Qiu Yizhi sighed and said, "Sir, you are right. However, I have seen the effect of the secret passage countless times..."
He suddenly thought of how he had used the tunnel-digging skills of the Tianzun Sect to rescue the trapped Youyan King Zheng Rong from the prison of the Ministry of Justice. This was not a glorious thing, and Qiu Yizhi, Zhao Chengxiao, Yuchi Jiming and others who knew the truth had sworn to never reveal a single word.
Therefore, Qiu Yizi swallowed the rest of the sentence halfway through her sentence and changed her words: "We almost caught all the cult members several times, but they escaped from the tunnels, which made us waste our energy but get nothing."
Lin Shuhan then realized that digging tunnels was indeed a useful skill, and he sighed, "I am indeed too pedantic. It seems that no matter what skill you have, as long as you practice diligently and strive for perfection, you will definitely be able to use it in a big way."
Qiu Yizhi then asked, "In fact, it's far more than that... Sir, you are very talented. As the saying goes, 'A scholar can know everything in the world without leaving home.' I wonder if you have heard about how the Youyan army broke through the capital Luoyang during the campaign to suppress the rebellion?"
Lin Shuhan pondered for a moment and said, "How could I know such a secret? I just heard that it was the emperor who used his divine power to summon thunder from the sky, which collapsed several parts of the Luoyang city wall at once, and that was how the city was breached."
Qiu Yizhi sneered and said, "Do you believe this rumor, Mr. Lin?"
Lin Shuhan smiled slyly: "I can't help but believe this kind of thing! After all, the connection between heaven and man is a doctrine of saints. Since the current emperor is a wise ruler, the heaven will surely send down auspicious signs. I can't help but believe it!"
Qiu Yizi couldn't laugh, and asked again: "Not long ago, I protected Third Brother and Mr. Lin and escaped from the Lingnan King's base. Mr. Lin must have witnessed it with his own eyes, right? I blew up the two mountains at the exit of the basin. You wouldn't think this is a good omen from heaven, right?"
Although Lin Shuhan was a master of Confucianism, he did not believe in the superstitious theory of heaven and man's connection. What he said just now was just a joke. Now that he heard Qiu Yizhi speak so seriously, he said seriously, "Of course not. I remember that at that time, the Third Prince wanted you to abandon a cart of baggage, but you insisted on taking it with you in the queue. In the end, the things in the cart really had such an earth-shaking effect. I think you must have set up some ingenious mechanism in it, right?"
Qiu Yizi was a little proud, but did not laugh: "In fact, it is not a sophisticated mechanism. Mr. Lin has seen this thing frequently. It is just the firecrackers that every household sets off on New Year's Eve and Lantern Festival."
Lin Shuhan was stunned after hearing this. He understood most of it, but he was still a little confused. "Firecrackers are just for fun. I have also read a few notes and conversations. They mentioned that several craftsmen wanted to use firecrackers to fly into the sky. It was just a fantasy. How could it be so powerful?"
Qiu Yizi nodded: "That's just because they didn't know how to do it. During the campaign against the rebellion, the walls of Luoyang were blown down by the method I used. I first dug a tunnel between the walls and buried gunpowder in the tunnel... In fact, this is also the siege method brought by the Tianzun Sect from the Western Regions."
As Lin Shuhan listened to Qiu Yizhi speaking in such a calm tone, cold sweat gradually broke out on his back. Even in his low voice, he still showed obvious panic: "Could it be that the leader of the Tianzun Sect, Wen Honghui, also knows this kind of siege technique?"
Qiu Yizi curled his lips and shook his head helplessly: "I'm not sure. From what I can see now, the Lingnan Army has surrounded Jinling but is unable to win, and they don't use gunpowder bombardment, which seems to indicate that they don't have such a skill. Or maybe Wen Honghui is cunning and unwilling to teach all the secrets of the cult to the King of Lingnan..."
Lin Shuhan interrupted Qiu Yizi indignantly: "Such a scourge, why didn't he drown in the Yangtze River? If there is another chance this time, we can't let him go!"
Qiu Yizhi also remembered that Wen Lingjiao had given herself to him a few days ago. If Wen Honghui really fell into his hands, he might not be able to make up his mind to kill him...
Qiu Yizi was thinking about it when she suddenly heard a roaring voice coming from outside the door: "Sir! It's bad! Something happened!" The voice reached Qiu Yizi's study, shaking the small room.
It turned out that Wang Laowu, who was originally in charge of delivering orders under Qiu Yizhi, encountered the rebellion of the King of Lingnan after he sent a letter to Luoyang. The passage to the south was blocked, so he could only stay in Luoyang to run errands for the Third Prince Zheng Miao and could not return to Qiu Yizhi in Shanyin County. Therefore, Qiu Yizhi called the "Black Neck Toad" among his personal soldiers to be responsible for delivering orders.
Although this "black-necked toad" is not as fast as Wang Laowu, its voice is loud enough and people can hear it clearly even if it is a hundred steps away. Although it is quite useful in noisy environments, it can also be a bit annoying sometimes.
So Qiu Yizi got up, opened the door, and shouted at the "Black Neck Toad" from a distance: "What are you yelling about? A real man should remain calm even when facing a huge disaster. It's not right for you to yell and scream over a small matter. What's the matter? Tell me slowly."
The Black-necked Toad took two breaths and said, "This... When Brother Iron-Headed Dragon led his men out of the city for patrol, he discovered a large army coming from the west. Brother Zhao Chengxiao was already gathering the brothers and asked me to come over to inform the adults."
