Yuan Mao recruited all men over the age of thirteen and able-bodied women, a total of more than seven thousand people. At this point, anyone in Guangning City who could lift a sword or move stones had to join the war. Of course, they would not go directly to the city wall to fight the enemy, but make all logistical preparations.

Yuan Mao saw Yuan Weiling, who was crouching in the team. He frowned and pointed at Yuan Weiling: "Come out to me."

Yuan Weiling stood up reluctantly.

Yuan Mao asked sternly, "What are you doing here?"

"Join the war."

"Nonsense, who will take care of your mother?"

"It was my mother who asked me to come here." Yuan Weiling said confidently, "My mother said she didn't need any care and asked me to help my father."

"you……"

Yuan Weiling puffed out her chest and said, "Dad, I am much stronger than ordinary women. I am not afraid even if you ask me to go into battle and kill the enemy."

Yuan Sikong tugged at Yuan Mao's sleeve and said, "Dad, this is the time to use people. My eldest sister is smart and capable, and she will definitely be able to help. Besides, they are just transporting supplies, there will be no danger."

Yuan Mao said with a frown, "Ling'er, you are not allowed to act recklessly. You must obey all orders."

"Don't worry, Dad." Yuan Weiling stuck out her tongue, "Master Qianhu."

Yuan Mao led Yuan Shaoxu and Yuan Sikong into the house and said, "Kong'er, you just said that you have a plan to repel the enemy?"

Yuan Sikong nodded.

The three of them walked to the huge picture of the emperor lying on the table. Yuan Mao held the table with both hands and said, "Go ahead."

"Zhuoletai made a big mistake." Yuan Sikong said straight to the point.

"Oh, what's wrong?"

"He didn't besiege the city," Yuan Sikong said. "Of course, this mistake was not made intentionally. It was an act of helplessness."

Yuan Mao stared at the map and said, "Yes, the terrain of Guangning, the current climate and many other reasons prevented him from besieging the city. Of course, there was another reason. I'm afraid he underestimated the enemy."

Before Zhuoletai marched into Guangning, he had already captured 4,000 prisoners of the Sheng army, so he naturally knew that there was no shortage of food and clothing in Guangning City. The most terrible thing about besieging a city is that the defenders have no worries about food and fodder while the attackers come from a long distance, because the defenders are not afraid of being besieged at all, while the attackers cannot afford to waste time.

In addition, there was a mountain canal around Guangning City, and there was not enough open land for the horses, cattle and sheep brought by Zhuoletai to graze. It was cold and icy today, and there was no pasture. Whether it was food for people or animals, it must have been transported by themselves. As a result, Zhuoletai did not dare to divide his troops to besiege the city easily, for fear that the food and fodder would be attacked.

In fact, choosing this time to fight a war is a taboo in itself, but Zhuoletai had no choice. If the Huangshui River did not freeze, they could not cross, and this move would be extremely difficult.

Of course, as Yuan Mao said, Zhuoletai did underestimate the enemy. He probably didn't expect that a small town with only two or three thousand defenders could resist to such an extent.

So he did not besiege the city, allowing Li Boyun to go to the capital to ask for help. Now, even if he wanted to besiege the city, he couldn't afford it.

Yuan Sikong said: "Scouts said that although Zhuoletai did not besiege the city, they have set up checkpoints to monitor Guangning's every move at all times. However, there will be omissions in the checkpoints, especially at night when it is dark and windy."

"You mean..." Yuan Mao pondered, "You want to leave the city?"

Yuan Sikong nodded.

Yuan Shaoxu frowned and said, "If we leave the city now and are caught by the Jin people, wouldn't that mean we will die?"

"Being trapped in the city by the Jin people is also a death sentence." Yuan Sikong's eyes were filled with a calmness and focus beyond his age. "My plan is to send a group of death warriors to sneak past the checkpoints on a snowy night and go around to the rear of the Jin army camp. When Zhuoletai attacks the city, we will sneak into his camp and his food supplies!"

Yuan Mao took a deep breath and said slowly: "This plan is very dangerous."

