
Despite this, Qiu Yizi still did not dare to feel at ease. The reason was that when he was in the capital, he had heard from the deceased captain of the Quanshan Division that the court had sent people to withdraw Dai Luanxiang from the front line and immediately escorted him to the capital and through the customs.
If the team escorting Dai Luanxiang slipped past his nose and entered the capital city of Luoyang, then this plan that he had worked so hard to implement would fail - not to mention that the plan to defeat the imperial guards by surrendering Dai Luanxiang would fail, he would not be able to explain to Dai's mother and her two grandchildren.
So Qiu Yizhi ordered seven of the clear-headed ones among his eighteen trusted bandits to go to the only way from Tongguan to Beijing. If they found Dai Luanxiang, they should rush back to report immediately without any delay. Still worried, he asked Yuchi Lianghong to issue a hero order in the martial arts world, asking anyone who knew Dai Luanxiang's whereabouts to report it to the leader of the martial arts world immediately.
Although Qiu Yizi's deployment was just a matter of fact, he had already subtly woven a thorough intelligence network in the Kinki area.
Sure enough, after only two or three days, news came from people in the underworld that the court had replaced Dai Luanxiang with Left General Qian Qing, and Marshal Dai would soon pass through Tongguan to report to the capital.
Although the words "reporting to the capital" sounded nice, Qiu Yizhi and others were worried: changing commanders before a battle was a big taboo in the military. In fact, the court did not trust Dai Luanxiang, so they deprived him of his military power and forced him to return to the capital for further treatment. Therefore, Qiu Yizhi did not dare to neglect it, and ordered the scattered soldiers to gather again under Tongguan, waiting for Dai Luanxiang to appear.
Two days later, news came from the front: it was said that as soon as General Qian Qing, who replaced Dai Luanxiang, took office, he launched an attack on the Youyan Army under the urging of the military supervisor eunuch. Unexpectedly, the Youyan Army was careless and lost the battle after a brief encounter, and had to retreat across the Hutuo River to confront the imperial guards. On the western front of Bianzhou, the Youyan Army was even more vulnerable, abandoning all the occupied areas in Henan, retreating back to the Youyan Road, and choosing a dangerous position to hold on.
When the military report first reached the Taoist temple, everyone was worried after hearing it.
But Qiu Yi's heart was clear: although the Left General Qian Qing could be considered a good general, he was far inferior to his adoptive father Zheng Rong and former general Dai Luanxiang; moreover, with the tenacity of the Youyan army, even if they were defeated for a while, they would surely fight back step by step. It was impossible for them to lose a large number of positions in just one day - this was just a double act performed by Zheng Rong and Zhongli Kuang to make Zheng Yao and the court officials believe that Dai Luanxiang was indeed secretly communicating with Youyan.
As expected, the imperial court troops, who were escorting Dai Luanxiang but were actually transporting him, found a county government office and put Dai Luanxiang in a prisoner car after they had passed Tongguan Pass for only a few miles. They were also afraid that the people along the way would hear the news and stop the car to protest for Dai Luanxiang, so they abandoned the broad and straight official road and took a small road to the capital Luoyang.
All these situations were under Qiu Yizi's control, especially the troops escorting Marshal Dai who were afraid of public opinion and did not dare to take the main road but took the secluded paths, which was even more to his liking.
So Qiu Yizhi called back all the capable forces and set out to rescue Dai Luanxiang. (To be continued)