Great Wilderness Demon Lord

During the day, when he patrolled the prisoner camp, he could clearly feel the turbulent emotions churning within those jackals—hatred, fear, humiliation, resentment… These negative emotions were like the most delicious bait, constantly stimulating the killing demon's thirst.

Kill them all.

A voice is whispering.

These alien races are not to be trusted; their hearts are filled only with hatred. Keeping them alive is a hidden danger and a threat.

Instead of using the wolf-like army as the vanguard to wear down the enemy, fill in the trenches, and buy time for the defenders with their corpses when they attack the city, it would be better to use them as the vanguard.

Xiao Yunlan slowly opened his eyes, a hint of dark red flashing in them.

This idea did not arise out of thin air.

In fact, from the very first day he captured these jackals, he was already thinking about how to "make the best use of them".

Hard labor was merely a stopgap measure; their true value lay in their ability to be consumed.

The cunning demon's cold calculations supported this plan: 1,400 prisoners, even if only half of them were used in battle, would be enough to deplete the Wolf Barbarian cavalry by several hundred.

From a tactical perspective, sacrificing the lives of foreigners to save the defenders is the optimal solution.

However, the Demon of Extreme Passion conveys a subtle contradiction—this practice of treating life purely as a bargaining chip conflicts with the "deepest emotions and true nature" it symbolizes.

The two demonic thoughts clashed once again.

Xiao Yunlan pressed his forehead, forcing himself to calm down.

He knew that he was being influenced more and more deeply by demonic thoughts.

Every scheme, every killing, every obsession feeds these demonic thoughts, making them more closely connected to one's own soul.

Like a frog being slowly boiled in water, by the time it realizes the danger, it may already be too late to escape.

Footsteps could be heard outside the tent.

"Captain, Steward Liu has sent a secret letter." Steward Wu's voice rang out from outside the tent.

Xiao Yunlan composed himself and said, "Come in."

Manager Wu lifted the curtain and entered, presenting a letter sealed with sealing wax. Xiao Yunlan opened it and quickly glanced through it.

The letter was written by Liu Heyang himself, and its content was concise: The eldest princess expressed satisfaction with the results of the battle at Shuofeng Plain and has ordered Han Zhong to provide reinforcements as appropriate.

However, the defense of Zhenhuang Pass was under strain, and the elite fighting force could not be mobilized lightly, so only recruited soldiers and supplies could be replenished.

In addition, the Northern Merchant Guild has used all channels to gather information on the movements of the Wolf Barbarians. According to reliable intelligence, the main force of the Black Claw Tribe has completed its assembly and will arrive at the Northern Wind Plains within seven days at the latest.

Hope you can make preparations early.

Within seven days.

Xiao Yunlan brought the letter close to the charcoal fire, watching it turn to ashes.

"Manager Wu."

"The old servant is here."

"Starting tomorrow, all soldiers will be canceled from rest and must prepare for battle with full force. Arrows, logs, stones, and boiling water should all be prepared in double quantities. Crossbows will be manned day and night, and catapults will be checked again. The prisoner camp will be reinforced with guards; any unusual activity will be dealt with on the spot."

Steward Wu's expression was grave: "This old servant understands. However... the prisoners are consuming a great deal of food; should we reduce rations?"

Xiao Yunlan was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "No need. Let them eat well these next few days and regain their strength."

Manager Wu was taken aback, seemingly understanding something. A hint of reluctance flashed in his eyes, but he ultimately lowered his head and said, "Yes."

He left the tent.

Xiao Yunlan sat alone under the lamp, watching the flickering light in the charcoal fire.

Seven days later, the Wolf Rong army arrived at the city gates.

At that time, these 1,400 jackal prisoners will be put to use.

Not as forced labor, but as... cannon fodder.

Deep within his dantian, the dark red flames of the Slaughter Demon suddenly intensified, transmitting a near-pleasant tremor.

The crimson flames of the Extreme Emotion Demon dimmed slightly for a moment.

