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

The Black Tiger Camp scout was placed in front of the merit list.

His knee slammed into the frozen ground with a dull thud, and no one around spoke.

A tinderbox, a small note, and the commander's seal were placed on the same wooden table.

The wind blew in from the west entrance of the drill ground, making the edges of the notice board rustle. The cooks stood under the notice board as if guarding a pot that had just been snatched from the fire.

Whoever touches it will get angry.

Below the list were rows of newly replaced White Fox Guards' iron claws and short axes. The cooks, who had been curiously observing them, all turned away. The iron hooks, long forks, and broken pot lids were now being gripped by rough hands.

The Black Tiger Battalion's horses stood by the drill ground, their breath white. The thirty riders did not charge, but stood like a breathing black wall.

The cavalryman in the middle was kneeling, his back gradually hunching over.

Han Zhao looked at the cavalryman.

"They are not from my Black Tiger Camp."

Chen Mu did not refute.

He simply looked at the registrar.

The registrar understood and wrote down:

Han Zhao of the Black Tiger Camp publicly stated that the captured spies did not belong to the Black Tiger Camp.

The moment the pen touched the paper, Han Zhao's eye twitched.

It's cutting again.

Chen Mu doesn't argue with him anymore.

Chen Mu wrote down everything he said.

After you've finished writing it down, turn that sentence into a rope and put it back around his neck.

Chen Mu looked at the captured cavalrymen.

"You heard me."

"Captain Han said you are not from the Black Tiger Battalion."

The cavalryman's shoulders trembled.

He looked up at Han Zhao, then immediately looked down again.

Han Zhao's gaze was like a knife.

Chen Mu said, "Since they are not from the Black Tiger Camp, then they must be outsiders who infiltrated the Military Merit Hall's backyard with the intention of burning the list of merits."

"According to the military law of Blackstone Fortress, trial must precede execution."

The cavalryman suddenly looked up.

"Captain!"

Han Zhao's expression suddenly turned cold.

Lu Shuangyi's scabbard was already pressed against the edge of the table.

"Anyone who makes any further disturbances will be judged as a robber."

The Black Tiger Battalion's thirty riders were forced to stop.

The atmosphere suddenly became extremely tense.

Anato knelt on the other side of the merit list, her hands still bound. She looked at Han Zhao, then at Chen Mu, and suddenly laughed.

"You Han people's tents are harder to hide from than ropes on the grasslands."

Her words sounded like a joke, but they sent a chill down the spines of many around her.

Even spies from enemy countries could understand it, so how could Han Zhao not understand?

Chen Mu looked at her.

Can you testify?

Anato raised her eyebrows.

"I only recognize the spikes on his boots."

She raised her chin.

"Last night, when the Black Tiger Camp was charging out of the side valley, a small team didn't head towards the fire pit, but instead circled around to the back slope of Black Stone Fortress. The one in the lead had these triangular iron spikes on the soles of his boots."

Zhou Tie immediately squatted down and lifted the soles of the cavalryman's boots.

Three triangular iron spikes were clearly visible in the snow and mud.

Old Chai from the Fire Station cursed.

"Fine, we rescued you from the valley, and you come back to burn our proclamation?"

The cavalryman's face turned ashen.

Han Zhao said coldly, "Can a mere Northern Barbarian spy really testify?"

Chen Mu said, "She cannot testify alone."

"But her words can guide the way."

He ordered Zhou Tie to search the waist pouches of the cavalrymen.

There was no token in the waist pouch.

There was only a small piece of charcoal-sealed wax.

Lu Shuangyi took it and placed it next to Commander Du's fire seal.

The two pieces of wax were almost the same color.

The registrar suddenly whispered, "This is not the official seal of the military commander."

As soon as he finished speaking, the expressions of the officers beside him changed.

Testing wax may seem trivial, but it can be deadly.

If he's wrong, he'll be slandering the Commander; if he's right, someone will be using an old seal to forge military orders. The former could cost the Registrar his head, the latter could shake the entire White Wolf Pass.

The cold wind blew on the wound on Registrar Su's shoulder, making his face twitch with pain. He instinctively wanted to back away, but his daughter's hand holding him wouldn't let go.

Su Wan didn't say anything.

She simply hugged the supplementary book she had snatched a little tighter to her chest.

The registrar saw it.

He suddenly remembered how Chen Mu had broken in through the window last night when he was kneeling in the Military Merit Hall and being forced to revise the records at knifepoint.

This time, it was his turn to step forward.

Everyone looked at him.

Despite having a cloth wrapped around his shoulder and a pale face, Registrar Su gritted his teeth and stepped forward.

"The official seal of the commander is reddish in color, and it contains cinnabar."

"This piece of wax is dark in color, as if it was remelted from the scraps of an old fire-marked piece."

The messenger's expression changed.

Han Zhao suddenly looked at the registrar.

"Registrar Su, do you know what the crime of speaking falsely or issuing false orders is?"

Registrar Su instinctively flinched.

Su Wan stood behind him, her hand still wrapped in a white bandage from the burns.

She reached out to support her father.

This time, there was no dodging.

