Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he heard this and asked hurriedly, "Japanese pirates? How many Japanese pirates does Yin Tai have under his command now?"
Wu Changxi thought for a moment and said, "It's hard to say. When I left Mingzhou, there were probably one or two thousand Japanese pirates in the city, and there were at least five or six hundred real Japanese among them. As for now... some have come, some have left, and I don't know how many are left now, but the number is probably around this number."
Qiu Yizi felt relieved after hearing this. He thought: with his 218 elite soldiers alone, plus Yuchi Jiming, they could fight against more than 500 Japanese pirates. Although Wu Changxi's men were not as elite as his own, they could at least fight the Japanese pirates to a draw and deal with 500 to 600 people - in this way, as long as he could fully utilize the power of the crossbows he carried, he would have a great chance of winning against these more than a thousand Japanese pirates.
So Qiu Yizi discussed it with Wu Changxi again, and felt that after all, his own forces were smaller than those of the enemy, and if he divided his forces further to attack, he would obviously be even weaker. The best way was undoubtedly to go straight to the vital point and capture or kill the main culprits, Yin Chengliang and Yin Tai, father and son.
However, after asking Wu Changxi, he found out that the father and son did not live in the city, but lived on a ship and would not go ashore easily.
But this was easy to handle. Qiu Yizi and Wu Changxi decided not to sweep the city and look for Yin Chengliang and Yin Tai. Instead, they would lead the army straight through the central avenue of Mingzhou City and rush all the way to the port. As long as they captured the important port, even if they couldn't capture the two men alive, they could at least drive them out. In this way, Mingzhou City would be leaderless and could be taken down naturally.
So Qiu Yizi and Wu Changxi did not hesitate any longer and called up their troops. Wu Changxi, who was familiar with the terrain of Mingzhou streets, led the way in front, while Qiu Yizi's troops covered the rear, and they headed straight towards Mingzhou port.
Mingzhou City has a very short history. It was first a trading port, and then a seaport city naturally formed by the gathering of merchants. Therefore, Mingzhou City does not have tall walls like other cities, and only has a cofferdam outside the seaport. Therefore, Qiu Yizhi and Wu Changxi's troops did not encounter any obstacles and easily entered the Mingzhou city along the streets.
Qiu Yizhi had been to Mingzhou once before, but that time he came to investigate the case of the fake leader of the Tianzun Sect, and later he had a bloody battle with the Japanese pirates. Today, he came here to fight with Yin Chengliang and his son again. He had met all his enemies in Mingzhou City. It could be said that this was not a blessed place for him.
Therefore, when Qiu Yizhi entered the city of Mingzhou, he was on high alert. He did not dare to whip the horse and gallop at full speed, but followed cautiously behind the large group of people and horses, advancing towards the dock.
Wu Changxi, on the other hand, was returning to the old place, intending to capture the city he had defended as a defeated general. Therefore, he was in high spirits, and his feet seemed to be full of strength. He advanced into the city occupied by the enemy army, which was full of dangers. Not only was he not timid, but he even had a faint smile on his face.
But a group of soldiers and horses flashed out in front of them. There were about a hundred of them in total, blocking the street entrance. The leading general stretched out his hand to stop them and said, "Where are you coming from? You are running around in Mingzhou City at will. Aren't you afraid that Lord Yin will punish you?"
It turned out that this general saw that the soldiers under Wu Changxi were still wearing the uniforms of the Jiangnan Road official army, so he thought that the defenders in the city were violating military discipline and running around in the city, so he spoke out to stop them.
Unexpectedly, Wu Changxi cursed, "What are you afraid of? I'm here to mess with Yin Chengliang! Get out of my way if you know what's good for you!"
The officer didn't recognize Wu Changxi's face until he ran closer, and stammered, "Wu Changxi, you... why are you back again?"
Wu Changxi did not answer, but said to himself: "Since you recognize me, why don't you get out of my way!" As he spoke, his pace did not slow down at all.
How could the general give way just because of Wu Changxi's words? He quickly ordered his soldiers to draw their swords and prepare for battle, ready to fight Wu Changxi head-on, but he shouted: "Wu Changxi, for the sake of our past friendship, you go back now, and I won't chase you!"
Wu Changxi sneered, thrust his spear forward, and stabbed the general in the chest. The general quickly stretched out his saber to block the attack. Unexpectedly, Wu Changxi suddenly changed his tactics and thrust the spear head vertically, hitting the saber.
Wu Changxi was determined to win, and he used a lot of strength in this move. Add to that the momentum of his fast running, and he actually knocked the sword in the officer's hand flying far away.
The man had no weapon to rely on and was about to be stabbed to death by Wu Changxi on the spot, but he heard Wu Changxi shouting: "If you don't want to die, get away from me!"
Of course, the general didn't want to die, so he jumped to the side and dodged to the side of the road. He was eager to win, so he moved too much and stumbled and fell to the ground. There happened to be a dung bucket on the side of the road, and he knocked it over, and fell into the feces and urine on the ground, stink all over, and couldn't be more embarrassed.
The troops who came to stop Wu Changxi saw that they were defeated so easily after just one encounter with their main general - and that the opponent showed mercy - that they had long lost the courage to contend with the enemy. They involuntarily gave way to the main road and allowed Wu Changxi, Qiu Yizi and others to continue rushing forward.
Mingzhou's defense was not lax, and Qiu Yizhi's troops encountered no less than ten groups of soldiers along the way. However, these people were either scolded by Wu Changxi and quickly retreated, or they fled like birds and beasts after a slight attack - Qiu Yizhi and his men arrived in front of the cofferdam of Mingzhou Port in no time.