"Yes, it's too risky." Yuan Shaoxu said, "Who should we send, and how many people should we send? We don't even have enough troops to defend the city, how can we divide the troops? If these people are accidentally discovered, they will definitely never come back."

"Dad, brother, please listen to Kong'er's explanation." Yuan Sikong picked up a chess piece with two fingers and gently dropped it between Guangning City and the Jin Army Camp. "Choose three hundred dead soldiers and lead them for seven days." With rations, fire guns and kerosene, they left Guangning on a snowy night, evaded the checkpoints, went around to the back of the Jin camp, and set up an ambush." ​​He pushed the chess piece with his finger and slid it. Arriving behind the Jin camp, "When Zhuoltai attacks the city, the camp must be weakly defended. Dead men will take advantage of the opportunity and attack the camp. They will disturb the cattle and sheep with fire blunderbuss and burn their food and grass with kerosene. If it succeeds, it will be over. If it fails, it will be gone." After receiving the information, Zhuoltai will definitely go back to save food, so that the crisis in Guangning can be temporarily relieved." He finally pushed the chess piece hard into the Jin camp.

Yuan Shaoxu said: "This plan is very difficult, I am afraid it will not work. As you said, even if it succeeds, it is only a temporary solution. What if Zhuoletai settles the camp and then comes back to kill us?"

"When Zhuoletai retreats, we must observe. If he retreats in an orderly manner without any disorderly flags, it proves that he is a good leader. He will definitely send cavalry ahead to quickly return to the camp to rescue, and he will lead elite troops to cover the rear. Then we will go out of the city with light cavalry and muskets, chase him, and attack his infantry or siege soldiers in the hinterland while his cavalry is away. It doesn't matter how many enemies we kill, but we must disrupt his formation. If he retreats in a panic, that's even better. We can directly attack his rear. The Jin army failed to attack the city twice and suffered heavy losses. Their morale is already low. Now that their camp is attacked in front and there are pursuers behind, their morale must be greatly broken."

Yuan Mao nodded: "Go on."

Yuan Sikong narrowed his eyes, a hint of coldness flashed across his eyes: "Next, it is the final plan to drive Zhuoletai back to the barbarian land."

——

Li Boyun sacrificed his life for the sake of justice and bought twelve days for Guangning Guard.

Within twelve days, they intensified troop training, built walls, stockpiled wartime supplies, and mobilized the entire city.

When Zhuoletai's army was approaching, those who still had a way to retreat had already fled. Most of those who stayed behind were poor people whose wealth was tied to the land. They could not leave the land on which they depended for their livelihood, so they had nowhere to go, and their fate was tied to the city.

Yuan Mao sent his soldiers to encourage people from house to house, asking them to donate all their iron tools, knives, bedding and kerosene, and to recruit all the young men and women to join the army. Li Boyun used his own life to inspire the soldiers' determination to live and die with the city. Yuan Mao used two tragic victories in which he vowed to fight to the death against an army of 70,000 to tell the people of Guangning that as long as everyone is united, they can stand firm.

The whole of Guangning was putting all its eggs in one basket, with the 40,000 people in the city contributing money and manpower just to protect their common homeland.

When Zhuoletai led his troops to attack the city for the third time, everyone was prepared to die and did everything they could to survive.

As the army approached, a gust of wind blew away the snow mist, and the view became clear.

I saw that on the long spears standing like a forest, there were bloody human heads stuck in them!

The general guarding the city was horrified, because those were clearly the 4,000 captives of Sheng’s army!

What made them most sad and angry was that on top of Zhuoletai’s flag was the head of Li Boyun, the Governor-General of Liaoning!

Her snowy hair danced wildly in the north wind. I wonder if she could hear the grief and mourning of the people of Liaodong.

Yuan Sikong stood next to Yuan Mao and could almost hear the sound of Yuan Mao's clenched fists.

His nose felt slightly sour, and the image of Li Boyun riding away quietly on his horse emerged in his mind, his thin figure gradually blurred in the wind and snow. That day, the sky and the earth were the same color, and the snow mist messed up the world. He seemed to have disappeared in a fairyland.