At this critical moment, Qiu Yizi saw a flash of white light, and a thin figure flashed before his eyes, and the two vicious Japanese pirates fell down - two deep wounds were cut on their necks, and blood spurted out, rushing out more than ten feet high.
Qiu Yizhi looked carefully and found that the one who saved him was none other than Yuchi Jiming. Surprised, she suddenly thought: since she had charged into the enemy camp, Lin Shuhan and Wen Lingjiao would be left unprotected, so she hurriedly asked, "Jiming, didn't I teach you to protect Mr. Lin and Miss Wen? Why did you come here by yourself? Where are they now?"
Yuchi Jiming replied: "They saw that uncle was trapped in the battle and unable to break out, so they asked me to rescue uncle..." She stopped talking halfway and waved her sword to block the attacks of several Japanese pirates in front of her, but stopped talking and concentrated on the fight in front of her.
Qiu Yizi knew that although his niece was young, her martial arts skills had gradually reached perfection. Now even she had to fight the enemy so seriously, which showed that the battle was by no means easy and she was even at a disadvantage.
After a long battle, Qiu Yizhi and his men were unable to break through the Japanese pirates' siege. Although none of his soldiers were killed, they all had wounds of varying sizes. As for Wu Changxi's soldiers, most of them had been killed, leaving only fifty or sixty people who were still fighting desperately, but they were also injured.
Seeing the situation becoming more and more critical, Qiu Yizhi became more and more desperate, and said to Yuchi Jiming who was still fighting beside him: "Jiming, you know Qinggong, you should jump out quickly, otherwise you will lose your life in vain."
Yuchi Jiming's martial arts were known for her agility. The Japanese pirates pressed harder and harder, leaving her with less and less room to dodge and move. Her moves were no longer as carefree and calm as usual. Even the back of her left hand was cut by a Japanese sword, leaving a shallow cut, and blood was oozing out.
After hearing Qiu Yizi's words, she made moves with her hands and answered intermittently: "Uncle... Uncle... what... what are you talking about! It's very easy here... it's very easy here! You... you look..." As she spoke, she finally caught the fleeting gap between the moves of a Japanese pirate in front of her, risked getting close to him, and inserted the dagger into the pirate's belly.
At this moment, a long whistle was heard from behind the formation, and the Japanese pirates suddenly stopped attacking and took two steps back, dragging their fallen companions out of the battle formation. However, they were still alert, holding the Japanese swords tightly in their hands, and pointing the tips of the swords at Qiu Yizhi and others.
Qiu Yizi saw that the Japanese swords were like a jungle, and like the bright moon emitting a cold light. There was not even a single space for him to break through. He had to stop fighting temporarily, catch his breath on the spot, and observe the movements of the Japanese pirates.
But the red-armored Japanese general separated the crowd and walked in front of Qiu Yizi.
Qiu Yizi saw that he was not tall and had an ugly appearance, but his face was serious and had a unique aura. He then heard him babbling a lot of words.
This was Japanese again. Qiu Yizi was confused and didn't understand a single word.
The Japanese pirate seemed to suddenly realize something, smacked his lips a few times, and then said in a very strange accent: "You, fight well, I, admire you. If you, surrender, I, won't kill you. Okay?"
Qiu Yizi was a smart man. He guessed what the Japanese pirates meant from these few words: it turned out that he was fighting so hard that the extremely brave Japanese pirates admired him deeply. As long as he surrendered to the Japanese pirates, he could save his life.
Qiu Yizi looked around and saw that there were only fifty Japanese pirates left in the encirclement. They were all exhausted and covered with wounds. If the fight continued, they would definitely be wiped out. He also saw that the Japanese pirates on the opposite side suffered heavy casualties. In addition to the twenty or thirty people who were killed, the rest were also more or less injured.
He thought again: This red-armored Japanese general is now offering to surrender to me. It may be that he feels that his side has suffered too much loss. If he attacks by force, it will inevitably cause greater casualties. So he wants to lure me into surrender and then kill me when I surrender my weapons.
However, the situation was too critical for him to think carefully. He just felt that if he could delay for a while, perhaps the governor Ye Shengyu, who was acting like a turtle in the government office, would have a change of heart and command the army to come to his rescue. Or maybe a group of heavenly soldiers would fall from the sky, or a group of evil soldiers would emerge from the ground, and they would quickly repel the Japanese pirates and rescue him.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizhi had made up his mind—no matter if he could speak the pirates’ language or not, he would have to chat with him for a while. He would live for an hour. So he imitated the pirates’ tone and recited the Three Character Classic: “When a person is born, his nature is good. Natures are close; habits make them different. If he does not teach, his nature will change…”
He was reciting happily when the Japanese general in red armor over there became impatient. He spoke with his tongue for a long time and then stammered in Chinese: "What are you saying? I don't understand. Put down your sword and surrender. I won't kill you." Then he mumbled a long string of Japanese words.
Qiu Yizi pretended to be thinking about it, nodded seriously, turned around and went back to talk to Wu Changxi and Yuchi Jiming for a few words, as if they were discussing something. After a while, he turned back and continued to recite the "Three Character Classic": "Raising a child without teaching is the fault of the father; teaching without strictness is the laziness of the teacher; the child does not learn; it is not what is appropriate..."
The Japanese general heard Qiu Yizi talking endlessly but never putting down the sword in his hand. He became anxious and did not even try to learn to speak any Chinese. He just spoke a long paragraph in Japanese with murderous intent on his face.
