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

Batu did not immediately attack the Blackwater winter camp.

Nine hundred conscripted riders stood behind him, their brothers stood on the winter camp's wooden fence, and their wives and children walked to the south.

Batu rode a giant black horse, clad in a bearskin and golden armor. After Tamu's death, he tied his son's white fox flag to his horse's tail; the flag was still stained with mud from the North Mountain pasture.

He stared at the black wolf flag with the missing ear for a long time.

"Whose family members are inside?"

No one answered.

Batu casually pointed to a red ram rider.

"and yours?"

The man's Adam's apple bobbed.

"In Beishan."

Batu cut off his head with one stroke.

"Ask one more time."

This time someone answered.

Of the nine hundred people, the families of more than three hundred had already been rescued, and more than two hundred were able to recognize their relatives behind the wooden fence. After hearing this, Batu did not attack the camp, but only ordered the White Fox's personal guards to move these people to the back.

He led the main force south, heading straight for the North Mountain Ranch.

There is a spring in Heishui that never freezes, but there are nearly a thousand horses and several thousand cattle and sheep in Beishan. If he can regain the pasture, he can survive the winter; if he loses the pasture, his three thousand riders will have to rob for their feed.

Lu Shuangyi stood on the wooden tower of the winter camp, watching the royal tent corps leave.

Someone wants to pursue her.

She placed the heavy gun across the doorway.

"It's not time to cook it yet."

Batu was also wary of her.

After the main force had marched ten miles, he sent the old general Wuliang, nicknamed "White Fox," ahead with 720 cavalry. Wuliang did not take the frozen river route, but instead circled around the eastern mountain ridge, preparing to charge in from the back gate of the northern mountain pasture.

The main force will proceed slowly for five miles, ready to provide support at any time.

But Chen Mu had already drawn that mountain beam on the white cloth.

Between Heishui, Beishan, and Bailang Pass, a rider was hidden every three miles. As soon as Batu's vanguard turned, the news was sent to the pastures station by station.

The top-ranked rider failed to reach White Wolf Pass.

He was shot off his horse by White Fox scouts at the mountain pass, taking two arrows to the shoulder and back. The message was hidden in the sole of his boot. Just as the scouts were about to search, a caravan from Yanmaji suddenly appeared from the other end of the snowy road.

Xu Wandou had already disguised twenty light cavalrymen as drivers.

The cart was covered with a cloth of salt, beneath which lay a multitude of bows. The White Fox scouts approached to claim the goods, and simultaneously pulled back all twenty bows. Five of the seven scouts died, and the remaining two were dragged from their horses by lassos.

The bloodstained boot passed through five horses before finally ending up in Chen Mu's hands.

After Chen Mu finished reading the charcoal characters on the sole of the boot, he ordered that all five horses used for delivering the message be taken away to eat bean fodder, and that each rider be given a piece of beef. Su Wan moved three pebbles onto the white cloth.

"Batu's main force still has around 2,500 men."

"Wuliang went 720 li ahead, and the main force was 5 li away from him."

Lin Qinghe paused for a moment while changing the dressing.

"What are you planning to do now?"

"Delivering empty cars."

Where are they?

Not a single one will be given away.

Chen Mu summoned Xu Wandou's deputy and ordered twenty-four cart drivers to drive the empty grain carts up Dongshanliang. The drivers were only responsible for cutting the axles and running away if they saw a white fox. Each driver was given ten taels of silver upfront, and a sheep upon their return.

Twenty-four people were vying to go.

One coachman only wanted sheep, not silver. His wife had just given birth, and the family was short of milk. Another coachman exchanged all ten taels of silver for arrows and gave them to his younger brother who was traveling with him.

Su Wan then asked, "If Batu doesn't rescue Uriyang, the empty cart will have been sent for nothing."

Chen Mu pointed to the Blackwater.

"He is saved."

"If seven hundred riders are devoured in front of three thousand men, half of the remaining men will flee tonight."

"As long as he divides his forces, Frostcloak will bite from the north."

A wisp of white smoke rose sharply into the hillside.

Two plumes of black smoke indicate the start of a battle on the ranch.

Three plumes of black smoke indicate that Batu's reinforcements have left the camp.

Chen Mu waited until the third plume of smoke rose before ordering someone to beat the large drum at the North Gate. The drumbeats didn't reach the northern mountains, but they let everyone inside the pass know that their horses and sheep were being robbed.

