Yuan Mao picked up Hu Baicheng from the ground and said calmly, "Speak."

"The Jin people..." Hu Baicheng's cheeks trembled, "The Huang River is frozen, and the Jin thieves are taking advantage of the fog to attack!"

Yuan Sikong's eyes darkened and his scalp suddenly exploded.

Yuan Mao still held Hu Baicheng's arm with such force that it dug deep into his flesh. Hu Baicheng dared not speak. His Adam's apple slid up and down, and his eyes became deep and heavy. "Shao Xu, tell the Guangning soldiers to be on standby all night. Baicheng, follow me to see Lord Li."

"yes!"

Yuan Mao pulled Hu Baicheng out.

"Master..." Yue Qingshuang called softly.

Yuan Mao didn't hear anything until the carriage of his future in-laws stopped in front of the Yuan Mansion. Then Yuan Mao remembered. He turned his head and looked at Yuan Sikong: "Kong'er, entertain him well."

"yes."

Yuan Mao took Hu Baicheng away in a hurry. The two elders of the Lin family just got off the car and saw their relative-in-law walking away without looking back, with a puzzled look on their faces.

Yuan Sikong gently pushed Yue Qingshuang from behind: "Mom, don't be afraid."

Yue Qingshuang took Yuan Sikong's hand, straightened her slender body, and walked forward to greet the guest.

Yuan Sikong explained the reason why Yuan Mao left suddenly, and the Lin family was immediately very worried. Although they were still a day's drive away from Guangning, Guangning was now the gate of Liaodong, and they would be in trouble if they lost.

Everyone was unhappy about the meal, but business still had to be done. Since Yuan Mao was not around, Yue Qingshuang took charge and the two families settled the marriage.

Since his father and brother were not around, Yuan Sikong had to be in charge of welcoming and seeing off the guests. He settled the Lin family in the inn and did not go home, but hurried to Yuan Mao's government office.

He was restless all night, but he just tried to entertain the guests. The most dreaded thing that had haunted his mind like a nightmare for four years finally came. At this time last year, the Jin people had tried to attack Han Zhaoxing's camp with 2,000 light cavalry, but failed.

This time the military situation must be serious, which is why Hu Baicheng is so panicked.

When he arrived at the government office, he saw Yuan Mao discussing matters with the generals in the city, and Qian Anrong was also there. He did not dare to go in, so he could only hide outside the door. He could not hear what was being said inside, but he saw that everyone looked solemn.

After the Sheng army abandoned the seven states of Liaobei, Han Zhaoxing led 30,000 troops to set up camp facing the Huangshui River, which lasted for four years. It is said that the court had discussed whether to build another city on the Huangshui River, but nothing came of it. The Jin people had no navy and could only wait until winter to cross the river. Considering that the Huangshui River stretched for hundreds of miles, it was better to build a camp instead of a city. The sentries moved around the camp and could detect the enemy's movements in a timely manner.

In this way, the Han army and Guangning guards cooperated with each other remotely, forming a pincer attack, and the Jin people did not dare to attack easily.

But Yuan Sikong never trusted Han Zhaoxing. He knew that one cannot judge a hero by the success or failure of one battle, but Han Zhaoxing was really defeated. Qingzhou City was strong and well-fed. If he had held on, he could have dragged down the Jin army. But he rashly went out of the city to fight. With one defeat, he lost Liaobei, which had been controlled by the Central Plains for more than 300 years, and lost the country that Emperor Taizu had worked so hard to build. His defeat left a bad reputation in history.

What made Yuan Sikong most disgusted was that Han Zhaoxing did not receive the punishment he deserved. The demotion of title and salary were of no concern at all. Han Zhaoxing was still the general of Liaoning and the actual holder of military power in Liaoning.

When Han Zhaoxing fought against the Jin army this time, Yuan Sikong intuitively felt that Han Zhaoxing would be defeated, or had already been defeated.

Yuan Mao discussed the matter until late at night. Yuan Sikong was sitting at the door and accidentally fell asleep until Yuan Mao found him.

"Kong'er, Kong'er."

Yuan Sikong slowly opened his eyes: "Dad..."

"Why are you here? It's so cold at night, you must have caught a cold." Yuan Mao helped him up from the ground.

"I'm waiting for you." Yuan Sikong saw Yuan Shaoxu and called him "Big Brother".

Yuan Shaoxu nodded and said expressionlessly: "This is a place to discuss military affairs. What are you doing here? Go back to sleep."

"Shao Xu, you will be on duty today. If anything happens, report back immediately."

"Yes." Yuan Shaoxu bowed respectfully.

"Kong'er, have the two elders of the Lin family made all the arrangements?"

"Don't worry, Dad. I've explained it to you."

Yuan Mao pulled Yuan Sikong over and said, "That's good. Come home with me."

Yuan Sikong asked hurriedly: "Dad, what is the military situation in Huangshui?"

Yuan Mao was in no hurry to answer. He took him to the horse, and the horse began to trot. He said softly, "Do you remember four years ago, I held you like this and rode on the same horse. At that time, you were much smaller than you are now, and you were so thin that you were just a bag of bones."

"Kong'er will never forget." Yuan Sikong could even recall how cold the rain was that night, which was why Yuan Mao's body temperature seemed particularly hot.

