At this moment, the voice that had just called on An Ping and others to surrender sounded again, but the tone was much more contemptuous: "Hahaha! I told you to surrender quickly, and now you've become turtles in a jar, right? Look, I'm going to light a fire outside and make you some fried turtle!"
The person who spoke was none other than the "Black-necked Toad" who was a subordinate of Qiu Yi and was temporarily responsible for delivering messages for Wang Laowu who had come to Beijing. This person had a loud and clear voice, but unfortunately he was born a bandit, and his temperament was indelibly rough. He was also not good at literature, and he turned a good "catching a turtle in a jar" into "frying a turtle in a clay pot"...
However, Anping, who was listening to the Black Neck Toad, was not a gentleman. After hearing what he said, he understood what he meant and shouted at the top of his voice: "You are a fucking tortoise, hiding your head and showing your tail. How can you be called a hero? If you have the guts, stick your head out of your shell and let me see it!"
After Anping said this, the mountain seemed to calm down a little.
A moment later, a person suddenly stood on a rock the size of a blue ox halfway up the mountain and appeared in everyone's sight. This person was not tall and his appearance was not impressive, but he was Qiu Yi, whom Zheng Yu had been looking for.
He just stretched out his hand to wave over a hideous-looking man beside him—the "Black-necked Toad" himself—and whispered two words in his ear.
The "Black-necked Toad" nodded as he listened. When Qiu Yizi finished speaking, he shouted down the mountain again: "Listen carefully. My master is kind and only wants food, not lives. I have already said that if you leave the food and military supplies behind and run for your lives, we will definitely not chase you and let you live so that you can have a few more mouthfuls of food!"
Although Anping was a rough general, he was not a cruel person who regarded the lives of soldiers as worthless. After listening to Qiu Yizi's words relayed by the "Black-necked Toad", he was not completely unacceptable - the saying "As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood" is about this truth.
So Anping thought about it carefully, and just as he was about to answer, he heard a roar from the other side of the mountain: "Qiu Yizi, you little thief, shut up! Don't shake my army's morale here!"
Qiu Yizhi looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the person who was speaking to her was none other than the Lingnan King's second prince, Zheng Yu. She smiled and bowed to him, saying loudly, "So it's the second prince who's here. We are old friends, so we can meet. How are you?"
Although the two of them were separated by a canyon several meters deep, the straight-line distance between them was only about twenty steps. Therefore, when they spoke to each other, it was as if there was only a stream between them, and they could even see the expressions on each other's faces clearly.
Zheng Yu looked at Qiu Yizhi's face with a smile that was obviously full of sarcasm, and a fire of karma immediately ignited in his heart. He shouted angrily: "You little thief, how much food and grass have you robbed from me in the past few days? How dare you call me an old friend! I'll catch you and see how I deal with you, a little thief who doesn't know his place!"
Qiu Yizi deliberately ignored the second half of his curse, and took advantage of the gap in the first half to ask, "Why? From what the Second Prince said, all those grains and grass were yours?"
Zheng Yu heard Qiu Yizhi's words and was obviously playing dumb, so he replied: "You are asking even though you know it. If it's not mine, why did you rob it again and again? I'm afraid you will quibble and say it wasn't you who robbed it, right? You are such a smooth-talking little thief!"
Qiu Yizi smiled and replied, "I dare not. After the Second Prince reminded me of this, I did remember this matter - I did do it, but it cannot be called 'plunder'."
Qiu Yizi swallowed his saliva and continued, "Second Prince also knows that the court is now at war with your father, the Prince of Lingnan, and military supplies and food are critical items. Our small county of Shanyin is not rich in products and there are not many good farms. Where can we get so much food and grass to feed the army defending the city? We can only scrape a few taels of silver from the passing merchants. All the passing caravans, no matter what they are transporting, will be searched by our army and taxed according to the situation. This is my military order, and everyone in Shanyin County knows it. If you don't believe it, Second Prince, just go into the city and ask a commoner."
"Nonsense!" Zheng Yu was about to say, "If I could get into Shanyin County, why would I bother talking to you here?"
But if he said what he was thinking, it would be tantamount to admitting that he had lost to Qiu Yizi on the opposite side, which was something he could not accept given his dignity as the second prince of the King of Lingnan.
So Zheng Yuqiang held up his confidence and took the initiative, saying: "The Shanyin County you mentioned has been surrounded by me. If I want to go in, it will only take a blink of an eye. I can just lift my foot and go in. Don't speak in a sarcastic way in front of me."
"Since it is just a piece of cake, why doesn't the Second Prince do it? I don't understand, please tell me." Although Qiu Yizi spoke politely, there was still a contemptuous smile on her face.
Zheng Yu gritted his teeth and replied, "I might as well tell you that I just wanted to lure you out, but I was afraid that the swords and guns would cause great suffering and hurt innocent people."
This was an obvious lie - there were only more than 10,000 people in Shanyin County, and since the rebellion of Lingnan King Zheng Gui, the number of innocent civilians killed and injured had been more than a hundred times. The lives of the people had been devastated, so the death of a few thousand people was not a big deal.
However, Qiu Yizhi's adoptive father, Zheng Rong, also ascended the throne after a successful uprising by a vassal king. Therefore, Qiu Yizhi was not in a position to speak too clearly, and only changed the subject: "I didn't expect that I, a mere seventh-rank county official, would have such a heavy weight in the eyes of the second prince, and he would go to great lengths to lure me out. I am really flattered!"
