The civil servants and military officers in the room all looked at the young man in amazement. The awe-inspiring righteousness in his chest made his frail body seem heavier. His fearless spirit transcended the limitations of his age and shocked people deeply.

Han Zhaoxing felt his face flushed, and he became angry out of shame: "Yuanmao! This is a military secret area, is this the place where your son can run wild?!"

Yuan Sikong half-knelt on the ground and said loudly: "According to the Governor's order, I am already thirteen years old. Like thousands of other Liaodong men, I am willing to serve the country and help fight against the Jin. I will not regret it even if I die!"

"Okay!" Li Boyun slammed the table and said excitedly, "What's your name?"

"Immortal Yuan Sikong."

"You said it well! A young boy with long hair still has the courage to live and die with Guangning. You guys are wearing armor and carrying swords, enjoying the imperial court's rain and dew, aren't you ashamed?"

Han Zhaoxing and Chen Yulong were so blocked that they couldn't say a word.

Li Boyun stood up and said firmly: "If Prince Zhang Xun can defend it firmly, I can defend it too. We, the people of Liaodong, will never give up even an inch of land to the barbarians. Yuanmao!"

"I will be here!"

"I order you to take full charge of the battle to defend Guangning City. Do not let the gold thieves set foot in my city gate!"

Yuan Mao shouted: "Yes!"

"Master Li." Han Zhaoxing stood up, "What do you mean?"

Li Boyun said slowly, "General Han, I see that you have lost your fighting spirit. How can you lead the soldiers to defend the city?"

"Han believes that the people are the most important thing, and considering the overall situation, he advocates peace rather than war. What's wrong with that? To stop the war is the best way to be brave, does it have to be the courage of a common man to be called 'brave'?!"

"If peace is really possible, would I be willing to let my soldiers die?" Li Boyun stroked his beard. "The Jin people are treacherous and cross the Huangshui River to attack Guangning. Their ambitions are obvious. They must not really want peace. If I open the city to welcome the enemy, I am afraid it will be a huge mistake for all eternity. Do you know that Zhuoletai is cruel and merciless? He also lured the enemy to surrender and buried 60,000 prisoners."

"Can……"

Li Boyun did not give him a chance to refute: "Besides, His Majesty's reinforcements have not arrived yet, and you want to make peace first. Are you trying to disobey His Majesty's order?"

Han Zhaoxing's facial muscles trembled stiffly, and he clasped his hands and said, "I dare not."

"Yuan Mao, receive the military order."

Yuan Mao half-knelt in front of him, with his hands raised. Li Boyun handed the military token to him. Yuan Mao trembled and said, "Thank you, Governor-General. I will definitely fulfill your orders."

Since ancient times, the imperial court has valued civil officials over military generals. In order to prevent the military generals who hold military power from causing trouble, the army can only be mobilized with military tokens, and the military tokens are all in the hands of the governor of a prefecture who is a civil official. After the city battle, Yuan Mao immediately returned the military token to Li Boyun.

Han Zhaoxing looked at Yuan Mao with cold eyes.

Li Boyun personally helped Yuan Mao up and said, "Yuan Mao, the lives and property of 40,000 people in Guangning are now in your hands."

Yuan Mao's eyes were firm: "As long as the people are in the city, they will be there."

Li Boyun glanced at Yuan Sikong again and said, "This boy will become a great man. You have a good son."

A hint of anger flashed in Yuan Shaoxu's eyes.

Han Zhaoxing said in a deep voice: "Do you have any feasible solutions? You can't defend the city with just a powerful mouth."

Yuan Sikong had achieved his goal, so he stopped talking rashly. Instead, he glanced at Yuan Mao, and when he saw that Yuan Mao didn't allow him to speak, he remained silent.

Li Boyun slowly straightened his slightly bent back, and his old voice echoed slowly: "I have a plan that can at least delay the Jin people for ten days."

"Oh? Is it He Gaoce?"

"I will personally lead the Jin army to its main camp."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Lord Li, this..."

"We are just pretending to negotiate, and we are trying to delay it for as long as possible."

"If Zhuoletai finds out you're cheating, he'll kill you!"

Li Boyun stroked his beard and said, "Once I left, I had no intention of coming back."

All the officials knelt down one after another: "Lord Li, you can't do this!"

Li Boyun waved his hands and said, "Zhuoletai is cunning by nature. How could he believe me if I hadn't gone there in person? My Liaodong soldiers have shed their blood and sacrificed their lives on the city walls. If I can save the people with my dying bones, why would I not want to? I only hope that you will fight the enemy with all your might and wait until the reinforcements arrive."

"Lord Li..."

"I have made up my mind. You don't need to persuade me."

Yuan Sikong looked at Li Boyun and thought that the arm that supported the thin body was not made of rotten bones, but must be made of iron bones that made a sound when knocked.

——

After the meeting, Yuan Shaoxu took the opportunity to pull Yuan Sikong aside and said coldly, "Do you feel proud of yourself for being in the limelight?"

Yuan Sikong was stunned: "Brother, Kong'er doesn't want to be in the limelight, Kong'er is for..."

"You don't understand anything!" Yuan Shaoxu growled, "Do you know who Han Zhaoxing's uncle is? If you offend him, Dad's future will be affected. You are just being smart, and you will hurt Dad sooner or later!"

Yuan Shaoxu pushed Yuan Sikong, causing him to stagger. Yuan Sikong opened his mouth and said nervously, "Brother, I..."

