The reason why the soldiers called Yuchi Jiming "the female coach" was that after Qiu Yizi had recruited all the militiamen, he asked Yuchi Jiming to teach them martial arts.
It goes without saying that Yuchi Jiming was not happy with Qiu Yizhi's arrangement, and even the two hundred militiamen disagreed. It was because they had never seen Yuchi Jiming's skills and did not know that her martial arts had reached perfection. In order to establish his authority, Yuchi Jiming randomly selected seven or eight militiamen to attack him. These people were just farmers with slightly stronger physiques at the time. They did not even touch the corner of Yuchi Jiming's clothes, but Yuchi Jiming used his superb steps and body movements to knock them all down with a little trick.
As a result, the arrogance in the hearts of these local militiamen disappeared completely, and from then on they followed Yuchi Jiming to learn martial arts with peace of mind, and even called her "female coach" with awe and affection.
Therefore, when they saw Yuchi Jiming, the "female coach", kill an aggressive Japanese pirate with just one move, they couldn't help but cheer loudly: "The female coach has great martial arts! The female coach has great martial arts!"
Yuchi Jiming, however, seemed not to appreciate it. He raised his sword-like eyebrows and scolded, "You fools, I taught you all flexible moves, but you just used them to death. You didn't know how to attack when you saw the opponent's flaws. You are all as dumb as geese! Listen carefully, you should use your shields to swing away the Japanese pirates' swords, and then take the opportunity to stab them in the waist and chop their legs. You can do it without any failure. Do you understand?"
After hearing this, the soldiers shouted in unison: "We understand!"
If there were any Japanese pirates who could understand Chinese, they would have been prepared to hear Yuchi Jiming's loud shouting, and might have changed their tactics or simply retreated. However, these Japanese could not even recognize a few Japanese characters, so how could they understand Chinese? Even if there were a few Chinese "fake Japanese pirates" among them, they were just following the crowd. Therefore, under the urging of the Japanese generals behind them, they raised their Japanese swords and chopped forward.
This time, the Shanyin militia was fully prepared. Following Yuchi Jiming's instructions, they raised their shields and smashed the Japanese sword from bottom to top. Previously, the rattan shield was only used for defense and not for attack. The elasticity of the rattan shield alone could bounce the Japanese sword back a long way. Now that the rattan shield had added strength, the Japanese pirates' hands holding the swords could no longer withstand the rebound force and immediately lost their balance. Some of them were not strong enough and their weapons flew out immediately.
After being instructed by Yuchi Jiming, the local militiamen would never miss such an opportunity. They immediately rushed forward and stabbed the Japanese pirates with their knives. This move was extremely efficient. In a blink of an eye, fifteen or sixteen Japanese pirates were killed on the spot at the front of the battle between the two armies.
The local militiamen were extremely excited about their first success, and they remembered the reward of twenty taels of silver for each head offered by Qiu Yizi, so their morale was even higher. They stepped on the corpses of the Japanese pirates lying on the ground and took a step forward.
The Japanese pirates were very surprised. Since they crossed the sea to the Han Dynasty, they had never had an opponent. The government troops they met either let them be slaughtered or fled at the sight of them. However, these people and horses before them not only had no fear at all, but dared to confront them head-on. Not only could they remain unshakable under the attack of their own group, but they could also seize the opportunity to counterattack and turn the tide of the battle in one fell swoop.
The Japanese pirates lived up to their reputation for bravery; even in such a situation, they still had no intention of retreating, nor did they know how to adapt. Instead, they mustered up a brutal spirit and courage, and hacked at the Han people in front of them even harder.
But what they don't know is that the Japanese sword techniques are derived from Central Plains martial arts but have been streamlined. Although powerful, they lack variety. Such moves may scare the opponent when used temporarily, but it will inevitably become monotonous if used repeatedly in front of others.
The Shanyin militia now had no fear at all. Under the leadership of Yuchi Jiming'e, they used the same restraint tactics they had just used, and in one round, they killed nearly twenty Japanese pirates.
Zhao Chengxiao, who was in another direction, saw Yuchi Jiming's tactics and immediately came to his senses. He led his soldiers to learn how to use them in the same way, which also caused great casualties to the Japanese pirates!
In a war, if the casualties of one side reached one fifth of the total number of soldiers, the team would be defeated immediately. However, the fierceness of the Japanese pirates was that they seemed to have no fear of death. They watched their companions being killed one after another, but they did not flinch at all. Instead, they became more murderous and rushed forward with red eyes to fight for their lives with the enemy.
However, their opponents were not the weak local military or the ordinary militia of the village. The soldiers from Shanyin County were not only equipped with excellent weapons such as Japanese swords and rattan shields, but also had impressive martial arts skills in using these weapons. Moreover, under the command of Zhao Chengxiao and Yuchi Jiming, they fully demonstrated the results of their strict training in daily life, and became braver and braver as they fought, and their achievements were constantly expanding.
The strength of the Japanese pirates lies in one-on-one close combat, and the fighting between small teams of a dozen people is also quite powerful. However, if they want to line up and fight head-on with well-trained opponents like today, they have no advantage at all.
The five or six hundred Japanese pirates who had gathered together with great difficulty died more than one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, and finally when there were less than two hundred left, the Japanese pirates' last momentum finally collapsed. A relatively tall Japanese pirate in the formation choked and shouted "Mom", turned around and ran away with his Japanese sword in hand.
