As the east was about to turn white, the scarred Guangning City was shrouded by the dark blue sky, making it so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

The city was brightly lit, and people stayed up all night, with soldiers and civilians coming and going. Some were repairing the city walls, caring for the wounded, counting the battle damage, replenishing gunpowder, and even lighting the stove to cook. All of them had solemn expressions and were in a hurry, and there was not a trace of joy on their faces at having driven back the enemy.

Everyone knows in their hearts that this is just the beginning.

In the first confrontation, they experienced the strength and bravery of the Jin army, as well as the eldest prince Zhuoletai's rock-solid determination to conquer Guangning.

Having withstood the first attack, can they withstand the second and third attacks? The hatred between the Chinese people and the nomadic peoples can be traced back thousands of years. Even if we don’t go back much further, Zhuoletai’s two uncles and one younger brother all died at the hands of the Sheng army. The accumulated resentment is so deep that the day the city is broken will be the day of destruction. No one dares to imagine what kind of hell they and their loved ones will face.

Yuan Sikong helped to accommodate the wounded. It was almost noon. He had not had a drop of water since the war began and was so hungry that he felt dizzy. He hurriedly went to ask for a bowl of porridge and dry food, then went back home to comfort his family before going to look for Yuan Mao. He wanted to know what had happened last night.

So far, Yuan Sikong could only imagine based on the soldiers' oral accounts and the damaged city walls. Even how Zhuoletai deployed his troops, how he mobilized and commanded, and what firearms and tools he brought were all told to him by others. Yuan Mao would never let him appear on the city wall when the war started.

Yuan Mao's government office had been transformed into a command post. As soon as he entered the door, he heard a lot of noise inside. Several mouths were talking at the same time, making the place extremely chaotic.

Suddenly, there was a loud clapping of hands, and Han Zhaoxing shouted, "Quiet!"

The house finally calmed down.

Yuan Sikong hid outside the door, not daring to go in or stick his head out, and could only eavesdrop through the wall.

Han Zhaoxing said in a deep voice: "Speak one by one."

After a moment of hesitation, Chen Yulong's voice was the first to ring: "I think that Zhuoletai's handwritten letter, promising not to harm the people of Guangning, really shows his intention for peace, and we should also focus on peace talks."

"No harm done? Do you believe he will not do any harm?" Hu Baicheng said angrily, "Don't you know how cruel and brutal the gold thief is?!"

"How long can we hold out? Zhuoletai's military strength is twenty times greater than mine!"

"Master Chen, have you surrendered yet?"

Chen Yulong raised his eyebrows: "I am looking at the overall situation. How can a general only have foolish courage?!"

"Stop arguing." Han Zhaoxing's face was extremely ugly. "What's the point of carrying it?"

Liang Huiyong, a young general from Guangning, clasped his fists and said, "I think that although Guangning is small, it has enough food, grass, and clothing to survive the winter. Although the Jin army has 70,000 armored soldiers, their daily consumption is extremely high. In addition, it is freezing cold, so they will not be able to fight for long. We can hold our ground and repel the enemy."

"That's right. We have cities and food. How can the gold thieves defeat us?"

Another hundred households in Guangning said worriedly, "The Thunderbolt Cannon is extremely powerful, and the gold bandits are numerous and powerful. I have tried my best in today's battle, and the gold bandits have not been damaged. The future battles will definitely get worse. If we advocate peace, we can still protect the lives of the people. If the city is broken after a bloody battle, then..."

"That's exactly what I meant." Chen Yulong said, "Guangning City is weak and its artillery is weak. How long can it hold out with this slight advantage?"

Han Zhaoxing looked at Yuan Mao who had been silent the whole time: "Master Yuan, what do you think?"

Yuan Mao clasped his fists and said: "I believe that the strength of a city does not lie in the walls but in the hearts of the people." His voice was not loud, but it made a loud sound when it hit the ground.

Everyone in the room looked at Yuan Mao.

Yuan Mao paused, and continued, "The Jurchens are a barbaric tribe, wild and untamed, and it is not uncommon for them to kill the surrendered. As Lord Hu said, if I negotiate peace, Zhuoletai will attack me unprepared... Moreover, even if Zhuoletai really keeps his promise and does not harm the people of Guangning, Guangning is the gate of Liaodong, and everyone in the gate is a citizen of Dasheng. How can I stay out of it?"

Han Zhaoxing frowned and turned to Qian Anrong, "Mr. Qian, you are the prefect of Guangning, what do you think?"

Qian Anrong bowed and said, "Qian thinks that we should prepare a memorial and submit it to the court as soon as possible. Even if we want peace, how to make peace must be decided by Your Majesty."

"That makes sense. The Governor went to the capital to ask for help yesterday. I will order people to catch up with him."

Yuan Mao said: "I think what Lord Qian said is very true. I will try my best to delay, firstly to rest and recuperate, and secondly to wait for the emperor's will."

