Qiu Yizi immediately retorted, "Sweet words! What do you mean by escort? You just want to kidnap the Third Prince and send him to Zheng Xin, and then Zheng Xin will harm the Third Prince."
The man in black laughed twice and said, "This is the business of the royal family. How can I interfere? I am just following orders. Your Highness, please come out and follow me, so as to avoid a fight and embarrassment for everyone."
Qiu Yizhi immediately said, "That's right. You are certainly not qualified to ask about the affairs of the royal family. But think about it yourself. You did such a shameful thing for Zheng Xin. How could a sinister villain like Zheng Xin keep you alive? Why don't you lay down your weapons and apologize? The Third Prince will think you have turned from evil to good and will not punish you, but will use you in a new position. What do you think?"
The man in black boasted that he was a skilled talker among the people in the martial arts world, but he did not expect that Qiu Yi's eloquence was far beyond his reach, and she was able to convince him with just a few words.
While the man in black was hesitating, he heard Yuchi Lianghong say, "You are Han Moshi from Black Wind Mountain, right? Black Wind Mountain and Black Wind Village, although not a famous and upright sect, have a good reputation and have no connection with the imperial court. How could you do such a treasonous thing?"
The man in black had been lying in ambush under the Tongguan wall for several days. He had not tried to kill Yuchi Lianghong along the way, so he did not know him. He was surprised when his identity was revealed and asked, "Who are you? How do you know my identity?"
"Hero Han's reputation is well-known, and I have heard of him a little bit." Yuchi Lianghong said, "However, as the saying goes, 'the benevolent are invincible'. We are both martial artists, and even if we cannot do what is right and help the world, we should at least be independent and keep ourselves clean. Even if you succeed by chance, what good will it do you?"
Han Moshi was actually two or three years older than the forty-year-old Yuchi Lianghong, but after hearing his righteous questioning, he lost half of his momentum and stammered, "His Highness said that after the matter is accomplished, he will make me the leader of the martial arts world..."
“Hahahaha!” Yuchi Lianghong laughed loudly. “What’s so great about being the leader of the martial arts world? If Hero Han wants it, I’ll give it to you.”
Han Moshi was stunned when he heard this and asked, "What do you mean? Do you mean that you are the leader of the martial arts world? Are you Yuchi Lianghong?"
Yuchi Lianghong nodded gently: "It's me. But I have a few words to say. The martial arts world is different from the government. The so-called 'leader of the martial arts world' is never appointed by anyone. It is recognized by your fellow martial artists because you are good at martial arts, fair in handling affairs, and have good conduct. If you are so deliberate in wanting to be the 'leader', I'm afraid that the heroes of the world will not accept it. You are just a leader without any weapons."
Unexpectedly, Han Moshi was somewhat reasonable. His face turned red after hearing what Yuchi Lianghong said, and he didn't know how to respond for a moment.
Seeing that he seemed to have a chance, Qiu Yizhi quickly struck while the iron was hot and said, "Han Moshi, did you hear everything? If you can put down your butcher knife and do good, the crimes you committed before can be forgiven. Our Third Prince is different from Zheng Xin. He always keeps his word. Not only will he not hold you accountable, he can also appoint you as a military officer and let you work for the court. You will also get a positive result in the future."
Han Moshi was really moved by these words. He took half a step forward involuntarily and opened his bloody mouth surrounded by thick black beard, as if he was about to say something. But what came out of his mouth was a very dull scream, followed by a gushing out of dark red blood foam.
Qiu Yizi was horrified upon seeing this, and quickly looked Han Moshi up and down, only to find that half of a shiny blade had inexplicably appeared on his chest - Han Moshi was stabbed through with a knife from behind!
As everyone was in shock, a short and stocky man flashed out from behind Han Moshi, kicked Han Moshi, who was stabbed to the ground with only half a breath left, and yelled, "I knew these bandits were unreliable. Sure enough, they turned against us at the last minute. What a thief's nature!"
"Zhao Maiji, is that you? Were you really sent by the eldest brother?" The third prince Zheng Miao recognized the identity of the murderer at a glance, and stated the fact that he was unwilling to believe in a very calm tone.
To put it nicely, Zhao Maiji is a decisive and brave person; to put it bluntly, he is insidious and ruthless. But the eldest prince Zheng Xinji took a liking to this aspect of him, and also saw that he is also a very skilled martial artist. He is the person closest to him.
Zheng Miao had frequent contacts with Zheng Xin before, so Zhao Maiji was very familiar with him. Similarly, Zhao Maiji could also meet Zheng Miao frequently. Now in this life-and-death Shura field, he could still maintain some etiquette.
He was holding a steel knife stained with Han Moshi's blood, and he bowed to Zheng Miao and said, "Third Prince, I am sorry for offending you. But this is something that the First Prince has ordered, and I dare not disobey. Please come with me now, lest I go too far and hurt the dignity of the royal family. Then even the First Prince will not let me go!"
Qiu Yizhi finally remembered Zhao Maiji's appearance and shouted, "Zhao Maiji, do you still remember me? Let me ask you, were you involved in Zheng Xin's killing of the king and his master?"
Zhao Maiji bowed again and said, "So His Highness Yi is here too. The Emperor and Prime Minister Zhongli met with an unexpected accident - according to His Highness Yi, it was you, His Highness Yi, who did it. His Highness Yi asked me to escort the Third Prince to Jiangnan to discuss this matter. How can His Highness Yi lie so much?"
