The battle progressed very quickly.
In the blink of an eye, Qiu Yizhi's personal soldiers chopped down three or four more Japanese. The Japanese, relying on the advantage of their long and sharp Japanese swords, also chopped down several opponents.
Qiu Yizhi was in command of the battle formation. Although the Japanese suffered heavy losses, they were still very motivated and showed no signs of retreating. He was afraid that his soldiers might lose their lives due to carelessness, so he secretly said to Yuchi Jiming beside him: "The Japanese don't understand tactics, and there is a big gap behind them. Jiming, you should take advantage of the opportunity and quickly defeat these Japanese to avoid further entanglement!"
Yuchi Jiming had been eager to try, and when he heard Qiu Yizi's order, he immediately rushed out with a knife in hand.
She displayed her supreme lightness skill and leapt over the heads of the group of Japanese soldiers. She then turned beautifully and gracefully in the air, stood firmly facing the back of the Japanese soldiers, and then raised her knife to chop at their backs.
The Japanese were attacked from behind and panicked. Some of them were quick to react and turned around to attack Yuchi Jiming. Yuchi Jiming had already seen through the Japanese's moves and did not fight them head-on, but just dodged from a distance to avoid their sharp edge.
The Japanese pirates were caught in the trap and immediately started to curse. Although the Chinese could not understand the meaning of their words, they guessed that they were angry and swearing. However, they cursed, but they could not catch up with Yuchi Jiming anyway. They could only look at Yuchi Jiming who was waiting for them in the distance, and then turned around to fight with the enemy head-on.
When Yuchi Jiming saw him turning around, he used his extremely quick movements to sneak up to the side of one of the Japanese and chopped him down with his sword, seriously injuring him.
After several rounds of fighting, the original twenty or thirty Japanese had been killed or wounded, leaving only two or three wounded people still resisting stubbornly.
Seeing the situation reversed, Qiu Yizhi relaxed his tense nerves. He looked up and saw that the masked man who had led the group had already run away. His heart tightened again and he hurriedly ordered, "Don't kill all the Japanese. Leave two alive. I want to interrogate them carefully!"
Qiu Yizhi's personal soldiers naturally did not dare to disobey his orders. Relying on the numerical advantage that had been reversed, they slowly dispersed their formation and surrounded the three Japanese.
The three Japanese were also seriously injured and could barely stand. They were completely unable to compete with Qiu Yizi and others.
Just when everyone thought the battle was about to end, they saw the three Japanese men lowered their heads and discussed for a while, then suddenly threw away the long swords in their hands, drew out the short swords from their waists that were slightly longer than the daggers, and raised their hands to stab themselves in the stomach.
"What? Suicide!" Even a well-informed person like Qiu Yizhi did not expect that these Japanese would choose to end their lives when they were at the end of their rope. He panicked and hurriedly ordered his soldiers to rescue them.
However, he did not expect that these Japanese were very determined to die. The short knives pierced all his internal organs at an angle, and then twisted them around in his abdomen for countless times, crushing all his internal organs.
This group of Japanese, whose origins were unknown, died so tragically that even Qiu Yizhi's former bandit soldiers were deeply shocked and looked at each other in confusion. Li Shenshi and Yang Ying'er in the team had fainted from fear, and only Miaozhen was still calm, but she was speechless.
Qiu Yizi let out a long sigh and looked around at his personal soldiers. He saw that although none of them lost any lives, everyone had suffered several minor injuries, especially the "Iron Head Dragon", who had a long wound from the left chest to the right abdomen. Although it looked horrifying, his belly was not cut open, and the bleeding stopped after a simple treatment.
Qiu Yizhi said with lingering fear: "Although these Japanese are all barbarians, they are quite courageous. We cannot humiliate them." After that, he found an articulate person among his personal soldiers and ordered, "Go to the nearby village and find a few strong men. Tell them that the government army successfully suppressed the bandits and ask them to help bury the bodies. This will also be a way to let these Japanese rest in peace."
He then loudly ordered the troops, "These Japanese believed the bandits' slander and wanted to come and rob the prisoners. This matter is of great importance and cannot be easily publicized, otherwise you will blame the military law for being ruthless. Do you understand?"
"I understand!" Although the soldiers responded in unison, they were somewhat weak.
Qiu Yizhi knew clearly who was behind the attempt to rob prisoners on the way - it must be Yin Chengliang. However, he was very secretive and actually thought of hiring Japanese to commit the crime - not to mention that these Japanese were very stubborn and all committed suicide without leaving a single one alive; even if one or two were captured alive, they could not communicate with each other in writing, so naturally they could not ask any truth or falsehood.
However, after going through this storm, Qiu Yizi became more cautious. Along the way, he would rather slow down, take more main roads, choose smooth and stable official roads, and stay in clean and reliable inns.
In this way, from Shanyin County to Jinling City, a distance of only a few hundred miles, Qiu Yizi actually walked for a full ten days before he sent Yang Ying'er, Miao Zhen, and Li Shenshi to the Qixia Temple where His Highness Zheng Xin was staying.
Qixia Temple had already vacated the corresponding house for the three people to stay and be detained according to Zheng Xin's instructions. However, Zheng Xin did not expect Qiu Yizi to be away for half a month before returning, so he was puzzled: "I thought that brother would be back within ten days, but I didn't expect to wait for fifteen days. I wonder if there was any accident on the way?"