Wounded soldiers leaned on canes against the wall, and civilians held their children and looked north. Some people led their newly acquired sheep to the cooking pot, saying they were willing to trade sheep for arrows if the pasture was short of them; the blacksmith brought over three baskets of new arrowheads.

Chen Muquan stayed.

"Not needed today."

"Tomorrow we will attack Batu's old camp."

He spoke as if he already knew Dongshanliang would win.

Anato did not close the back door.

She drove more than three hundred cattle out of the wooden fence and had two hundred old and weak people drive the sheep south. Only a few torches were left in the pasture, and even the black wolf flag was lowered.

Wuliang saw this scene from the mountain ridge and assumed that the ranch was busy escaping.

"Not a single horse raised by Tamu can be let go!"

Seven hundred and twenty riders charged down the slope.

The first two hundred riders didn't enter the gate; instead, they went to intercept the cattle herd. Startled, the cattle scattered, and the White Fox cavalry had to divide into groups to lasso them. The remaining five hundred or so riders squeezed towards the open east gate, where scattered fodder lay everywhere.

The warhorse lowered its head and began to eat.

Even when whipped, he wouldn't move.

Just as Wuliang realized something was wrong, the haystacks on both sides of the east gate collapsed at the same time.

Fifty-eight heavy cavalrymen were already armored and hidden behind.

They didn't charge head-on with the seven hundred cavalry, but instead cut along the wooden fence into the tightly packed cavalry. The horses in the front were eating, while those in the back were still pushing forward, making it impossible for the White Fox riders to even swing their swords.

He Shi Pi Ta Mu Yin Jia was at the forefront.

Wuliang saw the silver-armored man in the distance and, thinking that Tamu was still alive, froze for a moment. Heshi had already smashed the face of the guard beside him with a single blow.

"Look carefully!"

"Your master's servant, A, has been given to the stable boy!"

Six small flags were then raised on the inner wall of the ranch.

The red sheep, the gray deer, the one-eyed river, and the small marks of three men who had been drained of their strength were all hung under the black pot flag.

The two hundred-plus riders who were forcibly conscripted in the Wuliang team could be seen by looking up.

Some recognized their wives on the inner wall, others heard their children calling their names. Before the second wave of the attack even began, more than forty people turned their bows in retaliation.

Wuliang killed two people, but still couldn't suppress the enemy.

Anato released 140 Tamu cavalrymen from behind the horse pen.

They were still wearing white fox fur armor, but with black cloth wrapped around their arms. The two groups of people dressed the same collided, and outsiders couldn't tell friend from foe, but they themselves recognized the person who had wielded the whip.

Between the mangers, sheep pens, and haystacks, people were chasing after old grudges and hacking away.

Wuliang stopped trying to seize horses and led three hundred of his personal cavalrymen to retreat towards the mountain ridge.

However, a string of empty grain carts appeared on the mountain ridge.

It was brought by Xu Wandou himself.

The twenty-four carts were loaded with stones, and their axles snapped with a single cut. The drivers unloaded the carts and ran, and the twenty-four heavy carts rolled sideways down the slope, blocking their escape route in three sections.

Uriyang sent someone to Batu Khan for help.

Upon hearing the horn, Batu immediately dispatched five hundred cavalrymen towards Dongshanliang.

Five hundred cavalrymen were halfway there when three plumes of black smoke rose from the direction of Heishui.

Lu Shuangyi had been waiting for this moment.

Sixty-two heavy cavalrymen charged out from behind the bend in the frozen river, followed by two hundred and four new garrison cavalrymen. The winter camp's wooden palisade was still full of flags, so from a distance it looked as if no one was missing.

They didn't attack Batu's main force, but only the waist of the five hundred reinforcement cavalry.

The royal escort cavalry was heading east at full speed, their horses unable to turn around in time. The first rank was rammed into a snow ditch by the heavy cavalry, and the rear ranks scattered to both sides, only to be met with arrows from the six new cavalry units.

Half-eared Gray Deer Rider found his younger brother who had been taken away.

The younger brother was in the rear of the reinforcement cavalry, wearing a short white fox fur armor over his shoulders. The brothers exchanged a glance across the chaotic horses, and the younger brother first shot and killed the personal guard supervising the battle beside him, then led more than thirty men to charge outwards.

As soon as these thirty-odd people moved, the rear of the support cavalry broke apart.

Lu Shuangyi charged in through the gap.