Yuan Shaoxu pointed his finger at him in a warning tone: "From now on, you better behave yourself and be careful with your words and actions!"

"……yes."

After Yuan Shaoxu left, Yuan Sikong felt uneasy, so he went to find Yuan Mao and said straight to the point: "Dad, I heard that Han Zhaoxing's cousin is a big shot. Who is he? Will he let Dad..."

"Shao Xu told you that, didn't he?" Yuan Mao was wiping his sword. He glanced at Yuan Sikong and said, "You're worried now? Weren't you so tough just now?"

Yuan Sikong panicked: "Dad, did Kong'er do something wrong again? Kong'er just wanted to..."

Yuan Mao burst out laughing and Yuan Sikong was stunned.

"Come here." Yuan Mao waved at him.

Yuan Sikong walked over and was pulled into Yuan Mao's arms to sit down. He showed him the sword and said, "Look, this sword has been with Dad for almost ten years. Dad joined the army at the age of sixteen and killed countless enemies. He climbed up from a small soldier to a thousand households by stepping on the bloody corpses of the enemies. But the higher he climbed, the more cautious he became, and the more timid he became."

"Dad is not a coward at all. When we were defending the city that day, he had an arrow stuck in his shoulder, but he still commanded the battle."

Yuan Mao took Yuan Sikong's hand and stroked the cold blade inch by inch: "Today I saw courage in Kong'er, and I also saw myself back then. Kong'er is worthy of being my son, Yuan Mao."

Yuan Sikong was overjoyed: "Dad...but, my elder brother said..."

"Don't worry about what he says. From the moment I let Han Zhaoxing into the city, I knew that there would be a rift between him and me. I opened the city gate because I didn't want to offend his cousin. But, as a human being, it's impossible to have everything in mind. Even if my future is ruined, I will never hand over the military power of Guangning to a fool."

Yuan Sikong nodded vigorously: "Dad is right, Guangning can only be protected in Dad's hands."

Yuan Mao said sternly: "Kong'er, Lord Li sacrificed himself to feed the enemy, and only then did he buy us a few precious days. We must try every possible way to defend the city and wait for reinforcements. Kong'er, you are smarter than us. You can help Dad, right?"

"I can." Yuan Sikong said without hesitation, "Kong'er has a lot of ideas, but Kong'er doesn't understand the enemy well enough."

"Okay, from now on, you can freely enter and exit any place in Guangning, including granaries, warehouses, and city walls. No one can stop you." Yuan Mao held Yuan Sikong's thin shoulders and looked deeply into his eyes. "My Yuan family father and son will live and die with Guangning."

Yuan Sikong's clear eyes were burning with flames.

——

The next day, Li Boyun rode alone to the enemy camp. This trip was likely to be a one-way trip, and the soldiers wept for him.

Although his hair is grey and his face is gray, his heart is as pure as ever.

——

Yuan Sikong wrapped himself in a thick cotton coat and braved the cold winter wind and snow to learn about all the situations in Guangning City. At that time, Yuan Nanyu's leg injury had healed, and he couldn't resist the urge to run away, so he also enlisted in the army and obeyed Yuan Sikong's dispatch.

"Brother, you've been looking at this map for a long time. What have you figured out?" Yuan Nanyu stuffed a hot bun into Yuan Sikong's palm and said, "Eat something quickly."

Yuan Sikong bit his bun and said, "I'm looking at the route of the Jin army's withdrawal."

"Withdraw?" Yuan Nanyu shouted, "Why are you withdrawing if you don't look at the route they took to Guangning?"

"To defend Guangning, it is not enough to just fortify the interior. It may have been possible twice before, but not now. Guangning's walls are damaged in many places, and the troops and supplies have been depleted by 70% to 80%. According to the previous method of defense, it is impossible to defend it."

"How do we defend it?"

"The Art of War says..."

"Hey, hey, hey, just tell me straight."

Yuan Sikong said helplessly: "Attack what he loves, and he will surely save you if you strike him."

"Oh, you want to play the game of besieging Wei to save Zhao? But who are we besieging? Those barbarians don't even have a city, they are driving cattle and sheep everywhere..." He spoke in a lower and lower voice, and his eyes lit up, "You want to..."

Yuan Sikong curled his lips and smiled: "That's right, Zhuoletai has set out in droves, the main camp must be empty and the defense is weak. If I divide my troops to attack his camp, he will definitely come back to rescue."

"But..." Yuan Nanyu said bitterly, "Brother, where can we find soldiers to distribute?"

"We don't need too many troops. Zhuoletai also knows that we don't have any soldiers, so he certainly wouldn't think that we would dare to split up our forces to launch a surprise attack. We only need 300 cavalrymen with muskets to attack the camp and disturb their cattle and sheep. The camp will be in chaos."

"Brother, have you discussed this with Dad?"

"I just had it in my mind, and you insisted on asking me. How could I have the time to tell my father?" Yuan Sikong flicked his forehead, "This is only part of the plan. I have to think of a complete plan to defeat Zhuoletai in one fell swoop!"

Yuan Nanyu looked at Yuan Sikong with admiration: "Second brother, why are you so smart?"

"I study."

"snort."

Yuan Sikong stared at the map, looking at the black chess piece representing the Zhuoletai camp, and a passionate scene of war and battle on the battlefield emerged in his mind.

If you can't defend a small place like Guangning, how can you talk about the world? Zhuoletai, I will definitely defeat you!