After hearing this, Qiu Yizi regretted, "If it weren't for Marshal Dai's reminder, I would have forgotten. After the Lingnan Palace was pacified, this item was naturally handed over to the emperor. I'm afraid it's in Zheng Xin's hands now. I really hate that I left in a hurry and didn't think of taking this item with me."
Dai Luanxiang frowned and said, "This is a bit troublesome. But it doesn't matter. Although this matter sounds serious, it has little to do with the overall situation. After all, the emperor has passed away, and the golden medal representing the imperial power is..."
Qiu Yizhi was already extremely anxious. Without waiting for Dai Luanxiang to finish his words, he bowed to him, bowed to Dai's mother again, and said goodbye: "Okay, I won't bother you anymore. Marshal Dai, please stay. I will set off to return north now."
After saying this, Qiu Yizi led his civil and military assistants and headed straight to the north.
Although Zheng Xin intended to intercept Qiu Yi and his group, Qiu Yi acted extremely quickly and Zheng Xin was guilty and did not want to make it public, so Qiu Yi and his group reached the bank of the Yangtze River without any hindrance.
Although there were undercurrents within the imperial court at this time, from the perspective of the common people, it seemed that the chaos had just been settled and there was a lot of work to be done.
Qiu Yizhiyuan thought that it would be a hassle to run to the Yangtze River and find a ferry, but when he went all the way to a canal town, he saw that people traveling to and fro along the Yangtze River were like crucian carp crossing the river, and it seemed very lively.
However, it was not easy for Qiu Yizhi to find a large ship that could carry more than 200 people across the river at a time. Fortunately, Lin Shuhan's wife Wu Ruofei was very thoughtful. Before leaving, she took away all the silver notes that Lin Shuhan and Qiu Yizhi had accumulated, totaling nearly 100,000 taels of silver.
Now was not the time to save money, so Qiu Yi took out 12,000 taels of silver and started looking for large and fast ships at the dock, ready to set off immediately to cross the Yangtze River to the north.
As the Chinese saying goes, "A big reward will always bring forth brave men." When the silver note signed by Zhou Cijing's bank worth 10,000 taels was placed on the table, seven or eight ship owners immediately gathered around to take over the business. Among them, two or three would rather give up the business at hand than not lose the 10,000 taels of silver.
Qiu Yizi did not have time to choose carefully, so he found a boat that looked newer, and asked the owner to quickly load the horses and luggage on board, and immediately set sail to the north to cross the Yangtze River.
The boat owner was less than fifty years old and had done many business along the Yangtze River. He saw that Qiu Yizhi and his entourage were transporting horses and weapons from the imperial court, and that the people accompanying them were all dressed as soldiers. He could not help but be more cautious and ran up to Qiu Yizhi and asked, "If my guess is correct, you are a military commander, right?"
Qiu Yizhi squinted and asked, "So what?"
The boat owner said, "If we really want to lead troops across the river, we usually use official ships. In case of urgent tasks, there is no time to wait for official ships to arrive, and we have to requisition civilian ships. However, we need a petition from the Jiedushi Yamen before we dare to cross the river... Otherwise, if someone secretly reports to the government that we are colluding with bandits, I won't be able to explain it even if I have a hundred mouths..."
Although Qiu Yizi was a veteran of many battles, it was the first time for him to lead troops to requisition civilian boats to cross the river. He didn't understand any of the many rules involved. Besides, Liu Qing, the governor of Jiangnan, was right beside him, so where could he find the governor's office to submit a petition
However, Qiu Yizi had no intention of arguing with the ship owner. Seeing that his cargo had been loaded onto the ship, he grinned and said, "You are smart. We are indeed bandits. You have been captured by us. Come on board with us now."
As he spoke, he nodded at the two soldiers behind him, then walked towards the boat without looking back.
The two bodyguards were originally bandits, and were used to robbing and looting. When they saw Qiu Yizi's eye signal, one of them covered his mouth with his hand, and the other twisted his arm, and they pushed and dragged the ship owner onto the ship.
After boarding the ship, the sailors were all surprised to see the captain's behavior. They put down their work, picked up sticks, mops, and weights, and were ready to fight with the "bandits". But they heard Qiu Yizi shouting, "Stop! How many of you are there? There are two hundred of my brothers on the ship, and everyone has a sword in hand. Can you beat them? Listen to me, quickly hoist the sail and anchor, cross the Yangtze River to the north, and the 10,000 taels of silver will still be yours. Otherwise, I will kill you all and throw you into the river to feed the fish!"
Seeing that Qiu Yizhi was short and white, although he looked like a scholar, his words were full of murderous intent, so they dared not despise him. Seeing that the ship owner was in his hands, they had no choice but to raise the sail and head north of the river. During this period, several sailors jumped into the river to escape because of fear, but Qiu Yizhi didn't care and let them do as they pleased.
Qiu Yizi had no intention of harming the ship owner. As soon as the merchant ship left the dock, the ship owner was untied. He huddled in a corner of the deck in fear, exchanging glances with two trusted sailors, but not daring to say a word.
Qiu Yizi found it funny, so he walked to the side of the boat owner and said with a smile: "Don't worry, boat owner, we are not bandits. But the situation was urgent at the time, and the boat owner talked too much, so I resorted to this desperate measure, just to cross the river quickly."
Qiu Yizhi said this sincerely, but the ship owner still didn't believe it, and asked tentatively: "This king... Sir... are you deceiving me again?"
"Whether I lie to you or not, what does it matter? Ten thousand taels of silver in my pocket is more important than anything else." Qiu Yizi replied.