Qiu Yizhi was sitting on a tall horse, but he saw that the people in the cofferdam had received the news, and a lot of people and horses were gradually gathering at the entrance. Although these people were not wearing the clothes and armor of Han officers and soldiers, they were not unfamiliar to Qiu Yizhi - they were the Japanese pirates recruited by Yin Tai and Yin Chengliang!
In fact, Qiu Yizhi was very confident in defeating these pirates. However, he knew that the pirates were very strong and he was alone in deep. If he fought a stalemate with the pirates, reinforcements would gather from all directions to besiege him. It would be a small matter if he could not win. He would be trapped in the army and could not escape.
Therefore, Qiu Yizhi was very nervous. He personally led the battle, asked his soldiers to line up, drew the Western Region sword at his waist, pointed it forward and said, "Fire at the entrance of the cofferdam!"
His seventy crossbowmen listened to the order and quickly pulled the triggers of their crossbows, and arrows flew towards the Japanese pirates gathered at the entrance of the cofferdam. The Japanese pirates lacked heavy armor and thick shields, and their formation was very tight with no gaps. Under the attack of such sharp crossbow arrows, more than forty or fifty people were shot dead in the blink of an eye, and the formation suddenly became chaotic.
Qiu Yi succeeded in one strike and quickly ordered, "Iron Head Dragon, lead your men and ride their horses to the dock!"
When Tietou Jiao received the order, he immediately whipped the buttocks of the Bohai horse he was riding with his whip. The horse felt the pain and immediately spread its four hooves and galloped forward. The other seventeen personal soldiers under his command also urged their horses to charge forward.
Qiu Yizhi didn't dare to neglect it, but he couldn't bear to whip his horse, so he kicked the horse's belly and ran out. Following closely behind was Yuchi Jiming, Qiu Yizhi's personal guard.
When the rest of the light and heavy infantry saw their commander marching out, they hurriedly followed the previous deployment, took a deep breath, and galloped behind Qiu Yizi's horse.
The Japanese pirates on the opposite side had not yet formed their formation when dozens of their companions were knocked down by a volley of gunfire. The morale of the army had already been hit, and then they were suddenly charged by a dozen elite cavalrymen. They did not react at all and instinctively gave way to the entrance of the cofferdam, allowing these cavalrymen to break through their defenses.
The Japanese pirates, still in shock, looked up and saw hundreds of infantrymen led by a young general charging towards them. They were all veterans of many battles in Japan, and although they had not read the art of war, they knew that if these large numbers of infantrymen broke through their defenses, coupled with the impact of the cavalry behind them, they would be in danger of being attacked from both sides.
So even though they had no unified command or instructions, they instinctively moved towards the gap previously created by the cavalry's charge, trying to block the enemy outside the cofferdam.
Qiu Yizi did not expect his opponent to react so quickly, and it was too late for him to rein in the horse. Just as his beloved Ferghana horse was about to hit the Japanese sword that the Japanese pirate was thrusting forward, the horse suddenly jumped with all four hooves, and the whole horse flew into the air, leaping over the Japanese pirate's head.
The war horses produced in Japan were not even as tall as those of ordinary soldiers. These Japanese people had never seen such majestic horses before. They were so shocked by this scene that they stood there in a daze, and even forgot to resist the enemy in front of them.
Seeing this, Yuchi Jiming showed no mercy and casually raised a handful of copper coins with thin edges and threw them at the Japanese pirates. Ever since Yuchi Jiming was defeated by the old lady of the Yuchi family beside Wen Honghui, she has been practicing kung fu with all her heart. She was already very talented, and with the experience she gained from her last failure, her kung fu improved day by day. In just one year, she had reached the level where she could fight on equal terms with her father Yuchi Jiming.
Therefore, the twenty or thirty copper coin darts she shot out were many times more powerful than before. She killed or injured the twenty or so Japanese pirates in front of her effortlessly, making the formation that the Japanese pirates had finally gathered become extremely chaotic again.
Yuchi Jiming took advantage of the chaos, rode his horse through the cofferdam and came to Qiu Yizi.
The infantrymen behind him had heard Qiu Yizhi's strict order, requiring them to break through the enemy's defense and rush to the dock when they saw an opening, and not to engage in battle with the enemy easily. So they shouted that the opening had been opened, and they did not hesitate, and did not fight the Japanese pirates. Relying on the heavy shields used by the "Dangshi Camp" in their hands, they pushed and squeezed through the enemy's defense line and stood on the open space in front of Mingzhou Port.
Qiu Yizi, who had just arrived, saw that all his troops had rushed into the cofferdam, and felt relieved. While ordering the soldiers to form a battle array according to the terrain, he looked around.
The Mingzhou port was extremely busy and chaotic, with all kinds of ships densely packed on the dock shoreline. Although it was night, countless laborers were still carrying bags of grain from the ships, making the originally spacious dock crowded.
Seeing this scene, Qiu Yizi admired Lin Shuhan, a talented and decisive man, from the bottom of his heart - what he expected was indeed correct. Zheng Yu really could not rely solely on the production of Jiangnan Road to feed an army of more than 100,000 or 200,000. Instead, he had to rely on the food and grass shipped by sea from Lingnan Road to barely maintain the offensive against him.
Now that he had arrived at the port of Mingzhou, he was only one step away from completely cutting off the main artery supplying Zheng Yu's army!