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

Two hundred cattle entered Bailang Pass, causing a traffic jam on North Street.

Eight hundred sheep bleated noisily in the city gate. Three children chased a black-faced sheep for half a street, finally tumbling into a snowdrift with the sheep. The children got up but still clung to the sheep's leg, refusing to let go.

"This is mine!"

There were no marks on the sheep's back.

The widow behind the child blushed. Her husband had died in the icy river battle, his body returning with the grain carts. The family had only received a sack of wheat, two pieces of meat, and a fox pelt. Seeing the live sheep, the child assumed it was brought back by his father.

No one chased him away.

Er Gou stood on the cart, cut a small slit in the sheep's ear, and then used charcoal to draw a black pot on the widow's door.

"It's your house now."

The widow was stunned.

"Really?"

"If the man hasn't come back, the sheep must."

Er Gou, his chest still wrapped in cloth, finished speaking and leaned on the cart shaft, panting. Zhou Tie took the knife and distributed it to each of the deceased's families, one sheep per household. Families with three or more children received an extra sheep, and wounded soldiers' families were given priority to take the ewes; those that could produce milk were not to be killed.

Of the eight hundred sheep, three hundred and seventy-six were divided up in the street.

The rest were driven to the empty courtyard on East Street. Of the two hundred cattle, fifty were used for plowing and thirty were cows with calves. Forty were sent to the salt market to exchange for salt, iron, and cloth. Twenty of the remaining cattle were slaughtered on the spot, and the meat was put into twelve large pots.

The cowhide goes to the armorer, the tendons to the bow maker, and the bones are smashed to render oil.

Lin Qinghe even took the cow's blood, mixed it with salt, and boiled it for the wounded soldiers.

In the past, after winning a battle at Black Stone Fortress, the men would at most drink a bowl of thin porridge. Now, Tamu died overnight, sheep came home, meat was eaten, and fox pelts were laid on the kang (a heated brick bed). For the first time, more than three thousand people inside the pass saw clearly that the snow-covered area in the North Mountain was not just a name on a map, but cattle and sheep that would walk home on their own.

Xu Wandou's efforts were not in vain.

He traded forty oxen for six cartloads of coarse salt, two cartloads of iron bars, twelve bolts of thick cloth, and three large baskets of needles and thread. Before the oxen even reached the south, merchants at the salt and horse market were already vying to offer prices.

"Bring another hundred, and the price will go even higher!"

Xu Wandou gestured towards the north mountain.

"Ask Master Chen."

Chen Mu was still sitting on the wooden chair in the gate tower.

His right shoulder wound had just healed, and he still couldn't put weight on his ribs, so he rested his injured foot on an overturned grain hopper. Lin Qinghe was afraid he would get up when no one was around, so she wrapped her belt around the back of the chair twice.

Chen Mu glanced down.

"Relax a bit."

"You said the same thing yesterday."

"I didn't hold my stomach in place yesterday."

"Reining it in will prevent it from running around."

Lin Qinghe pressed the hot medicine onto his shoulder, her hand never letting go.

Su Wan stood beside her, fiddling with the abacus, suppressing a laugh as she recited the numbers.

"Two hundred cattle and eight hundred sheep have been sent back from Beishan. There are now more than nine hundred and seventy warhorses and more than three hundred packhorses available in the pass. The silver armor of the Tamu has been hung at the north gate. The blue-and-white horse survived, but it cannot be ridden for six months."

"How much pasture should be reserved?"

"Three hundred and eighty-six warhorses, more than four hundred cattle, and fifteen hundred sheep. Anato also left all the beans from the eight granaries."

"right."

Chen Mu, biting his medicine pouch, said, "Only if the man can be guarded can the horse be brought back."

Suddenly, a gong sounded outside the pass.

It was not an enemy attack.

More than seventy dilapidated sleds arrived outside the North Gate.

The cart was pulled by thin horses and people. It was filled with old people, women, and children; the youngest child was wrapped in sheepskin, his face covered in frostbite. Protecting them were only the thirty-two riders, their bowstrings frozen solid.

The leading man took off his fox fur hat outside the door.

"Red Sheep Tribe, Sangji."

"Come and put the food in the pot."

The man behind him carried no flag, only a black iron pot with a chipped bottom. The rim of the pot had been cut open, and two pieces of frozen meat hung from it.

Wu Lie knew the Chi Yang tribe in his early years.

