If I made you cannon fodder, how did you manage to achieve your goal of conquering the wolf's l

The man whose shoes were spotted by Aman with white wolf cob dust on the soles was quickly taken away by two Zhenbei cavalrymen.

In the wind and snow, this was just a minor disturbance and didn't attract much attention from the displaced people. Their eyes were all fixed on the large pots of hot porridge simmering in the snow.

In the side room above the gate tower, the charcoal fire in the brazier was burning brightly.

Xu Qingshan sat down at the table and laid the thin piece of paper that Liu Ruyan had handed him flat on the surface. The paper had been found in the man's collar pocket; it was unsigned, containing only three brief questions:

"How much grain is in the fort?"

"How many new recruits are there?"

"Has Xu Qingshan left the fort?"

Liu Ruyan stood to the side, gently brushing away the snowflakes clinging to her sleeves, her voice clear and cold: "The people of White Wolf Village are getting impatient. This spy is mixed in with the refugees, clearly trying to find out our strength. If we let him relay the message back, their next move will probably be more than just a probe."

Xu Qingshan looked at the note and sneered, "If they want to see it, let them see it. But what they see is up to us."

He put the note away, turned and walked out the door, looking down at the crowd inside the barbican that was gradually quieting down.

"Qinghe, follow the rules."

Below the city wall, Shen Qinghe had already arranged for scribes to bring over several long tables. On the tables were piled hundreds of polished blank wooden plaques, and several soldiers skilled in carpentry and engraving sat behind them, holding carving knives in their hands.

"Everyone in line for porridge, come over and register to get your tokens!"

Shen Qinghe's voice was gentle yet undeniably clear, echoing throughout the entire Wengcheng.

"This is the rule of the 'seven-day temporary household' in Broken River Fortress. Each household elects one person to receive a wooden plaque."

Shen Qinghe picked up a pre-carved wooden plaque and showed it to everyone.

"On the front of the wooden plaque, your names and the number of people in your household are engraved. On the back of the wooden plaque, your daily rations, the labor you perform, and the place of residence you are assigned are recorded."

The refugees stared longingly at the wooden sign, listening to Shen Qinghe's explanation.

"No idlers are kept in the fortress. The elderly, children under ten, and the seriously injured and sick do not need to work and will receive a basic ration of food to sustain their lives every day. However, all able-bodied men who can work must exchange their labor for food. They are paid according to their work; the more they do, the more extra food and coarse grain cakes they will receive!"

These words immediately sparked a murmur of discussion among the crowd.

In other places, the refugees might complain. But here, having just experienced hunger and cold, and even witnessed people freezing to death on the road, they know all too well that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Being able to use all their strength to provide enough food for their whole family is already an immense blessing for them.

"This is a fair rule!" a man shouted, rubbing his hands together. "I'll do anything as long as I get food!"

Shen Qinghe nodded, signaling the clerk to begin registering.

This wooden sign system may seem simple, but it is an extremely sharp sieve.

It not only ensured that genuine refugees wouldn't starve, distributing limited food supplies to those most in need, but more importantly, each time rations were collected, the wooden tag and the person's name had to be verified. Anyone attempting to impersonate another, collect rations repeatedly, or have spies try to infiltrate the fortress would not escape the clerk's notice.

The resettlement of the displaced people is proceeding in an orderly manner.

But as bowls of hot porridge were distributed, some discordant voices emerged in the former military household area of ​​Duanhebao.

Dozens of former military households from Duanhebao gathered at the street corner, their faces full of worry as they watched the newcomers carrying broken bowls and drinking until they were covered in sweat.

"With so many mouths to feed, can our fortress keep up with the food supply?"

"That's right, we're barely able to feed ourselves, and now over a hundred more people have arrived. How are we going to survive?"

"I heard that Commander Xu is going to distribute land to them? Ma Rong seized so much land from us before, and now that Black Wind Stronghold has been driven away, shouldn't those fields be returned to us old military households first?"

The greatest threat to the morale of the military and the people is unequal distribution of wealth.

Xu Qingshan knew this well. Instead of using force to suppress these complaints, he turned around and went to the backyard of Duanhe Fort, where he invited Chief Feng, who was recuperating, to come out.

Although Chief Feng was physically weak, he enjoyed extremely high prestige among the soldiers of Duanhe Fort.

When two old soldiers helped Chief Feng into the street, the former military households who had been complaining fell silent and bowed their heads respectfully.

"Fortress Chief, you're still not fully recovered, why are you out here?" Liang Shun hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.

Chief Feng waved his hand and sat down on the wooden chair. He took out a yellowed old land deeds register from his pocket and glanced at the former military households present.

"I know what you're worried about." Chief Feng's voice wasn't loud, but everyone could hear it clearly. "That beast Ma Rong used to take advantage of Sun Kui's power to seize your land and force you to sell your children."

He opened the roster and pointed to the names on it.

"Wang Laosan, your family originally had three mu of dry land on the south slope; Li Datou, your uncle left you two mu of paddy fields... Commander Xu has already spoken, today, we'll settle the accounts. All the land that originally belonged to your military households will be returned to you, not a single piece less!"

After a moment of silence, the crowd erupted in thunderous cheers. Several elderly soldiers were so moved that tears streamed down their faces, and they knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly.

"The fort commander is wise! Garrison Commander Xu is wise!"

