Even so, although Wang Shijie's troops had an advantage in military strength and were a fresh force, they still only fought the opponent to a draw.
Qiu Yizhi actually didn't expect that Wang Shijie's support would completely defeat the enemy. He was already quite satisfied with the current situation where there was no one left but no one to lose. So he quickly ordered Zhao Chengxiao to leave the battle immediately and move closer to Zheng Miao.
However, Zhao Chengxiao and his men had already been fighting with their opponents, so how could they easily get out of the battle? They could only withdraw from the battle one by one, and followed Qiu Yizhi and Zhao Chengxiao in groups of two or three to run to the west of the road.
Qiu Yizi had not taken a few steps when he saw Yuchi Jiming fighting with five or six burly men in black.
Yuchi Jiming has learned the true martial arts of the Yuchi family, and with the guidance of her aunt, her martial arts have reached perfection. She can easily deal with the attacks of ordinary warriors, even if there are seven, eight or ten of them at the same time. However, today, facing the siege of five or six people, Yuchi Jiming was a little flustered and seemed to be at a disadvantage.
Qiu Yizhi was a little confused, but he didn't have time to analyze the reason, so he just ordered Zhao Chengxiao beside him: "Why don't you go up and help?"
Zhao Chengxiao quickly nodded in agreement and shouted, "Brothers, follow me!" Then he rushed forward with the Bohai sword in his hand.
The personal soldiers who obeyed his orders all respectfully called Yuchi Jiming "little master" or "female master" because the martial arts they knew were actually trained by Yuchi Jiming. When they saw their "master" in danger, they would of course risk their lives and immediately rushed forward with their weapons.
At this time, sixty or seventy people had gathered around Zhao Chengxiao. No matter how powerful the six men who besieged Yuchi Jiming were, they could not make up for the huge disadvantage in numbers. In the blink of an eye, three of them were killed and three were captured by Zhao Chengxiao and his men. Yuchi Jiming was instantly out of danger.
Zhao Chengxiao took a breath and quickly asked Qiu Yizhi: "Sir, how should we deal with these people? Should we leave someone to watch over them?"
Qiu Yizi was anxious to rescue Zheng Miao and Yuchi Lianghong in front of him, so he answered without thinking: "What's the point of keeping him? He's a traitor, just kill him."
After saying that, he hurried westward again.
Yuchi Jiming took two quick steps, caught up to Qiu Yizhi's ear, and said, "Uncle, these guys have extraordinary martial arts skills, they don't seem to be ordinary soldiers, be careful!"
Qiu Yizhi was stunned when he heard this, and he slowed down his pace a little, and asked: "Are you saying that these people are all martial arts masters?"
Yuchi Jiming nodded: "I am not very knowledgeable, so I am not sure about their martial arts. It seems that there are some Tianshan School routines and some Kongtong School moves in them..."
Qiu Yizi's brain was calculating rapidly: these two sects are based in the famous mountains and rivers in the northwest, and the eldest prince Zheng Xin, under the pretext of suppressing the rebellion in the Lingnan Palace, has expanded his influence in the northwest. In addition, with the assistance of Wen Honghui, the leader of the Tianzun Sect who has many connections in the martial arts world, it is indeed not a difficult task to gather such a group of martial arts heroes to work for him.
And Zheng Xin made such a big fuss in front of the strategic pass of Tongguan today, and his target was only one - the third prince Zheng Miao!
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizhi immediately quickened his pace. Seeing another group of people fighting each other in front of him, he gritted his teeth and rushed forward. Zhao Chengxiao and others were afraid that Qiu Yizhi would have an accident, so they hurriedly caught up.
When Qiu Yizi got closer, she saw Zheng Miao and Yuchi Lianghong, escorted by a dozen other guards, fighting hand-to-hand with a hundred or so men in black. They were gradually losing the upper hand and were retreating towards Tongguan while fighting.
During the battle, Zheng Miao learned some martial arts from several masters of the Imperial Palace, but most of them were just fancy moves that looked gorgeous and beautiful. Facing those vicious and desperate criminals beside him who were determined to take his life first and then hurry up, it was of no use at all. Even with the close protection of Yuchi Lianghong and several other guards, he still received seven or eight knife wounds of varying degrees of severity on his stomach, arms, and thighs. They were not noticeable because he was wearing red clothes.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Qiu Yizhi rushed into the battle without caring about his only half-baked kung fu skills. Relying on the Western Regions sword in his hand that could cut through iron like mud, he saw an opportunity and rushed to Zheng Miao's side, saying, "Third brother, I'm here!" The weapon in his hand was still waving in the air.
Zheng Miao was already exhausted and out of breath. He reluctantly replied, "Okay. Kill the enemy first, and then we can talk brothers."
At this moment, Yuchi Jiming, Zhao Chengxiao and others had also rushed forward, turning the numerical disadvantage around in one fell swoop, and surrounded the men in black who had surrounded Zheng Miao.
Although these men in black were all desperate criminals, they were not zombies who did not care about their lives. When they saw that they were surrounded, they immediately became discouraged and stopped what they were doing.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi had no sympathy at all and ordered loudly: "These are all rebels, kill them all."
Zheng Miao finally had a chance to catch his breath. He reached out and wiped the mixture of sweat and blood on his face. He said to Qiu Yizi, "Brother, you can't do that. We still need to find out who is the mastermind behind these people."
