Great Wilderness Demon Lord

Tieshan seized the opportunity and organized a counterattack.

Several brave veterans used their spears to forcefully shove the giant wolf that had climbed onto the wall down, and then smashed down the rider who tried to pop his head out.

The battle reached a stalemate.

The wolf-riding centurion reined in the giant wolf, stopping thirty paces away, his eyes beneath his visor coldly sweeping over the fierce attack and defense at the breach.

He clearly hadn't expected the hastily built ice city to resist so fiercely, nor had he anticipated the garrison's rapid deployment.

He looked up, his gaze passing over the front lines of the battle, meeting Xiao Yunlan's eyes from behind the main battlements in the center of the ice wall.

In that instant, Xiao Yunlan could feel the cold assessment and killing intent in the other person's eyes.

The centurion suddenly raised his scimitar and let out a short howl.

Upon hearing the sound, the wolf-like cavalry, who were fiercely attacking the breach, suddenly slowed their offensive and retreated like a tide.

They retreated with great discipline, with cavalrymen providing cover in shifts, and the rearguard firing back with bows to suppress the pursuit from the top of the wall.

In just over ten breaths, the two hundred cavalrymen broke off contact and retreated to the solid ice on the north bank, where they joined up with the retreating jackal troops.

They neither continued their attack nor retreated immediately, but instead regrouped on the north bank, seemingly still observing the situation.

On the ice wall, the defenders panted as they watched the retreating enemy. Many of them collapsed onto the wall, their legs giving way.

"Take a headcount for casualties! Repair the breach! Archers on alert!" Xiao Yunlan issued a series of orders, his voice still steady, but his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

Almost.

If the wolf-barbarians had recklessly attacked that breach regardless of casualties, if the jackals had made a faster advance in breaching the wall, if our own arrows had been used up more...

The outcome of this defensive battle hinges on the slightest margin.

Zhao Meng and Tieshan quickly reported the numbers: 27 dead, 19 seriously wounded, and no casualties.

Most of the casualties occurred during the battle for the northeast corner breach. Arrows were exhausted, and rolling logs and stones were few remaining. Boiling water could still be boiled, but firewood was running low.

The enemy forces, the wolf cavalry, appeared to have lost no more than twenty riders, while the jackals suffered greater losses, with approximately a hundred killed, but still had several hundred soldiers capable of fighting.

This was just a probing attack.

Xiao Yunlan looked towards the north bank. The Lang Rong centurion was also looking at him, the two facing each other across the ice, three hundred paces apart.

A moment later, the centurion turned the wolf's head around and led his troops slowly retreating into the snow and wind further north, disappearing on the horizon.

They retreated.

But it wasn't a retreat; rather, it was a deliberate withdrawal. It was as if they had only come to assess the strength of this ice city.

In the first attack and defense of Shuofeng Plain, the defending army barely managed to hold on.

But Xiao Yunlan felt no relief whatsoever.

He looked down at his fingers, which had turned white from gripping the brick wall so tightly, and felt the lingering effects of the demonic thoughts within him.

The Courageous Demon and the Slaughter Demon felt a slight satisfaction from witnessing and commanding this bloody defense, while the Wise Demon felt a chilling satisfaction from the "calculation" of tactical deployment.

But the "hunger" of the extreme passion demon still exists—this siege was won by the city walls and orders, not by loyalty and morale.

Although Ice City temporarily withstood the first assault, its weaknesses have been laid bare. Arrows are running low, logs and stones are scarce, and the breach in the northeast corner poses a fatal threat. The next time the Wolf Barbarians return, it will certainly not be a mere probe.

He raised his head and looked up at the gloomy sky, where the wind and snow seemed to intensify.

-----------------

The retreat of the Wolf Rong and Jackal people did not mean the end of the war, but merely a mid-game respite.

Both sides began clearing the battlefield simultaneously, both inside and outside the ice wall.

On the north bank, the Langrong cavalry set up a simple camp about two miles from the riverbank.