The pain in her left ribs made it difficult for her to grip the spear, so she tucked the shaft under her arm and used the horse's momentum to ram into it. The sixty-two heavy cavalrymen did not scatter to pursue, remaining like an anvil, pressing the five hundred riders down the mountain ridge.

On the other side of the ridge, Anato also began to push back.

Fifty-eight heavy cavalrymen led the way, followed by one hundred and forty untrained cavalrymen and over two hundred pasture riders. Uriyang's three hundred personal cavalrymen were blocked by the broken carts and had to dismount and climb the hill.

Xu Wandou's driver then rolled twelve oil jars down the slope.

The oil jar contained no kerosene, only cow blood and water. The jar shattered, and the slope froze into red ice. The white fox slipped and fell as it rode on it, and then those behind it piled on top of it.

Wuliang's black horse also broke its leg.

He scrambled to his feet, sword in hand, attempting to climb over the broken cart. Heshi caught up from behind and smashed his helmet with a hammer. Wuliang knelt, still calling for the king's tent, but Anado's knife had already pierced his chin and entered his mouth.

The old general's body was hung on the highest grain cart.

The two groups of black pots met on the mountain ridge.

Of the 720 cavalrymen sent by Batu Khan, more than 310 died, 246 surrendered, and less than 150 escaped back to the main camp. Of the 500 reinforcement cavalrymen, more than 130 died, 190 surrendered, and the rest abandoned their horses and fled.

The side that took the blame suffered 86 dead and over 170 wounded. Two heavy cavalry units also lost 21 men, leaving only 99 men who could immediately don armor.

The ranch, however, gained 436 more surrendered riders.

Most of their families were already in Beishan or Heishui. Anado didn't have them tied up; she just told them to go to the inner wall and identify their families first. Those who identified their family members received a bowl of meat and a bundle of arrows; those who didn't could look at the list of those rescued from Heishui.

The blank paper without names indicates that the family members are still in Batu's camp.

After seeing the empty space, the more than 170 people silently walked back to the pot.

"The next battle will be fought at the royal camp."

The battle also resulted in the recovery of over 520 live horses, more than 300 suits of armor, seven carts of arrows, and two chests of gold and silver belonging to the Uriyang. The two chests of silver were not stored in the granary but were exchanged on the spot for sheep, salt, and winter cloth from the wounded soldiers' homes.

Each deceased person's family took away a rideable horse.

For the deceased without family, the horse was given to the orphan in the same tent. When a ten-year-old boy led his father's gray horse, the gray horse lowered its head and sniffed his cuff, and then followed the boy all the way back to the tent.

The boy can't ride.

Ma Sanque assigned an old stable boy to teach him.

Bai Langguan didn't receive the news of victory until nightfall.

The messenger who was initially hit by the arrow was also carried back. He lay on the door panel, the arrowhead still lodged in his back, and his first words upon waking were still asking if the empty carts were blocking the road.

Of the twenty-four coachmen, twenty-two returned.

The two men were shot dead by arrows while cutting the axles of the carts, and their bodies were carried back by the brothers. Xu Wandou delivered the sheep he had promised to the two families, and also gave each of them a Uriyang horse. The two families did not refuse, but simply had the blacksmith unload the iron axles from the two broken carts and place them in front of the dead men's doors.

"The car wasn't given away for nothing."

"The person didn't die in vain."

Batu watched all of this from outside the main gate of the ranch.

He still had over 1,500 of his own troops and White Fox Riders, followed by hundreds of conscripted riders. But the eastern mountain ridges were covered with flags that had just changed hands, and to the north, Blackwater had another two hundred riders blocking the road.

More smoke rose from the direction of Bailang Pass.

Before Chen Mu's troops even left the pass, Xu Wandou's empty chariots still blocked Wuliang's retreat.

For the first time, Batu Khan did not sound the attack horn.

He gathered the remaining troops and retreated westward to the old royal camp on the banks of the Langya River.

The last four hundred or so family members were being held there, along with the gold, silver, and women he had plundered from the Six Ministries over the years.

Anato cut off Uriyang's white beard, tied it to an arrow, and shot it before Batu's retreat route.

"Tamu is waiting for you."

Batu picked up the arrow and broke it in front of everyone.

That night, the king's old camp lit three hundred bonfires.

He herded all his family members to the outermost circle and then made a statement.

If Anato did not enter the camp alone, she would kill ten people every quarter of an hour at dawn.