Feng Baozhang gestured with his hand and continued, "As for the land that Ma Rong and his cronies have seized and plundered over the years, it will all be confiscated as public land and allocated by the Zhenbei Army!"

The former military households were reassured and no longer rejected the new refugees as they had before. Instead, their eyes showed more gratitude and respect for Xu Qingshan.

After appeasing the former military households, Xu Qingshan walked to the camp of the new refugees and announced the specific rules regarding the "land distribution".

"Listen up, newcomers. If you want land in Duanhe Fortress, you may." Xu Qingshan's gaze was sharp, his voice cold. "But the land won't be given away for free. You'll need to participate in land reclamation, repair irrigation ditches, or take up arms to defend Duanhe Fortress. As long as you contribute to the fortress and your identities are verified, you'll be allocated land!"

He paused, his tone becoming even sterner: "However, for the first three years, no one is permitted to resell the land they have been allocated, regardless of who they are! Anyone who dares to engage in private transactions will have their land reclaimed and be expelled from the north wall!"

Although the refugees were somewhat puzzled by this rule, they all nodded in agreement.

Xu Qingshan's establishment of this three-year ban on sales was not without reason.

He knew all too well the methods of those unscrupulous merchants in Bailang Village and the powerful families of Yunzhou. When refugees first arrived, they had no spare money. Once they encountered even a minor disaster or illness, those merchants would take advantage of their vulnerability and buy their land at extremely low prices. In a year or two, these refugees who had finally managed to get land would be reduced to tenant farmers working for the powerful families.

The three-year ban on sales is intended to completely sever this chain of exploitation.

Once rules are established, order is naturally formed.

The temporary residents who received their wooden tags were then assigned to makeshift camps outside the city and some abandoned empty houses inside the fortress.

The Zhao family was assigned a mud house on the very edge of the fort, the one that was most severely damaged.

The thatch on the roof had long been blown away by the wind, and cold wind was howling in. Several large cracks had appeared in the four walls.

Looking at the dilapidated house, Zhao Dahe's wife's eyes reddened, and she almost burst into tears.

"Why are you crying?" Zhao Dahe didn't complain. He rubbed his frozen hands and carefully hid the half-bag of coarse grains he had been given in the corner. "Having a roof over my head and a wall to block the wind is better than dying in the snow!"

After saying that, he rolled up his sleeves, turned around, and walked out of the house.

Before long, Zhao Dahe found some dry grass and yellow mud from the nearby wasteland. He already knew some carpentry, so he quickly climbed onto the roof and began to repair the large hole.

Seeing this, several other refugees nearby were also inspired by his enthusiasm and came over to lend a hand, some mixing mud and others handing him straw.

In less than an hour, the dilapidated house, which had been leaking air everywhere, was repaired completely. A small bonfire was even lit inside, giving it a touch of human warmth.

This scene was witnessed by Xu Qingshan, who was on patrol.

"What's this person's name?" Xu Qingshan asked the clerk beside him.

"Reporting to the garrison commander, his name is Zhao Dahe, a farmer who knows a little about carpentry."

Xu Qingshan nodded slightly: "Write down his name. Give him an extra portion of the mixed grain pancakes tomorrow. Tell the others that this is the rule for temporary residents. Diligent people will never go hungry in Duanhe Fort."

As night deepened, the wind and snow subsided slightly.

Most people inside Duanhe Fort had already gone to bed, with only a dim candlelight still burning in the side room above the gate tower.

Shen Qinghe sat at her desk, holding a thick stack of rosters in her hand. Her delicate brows were slightly furrowed as she carefully checked the information of the migrants registered that day.

Halfway through checking, her finger suddenly stopped on a page of the roster.

Shen Qinghe pulled out the list and searched for several corresponding wooden plaques at the bottom. Her expression became somewhat solemn.

She stood up, took the stack of wooden plaques and roster, and knocked on Xu Qingshan's door.

"What's up?" Xu Qingshan was wiping the fine steel longsword.

"There's something fishy going on among this group."

Shen Qinghe picked out the seventeen wooden plaques and arranged them neatly on the table.

"When registering this afternoon, these seventeen young men all claimed to be villagers from 'Qingshui Village' in the south of Yunzhou. They said that they had fled the village because they had offended a local bully."

Xu Qingshan put down his long sword and glanced at the wooden signs: "It's not surprising that people from the same village are fleeing."

"If they were truly fleeing, that wouldn't be surprising. But when registering them, I was extra careful and asked them about some details of the village separately."

Shen Qinghe sneered and pointed to the records on the roster.

"I asked them whether the river at the entrance of Qingshui Village flows east or west. Seven people said east, five people said west, and a few others stammered and couldn't say for sure. I then asked them whether the village's land temple was dedicated to the Earth God or the Dragon King, and their answers were even more varied."

Shen Qinghe raised her head, her gaze fixed intently on Xu Qingshan: "Seventeen fellow villagers who claim to have grown up in the same village don't even know which way the river at the village entrance flows?"

Xu Qingshan's eyes sharpened instantly.

He reached out and flipped over the seventeen wooden plaques one by one, his fingers tapping lightly on the rough wood grain.

The flickering candlelight inside the room illuminated his stern face.

"These people are not a group."

Xu Qingshan moved the seventeen wooden plaques aside, his tone revealing a chilling killing intent.

"Someone taught them to use the same identity."