Qiu Yizi was just thinking about how to bring up the topic to tell Zheng Xin about herself being attacked by the Japanese. When Zheng Xin asked her about it, she took the opportunity to say, "It's all thanks to the majesty's grace and your highness's blessing, otherwise I might never have seen your highness!" Then, Qiu Yizi told Zheng Xin how she was attacked by the Japanese on the way.
Zheng Xin held his breath and listened to Qiu Yizhi's words, then he heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Fortunately, I have Yuchi Lianghong's daughter with me, otherwise it would be hard to predict whether I would live or die!" He paused and said, "But according to my speculation, who do you think is the mastermind behind these Japanese?"
Hearing this, Qiu Yizhi stole a glance at Zheng Xin and thought: My elder brother is not a stupid person, how could he not guess that Yin Chengliang was the mastermind behind this? He was just too proud of his status and didn't want to say these three words.
If ordinary people heard Zheng Xin's question, they would inevitably think about it. However, Qiu Yizhi grew up with him and was a bold man. After a little thought, he said, "I am not a great person. It's just that the prisoners I escorted have caused trouble for several officials in the Jiangnan officialdom. If that's the case, then the mastermind must be a big shot in the Jiangnan officialdom."
"Oh? Then who is the so-called 'big boss in Jiangnan officialdom' that brother is talking about?" Zheng Xin continued to play dumb.
Qiu Yizi thought to himself: My elder brother is really a very honest person. Yin Chengliang is already a nominal person on the emperor's side and has long been a dead tiger. What's the taboo about pointing out him
So he blurted out: "It's Yin Chengliang. In my humble opinion, it's Yin Chengliang!"
After hearing this, Zheng Xin felt relieved and said, "Brother, you are indeed smart. Father often praises you. It is reasonable to say that the mastermind must be Yin Chengliang. However, this matter is a side issue of the "Liaochen Palace" case, and there is no evidence. I hope you will not spread the news easily."
Qiu Yizi nodded, thinking: Just based on the involvement in this "Thirteen Lives Case", it is enough to make Yin Chengliang never recover, there is really no need to create more complications, so he said: "I understand."
Zheng Xin said sternly: "Brother, you may not know all the details of this matter!"
Qiu Yizhi was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "What other connections are there? Your Highness, please enlighten me!"
When Qiu Yizhi was a student in his early years, he was arrogant because of his intelligence. Except for his adoptive father Zheng Rong and his master Zhong Likuang, he looked down on everyone. I didn't expect that he would ask me for advice today!
Zheng Xin felt indescribably happy when he thought of this. He calmed himself down and said in a serious tone, "If Yin Chengliang had ordered ordinary bandits or heroes, it would be nothing more than a charge of assassinating an official of the imperial court. It would not matter whether he was charged or not. However, he was ignorant and colluded with the Japanese. In this way, he has committed the serious crime of colluding with foreign countries and plotting against the law. According to the law, he should be charged with treason!"
Qiu Yizhi had never thought of this. Zheng Xin suddenly said this, which made him shudder. He hurriedly said, "I am very stupid and didn't think of this. But this matter is really important. If we keep it secret, it will not be a long-term solution. I wonder what your Highness has in mind?"
Zheng Xin glanced at Qiu Yi and said, "This matter is of great importance. Even I dare not act on my own. I have to ask the emperor for instructions before I can handle it. But this case cannot be confused with the case of 'Liaochen Palace'. It needs to be handled separately, that's for sure."
This is indeed a safe plan, and Qiu Yizi nodded continuously after hearing it.
Seeing this, Zheng Xin continued, “If you trust me, then I will handle this case personally, and I will not get involved.”
Qiu Yizi just wanted to be a humble official in peace, and he really didn't want to get involved in matters related to the central government, so he immediately agreed, "Your Highness, since you can take on this for me, I'm more than happy to do so."
After hearing this, Zheng Xin secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This Yin Chengliang is full of troubles. He is the most boring. It is better not to mention him!" He changed the subject and said, "It is said that this 'Miaozhen Lay Buddhist' is interesting. How about taking me to meet her?"
Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he heard this, and thought to himself, "Why didn't His Highness first ask about the plaintiff's situation after I just escorted the relevant people here, but instead thought of meeting the main culprit first?"
However, he changed his mind and thought: After all, this group of people will be temporarily detained in Qixia Temple. Even if Zheng Xin does not meet him today, there will be countless opportunities for him to meet him privately in the future. If he tries to stop them at this moment, it will not only be futile, but will also offend the Grand Prince for nothing, which will do him more harm than good.
Therefore, Qiu Yizhi hesitated for a moment and said, "Since His Majesty wants to see me, then there is nothing wrong with that. But Miao Zhen is quite skilled in martial arts and is extremely cruel. I think it would be best if Yuchi Jiming, Yuchi Lianghong's daughter, accompanies her. This way, there will be no risk."
Zheng Xin thought for a moment and said, "Okay, you can ask Yuchi Jiming to go with you."
Mr. Miaozhen was placed in a secluded Zen room, surrounded by guards brought by Zheng Xin from the capital, and the security was quite tight.
Qiu Yizi felt a little relieved when she saw this. She pushed the door open and saw Miaozhen alone in the Zen room. Although she was still wearing handcuffs and shackles, she looked very calm. She was meditating and chanting in the middle of the empty Zen room with her eyes slightly closed, as if she had entered a state of concentration.
The leading guard under Zheng Xin saw Miao Zhen acting like a nobody and immediately became angry. He shouted, "Hey! You thief nun, we are here, how dare you sleep here? Do you want to live?" (To be continued)