When they were halfway through the journey, they suddenly saw a group of soldiers in front of them. They were carrying the flag of the Jiangnan Road official army. It was Zhang Qi who was in charge of defending the city.
So Qiu Yizi held his crotch and sat up, assuming the posture of a commander, and ordered someone to call Zhang Qi over to talk.
Zhang Qi was hesitant to go out of the city to pursue the enemy, and he was feeling a little guilty. When he heard Qiu Yizhi's message, he was already discouraged and didn't even dare to ride a horse. He hurried forward and knelt on one knee when he saw Qiu Yizhi, saying, "I was slow in action, so the main force of the Lingnan Army escaped. Please punish me, sir!"
Qiu Yizhi captured Zheng Yu alive and scared off the pursuers. He was in a good mood, so he didn't bother with him. He thought for a while and said, "Remember when I discussed with General Zhang, you should defend the county first, and when the enemy retreats, the whole army will go out of the city to pursue. These days, I have been observing the battle outside the city. The fierceness of the Lingnan army's attack on the city is beyond my expectations. It is very rare that General Zhang can hold the city."
Zhang Qi was relieved when he heard Qiu Yizhi's praise, but he heard Qiu Yizhi say, "However, when the enemy retreated, General Zhang failed to send troops in time, and he was a little hesitant, which is also undeniable."
"But when merits and demerits offset each other, General Zhang's merits still outweigh his faults. He has been able to defend the city for these days and has really made great contributions. I have already made a note of General Zhang in my heart. Once this storm is settled, I will naturally report to His Majesty, and then the Emperor will reward him according to the rules." Qiu Yizi said.
Zhang Qi was overjoyed when he heard this. He kowtowed three times on the ground and said loudly: "Thank you, Master Qiu, thank you, Master Qiu!"
Qiu Yizi saw that with just a few words from him, Zhang Qi was filled with joy and sorrow, and only then did he feel the happiness and satisfaction of "once in power", and he began to understand why Zheng Gui would give up the position of King of Lingnan and instead risk implicating his entire clan to fight for the throne of emperor.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizi felt a little panicky. He quickly calmed himself down and said, "Well, now that the Lantern Festival has not yet passed, it is still the New Year. Let's go back to Shanyin County first and make up for the Spring Festival. General Zhang, please lead the way."
So the army set off, escorting the distinguished prisoner of war, along the familiar path under their feet, all the way to Shanyin County.
When we arrived at the foot of the city, we saw that the siege camp left by the Lingnan Army had not been cleaned up yet, and there were countless military supplies abandoned on the road, which looked very messy. We also saw the clean and tidy city wall that had just been repaired in the county. It had been ravaged by the war and had become mottled and riddled with holes. It seemed that a gust of wind would blow it down, but it still stood proudly with its last breath, guarding the people and soldiers behind it.
When the people in the city heard that Qiu Yi had led the victorious army back in triumph, they had already pushed down the makeshift brick wall blocking the main gate of the county town, and came out one after another, carrying the elderly and children and carrying food and wine, to welcome their own soldiers.
When Qiu Yizi saw this scene, he quickly dismounted, led his soldiers slowly forward, bowed deeply to the people who came out of the city to greet him, and said, "I'm sorry for frightening you all. You can't even have a good New Year. I'd like to apologize to you first." After that, he bowed again.
An old man in the crowd came up with a cane, staggering with each step, and returned the greeting: "Okay, okay. Thanks to Lord Qiu's good deployment and preparation, there were not many casualties in the city this time. Even if the enemy sieges the city next time, I hope you can send troops to rescue us as soon as possible, and don't take risks again."
This old man is an old gentleman in Shanyin County. He also served in the army when he was young. He had guessed the ins and outs of Qiu Yi's battle, but it was inconvenient for him to point it out to her face, which led to these words.
Just these few words made Qiu Yizi blush, and she quickly reached out and held the old man's wrinkled, gray hands, and hesitantly agreed: "I know... I know..."
After entering the city, Qiu Yizhi thought that the Lingnan Army was driven away by him and it would be difficult to organize the army to attack again in a short time, so he arranged for his soldiers to take turns to rest. He originally had 200 militias under his command, all of whom were local people from Shanyin County. When they got this opportunity, they hurried home to visit their families, which was also a relief from their homesickness. As for the soldiers from other places, they were very happy to have such a rare opportunity to rest and recuperate. They went to teahouses and restaurants in groups of three or two with their reward silver, as if the cruel war had been far away from them in these few days.
Qiu Yizi took this opportunity to bring back Wen Lingjiao, Wu Ruofei, Yang Ying'er and other female relatives who were hiding far away in the "Liaochen Palace" to the city, which was naturally a different kind of warmth.
After resting until the Lantern Festival, Qiu Yizi ordered the army to regroup. Except for arranging more than a thousand soldiers to guard the city, the rest of the army followed him out of the city. His goal was very simple. He wanted to take advantage of the victory to march north and attack the camp of the Lingnan army that was besieging Nanjing, break the siege of Nanjing that had lasted for nearly half a year, and thus open up the connection between the central court and Jiangnan.
At this time, Qiu Yizhi had gathered more than 40,000 defeated troops from various places - except for those who defended the city of Nanjing, all the former Jiangnan Circuit Jiedushi troops had gathered under his command.
After a moderate amount of training by Zhao Chengxiao and others, and equipped with weapons looted from the Lingnan Army, and a few hearty meals, these soldiers' fighting capacity was now much higher than before - although there was still some gap between them and the veteran soldiers and generals of Lingnan Road, they were now capable of fighting.
