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

The inner fortress's iron gates resounded with a deafening roar as they were struck by the massive siege timbers.

Each impact would shake off large amounts of dust from the bricks surrounding the gate.

The garrison on the inner fortress of the city wall was terrified and could only blindly pour down logs, stones and arrows at the urging of the captain.

However, the Black Wolf tribe came prepared this time.

More than thirty heavily armored infantrymen, each carrying a thick, towering shield as tall as a person, formed a tight-fitting tortoise-shell formation below the city gate.

The rolling logs slammed against the shields, only eliciting a savage jeer from the barbarian soldiers below.

At a safe distance of fifty paces from the city wall, the Black Wolf Tribe's centurion sat atop his heavily armored warhorse, coldly watching the crumbling city gate.

He wore an eyepatch over his left eye, and a knife scar running across his cheekbone on his right cheek looked particularly gruesome in the firelight.

Unlike the previous Zhuo Lu, this centurion wore a more refined cold-forged scale armor, with a thickened steel breastplate embedded in his chest. He was like a moving iron tower, revealing almost no flaws.

"Break it down!" The centurion raised his spiked club and shouted the order in a barbarian language, "After the city falls, kill all the two-legged sheep, and take all the gold, silver, and grain!"

The barbarian soldiers erupted in greedy cheers, and the pace of the siege intensified.

The top of a clock tower ruin, just over thirty steps from the main street.

Xu Qingshan lay prone among the rubble, taking in everything below.

Tie Niu, Zhou Laoqi, Hou San, and others crouched behind him, tightly gripping the newly forged repeating crossbows in their hands.

"Centurion, the inner gate is about to give way," Zhou Laoqi said in a low voice, looking at the dented iron gate.

"Commander Chen has blown this door into the shape of being impervious to swords and spears; it seems to be a substandard product made with shoddy workmanship," Xu Qingshan said calmly. "However, the longer this door holds, the more the barbarians will expend their strength. Now, it's our turn to make our move."

He drew a specially made whistling arrow from the quiver on his back and nocked it on the bowstring of the powerful bow.

The bow is drawn to its fullest extent, the arrowhead pointing diagonally into the dark night sky.

Loose the string.

"call out--!"

A sharp, piercing whistle cut through the wind and snow, soaring into the sky and echoing for a long time above Blackstone Castle.

To the south, on the edge of an abandoned quarry.

Hearing the shrill cry, Xiao Hongluan, who had been lying in wait in the snow, quickly stood up.

She pointed her spear forward, a chilling murderous aura emanating from her cold eyes.

"All troops, listen to my command! Spread out in the Three Talents Formation and advance!"

Eighty soldiers on the outer wall emerged swiftly from the shadows of the quarry like arrows released from a bow.

After three days of rigorous training, they were no longer the disorganized, untrained soldiers they once were.

They formed small groups of three, covering each other and using collapsed earthen walls and abandoned carts along the way as cover, silently approaching the rear of the barbarian army.

"Release the arrows!"

At Xiao Hongluan's command, more than twenty archers on the outer edge of the formation simultaneously drew their bows and nocked their arrows.

Whoosh whoosh!

A dense rain of arrows poured out from the darkness, heading straight for the rear of the barbarian army.

The dozen or so barbarian light cavalrymen in the back row were craning their necks to watch the attack on the city, completely unaware that they would be attacked from behind.

The arrows pierced their backs and their horses' hindquarters with precision, and screams and neighing from the horses immediately filled the air.

"There's an ambush! To the south!"

A commotion immediately broke out among the barbarian troops.

The centurion abruptly turned his horse around, his remaining right eye blazing with a fierce light.

Zhuo Lu died at the hands of this bunch of rat-like cripples who only knew how to shoot arrows, and now these people actually dare to jump out and provoke him.

"Heavy cavalry, heed my command!" The centurion roared, brandishing his spiked club. "Turn around and crush those rats into a pulp!"

More than thirty heavily armored cavalrymen immediately broke away from the siege formation.

Carrying long-handled sabers, they spurred their warhorses forward like a black torrent of steel, charging towards Xiao Hongluan and her companions with earth-shaking force.

Faced with such a terrifying charge, Xiao Hongluan showed no sign of panic.

"Don't fight it out! Retreat into the alley!"

The remnants of the Daqian army quickly put away their bows and, following the route they had practiced countless times, immediately broke up into smaller groups and retreated into the intricate and abandoned streets and alleys behind them.

The barbarian heavy cavalry, relying on their sturdy armor, charged into the streets without slowing down.

But they soon paid the price for their arrogance.

The narrow alleyway was far from allowing thirty riders to charge side by side. The lead horse had barely entered the alleyway when its forehooves struck the cast iron caltrops covered in snow.

The warhorse neighed in agony and collapsed, throwing the heavily armored cavalryman on its back to crash heavily onto the ruins, breaking bones and tendons.

