Qingcheng, who was about to give the order to pursue the pirates, was touched by a scene not far away, and was a little stunned for a while. And after seeing the situation there, Thunder Shadow and Storm glanced at each other and chuckled, as if they felt relieved.

"Young master, that should be ......"

"Yes", before Lei Ying finished speaking, Qingcheng's frowning brows gradually relaxed, and then he chuckled and said, "It seems that this time, I have to say thank you to Izumi Xinyi." ”

What's going on just around the corner? It turned out that on the way to the pirates to break through and retreat, a small group of soldiers and dozens of civilians came over. And if you look closely, it is not difficult to guess that these people are the hostages captured by Nobuyoshi Kamiizumi!

Nobuyoshi Kamiizumi didn't kill the hostages? Or is it too late? Qingcheng didn't care about thinking so much, so he hurriedly led someone to meet him. And those people heard the sound of horses' hooves, raised their eyes and saw a heroic figure, a figure that could be trusted and relied on, they knew that it must be Qingcheng waiting to save them.

"Thank you, General, for saving your life!"

Without waiting for Qingcheng to come to his side, the hostages spontaneously knelt down and thanked Qingcheng. Looking at this scene, Qingcheng hurriedly turned over and dismounted, walked to the front and helped up a few people, and then said to the rest of the people: "What are you doing? Hurry up, Qingcheng can't afford everyone's worship. ”

Lei Ying and Hurricane also stepped forward to help a few people, and when Qingcheng took a closer look, he found that there were still a few people missing. Just as he was about to ask, one of them saw Qingcheng's doubts and explained: "Don't look for the general, the mine suddenly collapsed just now, and a few people died inside." ”

Listening to this person's words, Qingcheng frowned slightly. Yes, they don't think that it was their own army that gave up on them, they just thought that the mine had collapsed. And now Qingcheng also knew that this was not the time to explain, so he sorted out his emotions and asked, "Old man, how did you escape?" ”

The old man in the middle sighed lightly when he listened to Qingcheng's question, and it seemed that he had not yet recovered from the joy of being saved, and after a moment of silence, he explained: "Thanks to the general, we have a great life and have not been stoned to death. A small group of pirates had just run off the road and took us with them before leaving. Strange to say, we thought they were going to kill us, after all, it would be a burden to take us, but we didn't think about it, they didn't think about it, and they let us go when they got to the front. ”

It turned out that Nobuyoshi Kamiizumi said that he wanted to solve the problem of the hostages, not to kill them, but to save them. This made Thunder Shadow and Storm very puzzled, and Qingcheng seemed to be thinking about something, looking into the distance and silent.

"By the way, that person has a letter for me to give to the general, na, please take a look at it."

The old man suddenly remembered this, and hurriedly took out something in his arms and handed it to Qingcheng. And Qingcheng took the so-called letter in his hand, and found that it was a torn garment. Qingcheng didn't expect Shangquan Xinyi to have something to bring to him, so he hurriedly opened it to see.

"General Duan personally enlightened: The general is righteous, Shangquan is short-sighted, and he did not listen to the general's high opinions, resulting in all the casualties of his subordinates, which is really unwise. However, King Guhong is ruthless, but he has an appointment with the general and guarantees that the hostages are safe, how dare he ignore it. Although there were four or five deceased, all of them were burdened by King Guhong and his subordinates, and had nothing to do with the general. The dragon among the generals, unparalleled in the sun, although Shangquan is hostile to the general, but he really admires it, and he is the promise of the general, and he will stick to it until death. Now that the hostages are returned, I hope that the general will not be blamed for the offended, and take care of his life. In addition, King Guhong is ruthless and unrighteous, and he is not a tree that the general can live in, so I hope the general will be more careful. Pirates on the spring. ”

Shangquan Xinyi and Qingcheng gambled, and after losing, he did not forget to promise Qingcheng, it is not difficult to see that although this person is guilty, he is not a person who does not speak at all. And after Qingcheng read his letter, he secretly thought in his heart: The blood letter shows his sincerity. However, Shangquan, you still call yourself a pirate at the checkout office, and it seems that you are a little out of love. However, I would like to thank you for this time.

Thinking of Kamizumi Nobuyoshi's words, especially his mention of King Guhong, Qingcheng pondered for a while, put away the letter, then glanced at the pirate's escape route, and asked, "Old man, did he say anything else?" ”

"I didn't say anything else, that is, after he took us for a while, he suddenly let us go, and said, thank you for the general's grace of not killing."

Listening to the old man's words, he was so angry that he wanted to pursue the pirates. However, Lei Ying on the side hurriedly stopped him, walked to Qingcheng's side, and asked in a low voice, "Young master, why would he thank you for not killing?" ”

Listening to Lei Ying's words, Qingcheng chuckled lightly and explained: "His release of the hostages on the way to evacuation is equivalent to telling us the escape route, and it is not difficult to pursue them. And his words of gratitude for not killing him should be that he wants me to stop chasing for the sake of him releasing the hostages. ”

"The young master, us?"

After pondering for a moment, Qingcheng looked at the people in front of him, sighed lightly, and said, "The pirates are cunning, and there must be an ambush ahead. We always have a chance to catch them, and now, it's time for the class to return to the city. ”

With that, Qingcheng ordered the whole army to return to the city. And when he got on the horse, he glanced at the direction of Kamizumi Nobuyoshi's escape, and thought to himself: I will spare your life this time, and it can be regarded as thanking you for keeping the contract. But Shangizumi, I know you won't stop there, next time, let's fight again!

