However, the battlefield below the city was filled with shouts, sounds of weapons, and cries. Even if Qiu Yizhi shouted loudly, his voice could not reach Zhao Chengxiao's ears. He suddenly remembered that among his personal soldiers, there was a man named "Black Neck Toad" who had a very loud voice. If he brought him with him, Zhao Chengxiao would definitely hear him clearly if he shouted.
While Qiu Yizi was daydreaming, he heard a guard on the wall exclaim, "Look, the Japanese pirates are on the move again."
Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he heard this, and quickly refocused his attention on the city. Sure enough, he saw that there were 20 to 30 Japanese pirates in a group, and 5 or 6 groups had joined together to form a large group of about 150 people. It turned out that the Japanese pirates had almost killed all the government troops under the city - the slow ones were killed, and the fast ones could not catch up - and they wanted to encircle and annihilate the army from Shanyin County that had suffered almost no losses.
Qiu Yizi watched the Japanese pirates gradually gather together. Seeing that they were not wearing any armor, he thought: If the powerful crossbows transferred from the Left General Cui Nan were brought into the army, then with the current unobstructed terrain and the current close distance, these Japanese pirates could be shot to death in a blink of an eye with a volley of powerful crossbows.
However, equipment that is not available is gone, and no matter how anxious Qiu Yizi is, he cannot produce it. Moreover, it takes nearly a year to make a powerful crossbow from collecting materials to testing it.
But what worried Qiu Yizi even more was that the more than 200 personal soldiers and militiamen led by Zhao Chengxiao did not take any action at all in the face of the gradually gathering Japanese pirates.
In fact, Zhao Chengxiao, who was at the foot of the city, also knew that when facing a strong enemy, the enemy had not yet formed a battle formation, and the moment of chaos was the best time to attack. However, his soldiers, not to mention the eighteen personal soldiers, and the two hundred local warriors, were on the battlefield for the first time, and they were already stunned by the bloody massacre on the battlefield before they even fought with the enemy. Moreover, they were facing Japanese pirates who were unprecedented, fierce and brutal beyond ordinary people. If they had not been strictly trained in their daily lives, they would have turned around and fled long ago.
Zhao Chengxiao was also born as a good citizen. Although he was once a bandit leader, he was forced to join the Liangshan bandits because he had nowhere else to go. Since he became a bandit and joined Qiu Yizhi's army, he has killed countless enemies. However, the complex emotions of nervousness, anxiety, excitement, and fear when he killed someone for the first time are still vivid in his mind.
It was for this reason that Zhao Chengxiao felt a deep empathy when he saw the complex expressions of nervousness, anxiety, excitement and fear on the faces of his militiamen who were fighting for the first time.
Zhao Chengxiao did not force them. Seeing that the Japanese pirates were gathering more and more, he ordered 18 mounted soldiers to quickly form a cone-shaped charge formation. He himself took the lead and stood at the top, shouting, "Brothers, follow me!"
After saying this, Zhao Chengxiao suddenly drew out the sword from his waist, pointed it forward, loosened the reins, squeezed the horse's belly, and the Bohai horse under his crotch rushed out like a fly.
Zhao Chengxiao had a dark complexion. Before the emperor gave him a name, he was called "Zhao Heizi". He liked to wear black clothes, black robes and black armor, and even the horse under his crotch was black. When he charged this time, from a distance, he looked like a black lightning or a pot of black fire. With an indomitable momentum, he bravely rushed into the crowd of Japanese pirates.
Seeing that their leader rushed out to fight regardless of life and death, the eighteen personal soldiers on horseback behind him naturally did not want to fall behind, so they urged their horses to gallop forward.
Zhao Chengxiao was brave, but he was not a simple man. Although he knew that the Japanese pirates were all infantry without heavy armor, and the cavalry had a natural advantage over them, the enemy had a numerical advantage and had just won a victory, so their morale was high and he could not attack them directly. Therefore, Zhao Chengxiao did not charge directly at the enemy, but chose a gap left by the Japanese pirates' formation that had not yet been assembled, and rushed in.
As Zhao Chengxiao expected, this gap was indeed the weak link in the Japanese pirates' formation. The 18 personal soldiers led by him took advantage of the thunderous momentum and killed the loose formation of the Japanese pirates like cutting through a thin silk cloth - although the number of Japanese pirates killed and wounded was not large, the Japanese were divided into two groups.
Lin Shuhan stood on the city wall, squinting his nearsighted eyes, taking a general look at the battle situation below the city. He couldn't help but praise: "I didn't expect that Zhao Chengxiao is quite good at commanding cavalry. Using cavalry to attack the Japanese pirates is just the right way to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. He really knows how to fight!"
Qiu Yizi nodded after listening, but thought in his heart: Although Lin Shuhan is well-read in military books, he is still a scholar after all. He only sees the advantages of cavalry over light infantry, but fails to see that the open space under the city of Jinling is not wide, and it is impossible to organize large cavalry to attack repeatedly, so the power is much smaller.
As expected, after Zhao Chengxiao succeeded in his attack and broke through the Japanese pirates' formation, he saw that there were only houses and streets in front of him, with no room for detour. He quickly ordered his 18 brothers to rearrange the formation, but did not dare to penetrate the Japanese pirates' formation again. Instead, he swept through the formation from the side and killed a few more Japanese pirates before returning to the two hundred militiamen.
The two hundred militiamen were dumbfounded.
