Just when Qiu Yizhi was a little flustered, he heard a strong wind blowing overhead, bringing a violent sound like a storm. When the sound subsided, the first few martial artists who rushed over had been pierced through the body by countless arrows, leaving only a blurry and lifeless pool of flesh and blood, nailed firmly to the ground.
Qiu Yizhi was no stranger to these arrows that were only three inches long—they were the crossbow arrows used by Old Youyan Dao Jin Crossbow—and he quickly turned around to look in the direction from which the crossbow arrows came. Sure enough, he saw fifty or sixty soldiers holding crossbows standing in groups of three or five on the tall buildings beside and behind him. These soldiers were uniformly dressed and well-trained—they were the militia that Qiu Yizhi had recruited and trained in Shanyin County!
The sudden appearance of these people made Qiu Yizi and others feel relieved.
Zhao Chengxiao was holding Qiu Yi and retreating while saying, "Sir, when we were patrolling just now, we saw these people acting suspiciously, so we told Mr. Lin. Mr. Lin said that these people might have been arranged here by the Tianzun Sect Leader in advance. These people are ugly and there are so many of them, so he summoned all the local militia to come here to help. Fortunately, they came in time, otherwise it would be difficult for us brothers to deal with them alone! Please rest assured, you should go back and rest first."
Qiu Yizhi was worried about Wen Lingjiao and Yuchi Jiming who were still in the hands of the enemy, so she didn't want to retreat. She broke free from Zhao Chengxiao's hand and ordered, "Don't be in a hurry to retreat, we still have people on the opposite side!"
Zhao Chengxiao only had Qiu Yizhi in his heart, and replied: "The safety of the adults is the most important, let's go to a safe place first, and then we will slowly find a way to rescue Miss Yuchi and Miss Wen."
As the two were talking, they heard a series of continuous footsteps coming from the direction of Jinling. The footsteps were orderly and dull, and contained a hint of murderous intent.
Qiu Yizi looked up in a hurry and saw that it was the "Dangshiying" soldiers among his own militia, trotting towards him with huge shields in hand; following them were seventy elite infantrymen holding rattan shields and Japanese swords; the last to run up were another twenty strong crossbowmen who were sniping down from the upper floor.
These people moved swiftly and orderly. In the blink of an eye, they had formed a neat and tight formation with Qiu Yizi as the core.
Qiu Yizi saw that he had reliable guards around him. Although he didn't know whether these militiamen who had won a great victory against the Japanese pirates could deal with the hundreds of martial arts masters in front of him, he felt relieved and stood in place with full confidence, separating two or three layers of soldiers and watching the movements of Wen Honghui from the Tianzun Sect in front.
The first few masters on Wen Honghui's side were suddenly shot into a pile of rotten meat by the crossbow, and the rest of the people were so scared that they stood still and dared not move forward. Wen Honghui was anxious and was about to increase the reward and urge his men to rush forward and capture Qiu Yizi, but he did not expect such a group of people to appear from nowhere in the blink of an eye.
Wen Honghui had been pretending to be an officer in the Youyan army for a long time. Although he had never had the experience of leading an army into battle himself, he could see that the momentum of the army in front was different and he was afraid that they could not be easily defeated. He was also afraid that the enemy would shoot him to death with a volley of arrows, so he did not dare to act rashly for a while.
Qiu Yizi was also observing Wen Honghui's movements when someone tapped him lightly on the shoulder with a stick.
Qiu Yizi turned around and saw that it was "Mr. Bansong" Lin Shuhan who tapped Qiu Yizi with a folded fan and said with a smile: "My lord, I am not too late this time, am I? These people are sneaking around here, and we finally found them and almost made mistakes. What are you waiting for? Why don't you give the order quickly, and shoot them all into hedgehogs, isn't it quick and easy?"
Qiu Yizi frowned, but said: "It's impossible, Yuchi Jiming... and Miss Wen is still in the hands of the Tianzun Sect Leader!"
Lin Shuhan was stunned when he heard this - after all, Wen Lingjiao was the saint of the Tianzun Sect, so it was not strange for her to run to the other side; but Yuchi Jiming was one of the best martial artists in the world, so even if it was difficult to capture the Tianzun Sect leader, how could he be trapped in the opponent's formation
Although Lin Shuhan couldn't figure out the reason for a moment, there was only one thing he was sure of, that is, he must not order the crossbowmen to fire at the same time now, otherwise the arrows would rain down and everything would be destroyed immediately.
While Qiu Yizhi and Lin Shuhan were nervously thinking about countermeasures, Wen Honghui had already figured out why the other side had not taken action yet, so he shouted confidently: "The other side has a hostage in my hand, they dare not act recklessly, what are you still standing there for? Hurry and kill them!"
The underworld is just like the imperial court, full of dangers and uncertainty. Those simple-minded, strong-limbed, and reckless fools have long been wiped out in the battles in the martial arts world.
Therefore, the heroes who gathered under Wen Honghui were not so foolish as to rush forward to die after seeing their companions being shot into pulp. However, most of them were new to the Tianzun Sect. If they continued to hesitate, they would be expelled by the leader on the spot, and their journey all the way to Jinling would be in vain...
At this slightly awkward moment, the elderly woman next to Wen Honghui said in a profound voice: "What are you still standing there for? If anyone knows how to use hidden weapons, why don't you step forward and throw away all the weapons in your hands!"
