Border Soldier: My fiancée snatched credit and broke off the engagement, so I promptly became a marq

The glacier in Beishan is forty li away from Bailang Pass.

Before leaving, Chen Mu only said three sentences.

"Grab the car first."

"Steal another sheep."

"Tamurolai, don't fight the nine hundred riders to the death, take him away from the horse farm."

Anato asked, "Where is everyone?"

"Kill anyone who blocks your way."

Lu Shuangyi asked, "Was it lowered?"

Ask him if his family members are at the horse farm.

"Give me the knife if you're here."

There was no map, nor any long order.

Heshi and fifteen surrendered cavalrymen knew Binghe, each leading ten riders. The old Wugu troops, familiar with the North Mountain Goat Trail, were responsible for flanking and herding the goats. The heavy cavalry did only one thing: rammed and scattered the White Fox cavalry protecting the grain.

Su Wan placed two sets of car flags on each of the fifty-six empty cars.

When they went out, they hung green wheat flags to make them look like Xu Wandou's caravan. After seizing the grain, they changed to black pot flags, and opened the gate when they saw the caravan behind the wall. If they were being chased closely, they would take down all the flags so that the enemy couldn't tell which caravan had grain and which had people.

Lin Qinghe then gave each rider two pieces of bandage.

She didn't say she would back down because she was injured.

He only said, "Come back alive, and you'll pay me back yourself."

Chen Mu was tied to a wooden chair in the gatehouse, watching over four hundred people leave in three separate groups. His right shoulder ached so much that he couldn't sleep all night, but he didn't try to go downstairs again.

Er Gou had someone move the large pot inside the North Gate.

"We'll cook the grain as soon as it arrives."

"When the sheep come back, kill two of them first."

The snow-covered road outside the city gate was empty, but the fire under the pot was lit ahead of schedule.

In summer, the river is waist-deep; in winter, it freezes into a white path. Batu's grain carts, coming out of the royal tent, had to walk seven miles along the ice to reach the North Mountain Horse Ranch.

Thirty grain carts have already been put on the ice.

One hundred White Fox riders escorted the wagon from both the front and rear, with over four hundred sheep following behind. Tamu's nine hundred riders waited for their meal at the horse farm, while the guards carrying the grain did not move in a hurry.

The centurion, who was leading the team, even ordered the slaughter of sheep to be stopped.

As soon as the fire was lit, wolf whistles rang out from the reeds on the riverbank.

The white fox rider mistook it for a shepherd's whistle.

When the second sound came from the other side, black horses rushed out from both sides of the glacier at the same time.

Anato is on the left.

Ulie is on the right.

The three hundred light cavalry did not charge the lead chariot, but instead pounced on the sheep. They lassoed the lead sheep, and the dozen or so horses turned at the same time, causing the more than four hundred sheep to panic and run away.

The white fox riders trying to stop the sheep were met with arrows from their horses by the black-boned woman. Among them were the seven people who had just been rescued the day before; their fox-fur armor still bore the blood of their original owners.

Six people were shot down in the first round.

The grain convoy leader finally realized what was happening.

"Escort the vehicle!"

Two hundred white foxes rode towards the thirty carriages.

Lu Shuangyi had been waiting for this moment.

Forty-six veteran heavy infantrymen and forty new heavy cavalrymen emerged from behind the river bend. There were only eighty-six riders, but their hooves fell on the ice like an entire wall collapsing.

The grain carts were stuck in the middle of the glacier, and the White Fox Riders had nowhere to disperse, so they could only ram them head-on.

The first row of white fox riders fired arrows.

Arrows pierced the armor of the horses and men, but the heavy cavalry did not stop. When the second volley of arrows was fired, the two sides were only twenty paces apart.

Lu Shuangyi tucked her spear under her right arm.

With a stiff cloth still wrapped around her left side, she couldn't twist her body forcefully, so she only recognized the lead horse in front of her. The spear tip pierced the horse's chest, and the warhorse and its rider tumbled backward, knocking down a group of White Fox riders behind them.

Eighty-six riders then charged in.

The cart shaft, the horse carcass, and the human body were tangled together.

The new heavy cavalry charged head-on for the first time. The first nine men fell from their horses on the spot, and those behind tried to pull back the reins, but the veteran heavy cavalrymen cursed loudly in the midst of the battle.

"Run it over!"

A new rider's visor was cleaved open by a scimitar, half his face covered in blood. He stopped dodging, grabbed the other rider's belt, and they both rolled off their horses. The ice was too slippery, and the two rolled under the wheels. The new rider grabbed the axle first, got up, and plunged his blade into the White Fox rider's lower back.

