Qiu Yi wrote quickly, and she would correct the occasional typographical error on the paper. After a while, she finished writing a note, blew it dry, sealed it, and stuffed it into Wang Laowu's hand, saying, "Now is the time to hire people, and everyone has their use. You can't refuse here. As for whether you can find Li Shengjie, that's your problem, not mine. If you fail in this matter, you don't have to come back to report. Why don't you go out and do it?"
Wang Laowu heard that there was no room for maneuver in Qiu Yi's order, and looked at Lin Shuhan for help. Seeing that he had no reaction, he had no choice but to agree reluctantly and retreated, thinking of asking Lin Shuhan for advice when he had time.
After sending Wang Laowu away, Qiu Yizi asked again, "Where is Liu Qing?"
Liu Qing, the governor of Jiangnan Road, quickly agreed: "I am here. However, I am not in Jiangnan now, and I am a governor without any soldiers. I don't know how I can help Your Highness Yi."
Qiu Yizhi said, "I want you to find a way to rush to Huguang Road right now, explain the whole story, and temporarily stabilize the left general Wei Hu. Can you do this?"
Liu Qing scratched his head and said, "General Wei is a cautious person, and I don't have any other evidence. I'm afraid he won't believe me..."
Qiu Yizhi immediately replied: "What I value is Wei Hu's prudence. Since he doesn't believe me, he won't believe Zheng Xin either. As long as he remains neutral and allows me to face Zheng Xin head-on, my chances of winning will greatly increase."
After listening to Qiu Yizi's words, Liu Qing suddenly realized. Seeing the resourceful Lin Shuhan nodding beside him, he knew that this strategy was indeed feasible. Moreover, being able to escape from the vortex of struggle and go to the relatively safe Huguang was what Liu Qing wanted most.
So Liu Qing immediately patted his chest and agreed, "I used to have a good relationship with General Wei Hu, and I can definitely persuade General Wei to keep his troops in place." After that, he turned around and left the house.
Qiu Yizi glanced at the door that was closed from the outside, then took a piece of rice paper and wrote something on it quickly.
He was halfway through writing when the door was pushed open again. It was Zhao Chengxiao who walked in from outside. He bowed and said, "Sir, all the brothers who can move have come. In addition to the original 115 people, there are several brothers who are also coming. They are seriously injured. I told them to rest and recover, but they refused..."
Without even raising his head, Qiu Yizi said, "Tell them not to force themselves. We are leaving immediately and will make a long journey to the capital city of Luoyang. If they become exhausted and fall behind, no one will take care of them."
Zhao Chengxiao quickly agreed when he heard this, and then said, "Are you going to Luoyang, sir? I will go out and count the heads again and prepare the horses. Please rest assured, sir."
Qiu Yizi had already filled a piece of rice paper and said, "This is a small matter. There is another important matter that only you can handle right now."
"What's the matter? Please give me your orders, sir." Zhao Chengxiao agreed readily.
Qiu Yizi read the rice paper from beginning to end, signed his name at the end, then took out the regent seal that Zheng Miao had given him, smeared it with ink and stamped it with a bright red seal. After sealing it himself, he wrote the words "Personally written by Dali, the Loyal King of the Han Dynasty and Khan of the Bohai State" on the cover.
After finishing the task, Qiu Yizhi smiled with satisfaction, handed the letter to Zhao Chengxiao, and said, "You should go to Guangyang City on Youyan Road and find a way to deliver this letter to Dali Khan, or to his military advisor Mr. Cai Wenchou. You have ten days to complete this task."
Zhao Chengxiao took the letter and asked, "I have never been to Bohai before, so I am a little embarrassed. I hope you can give me two more days."
"No, not even a day's grace." Qiu Yizi said without any room for compromise. "I tell you, Dali has a contact person in Guangyang City, Yelu. You know this Yelu, and it won't take too long to ask him to handle it. You can go now."
After hearing this, Zhao Chengxiao pursed his lips, nodded, bowed, and left the room without looking back.
From Tongguan, if everything goes well, it would take seven or eight days to reach Guangyang by fast horse. And it is unknown how many days it would take to head north to Bohai Sea. The "ten-day" deadline was already extremely tight.
Everyone didn't know why Qiu Yi was so nervous, but no one dared to ask. Only Lin Shuhan forced a smile and asked, "Sir, why are you so anxious to send a letter to Bohai? Please give me some advice."
Qiu Yizi said coldly: "Most of the Youyan cavalry are now in the south of the Yangtze River. If we want to fight Zheng Xin, we must mobilize the Bohai cavalry. This letter is to ask Dali Khan to send troops south to help."
Lin Shuhan laughed dryly twice: "Your Excellency is indeed a far-sighted person. However, it seems that the pressure from the Turks on the Bohai Kingdom is very great. If Dali Khan withdraws his elite troops to the south, he may be taken advantage of by the Turks. I am afraid he will not want to give you this favor."
"I promised him that after the mission is accomplished, I would send a large force to attack the Turks in the north for him and help him expand his territory." Qiu Yizi replied, "If it fails, I will cede Guangyang City to him."
Lin Shuhan was shocked when he heard this and said hurriedly, "So the late emperor is the Prince of Youyan. Guangyang City is the birthplace of the dragon, how can it be easily ceded to a foreign vassal?"
"Of course it cannot be ceded. When the time comes, can't I just go back on my word? If I can't defeat the Turks, can't I defeat Bohai?" Qiu Yizi said these words coldly.
