The female prisoner was fierce

Inside the village.

Seeing this, many women were also frightened and hastily packed some gold, silver and valuables to flee through the north gate.

In less than half an incense stick's time, the once-vast Black Cloud Stronghold was completely transformed into a hollowed-out stronghold!

At this moment, Xiao Jianyang had already led his men to open the gate of the stockade.

Defang led two of the most complete guerrilla units, each with only 14 men, to immediately close and reinforce the village gates, gather usable weapons, and clean up the battlefield.

To prepare for the possible counterattack from Liu Xiuqing that could be faced at any time.

Li Tiezhu's bows and crossbows were also left here.

Xiao Jianyang himself, along with Lin Qingxue and all the remaining female guerrilla soldiers, rushed towards the North Gate at top speed.

However, when he led his men to the North Gate, it was already deserted.

The north gate of the village was wide open, with broken shoes, scattered grains, and tattered clothes lying on the ground.

The cold winter wind blew in from outside the village gate, mixed with snowflakes, stinging my face.

"They run pretty fast."

Xiao Jianyang frowned slightly, quickly walked to the north gate of the stockade, and looked carefully ahead.

The narrow path to the north was even narrower than the one to the south, barely a meter wide at its widest point, with sheer cliffs on both sides, a drop of tens of meters.

An absolutely impregnable natural barrier!

Now, on this path, more than thirty defeated soldiers are tumbling and crawling down, followed by about twenty women. The torchlight is dim, and the distance is too great; it is unlikely that they can catch up.

Xiao Jianyang withdrew his gaze and turned to Lin Qingxue, instructing her:

"Send one of your men to guard this place; the rest of you come back with me."

Lin Qingxue:

"Yes, Lord Xiao."

He immediately nodded in agreement, then selected 10 female soldiers to stay behind and gave them instructions:

"Keep your eyes peeled, and immediately warn us if there's any movement."

"yes!"

The female soldiers responded and immediately began to close and reinforce the North Gate.

On Xiao Jianyang's side, after ordering Lin Qingxue to split up and search, he himself led more than ten female soldiers back.

along the way.

While searching for the remaining enemies, they began to carefully examine the Black Cloud Stronghold.

It must be said that Liu Xiuqing truly lived up to his title as commander; he certainly knew how to pick locations.

The entire summit of Table Mountain is flat and open, covering an area the size of five football fields, which is quite exaggerated.

The village is built according to the terrain, with more than sixty houses in total, including thatched houses, wooden houses, and stone houses, making it look like a large village.

The stockade walls were built with sturdy logs.

It was over three meters tall, with a sturdy arrow emplacement every few steps, far exceeding the dilapidated Qinglong Village.

The most luxurious building was a wooden house, which was also where Liu Xiuqing lived and carried out his daily official duties.

It was also where his concubines lived.

It's fairly large, but nothing special, just ordinary.

Having found nothing, Xiao Jianyang moved on to the residential area behind it.

First, there was Liu Xiuqing's bedroom.

Pushing open the door, a stench of alcohol, cosmetics, and sweat hit me.

Xiao Jianyang frowned and went inside.

The room was not small, with a large bed in the center. The bedding was messy, and a woman's undergarment was lying next to the pillow.

There was a wooden cabinet next to the bed. When I opened it, I found a few changes of clothes and a bag of loose silver. I weighed it in my hand and it was about thirty or forty taels.

Xiao Jianyang decisively stuffed the silver into his pocket and continued searching.

At the very bottom of the cabinet, a wooden box was found.

Inside was a bronze token with the words "Liu, Commander of the Great Wu Border Army" engraved on it.

The token is badly worn at the edges, but is otherwise intact.

Xiao Jianyang stared at the token for a moment, then made up his mind.

"This thing might come in handy someday."

He muttered to himself, then decisively put the token away.

Then he left the bedroom and went to check out the other rooms.

It must be said that the living area at the back is far more extravagant than the office area at the front.

That bastard Liu Xiuqing really knows how to enjoy himself.

The concubines alone had three or four rooms, each containing women's items such as cosmetic boxes and bronze mirrors.

Now all these houses are empty, with clothes and jewelry scattered on the ground from their hasty escape.

Xiao Jianyang looked at each room one by one, already figuring out how to allocate them.

