Qiu Yizhi was in the rear sweeping formation, and when he saw such a situation, he hurriedly ordered Zhao Chengxiao to wave the command flag desperately, and the soldiers and horses who wanted to retreat should not rush indiscriminately, let alone flee, but first assemble, reorganize the formation, and wait for the opportunity to advance or retreat before making a plan.

Seeing Qiu Yizhi so calm, the army also felt a little relieved in their hearts, and the eastern and western groups gathered around the Lingqi, but they were still in shock, bending over and panting, wiping the bloodstains.

Qiu Yizhi looked up and looked around, and saw that these routed troops seemed to be scattered and had no rules, and felt that if this continued, as long as the enemy army concentrated its forces and charged forward, then these soldiers and horses restrained in front of them would be completely defeated, and there would be no chance of victory from now on.

So Qiu Yizhi hurriedly ordered Zhao Chengxiao again: "Quick, Brother Zhao, quickly count these soldiers and horses, and call the leading officers to come to me and listen to my instructions!" ”

Of course, Zhao Chengxiao knew that the current situation was critical, and after listening to the order, he only agreed, and then called a few pro-soldiers to go down to do business.

He was really resolute in his work, but in the blink of an eye, he led six Qian Zong and Bai Hu, who were in poor clothes and messy armor, to Qiu Yizhi and said, "My lord, there are about 5,000 soldiers here, and there are about 4,500 people who are seriously injured and can not fight again." ”

Qiu Yizhi nodded, glanced at the officers in front of him, and said, "This is because I was not cautious and was taken advantage of by the enemy. However, our army has not yet been completely defeated, and after the victory of General Cui's side, we will be able to defeat the enemy army in front of us by attacking from both sides! ”

Qiu Yizhi said these words so that he didn't even believe it: since he fell for the strategy of the king of Lingnan on his side, there was no reason for Cui Nan's side to be spared, even if he was not so embarrassed as he was, I am afraid that he would also fall into a bitter battle; Moreover, since Hangzhou City has not been captured by the Lingnan Army at any time, it is extremely difficult to break through Hangzhou City with the group of soldiers under his command who have not yet been besieged - the Lingnan Army is now invincible.

Qiu Yi's heart was weak, and when he saw that the officers in front of him were also terrified, he said: "You are all small officers, and when you are employing people now, I will promote you to Zhonglang General, as long as you kill the enemy with your heart, there will be another reward!" ”

If you are an ordinary person, you must be confused when you hear such an order - you Qiu Yizhi is just a small seven-rank official, and you are a civilian county commander rather than a military general, why should you appoint yourself as a Zhonglang general from the fourth rank, wouldn't you be dizzy?

However, these officers of the forbidden army are all from Lao Youyan Dao, and I have heard that the person who leads the army today is Qiu Yizhi, the emperor's most important righteous highness.

However, the joy in their hearts did not last long, and then it was fleeting - the current battle situation was unfavorable, if they were not able to turn the tide, maybe their long-thinking Zhonglang would not be able to hold the title for half a day, and even the head under the black gauze hat would be cut off.

But I heard Qiu Yizhi say again: "There are battles that can be won, and there are battles that cannot be won, I don't want you to be loyal to the court to the death, as long as you carefully restrain your subordinates and listen to my orders, you will definitely be able to turn defeat into victory!" ”

Several officers looked at each other after hearing this, and finally made up their minds, and gave a military salute to Qiu Yizhi, which was regarded as receiving the military order.

Seeing that several of them had calmed down, Qiu Yizhi felt a little calmer, and ordered: "You go down first, straighten out the soldiers and horses of the headquarters, and see the banners lined up here." Now that the structure of our army has been disrupted, you each gather the remnants of the defeated army, stand still, do not panic, and wait for the changes in the enemy's army before taking action, and it may not be impossible to win. ”

These newly promoted lieutenant generals, Seeing His Royal Highness Qiu Yi's tone and expression, the nervousness and anxiety of Fang Cai finally dissipated a lot, and hurriedly made another military salute, and then retreated to act according to the order.