Qiu Yizhi also knew that the Japanese general's patience was almost exhausted by him, but he could do nothing about it. He sighed in his heart, but he was still reciting the "Three Character Classic" incessantly: "If jade is not carved, it will not become a tool; if a man does not learn, he will not know righteousness; if he is a son of man, he will be young..."
The Japanese general was still confused when he saw a man flashing next to him. He was also dressed in Japanese clothes, but he shouted in fluent Chinese: "Stop pretending, I can't read, but I know the Three Character Classic! Hurry up and surrender, and I will spare your life!"
"Another Han Chinese pretending to be a Japanese pirate!" Qiu Yizhi thought to himself, and immediately turned to Yuchi Jiming and said, "This is a traitor, beat him to silence!"
Yuchi Jiming agreed, took out his last copper coin, and threw it at the fake Japanese pirate's face with all his strength.
This copper coin was infused with Yuchi Jiming's supreme inner strength of both hardness and softness, and it shot right into the mouth of the fake Japanese pirate, smashing his yellow teeth into pieces. He put his hand over his mouth, but could not stop the mixture of blood and saliva from flowing through his fingers.
The red-armored Japanese general was furious when he saw this, and raised his round fan high in the air, pointing in the direction of Qiu Yizhi. The Japanese pirates he led immediately screamed and howled wildly, swinging their swords forward to chop Qiu Yizhi and others who were trapped in the encirclement into meat paste.
Qiu Yizi finally understood what "at the end of his rope" meant. He clenched the sword tightly in both hands, wanting only to kill a few more Japanese pirates before he died. However, his mind couldn't help but recall everything that had happened in his short life of less than thirty years.
Just when he was confused, he heard a shrill roar in front of him. In the blink of an eye, all the Japanese pirates who were about to attack stopped and looked back.
Qiu Yizi also quickly calmed himself down and looked forward, only to see that the red-armored Japanese general who had just been commanding the pirates with his claws and fangs bared had an arrow stuck in his mouth. His eyes turned white and he staggered to the ground, already dead.
Seeing this scene, not only Qiu Yizi, but also the Japanese pirates around were shocked. They even forgot to continue attacking Qiu Yizi and others. They looked around with eyes as if possessed, trying to see who shot and killed their leader.
Suddenly, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds was heard in the distance. Qiu Yizi didn't know who it was, so he stood on tiptoe to look in the direction of the sound. He saw a mighty young man, no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a light blue short suit. He had a very heroic face, with a layer of hairy beard unique to adolescence on his lips. He was riding a horse, holding a large flag in his right hand and a longbow in his left hand. This was the man who shot and killed the red-armored Japanese general. He was galloping towards him, as if to rescue him.
Seeing that this man was dressed in Chinese clothes and had shot a Japanese general dead, Qiu Yizhi knew that the Japanese pirates must hate him to the core, so how could he dare to enter the enemy camp so easily? He shouted in a hurry, "Hero, turn your horse back quickly and don't go into danger so easily!"
The young man seemed not to hear Qiu Yizi's call and continued to ride forward.
Qiu Yizi was both surprised and regretful, thinking that although this young man had extraordinary martial arts skills and outstanding courage, he was a reckless man. If he attacked head-on like this, wouldn't he be chopped into pieces by the Japanese pirates
However, to his surprise, when those extremely cruel Japanese pirates saw the big flag in the young man's hand, they involuntarily made way for him, allowing him to run to Qiu Yizi without any hindrance. Without getting off the horse, they bent down and said to Qiu Yizi, "Why are you still standing there? Follow me and escape!"
Qiu Yizi knew that he was in a desperate situation and the only way out was to trust the young man in front of him, so he called out and followed closely behind the young man's horse, gritting his teeth and running out of the encirclement of the Japanese pirates.
The Japanese pirates, who were as ferocious as wolves and tigers just now, did not react at all when they saw this situation. They allowed the soldiers under Qiu Yizi, Yuchi Jiming and Wu Changxi to help their injured companions and safely escape from their encirclement, just like docile sheep.
Qiu Yizhi followed the young man out of danger, and suddenly thought of Lin Shuhan, Wen Lingjiao and others, so he said behind the young man: "Hero, why don't you go over there? There are a few companions of mine who need to be picked up there!"
After hearing this, the young man turned his head and saw Qiu Yizi pointing at the entrance of an alley. He also saw that there were indeed three or two people looking at him curiously, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go there right away." As he said that, he pulled the reins, turned the horse's head, and quickly went in the direction Qiu Yizi pointed.
Lin Shuhan and Wen Lingjiao were waiting anxiously. They were all very excited to see Qiu Yizhi return safely. Just as they were about to speak, they heard Qiu Yizhi say, "Thank you for your concern, but it's not safe yet. Let's evacuate this dangerous place quickly. We can talk later."
The young man on the horse also said, "This gentleman is right. Come with me! It's a pity that you don't have enough strength. Otherwise, you can escape in no time by following my fast horse."
"Yes, yes!" Qiu Yizi said repeatedly, and shouted quickly towards the distance.
As soon as he finished speaking, a long neigh of a horse was heard from somewhere, and in the blink of an eye, his Ferghana horse led several other horses, as well as the donkeys ridden by Lin Shuhan and He'er, back to their owner.
Qiu Yizi stroked the mane of his beloved horse lovingly for a few times, then jumped on the horse and turned to Wu Changxi and said, "General Wu, the soldiers under your command are all local people from Mingzhou, so please evacuate them on the spot. I will go back to recuperate, and we will have to fight the Japanese pirates again soon. Please train your troops carefully, and we will meet again in the future." (To be continued)