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

Broken River Fortress, an empty courtyard sheltered from the wind in the inner fortress.

The seventeen refugees who had been singled out had now been separated.

More than ten Zhenbei cavalrymen stood in the courtyard, each wielding a long sword. A biting wind swirled above the courtyard walls, and the atmosphere inside the courtyard plummeted to freezing point.

Liu Ruyan sat behind a long table in a room, with a roster and charcoal pencil in front of her.

Hou San leaned against the door frame, idly tossing a sheathed dagger in his hand.

"These seventeen people, not a single word of truth comes out of their mouths." Liu Ruyan spread out several newly recorded statements, her brows furrowed slightly. "What fellow villagers from Qingshui Village? They can't even match up how many wells there are in the village."

Xu Qingshan walked in from outside and casually closed the wooden door, keeping the wind and snow out.

"Have you found out the details?"

Liu Ruyan nodded and divided the statement into three parts.

"The first batch, six people." She pointed to a stack of papers on the far left. "These six are indeed deserters from the border army at the lowest level in Yunzhou. I had someone trick them a few times, and they all confessed."

Hou San chuckled beside him: "These six unlucky fellows, it's said they haven't seen their pay for a full six months. A few days ago, their unit's centurion forced them to change into civilian clothes and escort a shipment of illicit goods for merchants in the city. But they ran into bandits on the way, and the officer in charge ran off first, leaving the goods completely lost."

"They dared not return to the camp," Liu Ruyan continued. "Having lost their superior's private goods, going back would mean certain death, so they had no choice but to take off their uniforms and wander among the refugees, begging for food all the way to Duanhe Fort."

Xu Qingshan remained calm. In the border army of Daqian, he was already used to seeing low-ranking soldiers treated like private slaves by their superiors, only to be blamed and forced to flee.

"What about the second batch?" He looked at the three statements in the middle.

A hint of disgust flashed in Liu Ruyan's eyes: "These three are thugs disguised as refugees. They claim to be ordinary farmers, but Shen Qinghe just brought several elders from the first group of refugees to identify them. One of the old men recognized them on the spot. Half a month ago, these three men took advantage of the heavy snow blocking the roads, carrying machetes, and rushed into the village to steal winter rations, even killing a village head who was guarding the rations."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qingshan's eyes suddenly turned cold.

"These people who take advantage of the chaos and harm the people are only a menace if left alive." Xu Qingshan's tone was completely flat. "Have Liang Shun put these three directly into the death row. After a few days, when the rules in the fort are established, we will deal with them in public according to military law. We will use their heads to set a precedent for the new refugees."

"Understood." Hou San immediately stood up straight, pushed open the door, and went out to arrange manpower.

"The remaining eight are the most troublesome." Liu Ruyan pushed the last statement in front of Xu Qingshan. "These eight are very tight-lipped and avoided the important points during interrogation. But the way they hold their knives and the calluses on their palms from years of using standard-issue spears can't be hidden."

Xu Qingshan picked up the statement and glanced at it.

"Not only that, I had some men test the passwords of several Yunzhou border troops, and their instinctive reactions showed they had been rigorously trained. Moreover, these eight men were excessively familiar with the locations of the various post roads and beacon towers leading from Yunzhou to the North Wall," Liu Ruyan added.

"A spy, and a specially trained elite at that." Xu Qingshan tossed the confession back onto the table.

As expected, the people from Yunzhou wouldn't just send one informant. These eight people, mixed in with a group of over a hundred refugees, could easily have established themselves in Duanhe Fort without Shen Qinghe's strict household registration system.

"What should we do?" Liu Ruyan asked. "Should we subject them to severe torture?"

"No need." Xu Qingshan shook his head. "Since these eight people have been trained, ordinary torture won't get them to talk. On the contrary, it might alert them. Put them in a hard labor camp and have the Zhenbei Cavalry keep a close eye on them. Duanhe Fort is short of labor right now. Give them all the heaviest work, like clearing land, moving stones, and dredging silt. Don't give them enough to eat or rest. When they're so tired they don't even have the strength to hold chopsticks, they'll naturally reveal their true colors."

After dealing with the seventeen people, Xu Qingshan walked out of the courtyard and went straight to the open space in front of the barbican.

At this time, more than a hundred newly settled refugees, as well as the original military households, were all summoned here.

In the cold wind, Xu Qingshan stood on the high platform, looking down at the anxious faces below.