This small tribe consisted of only two hundred tents and had been herding sheep for Batu for seven years. After Tamu died, Batu sent men to remove the last adult man from each tent and demanded three hundred mares. The Red Sheep tribe refused and last night killed twelve White Fox horsemen who were collecting horses, then fled south with the able-bodied men.

They were not the first batch.

Nineteen gray deer riders and eleven one-eyed hippo slaves followed behind the sled. Further on, at the mountain pass, there were still figures.

Badu withdrew troops from the north.

All men who could draw a bow had to enter the king's tent, and all tribes with horses had to hand over half their horses. Those who disobeyed were to be compensated with their wives and daughters. After the North Mountain pasture was seized, he did not come to plunder it first, but instead detained the families of the six surrounding tribes in the Blackwater Winter Camp.

Sangji's brother was at the winter camp.

"How many people are there in Batu?" Chen Mu asked.

"The main force of the royal tent has 1,600 men, the old White Fox cavalry has more than 700 men, and the small conscripted riders number nearly 900."

Sangji licked his cracked lips.

"Around three thousand. But half of those who were selected don't want to fight for him."

If all three thousand cavalrymen were to march on White Wolf Pass, the pass walls could be held, but the North Mountain Pasture would be trampled to the ground.

Lu Shuangyi had returned from Beishan less than half an hour ago, with a piece of hardwood still strapped to her left side. After listening, she only asked one question.

How far is the Blackwater winter camp from the pasture?

"A fast horse can travel in half a day."

"How many cavalry are inside?"

"Originally there were four hundred. After Batu gathered his troops, half of them were withdrawn. There were still more than two hundred left, who were escorting the families of the six tribes, totaling at least 1,500 people."

Lu Shuangyi threw the blood-stained cloak near the fire.

"It's edible."

Chen Mu did not agree immediately.

He first had the basket lowered at the north gate and gave Sangji a piece of boiled beef. Sangji didn't eat it; instead, he tore it into seven pieces, gave one to each of his six children behind him, and gave the last piece to his elderly mother.

The elderly mother took a bite, and tears immediately streamed down her face.

Chen Mu then had someone open the door.

"Eat meat first after entering the pass."

"We won't put away the horse, nor the knife. If you want to save your family, stand by the pot after you finish eating."

When more than seventy sleds entered the pass, twelve pots were just boiling.

People carrying babies picked them up, and shepherds cleared the sheepfold. A widow who had just received two sheep led out a ewe and milked a bowl of milk for her frozen baby.

After finishing two bowls of meat, Sangji led thirty-two riders to stand beside the black pot.

The people of Gray Deer and One-Eyed River also stood there.

By nightfall, there were already 107 new riders at the bonfire.

They were familiar with every wooden fence and well in the Blackwater winter camp, and they also knew which rows of tents the detained families slept in.

There were many newcomers, but the old soldiers from within the pass did not immediately distribute the horses.

It's not to prevent them from turning around and biting back.

Ma Sanque selected 120 horses from over 900 and led them all to North Street. Sangji and the others chose their own horses; those who could identify the horses' teeth, hoof diseases, and old injuries rode first, while those who couldn't were fed first.

A gray deer boy took a fancy to the chestnut horse of Tamu's personal guard, mounted it, and pulled on the reins. Startled, the horse reared up and kicked him into a haystack.

The boy got up and tried to grab it again.

Ma Sanque used his crutch to hit his buttocks.

"Knowing how to ride a bike doesn't mean you know how to maintain it!"

"This horse's left hind hoof is cracked. You'll ride it out of the pass tonight, but you'll have to carry it back tomorrow morning."

He led another short, blue horse with a missing piece of flesh from its ear. The boy thought it was ugly, but the horse nudged his chest with its nose. The boy tried riding it for a lap and found that it was more stable on the ice than the chestnut horse, so he immediately clung to its neck and wouldn't let go.

Of the 107 people, only 84 horses were issued.

The remaining twenty-three men did not cause trouble. They carried fodder, sharpened arrows, and bound their companions' hooves, knowing that there would be no shortage of good horses next time.

Su Wan then brought over three more wooden crates.

The first box contained bowstrings captured by the Tamu army's food supply convoy; the second box contained arm guards left behind by the White Fox Riders; and the third box contained short scimitars. Each person only took what they knew how to use, and after taking theirs, they shot three arrows at a straw target on the spot.

Those who missed all three arrows remained to guard the pass.

Sangji's mother, however, came over leaning on a wooden stick and threw a leather quiver at her son's feet.

"You need to bring your brother back."

"You have to come back too."

