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

"The goods have been delivered."

"As for whether you will live to collect it, that depends on Commander Xu's mood."

Su Jinniang's voice reached the village wall, and the area inside and outside the main gate instantly fell silent.

Qi Biao stood behind her, leaning on his wooden cane, his face gradually darkening.

The leader pressed his hands against the wall, his gaze sweeping over the ten trucks and across the hillsides on both sides.

The abandoned stone wall was half-buried in the snow.

Only a few blurry figures remained in the distant woods.

There were no large troops on the mountain road, and no horses' hooves could be heard outside the village.

He stared at Su Jinniang.

Where is Xu Qingshan?

"Didn't you hear me?"

Su Jinniang patted the truck.

"He's waiting to receive this return gift from Black Wind Stronghold."

Qi Biao reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

"Take this woman down first!"

The chief also raised his hand on the stockade wall.

"Release the arrows!"

The sound of bowstrings rang out simultaneously from the arrow tower.

Just as the archer on the stockade nocked his arrow, a series of mechanical vibrations came from behind the ruined stone wall.

The first crossbow position fired a volley.

More than ten crossbow bolts flew across the snow and embedded themselves above the main gate.

Two archers standing behind the battlements were struck in the chest by arrows and slammed into the wooden railing. Just as the bandits were about to cover their positions, a second volley of crossbow bolts came hurtling along the wall.

The wooden shields on the arrow tower were hit repeatedly.

The bandits hiding behind their shields dared not peek out, and their longbows lost their target.

Qi Biao heard the sound of the crossbow string and his hand, which was reaching for Su Jinniang, stopped in mid-air.

"There's someone hiding in the rubble wall!"

Su Jinniang retreated to the side of the first truck.

"You only realized it now?"

Qi Biao threw aside the wooden cane and pulled out a short-handled iron hammer with his left hand.

His right leg injury had not yet healed, so he could only drag the plank forward, while his ten confidants behind him simultaneously drew their knives.

Su Jinniang lifted the hem of her fur coat.

A short crossbow was already hidden at his waist.

As soon as Qi Biao raised his hammer, the crossbow string vibrated between the two men.

The crossbow bolt pierced his right palm, with the arrowhead protruding from the back of his hand.

The hammer clattered to the ground.

Qi Biao covered his palm and took two steps back in pain.

"You bitch!"

"Your insult is worthless."

Su Jinniang pulled the crossbow bolt again.

"The people who tried to catch me last time are probably already overgrown with weeds on their graves."

The straw curtains on the ten trucks were lifted at the same time.

The soldiers of Iron Gate Fortress crawled out from under the carriage, and short crossbows, shields and spears quickly lined up in two rows behind the carriage.

The first truck veered sideways forward, its shaft blocking the mountain road.

Qi Biao's confidant tried to rush towards Su Jinniang, but instead ran headfirst into the shield.

The spear was passed between the wheel and the wooden shield.

One of the bandits was speared in the calf, fell to his knees, and was then knocked down by the side of a shield. Another bandit circled around the cart from the side, and two Zhenbei cavalrymen that Hou San had left in the caravan pounced out from under the straw curtains and together pinned the man to the snow.

The chieftain on the stockade wall, having clearly seen the soldiers under the cart, immediately roared towards the main gate, "Close the gate! Keep Qi Biao and the cart outside!"

Qi Biao looked up.

"Big brother, I'm still outside!"

"You lured the Zhenbei Army to the gate, and now you want the entire village to be buried with you?"

The chieftain turned and ordered, "Lower the bolts! Keep firing from the arrow towers, and hoist all the outer walls!"

The heavy wooden door began to close inwards.

Qi Biao dragged his injured leg and lunged toward the crack in the door.

The bandits inside the gate stretched out their spears, forcing him to retreat.

"Second Master Qi, the chieftain has ordered that no one is allowed to enter!"

"I've been selling goods for Black Wind Stronghold for five years!"

Qi Biao kicked the wooden door.

He had just exerted force with his injured right leg when he fell onto the snow.

Su Jinniang stood behind the truck watching him.

"He was just about to take me into the village to discuss business."

"It seems you can't even get into yourself now."

…………

On the high slope, Xiao Qi drew his bow to its full extent.

The arrow was wrapped in oil-soaked linen, and the flame trailed a short tail backward with the wind.

The crossbowman beside him asked, "Where should we shoot?"

Xiao Qi looked towards the village.

The wooden prison is on the west side.

Oil drums were piled up at the entrance of the grain storage tunnel.

The stables and thatched huts were connected together.

These areas are all off-limits.

His arrowhead slowly moved towards its highest point.

The Black Wind Stronghold's wind flag hangs atop the flag tower, below which stands an empty wooden tower, with only two bandits standing nearby, banging gongs.

