However, seeing the facts today, he couldn't help but admire Qiu Yizi's ingenious foresight. He quickly organized the defenders in the city to open the gates and counterattack. He only left a few people on the city wall to watch and observe, and the rest of the nearly 20,000 soldiers rushed out in full force.
Even so, Zhang Qi still missed the best opportunity to attack and counterattack the enemy. A large group of Lingnan troops had already abandoned the camp on the flat ground below the city and fled into the mountains.
Seeing that the enemy retreated so quickly, Zhang Qi assigned 2,000 of his soldiers to guard the enemy's abandoned camp. He strictly ordered the rest of the men to travel light and not pick up the enemy's abandoned property. They were all ordered to go into the mountains to pursue the Lingnan army.
The Lingnan Army had been hungry for half a month, and had organized a large-scale feint attack to ensure a smooth retreat, so their physical energy consumption was extremely high, which finally began to affect the speed of their retreat. Zhang Qi personally led the army and caught up with the main force of the Lingnan Army.
At this decisive moment, the Lingnan Army finally showed its temperament as a powerful army in the world and its rich experience in mountain warfare. When they saw that the defenders in the city were approaching them, the elite soldiers at the rear immediately formed a tight formation on the narrow mountain road, took out countless spears more than one person long, and stabbed the pursuers in the chest and abdomen.
In order to move quickly, Zhang Qi's men did not carry heavy shields and armor or heavy weapons. Most of them were holding light swords. In the narrow and rugged mountain paths, they were unable to make full use of their agility and speed, and could not resist the attacks of their opponents' spears. The pursuit was completely blocked.
Qiu Yizhi, who was observing the situation halfway up the mountain, saw that the rear guard of the Lingnan Army actually resisted Zhang Qi's pursuit in such a passive situation, and could not help but curse Zhang Qi for his incompetence. But he was afraid that Zhang Qi would delay for too long and let the main force of the Lingnan Army escape, so he had to quickly order his archers and crossbowmen to find a favorable terrain angle and shoot at the Lingnan Army.
The rear guard of the Lingnan Army was concentrating on blocking the pursuers on the mountain road, but they were attacked by Qiu Yizhi's elite archers and crossbowmen. Their formation was immediately broken up, and the morale that they had barely raised also declined. After a brief resistance, they also retreated.
Zhang Qi also knew that it was Qiu Yizi who was helping in the battle on the mountain, and was afraid that this seventh-rank official who held the "Golden Medal" would blame him for his poor performance in the battle, so he quickly urged the army to pursue the enemy.
However, it was just this short hesitation of less than half an hour that allowed the main force of the Lingnan Army to escape and move away.
Qiu Yizi was looking down from a high place, and when he saw this scene, he could not help but stamp his feet and sigh. It was a pity that the meticulous plan he had carefully planned and implemented for more than a month still failed in the end, and the main force of Zheng Yu and the Lingnan Army in Jiangnan Road slipped through his fingers.
At this moment, the "Black-necked Toad" shouted loudly: "Sir, look, there is a fat man in red clothes below!" As he spoke, he stretched out a finger and kept moving it.
Qiu Yizhi was already angry, and when she heard the "Black Neck Toad" yelling in her ear until her eardrums were swollen, she said angrily, "Isn't he just a fat guy? What's so great about him? Why is there such a fuss?"
The "Black-necked Toad" stuttered, "Sir, look, is this person... is this person Zheng Yu?"
After hearing this, Qiu Yizi was immediately alerted. He looked in the direction of the "Black-necked Toad"'s finger, and sure enough, he saw a fat man in red riding a tall horse, escorted by a dozen capable knights, struggling forward on a mountain path.
Even though the distance was too far, Qiu Yizi couldn't see the man's face, but he could already guess his identity just by looking at his fat body. He wanted to ask Meng Hong to shoot with his crossbow, but he estimated that the distance was too far and it would be difficult to hit him with one shot, so he turned to order Zhao Chengxiao, "Brother Zhao, quickly lead the whole army to follow me down the mountain to capture the fat man in red clothes at the foot of the mountain!"
Zhao Chengxiao had also seen the situation at the foot of the mountain clearly and recognized the identity of the man. He knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and he could not waste even a moment. He did not even have time to reorganize his formation. He shouted and led the charge out. The two or three hundred soldiers on standby behind him heard the order and immediately rushed down the mountain.
Qiu Yizhi and his men were rushing down the mountain like wolves and tigers. He was so excited that he drew out the Western Region sword from his waist and wanted to follow them down the mountain. However, he was stopped by Lin Shuhan: "Sir, what's going on? You don't even have time to form a battle array, and you want to charge down the mountain with the whole army?"
Qiu Yizi was extremely anxious and said hurriedly, "Mr. Lin, look, the fat man in red clothes at the foot of the mountain, isn't that Zheng Yu?"
Lin Shuhan had read too many books and was born with myopia. He only saw a red mass slowly moving on the path and could not see the identity of the person. But he also knew that in such a serious situation, what Qiu Yi said must be true, so he quickly let go of her hand: "Sir, why don't you go quickly! If you catch Zheng Yu, the situation in Jiangnan will be settled!"
Although Qiu Yizhi had many tricks in using his troops, he followed the strategy of the old Youyan Dao army of "combine the enemy with the normal and win with the unusual". No matter whether it was a big battle or a small one, he would always first establish an invincible position and then think of ways to deal with the enemy. Therefore, he attached great importance to the arrangement of the formation before fighting.
However, the incident happened suddenly and Zhao Chengxiao had no time to line up. Even the combat objectives were issued hastily - to capture Zheng Yu, the fat man in red in front.