"Okay, Yuanmao, have someone draft a letter to stabilize Zhuoletai first."

"yes."

After everyone left, Yuan Sikong went in to look for Yuan Mao. He was shocked when he saw Yuan Mao. Yuan Mao was covered in blood, his armor was tattered, his face was dirty, and his eyes were red, as if he had been dug out from a pile of corpses.

"Dad!" Yuan Sikong rushed over, his voice trembling, "What's wrong with you? Where are you injured?"

Yuan Mao held his shoulder and said, "Dad is not injured, his body is covered with the blood of the soldiers." After he finished speaking, his expression was gloomy.

Yuan Sikong felt the hand on his shoulder was heavy, as if it was pressing down on him with the weight of his entire body. He breathed a sigh of relief for the time being: "Where's big brother? Is big brother okay?"

"He's fine. I'll let him supervise the repair of the city wall." Yuan Mao's body suddenly shook.

Yuan Sikong hugged Yuan Mao tightly. His feeling was indeed correct. Yuan Mao was relying on him to steady himself. "Dad, let me help you sit over there."

Yuan Sikong helped Yuan Mao sit on the chair, lifted up the corner of his clothes, and wiped Yuan Mao's face with concern: "Dad, you must be tired, didn't you eat?"

Yuan Mao took a deep breath, and seemed to have no strength to speak: "We have defended the city, so it doesn't matter if I am a little tired."

"I'll go find you something to eat." Yuan Sikong said as he was about to leave.

Yuan Mao grabbed him and said, "Old Hu will prepare it. Don't bother." He looked at Yuan Sikong and said, "Did you hear what I said just now?"

Yuan Sikong frowned slightly: "Zhuoletai must be lying. If he wanted peace, he would not break his promise and cross the Huangshui River."

Yuan Mao sighed, "Yes, but you see, after just one war, many people were frightened, including Han Zhaoxing. He didn't dare to say it, but what he wanted to say was said by Chen Yulong. Compared with Zhuoletai, I am more worried about the military's morale being shaken."

"We must guard against dissent." Yuan Sikong said solemnly, "Kong'er thinks that if Zhuoletai doesn't want peace, we must not make peace. If we want to protect the people of Guangning and Liaodong, we have to defend to the death and make Zhuoletai retreat."

Yuan Mao said in a deep voice: "I thought so too, but I am afraid that I can't hold on, and I am also afraid that they have lost their will to fight."

Yuan Sikong said, "Whether we can hold the city or not, we will do our best and leave the rest to fate, but the morale of the army must not be shaken." He looked around to see if there was anyone around, and whispered in Yuan Mao's ear, "Dad, the military command is in your hands. If it doesn't work, charge Han Zhaoxing with a crime and arrest him." It was because of Han Zhaoxing that the Guangning garrison could not obey Yuan Mao's command.

Yuan Mao covered his mouth and whispered, "You haven't told this to anyone else, have you?"

Yuan Sikong stared with wide eyes and shook his head.

"Don't mention it again." Yuan Mao let go of him, "Go home and rest."

"Dad, you should go home. Look at your clothes."

"If I come home like this, your mother will be even more worried. Let me clean up first."

Yuan Sikong had no choice but to nod.

——

Han Zhaoxing temporarily delayed Zhuoletai on the pretext of negotiating peace. While they were anxiously awaiting news from Li Boyun, they were also intensively preparing for the next battle.

A few days later, Li Boyun returned to Guangning, bringing mixed news. The good news was that the emperor was going to send troops to reinforce Guangning, but the bad news was that the reinforcements would have to wait at least twenty days.

Twenty days was enough time for Zhuoletai to launch several attacks. If they could hold out for twenty days under the fierce attack like yesterday, Zhuoletai might have to return home before reinforcements arrived.

But since Your Majesty has made up his mind, there is no other way but to hold on.

After a few days, Zhuoletai found that the Guangning city wall had been repaired for the most part. He knew that he had been tricked. The bodies of the Jin soldiers were still covered in snow under the city and no one had buried them. He led his troops to Guangning again.

Zhuoletai lost nearly ten thousand soldiers in the previous battle, but looking at it now, it is not much different from that day. The army is still strong and the momentum is as fierce as a tiger.

The history books have a relatively detailed record of the Guangning defense war, but the focus is on the last battle. There are only a few words about Zhuoletai's second siege, describing how the north wind was blowing hard and the cold was bone-chilling that day, and how the Guangning soldiers faced Zhuoletai's poor military and aggressiveness, and refused to retreat. They killed 8,000 enemies and lost 500 of their own. On the city walls, there were limbs hanging on the walls, and under the walls, there were corpses piled up on the stairs. The vast land of Liaoning was dyed bright red with blood.

In the face of war and death, the amount of words used is meaningless. Only those who are truly involved in it can describe what kind of purgatory on earth it is with their eyes that have seen the devastation, their noses that have smelled blood, their ears that have heard the howling, and their trembling souls.