The ship owner thought about it and it made sense, but he also said, "I'm afraid that I'll be targeted by the government and my business will never be able to continue. I'll have to disband the fleet and rely on this ten thousand taels of silver for my retirement."
Qiu Yizi looked at the boat owner's depressed look and laughed out loud: "Hahaha! It seems that this boat owner still doesn't trust me. Never mind, I won't explain the reason in detail. Explaining too much will not be good for you. I just want to ask you one question. There is a man named Li Shengjie on the river recently. Do you know him?"
"Li Shengjie? I know, I know!" the ship owner answered immediately, "He is the son of the old ship owner Li Zhi. It is said that he helped the emperor to quell the rebellion of the Lingnan prince. The emperor conferred an official position on him, which can be regarded as a positive result. He has a bright future!"
"Oh? It seems that you have quite some knowledge." Qiu Yizi said.
The boat owner didn't notice the teasing tone in Qiu Yizhi's mouth, and replied: "Although I mainly sail in the Yangtze River, I still go to several large seaports frequently. Who doesn't know the reputation of the old boat owner Li Zhi? If his 'white whale flag' is hoisted, who dares not give him some face?"
"Okay then." Qiu Yizi asked, "Have you seen this 'White Whale Flag' in the past few days?"
The ship owner thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, I have. When I was unloading yesterday, I saw the Li family's 'White Whale Flag' from afar. But their fleet was too far away, so I couldn't see it clearly, and they sailed away."
In just a few words, Qiu Yizi already knew what was going on: Li Shengjie had indeed followed his instructions and was leading his fleet to patrol back and forth on the Yangtze River. Once they encountered Zheng Xin's fleet, they would launch an attack.
Qiu Yizhi thought for a moment and then said to the boat owner, "I have something for you to do. If you can do it, Li Shengjie will take care of it, which will be of great benefit to your future business. If you can't do it, there will be no loss. I wonder if you are interested?"
The ship owner was also a businessman. He was certainly interested in such a risk-free business with great profits. He forgot for a moment that he was still a hostage held by the "bandits" and said impatiently, "Please tell me, sir, please tell me."
Seeing his happy face, Qiu Yizhi sneered secretly and said, "It's not that difficult. Li Shengjie is an old friend of mine. When you meet him, tell him that his brother - that is me - has taken your ship and has reached the north bank of the Yangtze River. Ask him to find a chance to find me. I have something urgent to find him for."
The captain listened and took notes, and suddenly realized what was going on. He asked in surprise, "Since you are the elder brother of the young captain, then you are probably the nephew of the old captain Li, right?"
Qiu Yizi waved his hand and said, "Young Captain Li Shengjie and I are sworn brothers. If you can do it, do it. If you can't do it, don't do it. Just be careful. If you succeed, the Li family will naturally look up to your business in the future."
The ship owner wanted to ask more questions, but Qiu Yizi had lost his patience and turned away.
It was early summer, and the southeast wind was strong and fierce. Qiu Yizhi was on a newly built speedboat, riding the wind to the north of the Yangtze River. The ship set off at noon and crossed the Yangtze River in the evening of the same day. When all the soldiers and horses on the ship disembarked, it was just after the Wu hour.
Qiu Yizi was happy to see that the crossing of the Yangtze River was very smooth. However, as soon as he mounted his horse, the joy on his face flashed away, and his expression suddenly became solemn again.
Wen Lingjiao, who was accompanying him, saw this and hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Master, now that we have arrived in Jiangbei and have temporarily escaped from Zheng Xin's clutches, why are you worried again?"
Qiu Yizhi sighed: "Didn't I hear from Marshal Dai that Zheng Xin is so mad that he might send someone to assassinate the Third Prince? But the world is vast and has tens of millions of people. How can I find these assassins?"
Suddenly, Lin Shuhan laughed and said, "I shouldn't have listened to Master Qiu and Miss Wen's whispers. But I have a few words to say, Master, please don't think I'm nosy."
Qiu Yizhi knew that Lin Shuhan was extremely intelligent and would never say any useless nonsense, so he said, "Mr. Lin must have a good idea for me, please feel free to teach me."
Lin Shuhan shook his paper fan and said, "Master Qiu is smart and clever, why are you being stupid today? Why bother to go to such great lengths to find an assassin? Wouldn't it be enough to just wait on the assassin's path or notify the Third Prince before the assassin arrives?"
Lin Shuhan's words really had an enlightening effect on Qiu Yizhi. He immediately dismounted, bowed to Lin Shuhan, and ordered Zhao Chengxiao, "We can't delay any longer. We will mobilize our troops and march to Tongguan immediately!"
Luoyang, the capital of the Han Dynasty, is located in the center of the country. It is guarded by two great passes, Tongguan in the east and Dasanguan in the west. It is a fortress of thousands of miles and impregnable. These two passes have become the only way to enter and exit Luoyang. As long as these two passes are controlled, Luoyang will be safe; similarly, as long as these two passages are blocked, Luoyang can be besieged.
Under today's circumstances, as long as Qiu Yizi can get to Tongguan first and stop the suspected assassin who is planning to pass through Tongguan, or simply kill him, and at the same time send someone into the pass to contact the Third Prince, asking him to make preparations early and strengthen his guards, he can save his life and also save the capital to compete with Zheng Xinyi.
After thinking this through, Qiu Yizi no longer hesitated, and without letting his soldiers rest or eat, he immediately led his troops along the official road and headed straight for Tongguan.