Qiu Yi said angrily, "How dare you call a horse a zebra and confuse right and wrong here?" Then he turned to Zheng Miao and said, "That's good now. As long as we catch Zhao Maiji and ask him clearly, the truth will be revealed."
Zheng Miao was not a stupid man. At this point, he knew the whole story very well - it was Zheng Xin who had plotted to murder his father and master, and had earlier ordered the closure of Tongguan to prevent Qiu Yizi from passing through, but Qiu Yizi sent Yuchi Lianghong to report the news; when he heard the news, he was anxious to go to Jiangnan to see it for himself, but was attacked by criminals on the way. He only arrived at Tongguan under the desperate protection of Yuchi Lianghong and the guards.
So Zheng Miao pressed the wound on his thigh that was cut by the knife, took a half step forward, and said, "Well, things can always be explained clearly. It seems that I have to put down the important task of regent that my father has placed on me for the time being. Anyway, I am still the regent prince now. Do you, Zhao Maiji, recognize this identity?"
Zhao Maiji was stunned and had to answer: "The Third Prince is the son of the Emperor and the eldest prince's younger brother. How dare I not acknowledge him?"
"That's good." Zheng Miao said, "In that case, I order you to dismiss everyone and lay down your weapons, and obey the command of General Zhao Chengxiao, who is under the command of my brother Qiu Yizhi. Qiu Yizhi will temporarily take over the important task of supervising the country, and I will go to Jiangnan with you. Listen carefully, this is an order from the prince who is supervising the country."
Zhao Maiji couldn't help but take a step back after hearing this - he could neither agree nor not agree: if he agreed, it would be equivalent to being openly disarmed. Not to mention that he would not be able to complete the task assigned to him by Zheng Xin, and if he turned against him, even his own life might not be saved; if he disagreed, it would be disobeying the order of the regent prince, which was equivalent to disobeying the imperial decree, and was equally unforgivable!
There was only a moment of silence, and Zhao Maiji suddenly laughed grimly: "Hehe, the Third Prince said it nicely, but unfortunately the First Prince has already promised me that if this matter is done, he will promote me to be the Minister of Justice. Why would he come to you, the Regent Prince, then?"
His words seemed to give him confidence, and he shouted: "Brothers, come on, don't listen to his nonsense, seize the boat in front = the one wearing red clothes will be rewarded with three thousand taels of silver and promoted to the title of Marquis of Wanhu!"
In fact, there was no such title as "Marquis of Ten Thousand Households" in the Han system. It was just something the storytellers who went from village to village deliberately said to amuse the ignorant country men. However, Zhao Maiji's empty promise of "Marquis of Ten Thousand Households" just suited the taste of these greedy, illiterate desperados around him.
They saw that one side of their opponents consisted of more than 200 people who were strong but wounded, and the other side consisted of veterans who were almost scared out of their wits. They thought that if their hundreds of people fought against them, they would definitely win. They thought that this was a good business that would make huge profits and would never lose money.
Then this group of men in black suddenly shouted and howled in unison, and even their voices were echoing with the sounds of fame, wealth and power.
Zhao Maiji saw that his men were in high spirits, thought for a moment, and shouted, "Brothers, follow me and kill all those cowards in Tongguan first!"
He used the word "follow" well. As soon as he finished speaking, he was the first to rush out to the Tongguan defenders. Seeing this, the black-clad bandits, fearing that their companions would take away the credit, also hurriedly followed Zhao Maiji and rushed out. Seeing that the black-clad men were encouraged by him, he slowed down his pace and stopped rushing forward.
Seeing this, the group of veteran soldiers under Wang Shijie were immediately frightened and retreated towards Tongguan without even fighting. Wang Shijie raised his saber and shouted loudly, trying to control the army, but his men were only thinking about retreating to save their lives. Wang Shijie's loud shouting not only failed to slow down their disintegration, but even he himself was dragged back.
Seeing that the black-clad bandits first attacked the Tongguan defenders and left a gap behind them for him, Qiu Yizi thought it was a perfect opportunity to launch a surprise attack, so he hurriedly ordered Zhao Chengxiao to lead the soldiers to attack the opponent's exposed weak spot.
However, he did not expect that although the Tongguan defenders appeared to be in good order on the surface, they were actually so ineffective behind the scenes. Before Zhao Chengxiao and others could get in touch with the man in black, the opponent had already dispersed all the Tongguan defenders and turned around to fight with Zhao Chengxiao with some calmness.
Qiu Yizhi was not a reckless man who only knew how to act recklessly. The soldiers he was using were his most precious local soldiers, so he would never be willing to fight a strong enemy. However, the situation was out of his control, so he could only bite the bullet and fight the fierce enemy.
Although these men in black were a mob that was temporarily pulled together, they were all fierce bandits in the martial arts world and had high martial arts skills. Qiu Yizhi's personal soldiers and militiamen were all recruited and trained according to regular combat methods. Although they also knew some martial arts taught by Yuchi Jiming himself, they paid more attention to formation arrangement and mutual coordination when fighting.
But now that the fight has become a mess, the advantages of Qiu Yizhi's soldiers can hardly be brought into play, but the advantages of the black-clad bandits are fully utilized.