Chapter 20

A room of civil officials and generals looked at the young man in surprise. His awe-inspiring and upright spirit hung on his chest, which made his thin body look calm and dignified. This fearless spirit transcended the limitation of age and gave people a deep shock.

Han Zhaoxing only felt his complexion became hot and got angry from embarrassment: "Yuan Mao! This is an important place for military planning. Is this a place for your son to run around wildly?!”

Yuan Sikong knelt on one knee and said loudly, "According to the governor, I have reached the age of 13. I am the same as thousands of Liaodong men, willing to serve the country, and work together against the Jin. I will not regret it even if I die!”

"Good!" Li Boyun slapped the table fiercely and said excitedly, "What’s your name?"

"I’m Yuan Sikong."

"You’ve said it well! Children with drooping temples* still have the courage to live and die together with Guangning. Don't you feel ashamed of carrying a sword, wearing armor, and enjoying the rain and dew* of the imperial court!?"

Han Zhaoxing and Chen Yulong were so speechless that they could not say a word.

Li Boyun stood up and said resolutely: "If King Zhang Xun can stand firm, then we can too. My Liaodong people will never give half an inch of land to the barbarians. Yuan Mao!"

"I’m here!"

“I order you to take charge of the battle of guarding Guangning City. Don’t let the Jin step into our city gate at all!”

Yuan Mao said in a loud voice, "Yes!"

"Lord Li." Han Zhaoxing stood up, "What do you mean by this?"

Li Boyun said leisurely, "General Han, I see your fighting spirit is dead. How can you lead the soldiers to defend the city?"

"I think that people should be treated like Heaven* and think about the overall situation. What’s wrong with advocating peace and not war? Military forces are to be used only for the maintenance of peace and order. Must we have brute courage in order to be called ‘brave’?!”

"If we really can make peace, do you think I would let my soldiers seek their doom?" Li Boyun touched his beard. "The Jin betrayed us, crossed Huangshui, attacked Guangning, and have obvious wild ambitions. He definitely didn’t want to make real peace. If I open the city to welcome the enemy, I'm afraid I'll make a great mistake for all eternity. You know that Zhuo Letai is extremely cruel, merciless, and used to entice the enemy to surrender and captured 60,000 of them.”

"But..."

Li Boyun refused to give him a chance to refute: "Besides, His Majesty’s reinforcements have yet to arrive, and you want to make peace first. Could it be that you want to defy the decree?”

The muscles on Han Zhaoxing's face shook rigidly. He arched his hand and said, "I don’t dare to."

"Yuan Mao, receive the commander’s seal."

Yuan Mao knelt on one knee and raised both hands. Li Boyun handed the commander’s seal into his hand. Yuan Mao trembled and said, "Thank you, governor. I will not fail to accomplish this mission."

Since ancient times, the imperial court had favored civil officials and belittled generals. In order to prevent the generals holding the military power from developing unusual thoughts, the army could only be mobilized with the commander’s seal, and the commander’s seal would be in the hands of the governor of a province who was a civil official. After the end of the city’s war, Yuan Mao had to hand back the commander’s seal to Li Boyun immediately.

Han Zhaoxing looked at Yuan Mao with very cold eyes.

Li Boyun helped Yuan Mao up personally: "Yuan Mao, the lives of the 40,000 people in Guangning will be entrusted to you."

Yuan Mao's eyes are firm and persistent: "The people will stay, and the city will stay."

Li Boyun looked at Yuan Sikong again: "This boy will be an outstanding talent. You have a good son."

Yuan Shaoxu’s eyes flashed with a little anger.

Han Zhaoxing said in a deep voice: "Does anyone here have a feasible plan? A city can’t be defended with an outstanding mouth."

Yuan Sikong's goal had been achieved. Instead of speaking rashly, he took a glance at Yuan Mao. Seeing that Yuan Mao did not allow him to speak, he remained silent.

Li Boyun straightened his back slowly, and his old voice rang out: "I have a plan to delay the Jin’s people for at least ten days."

"Oh? What kind of strategy?"

"I will personally go to Jin army’s main camp."

Everyone looked at each other.

"Lord Li, this..."

"I will pretend to be there to negotiate peace. By delaying one more day, we will get one more day."

"If Zhuo Letai finds out that you are swindling him, he will kill you!"

