Qiu Yizhi's team, when everyone was moving out of the city, went the other way and rushed into the city, which inevitably attracted the attention of the people. However, seeing that Qiu Yizhi and others were extremely capable, they thought they were a team from the court going to suppress bandits, and no one dared to ask about the situation. Many people cheered when they saw this.
Qiu Yizi had no time to deal with these people, so he rushed to the Mingzhou government office.
The further you go into the city, the fewer people there are. They must have fled outside the city. Qiu Yizhi felt relieved when she saw this, but she saw a group of eight or nine people in the street ahead, most of them dressed as Japanese pirates, holding axes and hammers, hitting the door of a large house in the city. The door of this house was only built to defend against ordinary thieves, so how could it withstand such a toss? After a few hits, the door was wide open, and the Japanese pirates entered one after another.
Qiu Yizi was extremely angry when he saw this, and he ran towards the door of that house on his first horse. Seeing this, Yuchi Jiming and his ten personal soldiers followed closely behind him.
As soon as I reached the door, I heard crying and shouting for help coming from deep inside the house. It was obvious that someone in the house did not have time to escape and was caught by the Japanese pirates.
Qiu Yizi immediately led people to search in the direction of the sound, and indeed found a group of Japanese pirates gathered in a corner of the yard, not knowing what they were doing.
Qiu Yizhi didn't have time to think about it, and with a whip, Yuchi Jiming led several personal soldiers to kill them quickly. They had fought with the Japanese pirates many times and were not afraid at all. In addition, their martial arts were extraordinary and they caught their opponents off guard. Therefore, in a blink of an eye, the Japanese pirates were killed or injured, but Qiu Yizhi's men did not lose a single one.
So Qiu Yizhi dismounted and stepped forward to check the situation. He saw that the pirates had surrounded a cellar. The cellar door had been pried open from the outside. He looked inside and saw seven or eight men and women hiding inside, all huddled in a corner with panicked expressions on their faces.
Qiu Yizhi felt sorry for them, so he said to them, "Don't be afraid, we are government troops, we have killed the pirates, you are safe now." He added, "Please come out now and quickly escape to the outside of the city along the western path - I just came from that path and didn't encounter any pirates. Also, please don't be greedy for gold and silver, act immediately, and you should be able to keep your life safe."
The people in the cellar were still in shock. After listening to Qiu Yizi's long speech, no leader came out to answer.
Qiu Yizi thought that he had important things to attend to and it was impossible for him to escort them out of the city, so he sighed, said a few words of comfort and advice to them, then turned around and was about to leave.
But a trembling voice came from the cellar: "Is this official... is he... is he Mr. Qiu Yizhi?"
Qiu Yizi was somewhat surprised to hear someone call out his name in such a place. He turned back and asked into the cellar, "I am Qiu Yizi. I wonder which old friend of mine you are? Please show yourself."
As soon as he finished speaking, a man trembled and walked out. He bowed to Qiu Yizi and said, "Yizi, have you forgotten me? I am... your uncle, Zhao Fuyi."
Qiu Yizi was extremely surprised after hearing this. He hurriedly bent down and walked into the cellar. He saw that the person who was speaking was not tall but very fat, with a face full of fat. His eyebrows were really similar to his own - it was indeed his uncle Zhao Fuyi.
Zhao Fuyi was rich but unkind. He used a poisonous scheme to seize the land of Qiu Yizhi's mother, indirectly forcing her to death. He was Qiu Yizhi's enemy. Later, Zheng Rong, the emperor of Youyan at the time, regarded Qiu Yizhi as a son of a spoiled child. When he avenged his adopted son, he wanted to execute Zhao Fuyi. However, Qiu Yizhi thought that she only had such a relative, and she couldn't bear it, so she pleaded for Zhao Fuyi to be saved, and gave him a few acres of land for his survival. However, Zhao Fuyi was a master of financial management. After a while, he became rich and wealthy.
(See Volume 1 of my book for details)
Qiu Yizi unexpectedly ran into Zhao Fuyi here and asked hurriedly, "Uncle, weren't you in Henan the last time I saw you? Why are you here in Mingzhou again?"
Zhao Fuyi replied: "Thanks to Yizhi's reminder in Huainan County, I immediately sold all my land. I thought Jiangnan was a prosperous area and far away from the war-torn areas in the Central Plains, so I moved to Mingzhou City. However, the land in Jiangnan is expensive, and the money I saved in Henan could not buy a few acres of good land, so I followed others to do business at sea, and the income was not bad..."
At this moment, Qiu Yizi had no time to listen to Zhao Fuyi's long speech about his experience. He interrupted him and said, "Now is not the time to talk. Please lead the family out of Mingzhou immediately. If you have anything to say to me, we can talk in Shanyin County."
Zhao Fuyi knew Qiu Yi's identity, and he did not dare to disobey his orders. He quickly mustered up his courage and called the servants in the cellar to come out. However, he was still reluctant to give up his property, so he took some gold and silver jewelry and fled out of Mingzhou City.
Qiu Yizhi watched Zhao Fuyi leave, and was about to lead his men to the Mingzhou government office, but heard one of his personal soldiers report: "Sir, there is still a Japanese pirate here who is not dead..."
Seeing that time was running out, Qiu Yizhi interrupted him and ordered, "If he's not dead, then he's not dead. Just kill him. Why are you still arguing with the Japanese pirates?"
The personal soldier said, "Although this man is dressed as a Japanese pirate, he speaks Chinese. I'm afraid he might kill the wrong person..."
