Receiving Imperial Praise Once Again

When Emperor Yang of Sui discussed the siege strategy with his generals inside the dragon tent, Li Dong was not present, nor did he know which method Emperor Yang had ultimately chosen. However, judging from the subsequent developments on the battlefield, Emperor Yang had clearly opted for a strategy of all-out assault.

Regarding whether to fight or negotiate for the acquisition of Pyongyang, Emperor Yang had not consulted Li Dong. Nor did Li Dong possess the qualifications to participate in state affairs; after all, he was merely a Palace Guard, a personal soldier entrusted with the protection of Emperor Yang’s life.

Pyongyang was the capital of Goguryeo, holding a supremely vital status. Once Pyongyang fell, Goguryeo would be thoroughly finished. The wealth that generations of Goguryeo’s royalty, ministers, and nobles had painstakingly accumulated would be reduced to nothing; their descendants would be enslaved or slaughtered; their beautiful wives, concubines, and even passingly attractive maids would inevitably fall prey to the claws of the Great Sui soldiers. Their homeland would be reduced to ruins, with broken walls everywhere—no home would remain intact, and the nation would cease to be a nation.

Every single person inside Pyongyang—from the royal family, ministers, generals, and soldiers to the common folk—was acutely aware of the severity of their situation. Every heart burned with a fierce resolve to fight to the death with the Sui garrison, utilizing their wits, courage, and every conceivable means to defend Pyongyang to the bitter end.

After more than twenty consecutive days of siege, Pyongyang still maintained formidable combat capability. Meanwhile, the Sui regular troops had suffered continuous losses and no longer possessed the high morale they had at the beginning of the siege. The two sides had fallen into a stalemate.

At this juncture, the generals were at their wits' end. Tunneling, water attacks, fire attacks, positional warfare, surprise raids—every known method of siege warfare had been exhausted, yet the results were far from satisfactory. Upon receiving the news of the siege's failure, Emperor Yang flew into a rage. It was now late August, and the weather was rapidly turning cold; time waited for no one!

Emperor Yang was so anxious that he lost his appetite. Even when he forced himself to eat, it tasted like chewing wax, entirely devoid of the flavors of mountain delicacies and seafood.

Seeing this, Li Dong advised him, "Your Majesty, please take care of your imperial health. Anxiety alone is useless. Some matters require absolute, unwavering patience."

"Speak then. Tell me, what is Go Won thinking right now? With them resisting so stubbornly, are they not afraid that once I breach the city, I will massacre its inhabitants?" Emperor Yang demanded angrily, pacing back and forth anxiously inside the dragon tent.

After careful consideration, Li Dong cautiously ventured, "This humble subject believes that their purpose in holding out so tenaciously is to bargain with Your Majesty, thereby increasing their leverage for a favorable outcome."

"With this kind of behavior, they expect to increase their leverage? When I breach the city, I will wash Pyongyang in blood! I will not give them the slightest room for bargaining!" Emperor Yang grew even more furious, pointing toward the direction of Pyongyang as he shouted.

"May Your Majesty calm your wrath! Your Majesty may be able to take everyone's head, but you cannot kill their patriotic devotion!" Li Dong was still probing, testing whether Emperor Yang was aware of the severe consequences.

"Humph!" Emperor Yang sneered. "The body is the home of the spirit. Once the body is gone, how can the spirit survive alone?"

"Your Majesty, this spirit is not the heart of flesh and blood, but a heart united as one. It is the heart of defending one's home and country, the heart of preserving one's bloodline, the heart of staging a comeback, a blazing ambition that would rather break than bend, refusing to submit in death, enduring humiliation, and striving for survival in the cracks of doom!" Li Dong's words burst forth with the force of breaking bamboo, pouring out torrentially: "This spirit will not be extinguished with the death of the body, nor will it be shattered by the destruction of the city. On the contrary, it will quietly and stealthily take root and grow. Once it encounters the spring breeze, it will transform the earth into a sea of spring colors, inevitably turning into a sweeping, lush, flourishing force that shields the land and spreads like a prairie fire!"

"This is the heart of a seed!"

Emperor Yang suddenly halted his steps, stared at Li Dong, and gazed at him coldly for a long moment before asking suspiciously, "Are you certain your surname is Dang and not Li?"

Frightened out of his wits, Li Dong broke out in a cold sweat that drenched his entire body. They had been discussing the affairs of Goguryeo; at such a critical moment, why did Emperor Yang suddenly bring up his impersonation of Dang Yuqian? Had he discovered any clues or traces? Once exposed, this was a capital crime punishable by execution for deceiving the emperor!