"I know that many of you used to serve in the border army, but later became deserters for various reasons."

Xu Qingshan's deep voice echoed in the open space, causing many young and strong men below to immediately change their expressions and involuntarily shrink back.

According to the laws of the Great Qianlong era, deserters were to be beheaded.

However, Xu Qingshan did not order anyone to draw their swords. He looked at everyone and announced the new recruitment rules for Duanhe Fortress.

"There are different kinds of deserters!"

"Those who were forced to flee because their superiors withheld military pay and cut off supplies; those who were forced to take the blame for their superiors' illegal and disorderly conduct—as long as you haven't killed your comrades or robbed ordinary people, Duanhe Fort will give you a way out!"

The open space was silent, with only heavy breathing audible.

"If you want to live, if you want to atone for your past sins, then take up arms again and join the Zhenbei Army! As long as you can earn military merit on the city walls, your past crimes will be wiped clean! But if it is found that anyone has the blood of civilians on their hands, or deliberately conceals their identity, the blade of Duanhe Fort will show no mercy!"

These words were well-organized and combined kindness with firmness.

The six low-ranking deserters who were pardoned originally thought they were doomed to die. But when they heard Xu Qingshan's words, they knelt down in the snow with a thud, their eyes red as they kowtowed repeatedly.

"We are willing to rejoin the army! We are willing to risk our lives for our comrade!"

The power of role models is immense. With the statements of these six individuals, the young and middle-aged people among the refugees who had previously been observing straightened their backs, their eyes gleaming with hope.

"Those who have signed up for military service, please assemble on the left!"

At Liang Shun's command, within half an hour, over a hundred able-bodied men surged onto the open ground on the left. Among them were ordinary farmers, hunters from the mountains, and former soldiers looking to find a new patron.

However, the fact that many people stepped forward does not mean that everyone will stay.

Xiao Hongluan, dressed in light leather armor and carrying a white waxwood pole, walked valiantly to the group of over a hundred young men.

As the daughter of a military family, she knew all too well what a rabble was and what a truly capable army was.

"The Zhenbei Army is not a charity that shelters the useless, and new recruits are not there to fill quotas and get slaughtered!" Xiao Hongluan's gaze was as cold as frost as she swept across the entire area. "I don't need you to have great brute strength; what I need are soldiers who can understand military orders and who can entrust their backs to their comrades on the battlefield!"

The first round of selection has officially begun.

Unlike other military camps, Xiao Hongluan didn't have the men lift stone weights or compete in strength. Instead, she had a pile of sacks filled with sand brought over.

"Each person carries 30 jin (approximately 15 kg) of equipment and marches 20 li (approximately 10 km) around the snow-covered area surrounding Duanhe Fortress! Anyone who falls behind will be eliminated!"

At a command, hundreds of men shouldered sandbags and rushed into the snow.

At first, everyone managed to keep up. But as time went on, the resistance of the snow, the biting cold wind, and the rapid depletion of their energy caused the line to stretch out.

Several burly men, relying on their strength, charged forward recklessly, completely disregarding their companions who were already staggering behind them.

"You, you, and you, step forward! You're all eliminated!" Xiao Hongluan said coldly, pointing at the burly men at the front.

"Why?!" a burly man angrily threw a sandbag on the ground. "I'm the fastest and the strongest, why am I the one being eliminated?"

Xiao Hongluan walked slowly to him, her eyes sharp: "On the battlefield, those who only care about running fast are either deserters or scourges who will kill their comrades. The Zhenbei Army needs a cohesive unit that can fight the enemy in formation, not lone wolves who like to show off their individual heroism. Get out!"

The burly man was intimidated by her imposing presence. He opened his mouth, but ultimately slunk away from the group.

The second test involves forming a temporary formation.

Xiao Hongluan shuffled the remaining people, forming a temporary team of three complete strangers.

"Listen to the drumbeats! One drumbeat advances, two drumbeats retreat, three drumbeats form a defensive circle!"

She only taught the commands once before letting the drummers start playing.

The drums thundered, and many people, caught off guard and unable to distinguish left from right, bumped into each other. Those who were slow to react, unable to find their positions within the allotted time, and unaware of how to protect their flanks were ruthlessly eliminated by Xiao Hongluan.

The last task was to transport the wounded.

Two new recruits had to use a makeshift stretcher to carry a sack full of heavy loads back and forth quickly across the snow-covered terrain full of obstacles. This tested not only their physical strength but also their teamwork and coordination.