"Four years have passed in a flash." Yuan Mao sighed, "For four years, I have lived in fear every day, not knowing when the Jin army would cross the Huang River and meet at the foot of Guangning City."

Yuan Sikong was trembling with fear: "Dad, did Han Zhaoxing fail?"

Yuan Mao said in a deep voice: "The Jin bandits took advantage of the fog to launch a surprise attack, breaking the connection between the left army camp and the main camp. The left general Li Mi and 3,000 soldiers were killed in the battle. After Han Zhaoxing reorganized the army, the Jin people retreated temporarily."

Yuan Sikong clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, "Han Zhaoxing is incompetent!"

Yuan Mao usually did not allow Yuan Sikong to speak rudely like this, fearing that he would become arrogant because of his talent. But this time, he did not rebuke him, but only sighed: "The Jin army has fast horses and is best at long-distance raids. They will catch you off guard. This time, just like last year, they will send light cavalry to the front to explore the camp. I am afraid that the main army is behind."

"Dad, what is Han Zhaoxing's current strategy?"

"What do you think the strategy should be?"

"Of course we should retreat to Guangning. Winter is coming. The Jin army has penetrated deep into our territory and cannot conquer the city. The army will surely be exhausted and retreat naturally."

"I thought so, but General Han has no intention of retreating. He is still guarding the Huangshui camp, as if he wants to fight the Jin people. He is urging Guangning to transport food and supplies."

"It's totally confusing!" Yuan Siqi was so angry that his heart and lungs were shaking.

Yuan Maojian frowned, obviously worried: "If he can really stop the Jin people, it's fine. If he can't... Kong'er, do you think Guangning can stop them?"

Yuan Sikong pursed his lips, not knowing how to answer.

Guangning City is small, and its city wall has a history of a hundred years. It was originally an unimportant small city before the Seven Prefectures of Liaobei. After becoming a strategic location four years ago, it has been continuously reinforced, but it is still not considered a strong city.

Of course, a small city does have its advantages. It is easy to deploy troops for defense, but whether it can be defended is not an easy question to answer. He replied: "No matter what, having a city to defend is always an advantage."

"Yes, I just hope General Han can kill the gold thief."

"Dad, you don't usually tell me these things. What happened today?" Yuan Mao's tone made Yuan Sikong quite uneasy.

"You waited until this moment, isn't it because you care about the military situation?" Yuan Mao touched Yuan Sikong's head, "I know you can't let go of Liaobei and always hate the gold thieves. Qingzhou is gone, Taining is gone, and Dad will definitely protect Guangning."

Yuan Sikong hugged Yuan Mao's arm and said in a trembling voice: "I believe in Dad!"

——

That night, Yuan Sikong did not sleep all night. When the morning light was dim, he could no longer lie down, so he got up from the bed, sat in front of the documents, spread out the straw paper, and wrote a letter to Feng Ye:

My friend Feng Ye,

It had been more than a month since Guangning said goodbye to me.

When the cold weather in Liaodong was fierce, the north wind was biting and the Huang River was frozen, the gold thief...

After writing two lines, Yuan Sikong's hand stopped.

What was the purpose of writing this letter to Feng Ye? If it was just to express concern for each other, then I shouldn't have mentioned military intelligence to an eight-year-old child, otherwise it would have made Feng Ye worry for nothing.

Yuan Sikong put down his pen and hugged his head tightly.

He was panicked and confused. He just wanted to find someone to confide his fear to, but he didn't dare to tell anyone around him.

The brutality and cruelty of the Jin people were well known to all the people in Liaoning. Adults would use them to scare three-year-old children, and he also grew up surrounded by the terror of the Jin people.

He heard that the Jin people burned, killed, and looted without any humanity. If leaving his homeland and losing his family was only an indirect experience of the Jin people's terror, then the Jin people who crossed the Huangshui River and marched straight to Guangning made him truly feel the fear that chilled him to the bone.

He couldn't imagine what kind of devastating disaster would happen to the 40,000 people in Guangning if the city was breached.

Yuan Sikong leaned over the desk, looking at the name Feng Ye that he had written, imagining that if it was the Feng family army that guarded Liaodong, the people of Liaodong would not tremble in the middle of the night like he did.

Yuan Sikong closed his eyes and crumpled the straw paper into a ball...

——

In the following days, Yuan Mao and Yuan Shaoxu were rarely seen day and night, the city defenses were tightened, soldiers were transporting supplies back and forth in the city, and the people of Guangningwei were in a panic.

Yuan Mao organized all the people outside the city to withdraw back into the city, obviously to fortify the city and prepare for the enemy. It seems that he is worried about Han Zhaoxing's defeat, just like Yuan Sikong. Although there is no change on the front line, the importance of the war depends on every little thing, just like a dormant tiger, no one knows when it will jump up and bite people.

Yuan Sikong was eager to learn about the military situation and to offer suggestions on the city's defense and the resettlement of civilians. He watched the adults busying themselves with work but making mistakes everywhere, and always felt that he could do better than them. He also knew that he was just meddling and would be reprimanded by Yuan Mao or Yuan Shaoxu, so he was worried all day long.

A month after Han Zhaoxing's camp was raided, the enemy finally stopped being silent.