Just as he was about to take a step forward, he heard Yuchi Jiming's voice: "Uncle, please wait."
As he spoke, Yuchi Jiming stretched out his small left hand and pinched Qiu Yizhi's right neck. Qiu Yizhi had been hit by Yuchi Jiming's move before entering Jinling City, which made him faint immediately and he didn't even see Wen Lingjiao for the last time.
Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he saw this, and quickly leaned back to avoid Yuchi Jiming's move, but his movement was too big and too violent, and he almost fell on his back. Unexpectedly, Yuchi Jiming's right hand just held Qiu Yizhi's shoulder, and his left hand pinched his neck again.
Qiu Yizi knew that his rudimentary skills were nothing in front of Yuchi Jiming, so he simply shouted, "Jiming, what are you doing? I'm your uncle!"
After all, Yuchi Jiming was still a little girl in her teens. After hearing this, she was stunned and immediately stopped what she was doing.
But Lin Shuhan said, "Sir, it is better for you to be alive than dead. The emperor still needs you, the court still needs you, and the people of the world still need you. Zhao Chengxiao and I have already discussed it. We must rescue you from this huge army!"
"Save me?" Qiu Yizi stood up straight. "Do you have any way to save me?"
Lin Shuhan looked embarrassed: "There is always a way... "
In fact, he didn't have any better solution, but he didn't want Qiu Yizi to end his life like a brave man committing suicide.
At this moment, a strong wind suddenly blew in front of them. The wind was stronger than they could imagine. Qiu Yizhi and Lin Shuhan were blown to the ground on their backs. Even Zhao Chengxiao, a man with supernatural powers, fell to the ground. Only Yuchi Jiming turned several times in the strong wind before landing on the ground. He did not dare to stand up, but lay on the ground with his head raised to observe the movement in front.
However, a strong wind was blowing from the direction of the Lingnan Army, and there was smoke all over the place, and everything was shrouded in thick smoke and dust.
"Is this dynamite? Could it be that the dynamite prepared by the King of Lingnan exploded by itself?" Qiu Yizi thought to himself as he barely turned over and raised his head to vaguely see the situation ahead.
Immediately afterwards, several more explosions were heard, and from the opposite Lingnan army formation, several gusts of wind blew, several explosions were heard, and several columns of smoke rose.
Qiu Yizhi was certain that this was an explosion of explosives. He knew the power of explosives very well. Even solid bricks, stones, wood and iron could not withstand the impact of an explosion, let alone flesh and blood. Such a large series of explosions in the Lingnan army must have caused heavy casualties. Maybe even the King of Lingnan himself had died.
The situation was inexplicably reversed.
He had studied with the prime minister Zhongli Kuang since he was a child. Influenced by this strict and upright teacher, Qiu Yizhi had always sneered at metaphysics such as destiny and luck. But today, seeing that the Lingnan Army, which was already sure to win, had such a sudden change at such a critical moment, he had to believe that there was indeed a magic in the dark for success and failure.
However, he believed it, but in the blink of an eye, the faith that he had built with great effort was ruthlessly shattered.
He heard the loud voice of the "Black Neck Toad" behind him: "Oh no! The pirate ships are coming!"
After hearing this, Qiu Yizi was so frightened that his whole body trembled. He quickly turned his head to look. Just as the "Black-necked Toad" said, the originally empty Yanziji Wharf was actually full of large and small ships. At a rough estimate, there were more than ten or twenty ships.
Qiu Yizi knew that he had caused a big disturbance in Mingzhou Port two months ago and burned seventy or eighty ships gathered by Yin Chengliang and Yin Tai, father and son. He thought he had destroyed the main force of their naval force, but he did not expect that in just two months, they had gathered such a large fleet of warships again.
Qiu Yizhi was still sighing and admiring, but another thought came to his mind: What did the explosions in the Lingnan army have to do with these dozen warships? Could it be that they heard the explosions and rushed over from the river to support? If he was attacked from both sides, he would also be doomed to die...
But when he looked at these warships carefully again, he was overjoyed. He saw that on the largest ship in the center of the fleet, on the mast that towered into the sky, there was a red flag ten feet square flying. On it was a huge whale shown with silver lines, and it seemed to be swimming in the sky as the flag swayed.
"Li Zhi! The old ship owner Li Zhi is here!" Qiu Yizi screamed in surprise.
This Li Zhi was a sea merchant living in Japan. He used the white whale flag as his flag, and had countless ships under his command. Half of the Han Dynasty's foreign trade business was under his name, and even the generals of Japan were respectful to him.
Qiu Yizhi and Li Zhi had a relationship a few years ago and saved each other's life. Qiu Yizhi asked the emperor to issue an order to make Li Zhi, who was originally engaged in smuggling business, a legal merchant recognized by the court, so that his advantage at sea would be more solid. In order to repay Qiu Yizhi's kindness of acting as a guarantor, Li Zhi collected 5,000 taels of silver every month for Qiu Yizhi's use, which amounted to tens of thousands of taels of silver in the past few years.
Therefore, when Qiu Yizi saw the Li family's "White Whale Flag" from afar, tears suddenly burst out of his eyes with excitement. He didn't care how many Lingnan troops were on the other side. He immediately stood up and ordered his soldiers, "Everyone go to the dock, reinforcements are coming! Reinforcements are coming!"