When Qiu Yizi heard this, his brain was shocked and he asked hurriedly: "Tell me clearly, how many troops have come? Where are they from? Are they troops from Lingnan Road?" He asked three questions in a row, each one more urgent and louder than the last.
The "Black-necked Toad" looked at Qiu Yizi's anxious expression and scratched his head and said, "Don't be anxious, sir. I didn't ask you to 'Mount Tai collapses in front of you'..."
Qiu Yizi interrupted the "Black Neck Toad" impatiently and said, "Now is not the time to talk about this. Tell me in detail what I asked you just now."
The Black-necked Toad then answered, "This... that... Brother Iron-Headed Dragon said that when he went there, there was fog in the mountains, and he could only vaguely see soldiers coming this way. He couldn't see clearly when he was dozens of steps away from the other side, so he hurried back to report the news."
Qiu Yizi couldn't wait to hear this, and turned around and said to Lin Shuhan, "I'm afraid that the Lingnan army is attacking. I will personally go to the front to command and try to stop the enemy for a while. Mr. Lin and Xu Rong have been busy welcoming the people outside the city into the city, and wait for the opportunity to respond when our army retreats."
Lin Shuhan listened and nodded.
Qiu Yizi had seen how powerful the Lingnan Army was, and knew that the combat effectiveness of the Lingnan Army was far superior to that of the Jiangnan Jiedu Army. If more than a thousand troops attacked, he might be able to escape unscathed; but if the other side sent out two or three thousand people, the two hundred or so people in his hands would be like an egg hitting a rock, and there would be no return.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizhi couldn't help but feel a sense of tragedy in his heart, and he instructed: "If our army is defeated and the enemy is chasing us closely, Mr. Lin, don't open the door rashly. After I and the enemy die together, you can lead the people of the city to surrender. The King of Lingnan wants to be the emperor, so he must please the literati. With your reputation in the literary world, I believe he will not embarrass you. When the time comes, please ask you to plead for the people on my behalf, hoping that these innocent people will be spared and not massacred..."
Lin Shuhan listened to Qiu Yizi's sorrowful words, his eyes were filled with tears, and he said: "My lord, good fortune will come to you, so you can go without worry... If the situation turns out to be unfavorable, I will also take care of it..." He could not say any more.
Qiu Yizi nodded, calmed down, and said, "Let's go, prepare the horses for me, let's go out of the city and take a look!"
The news of the enemy's attack had not yet reached the city, and the people in the city were still relatively calm. However, they felt strange when they saw Qiu Yizhi's troops gathered together as if they were going to fight. Every household ran out of their houses to check the situation, but no one dared to step forward to ask.
Seeing that the troops had already lined up on the playground in front of the county government office, Qiu Yizi did not give any instructions. He just pointed forward with the whip in his hand, and left Shanyin County via the main road in the city, guarded by Zhao Chengxiao and Yuchi Jiming on his left and right.
After seeing the newly reinforced county gate being shut with a bang, Qiu Yizhi breathed a sigh of relief and called the "Iron Head Dragon" to him, saying, "You are so good, Iron Head Dragon, you can't even do such a simple task properly, and you dare to come here to ask for orders without seeing anything clearly? Where is the enemy? Lead me there quickly!"
"Iron Head Dragon" also knew that his investigation was not thorough enough. After hearing Qiu Yizhi's two words of advice, he did not dare to refute and only said, "It's just to the west of the city. You will arrive in no time if you follow the main road."
Qiu Yizi nodded, and said to Zhao Chengxiao: "The road here is narrow. I will take Jiming, lead 18 personal soldiers, and select Meng Hong and 30 other strong crossbowmen to go ahead and observe the enemy at the sentry post on the mountain. Brother Zhao, lead the other brothers to block the small road into the city, okay?"
Zhao Chengxiao thought about it and felt that it would be better for him to lead the army to meet the enemy head-on rather than letting Qiu Yizi, the commander-in-chief, fight the enemy. So he agreed and led his men to set off.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizi also instructed them to go up the mountain along a small path beside the main road and come to a sentry post.
Since the King of Lingnan rebelled and Qiu Yizhi was defeated in Hangzhou and had to retreat to Shanyin County, he began to set up outposts on the mountains on both sides of several must-go roads around Shanyin County. Although these outposts were built hastily and looked a bit crude, they stored a lot of food and had water nearby, enough for a team of dozens or hundreds of people to hold out for ten days or half a month in an isolated and helpless situation.
The outpost that Qiu Yizi had entered now was located on a rock halfway up a hill on the side of the road. It overlooked the path between the valleys, but the entire outpost could not be seen from below.
So Qiu Yizhi looked out and saw that the fog was indeed very thick, dyeing the valley into a milky white color. A gust of mountain wind blew past, slightly dispersing the smoke, and indeed saw many soldiers marching on the mountain road. These soldiers seemed to be unfamiliar with the road, and in the heavy fog, their progress was very slow. If they walked step by step like this, they might not be able to reach the foot of Shanyin County from now until dark.
Qiu Yizi wanted to observe more carefully, but the fog became thicker and covered the valley again, making it impossible for him to see his opponent clearly.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizi was not very anxious - he knew that if he couldn't see his opponent, his opponent would be even less able to see him. Now the enemy was attacking and he was defending. This obscure situation should be in his favor.
So he turned back to check on Zhao Chengxiao and saw that he had moved swiftly and quickly formed a battle formation and piled up countless obstacles such as debris and tree branches in front of the formation.