The defense of the city gate that the King of Lingnan was originally expected to attack seemed a little easier. The previous explosion had turned Wuding Gate into a ruin, and the governor Liu Qing had piled up countless bricks, stones, and wood, blocking a gate, which caused a lot of trouble for the Lingnan army to advance.
On the other hand, the government troops defending the city put a lot of effort into the garrison of Wuding Gate. Not only did they select more than 2,000 elite soldiers to guard the outside of the gate, they also mobilized a large number of heavy weapons such as spears and shields to deal with the officers and soldiers of Lingnan Army who rushed in.
Therefore, although the morale of the Lingnan Army was high, the number of soldiers who rushed into Jinling City through the destroyed Wuding Gate after going through untold hardships was still only about a thousand. And after this team of more than a thousand people broke through numerous obstacles and entered Jinling City, what awaited them was a wall made of shields and a dense forest woven with spears, and they could no longer make further breakthroughs.
Qiu Yizhi saw that although the Lingnan Army's offensive was fierce, there were no major mistakes in the defense. He estimated that in the short term, the two sides would just be in a stalemate. So he slowly walked back from the railing and patted Liu Qing on the shoulder: "General Liu, your soldiers are quite capable. It's not a fluke that Jinling City has been able to hold out for so long."
Liu Qing, a general and military governor of Zhendong, was criticized by Qiu Yizhi, a seventh-rank county magistrate, but he was not unhappy at all. He grinned and said, "It's a good thing that the emperor sent reinforcements. If it were just the military governors of Jiangnan Road, they might not be able to hold on."
Qiu Yizi thought for a moment and said, "You are the governor of Jiangnan Road. It is your responsibility to manage the combat and training of the local military. There is really no way to deal with the chaos right now. When the world is at peace, you must train the troops seriously. It is not a solution to let the Jiangnan military continue to decay like this, right?"
Liu Qing was a little embarrassed: "Your Highness Yi, this is true. But Jiangnan has always been a prosperous place, and the soldiers recruited are very cunning. If the management is lax, they will be lazy, and if the management is strict, they will simply quit. The soldiers in Jiangnan are indeed very difficult to train. Compared with our old Youyan Dao..."
"Nonsense!" Qiu Yizhi immediately scolded, "What are you talking about? Look at the group of militiamen under my command, they are all local people from Shanyin County. Are they worse than the old Youyan Dao soldiers in fighting?"
Seeing that Liu Qing was speechless after hearing his question, he added, "Even General Wu Changxi, who was killed in the battle, the soldiers under his command were all from Mingzhou. With only 500 men, he resisted tens of thousands of pursuers from the Lingnan Army. If it weren't for his desperate efforts, I'm afraid I wouldn't know whether I am dead or alive now. If he could live to this day, his achievements would definitely be no less than yours!"
Qiu Yizi had been in a bad mood these days, and became more and more agitated as he spoke, and he scolded a general who was in charge of a large number of troops.
As they were talking, they heard hurried footsteps on the wooden stairs of the restaurant. It was the same messenger who ran up the stairs in a panic. Before he even finished saluting, he began to report: "General, the Lingnan Army has several thousand more soldiers and horses, carrying more than 300 ladders, and they are attacking us!"
Upon hearing this, Qiu Yizhi immediately asked, "Where is the enemy's main attack direction?"
The messenger replied, "We are still sending reinforcements to Wuding Gate. I am afraid that by now, the additional ladders have already been placed on top of the city wall!"
Qiu Yizi was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly took a few steps forward, leaning on the wooden railing with both hands to look up at the city wall. As expected, he saw that the number of Lingnan troops on the city had increased a lot. They were slowly killing off the soldiers guarding the city wall and were gradually occupying the city walls on both sides of Wuding Gate.
Qiu Yizi had fought with Lingnan King Zheng Gui several times before, and knew that this Lingnan prince was extremely domineering in using troops. He believed in using force to overwhelm the enemy. When conditions permitted, he would always organize all the mobilized forces, target the enemy and launch an attack, striving to completely defeat the enemy in the shortest time possible.
Qiu Yizi was defeated repeatedly by Lingnan King Zheng Gui. The reason might be because he underestimated himself or because the soldiers under his command were not strong enough. But in fact, he was defeated by the full-scale assault of Lingnan King without exception.
Therefore, Qiu Yizhi predicted that the King of Lingnan would definitely use this tactic to attack Jinling City this time. He planned to immediately mobilize all the troops, with the destroyed Wuding Gate as the main direction, and attack the city gate and the city wall at the same time, trying to break through in one fell swoop and lay the foundation for the overall situation of this battle. Correspondingly, in order to defend Jinling City, it is necessary to completely defeat the main attack force of the King of Lingnan.
Having made up his mind, Qiu Yizi hurriedly walked to Liu Qing's side, called Lin Shuhan over, and told them his idea. He then said, "We must now send more troops up and down the city walls. As long as we defeat the main forces of the Lingnan Army, the King of Lingnan may not have any tricks up his sleeve."
Lin Shuhan and Liu Qing, one was a scholar who had some knowledge of military affairs but was weak as a chicken, and the other was a so-called general who was not worthy of his reputation and had no opinions of his own. After listening to Qiu Yizi's words, they both felt that his judgment was very correct and nodded vigorously.
Seeing that the two of them had no objection, Qiu Yizhi continued, "There are still more than 100,000 troops in my city, far more than the King of Lingnan. I think we can give him a taste of his own medicine. Send another 50,000 troops to continue to consolidate the city defense in the direction of Wuding Gate, and we must stop the King of Lingnan's offensive here!"
