The defense in the direction of the city gate, which was originally expected to be the main attack of the Lingnan King, was slightly easier. Only because of the previous explosion, Wuding Gate was blown into ruins, and Jiedu made Liu Qing pile up countless bricks and stones, wood, and blocked a door hole, causing a lot of trouble for the Lingnan Army to advance forward.

On the side of the officers and soldiers defending the city, they put a lot of effort into the garrison of Wuding Gate, not only selected more than 2,000 elites in the army to guard the outside of the door, but also mobilized a large number of spears, shields and other heavy weapons, which were specially used to deal with the officers and soldiers who rushed into Lingnan.

Therefore, although the morale of the Lingnan Army was high, it had wasted a lot of hardships, and the soldiers who rushed into Jinling City through the destroyed Wuding Gate were still only about 1,000 people. And after the team of more than 1,000 people broke through many barriers and entered Jinling City, what was waiting for them was a city wall composed of shields and a dense forest woven with spears, and they could no longer continue to break through.

Qiu Yizhi saw that although the Lingnan Army's offensive was fierce, there was no major mistake in his own defense, and it was expected that in a short period of time, the two sides would just be in a see-saw stalemate, so he slowly walked back from the railing and patted Liu Qing on the shoulder: "General Liu, your soldiers and horses are quite capable of fighting, and it is not a fluke that Jinling City can hold on for these days." ”

Liu Qingtangtang, a general of Zhendong, was commented on by Qiu Yizhi's Qipin Zhixian ear, but he was not unhappy at all, and hurriedly grinned and said: "It's a loss that the emperor sent reinforcements before, if you rely on these Jiedu troops in Jiangnan Province alone, maybe you may not be able to hold it." ”

Qiu Yizhi thought for a while and said: "You are the Jiedu envoy of Jiangnan Province, and the combat training affairs of the local Jiedu Army are your responsibilities. At present, there is really no way to do it, and after the world is peaceful, you must seriously train the soldiers and horses. Jiangnan Jiedu Army is rotten like this, it's not a way, right? ”

Liu Qing was a little embarrassed: "Your Highness Yi, although this is a good thing. But Jiangnan has always been a rich place, and the soldiers recruited are very cunning and cunning, and if they are loose, they will be lazy, and if they are tight, they will simply stop doing it. The soldiers in Jiangnan are indeed very difficult to train, compared to our old Youyan Dao......"

"Nonsense!" Qiu Yizhi immediately reprimanded, "What are you talking about? You see that the group of regiments under my command are all local clans in Shanyin County, and they are worse than the old Youyan Dao sergeant in battle? ”

He saw that Liu Qing was speechless when he was asked by his own words, and added: "It's General Wu Changxi who died in battle, aren't the soldiers under him all from Mingzhou?" With only 500 men and horses, he resisted the tens of thousands of pursuers of the Lingnan Army, and if it weren't for his desperate effectiveness, I'm afraid I wouldn't know if I was dead or alive now. If he survives until now, his fame will not be below you! ”

Qiu Yizhi was in a bad mood these days, and the more he talked, the more excited he became, and scolded a general who was guarding one side and holding heavy troops.

While he was talking, he heard a rush of footsteps on the wooden stairs of the restaurant, or the herald ran upstairs in a panic just now, and before he finished a military salute, he opened his mouth to report: "General Qiyu, the Lingnan Army has thousands of men and horses, carrying more than 300 ladders, and attacking it!" ”

When Qiu Yizhi heard this, he immediately asked, "Where is the enemy's main attack direction?" ”

The herald replied: "It's still in the direction of Wuding Gate to increase troops, I'm afraid that at this time, the new cloud ladder has been set up on the top of the city wall!" ”

Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he heard this, hurriedly took a few steps forward, supported the wooden railing with both hands and looked up at the city wall, and sure enough, he saw that the number of Lingnan troops in the city was a lot more, and he slowly killed the soldiers guarding the city wall, and was gradually occupying the city wall around Wuding Gate.