Precisely because he had such power in his hands, Qiu Yizi was full of confidence on this trip. Not only did he escort his precious Zheng Yu with the army, he also brought his female relatives with him. He thought that as long as he could break through the Jinling camp and enter this land of Six Dynasties, he would be able to gain support from the court, show his skills, or even turn defense into offense and completely reverse the current passive situation.
Qiu Yizi had previously fought in Jiangnan Road and was very familiar with the terrain and routes there. He first sent out light cavalry scouts to investigate the enemy situation, and took advantage of the fact that the army had accommodated many garrisons from various places. Without much effort, he mastered the detailed situation of the local garrisons.
After discussing with Lin Shuhan, he had a clear goal and simple means. Whenever he encountered a provincial capital with a large number of troops stationed there and strong combat effectiveness, which could not be conquered in a short time, he would bypass them and not attack them. When he encountered a city that he estimated could be captured within a day or two, he would surround it from all sides with superior forces and attack it as quickly as possible.
After conquering these cities, Qiu Yizi did not linger there. As usual, he posted notices to reassure the people and opened warehouses to distribute money and food.
The Lingnan Army was the defending army, and upon hearing the news, they had no choice but to send troops to retake the city. However, when they arrived at the city, Qiu Yi's troops had already moved away. This left a huge gap in their forces behind them, allowing the enemy to continue to move freely.
Sun Hao was an old general who had experienced many battles. From Qiu Yizi's actions, he had guessed that his strategic intention was to draw out the troops from the Jinling camp and then launch a general attack when the strength of the enemy and our side was reversed.
According to common sense, facing such actions by the enemy, Sun Hao would either hold on to the Jinling camp and wait for the enemy to tire themselves out, allowing the enemy to play tricks in vain while he himself maintained his invincible position and wait for an opportunity to counterattack; or he would delay Qiu Yi's troops and then organize troops from various places, taking advantage of the opportunity when the enemy's forces were still small, to besiege them from all sides and look for an opportunity to defeat them completely.
Regardless of whether such a tactic could be implemented or whether it would be successful, Sun Hao's most pressing problem was that the second prince, Zheng Yu, had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Under such circumstances, he could not launch such a large-scale offensive or wait for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with his opponent.
Sun Hao was helpless and could only guard the Jinling camp strictly first, and then send troops to block the route that Qiu Yizi's troops had to take. At the same time, he sent several waves of trusted troops to apologize to Lingnan King Zheng Gui and request the next action plan.
Qiu Yizhi also knew that he had Zheng Yu escorting him, which was like carrying an extremely effective amulet with him. He was confident and rushed all the way to the Jinling camp. He led an army of 40,000 and moved very quickly. In less than half a month, he had broken through many obstacles and reached the Jinling camp.
When Sun Hao got the news, he did not dare to delay. He kept sending out light cavalry scouts to spy on the enemy's movements. Relying on his long-term garrison and solid foundation, he continuously organized small teams of a hundred or so people to harass Qiu Yizi's large group of troops.
This kind of thing was Qiu Yizhi's favorite thing to do. Today, he was in a different place and realized the pain and helplessness of the opponent he had harassed before. He also wanted to follow suit and send a small team to harass the enemy camp. However, the Lingnan Army's Jinling camp had been established for a long time. Trench trenches had been dug everywhere, traps had been set up, chevaux de frise stakes had been arranged, and elite troops had been arranged to stand guard, making the camp impenetrable.
Only then did Qiu Yizi realize that it was no luck that Sun Hao could hold such a position in the Lingnan Palace. It turned out that when he used troops and fought, he followed the approach of Right General Wei Hu, which emphasized steady and cautious tactics and expertise in defense.
Qiu Yizi thought that if he could get in touch with Liu Qing, the governor of Jiangnan Road in Jinling City, and attack from both sides, he might be able to break through Sun Hao's camp with half the effort.
However, the camp of the Lingnan Army blocked the three gates of Jinling City, namely the east, south and west, so that not even a single rabbit could get in, let alone a spy. The walls of Jinling City were also very tall, so no matter how strong the crossbows were, they could not shoot over the walls and bring the news into the city. To the north of Jinling City was the mighty Yangtze River, and Qiu Yizhi had no navy under his command, so he could not break through this natural barrier. Therefore, although Qiu Yizhi was only a stone's throw away from Jinling City, there was an insurmountable barrier between them, as if there was a world of difference between them.
In this regard, Qiu Yizi and Lin Shuhan tried every possible way, but still could not come up with a good idea. They had to set up another camp outside the Lingnan Army's siege camp, and only sent out small teams every day to test the confrontation with Sun Hao. They could only confront the enemy in this way without any progress.
On this day, Wen Lingjiao, who was brought by Qiu Yizi, was burning incense and reading in the central army tent, when she saw the curtain was lifted and Qiu Yizi walked in from outside the tent, breathing heavily and seemed a little angry.
Wen Lingjiao smiled when she saw this, and personally took off Qiu Yizi's battle robe and armor. She also brewed some warm water for him, handed it to Qiu Yizi, and said, "What's wrong? Did the battle not go well again today?"
Qiu Yizi glanced at Wen Lingjiao, took the tea bowl from her hand, sighed and said, "That's right, the opponent's camp is stable, and there is no chance for us to take advantage of it. It's really hateful!"
It turned out that when Qiu Yizhi was inspecting the positions today, he suddenly saw that the Lingnan Army seemed to be reorganizing one of their camps, which seemed to be a little loose and could be attacked. So Qiu Yizhi did not discuss with Lin Shuhan and Zhao Chengxiao, and immediately called up two or three hundred cavalrymen and rushed straight to the loose part of the enemy camp.