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

After reading the blood-written letter sent by Batu, Anato turned around and went to fetch the white horse.

Wu Lie blocked the way in front of the horse.

He wants you to go alone.

"I know."

"You'll be put in an iron cage if you go there."

"Then cut the cage open."

Anato had already changed into clean leather armor. Her left shoulder was reopened twice, and her palms were covered in raw, bleeding cuts. She wrapped the hilt of her sword around her right hand with cloth, intending to draw it once inside the royal tent.

Lu Shuangyi did not stop her.

She had someone bring in the empty iron cage that had once contained Haru, and placed it across the entrance to the ranch.

"Cut this one first."

Anato's knife left only a white mark on the iron bar.

Lu Shuangyi pointed to the iron cage.

"There are at least three in Batu's camp. You can't cut them down with one strike, so what are you going in to deliver?"

"Send him his life."

"Give it to yourself first."

The two stared at each other, neither willing to give way.

Suddenly, the sound of wheels came from outside the ranch.

Tamu's red felt-covered carriage was dragged in by eight horses. There were no dead people in the carriage, only a wooden chair. Chen Mu was tied to the chair by Lin Qinghe with three wide strips of cloth, his right foot was placed on a sheepskin, and a thick quilt was covered over his shoulders.

As soon as the car stopped, his face turned deathly pale.

The journey from Bailang Pass to Beishan was bumpy, and the wound under her ribs bled again. Lin Qinghe jumped out of the carriage and glanced at Anato first.

"If you dare to leave, he dares to chase after you."

"If you two die together, who should I save?"

Anato loosened the reins.

Chen Mu had the wooden chair moved to the center of the doorway.

"If you want to go out alone, step over me."

"You can't stand up."

"So it's easy to cross."

Anato lifted her foot to step over him, but then stopped. The cloth under Chen Mu's arm was soaked in blood, so she had to bend down and drag him and the chair to the side.

The chair didn't move.

Lin Qinghe stopped her from behind.

Lu Shuangyi leaned against the wooden fence, gun in hand, and finally a slight smile appeared on her lips. Su Wan also got out of the back car, carrying two boxes in her arms.

"One box contains the silver of the Uriyang people, and the other box contains the list of Batu's family members that he has detained."

"Wait until I finish calculating before you start arguing."

Four hundred and seventeen family members were kept in the outer perimeter of the old royal camp.

Of these, 176 people were able to find relatives in the northern mountains, 93 belonged to the Blackwater garrison, and the rest were mostly slaves that Batu had taken from further north in recent years.

Batu claimed there were over four hundred people, deliberately overstating the number. He wanted to make it impossible for the perpetrators to determine who had been killed.

Su Wan laid the list on Chen Mu's lap.

"There is a milk cellar on the west side of the old camp. The sixteen girls who were rescued from the cellar said that the milk cellar is connected to a sheep trail, and the exit is at the ice cliff of the Langya River."

The youngest gray deer girl also came along.

She wore the felt boots given to her by the half-eared rider, and held a piece of charcoal in her hand, drawing the royal tent camp on the ground.

"We passed by when we delivered milk to Batu."

"The path leading to the sheep is wide enough for one person to pass through, but at the end is a woman's tent. The gatekeepers are two eunuchs who drink at night."

"The rope binding the family members was tied behind the women's tent."

Chen Mu asked, "You still dare to go in?"

The girl lifted her foot.

"I've put my shoes back on."

"dare."

Anato no longer mentions replacing someone on her own.

She squatted down beside the list and marked the three gates of the royal camp one by one. Batu still had more than 1,700 cavalrymen, of whom about 1,200 were White Foxes and royal guards who were truly willing to die for him. Most of the remaining 500 men had families in the outer circle.

If we fight hard and win, more than 400 family members will die first.

Chen Mu looked up at the iron cage.

"Paint the cage red."

Su Wan asked, "Who is this seat for?"

"Empty."

"Pack two more boxes of stones and cover them to make silver boxes."

He ordered Anato to take a red-cage cart to the main gate of the old camp before dawn, with only sixty riders. Her white cloak hung inside the iron cage, leading Batu to believe that she had already bound herself.

Lu Shuangyi and ninety-nine heavy cavalrymen hid in the bend of the Langya River.

Ulie, Heshi, and the sixteen girls entered the camp through the milk cellar sheep path. First, cut the ropes, then don't kill anyone. The six tribes' riders from the Blackwater tribes stood outside the camp with their respective tribal flags; as soon as their families ran out, the riders forcibly conscripted by Batu would start to panic.

