Xu Di was taken to the back office. When Zhang Zhaoci saw him, she was so frightened that she stood up immediately. Xu Di's face turned pale when she saw her. She said, "Mother, Mother, please be careful. You are nine months pregnant. You must be extra careful."

Zhang Zhaoci walked up to Xu Di in a few steps and said, "Didn't you go to see someone off? How did you end up like this? Let me take a look at your injuries."

Xu Di quickly took off his clothes. Zhang Zhaoci looked at the treated wound, nodded, and said, "It's obviously Dr. Wang's skill. The treatment was quite good. I'll prescribe a room for you and have Qingmiao prepare two doses of medicine for you to drink. However, the wound cannot get wet. Don't think about taking a bath for the next few days, and don't do any strenuous activities to avoid the wound reopening."

Xu Di listened carefully to Doctor Zhang's will. After Doctor Zhang finished writing the prescription and handed it to Qingmiao to get the medicine, he sat down and whispered to Zhang Zhaoci, "Mother, just now, I almost captured the fifth prince of the Northern Di alive. Mother, the medicine you prescribed is really good, the effect is very good."

Zhang Zhaoci said, "The effect is good, but the cost is too high. I used up many of my treasured medicinal herbs just to prepare those medicines for you. If it weren't for the fact that you gave me an estate, I wouldn't have prepared them for you."

Xu Di smiled and said, "Yes, yes, I'll find you even better medicinal herbs later, okay?"

Zhang Zhaoci said, "You too, going all out alone, why would you take such a risk? This is war, do you think it's a drill? If they capture you, they can kill you and that's it."

Xu Di said, "I know, I understand, Mother. Otherwise, I'll send you, Granny Lu, and Xiao Jiu away. I'm really worried about you all here."

Zhang Zhaoci smiled and said, "Wherever your father is, I will be there. I have faith in your father."

Xu Di sighed and turned to go find Xu Rao.

Xu Rao was surprised by Xu Di's audacity. After hearing the whole story, he said, "Such things are absolutely not allowed in the future. This is a real war, not an exercise or a game. If you are injured or killed, you will be given another chance."

Xu Di listened attentively, and only after Xu Rao had vented all his fear by scolding Xu Di did he pull Xu Di to sit down beside him and whisper, "Is it really the fifth prince of the Northern Di who has come?"

Xu Di nodded and said, "It's true."

Xu Rao stroked her chin and said, "Can you still remember what he looked like?"

Xu Di thought about it carefully and said, "I don't know which one it is. Otherwise, I'll draw them both for you."

Xu Di has studied sketching, so he can draw simple portraits.

He found a charcoal stick, and with a few strokes, a Northern Di person with a fierce look appeared on the drawing paper.

Xu Rao stood behind Xu Di and looked at him, saying, "This shouldn't be him, right? A prince can't be this rough-looking, can he?"

Xu Di said, "Anyway, it's one of the two people. This one is either a prince or a guard. Once the drawing is finished, you can go to the city wall and see if the position of the commander-in-chief is one of these two people."

Xu Rao said, "It's almost noon, and I don't know when they will start the war."

Xu Di said, "It's good that we're not launching an attack. Let's rest quickly. Send more people to the north and south gates, and make sure we have enough signal flares. If there's any danger, we must send a signal to call for help immediately. With such thorough preparations, how can we not hold them off?"

Xu Rao said, "I'm afraid if they keep besieging us for too long, we won't have anything to eat, and we don't know when the imperial court's reinforcements will arrive."

Xu Di discussed the situation, saying, "Father, you must remember one thing: always believe in yourself. Let's not think about the court's reinforcements for now."

Xu Rao looked at Xu Di seriously. After returning from the capital, Granny Lu told the Xu family about some things that happened in the capital. It was all told to Granny Lu by her fellow villager Chen Wufu. From those words, Xu Di deduced that this sneak attack by the Northern Di people might have been caused by several princes again.

Xu Rao was also a bit annoyed by the fact that the princes were fighting openly and secretly for the position every day, even using the safety of their own country. But this was a royal society. Under the whole sky, all people were the emperor's subjects. What could he, as a subject, say?

Xu Di said, "I have hidden all the supplies that my grandfather gave us. They can be used to hold out for a while if necessary. What I am afraid of now is whether Yan State has kept the passage to the Northern Di open to us. If so, there will be a continuous stream of Northern Di people coming to besiege us. If Yan State allows the Northern Di to pass through but limits their numbers, we can wipe them out even if we put them in the city."

Xu Rao said, "How could we possibly know about this? Even if we wanted to inquire, we wouldn't know where to start."

Xu Di said, "Then we can only hold on. We must preserve our strength. We don't know how long we have to hold on. From now on, we must control our food supply and lock up our other supplies."

Xu Rao said, "It's getting cold, and I'm afraid they'll build the fish weir road to breach the city."

Xu Di sneered and said, "Then let them fix it. Don't we have crude oil? We can just pour it on and set it on fire."

Even as night fell, the Northern Di people outside the city remained silent, but there was some unrest inside the city. Many families wanted to leave the city through the north gate to seek refuge, but the gatekeepers tried their best to dissuade them. Even as night fell, the noise and commotion at the north gate continued.

The Xu family's courtyard was close to the north gate. Zhang Zhaoci was so restless at home that she went out despite being heavily pregnant.

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