Another fifteen-year-old girl's rifle was too long and got stuck between the two cars.

She simply abandoned her spear, crawled under the saddle, and snatched the short bow from the white fox rider's waist. The distance was only three paces; the arrow pierced almost grazed her eye socket.

She pulled the arrow from the corpse and shot the second person.

The supply convoy of two hundred cavalrymen was rammed in two by the heavy armor.

Anato and Wulie had already driven the sheep back and blocked the glacier from behind. Heshi led fifteen surrendered riders to search for acquaintances, shouting as they charged, "Whose family is still alive at the North Mountain Horse Ranch?"

Upon hearing his wife's name, someone immediately dropped his knife.

Some people were afraid that Batu would kill their entire families and dared not surrender. Heshi then shot an arrow at the horse, dragging the man onto the ice.

"You guarded the grain for Tamu, and he ate your daughter first!"

"Come back with me and take them back!"

The man paused for a moment, then swung his hand back at his white fox companion.

The number of White Fox Riders on the glacier is dwindling.

The centurion leading the team wanted to burn the grain.

He slashed open the oil sac and poured the oil onto the first cart. Just as the tinderbox lit up, a short spear with an iron hook flew from the shore and snagged his shoulder armor.

Xu Wandou's caravan guards also arrived.

They were unarmored and hid behind fifty-six empty grain wagons. A dozen or so men pulled on ropes together, dragging the centurion from the wagon to the shore.

Xu Wandou personally smashed the tinderbox with a single hammer blow.

"I want to pack this grain!"

The guards pounced and pinned the centurion to the snow. Some slit his throat, while others snatched the oil sacks, fearing that the blood and oil would soil the rice bags.

The battle ended in less than a quarter of an hour.

Fifty-seven surrendered cavalrymen were pushed to the side of the grain cart.

He Shi asked each person's name in turn.

The wives and children of the thirty-nine men were all at the Beishan Horse Ranch, and the other eighteen were lone riders captured by Batu from his small tribe. No one was guarding the grain for Tamu for the money; he simply held the family, the horses, or the winter tents in his hands.

Lu Shuangyi had their ropes cut.

"If you want to go back to Tamu, leave now."

Nobody moved.

"If you want to save someone, pick up the knife."

All fifty-seven people went to the corpse to look for a knife.

The oldest surrendered rider didn't pick up his weapon, but only clutched a sack of rice. His son had been starving at the horse farm for three days, and today he was forced to shovel horse manure for the White Fox Riders.

"Can I take one bag back with me?"

Anato tied the rice bag to the back of his horse.

"Once we take over the horse farm, we can take away thirty carts."

The old man then took out the knife.

The fox pelts on the slain white fox rider were not wasted.

The black-boned women each peeled off a piece of clothing, wiped the blood off with snow, and draped it directly over themselves. The young woman who had lost her child chose the thickest piece and hung two curved knives behind her waist.

"A man who killed Tamu."

"Find the child in one go."

She couldn't ride a fast horse, so Wulie let her ride with an old rider. More and more people whose families had been taken from them squeezed into the ranks, and what was originally three hundred light cavalry ended up with fifty-seven more swords after the battle.

Of the 200 cavalrymen escorting the grain, 108 died, 57 surrendered, and only about 30 escaped to the horse farm. On the Black Pot side, 36 died, more than 70 were wounded, and 11 of their heavy cavalry were lost.

None of the thirty grain carts were burned.

The cart contained 240 bags of rice and wheat, 60 bags of dried meat, 20 jars of wine, and 10 cartloads of feed. 437 sheep were also gathered back on the shore, and 116 live horses were brought back as well.

There were also twelve small iron boxes under the grain cart.

Xu Wandou thought it was silver, but after prying it open, he found it was full of horseshoes, reins, and bowstrings. The merchant was somewhat disappointed, but the stable boy sent by Ma Sanque pounced on it and tried to steal it.

"Better than silver!"

At least half of the 116 horses need to molt, and there's no time to fight them at White Wolf Pass. Twelve boxes of supplies will allow the new horses to set off on the same day.

They didn't drink all twenty jars of wine.

Lu Shuangyi opened only one jar, giving each of the soldiers who had just finished fighting a sip. The remaining nineteen jars were tied tightly to the corners of the cart; half were sent to the medical shed to treat the wounds, and the other half were reserved to be opened after the horse farm was captured.