Qiu Yizhi had fought with Lingnan Wang Zhenggui several times before, and knew that this Lingnan prince was extremely domineering in his use of troops, and he paid attention to suppressing people with his strength, and when conditions permitted, he always organized all the troops that could be mobilized, and launched an attack on the enemy army at one point, and strived to completely defeat the enemy army in the shortest possible time.

Qiu Yizhi was defeated twice at the hands of Lingnan King Zheng Gui, perhaps because of his own underestimation, or because the soldiers in his hands were not strong, but in fact, they were all defeated by the Lingnan King without exception.

Therefore, Qiu Yizhi expected that the king of Lingnan would attack Jinling City this time, and he must have used this trick, and his intention was to immediately mobilize the whole army, taking the broken Wuding Gate as the main direction, and attacking the city gate and city wall at the same time, trying to break through in one fell swoop and lay the overall situation of this battle. Correspondingly, in order to hold Jinling City, it is necessary to completely defeat the main attacking force of the Lingnan King.

Having made up his mind, Qiu Yizhi hurriedly walked to Liu Qing's side, summoned Lin Shuhan again, and told them what he thought, and then said: "Now we must increase troops above and below the city wall, as long as the main forces of the Lingnan Army are killed, the Lingnan King may not have any behind-the-scenes tricks." ”

Lin Shuhan and Liu Qing, one is a scholar who is familiar with military affairs and has no power to restrain chickens, and the other is a so-called general who is not worthy of his name and has no opinions, after listening to Qiu Yizhi's words, they both felt that his judgment was very correct, so they both nodded vigorously.

Qiu Yizhi saw that the two of them had no objections, so he continued: "There are still more than 100,000 horses in my city, and the number far exceeds that of the King of Lingnan. I think we can treat others the way they do. Another 50,000 soldiers and horses will continue to consolidate the city defense in the direction of Wudingmen, and we must resist the offensive of the King of Lingnan here! ”

Liu Qingzao took Qiu Yizhi as the head of the horse, and immediately followed his method, asked Lin Shuhan to write the military order quickly, and personally stamped the seal of the Jiedu envoy to the defense one by one, and distributed it to the defenders in various parts of Jinling City.

Sure enough, after a while, an army of 50,000 gathered under the Wuding Gate.

However, although the walls of Jinling City were wide, they could not accommodate many soldiers, and they could no longer squeeze in by climbing seven or eight thousand people from the stairs on both sides. In desperation, the remaining more than 40,000 men and horses could only be temporarily on standby under the city, and if one person was lost on the city wall, one person would be immediately replenished, and efforts should always maintain the superiority of the Lingnan army.

Who knew that the king of Lingnan seemed to have decided that he was going to break through the Jinling city defense from Wuding Gate, so the two sides were anxious for more than half an hour, and the Lingnan army actually sent reinforcements.

A large number of soldiers, wearing heavy armor and holding huge shields, squeezed in front of the officers and defenders, squeezing the formation of the officers and soldiers guarding the door hole looser and thinner.

Qiu Yizhi saw that the defense line in front of Wuding Gate was about to be breached, and he was extremely anxious, and estimated that the Lingnan Army had invested seven or eight thousand troops, so he asked Liu Qing to transfer another 50,000 horses and gather outside Wuding Gate, and he must push back the Lingnan Army that had attacked Jinling City.

In this way, the official army and the Lingnan army have invested all their forces in Wudingmen, and all the weights that will determine the fate of Jinling City, Jiangnan Province, and even the world have been staked into this projectile land.

But they fought each other for more than an hour, and finally no new progress was made - on the city wall, the Lingnan army and the official army were huddled together, and no one could drive anyone off the wall; Under the city wall, the battle situation was also in trouble, the Lingnan army was like a strong fist with full strength to slam into Jinling City, while the defenders took advantage of the number of people, turned into a wide palm, and resisted all the attacks of the Lingnan army.

