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

As night fell, the lights inside Blackrock Castle were much dimmer than usual.

Giving up a fortress that has just been captured and is beginning to take shape is a difficult decision for anyone.

But in this border garrison, Xu Qingshan's orders were ironclad rules, and no one dared to object; they were absolutely obeyed.

In the open space of the inner fortress's backyard, Shen Qinghe was directing more than a dozen lightly wounded soldiers to wield shovels and dig several large pits more than ten feet deep.

Hundreds and thousands of bags of old wheat, soybeans, and coarse grains that couldn't be taken away were all dumped into the pit.

Shen Qinghe was meticulous in her work. She had people cover the grain with a thick layer of snowproof tarpaulin, then fill it with soil and tamp it down repeatedly.

Finally, she had people move broken bricks and scraps of wood from the collapsed courtyard wall and pile them haphazardly on the filled-in pit.

To anyone else, this was just a ruin ravaged by war, with no indication that enough food to feed the entire fortress for several months was buried beneath it.

Meanwhile, Zhao Lihua, accompanied by several women, carried large wooden buckets as they walked around the well inside the fortress.

The bucket contained not clear water, but a thick, boiled croton juice mixed with moldy herbs and animal excrement.

Zhao Lihua showed no mercy, pouring the turbid liquid, which was enough to cause diarrhea and dehydration, into the three main wells that Black Stone Fortress had.

Inside the blacksmith's shop, the dull sounds of hammering echoed.

Bai Zhi swung a large iron hammer and mercilessly smashed it onto the anvil she had personally repaired.

Sparks flew and the anvil cracked.

The bellows on the side was chopped into pieces of wood by a sharp blade, the bricks and stones of the furnace were also knocked over, and all the pig iron that could not be taken away was thrown into the cesspool in the backyard.

Strong walls and clear fields.

Since we can't take it with us, we won't leave a single grain of rice, a sip of water, or a piece of iron for the approaching enemy.

It's almost midnight.

Xu Qingshan stood on the inner fortress training ground, leading his warhorse.

One hundred and eight soldiers, along with more than ten female relatives and seriously wounded, have been assembled.

Ten reinforced carriages were parked in the middle of the procession, loaded with all the fine white flour, dried meat, water, and spare mechanisms for repeating crossbows and fine steel arrows that Bai Zhi had worked overtime to produce.

Each person carried enough military rations to last seven days, had a water bag hanging from their waist, and had a resolute look in their eyes.

"The horseshoes were wrapped in coarse cloth, and the wheels were tied with straw ropes."

Xu Qingshan gave the order. He mounted his horse and glanced at Xiao Hongluan beside him: "The infantry and carriages are your responsibility. The Zhenbei Cavalry will be divided into two teams, one in front and one behind, responsible for scouting and covering the rear."

Xiao Hongluan, holding the white waxwood spear, nodded slightly.

The heavy south gate opened slowly without making a sound.

Aman rode her pony at the front. She closed her eyes to feel the wind direction, then turned the horse's head to the northwest.

The procession filed out.

Under the cover of night, this group of over a hundred people, like a group of ghosts, silently disappeared into the snow-covered wilderness.

With their departure, Blackrock Fortress became a lifeless, dead city.

……

The next day, at dusk.

Yellow dust billowed up from the northern horizon.

The dull thud of hooves, like rolling thunder, approached from afar, and even the earth trembled slightly under its force.

Three thousand elite cavalrymen of the Black Wolf tribe, like a black cloud that blots out the sky, swept down upon Blackstone Fortress with overwhelming force.

Ashina, the leader of the Black Wolf tribe, wore a set of intricately crafted cold-forged heavy armor and rode a tall, pure black horse.

His eyes, like those of a wolf on the plains, coldly stared at the dilapidated city wall ahead.

The city walls were deserted; not even a single banner of the Great Qian Dynasty could be seen.

"Chief, the city gates are closed, and there are no guards on the walls," a centurion on the vanguard rode back and reported loudly.

Ashina gripped the hilt of his sword, a hint of doubt creeping into his mind. But as commander of three thousand iron cavalry, no force in this border region could make him back down.

"Break down the city gates and be careful of an ambush," Ashina ordered in a deep voice.

Dozens of strong barbarian infantrymen, carrying thick siege timbers, charged toward the south gate while shouting battle cries.

boom!boom!

After only a few impacts, the city gate, which had already been tested by the Yunzhou army and had not been firmly held in place, creaked open under the strain.

The vanguard cavalry immediately drew their scimitars and surged into the city like a tidal wave.

Fifteen minutes later.

Ashina rode his horse into the main hall of Black Stone Castle.

The place was long deserted; the charcoal ash in the brazier had long since cooled, and the tables and chairs were neatly arranged, but there was not a trace of human presence.

The subordinates who had been searching returned to the main hall one after another to report.

"Chief, the granaries are completely empty, not even a single rat dropping is left!"

"The blacksmith shop was smashed to ruins, and not a single piece of intact pig iron could be found."

"All the barracks were emptied. The Daqian people ran away, leaving not even the wounded soldiers and women behind."

