After a long silence, Zheng Xin finally said angrily, "Qiu Yizi, don't be so complacent. Open your eyes and see who this is."
Qiu Yizi was nearsighted. When he heard Zheng Xin's words, he only saw a man being escorted out from the opposite formation. This man had a distorted face and was wearing black clothes, which made it even harder to see his face. So he asked his attendants, "Who is this person? Do you recognize him?"
People around me shook their heads and said, "I don't know," "I can't see clearly," and "I don't recognize it."
Yuchi Jiming, Qiu Yizhi's personal guard, said, "I recognize this man. He's Zhao Fuyi. Is he my uncle's uncle?"
When Qiu Yizi heard the news, she panicked for a moment, but then she calmed down - Zhao Fuyi had lived in Jinling for a long time and had not crossed the river with her to the north, so it was not surprising that he was captured by Zheng Xin.
But Zheng Xin shouted from the other side: "The saints have the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues. Qiu Yi fabricated the imperial decree and usurped the position of regent. This is already unjust. If you still have some filial piety in your heart, why don't you surrender quickly and save your mother's uncle's life!"
After hearing this, Qiu Yizhi suddenly realized that Zheng Xin had arrested Zhao Fuyi to threaten him. Unfortunately, Zheng Xin was not very well-informed and did not find out that he and his uncle Zhao Fuyi had always had a grudge and were not actually very close. For Qiu Yizhi, Zhao Fuyi was naturally good to be alive, and it was actually no big deal if he died...
Seeing Qiu Yizhi was silent for a while and whispering with the people on both sides, Zheng Xin thought that Qiu Yizhi was afraid of Zhao Fuyi's life, so he shouted loudly: "Qiu Yizhi, considering that you have made great contributions to the late emperor, if you are willing to stop and join the light, I will not only forgive you for your past mistakes, but also give you an official position. How about it?"
Qiu Yizi laughed loudly, "Zheng Xin, if you intend to do evil, then do it to the end. Why bother saying these hypocritical words? If you have the guts, just kill Zhao Fuyi and let the soldiers of both armies see how brave you are!"
Zheng Xin thought that Qiu Yizhi might not be able to do so for the sake of his uncle Zhao Fuyi, so he decided to stop fighting and at least mess up his mind and reveal some flaws. However, he did not expect Qiu Yizhi to be as hard as a rock, and he could not be stabbed or splashed with a knife, and he was not panicked at all.
Zheng Xin then sneered and said, "Qiu Yizi, you are so good. Seeing your loved ones being killed, you are not moved at all. You are indeed a ruthless villain who doesn't care about his relatives and has a heart as hard as stone!"
He intended to provoke Qiu Yizhi, but unexpectedly Qiu Yizhi did not answer him. Instead, he shouted loudly: "Bring the traitor Zheng Chao to me!"
Zheng Chao is Zheng Xin's eldest son. He is very brave and talented. Although he has not yet been named the crown prince after he came of age, he is the most suitable heir in Zheng Xin's mind.
Therefore, when Zheng Xin saw Zheng Chao being tied up and escorted to the front of the two armies, he felt indescribable anxiety and heartache in his heart, but he could only try his best to appear calm and pretend that he did not recognize his beloved son.
Qiu Yizi was unyielding and asked loudly, "Zheng Xin, I'm afraid you don't know this person, right?"
Seeing Zheng Xin remained silent, his indifference was obviously a disguise, so he said loudly: "Humph, you, Zheng Xin, have the nerve to say that I am 'unrecognizable to my relatives and as hard-hearted as a rock'. You are so greedy and greedy that you can't even recognize your own son!"
Since Qiu Yizi had pointed it out, Zheng Xin could no longer play dumb, so he replied: "Qiu Yizi, why did you arrest my son? We can fight one-on-one, why bother with our descendants?"
Qiu Yizhi sneered again: "You said this in a high-sounding way, but I don't know who first captured my relative and sent him to the front to threaten me?"
Qiu Yizhi was famous for his sharp tongue. Zheng Xin had studied with Qiu Yizhi under the late Prime Minister Zhongli Kuang more than ten years ago. At that time, Zheng Xin often debated classics with Qiu Yizhi. Although he was also good at speaking, he had never been defeated by this sworn brother who was ten years younger than him.
Times have changed. Now the two brothers meet before a life-and-death battle. Zheng Xin is once again at a disadvantage in the verbal battle with Qiu Yizi and is left speechless by him.
Seeing Zheng Xin speechless, Qiu Yizi raised a smug smile and said loudly: "You just said that there is public hatred and private grudges between you and me. I tell you, you are wrong, and you are very wrong! There is no private hatred between you and me, only public anger!"
"What's the public outrage? Tell me what you mean!" Zheng Xin held it in for a long time before he uttered these words.
Qiu Yizi sneered again: "You killed the king and your teacher, and did all kinds of evil things that have lost all conscience. I have already written down these things and announced them to the world. Now even the yellow-mouthed children and the white-haired old men know about your evil deeds. You have the nerve to do these things, but I don't have the face to talk about them in front of hundreds of thousands of troops!"
He paused, and then said, "I arrested Zheng Chao for the same reason. He is your eldest son, and he is responsible for most of the crimes you have committed. Regicide is the crime of treason, the first of the ten evils, and it is unforgivable. Come on! Execute Zheng Chao on the spot and spare him the pain of being tortured to death. This can be regarded as the mercy of God!"
Before Zheng Xin could answer, Emperor Zheng Qi on the side started to panic - after all, Zheng Chao was his only biological brother!