The Japanese general in the Japanese pirates' formation saw this and drew his Japanese sword, ready to kill the Japanese pirate who was trying to escape. Unexpectedly, the Japanese pirate was quite skilled in martial arts and used his Japanese sword to block the Japanese general's attack. He did not want to fight and went into an unknown alley outside Jinling City without looking back.
The escape of these Japanese pirates was the last straw that completely crushed their morale.
The morale of the Japanese pirates finally reached the bottom, and they could no longer stand firm and maintain their formation. In a blink of an eye, three or four, seven or eight, or even a dozen Japanese pirates broke away from the formation without permission and fled to the back and the sides. The Japanese general who was in charge of the formation had only one head and two arms. He could only watch the formation in front of him become thinner and thinner. Finally, he could no longer hold back his courage and fled to the back without a sound.
The Japanese pirate had his own plan in mind: let the Japanese in front of him hold him off for a while so that he could escape calmly.
However, anyone's every move on the battlefield is watched by hundreds of eyes. How can one expect others to ignore such a blatant escape
When the Japanese pirates saw that there was no one to restrain them anymore, they lost the last reason to fight. Suddenly, they burst into an uproar, dispersed, and fled in all directions.
Zhao Chengxiao, who was leading the battle, finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the powerful enemy was defeated, but he did not dare to let his guard down at all. He first ordered his militiamen to stabilize the formation, and then looked up to observe the situation on the battlefield. He saw:
The Japanese pirates who had fought head-on with them had already fled, so they were no longer a concern. Although the cavalry led by the "Iron Head Jiao" on the left wing relied on their advantage of fast horses and swords to continuously kill the Japanese pirates around them, they never formed an absolute advantage and defeated the enemy.
So Zhao Chengxiao pondered for a moment, left fifty soldiers to guard the gate of Jinling and protect Wen Lingjiao and others, and personally led the remaining one hundred or so people, re-formed the formation, and attacked to the left wing.
The Japanese pirates fighting against the "Iron Head Dragon" were exhausted by the cavalry assault, so how could they resist the attack of this fresh force with high morale? In just a cup of tea, the hundred or so Japanese pirates could no longer hold on, and after leaving behind fifty or sixty corpses, they also fled.
Zhao Chengxiao saw that he had defeated more than 500 Japanese pirates, and the 15 buckets that had been shaking in his heart finally calmed down. He also saw that the Japanese pirates had no rules when they fled, and he wanted to take advantage of the situation to chase and kill them, but he was worried that something unexpected would happen if he fought with the Japanese in the alleys outside Jinling City, so he gave up the idea, and finally heaved a sigh of relief, and asked the messenger beside him to take out the gong and beat it "ding ding dang dang".
"Advance when you hear the drum, retreat when you hear the horn" is the key to military strategy that has been passed down for thousands of years.
When the militiamen from Shanyin County heard the clear and loud sound of the gong, they knew that the bloody battle had finally come to an end. Their tense nerves, muscles and expressions all relaxed. Some soldiers with less self-control sat dejectedly on the ground, their faces covered with a mixture of sweat, tears and blood. They really felt like they had survived a calamity.
Qiu Yizi, who was watching the battle nervously on the top of the city wall, had a clear view of the situation on the battlefield from his high vantage point. He was also relieved to see that the Japanese pirates had finally retreated. However, he thought that his soldiers must be very tired after the battle, so he had to open the city gate immediately to welcome them into the city to rest.
So Qiu Yi made up her mind and ran towards the bottom of the city wall. She had already made up her mind: if the gatekeeper listened to her and opened the city gate, it would be fine. But if he insisted on closing the gate, she would open the city gate and let her men enter the city even if she had to kill him.
But when Qiu Yizhi was halfway down the city wall, he heard a loud shout from not far away: "Sir! Sir! The Japanese pirates have been defeated! The Japanese pirates have been defeated!"
Qiu Yizi looked in the direction of the voice and saw Liu Qing, the governor of Jiangnan Road, running towards him while shouting loudly, protected by several of his personal guards.
When Qiu Yizhi saw Liu Qing, she was immediately furious. When he ran closer and stood still, she immediately asked angrily, "Liu Qing, where have you been?"
Liu Qing smiled and replied, "I saw that the battle outside the city was not going well, so I was about to organize the soldiers inside the city to defend the city wall fortress and then wait for an opportunity to go out of the city to counterattack! But the Japanese pirates were defeated by a group of local militiamen outside the city. It was really unexpected. Your Excellency is knowledgeable. Do you know which county this group of troops came from to support us?"
Qiu Yizhi glanced at Liu Qing and said, "I brought it here from Shanyin County. What? Do you think it's acceptable?"
Liu Qing was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "No wonder, no wonder! Back then, you were a reliable person beside the emperor, and you even led the army to a draw with Marshal Dai Luanxiang. It is true that there are no weak soldiers under a strong general. In my opinion, these two hundred people really have the style of my elite soldiers from Youyan!"
Liu Qing was flattering him endlessly, but Qiu Yizi was already getting impatient and said, "Stop talking about these useless things. My men have just experienced a bloody battle, and the reinforcements from other places have suffered heavy casualties. These people need to go into the city to rest."
Qiu Yiyi bowed deeply to Liu Qing and said, "Jiedu Liu, Lord Liu, General Liu, can you let these people into the city for their meritorious service in defeating the Japanese pirates?"
Liu Qing was very frightened when he saw Qiu Yizhi showing such great courtesy to him. He quickly returned the courtesy and said, "Your Excellency's militia can enter the city now. As for the reinforcements from other places... I will talk to the governor and the wealthy merchants and ensure that they can also enter the city to treat their injuries and eat." (To be continued)