"What a wicked and sharp tongue you have!" Zheng Yu cursed in his heart, but said: "Although you are a bit cunning, you are also quite talented. If you can retreat now and change your fate - my father has said so - not only can I spare your life, but I may even reward you with a position."
Zheng Yu respects and fears his father Zheng Gui. Zheng Gui has made it clear more than once that he wants to subdue Qiu Yizi. Although Zheng Yu hates Qiu Yizi to the core, he dares not take the initiative to deal with him. He has to "make it clear in advance". In fact, the next sentence is what he really wants to say: "If you still insist on being stubborn, be careful or I will tear you into pieces!"
Qiu Yizi sneered and said, "Second Prince has such good intentions, I thank you in advance. Unfortunately, a loyal minister cannot serve two masters. Although I am of low rank, I dare not submit to the Prince of Lingnan like this." He sighed again, "Alas! There is no other way. It seems that I can only let the Second Prince come and kill me. I will stay here and the Second Prince can send troops over!"
After hearing this, Zheng Yu was immediately furious - although he was only ten steps away from Qiu Yizi, there was a deep canyon between them. He was not familiar with the terrain and did not know how long it would take him to get to Qiu Yizi by taking a detour. Moreover, even if he did get to Qiu Yizi, he would have to use his exhausted army to deal with the opponent's fresh force, and he might not be completely sure of success.
He was only a stone's throw away from Qiu Yizi, but he was a hundred miles away from her to kill her. How could it be easy
Zheng Yu was in distress when a lieutenant beside him whispered in his ear: "Second Prince, why not take advantage of his unpreparedness and send an archer to shoot him to death on the spot!"
Zheng Yu's eyes lit up after hearing this, he nodded secretly, and whispered: "Okay! This is a good idea! One archer is not enough, you quickly pick two more skilled ones, I will hold this little thief steady first, and I must succeed in one strike."
After saying that, Zheng Yu watched the general retreat with his peripheral vision, and then shouted to Qiu Yizhi across the valley: "Okay, I won't talk to you about these things. Let me ask you, the transport team below the valley is my transport team, why did you dare to rob it?"
Qiu Yizi heard this and pretended to be surprised: "What? Is this the transport team under the Second Prince? I thought it was some tea-horse caravan that wanted to collect taxes!"
This was an obvious lie - if it was an ordinary merchant caravan, why would Qiu Yi, the emperor's adopted son and the chief of the court's largest and only mobile combat force in Jiangnan, go to such lengths to first determine Anping's whereabouts, then flood the stream, lure this group of people into this deadly place, and finally lure out the second prince Zheng Yu
Zheng Yu knew what was going on, but pretended to be confused: "If that's the case, why don't you order your men to release them!"
This was obviously nonsense - he and Qiu Yizi were in a life-and-death situation, they were not three-year-old children playing house, how could they release the transport convoy that they had surrounded with great effort just because of his simple words
The two of them had their own plans, and while they were talking, two sharp shooters under Zheng Yu were already ready - they held their breath and aimed for a long time, and took the opportunity when the mountain wind suddenly stopped, and shot two sharp arrows at the face of Qiu Yizi at the same time.
Seeing that Qiu Yizhi's life was about to end in the mountains, a very agile and nimble figure suddenly appeared beside him. He caught two sharp arrows in his right hand at the same time, and said to Qiu Yizhi with a smile: "Uncle, I saved your life again today. Let's see how you will thank me in the future."
This person was Yuchi Jiming, Qiu Yizi's personal bodyguard. She was the daughter of Yuchi Lianghong, the leader of the martial arts world who was recognized as the best martial artist in the world. Catching two arrows was certainly a piece of cake for her.
Qiu Yizi was stunned, looking at the pair of silver arrows that were still heading straight at him. After a while, he realized that he had just been to the gates of hell. He couldn't help swallowing his saliva and said with forced calmness: "Good! Jiming's kung fu is getting better and better. I thought you would need both hands to block these two arrows, but you did it with just one hand. It's amazing!" As he spoke, cold sweat broke out on his back.
As he spoke, Qiu Yizhi took the two arrows from Yuchi Jiming, forced a smile, and said to Zheng Yu: "Second Prince, we were talking peacefully, why did you shoot someone in the back? This is not what a gentleman does, right?"
Zheng Yu, who was standing opposite him, was stunned by the scene. He had also heard that there was an old woman in black clothes beside the Tianzun Sect Leader, who caught an arrow with her bare hands and saved his father's life; however, on the battlefield, he had only heard of people using heavy armor and thick shields to block arrows, and had never heard of people using their bare hands to catch arrows - he was not there at the time, so he just thought it was a rumor.
But today, Zheng Yu really saw someone display such a unique skill, and he couldn't help but believe it. In panic, he had to excuse himself: "Two armies are fighting, it's a life-and-death battle, who cares about your gentlemanly behavior!"
"Hahaha!" Qiu Yizi laughed out loud, "What a life-and-death battle! But Second Prince, I have something to tell you - I may not be as good as you in other things, but you are far behind in terms of bows, crossbows and arrows!"
After that, Qiu Yizhi called Qiu Yizhi over and said, "Let your men use their crossbows to fire two volleys at the opposite side, so that they can learn about our army's strength." He whispered, "Don't hurt Zheng Yu's life."
When two armies are fighting, the life of the opposing commander must be preserved. This is an unheard-of order.