This simple and crude order played a very good role in such a situation. All the troops had the same goal and no longer emphasized any skills or tactics. They only rushed towards the only target - Zheng Yu, the second prince of Lingnan Palace. The mountains and plains were filled with shouts of killing. The charge of hundreds of soldiers seemed like a huge army.
Such a non-tactical assault could best reflect the basic qualities of each soldier. Not long after they had run, they had formed three echelons - the first were the eighteen soldiers led by Zhao Chengxiao himself. Most of these people had some martial arts skills, and after being taught by Yuchi Lianghong and his daughter, they were born as bandits and were good at walking on mountain roads, so they naturally walked like the wind; following them were the more than one hundred newly recruited militiamen by Qiu Yizi. They were the best of the best, and after rigorous training, they followed closely behind Zhao Chengxiao and others; the last ones were the soldiers under Wu Changxi. Although they were not as elite as the elite in front, they were still a powerful force in the Jiangnan Dao Jiedu Army. Although they were pulled away by the two groups of people in front for a certain distance, their charge speed was not too slow.
Zheng Yu was originally going to move with the army, but because Zhang Qi from Shanyin County went out of the city to pursue, one of him and Sun Hao had to go back to the rear army to command the resistance against the pursuers, while the other was responsible for commanding the army's retreat.
Zheng Yu had been frightened by Qiu Yizi before, and although the retreat was going smoothly, he was still afraid that Qiu Yizi had set an ambush ahead. Therefore, he was unwilling to lead the vanguard retreat alone, so he chose the task of covering the rear, took some capable guards with him, and returned to the rear army to command the soldiers to resist the pursuers.
However, he was timid after all. After a slight deployment, when the rear guard soldiers still had the upper hand and had not yet suffered from the long-range attack of the crossbows on the mountain, Zheng Yu had already led his troops out of the rear guard and headed northeast again to look for the large group of troops.
It was this somewhat "absenteeism" behavior that put him in a dangerous situation where he was "neither in the village in front nor in the shop behind". There were only seven or eight personal bodyguards left around him. He could only hope for a lucky break and quickly join up with the main force in front.
However, he did not expect that Qiu Yizi's ambush troops, as expected, neither blocked the large group of troops in the front nor surrounded the rear guard. Instead, they targeted and attacked him, a group of less than ten people who were left alone. This made Zheng Yu very confused and he had no time to think about it. He hurriedly pumped the butt of the horse under his crotch, hoping to break through the attack of the ambush troops and save his life.
However, Zhao Chengxiao, the leader of the army, was well versed in military strategy and familiar with the terrain, and his reaction was also very fast. When he saw that Zheng Yu had discovered his actions and was galloping to escape his attack, he did not say anything, raised the sword in his hand, and pointed to the right.
The "Iron-Headed Dragon" beside him understood what he meant and immediately changed direction. Instead of running towards the path down the mountain, it turned 90 degrees and ran towards a barrier between two peaks. Behind it were another twenty or thirty soldiers.
It turned out that the path here was a U-turn. Although Zheng Yu was running very hard on the road, he was just circling around a hill. Following Zhao Chengxiao's instructions, "Iron Head Dragon" quickly climbed over the hill and just caught up with Zheng Yu's direction. He happened to see the fat man Zheng Yu galloping towards him.
Seeing this, "Iron Head Dragon" hurriedly called his brothers to throw all the knives, swords, guns and spears at Zheng Yu. However, they had just run down the mountain and were in a hurry to fight. There were not many of them, so most of the weapons they threw missed. The few that hit only scratched the fur of Zheng Yu's horse, and did not slow down his running speed at all.
Seeing Zheng Yu riding his horse closer and closer, "Iron-headed Dragon" became extremely anxious, fearing that this piece of fat meat, Zheng Yu, would slip away from his mouth. It would be fine if he didn't get the reward, and it wouldn't matter if he was scolded by Qiu Yizi and Zhao Chengxiao, but if he was constantly mocked by his companions who came down from Funiu Mountain with him, he would have no face left.
So the "Iron-Headed Dragon" gritted his teeth, made up his mind, relaxed his tendons and muscles, walked to the middle of the path, scratched his bald scalp hard, put on a desperate posture, and charged head-on at Zheng Yu's fast horse.
Only a very silent crash was heard, and the "Iron Head Dragon"'s eyes went dark. He felt that all the bones in his body were about to be shattered, and his internal organs felt as if they were churning. His eyes went black, his mind went blank, and then he fainted.
When "Iron Head Dragon" woke up and tried to open his eyes, he saw a dozen of his brothers surrounding him. Each of them had a look of surprise and joy. Two or three of them were so soft-hearted that tears already hung on their cheeks.
The Iron-Headed Dragon wanted to speak, but no matter how he moved his lips, his mouth was dry and he couldn't make a sound. His ears were quite sensitive, and he only heard the Black-Necked Toad shouting, "Master... Master... Brother Iron-Headed Dragon has opened his eyes!"
Qiu Yizi immediately stepped forward and saw the pair of black eyes of the Iron Head Dragon opened wide. He suddenly felt relieved, but he could not say a word of concern. Instead, he complained: "You are so good, Iron Head Dragon, there are so many ways to stop the horse, why did you choose to hit it with your head? Look, you almost broke your broken head."
The "Iron-Headed Dragon" then remembered that he was afraid that Zheng Yu would escape from his blockade on horseback, so he came up with the idea of using his head to hit the horse. Now that he thinks about it carefully, he can just chop down a small tree on the side of the road and use the trunk to trip the horse, which will also allow the horse to be knocked over.