Sangji didn't speak, but knelt down and tightened his mother's worn boots. The men of the Red Sheep tribe behind him went to see their families one by one. Some left all the meat they had just received for their children, while others stuffed the silver clasp they had hidden for years into their wives' hands.

A woman is clutching her husband's sleeve.

"You just escaped, and you're going back again?"

The man pointed outside the city.

"You're out, but my sister is still inside."

The woman cried and punched him twice, then turned around and took a sheepskin, which she used to wrap his bow herself.

The light cavalry that originally occupied Bailang Pass were also gathering.

After the Ice River grain battle, there were still more than 240 people who could immediately go out. Of the 200 riders that Zhou Tie brought back from Yanmaji, only more than 30 were injured. Among the newly surrendered riders from Tamu Ranch, Anado selected 90 to come with her, while the rest stayed behind to guard the horse stables and their families.

Tonight, there are nearly six hundred light cavalry that can move.

However, heavy cavalry cannot be carried in large numbers.

The fifty-eight men from Beishan had fought two battles, and the blood on their armor was still not completely wiped off. The forty new heavy cavalrymen left inside the pass had only actually charged into battle once, and there were also twenty-seven recovered veterans who could wear armor. In the end, Lu Shuangyi only selected sixty-eight men and chose fifty empty horses to carry the armor.

"Wear it when you get to the Blackwater."

"Wearing it all the way, the horse is ruined first."

The old cavalryman Heshi, who had surrendered to Tamu, has also returned.

He wore that silver armor, but no silver sword hung at his waist; instead, he carried short blades that his two daughters had sharpened for him. His wife and three children remained at the North Mountain Ranch; he could have chosen not to come.

He Shi walked to Chen Mu's chair and spread out a piece of oil-stained sheepskin.

The above is a rough map of the Blackwater winter camp.

"Dogs are kept at the east gate, firewood is piled up at the south gate, and there is a sewage ditch outside the north gate. It can be walked on after it freezes, but the guards find it smelly and never patrol it."

"The place where the Guan family is located is to the west. If Batu arrives first, he will drive the people to the middle to form a wall of arrows."

Chen Mu used charcoal to block the sewage ditch.

"Take twenty men in and open the West Gate first."

He Shi shook his head.

"Twenty is too young."

"If there are too many people, the ice will collapse."

"What if it collapsed?"

"Then swim in through the sewage."

He Shi stared at him for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

"No wonder Anato chose you."

Lin Qinghe was bringing the medicine over when she heard this, and she slammed the medicine bowl down on the chair.

"She made her choice."

"Drink this first."

Chen Mu tilted his head back and swallowed the bitter medicine. Lu Shuangyi had already descended the gate tower, while Anado was still on the North Mountain. The two groups would meet at the Frozen River tonight. Chen Mu wanted to see the Blackwater with his own eyes, but he couldn't even draw his bow with his right hand.

"Two dogs guard the north gate, Qinghe manages the wounded shed, and Suwan watches over the grain and horses."

"If any defeated soldiers return before dawn, the doors will still be opened and the pots will still be lit."

Er Gou patted his chest, trying to say he was fine, but he doubled over in pain after just one pat. Chen Mu's face darkened at the sight.

"You sit and keep watch too."

"Let's see who can get downstairs first."

Laughter erupted from behind the wall.

After the laughter subsided, over six hundred horses set out one by one. Their hooves were wrapped in old felt, and only three torches were lit. The procession crossed the street where cattle and sheep had just been distributed, and many people opened their doors to offer hot flatbread and pieces of meat.

They knew these people weren't there to gain fame for anyone.

There are 1,500 living people waiting to go home in the Blackwater winter camp.

Chen Mu asked Su Wan to take out a piece of white cloth.

He didn't paint Batu's three thousand cavalry, but only the frozen river between the Blackwater Winter Camp and the North Mountain Pasture.

"Batu wanted to tie up nine hundred knives with his family members."

"Cut the rope first."

Anado's letter was also delivered from Beishan at this time.

The letter contained only two lines of crooked Chinese characters.

The people of the Seventh Division are fleeing to the ranch.

Batu himself will arrive in Heishui tomorrow.

Chen Mu pressed the letter against the fire to dry it.

"Once he arrives, the winter camp will be tough to manage."

Zhou Tie asked, "Shall we send troops out tonight?"

"Tonight."

Chen Mu pointed to the snow track outside the North Gate that had not yet been properly tamped.

"When the cattle and sheep from Tamu came in, Batu thought we were busy dividing the meat."

"Let him go to Heishui tomorrow morning and find only an empty camp."