Wu Ruofei stiffened her neck: "What are you talking about? Don't we women have the right to live and die? Mr. Qiu, you saved my family from slavery, so you are my benefactor. I have nothing wronged if I die for him. What's more, I have entrusted my whole life to you, Lin. If you die, why should I live?" After she finished speaking, she was already in tears, like a pear blossom in the rain.
Seeing this, Lin Shuhan felt pity and gratitude, and suddenly laughed out loud: "Lin is a playboy, many women threw themselves at me, but I didn't even glance at them, but I fell in love with you. In the beginning, I had to solve five questions, test the six arts, write a poem in seven steps, and write eight lines of pearls in order to meet you. I spent a lot of effort, and finally we can walk together on the road to the underworld today... It's worth it! It's worth it! It's worth it!"
Wu Ruofei burst into laughter when she heard this: "I set up the puzzles at the beginning just to make up a reason to ward off those perverts outside. Some of the puzzles were far-fetched, and I didn't expect anyone to be able to solve them. But I didn't expect that there would be a talented person who could solve the puzzles. I found out that it was the famous 'Ban Song Jushi' in Jiangnan..."
"I didn't actually intend to come and see you at first, but I saw that this puzzle was so ingenious that I just wanted to try my hand at it..."
When Qiu Yizi saw that Lin Shuhan and Wu Ruofei were still flirting with each other even though they were facing the abyss, she suddenly thought of Wen Lingjiao, whose friendship with her was no less than that of Lin and Wu. She felt a pang of sadness in her heart and was about to turn away when she saw Wen Lingjiao's maid He'er standing beside her, looking thoughtful.
So Qiu Yi stepped forward and said, "He'er, don't say anything. Listen to me. I don't care what kind of relationship you have with Wen Honghui, but after all, you have been serving Miss Wen since you were a child. You are master and servant in name, but you are as close as sisters. Even if you have ten thousand reasons, I don't believe you will harm her..."
Having said this, He'er's almond-shaped eyes were already filled with tears, and two bean-sized tears rolled down her face.
"That's why I have something to ask of you. Now that Miss Wen has left Wen Honghui, I want you to find her, stay by her side, and take care of her for me for the rest of her life. Even if there are thousands of difficulties and dangers, you must keep your promise. Can you do this?"
He'er had a hot-tempered and willful personality, but when she heard Qiu Yizi's sincere words, which touched her heart, she couldn't help biting her lower lip and nodded vigorously.
Qiu Yizi smiled with relief, pointed to the direction of the Yanziji Wharf facing the Yangtze River, and said: "There is a small house by the river. I think it is very sturdy. You can take refuge there. As for life or death, it all depends on fate and your luck..."
As they were talking, they heard the sound of war drums beating from the direction of the Lingnan Army. The confident murderous aura was revealed undisguisedly in the drumbeats, and each beat struck their hearts, making their hearts beat to the rhythm of the drums.
Qiu Yizhi listened to the drumbeats, slowly closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the cold air of the south of the Yangtze River mixed with the smell of the rushing water of the Yangtze River, exhaled after a long time, and slowly opened his eyes, saying leisurely: "Is it finally starting?"
It finally started.
With the determination to die, Qiu Yizi and others no longer waited in a safe place to command, but lay directly behind the hastily built fortifications in the front, revealing half of their heads and two eyes, and looked forward.
As expected, they saw countless soldiers from Lingnan Road, who did not care about any tactics or battle strategies. They lined up in neat rows and marched with firm steps along the road towards Yanziji Wharf.
The King of Lingnan now has a large number of soldiers and generals. Attacking the small number of troops that he has compressed into a small area is a pure and undisguised crushing force, which is indeed the most correct tactic.
Seeing this scene, Qiu Yizhi couldn't help but smile bitterly, and said to Lin Shuhan and Zhao Chengxiao beside him: "The King of Lingnan is really good at using troops. If such a copper wall and iron fortress is pushed over, even a diamond drill will break..."
Lin Shuhan replied: "It's okay to break. It's a true hero if he would rather break than bend."
Zhao Chengxiao also said: "The enemy is strong, we can't fall behind. It's a pity that our army didn't bring gongs and drums, otherwise we would have played them to boost morale."
"Humph! Isn't this simple?" Liu Qing said, "You don't have to use a war drum to make a noise. Any object around you can make a sound. Hitting it will make a lot of noise. I'm afraid that if I move it randomly, it will reveal my true intention to the King of Lingnan."
"What are you afraid of? What strengths and weaknesses does our army have to hide now? Pass the order down and tell the soldiers here to hit whatever is at hand as hard as possible. At least we can't scare the enemy!" Qiu Yi said.
At the command, hundreds of soldiers obeyed and banged hard on anything that could make a sound, such as wash basins, wooden sticks, clay jars, bricks, etc. Although the sound was noisy, it was quite impressive.
After hearing this harsh noise, Qiu Yizhi felt calm. Seeing that the enemy's vanguard had entered the range of his crossbows, he stretched out his right hand and ordered, "All troops, fire together and shoot at the enemy's position!"
The barricades that had been roaring with gongs and drums just now immediately quieted down, replaced by the sharp sound of arrows piercing the air.
As the air vibrated, more than 20 people in the front row of the Lingnan Army were shot dead immediately, and countless people were injured. Subsequent arrows were fired mercilessly from above.
After suffering such a blow, the Lingnan Army neither retreated nor continued to advance blindly. Instead, they transported dozens of heavy wooden doors from the rear, and had several officers and soldiers in the front hold them one at a time, and continued to press forward.
