The female prisoner was fierce

Fortifying the stockade walls, preparing bows and arrows, conducting military training, and so on.

Everything is proceeding smoothly and in an orderly manner!

Meanwhile, more and more refugees were passing by at the foot of the mountain.

All sorts of news came flooding in.

Starting in winter, the Northern Di people cut off the water supply to Yanbei City, burned the granaries outside the city, and massacred every village within a fifty-mile radius.

The defending troops on the city wall, which initially numbered between 10,000 and 20,000, were reduced to less than 3,000.

When the food runs out, kill the warhorses!

The warhorses were all killed and they ate tree bark!

Once the bark is all eaten away, all that's left is to wait for death!

After the Northern Di people breached the city, their cavalrymen swarmed into the city like locusts.

They would chop people down, burn houses, and rob women.

Yang Huaizhong, the garrison commander of Yanbei City, led his last eight hundred soldiers to hold out for two hours at the gate of the government office in the north of the city, but was eventually captured after exhausting his strength.

The Northern Di people tied him to the back of a horse and dragged him for three streets.

When they finally stopped, Yang Huaizhong's lower body had been worn down to just bones.

Upon receiving this news, the women, elders, and even the young men who later entered the mountain stronghold were all furious.

But I was also somewhat terrified.

Fortunately, I escaped. Otherwise, the thought of falling into the hands of the Northern Di people would have given me the creeps!

but.

Strangely, for some unknown reason, the Northern Di people did not send any troops to patrol the area.

They seem to still be reveling in the thrill of plundering Yanbei City!

Seizing this opportunity, Xiao Jianyang worked almost day and night, frantically reinforcing the defenses of Table Mountain Fortress, while also handling a whole host of other trivial matters.

The first thing is to change the name.

Xiao Jianyang felt uncomfortable just hearing the name Black Cloud Stronghold.

"Call it Xiao Family Village!"

In short, the sign on the village gate was changed.

Black Cloud Village sounds like a bandit's den, but Xiao Family Village has a completely different name.

The new sign was made by a refugee who was skilled in carpentry, and the lettering was written by Xiao Jianyang himself.

Although I have no calligraphy skills.

But it's not too bad-looking, and after a while, it actually gets quite pleasing to the eye!

Also.

They also had Su Wanruo lead several skillful women to dismantle the red quilt covers they had collected from the refugees and sew eight flags overnight.

Embroider the character "Xiao" all over them!

Now we have a banner!

The next morning, eight embroidered "Xiao" characters were placed on the walls of Xiao Family Village!

When the mountain wind blows, it makes a rustling sound.

From a distance, it does look quite convincing.

Then came the defensive fortifications.

This is of utmost importance!!

As per Xiao Jianyang's request, the stockade wall was raised by one meter, and the number of crenellations was increased from twelve to twenty.

Then all the damaged parts of the stockade wall were replaced with new ones.

The gate was reinforced with two layers, and a crossbar was added behind the gate. The crossbar was made of a whole pine log, as thick as a thigh.

The same was true at the North Gate, where there were even twice as many rolling logs and stones as at the South Gate.

Because the North Gate faces the direction of the Northern Barbarians!

In addition, Xiao Jianyang had three trenches dug at the narrowest part of the narrow path outside the South Gate.

The trench wasn't deep, only a little over a meter.

But the bottom of the ditch was full of sharpened wooden stakes, all of which were smeared with manure and gold juice.

Even if it doesn't kill them by stabbing, they'll die from an infected wound.

Then comes the training.

There were a total of 63 young women who were assigned to the reserve squads. Together with the original female prisoners' army, including those who had recovered from injuries, they made up a total of 100 people, forming 10 squads!

Xiao Jianyang divided them into two teams.

One team practiced swordsmanship with Lin Qingxue, and the other team practiced crossbowmanship with Li Tiezhu.

At first, some women grumbled, asking why they, as women, needed to train? Men could handle the fighting.

Then, Lin Qingxue said, "Those who don't want to train can leave anytime; we won't stop them."

He swallowed it all back, not daring to utter another complaint.

On the men's side, 93 men were organized into nine groups.

Zhao Tiechui was the foreman of the blacksmiths' guild, with five apprentices. He spent his days forging iron.

The main task is to produce enough pulley crossbows and crossbow bolts.

The process isn't too difficult; the pulleys can be made of wood. However, it's quite troublesome, so it takes a lot of time.

The remaining eight squads were all male soldiers, so Xiao Jianyang personally led their training.

The training they use is completely different from that of his Xiao Family Women's Army!

The women's army trained with swords and crossbows, while the Xiao family army trained with spears and shields.

Liu Xiuqing took out all the dozens of spears from the warehouse and had Zhao Tiechui make twenty wooden shields that looked like simple iron plates.

Then, training began, following the infantry formations learned from historical documentaries and literature.

Shield bearers carry the shields in front, spearmen stab from behind, and archers or pulleymen shoot from the rear.

It's simple, but very efficient.

If surrounded, they can form a circle to create a defensive perimeter.

but.

A large forest has all kinds of birds.

There are always a few troublemakers who disagree, thinking this is just empty talk.

Xiao Jianyang didn't say anything more.

Instead, that afternoon, Lin Qingxue led the female soldiers of her personal guard to engage in a confrontation with the male guerrilla squad.

The result was obvious: they were beaten so badly by the female soldiers that they fled in terror.

The bolts from the pulley crossbows grazed their scalps and embedded themselves in the wooden stakes behind them, the fletching whirring.

Lin Qingxue led the female soldiers forward, slashing the male soldiers on the shoulder with the back of her blade, causing them to howl in pain.

But then, once the formation was deployed, the situation instantly reversed.

Like an iron hedgehog, the female soldiers had no way to break through it and could only try to find its weak points.

This is the end.

Once the nine squads of male soldiers started training, not one of them dared to slack off, and not one dared to doubt them.

As for total troop strength.

Currently, there are 10 female soldiers and 9 male soldiers, totaling about 190 people.

But if we include Su Wanruo's logistics and Chu Yiran's medical services, there are a total of 21 services.

There are approximately 230 people!

Of course, Su Wanruo's logistics also included all the logistics personnel of the mountain stronghold, but Xiao Jianyang did not include them in his statistics, only counting the most elite combat personnel.

230 people, including 93 young adults.

Compared to the initial 99 female prisoners, this number represents a dramatic increase in fighting power!

Moreover, there is the table mountain terrain of Xiaojiazhai!

If we were to face Liu Xiuqing's siege again, we could easily handle it.

but…

The number of soldiers has increased, but troubles have followed one after another.

The evening of the fifth day.

Xiao Jianyang sat in Liu Xiuqing's old wooden house, with detailed data that had just been compiled laid out in front of him, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

Judging from the data, the situation in Xiaojiazhai is not optimistic!