Although Qiu Yizhi tried his best to stabilize his army temporarily, the battle situation did not improve in the slightest.

I saw that the Lingnan army inside and outside the city of Hangzhou, after killing the attacking imperial forbidden army, rushed out of the camp that now seems to be used to lure the enemy, and saw that there were thousands of forbidden troops in front of the camp to respond to the battle, so they wanted to take advantage of the victory to cover up the past and destroy the enemy army in one fell swoop.

Seeing its menacing momentum, Qiu Yizhi hurriedly ordered the crossbowmen to concentrate their fire on the attacking vanguard.

Seeing that the battle was unfavorable, the crossbowmen had already drawn their arrows, and when they heard the order, they immediately raised their crossbows and fired at the enemy in unison.

When the morale of the Lingnan army was at its peak, it was not necessary to prepare for enemy shooting at all, and when Qiu Yizhi's headquarters fired at such a burst, forty or fifty people were killed immediately, and the attack was temporarily blocked.

Qiu Yizhi's side did not dare to slack off in the slightest, and when he saw that the blow was successful, the crossbowman immediately fired again, which stopped the enemy's offensive.

Qiu Yizhi saw that the formation of the enemy was also very disordered under the surprise attack, and he was interrupted by himself The rhythm of the attack, it seemed to be a little chaotic for a while, and he felt that the fighter had arrived, and he was just about to order Zhao Chengxiao to organize a counterattack. However, he saw that the Lingnan Army suddenly took the initiative to stop the attack, but gradually gathered the formation under the command of a general, intending to fight a head-on battle with the imperial forbidden army.

Qiu Yi calculated in his heart: his original 10,000 soldiers and horses have lost more than half, and now there are only about 4,000 people available; The enemy army originally had 3,000 men and horses, with a maximum of 1,000 casualties, plus reinforcements from the city of Hangzhou, the total number of troops would not be less than 4,000 - in this way, the strength of the Lingnan army was already on par with itself, and the morale of the opponent was even higher than that of itself, and if the two sides went head-to-head, they would lose nine times out of ten.

So Qiu Yizhi had an idea, called Meng Hong and said, "Meng Hong, you shoot the commander to death for me!" ”

Meng Hong didn't know how many times he had done such a mission, and when he heard the order of the main general, he did not hesitate, took a careful aim, and shot an arrow at the general.

Meng Hong was worthy of being a marksman, this arrow was shot very accurately, and it happened to go straight into the officer's throat, and the officer was so seriously injured that a mouthful of blood immediately spit out of his mouth, but he did not lose his breath and was carried down by the soldiers around him.

Qiu Yizhi saw such a situation from afar, and his heart was overjoyed, he thought that the Lingnan Army would have no one in command, and the formation would inevitably be chaotic, and it would also give him an opportunity to turn defeat into victory.

But he didn't expect that the Lingnan Army saw the opportunity very quickly, and after the officer was carried down, another officer stepped forward and commanded on his behalf. He was extremely agile, and when he saw that his former officer was being sniped by his opponent, he hurriedly took off the officer's armor on his body, changed into a soldier's armor, and used the banner golden drum to direct the action in the battle formation.

As a result, the officer was mixed in with the countless soldiers and could no longer be aimed.

Seeing that this officer reacted so quickly and correctly, Qiu Yi couldn't help but admire it from the bottom of his heart, but he had no choice but to wait and watch the opponent's movements.

However, seeing that the number of Lingnan troops is gathering more and more, the number of visual inspections has exceeded 8,000, and it seems that there are still people and horses coming out of the city of Hangzhou through the camp in front of the south gate, and I don't know how many troops there are. They were not huddled together like before, but gradually lined up like the forbidden army, which was exactly the formation when they faced off with their opponents.

Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi already knew that the Lingnan Army was not going to confront the regular army head-on, and it was just a trick to lure the enemy to deliberately show weakness - the opponent had more troops than himself, his morale was stronger than his own, and even the tactics did not give him the slightest chance to take advantage of - his side had no hope of winning at all.