Liu Qing had long followed Qiu Yizhi's lead, and immediately followed his method, asking Lin Shuhan to quickly write the military orders. He then personally stamped the military seal of the governor one by one and distributed them to the garrisons in various places in Jinling City.
Sure enough, after a while, Wuding gathered an army of 50,000.
However, although the walls of Jinling City were wide, they could not accommodate many soldiers. Only 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers climbed up the stairs on both sides, and no more could fit in. In desperation, the remaining 40,000 soldiers could only wait under the city temporarily. If one person was lost on the wall, they would immediately replace one person, striving to always maintain the advantage over the Lingnan Army.
Unexpectedly, the King of Lingnan seemed determined to break through the defense of Jinling City from Wuding Gate. The two sides were in a stalemate for more than half an hour, and the Lingnan Army actually sent reinforcements.
The troops sent out this time did not attack the city walls, but instead focused on getting into the gate. Large numbers of soldiers, wearing heavy armor and holding huge shields, kept pushing in front of the government troops guarding the gate, making the formation of the government troops guarding the gate looser and thinner.
Qiu Yizi was extremely anxious when he saw that the defense line in front of Wuding Gate was about to be breached. He estimated that the Lingnan Army had deployed another 7,000 to 8,000 troops, so he asked Liu Qing to dispatch another 50,000 troops to gather outside Wuding Gate. They must push back the Lingnan Army that had entered Jinling City.
In this way, the government army and the Lingnan army have deployed all their forces to Wuding Gate, and have placed all the weight that will determine the fate of Nanjing City, Jiangnan Road, and even the world on this tiny piece of land.
But after fighting each other for more than an hour, they were unable to make any new progress - on the city wall, the Lingnan Army and the government troops were huddled together, and neither could drive the other off the wall; below the city wall, the battle situation was also in a difficult situation. The Lingnan Army was like a fist that was fully strengthened, striking the Jinling City with all its strength, while the defending soldiers took advantage of the numbers and transformed themselves into a pair of broad palms, repelling all the attacks of the Lingnan Army.
The two armies fought bloody battles for more than an hour. The offensive of the Lingnan Army was like a spent force, and there was no way to expand the victory. Suddenly, the sharp sound of drums and gongs was heard outside the city. The Lingnan Army on and off the city slowly withdrew their offensive and began to retreat outside the city.
Qiu Yizi, who was watching the battle closely from a high building, finally let go of the Lingnan Army's retreat after hearing the retreat. He suppressed his excitement and walked slowly to Liu Qing, saying, "It was not easy. It's a great achievement to repel the attack of the Lingnan King's army!"
Liu Qing knew that although Qiu Yizi in front of him did not hold a high official position, his actual status was extremely respected and he would definitely not compete with him for credit. The meaning of his previous words was clearly that he wanted to give himself the credit for repelling the King of Lingnan.
Therefore, Liu Qing was overjoyed and quickly said a few humble words: "Thanks to His Highness Yi's command here, the King of Lingnan retreated when faced with difficulties. Otherwise, how could it be so easy to repel the attack of the King of Lingnan?"
This was Qiu Yizhi's first victory over Lingnan King Zheng Gui, and his joy and excitement were no less than Liu Qing's. However, after several battles in the past two years, his frivolous and impetuous nature gradually became restrained. He calmed down and said, "The Lingnan King is very skilled in military tactics, so there is no guarantee that he has no conspiracy or intrigue. It is not time to celebrate yet."
He paused, thought for a moment, and then said, "Hurry up and give orders. Forbid the soldiers guarding the city from leaving the city to pursue the enemy. Keep them on guard in place to prevent the enemy from coming back."
Liu Qing did not dare to delay and quickly passed the order down.
Qiu Yizi looked out from the top of a tall building and saw that the soldiers downstairs did not move around after hearing the order, but stood firm in their original positions. Feeling a little relieved, he sat down, rubbed his legs which were a little sore from standing for the whole morning, and drank the cooled water on the table in one gulp.
The weather was still cold in the spring. After taking a sip of cold water, Qiu Yizhi was shocked and his mind became clearer. He crossed his legs and said, "The King of Lingnan retreated this time. Maybe he won't attack again today. But he is determined to win. Tomorrow, or at most one day later, he will definitely attack again. It will be another tough battle then."
Liu Qing continued, "Your Highness Yi is right. However, fighting a war requires morale. The strength of the Lingnan Army's attack today is unprecedented since the siege. Even so, it was repelled by His Highness Yi's army. I believe morale must have been greatly dampened. The attacks in the next few days may not be as strong as today. As long as we hold on for a few more days, when the weather warms up and the food and troops raised by the emperor arrive, we will definitely march south and then we will be able to completely repel the Lingnan Army."
Liu Qing's analysis was quite logical and he also mixed in a few flattering words, which made Qiu Yizi feel extremely comfortable. Just as she was about to speak, her feet suddenly shook, her eardrums buzzed and she lost her hearing. In broad daylight, her eyes went dark and she almost fainted.
Qiu Yizi thought that she was dizzy because she had not taken good care of her body before. She wanted to drink some cold water to clear her mind, but she saw that the teacup she had just put down had actually fallen on the table, and the cold water was spilled all over the table. In a blink of an eye, she saw Liu Qing and Lin Shuhan, one was confused like a fool, and the other was lying on the floor, not knowing what was going on.
Just as he was wondering, he suddenly saw Zhao Chengxiao quickly walking up the stairs and shouting loudly at Qiu Yizi.
But Qiu Yizi only heard a buzzing sound in his ears, and saw Zhao Chengxiao's mouth opening and closing, but he didn't hear a single word clearly.