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

The snowstorm at midnight was even more violent and fierce than that west of Broken River Fortress.

The inky black sky, like a frozen boulder, pressed heavily upon the vast, desolate northern plains. A fierce wind whipped up coarse, frozen snow particles that pelted the armored armor and the visors of the warhorses, producing a fine, muffled crackling sound.

After quietly setting off from the east gate of Duanhebao, 110 elite cavalrymen of the Zhenbei Army, clad in white camouflage cloaks, silently sped eastward along the mountain range.

The marching column was silent. The warhorses beneath each other had thick, linen-wrapped iron bits in their mouths, their hooves tightly wrapped in non-slip leather, even their heavy breathing was mostly concealed by their hoods. The horses' hooves were fitted with three-lobed, reverse-barbed iron spurs; whenever they stepped onto a hard, smooth ice slope, the spurs would dig deep into the ice, gripping the ground firmly and preventing the horses from slipping and breaking their hooves.

In the center of the group, twenty lightweight wooden sleds glided smoothly across the snowfield.

The bottom of the sled was planed and coated with antifreeze grease. Two strong horses pulled it from the front, carrying blocks of cooked horse meat, cheese bricks, bundles of steel armor-piercing arrows, and several jars of strong liquor. As it glided across the frozen snow, it left only two shallow skid marks.

On the foremost large sled, a thick, warm white wolf fur rug was laid out, and in the corner were two small, warm ceramic charcoal stoves.

Lu Yong, the right detachment commander of Jubei Fort, leaned against the edge of the wooden frame, his face still pale, but under Qin Yuenu's warm ginseng soup and acupuncture to soothe his breathing, his breath had finally calmed down. He half-opened his sunken eyes, gazing at the steady, mountain-like figure in the wind and snow ahead.

That was Xu Qingshan, the garrison commander of Duanhe Fort.

The black fur collar trembled slightly in the cold wind. Xu Qingshan sat upright on the horse, his body as straight as a spear, and he did not sway in the slightest no matter how the biting wind lashed at him.

After traveling thirty miles, the once open and flat wasteland was gradually swallowed up by undulating dark shadows.

The terrain ahead suddenly became extremely dangerous.

Langya Ridge.

This treacherous mountain range, stretching across the eastern section of the northern wall, resembles a row of jagged, interlocking animal teeth, piercing the gloomy night sky. Its steep slopes are sheer, the black stone walls partially obscured by snow, with bottomless crevasses on either side.

The harshness and danger here were even more brutal than Lu Yong had previously described.

In sheltered mountain hollows and rocky valleys, the snow can be several feet deep. Even a strong warhorse, if it accidentally steps into a snowdrift, will find the snow covering its belly, and sometimes both horse and rider will sink deep into it.

The march of the column inevitably slowed down.

Xu Qingshan pulled on the reins, turned his horse around, and came to the sled where Lu Yong was. He then jumped off his horse.

"Can you still find your way?" Xu Qingshan's voice was deep and steady, sounding exceptionally clear in the howling cold wind.

Lu Yong swallowed a mouthful of warm water, propped himself up to sit up, and raised his arm, which was wrapped in cotton, pointing towards the dark, deep valley pass ahead:

"Reporting to the garrison commander, Jubei Fort is built on top of the Wolf Fang Cliff, and there are only three roads leading to the interior of the pass."

Lu Yong gasped for breath, his voice hoarse and strained:

"The first one is the 'Wolf Fang Road' right in front of us."

"This is the only passage accessible by foot and carriage, but the narrowest part of the gorge is only a few feet wide, with the rock walls on both sides reaching tens of feet high. The barbarians have besieged the mountain for two months, and their heavy troops will surely hold this gorge firmly, piling up logs and frozen stones on top. A direct assault would only result in futile deaths."

Xu Qingshan surveyed the canyon, which resembled the gaping maw of a giant beast amidst the wind and snow, and calmly asked, "What about the second one?"

"The second one is the steep, precipitous road on the south side."

Lu Yong shook his head, a hint of lingering fear in his eyes: "That place is so narrow that even birds can hardly land. It's full of knife-cut crevices in the rocks. Normally, only reckless herb gatherers would go down there by rope. But now, in the dead of winter with heavy snow, the rock walls are covered with thick icicles, making it too slippery to stand on. More than a hundred riders carrying supplies simply cannot climb over there."

"As for the third point..."

Lu Yong gritted his teeth and turned to look at the side peaks behind Wolf Fang Ridge, hidden in the wind and snow:

"That was a side path carved out of the cliff by the old soldiers when they were transporting stones to build the fort ten years ago. It was called the 'Ghost Ladder'."

"It's all made of wooden stakes and stone steps built along the cliff. It's been abandoned for over a decade, and most of the planks are rotten and broken. But that path bypasses the main pass and leads directly to a small water gate in the back mountain of Jubei Fort. The barbarians are all cavalry, and they hate climbing plank roads, so they probably won't leave too many men on such a dead end."

The front is a dead end, the south is a precipice, and the back is a ruined path.

Xu Qingshan stood in the snow, his deep gaze piercing through the night, quietly watching the outline of the mountains deep in the snowstorm.

Just as they were pondering, Ah Man, the scout commander who had gone to scout out the terrain, glided swiftly down the hillside ahead on his light wooden snowboards.

Aman knelt on one knee in the snow, grabbed a handful of black mud mixed with ice shards, and handed it to Xu Qingshan:

"Centurion, there are a lot of scattered hoofprints under the snow ahead."