In this way, the two armies fought a bloody battle for more than an hour, and the Lingnan Army's offensive was like the end of a strong crossbow, and there was no way to expand the results of the battle. Suddenly, the sound of sharp golden drums sounding outside the city, the Lingnan army above and below the city slowly retracted its offensive, and then began to retreat outside the city.

Qiu Yizhi, who was paying close attention to the battle situation on the top of the tall building, heard the sound of the Lingnan Army singing gold and withdrawing troops, a heart that had been hanging for a long time finally let go, suppressed his excitement, slowly walked to Liu Qing, and said: "It's really not easy, it is a great achievement to repel the attack of the whole army of the King of Lingnan!" ”

Liu Qing knew that although Qiu Yizhi in front of him was not in a high position, his actual status was extremely respectful, and he would definitely not compete with himself for merit.

Therefore, Liu Qing was already overjoyed, and hurriedly humbled a few words: "Thanks to His Royal Highness Yi sitting in command here, the King of Lingnan was able to retreat knowing the difficulty, otherwise how could it be so easy to repel the offensive of the Prince of Lingnan?" ”

This is the first time that Qiu Yizhi has defeated Lingnan King Zheng Gui, and the joy and excitement in his heart are no less than Liu Qing. But after several trials and tribulations in the past two years, his original frivolous and impetuous temperament slowly reined in, settled his mind, and said: "The prince of Lingnan is skilled in soldiers, and it is difficult to ensure that there is no conspiracy and trickery, and it is not yet time to celebrate." ”

He paused, thought for a moment, and then said: "You quickly give the order to go out, it is strictly forbidden for the soldiers defending the city to go out of the city to pursue the enemy army, and they are still waiting in place to prevent the enemy from returning." ”

Liu Qing didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly passed the order as it was.

Qiu Yizhi looked at the top of the tall building, and saw that the soldiers and horses downstairs did not move at will after listening to the order, and they all stuck to their original positions, and their hearts were a little settled, so they sat down, rubbed their legs that had stood all morning, slightly sore, and picked up the cold water on the table, and took a sip into the stomach.

The cold spring weather is still cold, and this mouthful of cold water went down, which stirred Qiu Yizhi's spirit, his brain became more sober, and he crossed his feet and said: "The king of Lingnan has been defeated and retreated this time, and he may not attack again today." But he is determined to take it, tomorrow, at most every other day, he will inevitably attack again, and then it will be another tough battle. ”

Liu Qing answered: "His Highness Yi is right. However, fighting with soldiers pays attention to morale, and the strong attack of the Lingnan Army today has never been encountered since the siege. In this way, he was also blocked by the army led by His Highness Yi, presumably the morale will be greatly reduced, and the attack in the next few days may not be as strong as it is today. As long as I hold on for a few more days, and when the weather warms up, as soon as the grain and grass troops raised by the emperor arrive, we will inevitably move our army south, and then we will be able to completely repel the Lingnan army. ”

Liu Qing's analysis of these words was also the truth, and a few words of flattery were sandwiched in it, saying that Qiu Yizhi's heart was extremely comfortable, and he was about to speak, but his feet suddenly shook, his eardrums "buzzed" and he lost his sense of hearing, and he almost fainted in the dark.

Qiu Yizhi thought that his body had not been well recuperated before, which caused him to be dizzy, and he just wanted to drink cold water to clear his mind, but he saw that the teacup that was still well placed by himself was actually dumped on the table, and the cold water was sprinkled on the table. In a blink of an eye, I saw Liu Qing and Lin Shuhan again, one was ignorant and seemed to be a nerd, and the other was lying on the floor and didn't know what the situation was.

was in a strange situation, and suddenly saw Zhao Chengxiao quickly ascending the stairs and shouting loudly at Qiu Yizhi.

But Qiu Yizhi's ears only heard the roar of "buzzing", and only saw Zhao Chengxiao's mouth open and closed one by one, but he didn't even hear half a word clearly.