Qiu Yizi felt strange after hearing this and said, "What is black soil? Explain it to me clearly."
The "Iron Head Dragon" scratched his head and said, "I can't explain this clearly. If you are really interested, you might as well go and see it for yourself. But this thing smells fishy and is black and not very good-looking..."
Seeing that it was still early, Qiu Yizi said, "It would be good to go and take a look. I want to know what the King of Lingnan sent to Zheng Yu. 'Iron Head Dragon', you lead the way."
After saying that, he followed the "Iron-Headed Dragon" forward.
Along the way, Qiu Yizi found some good things. He pointed to a pile of cut wood and said, "Look, these arrow shafts are made of the best nanmu wood in the south. The arrows made from them are heavy and straight, and they are very accurate. Remember to bring some back."
He pointed to many war horses in the distance and said, "Don't look down on these horses coming from the south. Although they are not as good as the horses from Bohai and Turkic, they are also very rare in the Central Plains. Send someone to drive these horses back and feed them carefully. You should know that our army is now the most precious cavalry."
Sometimes he looked at the piles of weapons and sighed: "There are also good weapons in Lingnan Road. Although these swords are not as good as the weapons made in Bohai, and are also worse than the Japanese swords, they are still better than the weapons in the Central Plains. It's a pity that time is tight now, and we don't have enough manpower, so we can't take them all away..."
Qiu Yizhi walked and looked, and finally came to the "several jars of black mud" that the "Iron-headed Dragon" mentioned.
The jar containing the "black mud" was nothing more than a large pottery flower jar used by ordinary people. It was nothing special. The mouth of the jar was sealed with leather. When I opened it, I saw that it was filled to the brim with black colloid.
Such a container, such a color, such a shape, anyone would sneer at it, thinking that the Lingnan Army had nothing to do after eating, so they transported a pile of sludge from afar.
But when Qiu Yizi saw these things, he gasped - these were not silt used for growing flowers and grass, but carefully prepared gunpowder!
Qiu Yizhi learned from the documents from the Western Regions collected in the Tianzun Sect's "Yuhuangding" main altar that gunpowder could be used to attack cities and capture strongholds. After that, he used explosives several times to blast through countless city walls and gates, and each time it had the effect of bringing people back to life and turning the tide, and it also played a great role in the emperor Zheng Rong's great cause.
Precisely because of the power of gunpowder, in the whole world, only a handful of people, including Emperor Zheng Rong, Prime Minister Zhongli Kuang, and Qiu Yizi, knew of its existence. Among them, only Qiu Yizi understood how to prepare and use it. The secret was kept strictly secret from everyone else, and no one talked about it. This was to prevent villains from using gunpowder to capture cities and cause a stir in the world.
Qiu Yizi had originally guessed that the King of Lingnan learned the method of digging tunnels when attacking the city from Wen Honghui, but he had never heard of any city being captured by blasting open the city walls. Therefore, he was somewhat glad that Wen Honghui had not yet mastered the method of using gunpowder.
However, this method of siege with gunpowder was brought to the Central Plains by the Tianzun Sect from the Western Regions. As the leader of the Tianzun Sect, Wen Honghui finally mastered this skill. If he used this to show his loyalty to Lingnan King Zheng Gui, what other cities in the world could be defended? The world would be at his fingertips.
Seeing all this gunpowder in front of him, how could Qiu Yizi not feel chilled to the bone? He almost collapsed and sat on the ground, his face suddenly turning extremely pale.
The "Iron Head Dragon" beside him was confused, so he touched his shiny head and asked, "My Lord, what's wrong with you? Why do you look so unhappy? Is there something strange about these jars of mud?"
Qiu Yizi frowned and glared at the "Iron Head Dragon", saying angrily: "Some things are better not to be known!"
His look was so cold and stern that it made the vicious "Iron-headed Dragon" shrink back all over and stammer, not knowing how to respond.
In just a moment, Qiu Yizhi had recovered his normal state. He called Wu Changxi over and ordered, "We have almost burned the enemy's ships. Next, we will burn the port. General Wu, please go outside the cofferdam to respond to avoid being affected by the fire."
Of course, Wu Changxi had no reason to refuse, so he immediately led his soldiers and retreated from the entrance they had just taken to the cofferdam and entered the city.
Qiu Yizi asked Wu Changxi to go out, not to have him to support outside, but because he didn't want him to know the secret of the gunpowder.
Therefore, after watching Wu Changxi leave, he led his soldiers to carry the jars of gunpowder to the center of the dock, and after randomly transporting some military supplies that he liked, he took a torch in his hand, lit the gunpowder himself, and rode out of the cofferdam on horseback.
Unexpectedly, the power of the gunpowder was beyond Qiu Yizi's imagination.
With a huge explosion that shook the earth, the entire Mingzhou wharf was suddenly shrouded in gray-black smoke.
When the smoke and dust cleared, the wharf had been blown to pieces, and even the solid cofferdam had collapsed in several places. Looking inside from the gaps, the Mingzhou Port wharf, which was once very neat and presentable, was now in tatters, with no intact parts, and even the mountains of military supplies had been blown to pieces.
Qiu Yizi knew that if the news of today's movement spread, Zheng Yu's main force that was led away by Zhao Chengxiao would definitely move towards Mingzhou City at a high speed, and would most likely surround him in Mingzhou City.
Therefore, he did not dare to express any more emotion. With a single order, he ordered his personal soldiers, militiamen, and Wu Changxi's troops to carry the looted horses and supplies, and march westward along the original route and leave Mingzhou City.