Aman pointed to two sheltered snow-covered hills on the outer edge of the canyon: "The barbarians are very careful. They didn't cram all five hundred riders into the Wolf Fang Pass. They sent out several groups of scouts to patrol the mountains in shifts, to prevent anyone from escaping and to guard against any movement outside."

Hou San also emerged from the shadows beside him and said in a low voice, "Centurion, these steppe barbarians are very picky. They're blocking the main road from the front and casting a net around the perimeter to hunt us down. They're planning to starve Jubei Fort to death like a caged animal. If our hundred-odd men charge straight in and alert the scouts, it'll become a head-on fight."

Xu Qingshan's gaze sharpened, and he decisively issued the order:

"Hou San, take ten nimble scouts, draped in snow-white cloaks, and go ahead to infiltrate the area."

"Put away your broadswords and use only oil-soaked crossbows and blowgun arrows."

A cold glint flashed in Xu Qingshan's eyes: "Find out the outposts along the mountain pass, eliminate them quietly if you encounter any enemies, and make sure no word gets out."

"clear!"

Hou San grinned, pulled up the hood of his cloak, and led ten carefully selected mountain veterans, their bodies skimming along the snow-covered ground, disappearing into the vast white snowscape in the blink of an eye.

The large group of men hid in a sheltered, recessed mountain valley, waiting for orders.

The warhorses crouched low against the mountain rocks, and the cavalrymen took out pieces of dried meat from their packs, stuffed them into their mouths, and chewed slowly, their hands resting on the hilts of their swords, quietly warding off the cold wind of the night.

A full half hour passed.

At the top of the mountain ridge ahead, three faint phosphorescent lights flickered, obscuring the strong light.

That was a sign that Hou San had succeeded and was safe.

Xu Qingshan mounted his horse, gently pulled on the reins, and the group set off again, advancing rapidly under the cover of the wind and snow.

However, just as the procession passed the bend in the pass ahead and crossed a rocky hill barren by the wind, the lead warhorse suddenly stopped.

The wind and snow created a tiny vortex as the mountain wind swirled around it, swirling away the floating snow from the crevices of the rocks.

The scene that was revealed to everyone made the dozens of veteran soldiers of the Zhenbei Army following behind gasp for breath.

In a rocky hollow filled with ice and snow, six corpses, frozen to a bluish-gray, lay side by side.

The corpses were covered in tattered, thin leather armor from the Great Qian Dynasty. The cotton wadding had long since congealed into hard clumps with blackened blood. There were many gashes on their bodies, torn by scimitars. Their faces were withered and skeletal, their cheeks sunken, and the fingernails on their hands had all been worn away by the hard frozen ground, leaving only bare white bones.

This was the second group of cavalry sent out by Jubeibao to break through the encirclement.

All six soldiers fell victim to the ambush and perished here.

The young soldier at the forefront had a body frozen as hard as iron, but even as he breathed his last, he remained in a crawling posture, using both hands and feet. His withered arms were deeply embedded in the ice and rocks, and his hollow face stared directly west—towards the heart of the Great Qian border.

Even as he breathed his last, he was desperately climbing toward his own side's lines.

Lu Yong, on the sled behind, recognized the faces and his body trembled violently. He slammed his arms on the wooden plank and let out a heart-wrenching sob.

"Commander Zhang... Commander Zhao... you... you're all going to die here..."

Zhou Laoqi and the other veterans silently tightened the reins, their chests heaving, their knuckles turning white from the excessive force.

These six soldiers, like them, were border guards stationed in the harsh, cold frontier. Their real names might not even have been recorded in the official records of the Great Qian government, yet now, for the sake of the fortress and their comrades behind them, they froze to death in the heavy snow.

"Centurion, dig a hole for the brothers..." a young cavalryman whispered, his eyes red.

"Don't dig."

Xu Qingshan dismounted, his voice calm yet carrying a heavy sense of oppression:

"The rocks are frozen harder than pig iron. When you dig a hole with an iron pickaxe, the sound of metal and stone can be heard for miles."

Xu Qingshan strode over to the young soldier who was crawling westward until his death, and slowly squatted down.

He reached out his warm palm and gently slid it across the soldier's frost-covered forehead, closing his unseeing eyes.

Then, Xu Qingshan took off the old, bloodstained bronze military tag from the soldier's waist.

Then came the second, the third...

Xu Qingshan held six military tags, all covered in knife marks, in his palm, which jingled crisply.

Xu Qingshan carefully tucked the six cold military tags into his coat, pressing them tightly against his inner breastplate. Then he stood up, his gaze as cold as a blade.

"Save lives first."

Xu Qingshan gripped the long sword at his waist, facing the 110 elite soldiers with bloodshot eyes, his voice heavy and resolute:

"Once we've wiped out these bastards, we'll bring our brothers home honorably on our way back."

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers responded in low voices, their hearts surging with killing intent.

The group resumed its march, increasing its speed once again, like a sharp arrow piercing through the ice and snow, heading straight into the depths of the main pass of Langya Ridge.

The canyon grew narrower and narrower, with towering, dark mountains on both sides pressing in like two giant walls, leaving only a thin white streak in the sky above.

Just as the group reached a depression below a rock less than half a mile from the main entrance of the Wolf Fang Road, snow and mist rolled ahead, and a slender white figure lightly leaped down the stone wall.

"Centurion, look carefully."

Hou San raised his hand and pointed to the corner of the cliff ahead:

"The first checkpoint of the barbarians lies ahead."

"Moreover... it's definitely not an ordinary hidden stakeout."