As the opponent's strength increased and the battle formation gradually took shape, Qiu Yizhi finally gritted his teeth and whispered to Zhao Chengxiao: "It seems that we can't win, let's retreat quickly!" ”

Zhao Chengxiao also lowered his voice: "Stay in the green mountains, don't worry about no firewood." It's good to withdraw first, it's up to the adults to decide what to say. ”

Qiu Yizhi nodded and said: "It's that our army has suffered a new defeat and its morale is low, so I am afraid that if an order is given, all the armies will collapse and scatter, and they can no longer be restrained." I see that Brother Zhao took the lead, with eighteen personal soldiers, to open the way in front, and led the forbidden army to retreat to our military camp one by one. I personally led 200 regiments to practice, and pressed the formation in the back, how about it? ”

Zhao Chengxiao listened and shook his head like a rattle: "It's not appropriate, it's not appropriate." Or I'm broken. These defeated armies are only to serve the adults alone, and if the adults are not in front, others may not be able to control them. ”

Zhao Chengxiao did have some truth in what he said, but Qiu Yizhi was reluctant to leave the battlefield in advance, so he said: "Brother Zhao, don't fight with me, now the situation is at a critical juncture, we can't afford to be humble to each other anymore, only by acting immediately can we have a glimmer of life......"

Unexpectedly, Zhao Chengxiao took over the conversation: "My lord is reasonable, now we can't help but humble each other." ”

He suddenly shouted: "Where is the 'Iron Head Jiao'? Quickly protect your lordship, take the first step, and command the troops to retreat! ”

Although "Iron Head Jiao" is a rough man, he knows that the current situation is critical after a hundred battles, and after listening to Zhao Chengxiao's order, he half-dragged and half-pulled Qiu Yizhi and lifted it down.

Although Qiu Yizhi didn't want to leave, he turned his head and saw that the formation of the Lingnan Army had been formed, and he was about to launch a general attack on himself, so he couldn't afford to continue to hesitate, so he scolded: "What are you doing 'Iron Head Jiao'?" I'll go myself! ”

"Iron-headed Jiao" was drunk by him, his hands were slightly loose, and he put Qiu Yizhi down.

Qiu Yizhi said to the forbidden army again: "The enemy army is strong, I will go back to the camp to receive reinforcements first, and then fight!" As he spoke, he waved his sword and pointed at an officer who had just been promoted to lieutenant general, "You follow me and retreat to Tushan, and the rest of the people will follow in turn, so you can't be confused." Violators will be punished immediately! ”

After that, Qiu Yizhi beckoned again, and under the escort of eighteen personal soldiers, he retreated to the southwest.

The forbidden army has long been reluctant to fight, and it is very reluctant to maintain the formation until now, and now seeing that the lord will order to retreat, it seems that a big stone in his heart has landed, and the girl will run down.

Seeing that the army was retreating in an orderly manner, Qiu Yizhi was anxious, and hurriedly shouted at the top of his throat: "Don't run around!" Don't run around! ”

But the army was completely disorganized, and the roars, cries, and screams were all in one place, and in such a noisy sound, even Qiu Yizhi himself couldn't hear what he was shouting.

Seeing that the forbidden army on the opposite side dispersed in a hurry, the Lingnan army didn't care what formation it was, brandished its sword, howled and rushed towards the direction of the opponent's rout.

Seeing this, Zhao Chengxiao, who was in charge of the break, hurriedly ordered his crossbowmen to shoot at the opponent, and the more than 100 soldiers under his command did not retreat but advanced, and rushed towards the Lingnan army.

The Lingnan Army was originally in a loose formation, and it was bent on chasing and fleeing, how could it have been expected that under such a situation of collapse and collapse, there were still 200 soldiers in the middle of the mainstay, who were killed in a little confusion for a while, and they were even more worried that the forbidden army was pretending to be defeated and retreating, and wanted to draw a gourd and use ambush soldiers to intercept and kill themselves.

It was this moment of confusion and hesitation that gave the forbidden army a chance to retreat, and in the blink of an eye, all the forbidden troops had fled like birds and beasts scattered - only Qiu Yizhi was left on the battlefield under the escort of eighteen pro-soldiers.