Li Boyun stroked his beard: "When I go, I don’t plan to come back."

All the officials knelt one after another: "Lord Li, you can’t!"

Li Boyun waved his hand: "Zhuo Letai is cunning in nature. If I don’t go there personally, how will he believe it? My Liaodong soldiers threw their heads and sprinkled their blood on the wall. If I could save the people with my dying bones, why wouldn’t I give it up? I only hope that you will devote all your energy and thoughts into fighting against the enemy to the death. You all must wait for reinforcements."

"Lord Li..."

"I have already decided. Everyone, there is no need to try to persuade me anymore."

Yuan Sikong looked at Li Boyun, thinking that whatever was supporting that thin body was not dying bones. It was definitely clanking iron bones.

-----

After the meeting dispersed, Yuan Shaoxu took the opportunity to drag Yuan Sikong to one side, and said coldly: " Do you feel proud of being in the limelight?"

Yuan Sikong was taken aback: "Big brother, Kong'er didn’t think of being in the limelight. Kong'er just wanted to…”

"You don't know anything!" Yuan Shaoxu growled, "Do you know who Han Zhaoxing's maternal uncle is? If you offend him, father's future will be affected. You only know how to act smart. You will harm father sooner or later!"

Yuan Shaoxu pushed Yuan Sikong, making him stagger. Yuan Sikong opened his mouth, and said nervously: "Big brother, I......"

Yuan Shaoxu warned him by pointing with his finger: "You better behave a little in future. Be careful of what you say and do!”

"... Yes."

After Yuan Shaoxu left, Yuan Sikong also started to feel uneasy, so he went to find Yuan Mao and said straightforwardly, "Father, I heard that Han Zhaoxing's maternal uncle is a big shot. Who is it? Will he let father... "

"It's Shaoxu who told you, right?" Yuan Mao was wiping his sword. He glanced at Yuan Sikong. "Now you know how to get worried? Weren’t you quite strong-willed just now?"

Yuan Sikong was flustered: "Father, did Kong'er do something wrong again? Kong'er only wanted to......"

Yuan Mao chuckled, and Yuan Sikong was stunned.

"Come here." Yuan Mao beckoned at him.

Yuan Sikong walked over. He was dragged into Yuan Mao’s arms, sat down, and he showed him the sword: "You see, this sword has been with father for nearly ten years. Father joined the army when I was 16 years old and has killed countless enemies. From a small soldier to a Qianhu, I climbed up by stepping on the enemies’ bloody corpses, but the higher I walked up, the more scruples I had, and the more timid I became instead."

"Father is not timid at all. On the day father was guarding the city, father had an arrow in your shoulder and was still commanding the battle.”

Yuan Mao pulled up Yuan Sikong's hand and caressed that cold blade inch by inch: "I saw courage in Kong'er today, and also saw myself in those years. Kong'er is indeed worthy of being the son of Yuan Mao."

Yuan Sikong felt great joy in his heart: "Father... But, big brother said..."

"I don't care what he said. From the moment I let Han Zhaoxing enters the city, I knew that we would have a problem with each other. I also didn't want to offend his maternal uncle, so I opened the city gate. But how can everything be what we desire in life? Even if my future is good, I will never give Guangning’s military power over to a straw bag*."

Yuan Sikong nodded hard: "What father said is right. Guangning can only be preserved in father’s hands.”

Yuan Mao said sternly: "Kong'er, Lord Li sacrificed his life to feed the enemy, which gave us a few more precious days in exchange. We must do everything we can to defend the city and wait for the reinforcements to come. Kong'er, you are smarter than us. You can help father, right?"

"I can." Yuan Sikong said without hesitation, "Kong'er has a lot of ideas, but Kong'er still doesn't know enough about us and the enemy.”

"Well, from now on, you can go anywhere in Guangning as you wish. The granary, the warehouse, and the city wall. No one will 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 together with Guangning."

Yuan Sikong’s clear eyes were burning with flames.

-----

The next day, Li Boyun rode off to the enemy camp alone. He most likely had little chance of returning on this trip. The soldiers sent him off* with tears in their eyes.

Although he had gray hair and an ash-gray face, his sincere heart was not old*, and will exist forever.

