The centurion thought Qiu Yizhi's words made sense, and he rolled his eyes and said, "Okay, you stay here and don't act rashly. I'll go find the general to interrogate you."
Having said that, he ordered his soldiers to keep these people under guard, and then he ran away quickly.
The captain was quite efficient and soon found an officer dressed in the uniform of a captain.
This officer was about the same age as Qiu Yizi, also less than thirty years old, with a moustache that had not yet fully grown. He was also a young general, and also not from the old Youyan sect.
Therefore, he looked Qiu Yi up and down several times with a strange look in his eyes, and then asked: "Are you the magistrate of Shanyin County? What are you doing sneaking around here?"
Qiu Yizhi heard his words were a little arrogant, but he was still able to keep his composure, so he cupped his hands and said, "General, I have an important matter to report to the higher-ups. Can you please let me know?"
An idea suddenly occurred to him, and he added, "It would be better to invite a Lieutenant General." He estimated that the court had recently been reorganizing its army for war and had probably recruited many new soldiers. Officers at the level of captain and inspector general might be newly promoted. Only at the level of Lieutenant General could he be the general recommended by Old Youyan.
But the captain never thought of this, thinking that this small seventh-rank county magistrate looked down on him, so he stiffened his neck and said, "What Zhonglang Jiang? There is no Zhonglang Jiang here. I am the most senior here. If you have any problems, just tell me."
Qiu Yizi had been through a lot and had a big temper. He also knew that he had an important responsibility, so there was no need for him to have a conflict with this small captain. He just wanted to meet a senior officer who could have a say as soon as possible.
Therefore, he did not argue with the thousand households, but secretly reached into his arms, wanting to take out the golden medal that could control the army of the world.
Lin Shuhan, who was standing by, saw Qiu Yizhi's action at a glance and whispered in his ear: "Sir, such a small occasion does not require such a treasure. Isn't Zhao Chengxiao also a General of the Central Army? It is enough to let him come out and speak."
Qiu Yizi suddenly realized what was going on and quickly called Zhao Chengxiao over and whispered a few words in his ear.
Zhao Chengxiao nodded after hearing this and took a step forward to stand in front of the captain.
The captain was not tall, and when he saw Zhao Chengxiao standing in front of him like an iron tower, he was a little scared and asked, "What...what are you going to do?"
Zhao Chengxiao saw that he was rude to Qiu Yi, and he was already a little dissatisfied in his heart. He pushed the captain away a little, took out a name card from his arms, stuffed it into the captain's hand, and said loudly: "I am the General Zhao Chengxiao, who wants to see your General. Go and ask him to come over!"
The captain knew a few words and knew that the name card was real. He thought that the general surnamed Zhao was also a General of the Central Army. If he wanted to meet a general of the same rank, he should go and visit him. Why should he ask others to come and see him
He pondered over the words Zhao Chengxiao had just introduced himself - the three words "General of the Central Army" were rare, but the two words "Imperial Appointment" in front of them were even more remarkable - this General of the Central Army was appointed by the emperor himself. If this was true, then he might have been ordered by his superiors to go to Jiangnan to handle some confidential matters, and it was reasonable for him to be received by other senior generals after his return.
At this moment, the captain's thought instantly changed from "I want to see where these people came from" to "No matter where they come from, don't let me get into trouble", so he immediately put away the contemptuous look on his face, bowed to Zhao Chengxiao very solemnly, turned around and left with the business card.
After a long while, the captain finally came back, leading more than thirty elite soldiers. When these soldiers dispersed and lined up, a general wearing armor and robes walked out from the crowd.
He walked out and looked up and down the dark-skinned, tall Zhao Chengxiao several times. He felt that he looked familiar but couldn't remember his name, so he returned the name card to Zhao Chengxiao and asked, "I wonder what brings General Zhao to my defense zone?"
Before Zhao Chengxiao could answer, he heard someone behind him ask loudly, "Wang Denglu, do you still recognize me?"
The General was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly looked behind Zhao Chengxiao for the person who was talking, but he saw that the person was a young man under 30 years old with an unremarkable appearance.
When Wang Denglu saw the young man's appearance clearly, he shrank back in fear and quickly knelt down and said, "It turned out that it was Yidian who came. Why didn't you inform me in advance so that I could greet him in advance?"
Qiu Yizi grinned, bent down to help Wang Denglu up, and said: "General Wang, why do you have to do this? You were originally the emperor's captain in charge of patrolling Guangyang City in Youyan Road, and in the blink of an eye you have become a general guarding a region. This is really cause for celebration!"
Wang Denglu quickly stood up, saluted again, and said with a bent waist: "I haven't heard from your Highness Yi for a long time. How come you show up here today?" He lowered his voice halfway through his words and said, "Is there any confidential matter to be handled? I will definitely help you."
Qiu Yizhi was moved after hearing this and said with a smile: "As expected of someone who was told by Old Youyan, he really knows how to speak with moderation, unlike your two little brothers who always ask about my background."
Wang Denglu immediately turned around, his eyes wide open, and shouted angrily, "Have you two lost your minds? If you dare to neglect this lord, I will punish you when I get back!"
The captain and the hundred-man commander were stunned to see that the great Lieutenant General Wang Denglu actually bowed and noded to a mere county magistrate. Then they heard his angry shout and were so frightened that they took a half step back.