After a day of brutal training, more than half of the team of over a hundred people were eliminated.

In the end, only forty-six able-bodied men remained, panting but still standing ramrod straight.

"You forty-six people have passed the first round of selection and are officially entering the temporary recruit camp!" Xiao Hongluan nodded in satisfaction. "But this is just the beginning. In the next ten days, you will know what true hell is like."

At the same time, Hou San and A Man picked out seven agile and wary men from the eliminated crowd.

These seven men were all hunters who made a living in the mountains year-round. Although they didn't know anything about military formations, their ability to track tracks and conceal themselves in the snow was first-rate.

"You seven will be assigned to the scout reserve team, under my command." Hou San patted the short sword at his waist and grinned.

As the sun set, the expansion of Duanhe Fort's army began to take shape. Although the number of soldiers was small, those who remained were all promising talents.

Just as everyone was about to leave and head to the kitchen to get their food, an unexpected incident occurred.

One of the six pardoned deserters was named Chen Mazi. He was carrying a bundle of firewood, passing by a temporary detention point in the inner fortress.

Outside the detention center, two Zhenbei cavalrymen were escorting a prisoner to clear the snow. The prisoner was the Yunzhou spy whom Aman had dragged out from the refugees a couple of days ago; his shoes were covered in white wolf-skin coal dust, and he had intelligence notes hidden in his collar.

Chen Mazi glanced at the scout's profile and immediately stopped in his tracks.

He rubbed his eyes, seemingly unable to believe it, and then exclaimed in a low voice.

"Brother Wang? What are you doing here?"

The spy being escorted visibly stiffened upon hearing the sound, but he immediately lowered his head, quickened his pace, and pretended not to have heard at all.

This scene was witnessed by Liu Ruyan, who was patrolling nearby.

Liu Ruyan's eyes flickered, and she immediately stepped forward to stop Chen Mazi.

"Do you know him?" Liu Ruyan pointed at the spy's back, her voice not loud, but carrying an undeniable air of authority.

Chen Mazi swallowed hard, quickly put down the firewood, and respectfully replied, "Reporting to you, sir, I saw this man before when I was working in the Yunzhou patrol battalion. His name is Wang Gui, and he is a personal guard of Commander Ding in the patrol battalion. I saw him a few times when I was running errands for my superior."

"Ding Baihu's personal guards?" Liu Ruyan's eyes narrowed slightly.

The Yunzhou Patrol Battalion is an army responsible for the security and defense of the outskirts of Yunzhou City. Why would they send a centurion's personal guard disguised as a refugee to this desolate north wall to spy on intelligence?

"Are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?" Liu Ruyan asked again to confirm.

"Absolutely right!" Chen Mazi patted his chest to assure him, "Wang Gui has a black mole on his left eyebrow, I remember it clearly."

"Alright, you can leave now. Keep this to yourself and don't mention it to anyone."

After dismissing Chen Mazi, Liu Ruyan turned and headed towards the room where Wang Gui was being held.

Half an hour later.

The sky had completely darkened, but the council hall of Duanhebao was brightly lit with candles.

Xu Qingshan sat behind his desk, watching Liu Ruyan, who had just finished her interrogation, push open the door and enter.

"Have you found out?" Xu Qingshan poured a cup of hot tea and pushed it across the table.

Liu Ruyan stepped forward, picked up her teacup to moisten her throat, and her originally charming face was now covered with a layer of frost.

"I got the question out."

Liu Ruyan placed a signed confession on the table.

"That man's name is Wang Gui. Chen Mazi wasn't mistaken; he is indeed Ding Baihu's personal guard in the Yunzhou Patrol Battalion."

Xu Qingshan's gaze fell on the confession, his fingers lightly tapping the table: "The patrol battalion's influence is quite extensive. A mere centurion dares to send someone to investigate Duanhe Fort's background?"

"That's the most interesting part."

Liu Ruyan sneered, a glint of shrewdness flashing in her eyes.

"I just used every means at my disposal, and Wang Guicai finally confessed the truth. That Commander Ding is ostensibly paid by the patrol battalion and in charge of maintaining order outside the city. But in reality, he is not under the jurisdiction of the patrol battalion at all."

"Then who is in charge of him?"

"He's been working for one place for many years," Liu Ruyan said, placing her hands on the table and emphasizing each word.

"Yunzhou, Military Supplies Transfer Center"