Adhere to the gentleman's principles

The next day, they both slept comfortably that night.

At the dinner table, Xu Zhiwan and Meng Xiangning looked at the expressions of Zhao Junning and Li Ziyan and realized that they had been busy for a long time last night.

Inside the government office, Li Ziyan looked better than usual after a night, and even more youthful. Zhou Aoyang asked Xu Wenhe, "Was Li Ziyan so happy in the government office before?" Xu Wenhe shook his head, "No, I don't know what happened today, I'm so happy."

In the evening, Li Ziyan asked Xu Wenhe, Zhou Aoyang and others to return to the mansion first, and then rushed to pick up Zhao Junning. Zhao Junning came out of the restaurant and saw Li Ziyan at the door of the rouge shop. She walked over and asked, "Ziyan, why are you here?"

Li Ziyan saw Zhao Junning and said with a smile: "You are in the food shop, I thought you were in the rouge shop, I am here to take you home, let's go home."

Zhao Junning nodded: "Okay." On the way, Li Ziyan held Zhao Junning's hand: "Junning, I have news for you and your mother." After hearing this, Zhao Junning said: "Then let's go back quickly."

"What? You asked Jun Ning to go to Pingliang, but you didn't go?" Xu Zhiwan stood up and asked. Li Ziyan nodded, "That's right." Zhao Junning looked at Li Ziyan, then at Xu Zhiwan and Meng Xiangning. Xu Zhiwan and Meng Xiangning understood and left the house first. Zhao Junning moved closer to Li Ziyan, "Is something big going to happen?"

Li Ziyan knew that he couldn't hide it from Zhao Junning: "Yesterday, a letter came from the border saying that the princes of Northern Mongolia wanted to occupy Liangzhou. General Yuan has to guard several passes, and in front of Liangzhou is Northern Mongolia, no one can protect us. We need to be prepared to fight and meet the enemy."

Holding Zhao Junning's hand, he said, "You go to Pingliang with your mother-in-law. When the war is over, it will be time for me to leave my official position in Liangzhou. I will go to Pingliang to find you then."

Under normal circumstances, Zhao Junning would have agreed, "No, I won't leave. You fight your battle and I'll wait for you at home. You sent me away because you were afraid that if you lost the battle against Beimeng, you would lose all the slaves. But you won't lose the city, and I'll stay with you."

Li Ziyan was about to say something else, but Zhao Junning was more determined: "You said you wanted me to be myself and do whatever I want. Now I am being myself. I am your wife and I have no reason to retreat and hide." Li Ziyan compromised.

The next day, after seeing off Xu Zhiwan and Meng Xiangning, Li Ziyan climbed up the city wall. "If a fight really breaks out, how long can the city wall and gate hold out?" Zhao Junning asked. Li Ziyan looked at the city and shook his head. "I don't know, but everything is uncertain before the fight begins."

At night, there were more guards patrolling the city and on the city walls.

The next day, after Li Ziyan and Zhao Junning finished their breakfast, Li Ziyan was about to leave when Lin Hai ran into the Li residence. Li Ziyan saw him and asked, "What's wrong, Lin Hai? Why are you running so fast?"

Lin Hai panted, "Here...here they are. A group of Northern Mongolian troops are coming towards Lucheng from a thousand miles outside the city." Li Ziyan ran towards the city gate after hearing this. Zhao Junning walked out of the mansion and saw Li Ziyan's hurried figure, "Lin Hai, where are you going, Ziyan?" Lin Hai said, "The Northern Mongolian troops are coming."

After hearing this, Zhao Junning paused and the round fan in his hand fell to the ground: "What?" Then Zhao Junning also ran towards the city gate, and Lin Hai chased after him. The people in the city panicked when they learned that the Northern Mongolians had arrived, and the streets were in chaos.

When they got to the foot of the city tower, they saw Xu Wenhe and Zhou Aoyang already on the tower with their troops, and the remaining several hundred soldiers were heading towards the north, south and west gates. Zhao Junning ran up the city wall, and Li Ziyan was discussing countermeasures, "I will lead three thousand soldiers out of the city in a while, and the rest will stay in the city and be sent out later."

Xu Wenhe asked, "You only took 3,000 out of the 70,000-man army?" Li Ziyan nodded, "Just 3,000. The Northern Mongols are good at fighting but not at strategy." Then he looked at Lin Muchen, "Brother Lin, I'll leave the city to you. The defense of the city depends on you."

Then Li Ziyan put on his armor and rode down the city wall. Mo Yu and Fei Zhou followed. Lin Muchen looked at Xu Wenhe: "Ziyan asked me to arrange the defense of the city, but will they listen to me?"

Xu Wenhe patted Lin Muchen on the shoulder: "Zi Yan asked you to go because you are the oldest among us, you have outstanding leadership skills, you are good at writing, and you have written a military book." Lin Muchen nodded: "Okay, I'll try." He walked down the wall: "Everyone listen to my orders." Those who heard Lin Muchen's words looked at Lin Muchen, and those who didn't listen held their guns and lowered their heads. Zhou Aoyang on the wall looked at this scene: "It seems that they don't listen to Lin Muchen."

Zhao Junning watched this scene and walked down the wall with Yuan Xinghui towards Lin Muchen, "Brother Muchen."

Then he looked at the soldiers and said, "Comrades, the enemy is getting closer and closer to us. I know you are afraid because you have never fought a war before. That's because the Yuan army has been guarding the border. But this time is different. The Northern Mongolians are not only targeting us, they are targeting all the cities on the border, so this time we have to protect ourselves. You were born and raised here, and your wives, children, and parents are all at home. They are waiting for news from you and waiting for news of your great victory."

"The Northern Mongols are as good at fighting as the Handan Chi people. We can't do that! Why don't we surrender and retreat to Cangcheng?"

"Do you think you can survive if you retreat to Cangcheng? No, I am afraid of death. The people in the city are also afraid. But if we retreat this time, will we retreat again next time? We have to defend our own land."

The soldiers were persuaded. Seeing this, Lin Muchen stepped forward and said, "Okay, those who know how to shoot arrows go up the city wall, and the rest guard the city gate with weapons ready and wait for news from your masters. The south gate of the city is the inner gate and 10,000 soldiers will be sent to guard it. The north gate is the merchant gate and it is easy for spies to sneak in, so 20,000 soldiers will be sent there. The west gate is the secondary main gate and 15,000 soldiers will be sent there. The rest will stay at the east gate. There are yamen runners in the city to appease the people." Several people walked towards the city wall again.