Qiu Yizi quickly tried to smooth things over: "It's okay. The country is in trouble now, so it's only right to tighten the defense."
After hearing Qiu Yizhi's words of persuasion, the fierce light in Wang Denglu's eyes dimmed a lot. He turned around and smiled again, "Since it is His Highness Yi who guaranteed it, then it would be better to spare these two assassins. But I believe His Highness Yi must have something important to do. I wonder how I can help you?"
Qiu Yizi said seriously, "It is indeed important, but I cannot tell you. Let me ask you, who is your highest superior? I want to talk to him."
Wang Denglu was stunned for a moment, then he was relieved - there were a lot of confidential matters in the army, and his rank of Lieutenant General was not low, but he did not get too involved in the upper-level military affairs, and there were indeed some confidential matters that he had no right to ask about.
Wang Denglu thought about it and said, "There are people in charge of the deployment of troops, logistics, and transportation here, and the ownership is quite complicated, but the one in charge is General Zhang Long..."
"Okay!" Qiu Yizhi said immediately when he heard the name "Zhang Long", "That's Zhang Long, go and invite him over, and tell him that I invited him."
Wang Denglu was a little embarrassed: "This... General Zhang is now in charge of the defense of the entire Yangtze River. The counterattack against the Lingnan rebels will also start from him soon. He is busy all day long. It is difficult for me to meet him. I am afraid it is not easy to invite him. However, if Your Highness Yi personally visits his headquarters, General Zhang will definitely receive you immediately..."
Zhang Long was originally the chief guard of the Youyan Palace. Although he was not a top-notch leader in battle, he was not afraid of complicated and trivial tasks. Appointing him to lead the Jiangbei defense line and organize counterattack preparations was indeed a good choice. It was precisely because such affairs were too complicated and trivial that Zhang Long must have been very busy. What Wang Denglu said was not false.
So Qiu Yizhi secretly took out the golden medal from his bosom, waved it in front of Wang Denglu, and said, "General Wang, you must recognize this thing, right?"
Wang Denglu certainly knew about this thing, and was about to bow down, but was stopped by Qiu Yiyi, who said, "General Wang, you see the emperor entrusted this thing to me, which shows that I also have an important responsibility. I really can't leave here. Asking General Zhang Long to come here is by no means a waste of his time, nor is it a show of power. General Wang, this matter is urgent and cannot be taken lightly!"
Wang Denglu also knew that although Qiu Yizi was not a genuine royal family member, Zheng Rong treated him as his own son and always treated him equally with the other princes. Now that he had taken out the golden medal representing the emperor's majesty, it seemed that he must be shouldering a huge responsibility.
Wang Denglu then saluted solemnly and said, "I understand. I will definitely pass on your message to Your Highness Yi. Also, the wind is too strong here. Your Highness Yi should take shelter in my camp to avoid getting hurt."
Wang Denglu meant well, but Qiu Yizi couldn't leave the captured King of Lingnan even a step away, so he said, "I understand. Just go and ask Zhang Long to come over. I'll make other arrangements."
Wang Denglu nodded, did not ask again, turned around, mounted his horse and headed north.
One of his captains and one of his captains hadn't reacted yet and were still standing there at a loss. Qiu Yizi found it funny and said, "I have my own soldiers. You don't need to guard this place. Just tell outsiders not to get close to the dock."
Having said that, Qiu Yizi boarded Li Shengjie's large sea ship again without waiting for the two to reply.
In this way, Qiu Yizi waited on Li Shengjie's ship until the golden crow set in the west, but Zhang Long still did not show up.
Fortunately, we are now on the north bank of the Yangtze River. The fleets of Yin Chengliang and Yin Tai, which were recruited by the Lingnan Army to blockade the Yangtze River, were all sunk and destroyed by Li Shengjie, so it is very safe here.
So Qiu Yizi calmed down, had dinner with Li Shengjie, picked up a book, brought a chair, and began to read page by page on the deck under the starlight and moonlight.
Just when he was bored, Li Shengjie walked slowly to Qiu Yizi's side and looked curiously at the page of the book in his hand.
Seeing that he looked a little strange, Qiu Yizi said, "I just found this book casually from the young master's ship. What's the matter? Is it that my dear brother has some taboos?"
Li Shengjie said hurriedly, "No, no. I got this book from Luzon when I was on the ship. I read it several times when I was bored, and I didn't think it was strange. But I didn't expect that brother would read it so seriously, so I came over to take a look."
Qiu Yizi smiled and said, "There's nothing strange about this book. It's just an ordinary popular novel. You won't spend much to buy one in a bookstore on the street here. But what's strange is that this book was printed overseas, and some chapters are quite different from our version. That's why I read it out of curiosity." As he spoke, Qiu Yizi turned a page and discussed the chapters in the book with Li Shengjie.
Li Shengjie had no interest in this book at first, but he didn't want to spoil Qiu Yizi's excited explanation, so he just nodded in agreement.
Qiu Yizhi was such a smart person. Seeing that Li Shengjie was absent-minded, he simply closed the book and asked with a smile: "Brother, do you have anything you want to tell me?"
Li Shengjie blushed: "No...no...I just want to read a book with my brother..."