During their daily training, Zhao Chengxiao was in charge. Zhao Chengxiao had a dark face and was not very impressive, but he was very demanding in his training, and would punish them physically at any time. These militiamen were all good people, and they looked down on Zhao Chengxiao, who had been a bandit. Therefore, if it were not for the monthly salary of two taels of silver, they would have stopped being such unlucky soldiers.
But today, Zhao Chengxiao showed a little bit of his skills, leading only 18 riders, and moving freely among the vicious Japanese pirates as if he was in an empty space. This could not but make the two hundred militiamen admire him sincerely, and their nervous mood also calmed down a little.
The Japanese pirates suffered a loss, although the loss was minimal, but they also knew that the more than 200 Han soldiers in front of them should not be underestimated. They no longer dared to charge directly at opponents that were five or ten times their number with only 20 or 30 people as they did to other troops.
Zhao Chengxiao was not idle. He rode on his horse, raised his saber in a proud manner, and said loudly: "Brothers, you have seen it! The Japanese pirates are also human beings. A stab in the stomach will kill them. They are not evil ghosts crawling out of the ground. You all know the military law promulgated by Lord Qiu. The head of an enemy is worth twenty taels of silver. If you kill the enemy leader, you will get one hundred taels of silver. With this money, you can go home and get a wife!"
Zhao Chengxiao's extremely crude and straightforward agitation actually had a very good effect. The local militiamen, who were originally so nervous that their facial muscles were very stiff, suddenly became indignant and clamored to go into battle to kill the enemy.
Zhao Chengxiao felt relieved to see that the morale of his soldiers was high, but he did not dare to be careless at all. After all, with the absence of commander Qiu Yizi, it did not matter how many Japanese pirates he could kill. The most important thing was to hold the formation and avoid casualties. As for how long he needed to hold on, that was not something he could control.
At this time, the Japanese pirates opposite Zhao Chengxiao were gathering more and more, and there were several Japanese generals wearing rattan armor and leather armor standing in the formation, grinning and shouting, as if they were commanding the Japanese pirates to form a battle line.
Qiu Yizhi stood on the city wall and estimated that the Japanese pirates had gathered about 400 people. They had an advantage in numbers over his own soldiers and militiamen. If they really fought with swords and guns, they would be in danger. These 200 people were carefully selected and recruited by Qiu Yizhi. They had undergone rigorous training and barely formed combat effectiveness. They could not be severely damaged by the Japanese pirates on their first battle.
Seeing this precarious situation, Qiu Yizhi was extremely anxious. Suddenly, he saw several bundles of bows and arrows on the top of the city wall, so he hurriedly said to the leader of the guards on the city wall: "Quick, tell your brothers to shoot arrows into the group of pirates!"
The guard replied, "Sir, it is a crime to use weapons without permission. If the higher-ups investigate, I will be in big trouble."
Qiu Yizi said without hesitation: "It's none of your business. I told you to shoot arrows. If Liu Qing has something to say, tell him to tell me!" Then, Qiu Yizi took out a banknote from his sleeve and stuffed it into the guard's hand, "Just shoot arrows. Use this money to buy wine for your brothers!"
Although the guard leader could not read many words, he still recognized the three neat characters "Five Hundred Taels" on the banknote. He calculated in his mind: This banknote is enough for each of the fifty people under him to share ten taels of silver; if he keeps one hundred and fifty taels, each person can also get seven taels of silver; if he takes four hundred taels, there will be one hundred taels left, which is only enough to treat everyone to a good meal...
The guard leader was thinking a lot in his mind, but Qiu Yizi in front of him had already lost his patience and shouted, "What are you still standing there for? Take my money, and quickly tell your men to shoot arrows at the heads of the pirates! For every one you kill, I'll give you an extra ten taels of silver!"
When the chief heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up: if he had this reward for military merit, he could embezzle all the 500 taels of silver and then use the military merit silver to reward his subordinates. Thinking of this, the chief was already overjoyed and quickly ordered: "Listen, men, this master has issued an order. If you shoot and kill a Japanese pirate, you will be rewarded with 10 taels of silver. It's time to kill the enemy!"
Upon hearing the amount of the reward, the guards on the city wall became active. They quickly moved the arrows to their feet, took out their short bows, took aim, and shot at the crowd of Japanese pirates below the city.
The Japanese pirates were quite afraid when they first saw the arrows coming. Some of them dodged to the side to seek cover, while others picked up scattered shields and wooden boards from the ground to cover themselves. In an instant, the already somewhat scattered formation became even more chaotic.
But unexpectedly, the arrows shot from the city wall were so soft. They drew a weak parabola in the air and then turned straight down. Relying only on the effect of gravity, they fell on the heads of the Japanese pirates. They hit the Japanese pirates weakly like spring rain. They did not have any power at all and could not hurt the Japanese pirates at all.
Seeing that the arrows posed no threat, the Japanese pirates below the city threw down their shields and wooden boards, and came out from their shelters, using their long swords to deflect the slow arrows. Some of the pirates, who were confident in their sword skills, took a stance and aimed at the arrow's trajectory, then swung their swords to cut the arrow shaft in half, and after succeeding, they stood there laughing, with cheers and applause ringing around them.
Seeing the pirates so proud, Qiu Yizhi was angry and surprised. He quickly bent down to pick up an arrow scattered on the city wall. The arrowhead weighed only one or two coins at most. For the convenience of manufacturing, it was made of wrought iron, and there was some rust on the side. I don't know what kind of wood the arrow shaft was made of. I'm afraid it has been a little soft and cracked because it has not been maintained for many years. The feathers at the tail of the arrow are even more sparse, like weeds growing aimlessly in the wasteland. (To be continued)