Zhao Chengxiao also recognized the white whale flag on the ship and asked happily, "Understood! The archers ambushing on the high buildings on both sides, do you want to stay and block the pursuit of the Lingnan Army before retreating?"
"No need, let's go together. What are you waiting for? Let's go together!" After saying that, he stood up and ran quickly to the dock.
Qiu Yizhi's elite soldiers were indeed well-trained. Even when they heard the order to retreat, they remained calm. Everyone packed up their weapons and, without any command or coordination, they naturally divided themselves into teams and followed closely behind Qiu Yizhi to the bottom of the big ship.
Before the two hundred people lined up, they saw a dozen soft ladders thrown down from the side of the large ship in the middle. A head popped out from the side and shouted loudly to the bottom of the ship: "Master Qiu, come up quickly, come up quickly!"
Qiu Yizi looked up and saw that the person who was speaking was over 20 years old and had a very handsome face. It was Li Zhi's son Li Shengjie.
Qiu Yizhi was determined to die, and just as he was about to loudly reject Li Shengjie's kindness, he heard Lin Shuhan whisper in his ear: "Sir, the turning point has come! As long as the Li family's fleet is used to block the city of Jinling, and even the entire Yangtze River, the hope of the Lingnan Army to move north will be cut off, and the role of the King of Lingnan in taking over Jinling can be at least reduced by half. Sir, you have not lost!"
Lin Shuhan's words made sense, and instantly made Qiu Yizhi give up the idea of dying together with the enemy. He took back the sword in his hand and climbed up the ladder to the ship. His soldiers also climbed up along the way. The women were weaker, so they were tied with ropes around their waists and half-climbed and half-dragged onto the side of the ship.
When he boarded the warship, he saw the heroic Li Shengjie looking at him with a smile. He bowed and said, "Sir, I haven't seen you for a few years. Do you still recognize me?"
Qiu Yizi quickly returned the greeting and took Li Shengjie's hand. After not seeing him for two years, he looked not even a bit less heroic, but more calm. He replied excitedly, "Of course I remember, of course I remember... I just don't know why you are here today. Fortunately, you came like a god and saved my life, otherwise I would have died here."
Li Shengjie smiled and said, "Could it be that brother suffered a defeat? Then I have done you a great favor, and I will be able to repay you in the future." The two of them were already calling each other brothers in just a few words.
Qiu Yizi was delighted, but had no mood to chat and joke with Li Shengjie anymore. She hurriedly took a few steps forward, leaned over the side of the ship, and stuck her head out to check the situation under the ship. However, except for a blank space inside the Yanziji Wharf, everything else was shrouded in smoke and dust that had not yet dissipated: not only could she not see the movements of the Lingnan Army, but even the situation of Liu Qing who was entangled with the enemy could not be seen clearly.
Qiu Yizi was extremely anxious and couldn't help cursing, "What a bad thing the King of Lingnan is. So many explosives exploded and made such a big noise that we can't see what's going on below!"
After hearing this, Li Shengjie took a step forward and said timidly, "Sir, this is all my fault. I saw that the situation on your side seemed unfavorable, so I fired in a hurry, but I didn't expect to block your view."
Qiu Yizhi was startled when he heard this, and quickly turned his head, staring at Li Shengjie with wide eyes, "What did you say just now, my dear brother? Was the explosion just now caused by your firing?"
Li Shengjie nodded innocently: "Yes, I was right... Oh, the cannons on our ship were obtained from Westerners. I remember that you also saw it at that time. Look, it's right there." As he said that, he pointed to the deck.
Qiu Yizi looked in the direction of Li Shengjie's finger, and saw that every ten steps or so on the deck there were black iron pipes as thick as large bowls. They were the cannons he had seen on Li Zhi's ship.
This thing uses gunpowder to fire, and the shell explodes when it hits the ground after being fired. Although the power is not as strong as the explosives detonated on the spot, the sound is still shocking for miles. I remember that at that time, the artillery could only fire at a fixed angle, in a fixed direction, and at a fixed distance, and it could not be put into actual combat. I didn't expect that two years later, these problems had been solved and it could be fired freely. This was really unexpected.
Since Qiu Yizhi was thinking of Li Zhi, he could not help but ask, "My dear brother, I am very happy that you came here today. I just wonder if your respected old ship owner is also on the ship so that I can go and pay my respects and say hello?"
Li Shengjie sighed: "Alas! My father's injury has not healed yet, and he cannot travel far. He is still recovering in Japan..."
Qiu Yizi was shocked again after hearing this - the old ship owner was poisoned by a unique poison made by a Japanese assassin and was about to die from the poisoning. It was Qiu Yizi who used a secret medicine to stabilize his condition and sent him to Japan for treatment. However, he did not expect that after two years, the poison had not been completely removed and cured - this was another unexpected thing.
However, if he were to ask about the old ship owner Li Zhi's recent situation now, then it would be easier to talk about it. The current situation was unclear and with a powerful enemy at the doorstep, Qiu Yizi could not afford to ask about the situation in detail. He only said, "That's a pity..." He ended the topic hastily and turned back to lie on the side of the ship to look down at the situation.
The smoke was gradually dissipating at this moment, but it still obscured the view and made it difficult to see the situation below.
Qiu Yizi wanted to send people down to investigate, but when he thought about the resourcefulness of Lingnan King Zheng Gui, who might use the smoke and dust to set an ambush, it would be a waste of time if he sent people down there to fall into the trap.