Her voice really alerted these heroes of the martial arts world. Among the hundred or so people, more than twenty of them pushed and shoved to stand in the front row, holding darts, throwing knives, golden needles and other weapons in their hands. Suddenly, they all let out a long roar at the same time and threw the hidden weapons in their hands forward.
Hidden weapons are a specialized skill in the underworld. The goal is to launch a weapon suddenly when the person is least prepared, taking the person's life from a few or dozens of steps away. Although it is inevitably despised by others, it is a very efficient killer move.
These heroes of the martial arts world showed off their abilities, using all kinds of strange hidden weapons in their hands and their unique techniques to attack the soldiers on the opposite side like a storm.
After a burst of dense and dull metal collision sounds subsided, the government army formation guarded by soldiers holding huge shields remained motionless in front of them - hundreds of hidden weapon attacks that had condensed more than ten years of martial arts skills by the martial artists failed to kill or injure even one or two opponents.
This is not surprising.
The soldiers holding giant red shields more than one meter tall are the world-famous "Dangshiying" soldiers. The large shields in their hands are all made of fine steel. They can even withstand the fierce Turkic cavalry's rounds of shooting, so how could they be afraid of the light hidden weapons in the hands of these heroes in front of them
At this moment, Qiu Yizi and Lin Shuhan had moved to a tall building on the side of the road under the escort of several soldiers. From their high vantage point, they saw that the twenty or thirty gangsters who were firing hidden weapons were slightly protruding and were about ten steps away from the black-sailed boat. It was a good time to launch a sniper attack.
So Qiu Yi gave an order, commanding the crossbowmen who were ambushing in the tall buildings on both sides to aim carefully and then fire a volley of shots.
Among this group of heroes, there were some with sharp ears and eyes. When they heard the sound of the bowstring, they knew that an arrow was coming, so they looked around hurriedly to find the direction of the attack so that they could take the opportunity to block or dodge.
However, these arrows came from all directions and there was no way to avoid them. After a rain of arrows, the twenty or thirty heroes in the front were all killed without a single survivor.
Even though these gangsters were all ruthless and cruel criminals who would kill without blinking an eye, they were still shocked by the scene before them. They just thought: If the opponent launches a few more volleys, they will be wiped out!
Wen Honghui from the Tianzun Sect was knowledgeable and knew that although the crossbow was powerful, the interval between two attacks was quite large. After a volley, there would inevitably be a long interval before the second attack.
Wen Honghui then had an idea and lied, saying, "Don't be afraid, the crossbows on the other side have run out of arrows. Why don't you rush over and avenge your brothers and sisters!"
In the underworld, loyalty to friends is more important than loyalty to the king and father.
Most of these heroes from all over the Han Dynasty who came to rely on Wen Honghui were senior brothers, junior brothers, or even biological brothers. In the rain of arrows just now, many people died. Qiu Yizi had become the sworn enemy of these people.
Therefore, once Wen Honghui's concise slogan was put forward, it generated great appeal among this group of heroes. After hearing it, this group of people were so excited that they rushed forward towards the enemy with various weapons in their hands without thinking.
Wen Honghui was not a stupid man, and he had been hiding in the Youyan army for a long time. As expected, he saw the flaws in Qiu Yi's army at a glance. As soon as he gave the order, the heroes who obeyed his orders rushed to Qiu Yi's army in an instant, and slashed at the giant shield of the "Dangshiying" with their swords. At this time, the crossbows were just ready for the second attack, but because the opponent was too close to the friendly forces, they were afraid of hurting the friendly forces when shooting, and could not attack this group of heroes.
Fortunately, the giant shields in the hands of the "Dangshiying" were extremely strong and reliable, and this group of heroes lacked real magic weapons like the pitch-black Western sword that Qiu Yizi had before. Therefore, even if these people were extremely strong, even stronger than the Japanese pirates, they still could not break through the defense of the "Dangshiying" soldiers.
There were smart people among the heroes of the Jianghu who saw that the opponent's defense was tight and that it would be impossible to win easily by just charging and fighting, so they wanted to use clever force to win. However, now it was not a one-on-one competition between two people in the Jianghu, but a head-on confrontation between hundreds of people. The ideas of one or two people were always swept up by the actions of the crowd. Even if everyone had the same goal and the same idea, it would be useless without clear and consistent command.
Wen Honghui is an expert at organizing and mobilizing people, and his prestige in the martial arts world is also very high. However, he has no experience in commanding two armies in a battle. He can only watch as this group of heroes in the martial arts world fight against Qiu Yizi's men in their own formations.
Suddenly, a loud shout came from Qiu Yi's formation: "Use guns!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the sword and shield soldiers hiding behind the "Dangshiying" put away their blades, threw down their shields, took out two short spears as tall as a person from behind the huge shields held by the "Dangshiying" troops in front of them, and then connected the two short spears at the tails, and actually "combined them into one" to form a spear more than ten feet long.
This method of fighting had obviously been rehearsed in advance. Two strong soldiers held the middle part of the spears with four hands, and placed the spear heads in the gaps between the huge shields. Suddenly, they shouted in unison: "Kill!" and thrust their spears forward.
The heroes of the martial arts world who were fighting with him had never seen such a move before and were caught off guard. A dozen people in the front row had big holes in their waists and immediately lost their fighting ability.
The Shanyin militia showed no mercy, and before the enemy could react, they immediately retracted their spears and thrust forward again without even aiming. (To be continued)