They gathered the scattered jackals, counted the casualties, and treated the wounded.

The jackal tribe suffered heavy losses, with fewer than three hundred warriors still able to stand, and morale was low.

The wolf-like cavalry suffered only minor losses; aside from the dozen or so riders lost during the probing attack, the main force remained intact.

The centurion removed his armor, revealing his scarred face.

He sat by the campfire, polishing the nicks on his scimitar with a whetstone, his gaze occasionally drifting towards the ice city on the south bank.

The deputy brought over a bowl of meat soup and whispered, "Sir, the jackals are causing trouble. They say too many people have died and they don't want to attack anymore."

The centurion didn't even look up: "Tell them to continue tomorrow. If they don't go, I'll kill all the remaining men and distribute the women and children among the various units."

The deputy withdrew in response.

The centurion continued sharpening his blade. The blade rubbed against the whetstone, making a rhythmic swishing sound. He was thinking of the icy city, and the blue-robed general guarding the city walls.

The man had a distinct smell—not the stench of sweat or blood, but something deeper, more dangerous.

He needed more intelligence. He needed to know exactly how many people lived in this suddenly appearing ice city, how much food it had, and how long it could hold out.

Today's probing is just an appetizer; the real siege will require more thorough preparation.

On the south bank, the city of Harbin is also bustling with activity.

Xiao Yunlan ordered the battlefield to be cleared. The bodies of all the fallen defenders were carried to the southwest corner of the ruins, wrapped in clean linen, and temporarily placed there.

Zhao Meng led his men to properly collect the remains of the fallen defenders, wrap them in burlap, place them in a shallow pit temporarily dug in the southwest corner of the ruins, cover them with soil, and insert wooden stakes as markers.

The seriously injured were gathered in the medical tent. Manager Wu prioritized using the few remaining medicinal herbs to stop the bleeding and prevent the wounds from festering. Whether they could survive depended entirely on their fate and the severe cold of the north.

The bodies of the jackals left on the ice and under the wall were dragged back one by one, totaling eighty-three. Dozens more fell into the icy river or were trapped in broken ice in the distance, making them difficult to retrieve.

Xiao Yunlan ordered that all the jackal corpses that could be collected be transported to a sheltered depression downstream of the riverbank, piled up, and then burned.

Thick, black smoke, carrying the stench of burning flesh, shot into the sky, twisting and rising in the north wind, heading straight for the north bank.

This is a declaration, and also a resolute stance.

Next comes loot and battlefield recovery.

"Check the armor and weapons separately," Xiao Yunlan said to Steward Wu. Bone spears, stone axes, and crude wooden shields were piled to one side. Although they were rough, they could still be used after sharpening the blades and repairing the handles.

"Select the intact bone weapons and keep them. If needed in the future, they can be distributed to prisoners or kept as spares."

The metal weapons and broken armor pieces stripped and collected from the jackals and a small number of wolf-like cavalry were another pile.

The scimitars were of decent quality, but the edges were chipped; the simple breastplates or arm guards made of iron rings were mostly broken.

"Where's Old Chen the blacksmith?" Xiao Yunlan called out. "Have him take some men to check which of these swords and armor can be repaired and which can only be melted down. Those that can be repaired should be given to the recruits. Those that are completely destroyed should be melted down and recast into arrowheads."

Retrieving arrows from the battlefield is of paramount importance.

Zhao Meng organized a team to carefully search the ice, the base of the walls, and even the arrows embedded in the corpses.

If the arrow shaft is broken, carefully remove it as long as the arrowhead is intact; if the arrow shaft is intact, wipe it clean and retrieve it, even if it is stained with blood.

Also being recycled were the logs and stones that had been pushed off the wall and scattered everywhere.

The logs were dragged back to the base of the wall, and the stones were collected and piled up again, ready to be stacked on top of the wall once more.

These are all resources that can be reused repeatedly during the siege, and not a single bit can be wasted.