Zheng Gui listened quietly to Qiu Yizhi's words, and suddenly smiled and said, "Isn't it because my nephew refused to help me? Otherwise, I would have given half of my troops to my nephew to command, and how could we have been defeated today? It's a pity that now only Zheng Yu is left. It seems that the Lingnan Palace will be like this from now on..."
While the two were talking, they saw a group of soldiers rushing to the dock from Jinling City. Leading the army was Zheng Yu, the "fat pig" son that Zheng Gui mentioned.
It turned out that he had heard the news that his father had been captured, and knew that the Lingnan Palace was like a place without the old prince Zheng Gui in charge, so he immediately selected more than a thousand elite soldiers and marched straight in from outside Jinling City to the Yanziji Wharf.
When Zheng Yu saw his father Zheng Gui being captured by Yuchi Jiming, he knew how powerful this little girl was and shouted anxiously, "Qiu Yizi, what are you doing, you little thief? Let my father go quickly. Do you want to commit treason?" His fat face turned red.
Qiu Yizhi had defeated Zheng Yu several times in person, so she had a psychological advantage over him. Seeing him so angry, she found it funny and said, "Why is it so important for the Second Prince to do this? I am also a polite person, and the prince is my elder, so how could I offend him? As long as the Second Prince does not act rashly, the prince will be fine."
Zheng Yu pursed his lips, thinking that the initiative of the current situation was firmly in Qiu Yizi's hands. If he wanted to save his father's life, neither a strong attack nor a clever attack would be a foolproof plan. He could only wait for Qiu Yizi's next move.
In fact, at this moment, as long as King Zheng Gui of Lingnan came forward in person and cited the past events in which he had spared Qiu Yizi twice, and asked Qiu Yizi to reciprocate by letting him go, then given Qiu Yizi's character, he would most likely really let Zheng Gui go.
However, given Zheng Gui's identity, personality, qualifications, and seniority, he would never open his mouth or show weakness. So he shouted at Zheng Yu: "Zheng Yu, you have been a loser all your life, and I have never looked up to you... But if you have the ability to give the order and call the entire army to charge, then before I die, I will at least look up to you for once!"
Zheng Yu still had some filial piety in his heart. After hearing this, his eyes suddenly became moist: "Father, if they come to kill you, won't you also be killed by Qiu Yizi, the little thief? This little thief is very cunning and not easy to deal with!"
"Nonsense! If you don't come to kill him, will he spare me? Don't say too much, just give the order!" Zheng Gui's tone was extremely firm.
After all, Zheng Yu was a weak and short-tempered person. If he really gave the order for the whole army to attack as his father said, then in the eyes of the arrogant soldiers of the Lingnan Army, it would be equivalent to directly ordering the death of Lingnan King Zheng Gui. How could Zheng Yu still lead the soldiers of the Lingnan Army? However, if he let his father be captured by Qiu Yizhi under his nose, it would also be a very undignified thing...
Zheng Yu was once again forced into a dilemma by Qiu Yizi.
Qiu Yizi didn't let him feel embarrassed for long.
He whispered a few words into the ear of Yuchi Jiming, who was restraining the King of Lingnan. Yuchi Jiming nodded slightly, and with a little force from his left hand, he pinched the back of Zheng Gui's neck. The burly Zheng Gui seemed to have lost all his strength, and his legs softened, almost falling to the ground.
Qiu Yizi hurried forward to support him, but heard Zheng Yu anxiously shouting: "What are you doing, little thief? Don't hurt my father!"
Qiu Yizhi asked two strong soldiers beside him to support the King of Lingnan, and replied to Zheng Yu: "Don't worry, Second Prince. The prince's blood vessels are just temporarily blocked. The prince's vigorous body will recover in half a day."
Zheng Yu had been fooled by Qiu Yizhi several times, so how could he believe his words? "You are talking nonsense, give my father back to me!"
Qiu Yizi smiled and said, "Second Prince, whether what I said is true or false, the prince is in my hands now, whether he is dead or alive. If you still don't believe it, do you want me to poke the prince with a knife to see if he reacts, so that you can rest assured?"
"No, no, absolutely not!" No matter how slow and stupid Zheng Yu was, he knew that he could never use this method to test his father's life or death.
Qiu Yizi did not answer after hearing this. He waved towards the boat and asked them to lower a large basket. He then carefully placed the unconscious King of Lingnan, Zheng Gui, in the basket. He waved his hand again and asked the sailors on the boat to slowly lift the basket onto the deck.
Zheng Yu watched helplessly as his father was lifted higher and higher, but he had no idea what to do and could only stand there anxiously.
Seeing him helpless, Qiu Yizi smiled smugly: "Second Prince, if you have nothing else to do, please go back. The prince is also my elder, and I will serve you well and will not make things difficult for you."
Although Zheng Yu had no other options, he was unwilling to go back. Suddenly, someone whispered in his ear, "Second Prince, you see, the prince is hanging in the air, but he is not in the hands of the government troops. Let's rush over and kill him quickly. Maybe we can get the old prince back."
Zheng Yu raised his eyebrow and asked, "What if they cut the rope and throw father down?"
The man said, "They are planning to take the old prince to report their merits. How can they bear to do such a thing? Moreover, the old prince is only ten feet above the ground. If he falls... although he will be injured, his life will not be in danger."
After hearing this, Zheng Yu's eyes lit up and he thought to himself, "What a good idea!" He then ordered all his soldiers to move forward and attack.