"Burn the flag first."

The bowstring twanged.

The rocket flew over the village wall and plunged into the black wind flag.

The oil-soaked fabric quickly caught fire, and flames rolled up along the edge of the flag.

The second rocket followed closely behind and embedded itself in the eaves of the flag tower.

The third one landed on top of an empty thatched shed in the outer village.

Several flames rose up in succession.

When the bandits in the stronghold saw the flag tower on fire, their first reaction was to search for water everywhere.

The chieftain climbed onto the wooden tower inside the village and roared outwards.

"Ignore the flag!"

"Defend the gate first!"

Suddenly, the sound of drums rang out from outside the valley.

Boom!

The first war drum sounded from the south hillside.

Immediately afterwards, responses came from the east and north.

The sound of horns pierced through the Black Wind Pass, echoing back and forth in the valley.

The thirty infantrymen brought by Xiao Hongluan were scattered in different locations.

Torches were lit along the mountain ridge, crisscrossing near and far, at first glance resembling hundreds of soldiers completing an encirclement.

The henchmen on the outer perimeter of the stockade all turned their heads.

"The main force of the Zhenbei Army has arrived!"

"There's a fire behind the mountain too!"

"Isn't Xu Qingshan at Broken River Fortress?"

"Those three letters are fake!"

One of the core bandits in charge of supervising the team swung his knife and cut down the henchman next to him.

"If he shouts again, we'll die together!"

The body lay against the wall, and those nearby retreated even faster.

Several henchmen dropped their bows and arrows and ran up the wooden ladders of the stockade wall toward the back mountain.

The core bandits wanted to give chase, but the leader's orders had already come from the inner stronghold.

"Ten more men are to be sent to guard the grain depot!"

"Leave three in the wooden cell; the rest go to the main gate!"

"Seal off the crevices in the rocks behind the mountain; anyone who tries to escape will be killed!"

The orders were passed down layer by layer.

The guards at the grain depot drew their swords and rushed toward the brazier.

Four more people left the wooden cell.

Xiao Qi, who was on the high slope, saw the change and took out an arrow with a white cloth tied to it.

The white cloth fluttered in the wind.

The arrow flew diagonally over the inner village and landed on a haystack outside the wooden cell.

…………

The sewage in the drainage ditch had frozen into a thin layer of ice.

Hou San lay prone at the bottom of the ditch, followed by six Zhenbei cavalrymen.

When the white cloth arrow appeared, he raised his hand and pushed aside the loose stone slab.

"Enter."

The seven people entered the inner village one by one.

The sound of drums and shouts of battle drowned out the grinding of stones.

Only three guards remained outside the wooden cell.

One person stood by the door, while the other two stood on tiptoe to look at the firelight on the flag tower.

"How many Zhenbei Army soldiers actually came?"

"The chieftain said there are only a few dozen."

"Could a few dozen people light up all four mountain peaks?"

The guard at the door had just turned his head when a hand reached out from the corner of the wall.

Hou San covered his mouth and stabbed the short knife into his ribs.

Two Zhenbei cavalrymen simultaneously charged at the other two.

The blade sliced ​​through the drumbeats.

One guard knelt down, clutching his neck, while another tried to warn him, but before he could utter a sound, his shield struck him in the chest.

His body crashed into the wooden wall.

Hou San took the key from the guard's waist.

The first one was wrong.

The second one was inserted into the keyhole, and the lock opened quickly.

After the wooden door was pushed open, a foul odor wafted out.

The merchants and travelers who were crowded at the front all shrank back.

Hou San took off the white cloth from his shoulder.

"The Northern Garrison Army".

"Those who can walk, come out first; those who are seriously injured, report your location."

No one dared to move inside the wooden cell.

A middle-aged man with disheveled hair and beard stared at the bandit's outer robe on Hou San's body.

"You're wearing Black Wind Village clothes."

Hou San looked down.

I borrowed it on the way.

"The owner of the clothes is lying in the mountains and they are not needed for the time being."

He took out the wooden plaque of the military household of Qingyabao.

Where are the family members of the 27th person from Qingyabao, Bingzi?

The sound of a woman crying came from deep within the wooden prison.

The merchants finally believed that the border troops had indeed arrived.

The middle-aged man leaned against the wall and stood up.

"My name is Ding Wang."

"My bloody handprint was on the invitation that Black Wind Stronghold sent to Broken River Fortress."

Hou San said, "Commander Xu saw it."

"After you go out, walk along the white cloth."

"The Zhenbei Army is waiting behind the abandoned stone wall. Don't run towards the village gate or the grain depot."