Qiu Yizi said, "No need. These people were sent by Zheng Xin. Why bother asking?" He gave the order again, "Zhao Chengxiao, there's no need to wait any longer. Why don't you take action?"
Zheng Miao still didn't quite believe it: "My dear brother, Yuchi Lianghong came to me two days ago and said that my father had been killed by my eldest brother. Is this true?"
Qiu Yizi replied: "How could I make up such a big story? Even Master Zhongli was forced to death by him. The group of men in black today were sent by him to assassinate my third brother."
Zheng Miao had heard this news from Yuchi Lianghong before, but he still refused to believe it. "This is too unbelievable. I still can't believe it. How could my eldest brother, who is always so filial to his elder brothers, do such an inhumane thing?"
Although Zheng Miao is not a stupid person, he has a rare kind heart. Although he has gradually guessed the truth from his experiences along the way, he just doesn't want to believe it from the bottom of his heart.
Qiu Yizi was not in a hurry and said, "It doesn't matter if Third Brother doesn't believe it. Zheng Xin has gathered so many traitors. As long as we catch the leader and ask him, we will know, right?"
Zheng Miao nodded, then shook his head and said, "Even so, we can't believe it completely. Big brother has done so many things for the emperor, there is no guarantee that he has not offended villains. Maybe someone wants to frame him..." But his tone gradually became softer.
Qiu Yizi was an impatient person, so he asked, "Third brother, do you mean that I want to frame Zheng Xin? Then I am a villain?"
"No, no, that's certainly not what I meant..." Zheng Miao said hurriedly, "But right now the bandits have not been eliminated, so we should annihilate them first, then wait for an opportunity to capture a few and interrogate them clearly."
"That makes sense." Qiu Yi said, "Anyway, a battle with Zheng Xin is inevitable. I have already used a strategy to temporarily contain him in Jiangnan. The best strategy is to deal with it calmly."
As they were talking, the group of black-clad men who were ambushing in Tongguan finally arrived in front of Zheng Miao. Behind them were the soldiers guarding the pass led by Wang Shijie. They had been chasing all the way, but when they saw their opponents stop, they also stopped moving forward, looking at each other, and were unwilling to take advantage of the victory to kill the enemy.
In fact, although the black-clad assassins had the advantage in numbers at this moment, they were blocked in the middle of the official road by the soldiers led by Qiu Yizi and Wang Shijie, one in front and one behind. They were at a great disadvantage in terms of formation and terrain. If they launched attacks from both ends at the same time, they could be completely defeated.
So Qiu Yizhi hurriedly shouted to Wang Shijie, who was only 20 or 30 steps away: "Wang Shijie, why don't you order the attack? If we attack from both sides, we will succeed in one fell swoop. After the success, His Royal Highness the Third Prince, the Regent, will reward us!"
In fact, even if there was no reward, Wang Shijie would have fought hard just to prevent Zheng Miao from getting into any accidents within his jurisdiction. However, the veteran soldiers guarding the pass under his command were unwilling to risk their lives and refused to move forward despite being urged several times.
These black-clad men were desperate criminals blinded by greed and martial arts masters. Even if they could not fight ten to one, they were still very capable. Therefore, these soldiers who could live a comfortable life by relying on Tongguan would not want to give up their lives for nothing - this was also human nature.
But Qiu Yizi didn't have the time to think about the problem from their perspective. She scolded them sternly, "Wang Shijie, look at the soldiers you lead. Do they still look like soldiers? If you hesitate again, I will punish you for being afraid of the enemy!"
Wang Shijie couldn't help but panic after hearing this, and kept urging his soldiers to attack forward. Seeing that they were still in a cowardly manner of taking three steps forward and two steps back, he could only grit his teeth and be ruthless. He killed the two hesitant soldiers on the spot. Only then did he barely boost morale and ordered his soldiers to speed up and approach the enemy.
At this moment, the leader of the black-clothed men stepped forward and said, "Which one of you is the Third Prince? Which one is the Yi Prince? Please come out and talk."
Zheng Miao was about to answer, but Qiu Yizhi grabbed him and said loudly: "This is a delaying tactic, don't listen to his nonsense. Wang Shijie, why don't you act quickly?"
The man in black was born a bandit, and he was indeed very cunning. He said, "Wait a minute. Although you have many people, I have many brothers under my command, and their martial arts are much stronger than yours. If we attack by force, I am afraid both sides will suffer losses. In fact, we are also the subordinates of the Grand Prince, and we are considered to be the same people as the Third Prince and the Righteous Prince..."
Qiu Yizhi immediately took over the conversation: "Since you claim to be one of us, then I order you in the name of the Third Prince to lay down your weapons, tie yourself up and plead guilty. Why don't you surrender quickly?"
The man in black said, "Surrender? That's not the way of a villain. Even if I die, I'll take a few people with me..."
"Then stop making noise here." Qiu Yizi interrupted him, "Wang Shijie, are you deaf? Why don't you do it?"
Unexpectedly, the morale that had just been boosted immediately weakened after a few words from the man in black, and Wang Shijie's soldiers returned to their previous hesitant and cowardly appearance.
The man in black smiled when he saw this, as if he had won most of the battle. He said, "I am just a servant, and I have no reason to talk to you nobles. But today I still have something to tell you. I have received the order from the eldest prince to escort the third prince to Jiangnan. This is a very important matter. If I fail, I am afraid that the eldest prince will crush my bones. Therefore, I hope that the third prince can understand my difficulties and stop being hard on me."