Zheng Qi, the emperor, no longer cared about his dignity. He bowed deeply to Qiu Yizi on the imperial sedan chair and said almost pleadingly, "Uncle, please, spare my brother's life! Please!"
Qiu Yizi did not give the emperor face and said very bluntly: "Your Majesty, the war is about to start, you should not stay here any longer, please go back to the battlefield and watch the battle first."
As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers escorting the emperor dragged the emperor's sedan chair back. Then came the sound of war drums from the formation. Then, a very burly general standing next to Zheng Chao drew out a three-foot-long Japanese sword in his hand, shouted, and chopped at the back of Zheng Chao's neck.
Zheng Xin's deep love for his son finally showed at this moment, and he shouted, "Wait a minute!"
Just as he said this, there was a flash of red light, and Zheng Chao's bloody head separated from the body that it had been attached to for more than ten years, rolling on the ground. The headless body finally collapsed powerlessly, and blood gushed out from the wound on the broken neck.
Zheng Xin was used to seeing bloody scenes, but seeing his own son die in front of him, he was finally horrified and ordered his men, "Shoot all your arrows and kill Qiu Yizi, the villain!"
The people around him obeyed the order and immediately drew their bows and arrows, shooting at Qiu Yi's head like a rain of lightning.
The guards on both sides of Qiu Yizhi quickly raised the huge square steel shields that were the symbol of the "Dangshi Camp" to block the arrows that were almost at the limit of their range. Qiu Yizhi was startled by the sudden attack of arrows and immediately ordered his archers to shoot back.
Just like that, a battle to decide the fate of the world broke out amid the bickering between the two coaches.
Because both armies were born out of the old Youyan Dao army, they both paid great attention to the cooperation of various arms when organizing the army, and also emphasized thick shields and strong bows. Therefore, the two sides shot at each other for a while, but they were just evenly matched. Zheng Xin's side only relied on the advantage in numbers to cause negligible casualties compared to the opponent.
If they continued to shoot arrows at each other like this, Zheng Xin, with several times more troops, would naturally be able to slowly eliminate his opponents. However, no matter what, he was fighting away from home, and the arrows transported across the river were limited, so he could not continue to consume them.
So Zheng Xin followed the strategy he had formulated before and divided the entire army into four teams, each with more than 50,000 people. One team continued to fight against Qiu Yizhi's troops head-on; the other two teams steadily advanced forward and attacked the opponent's left and right wings; the remaining team served as a reserve team to protect Zheng Xin's safety and prepare to launch the final attack or deal with the Bohai Iron Cavalry that had not yet appeared on the battlefield.
This method of fighting was extremely safe, and the goal was to rely on the superiority of the army, surround Qiu Yizhi's troops, and then slowly devour and disintegrate them. Suddenly, the drums of Zheng Xin's army sounded, the sound of killing shook the sky, and the three teams of soldiers and horses were like three high and thick iron walls, crushing Qiu Yizhi's troops from three directions.
Qiu Yizi had already considered Zheng Xin's move when he was studying combat strategies with Lin Shuhan, Zhao Chengxiao and others. However, he did not expect that Zheng Xin would use it with such momentum. He couldn't help but panic. He hurriedly ordered his 80,000 troops to be divided into two teams, led by himself and Zhao Chengxiao respectively, to fight against the enemy troops crushing on from the left and right sides.
As for the enemy in front, Qiu Yizi had a different idea. He sent people to push the emperor's sedan chair, canopy and a full set of ceremonial guards to the front of the two armies, and only sent more than a thousand soldiers to guard them on both sides.
You have to know that Zheng Xin only has two sons. The eldest son Zheng Chao was beheaded on the spot by Qiu Yizhi before. Now only the second son Zheng Qi, who has become the emperor, is left. If Zheng Qi dies again, Zheng Xin will have no heirs, and he may not be able to give birth to a son in the future.
Therefore, when Zheng Xin saw the emperor's umbrella cap appearing in the direction of his attack from afar, he hurriedly ordered the frontal troops to slow down the attack and not to hurt Zheng Qi's life. He immediately sent people to investigate the situation around Zheng Qi, wanting to send a surprise force to rescue the emperor's son. But the report he received was that there were several close guards around the emperor who seemed to be ferocious and evil. It was better to say that they were monitoring the emperor than protecting him. If the emperor was likely to fall into the hands of the enemy, they might immediately kill the emperor.
Zheng Xin had witnessed Qiu Yizi's previous cruel methods, and knew that when the time came when he could no longer control the emperor, he would kill the emperor without hesitation.
Thinking of this, Zheng Xin cursed inwardly, and immediately issued an order to stop the frontal offensive and reduce the number of troops on the front to 30,000. The reduced troops would be deployed to the left and right wings to continue pressing towards Qiu Yizi.
This change in formation allowed Qiu Yizi to transform from being besieged on three sides from the north to being attacked on two sides. Although he was still at a disadvantage, the pressure was greatly reduced. He was able to stabilize the situation and prepare for the next move.
So Qiu Yizhi sent someone to tell Zhao Chengxiao to hold the line and not let the enemy break through behind him. He then sent out a team of more than a thousand people that he had prepared in advance and charged into the enemy's front.
This move was a familiar strategy for Qiu Yizi. When he had been in a stalemate in many previous battles with the enemy, he would send out a team composed of the bandits' personal soldiers and local militia, and adopt the tactic of breaking through the center to disrupt the opponent's formation, thus winning in the chaos and turning the tide of the battle.