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

The dull sound of horns tore through the cold winter night wind.

As soon as Xu Qingshan gave the order, the once quiet outer wall camp came to life, and 108 soldiers quickly assembled on the drill ground.

After three days of rigorous training by Xiao Hongluan, this group of once lazy soldiers had undergone a complete transformation.

They stood ramrod straight, organized into three-person squads and ten-person teams, each with a fine steel sword newly forged by Bai Zhi using the "Hundred Forging Method" hanging from their waist, its sharp edge gleaming coldly in the torchlight.

Wearing a captured barbarian leather armor, Xu Qingshan strode to the front of the group.

"The scouts report that a large force of the Black Wolf tribe is gathering thirty miles to the north." Xu Qingshan's voice pierced through the wind and snow, clearly reaching everyone's ears. "A full three hundred elite troops, plus heavy cavalry, are here to avenge the centurion's head we lost."

Upon hearing this, a collective gasp of astonishment rippled through the ranks.

Three hundred elite troops, plus heavy cavalry—this force was enough to raze a county town to the ground. Black Stone Fortress's outer walls were gone, and even the city gates were gone. What could they possibly use to stop them?

"Scared?" Xu Qingshan's gaze swept across the entire room.

Tie Niu stepped forward and patted his chest forcefully: "Sergeant...no, Centurion! You gave us all our lives. At worst, we'll die and fight them to the death!"

"Fighting to the death is reckless courage. I brought you out to live, not to die." Xu Qingshan raised his hand to quell the crowd's agitation and turned to point at the towering inner fortress behind them.

"The inner fortress walls are sturdy, and the iron gates are impenetrable to swords and spears. Inside, there is Commander Chen and his fifty pampered personal guards. Since they prefer to stay inside and strategize, tonight we will lead these three hundred wolves directly to their doorstep."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers' eyes immediately lit up with a bright light.

Shifting the blame eastward!

Chen Baihu failed to save lives last night, and today he is in a hurry to go to Yunzhou to claim credit, which has long aroused the wrath of both heaven and man.

Since the outer walls can't be defended, let's just open the gates and let the barbarians gnaw on the tough nut of the inner fortress.

"Instructor Xiao," Xu Qingshan turned and ordered, "Take eighty brothers, protect their families and the remaining provisions, and immediately evacuate the camp to the abandoned quarry to the south. No one is to show their face without my signal."

Xiao Hongluan nodded, gripping her spear tightly: "Be careful."

"Tie Niu, Zhou Laoqi, Hou San, pick twenty of your most clever and fastest brothers, take the newly made crossbows, and follow me." Xu Qingshan distributed five repeating crossbows. "Tonight, we'll be guides for the barbarians."

……

The snow is getting bigger and bigger.

In front of the ruins of the north wall of Black Stone Fortress, Xu Qingshan led twenty elite veterans, silently lying in ambush behind the collapsed pile of earthen bricks.

Aman lay on the snow, closed her eyes, and pressed her ears tightly against the cold frozen earth. As a girl who grew up on the grassland, she had an unusually keen sense of the vibrations of horses' hooves.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and said in a low voice, "They're here! About three li away. The vanguard consists of twenty lightly armed scouts, with the main force trailing behind by about half a li. The hoofbeats are heavy; they are definitely heavy cavalry."

"Proceed according to plan." Xu Qingshan calmly drew his long sword from his waist. "Hou San, go and set up tripwires and caltrops along the way. Don't lay them too densely; leave a 'wide road' leading directly to the inner fortress gate. Tie Niu, Lao Qi, take your men and spread out. They will act upon my crossbow fire."

The group quickly dispersed into the darkness.

Before long, tiny sparks of light appeared deep in the snowstorm.

More than twenty vanguard scouts from the Black Wolf tribe, riding warhorses, cautiously approached the breach in the north wall.

They appeared very cautious. The news of Zhuo Lu's death in battle last night had made this group of arrogant steppe wolves put away their contempt.

The lead scout, holding a torch, scanned the breach back and forth. The vast outer wall camp was eerily quiet, without a soul in sight, like a dead city.

"An empty city?" the scout muttered in a barbarian language, urging his horse forward two steps.

Just as his horse's hooves trampled over a section of broken wall.

collapse!

In the darkness, a sharp string note suddenly rang out.

The improved crossbow with angelica root demonstrated terrifying power.

A fine steel short arrow tore through the wind and snow, piercing the scout's chest. The immense force of the piercing caused him to fall headfirst from his horse and crash into a snowdrift.

"Enemy attack!"

The remaining scouts were shocked and immediately drew their scimitars.

collapse!collapse!collapse!

With a few more twangs, three more barbarian scouts fell from their horses, struck by arrows. The newly forged arrowheads were incredibly sharp, offering no protection whatsoever to ordinary leather armor.

"Over there! Charge in!"

The barbarian scouts discovered the attackers' location and immediately charged on horseback.

