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

Before dawn, the list of military merits was already crowded with people.

Inside the fortress gate, many lowly soldiers who were not qualified to accompany the entourage stood on both sides.

Some people still had the rags from the north wall wrapped around their hands, some were holding the short axes they had just been given, and some were looking at the places where the notices were posted last night over and over again, as if afraid that if they blinked, those names would be blown away by the wind.

As Lao Chai walked past them, a young cook handed him half a cold pancake.

"Uncle Chai, eat on the way."

Old Chai cursed, "I'm going to clear the road, not to go to the market."

After he finished cursing, he still put the cold pancake into his pocket.

Chen Mu saw this scene but remained silent.

These trivial things were never recorded in the military merit book before.

But the heart of a team grows from these very places.

The snow was trampled hard, and the notices rustled in the wind. The battle achievements posted on the north wall last night were still wet, the ink edges slightly glistening from the cold. The names of the cooks were the most eye-catching. Old Chai led his men to stand under the notices, each carrying a sack of ash, ropes, and iron hooks, as if they were going to the kitchen or the battlefield.

Han Zhao led thirty Black Tiger Battalion riders to wait outside the fortress gate.

He didn't come in; he just looked through the half-open door.

When Chen Mu came out of the medical tent, Lin Qinghe was walking beside him. She didn't help him up, but instead stuffed a roll of spare cloth into his sleeve.

"If you can't take it anymore, just say so."

Her voice was very soft.

Chen Mu glanced down at the strip of cloth.

"Know."

Lin Qinghe looked at him, her fingers tightening on the strap of the medicine box for a moment, then loosening.

Lu Shuangyi stood beside the military merit list.

She didn't say much, but simply handed Chen Mu a small breastplate.

The mirror wasn't new; there were knife marks on the edges, clearly indicating that she had used it herself.

Chen Mu looked at her.

Lu Shuangyi said, "I'll lend it to you."

It's not a gift.

If you borrow, you must repay.

Chen Mu took it and hung it on the outside of the cloth strip around his neck.

The breastplate pressed against the wound; it was cold, yet steady.

In the distance, Su Wan stood beside the registrar, holding the box of fake certificates. When she heard the words "I'll lend it to you," her eyelashes trembled slightly. She didn't step forward, but simply wrapped the box tightly around her arm.

When Anado was brought out, she was already wearing an iron mask.

An iron mask covered half her face, revealing only a pair of light brown eyes. A rope was tied around her hand, the end of which was still in Zhou Tie's hand.

"Chen Mu".

She sneered through the iron mask.

"You've made me wear this; it looks like I'm leading a ghost."

Chen Mu said, "Ghosts are quieter than foxes."

Anado's eyes crinkled into a smile, but she didn't say anything more.

Zhao Chenglie was the last one to emerge.

He was carrying a white fox flag on his back.

The flagpole was taller than him, the flag was tattered, and it fluttered in the wind. Last night, when this flag fell, the whole fortress cheered; now it weighed on Zhao Chenglie's shoulders, heavier than armor.

The former subordinates of the Zhao family looked at him with complicated expressions.

Zhao Hong, who was being held in shackles, turned purple when he saw his son carrying the flag.

"Lie'er, have you gone mad?"

Zhao Chenglie did not turn around.

He gritted his teeth and shoved the flagpole onto his shoulder.

"If I don't memorize it, others will write me down to death."

These words, though spoken softly, caused several former soldiers of the Zhao family to lower their heads.

Chen Mu walked up to the list of military merits.

Roll call begins.

When the registrar read out the name of the cook camp, his voice was a little louder than usual.

"Old Chai, temporarily acting as squad leader of the cooks, will receive five ash bags, three iron claws, and four hemp ropes."

When Old Chai stepped forward, the response was deafening.

"exist!"

"Stone, your arm injury has not yet healed, so you must stay at the fort and are not allowed to accompany us."

Stone hurriedly took a step forward.

Chen Mu looked over.

He immediately shrank back, muttering, "Does Liubao even remember the merit of guarding the list?"

The people around laughed.

Chen Mu said, "The one who guards the list will also be recorded."

Shi Tou's eyes lit up, and he stood next to the merit list, holding the pot lid, as if guarding a gold mine.

The laughter dispelled the deathly atmosphere before leaving the fortress.

Han Zhao watched from outside the door, his expression growing even colder.

Chen Mu is not only good at pushing people to their limits.

He would even make people laugh while fighting for their lives.

The registrar unfolded the list of those to be escorted, his hands still trembling slightly.

Chen Mu raised his hand and pressed down on the corner of the book.

"Before leaving the fortress, mark your achievements."

The surroundings became quiet.

Han Zhao sneered from outside the door.

"Escorting prisoners, and you expect to get some credit?"

Chen Mu did not look at him.

"Not a prisoner."

He pointed to his own name on the list.

"It is a military achievement pending review."

It then pointed to the cookhouse.

"It's a reward to be issued."

Finally, it points to the white fox flag on Zhao Chenglie's shoulder.

"The results of the battle are pending a report."

As the wind and snow swept over the fortress gate, the Black Tiger Battalion cavalrymen's warhorses nervously pawed at the snow.