The pirates who managed to escape traveled along the waterway, seemingly purposefully heading somewhere. Thinking about the release of the hostages by Nobuyoshi Kamiizumi, Fujiwara couldn't help but ask, "I didn't expect you to let those people go, I thought ......"

"You thought I was going to kill them, didn't you, young master?"

Nobuyoshi Kamiizumi interrupted Fujiwara's words and asked. And listening to his question, Fujiwara did not shy away from it, and said: "Yes, I really thought that you would kill them. ”

Nobuyoshi Kamiizumi glanced at his men, and then fell silent. After a while, he sighed and said, "We are hostile, but I really admire General Duan Qingcheng in Shangquan. Not only his leading troops, but also his personality. So, how can you break your trust with him? This is also what distinguishes us from real pirates, young master. We have to pretend to be pirates, but we can't pretend to be pirates. ”

After saying that, both of them laughed. It is not difficult to see that they are still relatively open-minded and do not seem to be knocked down by the defeat in the battle in front of them.

"What's more, I'm going to use them to drag General Duan down."

"Speaking of which, how can you confirm that Duan Qingcheng gave up the pursuit after seeing the hostages?"

This question is indeed Fujiwara's puzzle. And hearing him ask, Shangquan Xinyi was silent, and the figure of Qingcheng appeared in his mind, and after a while, he said with a chuckle: "Because his surname is Duan." Or, this is the reason why he can become the Duan Qingcheng he is today. ”

"The army of the king's division, the conquest of pirates, the victory in the first battle, the killing of more than 10,000 enemies, and the suppression of bandits are just around the corner."

When the Wanli army returned to the city, the people learned that they had won a great victory over the pirates and killed more than 10,000 enemies, so they couldn't help but welcome and celebrate peace. And Zhenhaihou looked at the excited expressions of the people, and the ardent expectation in his eyes, he couldn't help but think: It's me Tang Wujing I'm sorry for everyone. Pirates harassed the people in April, and today, it was finally a hard blow, and the people on this side could live a few days in peace. But it's only for a few days......

King Gu Hong and the others returned to the commander's mansion in the city and immediately convened high-level generals to discuss the matter. And looking at Qingcheng and Zhenhaihou, although they were annoyed in their hearts, King Guhong still put on a smiling face, and said: "This time the first battle was successful, Qingcheng and Zhenhaihou have made great contributions, this king will report to the court soon, please reward you two, haha." ”

"The prince praised it falsely", Zhenhai Hou knelt on one knee, clasped his hands into fists and said: "This battle, it all depends on the prince's strategy and command, Qingcheng bravely charged, killed the enemy in front of the battle, but the last general was incompetent, there was no achievement, and he did not dare to take credit for himself." ”

King Guhong also wanted to repay Qingcheng for his merits, and Zhenhaihou's words reached his heart, and he was naturally satisfied.

"Wu Jing, you don't have to be too humble, the reward and punishment of merit and merit, this king knows it in his heart. In this first battle, the battle merits should be able to remedy your previous defeats, but this is by no means the end, and the generals should not relax too soon. According to intelligence, there are still more than 20,000 pirates, lurking in the nearby sea. So let's take a little rest, and in seven days, we will definitely fight again. This time the battlefield may be at sea, so let's get ready. Also, on the day of the second battle, it is bound to wipe out these pirates, and this king still says that the battle will be won! ”

"Whoa!"

After leaving the council hall, Qingcheng walked on the market in Linhai City, looking at the cheering people, and put aside all the troubles. As he walked, he saw a liquor store that was doing brisk business, so he went in and sat down.

After asking for two catties of beef, a lamb chop, two side dishes and five catties of liquor, Qingcheng looked at the guests eating wine around him, and couldn't help but think: It's just that he won a game, so excited, sure enough, peace is the best reward for the people. However, there are still more than 20,000 people in Haichuan's gang at sea, which is also a big hidden danger. Although Daqi is not afraid of naval battles, if you want to fight them all, the battle will be won, and there are too many uncertainties at sea, which is really not as easy to fight as land battles.

After a while, Qingcheng's wine and food were all ready, and they began to move chopsticks. And at this moment, there was a sudden noise outside the door, Qingcheng couldn't help but poke his head to look, and found that it was a woman with a dirty face and sloppy clothes, who was arguing with the shopkeeper.

"I said sister-in-law Wang, you don't want to come to me every day to fight the autumn breeze, right? I know that your life is hard, and I have never met you, but you are like this every day, and I really want to report to the official. ”

"Hehe, you iron rooster is hard, let me tell you, the old lady's son is out, he is a soldier under the Hou Ye of Zhenhai, and he follows the Hou Ye to fight bandits and pirates, and he is very majestic. But eat your drink, look like you. Although you are recorded in the old lady's account, when he comes back, the old lady will reward you heavily. ”

Listening to the conversation between the two, Qingcheng smiled helplessly, thinking that she was just a shrew who was eating and drinking under the name of a military mission, and this was on the territory of Zhenhaihou, and he didn't care much about it. However, the next conversation really made Qingcheng unable to sit still.

"Hey, what a miserable person. His son was caught by pirates selling smuggled salt, and he was never heard from, but he finally won the battle, and he died at the hands of pirates. It's good, this old lady is left, lonely, can't stand the blow, and is crazy, hey. ”