If the bridges on the moat outside Qingpu City were all drawbridges that could be raised, then once the bridge decks were retracted, the Japanese pirates would immediately retreat and choose other cities to attack.
However, Qingpu was a commercial city that benefited greatly from merchants from both the north and the south. The four bridges did not need to be built as suspension bridges for military fortresses, but rather four stone arch bridges that could accommodate carriages and horses and ships.
Therefore, the Japanese pirates chose the west gate of Qingpu and concentrated their forces to attack day and night, hoping to capture the Qingpu city gate and then enter the city to loot.
The Japanese pirates were notorious, and the people in Qingpu knew that if they broke into the city, there would be great devastation, so they were very motivated to fight. They guarded the west gate tower, constantly throwing boulders and pouring boiling water, and they managed to hold out for seven or eight days.
However, Qingpu is a small city with low walls and narrow roads. After nearly ten days of continuous attacks, although the Japanese pirates failed to destroy or occupy the west gate, they actually piled up a pile of corpses several feet high outside the west gate. Standing on top of the pile of corpses, the Japanese pirates could grab the top of the city wall with one hand. As long as they worked harder and killed a few more people, they could climb up the city wall and attack the city.
Just when Qingpu County was in danger, Qiu Yizi finally led the local militia to attack the Japanese pirates from behind.
In fact, Qiu Yizi had long known that the Japanese pirates had gathered in Qingpu and were attacking the city very quickly, so he immediately sent several trusted confidants including "Iron Head Jiao" to inquire about the situation.
"Iron Head Jiao" was a fierce general under Qiu Yi. He was not only an extraordinary martial artist, but also had a rare ability to swim. He rode his horse around Qingpu County and concluded that this city, which was protected by a wide and turbulent moat, could not be captured in a short time with the current siege capabilities of the Japanese pirates.
After hearing the report, Qiu Yizhi was relieved and led his elite troops to slowly approach Qingpu, but he was not in a hurry to send troops to relieve the siege, but sent people to observe the battle situation at all times. However, the Japanese pirates in other places did not have such good patience as Qiu Yizhi. They gathered at the foot of Qingpu City from other places when they heard that the city could be captured at any time.
Seeing that the small Qingpu County was about to be overwhelmed by the increasing number of Japanese pirates, Qiu Yizi realized that the time had come, and finally waved his flag and ordered the entire army to advance.
In fact, Qiu Yizhi's troops were stationed in a mountain temple northeast of Qingpu County, only half a day's journey from the county. Because this place was far from the main roads, Qiu Yizhi's troops moved very secretly and carefully, so the Japanese pirates who came from all directions did not notice them at all, until they suddenly appeared behind the Japanese pirates, like a god's army descending from the sky, scaring the Japanese pirates.
The Japanese pirates on the opposite side have gathered more than 500 people, more than twice the strength of Qiu Yizi's troops.
However, Qiu Yizi knew that his militiamen were well-trained, well-fed and in high spirits. They also had overwhelming weapons and time-tested tactics and formations. He also had the support of the military and civilians in Qingpu City. Therefore, he did not seize the opportunity to kill the Japanese pirates by surprise. Instead, he calmly formed a battle formation behind the pirates, waiting for a head-on confrontation between the two armies.
Among the Japanese pirates there were also veterans who had survived the battlefields of Japan, and many had fought with the Shanyin militia under the city of Nanjing. When they saw the neat formation, firm eyes and confident command of the opposing soldiers, they knew they should not be underestimated, so they put away their contempt and temporarily abandoned the precarious Qingpu County so that they could concentrate on dealing with the army in front of them.
Qiu Yizhi didn't know how many times he had fought against the Japanese pirates. Today, he had soldiers and generals under his command. His previous panic and anxiety had long since disappeared. He asked Zhao Chengxiao to hold the line and not let the Japanese pirates find any flaws. He waved to "Black Neck Toad" and said to him, "You have a loud voice. I say one sentence and you shout to the other side."
The "Black Neck Toad" immediately agreed, but then asked doubtfully: "The people on the other side are all Japanese. I don't understand Japanese and I'm afraid I won't understand."
Qiu Yizhi smiled and said, "Don't worry about it, just follow what I say." He paused and continued, "Tell them: I am Qiu Yizhi from Shanyin, and I have been ordered to come here to wipe out the Japanese pirates!"
The "Black Neck Toad" nodded and shouted, "I am Qiu Yizhi from Shanyin, and I have been ordered to come here to wipe out the Japanese pirates!"
He lived up to his nickname of "Black-necked Toad". His voice was really loud and clear, causing the "Iron-headed Dragon" standing in front of him to turn around and curse: "Open your eyes, kid. The master wants you to shout at the Japanese pirates. Why are you shouting in my ear? Are you afraid that I am not deaf?"
Qiu Yizhi immediately stretched out his palm and slapped the "Iron Head Dragon" hard on his bald forehead. The "Iron Head Dragon" thought it was the "Black Neck Toad" who hit him, and turned his head to yell, but when he saw Qiu Yizhi staring at him coldly, he immediately stopped talking, and stood in the queue with his bald head shrunk and behaved obediently.
So Qiu Yizhi asked the "Black Neck Toad" to shout: "I have always known that not all the Japanese pirates are Japanese, and many of them are Chinese people. According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, anyone who commits crimes on the territory of the Han Dynasty, whether you are a real Japanese pirate or a fake Japanese pirate, must be convicted and punished according to the law. However, I think you are just forced by life or blinded by greed. If you abandon the dark and join the light now, I will treat you as surrendering on the battlefield, and all your crimes will be forgiven. If you resist stubbornly, I am afraid that you will perish together with me and your parents will be implicated!"