Chen Mu's voice wasn't loud, but everyone in front of the list could hear it.

"Who will escort you out of the fort today? Remember their service."

"Whoever protects the register will be credited with it."

"Who snatched the certificate, destroyed the registration, or harmed people halfway through the journey?"

He paused for a moment.

"Record a crime."

Old Chai was the first to clasp his hands in greeting.

"The cooks will follow Sergeant Chen's orders."

A dozen or so cooks, still alive, spoke up at the same time.

"Listen to Corporal Chen."

The sounds were uneven, yet rough and powerful.

Lu Shuangyi looked at Lao Chai.

"Old Chai."

"exist!"

"Temporarily acting squad leader of the cookhouse."

Old Chai was stunned.

He still had a sack of ash on his shoulder, and his face was covered in old fire ash. For a moment, he didn't know whether to kneel or laugh.

Chen Mu said, "What are you staring at?"

Old Chai knelt down with a thud, his forehead hitting the snow.

"Thank you, Lieutenant General Lu! Thank you, Corporal Chen!"

A hushed cheer erupted from the fire station.

This is not a high-ranking official.

But for the Fire Head Battalion, this was the first time someone had treated them as a unit.

Han Zhao's expression darkened further.

Looking at the scene in front of the list, he suddenly felt that Chen Mu did not seem like someone who was being taken away.

It's like taking the eyes of the entire Blackstone Castle with you when you go out.

The fortress gates opened.

When the troops actually started moving, the fort walls were also full of people.

Some people held up the tattered leather armor they had captured the night before as a farewell gesture; others dared not shout, but only tapped their machetes lightly against the side of their shields. The sound traveled from the fortress gate all the way to the north wall, fragmented yet like a series of low drumbeats.

Chen Mu looked back.

The list of military merits is still posted in the snow.

The stone in front of the list stood upright, holding a pot lid.

He suddenly realized that even if this was Han Zhao's trap, it shouldn't be treated as just a trap.

This is the road that leads to the outwards from Blackrock Fortress.

The procession slowly set off.

At the very front is Zhao Chenglie, carrying a white fox flag.

In the middle are Chen Mu's, Anato's, and Su Wan's fake ID boxes, and Lin Qinghe's medicine box.

On either side were the cooks and the Lu family's personal guards.

Thirty riders from the Black Tiger Battalion pressed down on the outer circle, their hooves clattering across the snow with a dull thud.

As Han Zhao rode past Chen Mu on horseback, he whispered, "Chen Mu, you really know how to put on a show."

Chen Mu looked ahead.

"The scene is grand; even if someone dies, they'll see it."

Han Zhao's eyes were cold and sinister.

The group left Blackstone Fortress and went around the north slope.

The black marks left by last night's fire line can still be seen down the slope. The broken pole of the White Fox Flag is stuck in the snow, and the trenches left by the cooks dragging corpses have not yet been completely covered by the new snow.

As Zhao Chenglie walked past, the flag on his shoulder suddenly felt even heavier.

He was commended for the first time on this wall last night.

For the first time, I realized that all the credit I had previously stolen was weightless.

Heading west, Black Pine Ridge gradually comes into view at the end of the snowstorm.

The closer they got to Black Pine Ridge, the quieter the group became.

The cooks, who had been whispering amongst themselves, all fell silent once they reached the edge of the ridge. Old Chai sent two men down to the snow ditch by the roadside to probe the snow with iron hooks; the other two walked close to the treeline, occasionally looking up at the snow on the pine branches.

Chen Mu did not urge him.

He ordered the Black Tiger Camp's cavalry to slow down.

Han Zhao said coldly, "If we keep dawdling like this, we won't reach White Wolf Pass before dark."

Chen Mu glanced at him.

"You have to be alive to get there."

Han Zhao didn't say anything more.

A bird call came from somewhere in the woods.

Anato's eyes immediately narrowed.

"It's not a bird."

Zhou Tie gripped the end of the rope tightly.

"What?"

"People are learning."

Chen Mu raised his hand.

The line came to a more complete stop.

Just then, the first wooden cart ran over the frozen stones.

Click.

It was as crisp as if someone had broken a bone in the forest.

The dense black pines pressed down on the ridge, their branches laden with snow, blocking out sunlight. From a distance, they looked like a black mouth.

Old Chai muttered a curse under his breath.

"This place doesn't look like a road for the living."

Anato glanced through the iron mask.

"If you go a hundred steps in, the sound will be swallowed up by the pine branches."

Chen Mu raised his hand.

The line stopped.

Han Zhao rode closer.

"Why aren't you leaving?"

Chen Mu did not answer.

He stared at the first wooden cart carrying the permits ahead.

The wheels rolled into the snow and veered slightly to one side.

The next moment, there was a click.

The axle broke.

The entire vehicle tilted and sank, and the boxes slid off the vehicle and crashed onto the snow.

In the woods, a crow was startled and flew away.

Chen Mu looked down at the broken edge.

The cross-section is very clean.

It wasn't broken by pressure.

It had already been sawed off.

He slowly raised his head and looked into the depths of Black Pine Ridge.

"Don't fix the car."

He drew his dagger.

"Someone is waiting for us to bend down."