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

In the wind and snow, the night sky over Blackstone Castle was tinged with a dark red by the burning torches and the firelight from the dilapidated houses.

Xu Qingshan pushed open the courtyard gate, and the veterans behind him had already changed into leather armor that they had taken from the corpses of the barbarian soldiers.

Although it didn't fit well and was stained with blood, it could block the wind and, more importantly, protect against a knife on this freezing winter night.

Tie Niu carried the barbarian battle axe, Hou San and Zhou Laoqi held steel scimitars, and Xiao Qi carried a bundle of arrows, closely following behind Xu Qingshan.

"Let's split up." Xu Qingshan stopped at the alley entrance, his cold gaze sweeping over the group. "Tie Niu, Zhou Laoqi, you two go with Miss Shen, carrying hot soup and dry rations, to the abandoned barracks on the east side. Hou San, Xiao Qi, you go with Miss Qin, taking medicine for your wounds, to the alley on the west side."

"Remember, don't engage the main force of the barbarians head-on. If you see any stragglers, no matter how badly wounded they are, as long as they can still breathe, keep them alive with hot soup and dry rations. Tell them that if they want to live, they should come with me, Xu Qingshan."

"Understood!" the veterans shouted in unison, their eyes burning with unprecedented fighting spirit.

They had just experienced an incredible victory and were now blindly devoted to the young corporal.

In their view, as long as they followed Xu Qingshan, they could find a way to survive even if it meant facing mountains of knives and seas of fire.

"Aman, you come with me." Xu Qingshan turned to look at the taciturn barbarian-mixed-race girl. "Help me find the location of the main barbarian force and avoid them."

Aman nodded and followed Xu Qingshan without saying a word.

The group quickly dispersed and disappeared into the snowstorm.

Xu Qingshan, with Aman by his side, moved like two ghosts among the ruins of the Black Stone Castle's outer walls.

A faint groan could be heard coming from a narrow alley not far away.

Xu Qingshan followed the sound and found three soldiers covered in blood behind a collapsed earthen wall.

They had multiple knife wounds, and one of them had a deep gash on his thigh that exposed bone, the blood staining the snow beneath him.

The three huddled together in despair. When they saw Xu Qingshan approaching with a knife, they instinctively wanted to raise their weapons to fight back, but they didn't even have the strength to lift their hands.

"Don't be nervous, we're on the same side." Xu Qingshan strode forward, put down the powerful bow in his hand, took out half a military ration biscuit from his pocket, and handed it to the mouth of the most seriously injured person.

"Eat it."

The man paused for a moment, then, by the dim light of the fire, he saw Xu Qingshan's face clearly, and a strong will to survive ignited in his eyes.

He took the dry rations with trembling hands, wolfed them down, choked so badly his eyes rolled back, but he stubbornly refused to spit them out.

"Eat slowly." Xu Qingshan untied the water bag from his waist and fed him a sip of brown rice soup.

"Corporal Xu... Corporal Xu?" An old soldier nearby recognized Xu Qingshan and asked in a hoarse voice, "Do we... do we still have a chance to survive? The inner fortress gates are closed, and the barbarians are everywhere..."

"As long as I'm here, there's a way to survive." Xu Qingshan stood up, his gaze cold and resolute. "As long as you can still stand and wield a knife, come with me. I'll give you food, lead you to kill barbarians, and help you survive."

Upon hearing these words, hope gradually ignited in the eyes of the three defeated soldiers.

They helped each other to their feet and picked up the blood-stained spears and broken knives from the snow.

"Sergeant, from now on, our lives are in your hands!"

The same scene played out in every corner of Blackrock Fortress.

Tie Niu and Zhou Laoqi, along with Shen Qinghe, used steaming hot coarse rice soup and filling military rations to awaken one deserted soldier after another who was hiding in the shadows waiting to die.

Qin Yuenu used her superb medical skills to stop the bleeding and bandage the wounded veterans, while Hou San and Xiao Qi assisted, pulling them back from the brink of death.

In this desperate situation of freezing cold and facing a formidable enemy, a bowl of hot soup, a piece of dry rations, and a packet of medicine are more convincing than any grand words.

Half an hour later.

Outside Xu Qingshan's courtyard, a team regrouped.

The team, which originally consisted of only four elderly, infirm, and disabled members, has now expanded to more than thirty.

Although these people were all wounded and their armor was tattered, their eyes had changed.

It was no longer the numbness and despair of before, but rather a fierceness and resilience that emerged after teetering on the edge of life and death.

They donned leather armor stripped from the barbarian corpses and carried well-preserved weapons they had captured.

Bathed in the wind and snow, these thirty-odd remnants of the army surprisingly exuded the aura of fierce and indomitable soldiers.

Xu Qingshan stood in front of everyone, looking at the team that had just been put together, and a sense of confidence rose in his heart.

"Brothers!" Xu Qingshan's voice echoed through the wind and snow, "Tonight, Liu Sandao ran away, and Chen Baihu went into hiding. They don't treat us like human beings; they're using us as human shields!"

Anger ignited in everyone's eyes.

"But we can't just die here like this, so pathetic!" Xu Qingshan drew his steel scimitar from his waist, the tip pointing diagonally at the night sky. "We've eaten our fill and rested enough. Now, it's time for those barbarians to pay the price!"

"Kill the barbarians! Kill the barbarians!"

More than thirty remaining soldiers roared in unison, their voices hoarse but filled with an indomitable determination.

"Aman," Xu Qingshan turned to the girl beside him, "find their main force."

Aman closed her eyes and listened intently to the faint sounds coming from the wind and snow.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and pointed to an open space in the center of Blackrock Fortress.

"There was a great deal of the sound of horses' hooves and the clatter of bones and horns."

"Alright." A cold killing intent flashed in Xu Qingshan's eyes.

He turned to Xiao Hongluan: "Hongluan, you take twenty brothers and sneak up on them from the front. Don't fight them head-on. Use the alleys and ruins to harass them with bows and crossbows to draw their attention to them."

Xiao Hongluan gripped the wooden gun in her hand and nodded solemnly: "Leave it to me."

"Tie Niu, Zhou Laoqi, you take the rest of the men and follow me." Xu Qingshan patted the powerful bow in his hand. "We're going to give that centurion a big gift."

Amidst the wind and snow, more than thirty remnants of the Great Qian army, led by Xu Qingshan, transformed into a pack of vengeful wolves, silently making their way towards the main force of the barbarian tribe.