Qiu Yizi was resourceful and had used various strategies, both real and fake, but the targets were all enemy outsiders. He was extremely sincere and trustworthy to his own family. And just now he deliberately deceived his ally, and said it in a matter-of-fact tone, which made everyone present feel extremely chilled when they heard it.
Wen Lingjiao had just experienced the pain of losing her brother, and her heart was filled with grief. However, even she did not know to what extent such tragedies as her adoptive father, master, and two brothers were killed in succession within just a few days would change Qiu Yizi's character.
Before I could think about it, I heard Qiu Yizi say, "Okay, I'm going to the capital Luoyang now. Mr. Lin will go with me, and for the rest of the female relatives, ask Wang Shijie to send elite soldiers to escort them and follow slowly behind."
As he said this, Qiu Yizi suddenly stood up from his seat and walked out the door. He was extremely tired, and he stood up too quickly, feeling a little dizzy for a moment, and he stumbled and almost fell.
Wen Lingjiao quickly supported him and said, "There is no rush. Young Master, take a shower, change clothes, and eat before setting off. It won't take much time..."
Lin Shuhan also agreed, "That's right, Confucius said: 'If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools', and there's a saying that 'sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood', that's the truth, it's not a waste of time at all."
"We can't waste any time. If this thief Zheng Xin lives one more day in this world, it will be my sin." Qiu Yizi said fiercely, "I'm leaving now. If you don't want to come, forget it."
After saying that, Qiu Yizi pushed the door open and went out.
How could others let him act alone, so they hurriedly followed him out.
The soldiers that Zhao Chengxiao had just summoned were indeed lined up outside the door. Qiu Yizi saw that most of them were wearing blood-red bandages, but they were still trying to straighten their chests and put on a spirited look. He was moved and said loudly, "It's all the fault of Zheng Xin, the villain. All the hatred should be blamed on him. I'm going to the capital Luoyang to organize the rebellion suppression. Are you willing to go with me?"
"Yes! We are willing to go through fire and water with you!" The soldiers echoed in unison.
"Good! Well said!" Qiu Yizi said loudly, "After this is accomplished, you will all be meritorious officials who stabilize the country, and each of you will be promoted to a higher position and given a title, at least the future of a General of the Central Army. I guarantee that you will have endless food and clothing, and your name will go down in history! Everyone follow me!"
It goes without saying that Qiu Yizhi's men were originally bandits from the Funiu Mountains. Most of the militiamen he recruited in Shanyin County were also related to him. In this battle, they all had brothers or cousins who died. They had long hated Zheng Xin, the instigator, and shared the same hatred. After Qiu Yizhi's promise, they were even more arrogant and shouted in unison: "Go!"
Having witnessed such a thing with his own eyes, Wang Shijie naturally would not stop Qiu Yizi from entering the pass. He personally ordered the soldiers guarding the pass to open the gate and watched Qiu Yizi's troops ride away to the west on horseback.
The two official roads from Guannei Road to the capital city of Luoyang were built quickly, straightly and smoothly. Qiu Yi and his entourage traveled day and night along the official roads and arrived at the foot of Luoyang city in two days.
The defenses in the capital city of Luoyang were naturally much tighter than those in other cities. The emperor was not in the capital at the moment, and by evening it was almost curfew time, so they were preparing to lock the city gates.
Seeing that the city gate was gradually closing, Qiu Yizi immediately sent out "Iron-Headed Dragon" among his personal soldiers to ride forward quickly and asked the soldiers guarding the gate to keep the door open temporarily and wait for him to enter the city.
Zheng Xin was far away in the south of the Yangtze River, out of reach and unable to control the capital city of Luoyang from a distance of thousands of miles. He was also confident that he could kill Zheng Miao, so he did not send his confidants to replace the officer who was originally guarding the gate.
Therefore, the officer in charge of the gate of the capital was the old man from Youyan Dao. Originally, delaying the closing of the gate for a quarter or two quarters of an hour was not a big deal, and with His Highness Qiu Yizi coming forward, he was happy to buy his favor and let Qiu Yizi pass through the gate smoothly.
After entering the capital city of Luoyang, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The Iron-Headed Dragon rode his horse to the side of Qiu Yi's horse and asked, "Sir, where are we going now?"
Qiu Yizi didn't even look at him and said, "Don't talk, just follow me!" After that, he kicked the horse's belly, turned to the left, and walked away quickly.
After walking for only a cup of tea, Qiu Yizi stopped in front of the gate of a large mansion. He raised his head to look at the wide door lintel and saw only two large characters "Wangfu" written in vigorous official script.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizi raised a sinister smile, stretched out his hand to summon the "Iron Head Dragon" and ordered: "This is Zheng Xin's mansion. There are two big doors in the front and back, and three small doors on the left and right for servants to enter and exit and transport items. You pick twenty brothers to seal these doors and don't let anyone out. Do you understand?"
"Iron Head Jiao" was born a bandit. Closing all the doors was his usual method of robbing the rich. He had done it countless times before and was already very familiar with it. He agreed, pointed and selected twenty people, and then went to do the work.
Qiu Yizhi was not idle either. He called Meng Hong, the strongest among the militiamen, and ordered him, "You are strong, break this door open for me."
Meng Hong was different from the "Iron-Headed Dragon". He was originally a kind-hearted woodcutter. When he saw the two big characters "Royal Palace" on the door lintel, he lost some courage and said tremblingly, "Sir, which palace is this? How about we go and knock on the door first?"