Qiu Yizi was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly shouted: "Mr. Lin, something strange has happened. Let's go and interrogate this Japanese pirate who can speak Chinese!" After saying that, he asked the personal soldier to lead the way.
After walking a few steps, I saw a man dressed as a Japanese pirate, lying on the ground with a foot-long wound on his back, bleeding profusely.
Qiu Yizhi heard that this person could speak Chinese, so he didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "How come you, a Japanese pirate, came to Jiangnan to commit crimes?"
The man raised his head reluctantly, and seeing that the person who was talking had a scholarly appearance and a different bearing, he quickly replied, "I am not a pirate, but an honest citizen!"
"Nonsense! Since you are a good citizen, why do you wear the clothes of the Japanese pirates and commit the atrocities of the Japanese pirates?" Lin Shuhan who came over asked.
The man's eyes flashed cunningly, and he said, "I'm originally from Quanzhou. I was abducted by Japanese pirates when I was fishing at sea. In order to survive, I had no choice but to follow the Japanese pirates everywhere. I just acted as a translator, and I never killed anyone or robbed anything..."
Qiu Yizhi was such a smart person that he could see all the subtle changes in the man's expression and knew that he was lying. He sneered and said to the soldiers around him, "This man is not honest. There is no point in keeping him. Kill him for me."
The personal soldier naturally obeyed the order and picked up his sword to stab him in the chest.
The man was really panicking now, and he kept saying, "I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything, and I hope you'll spare my life."
Qiu Yizhi was delighted to hear that he had given in, but she pressed him again, "I can tell from the looks of it that you're not an honest man. I don't want to listen to your nonsense anymore, so just kill him."
The man hurriedly said, "Sir, please spare my life, sir, please spare my life! I am not a fisherman, I am a smuggler. I encountered Japanese pirates at sea a few years ago and was pulled onto their ship. They wanted to kill me. Later, when they heard that I could speak a few words of Japanese, they temporarily spared my life and asked me to lead the way to harass the Han coast..."
Seeing his panic-stricken expression and the fact that he was at the critical moment of life and death, Qiu Yizi didn't think he was lying, so he turned his head and exchanged glances with Lin Shuhan, and continued, "Then you have committed the crime of treason, and according to the laws of the Han Dynasty, you will inevitably be sent to the Sanshan Street in Jinling to be stabbed. But I think you have no other choice but to rely on the Japanese pirates, so it is understandable. I want to let you go, so I ask you, do you want to die? Do you want to live?"
"I want to live, I want to live!" the man answered hurriedly.
"Let me ask you, was this massive invasion by Japanese pirates premeditated?" Qiu Yizi asked sternly.
"This... this..." the man replied, "The Japanese pirates never had any plans when they did things. Last night, a few pirate ships were blown to the shore by a hurricane, and a young man happened to come and seemed to know the pirate leader. After they had some nonsense behind closed doors, they decided to rob on the spur of the moment."
Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he heard this and asked, "Is that young man under 30 years old, covered in black, and named 'Yin Tai'?"
The man replied, "He's about the same age. His black clothes are all wet. As for his name, there are many Han Chinese boatmen who eat here with the Japanese pirates. I'm not sure."
In fact, Qiu Yizi's question was unnecessary. He calculated the timeline and knew that this person should be Yin Tai without a doubt. He just didn't expect that he would actually lead the Japanese pirates to invade Mingzhou and commit such a heinous crime.
However, the most urgent task now is to work with the governor of Mingzhou and the general to eliminate all the pirates, or at least drive them back to the sea. Then he asked: "Then let me ask you, how many pirates are there this time? Where is the main attack direction?"
"Oh. This time the Japanese pirates came with great force. There are about 150 people in our ship alone, and there are nearly 500 people in three ships. Together with the Han people, there should be more than 1,000 people. As for the main attack direction? The Japanese have always been independent and have never had any rules, so there is no main attack direction. They probably go wherever there is money..."
Qiu Yizi's brows tightened: If what this person said is true, then it will be extremely difficult to capture the main force of the Japanese pirates, and it will be even more impossible to annihilate the Japanese pirates with just one or two attacks. Things will probably be even more difficult to handle - however, no matter what, we must first contact the local civil and military officials of Mingzhou before discussing the matter of eliminating the Japanese pirates.
So Qiu Yi made up his mind and ordered one of his soldiers to tie this man up and drag him behind the horse, and let him follow us.
The soldier agreed and immediately called a brother over to tie up the fake pirate and then tied him to the horse's buttocks. The Bohai horse was a bit violent, and when it saw someone standing behind it, it kicked back and kicked the person in the diaphragm, breaking the bottom few ribs.
The poor fake Japanese pirate screamed in pain, but he still gritted his teeth and stood up, following the horse with extremely painful and uncoordinated movements, and barely ran forward.
Qiu Yi and his party marched forward, and defeated seven or eight small groups of Japanese pirates before finally arriving in front of the Mingzhou government office. The gate of the government office was closed, but through the door one could hear a commotion inside.
Qiu Yizi was worried that the Japanese pirates had already attacked the government office, so he led his troops to knock on the door.
But a rude reply came from inside the door: "The governor has ordered that the people in the city should flee and the government office is a restricted area and should not be entered lightly!" Then there was no response.
"Bullshit!" These two words immediately popped up in Qiu Yizhi's mind - with the enemy at hand, the people are helpless. If they come to seek shelter and the government refuses to accept them, then what is the point of the court? What is the point of the government
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizi didn't knock on the door, but simply raised his foot and kicked the door hard. (To be continued)