As he listened to the reports, Ashina's expression grew increasingly grim.

He led three thousand troops on a long march, full of rage and ready to carry out a massacre, only to find that he had punched cotton. This feeling of being mocked made the murderous intent in his chest almost boil over.

"Chief, something's strange about the well!"

A centurion rushed into the hall, his face grim: "The brothers have marched a long way and are parched with thirst. Many have drunk well water. Now, dozens of brothers are lying on the ground, vomiting and having diarrhea, unable to even hold their swords. The shaman accompanying the army has examined it; the water has been laced with potent croton oil and poisonous herbs!"

boom!

Ashina slammed his palm on the wooden table beside him, and the hard rosewood tabletop shattered instantly.

"Cunning two-legged sheep!" Ashina gritted his teeth, his anger turning into a mocking laugh. "They think they can survive by escaping into the wasteland?"

He strode out of the hall, looked at the remnants of the defeated soldiers in the city, and drew his curved sword from his waist.

"Pass on the order!"

"The army is divided into fifteen squads, each with two hundred men! They will search outwards from Blackrock Fortress! They are equipped with infantry and wagons, so they cannot move quickly or far!"

Ashina's sword tip pointed directly at the Canglang Plain in the northwest.

"This wasteland offers no cover. Once we spot any trace, blow the bone whistle immediately. I'm going to chop them up piece by piece and feed them to the wild dogs on the prairie!"

……

Canglang Plain.

Just as its name suggests, this is a desolate, vast, and undulating ice field, with countless low-lying snow valleys and frozen hills interwoven like a giant maze.

The night wind was fierce.

Xu Qingshan's team has already penetrated deep into the heart of the Canglang Plain.

They didn't light torches, relying entirely on the faint starlight and Aman's intuition to move forward.

After a day and a night of trekking, the team stopped to rest in a sheltered snow valley.

The warhorses were gathered at the bottom of the valley, and the soldiers unpacked their bags and swallowed the dry, hard military rations with the cold snow water.

Without a fire for warmth, the chill quickly seeped into their bones through their armor, but the ranks remained eerily silent, save for the occasional snort of a horse.

Xu Qingshan stood at the edge of the snow-covered hill, looking down in the direction he had come from.

"Centurion," Xiao Hongluan quietly walked to his side, her voice very low, "The brothers are exhausted, and the carriages are moving too slowly in the snow. If the barbarians spread out their forces to search in a net-like manner, our caravan of about a hundred men will be too conspicuous and will be caught sooner or later."

"I know." Xu Qingshan turned his head and looked at the soldiers resting below. "So, we can't just keep running away."

He pulled out a simple topographical sketch from his pocket, which was Aman's drawing of the Canglang Plain from memory.

"Ashina isn't a fool. He has three thousand men under his command, and he would never huddle together and wander aimlessly in the wilderness. He would definitely break the army into small groups of one or two hundred men each, spreading them out like a net." Xu Qingshan pointed to several low-lying areas on the sketch.

"If the net is spread too wide, the mesh will become too sparse. A team of one or two hundred people would be no match for the main force of Daqian, but for us, they are a piece of fat meat that we can swallow."

A hint of surprise flashed in Xiao Hongluan's eyes: "You want to fight back?"

"If we keep running away, our defenses will be breached sooner or later." Xu Qingshan's eyes were resolute, revealing the keenness of a hunter. "The terrain of Canglang Plain greatly restricts large-scale cavalry charges. As long as we make good use of the terrain, the mobility of the Zhenbei Cavalry, combined with the rapid-fire short crossbows, is enough to tear apart a barbarian search party of one or two hundred men."

He turned his head to look down.

"Tie Niu, Hou San!"

Upon hearing the sound, the two squad leaders immediately put down their dry rations and ran quickly up the snow-covered hill.

"Have the brothers of the Zhenbei Cavalry check the mechanisms, load the arrows, and feed the warhorses plenty of bean fodder," Xu Qingshan ordered, his tone calm but leaving no room for doubt.

"Aman, take two of the faster brothers and go scout south. Don't go far, within ten miles. If you spot a barbarian group of about two or three hundred people, come back and report immediately."

Aman nodded, sheathed the two short swords at his waist, immediately called out two veterans, mounted his horse, and disappeared into the night.

"Hongluan, lead the infantry and wagons into the depths of this snow valley. No matter what happens outside, do not leave the valley." Xu Qingshan methodically deployed the tactics. "Use the wagons to establish a defensive line at the valley entrance. If any barbarian soldiers manage to escape, use the spear formation."

Everything is arranged properly.

Xu Qingshan walked to his warhorse, patted its neck, and mounted it.

Fifty Zhenbei cavalrymen had also assembled. They straightened their backs on their horses, and the fine steel swords in their hands gleamed with a cold, eerie blue light under the starlight. In the wooden boxes beside their saddles, three repeating crossbows were ready to fire.

In the cold desert wind, they lay in ambush behind the snow-covered hills, waiting for the first prey to fall into their trap.