"And you?" Anato asked.

Chen Mu patted the wooden chair.

"Follow the red-coated cart."

The four women spoke.

"No!"

Chen Mu's ears perked up.

Lin Qinghe first tightened the bandage on his shoulder.

"You bled all the way to the ranch."

Su Wan pressed down on the silver box.

"I've seen you before, and you can still fool me with an empty cage, but if I take you there, I'll be exposed."

Lu Shuangyi was the most direct.

"You can't even dodge one of my shots now."

Anato turned his chair halfway around.

"Wait for me here."

Chen Mu looked at the four faces and finally nodded.

"OK."

"But a black flag was hung on the red-carried cart."

No fire was lit at Beishan Ranch that night.

After two days of fierce fighting, wounded soldiers filled eight winter tents. Lin Qinghe led his men to remove the captured fox pelts and spread them all under the straw mats. The newly rescued women boiled water, cooked meat, and washed the blood-stained cloths, while the children carefully put the arrows back into their quivers.

Tamu's flock of more than two thousand sheep has dwindled significantly.

Some were given to the families of the deceased, some to the black water (a metaphor for wastewater), and some were already in the pot. No one cared. Sheep can be eaten and then stolen again, but people will continue to be raised as long as they survive.

Anato sat next to Chen Mu, sharpening her knife.

After pausing for a while, she suddenly asked, "If Batu dies tomorrow, will my word still stand?"

Which sentence?

"I'll marry you."

Chen Mu looked at Lu Shuangyi.

Lu Shuangyi closed her eyes and leaned against the gun.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Su Wan was calculating how many stones she needed to fill the two boxes of fake silver without even looking up.

"There are three bolts of red cloth left on North Street; the price will be calculated separately for weddings."

Lin Qinghe cut the bandage.

"Live for tomorrow first. Whoever reopens their wounds will sleep in the wound shelter."

Lu Shuangyi opened her eyes.

"Is there still room in the ward?"

"That's all."

Lin Qinghe pointed to the large tent in Tamuna.

"So I dismantled his bed."

The high bed that Tamu used to make with three layers of fox fur was gone, and the wooden planks were all nailed together to form a frame. The silver wine pot was used to boil needles, the gold bowl was used to replace medicine, and even the red silk ribbon around the top of the tent was torn into strips and tied to the legs of the seriously wounded soldiers.

One of Tamu's former guards saw this and his face twitched twice.

Su Wan asked him on the spot, "Are you reluctant to part with it?"

The guard shook his head and removed the silver clasp from his waist.

"Change the dressing on this one too."

His wife had just emerged from the Blackwater, two of her toes frostbitten. He exchanged the silver for two packets of medicine, and had a piece of coarse cloth left. The man wrapped the cloth around his wife's feet, then went to feed the horses, his waist bare.

Lin Qinghe re-examined Anado's left shoulder.

The arrow wound was already red and swollen; another day of riding might cause it to rot into the flesh. Anato refused to remove her armor, so Lin Qinghe had Lu Shuangyi hold her down. The two women, who had just been arguing about who should go to the royal tent, were now locked in a struggle: one held her down, while the other cut open her leather armor.

As the powder fell, Anato kicked over the basin of water in pain.

"You're giving this to Chen Mu too?"

He used two portions.

Chen Mu sat beside him, expressionless.

No wonder it's taking so long to heal.

Lin Qinghe turned around and added another spoonful to his medicine.

Su Wan finally finished calculating the two boxes of counterfeit silver.

The bottom of the box was filled with stones, and the top was covered with a layer of broken silver, totaling one hundred and twenty taels. She then divided the two boxes of gold and silver from Wuliang into four parts: one part for the families of the dead and wounded, one part for medicine and salt, one part for making vests, and the last part for those who escaped from the royal tent to start their accounts.

Anato asked, "What about the money for the wedding red cloth?"

"Take it from your share of the sheep."

How many do I have?

"You seized Tamu Ranch, and according to the rules you set, you should get three hundred sheep."

"Deduct everything."

Su Wan finally looked up.

"Three hundred sheep can buy ten cartloads of red cloth."

Anado stuck the knife into the fire.

"Then we'll pave ten miles of it."

Lu Shuangyi said calmly, "First, lay Batu's head in the first mile."

Chen Mu felt a headache coming on.