After the "Black-necked Toad" was shouted out like a parrot, there was an obvious commotion in the Japanese pirate camp. Many people looked at each other, and the sound of whispers could be heard faintly.
But after a while, loud and angry voices in Japanese were heard from the Japanese pirates. Although Qiu Yizi did not understand the content of their shouting and cursing, he could guess from the hysterical tone of these Japanese sentences that they were trying their best to enforce discipline.
But this angry rebuke obviously had the opposite effect. Several people in the front of the battle line threw down their Japanese swords and ran out of the team like flying, shouting: "Don't kill! Don't kill! We are Han people!"
Seeing that they had been disarmed, Qiu Yizi appointed two of his personal soldiers to guard them.
When the Han people in the Japanese pirate group saw that Qiu Yizi kept his word and did not kill or tie up the two people who had escaped, they became even more agitated. Immediately, a dozen fake Japanese pirates threw away their Japanese swords and ran forward.
Seeing that the situation was not good, several Japanese pirates suddenly drew out their Japanese swords and chopped down several Han people who wanted to escape on the spot. However, this did not help stabilize the battle line at all. In a blink of an eye, another ten people fled towards Qiu Yizi.
Qiu Yizhi called over a fake Japanese pirate who was quite clever and asked, "How many Han people are there over there?"
The man looked around and said tremblingly, "Please spare my life, sir. Almost all the people I know have come here, and many of those who didn't come were killed by the pirates. Now there are only one or two left on the other side, right?"
On the battlefield, it was a life-and-death struggle, and it was not easy for Qiu Yizi to take into account such a situation. So he called Zhao Chengxiao, gave him a few instructions, and then retreated behind the formation, leaving Zhao Chengxiao to command the battle.
Zhao Chengxiao was not ambiguous at all. He rode on the back of a black horse, raised the command flag in his hand, and shouted: "Strong crossbows move forward! Pull the strings and load the arrows!"
Seventy crossbowmen responded in unison, squeezed out from the gap between the infantrymen in the middle, stood between the huge shields in the hands of the shield bearers standing in the front, pushed the crossbow strings with their feet, put on the crossbow arrows, raised the crossbow trigger, and carefully aimed at the Japanese pirates in front of them.
The Japanese pirates' tactics were simple, focusing only on frontal charges and close combat. Where have you ever seen such tactics before
Just when they were in a state of confusion, Zhao Chengxiao suddenly waved the flag in his hand and ordered, "Fire!"
The crossbowman had already taken aim. When he heard the command, he immediately released the trigger. The arrow on the crossbow, as expected, shot straight forward with extremely strong potential energy.
The Japanese pirates were only a hundred steps away from the crossbowmen. As soon as the seventy crossbows made a "buzzing" sound, the arrows had already hit the Japanese pirates in the front row. Crossbow arrows were different from arrows. They were short and sharp, and the shooting speed was several times that of ordinary bows and arrows. At such a close distance, any Japanese pirates who were hit by arrows immediately lost their combat effectiveness. There were also several who were hit in the head, and half of their skulls were immediately blown off, and their brains were sprayed everywhere.
The Japanese pirates had never seen such weapons before and were so frightened that they stood there in a daze. Not only did they not immediately lie down or hide or find cover, they even forgot to shout or curse.
The Shanyin militia were merciless. In a flash, they pulled the trigger of the crossbow, loaded the crossbow with arrows, and shot at the Japanese pirates again.
As expected, this burst of shooting was like a torrential rain, mowing down the Japanese pirates in the front row like wheat stalks.
The pirates could no longer remain calm. Some of them rushed forward to break into the enemy's formation to take advantage of the close combat, so as not to be shot to death without any resistance. Some of them slowly moved back, just thinking about using their companions as their shields to avoid the danger in front of them first.
In a blink of an eye, the third rain of arrows came again. This time, the Japanese pirates were in disarray and more people were shot dead or injured. At this time, most of the Japanese pirates had realized that if they continued to crowd on the half bridge in front of the city gate, they would undoubtedly be harvested by the arrows that kept coming.
However, there was a brave man among the Japanese pirates. He took advantage of the gap between two shots from the opposite crossbowman and suddenly rushed forward with a Japanese sword in hand, wanting to break into the enemy's formation and engage in close combat.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizi did not wait for Zhao Chengxiao's order, but immediately called two of his personal soldiers and ordered them to kill the man immediately.
The two soldiers heard the command, kicked their horses' bellies, and the horses under their crotches immediately galloped wildly. The two rushed out from the left side of their own formation, circled a small circle, and in an instant they were behind the advancing Japanese pirates. Before the Japanese pirates could react, they leaned down and split them in half with their swords.
After the two men succeeded in their first attack, they showed no urge to fight. Instead, they slowed down their horses slightly and passed by the Japanese pirates leisurely as a demonstration. Then they urged their horses back to their own formation.
Qiu Yizi was very proud to see that his men had easily defeated hundreds of Japanese pirates. However, he was still calm and suddenly realized that these pirates still had the morale to fight back, but they would probably be defeated in a short while.
You have to know: this group of more than 500 Japanese pirates was gathered together with great difficulty. If they were to disperse, they would be scared by Qiu Yizhi and would never risk attacking the city again, and there would be no chance to gather and annihilate them. If these Japanese pirates who fled were left alone, they would soon cause another trouble to the public security in Jiangnan.
So Qiu Yizi called Zhao Chengxiao and whispered something in his ear.
Zhao Chengxiao nodded, waved the flag and ordered the crossbowmen to stop shooting and retreat to the end of the formation. The heavy infantry of the Dangshi Battalion slowly advanced forward, and the two wings were covered by the strong soldiers with swords and shields. In a moment, the Dangshi Battalion had advanced to the bridgehead, completely forcing the Japanese pirates into a dilemma. (To be continued)