Two cavalrymen from Zhenbei had already prepared white cloth strips and tied them to wooden pillars, corners of walls, and the edge of the well.

The first group of merchants broke out of the wooden prison.

Panic quickly spread through the courtyard.

Hou San grabbed a young man who was trying to run towards the main gate.

"The white cloth is over there."

"Follow along!"

"My brother is still inside!"

"Give me your name, and two people will go in and carry it."

"If everyone pushes back in, no one can get out."

The cavalryman from Zhenbei helped the wounded up, while the woman, carrying her child, moved along the white cloth markings toward the drainage ditch.

The older business travelers voluntarily stayed behind to help dismantle the wooden fence.

The lock on the second cell door was even thicker.

Hou San tried two keys, but the lock cylinder didn't budge.

He reached out his hand to the soldiers beside him.

"ax."

The short axe landed on the chain.

Once, twice.

The iron ring was smashed and cracked.

The cries of the child inside the wooden cell grew closer.

…………

Outside the main gate, Qi Biao had been forced to stand next to the third truck.

The crossbow bolt in his right hand was still in place, and blood dripped down his wrist into the snow.

Of the ten close associates he brought, only four were still able to stand.

Su Jinniang hid behind the shield formation.

"Second Master Qi, the gate to the stronghold is closed."

Are you still ready to receive the goods?

Qi Biao gritted his teeth.

"The boss will open the door."

"If he really wanted to be open-minded, he wouldn't have pointed a spear at you just now."

Su Jinniang raised her short crossbow.

"Come back to Iron Gate with me, and perhaps I can still be interrogated."

"Once you're inside Black Wind Stronghold, you'll first have to explain why you brought the Zhenbei Army to the gate twice."

Qi Biao looked at the tightly closed gate of the village, and the ferocity in his eyes gradually turned into panic.

The crossbow bolts behind the ruined stone wall were still suppressing the arrow tower.

The sound of drums echoed from all sides of the valley.

The soldiers at the Iron Gate Fortress at the bottom of the wagon had also formed a shield formation and were advancing along the mountain road.

Qi Biao shouted to his trusted aides, "Overturn the vehicle! Use the cargo as a shield!"

Several people rushed toward the first truck.

Su Jinniang pulled the crossbow bolt again.

An arrow pierced the shoulder of a bandit.

The soldiers of Iron Gate Fortress pressed forward, their shields knocking two other men into the wheels of a vehicle.

Qi Biao turned around and ran towards the hillside.

His injured right leg dragged on the snow, leaving bloody marks with every step.

He had just rounded a boulder when the sound of clashing sword sheaths echoed down the hillside.

Xiao Hongluan emerged from behind the woods with six foot soldiers.

"Second Master Qi"

"If you go any further, you'll have to jump off the cliff yourself."

Qi Biao stopped in his tracks.

Ahead is Xiao Hongluan.

Behind her were Su Jinniang and the Iron Gate Fortress shield formation.

The chief of the village didn't even glance at him again.

…………

On the slope of Neizhai, Xu Qingshan had already led Zhen Beiqi over the low wall.

The main gate and the flag tower attracted most of the guards.

Only a dozen or so core bandits remained guarding the stone steps leading to the chief's wooden building.

The first volley of crossbow bolts was fired from the side.

Three bandits in the front row fell down.

Xu Qingshan charged up the stone steps with his sword, the blade deflecting the oncoming spear, his shoulder slamming into the opponent's chest.

The man fell backward, pulling his two companions down the steps with him.

The Zhenbei cavalry seized the opportunity to occupy the area below the stone steps.

Hearing the shouts of battle from the side slope, the chief finally realized that Xu Qingshan had already entered the stronghold.

He turned and rushed towards the back of the wooden building.

"Burn down the grain storage shed!"

"Drive everyone from the wooden cell to the main gate!"

The order was given to the bandits to run along the stone path inside the village.

Xiao Qi is drawing his bow on the high slope.

An arrow pierced through the wooden fence and struck the man in the back.

He ordered the bandits to fall forward, and the tinder in their hands rolled down the stone steps.

Another guard at the grain depot had already heard the leader's shout.

He pulled a burning piece of firewood from the brazier and turned to rush toward the oil drum.

Two arrows were fired in quick succession from the third crossbow position.

The first arrow sent the firewood flying.

The second arrow pierced the guard's calf.

The flame landed on the edge of the stone path, just enough to ignite the spilled oil.

Black smoke rose rapidly from the direction of the grain shed.

Bai Zhi stood behind the ruined stone wall, her expression changing when she saw the column of smoke.

"They're going to burn the grain!"

Tie Niu had already shouldered his heavy axe and led ten heavily armored infantrymen out of the crossbow positions.

"Then let's break the door open, people and all!"