Qiu Yizi didn't expect that Zheng Yu would actually make a desperate bet. While he was still surprised, Zhao Chengxiao reacted extremely quickly. He rushed forward without hesitation, relying on the three-foot-long Bohai sword in his hand, and knocked down the two leading Lingnan army soldiers as soon as they fought.
Seeing that the leader Zhao Chengxiao was the first to go into battle, the other soldiers under Qiu Yizhi were unwilling to fall behind, so they drew their swords and fought with the soldiers of the Lingnan Army.
Now, the Yanziji Wharf was already filled with corpses shot to death by bows and arrows, and the debris from the artillery bombardment of the bluestone ground was everywhere. Although the Lingnan Army had a large number of people, they could not deploy all of them in such a terrain, and could only squeeze each other and fight hand-to-hand with Qiu Yizhi's elite troops.
Qiu Yizhi's soldiers had fought the Japanese pirates with swords and guns in the beginning, and it seemed that they were very familiar with such chaotic battles. Facing the Lingnan soldiers whose martial arts and weapons were inferior to those of the Japanese pirates, they used the military martial arts taught by Yuchi Jiming and made full use of the advantages of the long and fast Japanese swords in their hands. In the blink of an eye, they had killed more than a hundred opponents without losing a single person.
In such a battle situation, even the brave and fearless soldiers of the Lingnan Army who were determined to rescue the King of Lingnan were stunned and the offensive came to a standstill for a while.
At this moment, Qiu Yizhi shouted, "Second Prince, please take a break. If you continue to push me, I will order the archers on the deck to shoot arrows into the basket. By then, the Prince of Lingnan will be in great danger, right?"
Zheng Yu was shocked and asked hurriedly, "You... didn't you always say that you would not harm my father?"
"Childish!" Qiu Yizhi cursed inwardly, but said, "I didn't harm the prince! As for whether the prince lives or dies, it's all because of you, the second prince. Anyway, I'm at the point of life and death now, so I can't care whether I can keep my promise or not."
In fact, Qiu Yizhi himself might not have the courage to order the King of Lingnan to be shot to death, but Zheng Yu was a fool, so he could not guess his thoughts. He could only order his soldiers to retreat and watched Qiu Yizhi calmly organize the troops, climb up the ladder on the side of the ship, and board the ship calmly. Even his precious Ferghana horse was pulled out and hoisted onto the ship with several ropes.
The sailors lifted the unconscious Lingnan King Zheng Gui out of the hanging basket and laid him flat on the deck. Some of the sailors were Japanese, and some were Han Chinese who had left the Central Plains long ago. They didn't know that this man was of noble status, so they gathered in groups of three or four to watch. Some even kicked and stamped on Zheng Gui, wanting to know if he was dead or alive...
Qiu Yizi was shocked when he saw this, and hurriedly shouted, "No, you can't do this." He asked Zhao Chengxiao to select a few reliable and sensible soldiers to disperse all the sailors who were watching and guard the King of Lingnan.
At this time, Li Shengjie stepped forward and asked, "Brother, is this person the Prince of Lingnan?"
Qiu Yizi nodded: "That's the man. He is the most honorable person in the world, except for the emperor. Please choose a secluded and safe cabin, clean it up, and let the prince stay there temporarily. Then set sail immediately. I want to go north to the capital Luoyang!"
After all, Li Shengjie had seen the world, and he knew that this matter was of great importance, so he did not dare to be negligent. He immediately made arrangements according to Qiu Yizhi's instructions, then set sail and led the fleet to the north.
Li Shengjie originally planned to go east along the Yangtze River, go north via the canal, and then enter the Yellow River to reach Guannei Road. However, it was early spring now, and the water was shallow. Not to mention the Yellow River, even the Grand Canal was not deep enough for a large sea ship like Li Shengjie's.
So the fleet had to back out of the canal and look for a dock along the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Li Shengjie had his own sailors who were good at sailing. It only took two days for them to find a suitable dock in Yangzhou Prefecture.
As soon as the ship dropped anchor and docked, they saw a hundred or so soldiers surrounding the dock in the distance. All of them were holding swords, spears, swords and halberds, wearing official military uniforms, and their movements were very agile.
Qiu Yizhi knew that they were imperial troops, so he was not afraid. Under the protection of Yuchi Jiming, he led Zhao Chengxiao and 17 personal soldiers, and Lin Shuhan calmly got off the boat. He tidied his clothes and said to the imperial soldiers in front of him: "Who is the leader here? I want to talk to him."
Seeing his extraordinary bearing, the soldiers did not dare to underestimate him. After whispering to each other for a while, an officer finally came out and said to Qiu Yizi, "I am the leader. Who are you? What do you want to do by bringing such a large fleet to the shore without permission?"
The officer in front of Qiu Yizi was only a centurion and was very young. Perhaps he was a newly recruited soldier and not from the old Youyan sect, so he did not know him. He just bowed and said, "Sir, I am the magistrate of Shanyin County. I have an important military matter that I must report to my superiors. Please inform me." Then he handed over his name card.
Although the centurion was young, he was quite arrogant. He asked a few older soldiers around him and said, "I say, isn't Shanyin County a county town in Jiangnan? Now Jiangnan is in the hands of the Lingnan rebels. Where did you, a county magistrate, come from? I think you are a spy, right?"
Seeing that he was quite alert, Qiu Yizi did not get angry and said, "Whether I am a spy or not cannot be clearly explained in a few words. Why don't you go find your boss and ask him and you will understand."