Xiao Yunlan closed his eyes.

He knew what he was doing.

They also know the cost of this choice.

But he had no other choice.

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

Over the next five days, under Xiao Yunlan's command, Wangbeibao underwent a defensive transformation that was beyond the comprehension of this era.

When driving the jackal captives to work, Xiao Yunlan was not content with merely raising the ice walls and digging trenches.

He took a charcoal pencil and sketched a completely new city wall design on the coarse linen—not the straight walls or simple curves common in this era, but a defensive structure with distinct angles and protruding bastion features.

"Here, at the northeast and northwest corners, the walls need to protrude outwards, forming a pentagonal convex-corner fortress style," Xiao Yunlan explained to Zhao Meng and the craftsman Lao Chen, pointing to the blueprints. "The walls of the convex-corner fortresses need to slope inwards, with three layers of firing holes on each side. The wall between the two fortresses is recessed, creating a crossfire zone."

Old Chen stared at the unprecedented angles and ridges on the blueprints, his brows furrowed: "Young master, this kind of construction... will take far more time and effort than ordinary reinforcement, and I really have no confidence that the mixture of ice and soil can be shaped into such a complex form."

"If the ice and soil won't work, then use stone to fill in the key structures." Xiao Yunlan's tone left no room for doubt. "Those prisoners with stonemasonry skills will be organized into separate teams. All usable stone in the ruins should be used first to construct the corners and firing platforms. The ice and soil will be used as filler and outer covering."

He paused, then pointed to another part of the drawing: "At the top of the city wall, every thirty paces there is a protruding rampart, with crenellations on both sides. The defenders can use the ramparts to cover the front of the city wall with flanking fire, putting the attackers in a pincer attack."

Zhao Meng stared at the layered, mutually reinforcing defensive design. Although he didn't understand all its intricacies, he instinctively sensed the killing efficiency it contained: "Captain, I've never seen such a construction method before."

"No need to have seen it, just do it as planned." Xiao Yunlan put away the blueprints. "Within five days, the northeast and northwest bastions must be completed, and at least ten ramparts must be finished. The remaining sections of the city wall should be raised to 22 feet according to the original plan."

Once the order was given, the entire city of Harbin began to function like a precise machine.

Under the supervision of their overseers, the stonemason captives stacked the slabs and blocks of stone cleared from the ruins according to the blueprints.

They couldn't understand the tactical significance behind these strange angles, but their survival instincts drove them to work desperately.

The ice-soil mixture was filled between the stone frames and then reinforced with repeated pouring of ice water.

The protruding bastion walls gradually took shape, and the inward-sloping walls hardened exceptionally in the cold wind.

The construction of the horse-faced ramparts is more elaborate, requiring an additional platform to protrude from the city wall, and the angles of the openings on both sides of the crenellations need to be precisely calculated to ensure that arrows fired from the side can cover the maximum range.

The craftsmen made repeated adjustments, and Xiao Yunlan personally inspected them. Any work that failed to meet the standards was scrapped and started over.

By dusk on the fifth day, two simple but already taking shape pentagonal bastions stood in the northeast and northwest corners of the ice city.

Ten barbicans protrude from the city wall like fangs, forming a multi-layered crossfire network with the bastions.

Xiao Yunlan stood on the firing platform atop the northeastern bastion, surveying the renovated city walls.

The design concept of the bastion was far ahead of its time—it did not passively wait for the enemy to climb it, but actively extended its firepower to every inch of the front of the city wall through its protruding structure, so that no matter where the attackers attacked, they would be exposed to a pincer attack from at least two firing points.

The horse-faced enemy further refined its fire coverage, allowing the defenders to kill more safely and efficiently.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the bastion defense system. Due to limitations in materials, time, and manpower, many more ingenious designs could not be realized. Even so, the renovated Ice City's defensive capabilities have been enhanced by more than one level.

The setting sun cast a blood-red, cold light on the bastion's ridges.