Maintaining a forced composure, Li Dong loudly replied, "Dang Yuqian was born Dang Yuqian; this subject has no idea what Your Majesty means by the surname Li. I humbly beg Your Majesty to make it clear!"

Emperor Yang seemed to realize his lapse in composure. He continued pacing inside the tent, waved his hand to tell Li Dong to relax, and then said, "It is simply my own suspicion! I know that atop the walls of Liaodong City, you displayed divine might, but you are merely a warrior after all. I never expected your insight to be so profound. In my impression, only Li Dong of Zhangqiu possesses such grand strategic talent, matching my own literary and military prowess. Just now, as you spoke those words, I know not why it suddenly reminded me of Li Dong. Haha, a slip of the tongue, a slip of the tongue, it was merely my illusion. Do not take it to heart."

*Holy cow! Damn it, you scared the life out of me!* Li Dong's frantically pounding heart barely settled back into place, having nearly jumped out of his mouth at Emperor Yang's words. Hearing the explanation, he finally let out a thorough breath of relief. It's all very well for you to have a misunderstanding, but my adrenal glands were secreting enough to flood the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers!

"What you said just now was very good. Continue, go on... I want to hear more..." Emperor Yang looked at Li Dong with a smile, signaling him to resume the previous topic.

Li Dong thought to himself: *Excessive words lead to errors; I had better stick to the essentials, lest he discover any flaws.*

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Go Won’s stubborn defense of the city is meant to make Your Majesty deeply realize how exceptionally difficult it is to breach. He is demonstrating the morale and ambition of Goguryeo. Go Won also knows that the city will inevitably fall sooner or later. Yet once Your Majesty realizes that the people within the city possess such soaring morale, Your Majesty will not slaughter the city—the hearts of the people are difficult to conquer! He is striving to secure his position as the King of Goguryeo even after the city falls, so that he may guard the city on Your Majesty's behalf. This is a tactic of retreating in order to advance, bargaining for capital in the aftermath of defeat!"

"Oh?!" Emperor Yang abruptly stopped, gazing into Li Dong's eyes. What he saw was a burning, loyal heart, bearing the heroic demeanor and far-sighted vision of a commanding general. A mere personal soldier, only sixteen years old—how could he so effortlessly pierce through a political situation that even he himself could not fully fathom?

"Splendid! Splendid! Absolutely wonderful! What a brilliant stroke of 'capital after the fall of the city'!" Emperor Yang raised his right hand, tapping repeatedly against his own ear dozens of times, each gesture pointing toward Li Dong. "On this point, even I had not considered your level of understanding!"

This was the very issue that Li Dong had been deeply agonizing over: Once the city fell, who would be left to garrison and guard it?

First: Go Won would guard the northern gateway for the Great Sui in the capacity of a fallen monarch. Second: Slaughter all the inhabitants of the city, and have Emperor Yang dispatch a Great Sui general to govern the stronghold. Third: Go Won would nominally govern, while the Sui dispatched supervisors to exercise actual control. Regardless of which option was chosen, none of them would involve Li Dong. Because he was simply not qualified yet!

However, Li Dong had no intention of easily giving up such a massive chunk of fat meat. He certainly would not make wedding clothes for someone else—allowing others to sit back and enjoy the fruits of victory after conquering Goguryeo's vast territories, while he himself was cast aside and left out in the cold.

Therefore, Li Dong was scheming and plotting with meticulous care, invisibly increasing his weight in Emperor Yang's mind.

To put it bluntly, Li Dong intended to both subdue the King of Goguryeo and overshadow the heroes of the Great Sui, seizing supreme ruling power over Goguryeo directly from Emperor Yang's hands! This was a hazardous move, an extremely difficult chess piece to play, yet it was the crucial first step toward ultimate success.

Once this step was played, how far it could go depended no longer on Li Dong, but entirely upon Emperor Yang.

Li Dong said, "This humble subject does not dare to unjustly claim this credit. It was Your Majesty's brilliant guidance that enlightened this blockhead of mine. This is entirely Your Majesty's achievement; this humble subject dares not accept this grace at the risk of death!"

"Very well, very well, I know as much! Go summon the various grand generals to the tent for a council... Urge them—express my will that they must discuss who shall garrison and clean up the mess after the city is breached!" *(To be continued...)*