Outside the tent, a commotion began. The wounded soldiers, hearing of meat, sheep, and red cloth, were no longer afraid, even though they would have to fight again tomorrow. An old soldier with a missing hand shouted that Batu's golden armor could be melted down into wine cups.

He Shi replied, "First, get Master Chen a chair that he can run on."

Laughter echoed from one tent to another.

Beneath the laughter, the sound of sharpening knives never stopped.

Before midnight, Langya River sent back three more messages.

Badu divided his more than 400 family members into four circles. The first circle of ten people had already been pushed onto the wooden platform. The east gate of the old camp was fortified with barricades, and the south gate was fortified with 300 personal cavalry. Only the women's tents on the west side were still being served water by slave girls.

More importantly, there were over six hundred empty horses parked behind the old royal camp.

Those were the horses left behind by the dead and deserters. Batu hadn't had time to distribute them yet, only sending eighty men to guard them. If chaos broke out in the western camp, the horses would be released first, making it impossible for the royal cavalry to distinguish between fleeing men and horses.

Chen Mu added another line to the drawing by the gray deer girl.

"After cutting the rope, open the horse pen first."

"Four hundred men run slowly, but six hundred horses run fast."

"Let Batu's arrows shoot his own horse first."

Anato smiled.

She placed the sharpened knife on Chen Mu's lap.

"Hold this for me."

"I'll come back to pick it up tomorrow."

Before dawn, the red-coated cart set off.

Anato rode at the head of the procession on a white horse, followed by sixty riders carrying white flags. A red felt shroud covered an iron cage, inside which hung white cloaks. Two heavy silver chests sat beside the cage, the ruts of which were deep.

Batu's scouts had observed the area several times, but no one dared to get too close.

The old camp at Langya River quickly opened its main gate.

Badu pushed the first ten family members onto the wooden platform, with knives already held to their necks. When he saw the red-brimmed cart, he finally raised his hand to stop the execution.

"Send Anato here!"

Anato dismounted her horse a hundred paces away.

"Release one hundred people first."

"You have no right to bargain."

Batu brandished his sword and ordered his men to lift the red felt blanket.

Two guards ran to the cage and just as they pulled off the red cloth, a black pot rolled out from the top of the cage.

There was no one in the cage.

Two words were written in blood on the bottom of the pot.

look up.

When Batu looked up, six plumes of green smoke were already rising from the women's tent on the west side of the old camp.

That's not fire.

It's a signal that the six women had made a pact.

Wu Lie and He Shi crawled in from the milk cellar, and sixteen girls used knives hidden in the soles of their boots to cut the long rope. Four hundred and seventeen family members rushed towards the west wall at the same time.

The guards tried to kill them, but the royal slave girls in the women's tent pounced on them first. Some threw copper basins at them, while others poked eyes with hairpins. The two guards only managed to wound three people before being dragged behind the tent by dozens of hands.

Outside the west wall, all six flags were raised.

The five hundred conscripted riders on the outer ring immediately recognized the runaway.

Some call her "mother," while others call her "wife."

The first squad of White Fox guards raised their bows to shoot, but a volley of arrows flew from behind them. The hundreds of conscripted riders immediately rebelled.

Batu killed three men, but still could not suppress the western camp.

Anato no longer raises the white flag.

She drew another knife from under the saddle, and the sixty riders scattered simultaneously, snatching the ten family members from the wooden platform. Batu's personal guards chased after them out of the main gate, and the sound of heavy hooves echoed from the bend of the Langya River.

Ninety-nine suits of armor crashed into the flank of the pursuers.

Lu Shuangyi only made one impact, rescued the person, and then retreated. Batu tried to bite her, but more than two hundred of the Xiying family members had already run away.

With chaos erupting in three locations within the old camp simultaneously, he had no choice but to sound the bugle call again.

Fifteen minutes later, 417 people rescued 409 people.

Eight men died from the hail of arrows, and twenty-six were wounded. Eleven of the Wugu's old troops who had infiltrated the sheep path died, nine of the sixty riders at the main gate died, and seven more heavy cavalrymen were lost.

Batu Khan lost more than 230 conscripted riders.

They escorted their families all the way to the bend in the river, without even looking back.

Anato was the last to leave.

She shot an arrow through the white cloak on the iron cage, pulled the black flag off, and carried it on her shoulder.

When they returned to the ranch, Chen Mu was still sitting in the middle of the doorway.

The knife on his knee didn't move an inch.

Anato reached out and took the knife.

Chen Mu did not relax.

"The people have all been rescued."

"We should take Batu tomorrow."