The bodies of the thirty-six dead were placed in the first six empty cars.

Beside each corpse lay a sack of grain, a fox pelt, or a bow. Families, upon seeing their loved ones die, could also see what they brought back. A fifteen-year-old girl, wounded in the shoulder by an arrow, still placed the short bow she had used to kill the white fox rider beside the fallen members of her entourage.

"I'll go too, I might be able to steal it."

"His child has no father, take it first."

The old soldier didn't praise her; he simply tore off his own bandage and wrapped it around her shoulder.

"Go back and return the two coins to Miss Lin."

The girl winced in pain, but still nodded.

The fifty-six empty cars sent by Su Wan did not come in vain.

Thirty wagons were used to transport wounded soldiers and spoils, twenty to transport abandoned armor and bows, and the remaining six were used specifically to haul away horses that had frozen to death. The horse meat was taken back to the pass to be cooked, while the hides and iron were kept.

Anado did not immediately return to White Wolf Pass.

She told Xu Wandou to take the cart and leave first, while she and Wu Lie stood on the icy river with fifty-seven surrendered cavalrymen.

Soon, the sound of horns rang out from the direction of Beishan.

Tamu has arrived.

He didn't bring out nine hundred riders.

The horse farm also needed to leave people to watch over the families and the horses, so he personally led 650 riders to chase after the grain, a dark mass covering the north slope.

Tamu was in his twenties, clad in heavy silver armor, riding a blue-and-white horse from the royal palace. Seeing the grain carts heading south, he didn't chase after them but instead ordered his men to surround the glacier.

"Anado!"

"You killed the royal messenger and stole military provisions!"

Anado threw the white fox pelt onto the ice.

"Your dad's dog skin is too small."

"Yours is yours."

Tamu was furious, and his 650 riders began to press down the riverbank.

Lu Shuangyi only had seventy-five heavy cavalry left, and her light cavalry had already fought a battle. If they were to collide head-on again, she would definitely suffer a loss.

Wu Lie did not retreat towards Bailang Pass.

He led his old troops to flee to the Northeast.

That's not the way back to the pass.

It's not Beishan Ranch either.

It is Eagle Beak Ridge, located northeast of the ranch.

Tamu assumed they had gone astray in their panic and immediately dispatched 400 cavalry in pursuit. The remaining 250 cavalry went after the grain carts.

Anato and Lu Shuangyi followed Wu Lie back. As long as Tamu chased them into Eagle's Beak Ridge, they could turn back to the horse farm via the sheep-delivery path.

Only more than seventy white fox carcasses and a dozen bags of rice deliberately left on the glacier.

The 250 riders chasing the grain were the first to rush towards the rice sacks.

The bag was suddenly cut open.

It wasn't filled with rice; it was all crushed ice and stones brought from the riverbank.

The actual grain carts were already three miles away.

Su Wan had the driver change the flags beforehand, so that the fifty-six empty wagons and thirty military supply wagons were mixed together and could not be distinguished from a distance.

As the White Fox Cavalry stopped to rummage through the bag, two hundred light cavalrymen from the direction of the wall had already arrived.

The team leader was Zhou Tie.

He had stayed at Yanmaji for many days, and today was the first time he led his men north. Two hundred cavalrymen attacked from both sides of the grain carts, trapping the pursuers at the mouth of the valley.

The 250 riders that Tamu sent out failed to find a single grain of real food, and more than 80 of them died. Only a little over 100 riders escaped back to the north slope.

The grain carts continued towards Bailang Pass.

The large pot is already lit and waiting.

When the first black-flag grain cart appeared at the mountain pass, more than 3,000 people on the gate wall shouted at the same time.

Chen Mu did not go downstairs.

He ordered the north gate to be opened wide, and then had Er Gou slaughter two sheep. Before the caravan even entered the city, the meat was already in the pot. Wounded soldiers were served hot soup as soon as they were unloaded from the carts, and the families of the dead waited inside the gate.

Xu Wandou personally carried the first bag of rice to Chen Mu's chair.

"This truckload is not for sale."

"Deliver the pot."

Chen Mu patted the rice bag.

"The next truckload will be exchanged for salt at the same price."

Xu Wandou couldn't stop smiling.

The stolen grain could be eaten, and it could be exchanged for salt to make more money. Merchants on North Street saw the thirty royal grain carts and began scrambling to reserve empty warehouses.

On the other side, Tamu led four hundred cavalrymen in an increasingly intense pursuit.

The guards at Beishan Horse Ranch have dwindled to less than three hundred.