Further on is the warehouse area.

The first warehouse contained grain.

The moment he pushed open the door, Xiao Jianyang's eyes flickered.

This warehouse is nearly 200 square meters in size and is filled with sacks of grain.

Go inside and stab open a bag with a knife.

Immediately, golden millet flowed out from the opening.

I opened a few more, and there were still quite a few good things.

Wheat, sorghum, and milled wheat flour.

Of course, most of it was coarse, yellowish millet, but it was enough to fill your stomach and wouldn't kill you.

Xiao Jianyang roughly estimated that there were at least several thousand shi of grain.

What does several thousand shi (a unit of dry measure) mean?

Converted to modern units, it would weigh tens of thousands of kilograms.

At a rate of one pound of millet per person per day, it would be enough to feed his more than three hundred soldiers for several months.

"With so much grain, we couldn't possibly accumulate this much just by plundering from the villagers."

"so…"

Xiao Jianyang murmured:

"Given his status as a border garrison commander, there should be a lot of military rations here, which is perfect."

Whether it's military rations or whatever, as long as it won't kill anyone and can fill your stomach, that's enough.

He ordered it to be sealed up and assigned two female soldiers to guard it before heading to the second warehouse.

Weapons were displayed here.

They had spears, machetes, and fine bows.

A quiver hung on the wall, and dozens of leather armors were piled up in the corner.

The number wasn't large, but it was more than enough to replenish the existing losses of the women's army.

They promptly sealed it away and assigned female soldiers to guard it.

Then came the third warehouse.

This is a storage room.

It contained many ropes, nails, kerosene, lamp oil, and candlesticks sealed with wax.

The various supplies were all mixed up.

But they are useful for both fighting and daily life.

Xiao Jianyang's gaze swept around and finally landed on the pile of animal hides and a dozen thick cotton quilts in the corner.

I walked over and touched it; the animal hide was well-tanned, and the cotton quilt was thick.

It's much colder at the top of the mountain than at the bottom, especially at night; the wind is like a knife.

These animal hide quilts arrived just in time.

Finally, there was a small, locked storeroom.

Xiao Jianyang decisively cleaved the lock with a single stroke and pushed the door open to go inside.

Just as expected, it was full of all kinds of gold, silver and valuables.

The wooden boxes were filled with copper coins, broken silver, and some silver ingots.

The quality varied, as if they had been looted from different households.

Xiao Jianyang didn't count them in detail, but roughly estimated that it was equivalent to about a thousand taels of silver.

This amount of money is actually not much for a commanding force.

"There should be some hidden stash of money, but we'll have to look for it slowly; there's definitely no time for that now."

Xiao Jianyang murmured to himself, then decisively continued to seal it up, leaving the female soldiers to guard it.

And just then...

Lin Qingxue walked over from the other side of the village, her face showing some fatigue, but her eyes were resolute, and there was also a hint of excitement.

"Lord Xiao, we have thoroughly investigated the situation in the village. Apart from a few elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people who haven't escaped, everyone else has run away."

Xiao Jianyang nodded, then asked:

"What is the extent of the damage to the house?"

Lin Qingxue:

"Reporting to Lord Xiao, the enemy fled in such a hurry that they did not suffer much damage."

Xiao Jianyang:

"it is good."

Then his tone changed:

"Go to the South Gate first. It won't be long before Liu Xiuqing returns with his three hundred defeated soldiers. We don't have much time."

Lin Qingxue:

"Yes, Lord Xiao!!"

They quickly followed, and under Xiao Jianyang's leadership, they rushed towards the south gate of the village.

The real battle is yet to come!

……

Meanwhile.

It is located ten miles south of Table Mountain.

Liu Xiuqing, mounted on his horse, frantically cracked his whip.

The horses' hooves pounded on the snow with a dull thud, kicking up large swaths of snow and mud.

The scar on his face that stretched down to the corner of his mouth was now flushed red with anger, turning a deep purple, making his whole face look like a demon crawling out of hell.

More than a dozen guards followed behind, all of them sweating profusely and panting heavily.

But Liu Xiuqing didn't care about any of that.

At that moment, he had only one thought in his mind.

go back!!

Go back right now!!

Run faster, you dead horse!

……