Qiu Yizi saw it clearly and admired Lingnan King Zheng Gui from the bottom of his heart. He admired him for being able to come up with such a brilliant plan to resist the arrow attack in just a blink of an eye.
Although these wooden doors were not as powerful as the giant bronze shields used by the "Dangshi Camp", they were quite effective. They reduced the power of the crossbow arrows shot from the tall buildings on both sides by more than half. Only a few crossbow arrows that luckily shot in through the gaps between the two wooden doors were able to cause casualties to the enemy. Most of the other arrows were firmly nailed to the doors, and the feathers at the tails of the arrows were still shaking.
Seeing that his proud crossbows could no longer stop the enemy's attack, Qiu Yizhi sighed and said, "There is no other way. We can only fight the Lingnan army to the death. We will die if we hide behind the fortifications. We might as well take the initiative to attack and fight the enemy to our heart's content. We will die quickly."
After saying this, Qiu Yizi was about to jump out of the trench and lead his elite soldiers to fight the enemy to the death.
Unexpectedly, Liu Qing beside him pulled him back and said, "Your Highness Yi, you are the emperor's adopted son, but I am a former guard of the Prince of Youyan's Palace. How can I let you rush to the front in such a matter? Stay behind and see if I, Liu Qing, am a coward. When we are all dead, Your Highness Yi will come out and avenge me!"
After that, Liu Qing raised the long sword in his hand and shouted: "Brothers, follow me!"
The government troops stationed here to coordinate defense saw Liu Qing, the highest military commander of Jiangnan Road, leading the charge first, and finally they were aroused by their long-lost bloodiness and rushed out as well.
The militia under Qiu Yizi were fine, but the eighteen former bandits and robbers could no longer control their temper when they saw it.
The "Black-necked Toad" among them slowly crawled to Qiu Yizi's side and asked, "Sir, how about we rush out and kill as much as we can? It's really uncomfortable for me to wait and watch like this!"
Qiu Yizi didn't even look at him and replied, "Are you still worried that you won't have a chance to take action today? Liu Qing is now going to fight the Lingnan Army to the death. We just need to watch from behind and remember his heroic performance today, so that we will not let him down for his courage today!"
Liu Qing really risked his life to kill the enemy.
Qiu Yizi could see him clearly from not far behind him. He saw him holding a steel knife, rushing to the front of the team, fighting among the Lingnan soldiers with red eyes. Fortunately, he was the emperor's personal bodyguard and had some martial arts skills. He killed three or four Lingnan soldiers in a row.
Liu Qing had been the governor of Jiangnan for a long time. What he did most on weekdays was not to train the troops, nor to suppress bandits and rebellions, but to entertain guests and entertain guests. Today, he had a rare opportunity to personally go into battle and fight hand-to-hand with the enemy. Finally, he dug out the bloodiness and courage of his old Youyan Road sergeant from the depths of his heart.
The killing lasted for a cup of tea, and Liu Qing suffered several wounds on his left hand, right shoulder, and left rib, but he did not feel any pain at all, and the steel knife in his hand was still moving quickly among the enemy troops.
The soldiers under Liu Qing's command had never seen such a heroic spirit from this general who seemed mediocre and snobbish in their eyes and words. Their morale was immediately boosted, and they followed Liu Qing to fight for their lives with the Lingnan army in front of them.
The Lingnan Army did not expect that the government troops could burst out with such fighting power when they were desperate. They were stunned and their offensive came to a standstill. Qiu Yizhi, who was watching the battle from behind the formation, was also not idle. He immediately ordered the crossbowmen ambushed on the high buildings on both sides of the road to shoot down.
The Lingnan Army was busy fighting with the government troops in front of them, and the door panels they held high inevitably became loose. A volley of arrows shot down on them, instantly killing dozens of Lingnan Army soldiers. The originally neatly arranged formation finally became loose.
If Zheng Yu was the commander of the Lingnan Army at this time, he would most likely be slow to react in such a situation and reveal a flaw, which would be seized by someone as sharp-eyed and sharp-eared as Qiu Yizi and could somewhat turn the tide of the battle.
However, Lingnan King Zheng Gui was well versed in military strategy and had experienced many battles. He had experienced such setbacks and chaos in his army countless times in his life. He neither ordered his troops to retreat nor ordered them to charge at the risk of their lives. Instead, he waved his flag and ordered the barbarian soldiers who had been prepared for a long time to charge into the battle.
These barbarians were recruited by the King of Lingnan at a large sum of money from the indigenous mountain strongholds. Although they did not speak the language and did not understand military tactics, they were obedient and willing to fight. Upon hearing the order from the King of Lingnan, they rushed fiercely into the enemy crowd with their special short knives and daggers, regardless of who the enemy was.
These barbarians did not care about battle formations or tactics. As soon as they came into contact with Liu Qing and his men, they started fighting alone, stabbing, kicking, biting, and using every possible means.
The morale of the government troops, which had been finally aroused, was worn down again by the unreasonable fighting style of such a group of barbarians. At the same time, taking advantage of the temporary retreat of the government troops, the reorganized Lingnan Army attacked again.
Under such a double blow, let alone Liu Qing, even if a martial saint came down to earth, it would be difficult to reverse the downward trend - the government troops were killed in large numbers, and had less and less power to fight back. Their defeat was already inevitable.
Qiu Yizi saw this scene behind the formation, slowly stood up, and said to someone unknown: "Let's go, it's our turn to go on stage." After that, he drew out the Western Region sword at his waist that could cut through iron like mud, and was ready to move forward for the final battle with the Lingnan army.