Xu Qingshan stood up from behind the ruined wall, deliberately exposing himself, and held up a lantern he had "borrowed" from the inner fortress guards, swaying it in the wind and snow.

"withdraw!"

He shouted and led twenty veterans in a run.

Their escape route was meticulously planned. Hou San deliberately left many messy footprints along the way and even discarded several tattered winter clothes bearing the mark of the Daqian Border Army, clearly pointing the escape route towards the center of Black Stone Fortress.

The barbarian scouts roared and pursued relentlessly.

But in the intricate network of streets and alleys, the warhorses simply couldn't run.

Occasionally, someone riding too fast would either trip over a tripwire in the snow and break their horse's leg, or step on a caltrop and fall, breaking bones along with their horse.

"Chase them! The two-legged sheep can't run far; they retreat towards the high wall in the center!"

The scouts blew their bone whistles to relay the message to the main force behind them.

The dull thud of hooves approached like muffled thunder; the main force of the Black Wolf tribe had finally arrived.

Leading the group was the centurion of the Black Wolf tribe, a one-eyed burly man with a horrifying scar on his face. He looked at the dead and wounded scouts on the ground, his anger burning, and drew his sword, pointing it forward.

"Take down that high wall! Avenge Zhuo Lu!"

Three hundred elite barbarian warriors, along with more than thirty heavily armored charge riders, surged into Blackstone Castle like a raging black tide along the "wide road" that Xu Qingshan had deliberately left open.

Xu Qingshan and the others ran very fast and soon arrived at the tall and sturdy city wall of the inner fortress.

The iron gate was tightly closed, and the drawbridge hung high in the air.

"Fire arrows! Harass the city walls!" Xu Qingshan gave the order without hesitation.

Twenty veterans immediately raised their crossbows and unleashed a barrage of arrows at the guards on the inner fortress walls.

The guards in the inner fortress were already on edge because the outer walls had fallen, and when they were suddenly attacked by arrows, chaos erupted.

"There's a rebellion outside! Fire arrows in retaliation!"

The garrison on the inner fortress immediately lit torches, drew their bows and arrows, and blindly fired a volley of arrows down the city wall.

Xu Qingshan was prepared and quickly led his men into the blind spots and abandoned moats on both sides of the city wall.

At that moment, the Black Wolf army, which had been chasing after them relentlessly, following the footprints and the firelight, arrived at the moat of the inner fortress.

The guards in the inner fortress on the city wall looked down by the firelight and were immediately terrified.

A dark mass of barbarian cavalry, clad in armor and armed with weapons, especially the warhorses encased in heavy armor, were approaching menacingly, puffing out white steam.

"The main barbarian force! The main barbarian force is attacking!"

The terrified screams of the garrison inside the fort echoed through the night sky.

The arrows raining down from the city walls were no longer blind shots, but a dense barrage poured down on the barbarian army.

The barbarian centurion was already seething with anger, and when he saw that the Daqian people not only retreated to their high walls but also dared to provoke him by firing arrows, he flew into a rage.

"Smash that iron gate! Leave no one alive!"

Dozens of heavily armored infantrymen, carrying massive siege timbers and under the cover of heavily armored cavalry, braved a hail of arrows from the city walls and charged fiercely toward the inner fortress gate.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A dull thud resounded in the center of Blackrock Fortress, and the entire inner fortress seemed to tremble under the force of the impact.

……

Inside the inner fortress hall.

Commander Chen was embracing two maids, drinking warm yellow wine, and fantasizing about the commendation document from the higher-ups in Yunzhou City.

Suddenly, a violent tremor shook the wine jug off the table, causing it to fall to the ground and shatter into pieces.

"What's going on?!" Commander Chen shoved the maid aside and stood up in a panic.

General Wang stumbled and crawled in from outside, losing his helmet in the process, his face ashen.

"My lord! Something terrible has happened! The barbarian army has reached our gates! They're ramming against them!"

"What?!" Commander Chen's eyes widened in fury as he grabbed Commander Wang by the collar. "Where's the outer wall? Where's that bastard Xu Qingshan? Didn't he have over a hundred men? Why didn't he stop the barbarians?!"

"The outer wall... there's no one left at the outer wall! Xu Qingshan led his men away, drawing all the barbarians here!"

As if struck by lightning, Chen Baihu's legs went weak, and he collapsed heavily into the armchair.

He schemed and plotted, trying to use the outer wall as a shield and to climb the ranks by stepping on the bones of Xu Qingshan and Liu Sandao.

But he never dreamed that the seemingly calm and law-abiding young centurion would dare to pull off such a treacherous and destructive scheme!

Outside the gate, the sound of battering rams hitting the iron gate grew louder and louder, mixed with the desperate screams of the defenders on the city wall.

Chen Baihu's comfortable home, which he had painstakingly built up over the years, has now become a dead end from which he cannot escape!