-----

Yuan Sikong was wrapped in thick and heavy cotton-padded clothes and began to understand in detail all of the situations around Guangning City against the cold winter wind and snow. At the same time, Yuan Nanyu's leg injury had recovered. With a heart unable to resist running out, he also enlisted in the army and obeyed the dispatch by Yuan Sikong.

"Second brother, you have been looking at this map for a long time. What do you see?" Yuan Nanyu put a hot steaming bun into Yuan Sikong’s palm, "Eat something quickly."

Yuan Sikong bit the bun while saying, "I'm looking at the route of withdrawing troops of the Jin army."

"The withdrawing troops?" Yuan Nanyu cried, “You don't look at the route of marching troops to Guangning, so why are you looking at the withdrawing troops?”

"To defend Guangning, strengthening its interior is already not enough. Maybe it could be done twice last time, but not now. The city wall of Guangning is damaged in many places. The military strength, goods, and materials are almost fully consumed. Based on our previous method of defending, we definitely won’t be able to defend it.”

"Then how do we defend it?"

"The military strategy and tactics have..."

"Hey hey hey, can you just say it directly?"

Yuan Sikong said helplessly: "Attack what they cherish, and they will go and save it."

"Oh, you want to play besiege Wei to rescue Zhao*? But who do we attack? Those barbarians have no city, and they are rushing around with cattle and sheep..." The more he spoke, the lower his voice, and his eyes brightened, "You want to... "

Yuan Sikong hooked his lips into a smile: "That’s right. When Zhuo Letai sets out in full force, the main camp is bound to be empty, and the defenses will be weak. If I divide the troops to attack its barracks, he will definitely return to rescue it."

"But..." Yuan Nanyu made a bitter face, "Second brother, where do we have soldiers to divide?"

"There is no need for too many troops. Zhuo Letai also knows that we don't have many soldiers, so he will not expect that we would dare to separate our troops and make a sneak attack. By using 300 cavalry and bringing the hand cannons to attack the camp, it will alarm their cattle and sheep, and the camp will be in disorder."

"Second brother, have you discussed this with your father?"

"I was just brewing something in my head, and you insisted on asking me, how could I have told father?" Yuan Sikong flicked his forehead, "This is only one part of the plan. I want to think of a complete and perfect strategy, and defeat Zhuo Letai in one try!"

Yuan Nanyu looked at Yuan Sikong admiringly: "Second brother, why are you so clever?"

"I read books."

"Hmph."

Yuan Sikong was gazing at the map and looking at the black chess piece representing Zhuo Letai’s main camp. The boiling scene of the battle on the battlefield with shining spears and armored horses appeared in his head.

If little Guangning cannot be defended, how can we speak to the world? Zhuo Letai, I will defeat you!

 

----

PS: another loooooong footnotes. Looking forward to tomorrow's new audio drama episode

 

Children with drooping temples*[垂鬓小儿]---signifies a very young child

rain and dew*[雨露]---favor and grace

people should be treated like Heaven*[百姓为天]--- Duke Huan of Qi asked Guan Zhong, "As a king of all people, what should be respected?" Guan Zhong answered: “Respect heaven.” Duke Huan of Qi then raised his head and look at the sky. Guan Zhong said: “The ‘heaven’ I meant, is not the boundless sky. As a king of all people, he has to treat the people like heaven. For a country, if the people are close to each other, there will be peace; if the people help each other, they will be strong; if the people oppose each other, there will be danger; if the people betray each other, they will perish.  

straw bag*[草包]---- A metaphor for a simple-minded and extremely incompetent person

sent him off*[践行]---E-dictionary say it's "practice", I'm like wtf? LOL I still had to double-confirm with my wechat friend just in case. So it's what I had in mind ---- send him off :') what a brave man T_T

he had gray hair and an ash-gray face, his sincere heart was not old*[华发苍颜，但赤心不老]--- 华发苍颜 is a way to describe someone old. 赤心不老 means his sincere heart (loyalty) did not grow old. This whole phrase means: although he’s old from the outside, he’s not old from the inside (heart), or can be another meaning: although his outer complexion changed, but his loyalty did not change

besiege Wei to rescue Zhao* [围魏救赵]----It refers to the tactics of attacking a stronghold in the enemy's rear to force the attacking enemy to retreat.

 

Edited on 17 June  21 (Emzie)

Edited on 5 Jul 21 (Ari)

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