The cavalry behind them didn't have time to rein in their horses, and they crashed into each other, turning their originally orderly charging formation into chaos in an instant.

Seeing this, Xiao Hongluan, who was hiding behind the earthen wall, immediately ordered: "Spearmen, stab the horses' legs!"

The three-man squad's advantage in battle was immediately apparent: the shield bearers held off the barbarian soldiers' wildly swinging blades, while the spearmen specifically targeted the gaps in the warhorses' joints and the barbarian soldiers' armor with their thrusts.

Combined with the cold arrows shot from the shadows, the thirty heavily armored cavalrymen were trapped in this maze-like ruin, unable to move an inch.

In front of the city gate.

The centurion's attention was completely drawn to the firelight and shouts of battle from the south.

He discovered that the heavy cavalry was unable to defeat the remaining troops for a long time, and his anger grew stronger. He kept shouting and sending his personal guards to support them in batches.

He didn't realize that the defenses around him were being weakened without his noticing.

On the ruins of the clock tower, Xu Qingshan placed the powerful bow in his hand aside.

"Let's do it."

At his command, he leaped from the rooftop like a roc spreading its wings, landing lightly in a deep, snow-covered ditch, with Tie Niu, Zhou Laoqi, and the others following closely behind.

Twenty elite veterans, like a pack of wolves in the dark, advanced rapidly along the ditch.

They bypassed the firelight on the main road and quietly approached the centurion's location from the flank.

When they were fifty paces away from the barbarian general, several barbarian soldiers on guard on the perimeter discovered the movement in the ditch.

They had just opened their mouths to warn others.

"put."

Xu Qingshan made a gesture.

Five repeating crossbows were raised simultaneously, and the triggers were pulled.

The subtle string sounds were almost imperceptible in the wind and snow, but the short iron arrows that Bai Zhi had forged using the "Hundred Forging Method" had astonishing penetrating power.

Before the barbarian soldiers could even utter a sound, they were shot through the throat and collapsed limply in the snow.

Xu Qingshan did not stop and led his men to continue advancing.

Forty steps, thirty steps...

Ahead was a row of abandoned wagons used to block the wind and snow. Xu Qingshan pressed himself against the wheels, his gaze locking onto the centurion on horseback through the gaps in the spokes.

At this moment, the centurion had fewer than ten shield-bearing guards left. All his attention was focused on the battle to the south and the city gate in front of him, and he was completely unaware of the danger on his flank.

"Seventh Brother, Tie Niu, as soon as I fire an arrow, you two immediately lead the brothers out and charge out. No matter if they live or die, use your crossbows and swords to hold off all his guards. Don't let a single one of them get close to me."

Xu Qingshan calmly laid out his tactics.

He picked up the repeating crossbow, which had been modified by Bai Zhi, with both hands.

Although this crossbow has a short range, it contains two fine steel short arrows in the magazine, and the spring force of the mechanism is doubled.

Xu Qingshan took a deep breath to calm the surging blood and qi in his body.

Twenty steps.

He suddenly stood up from behind the wrecked vehicle, leveled the short crossbow, and steadily aimed the muzzle at the iron breastplate on the centurion's chest, which gleamed with a faint light.

The centurion seemed to sense the murderous intent from the side, and his single eye suddenly turned around, meeting Xu Qingshan's icy gaze.

Pull the trigger.

collapse!

The first steel short arrow, like lightning tearing through the night, traversed a distance of twenty paces, emitting a piercing whistle.

The centurion's pupils contracted, and he instinctively tried to raise his spiked club to block, but the short arrow was too fast.

when!

A loud clang of metal rang out as the short arrow struck the center of the breastplate with pinpoint accuracy, sending up a shower of brilliant sparks.

The centurion's cold-forged iron armor lived up to its reputation. The arrow did not penetrate it, but the powerful impact still made the centurion stagger, grunt, and lean back on his horse. A clear crack appeared on the cast iron breastplate.

"Assassins!" The barbarian guards were terrified and raised their shields to surround them.

"kill!"

Tie Niu and Zhou Laoqi let out a roar and led twenty veterans out like tigers released from their cages.

They first unleashed a barrage of close-range shots with repeating crossbows, then drew their steel swords and fearlessly charged into the ranks of the barbarian guards, using their flesh and blood to block their retreat.

In the firelight, only Xu Qingshan and the centurion on horseback remained.

The centurion steadied himself, looked at the cracks on the breastplate on his chest, let out a furious roar, raised his spiked club, and was about to charge at Xu Qingshan on horseback.

At the very same moment he straightened his back.

Xu Qingshan's right hand had once again pulled the trigger of the repeating crossbow.

collapse!

The second string sounded.

The angle, trajectory, and even the timing of the arrow's release were all calculated with exquisite precision.

As the distance closed, the second steel dart carried even more terrifying kinetic energy than the first, striking precisely at the center of the crack left by the first arrow.

Snap!