At dawn, Zhuoletai retreated for the second time, and Guangning City was defended for the second time. That night was so long that only the city walls littered with corpses silently told the story.

Yuan Mao was hit by an arrow in the shoulder, but he still managed to command on the city wall until the last moment. Han Zhaoxing claimed that he would lead the soldiers to prepare for street fighting and hid on the city wall at the most dangerous moment.

After two battles, Sheng's army suffered nearly two thousand casualties, the city walls were badly damaged, and supplies were used up by seven or eight. They were able to hold out until Zhuoletai retreated, and that was just a matter of seconds.

Since most of the Guangning defenders came from Liaoning or even Guangning, grief and fear invaded the entire city overnight. The soldiers were exhausted both physically and mentally. The city was filled with a gloomy atmosphere and their fighting spirit was fading.

——

During the day, Li Boyun summoned all the officials to discuss matters.

"There are less than a thousand soldiers who can fight, and only two thousand strong men have been conscripted. The Fengshen cannon has few shells left. The fire guns have not been used yet, but the soldiers have not been trained, so I am afraid they will not be able to play a big role." Han Zhaoxing finished explaining the military situation and sighed, "Lord Li, this step is a cliff."

Li Boyun stroked his graying beard. Although his eyes were cloudy, they were still wise. He was silent for a moment and said, "Conscript all men over 13 years old and all strong women in the city."

"How can this... this woman and child fight off the enemy?"

"With unity, we can defeat the enemy." Li Boyun said in a deep voice, "No matter what, we must hold out until reinforcements arrive."

Chen Yulong said: "Even if the reinforcements arrive on time, we still have to wait for eighteen days and nights. Guangning may not be able to withstand the next wave of attacks."

"We have to stop them even if we can't. Are we going to feed the people of Guangning to tigers and wolves?"

Hu Baicheng held his forehead and said, "Sir Li, you are a civil official, and we are military commanders. Defending a city... defending a city is not something that can be done just by saying so."

Li Boyun said solemnly: "I, Li Boyun, as the governor of Liaodong, have lost the seven states of Liaobei. I have no face to face the people of Liaodong. If Guangning is allowed to open its doors and spread its poison to the Central Plains, I will never be able to absolve myself of the blame. Guangning City must not be conquered."

Han Zhaoxing turned his head away with an extremely ugly look on his face.

Li Boyun looked around and asked, "Have all my colleagues lost their fighting spirit?"

Chen Yulong bowed and said, "Lord Li has never participated in this battle, so he does not know how dangerous the gold thieves are. We have not lost our will to fight, but we have weighed the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and ourselves, and we really cannot fight."

After being silent for a long time, Yuan Mao said, "Then what do you think should be done?"

Chen Yulong looked embarrassed and glanced at Han Zhaoxing: "This..."

Yuan Mao glared with his eagle eyes, and suddenly said in a fierce voice: "You said I can't fight, do you want to surrender to Jin?!"

Chen Yulong panicked and knelt on the ground with a thud: "I have absolutely no such intention. Please understand, Governor, I just..."

Li Boyun waved his hand to stop him: "I want to hear useful opinions."

Han Zhaoxing said: "Lord Li, persuading peace is not the same as persuading surrender. If Guangning can really be defended, how can we be willing to compromise? I am afraid that the city will be captured one day and Zhuoletai will massacre everyone in the city."

Yuan Mao said: "Zhuoletai also killed 60,000 surrendered prisoners. How can we be sure that Guangning will not follow suit? Moreover, what does General Han want to do? Trade? Mutual commerce? Compensation? Or do you want to cede land?!"

Han Zhaoxing stared with his eyes wide open and shouted, "Yuan Mao, stop talking nonsense!"

To cede territory is tantamount to selling out the country. Who would dare to bear such a reputation?

"So how do you want to make peace? Zhuoletai has 70,000 soldiers, with rams and cannons, is he here to make peace with you? If he wanted to make peace, he would have made peace with you by the Huangshui River."

Han Zhaoxing was so angry that his face turned blue: "You...you...you don't want to make peace, tell me, how can we defend Guangning? One thousand weak soldiers, two thousand civilians, and a city wall full of holes, how can we defend it?!"

"How can we not defend!"

Suddenly, a clear young man's voice was heard in the meeting room, which was out of tune with the dullness of the room.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a handsome young man standing in front of them with his chest puffed out, with no fear on his face.

It was too late for Yuan Mao to stop him. Yuan Sikong shouted in a sonorous voice, "Zhang Wenyuan's 7,000 soldiers drove back Sun Wu's 100,000. Zhang Xun had no food and no reinforcements. He defended Suiyang for three years with few soldiers and a dangerous city, killing tens of thousands of Anshi rebels. Wang Jian held the small city of Diaoyu for five months and defeated Mongke Khan! There are countless battles in history where a small army forced a large army to retreat. Guangning City is small but strong, with sufficient food and grass, and everyone is united, so how can we not defend it!"