Registrar Su looked at his daughter, then glanced at the line "Su Wan protects the register, one merit" on the military merit list, and his throat moved.

"This humble official only recognizes official documents."

"If the wax is wrong, then it's wrong."

After saying that, his back straightened up a bit.

Chen Mu glanced at him.

"remember."

The clerk picked up his pen and added a line next to it.

The wax color of the Commander's seal is questionable and requires further verification.

Han Zhao's face had darkened considerably.

He knew he couldn't let Chen Mu continue writing, stroke by stroke.

"Commander Lu."

Han Zhao turned to Lu Shuangyi.

"The fire seal is questionable; it may be submitted to White Wolf Pass."

"But the escort must continue until the commander is withdrawn."

"Chen Mu and the others must set off at noon today."

After he finished speaking, the thirty riders behind him all took a step forward in unison.

The sound of horses' hooves pounding in the snow was so heavy it made one's heart ache.

The cooks also pushed forward.

A dozen or so iron hooks, long forks, and broken knives were lifted up together.

They were still the same group of people wearing tattered coats.

But this time, even Zhao Chenglie did not back down.

Zhao Chenglie stood at the edge of the crowd, his shoulder still injured. He looked at the iron spikes under the cavalrymen's feet, then at the fire mark on the commander's robes, and his face turned pale.

He finally realized that Han Zhao didn't just want to kill Chen Mu.

Han Zhao intends to rewrite everyone's past accounts.

Zhao Family, Black Tiger Camp, White Wolf Pass.

How they revised the register before, and how they will revise it in the future.

If he continues down this old path, he'll be written off sooner or later.

Chen Mu suddenly said, "There's no need to escort them at noon."

Han Zhao was taken aback.

Chen Mu looked up at him.

"The trial will be held in Blackstone Fortress."

The drill ground fell silent instantly.

Han Zhao squinted.

"What did you say?"

Chen Mu placed the letter from Commander Du on the table.

"Commander Du said that there is a great deal of controversy surrounding the military merits, and a review is needed."

"It wasn't said that the review would necessarily take place at White Wolf Pass."

"Since the escort order is questionable, and Blackstone Fortress has all the witnesses and physical evidence."

"Then conduct a military interrogation on the spot."

These four words carried even more weight than the escort order from before.

Because it blocked the path that Han Zhao wanted most.

Leaving the fortress, one enters the Black Tiger Camp's perilous territory.

Liubao was right under everyone's noses.

The men in the cookhouse had never heard of on-the-spot military interrogation, but they understood one thing: Corporal Chen was not leaving.

Old Chai seemed to recover from a sudden breath, and he raised the iron hook again. Stone also hoisted the broken pot lid onto his shoulder, his eyes brightening again.

Han Zhao stared at Chen Mu, as if trying to see through this sergeant to the bone for the first time.

Lu Shuangyi's eyes flickered.

She looked at Chen Mu's hand resting on the side of the table.

The hand was white from blood loss, but it pressed down very steadily.

She suddenly remembered the last question Chen Mu asked on the north wall.

Have you finished taking notes?

That wasn't the ramblings of someone who was in a coma.

For Chen Mu, as long as the debt was still owed, he hadn't lost yet.

Even if Commander Du arrives, Han Zhao arrives with his troops, and the shadow of White Wolf Pass looms at the gates of Black Stone Fortress, this story can still continue.

Lin Qinghe, who was standing next to her, also understood.

She didn't understand military orders, but she understood Chen Mu's body. With every word he spoke, his wounds would reopen. But if he didn't say those words, everything he had risked his life to protect might be taken away by a single order.

She lowered her head and moved the medicine box a little closer to her feet.

Anato knelt on the other side, her gaze no longer as frivolous as before. She suddenly realized that the most dangerous thing about this border fortress was not Lu Shuangyi's knife, nor Han Zhao's cavalry, but Chen Mu's habit of making everyone leave a trace.

If someone is killed on the grassland, they can be buried in the snow.

Here, Chen Mu wants to include snow in the booklet as well.

Lu Shuangyi's eyes flickered.

Chen Mu continued, "The three cases will be tried simultaneously."

"First, the Zhao family's case of colluding with the enemy and stealing credit."

"Second, the Black Tiger Battalion's attempted night raid on the Military Merit Hall and burning of the list of merits."

"Third, there are doubts about the Commander Du's fire seal."

He looked at Han Zhao.

"If Lieutenant Han is innocent, he shall sit down and listen to the trial."

Han Zhao sneered.

"You, a mere corporal, are you interrogating me?"

Chen Mu shook his head.

I won't interrogate you.

"You will be audited."

After those words, even the horses in the training ground fell silent.

Several Black Tiger Battalion cavalrymen subconsciously glanced at the book on the table, then at the merit list. There were no knives on it, yet they were harder to dodge than knives.

For the first time, Han Zhao felt that he was not standing in front of a group of soldiers, but in front of a wall covered with names.

The wind made the military merit list flutter loudly.

The names on the list look like rows of people with their eyes wide open.

Lu Shuangyi drew her half-inch knife.

"Open a military trial."

"Anyone who dares to burn the notice board will be executed first."