The Mingzhou port was lost, food and supplies were destroyed, a large number of ships sank, and even Yin Chengliang and Yin Tai, father and son, fled in a panic. This series of news soon reached the ears of Zheng Yu, who was being led by Zhao Chengxiao to the vicinity of Quzhou.
Although Zheng Yu had great ambitions but little talent, he knew the importance of Mingzhou Port. He knew that without the sea route from Lingnan to Jiangnan, it would be extremely difficult for him to maintain the current military expenses with only a tortuous land route, including more than 100,000 mobile troops and more than 200,000 garrison troops. Not to mention maintaining the current rolling offensive of more than 100,000 troops, even if he could survive the winter and end the spring famine, it would not be an easy task.
There is no doubt that the person who could do such a cunning and mean thing is the mean and cunning Qiu Yizi!
When Zheng Yu thought of this, he was already blinded by anger. He left the army led by Zhao Chengxiao in front of him and immediately ordered his troops to turn around and march towards Mingzhou City. His subordinates set up a tight net to capture Qiu Yizi alive.
The commander Zhao Chengxiao was in charge of an army of more than 10,000 people for the first time. He emphasized the word "safety" and thought that as long as he could return the army safely to Qiu Yizi, he would have accomplished his mission.
However, there happened to be a talented "Ban Song Hermit" Lin Shuhan in his army. Seeing that the opponent was retreating in a hurry and leaving a huge gap, he did not want to miss this good opportunity, so he proposed to Zhao Chengxiao to take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the opponent.
Although Zhao Chengxiao had Lin Shuhan to help him share the responsibility, he did not dare to take too many risks. He only split up and annihilated a few teams that were too prominent or lagging behind. He managed to wipe out two or three thousand Lingnan troops, which was a considerable achievement.
Qiu Yizi had also guessed that Zheng Yu was bound to capture him, so he did not dare to delay at all. He did not go directly west to meet Zhao Chengxiao, but instead made a feint to the north, creating the illusion of entering Jinling City, deceiving Zheng Yu into making a big circle in the north. Then, relying on his advantage of small number of troops and fast action, he calmly escorted the spoils to meet up with Zhao Chengxiao's army.
Zhao Chengxiao and others were overjoyed to see that Qiu Yizi not only returned safely but also seized a large pile of military supplies, and they greeted him.
Qiu Yizhi was originally afraid that he could not escape Zheng Yu's pursuit, but now he was afraid that he would attack the place without thinking, so he simply ordered his soldiers to make a big flag and a cart, and put the flag on the cart to show off his power everywhere. This big flag was ten feet square, and it was majestic when it fluttered in the wind. However, it only had five timid characters "Shanyin County Magistrate Qiu" written on it, which made people who saw it unforgettable.
This obvious provocation made Zheng Yu furious. He quickly changed the direction of his army and attacked Qiu Yi's army westwards again.
This was exactly what Qiu Yizi wanted.
Relying on the hundreds of war horses seized from the Mingzhou wharf, he established a light cavalry unit. Relying on this highly mobile light soldier, he annihilated hundreds of Lingnan army soldiers. After completely provoking Zheng Yu's anger, he headed westward towards his hometown, Shanyin County, Yuezhou Prefecture, moving fast and slow.
Zheng Yu pursued relentlessly, but his troops were getting fewer and fewer.
It turned out that after Qiu Yizi completely destroyed the port of Mingzhou, the amount of food and military equipment transported from Lingnan Road to Zheng Yu became less and less, and it was really difficult to maintain the expenses with the military rations accumulated before. So he had to dispatch the soldiers who could not be maintained to various states and counties, letting them train and eat food on the spot.
That's how Zheng Yu managed to barely maintain 40,000 elite troops and continue pursuing Qiu Yizi. Although the speed increased, the overwhelming military advantage over Qiu Yizi's troops was also reduced.
Although Zheng Yu had limited talent, he gradually noticed this change and deliberately stopped his relentless pursuit. However, Qiu Yizi was like an annoying fly, sometimes attacking nearby counties and sometimes harassing Zheng Yu's army. Once, a cavalry unit even attacked Zheng Yu's camp when he was not prepared, and almost cut down the flag of the army.
After several years of training, Qiu Yizhi's use of troops has reached perfection, especially in commanding small units, which are like ghosts and ghosts, and are difficult to predict. How can Zheng Yu catch his whereabouts? Fortunately, Zheng Yu has a large number of troops and a large number of troops dispersed to various states and counties. Although the number of troops chasing Qiu Yizhi is reduced, the local defense has been strengthened, making it increasingly difficult for Qiu Yizhi to find states and counties where he can easily attack.
The battle remained stalemate for another month. As the New Year was approaching, the soldiers in Zheng Yu's army were homesick and exhausted, and their morale was getting lower and lower.
Zheng Yu, who was in charge of the army, became more and more anxious when he saw this situation. At this time, a battle report came from the front: it was said that Qiu Yizhi's troops, who had been harassing him, had all evacuated and went to Shanyin County.
Zheng Yu had been fooled by Qiu Yizi many times, so he was still a little bit unconvinced when he heard such news. But soon after, he received intelligence from the front: Qiu Yizi's troops had all arrived in Shanyin County, and even his ostentatious central army flag was raised in Shanyin County; and the enemy troops that had been harassing everywhere and making people scratch their heads had disappeared, and seemed to have returned to Shanyin County.