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

When Ma Liu left the fort, arrows were still falling from the north wall.

It wasn't a large-scale attack on the city.

The northern barbarian outposts fired a volley every now and then, keeping the people on the wall from closing their eyes.

Lu Shuangyi did not send a large team.

Ma Liu was given only two military officers and two Lu family guards.

When there are many people, footprints will be left in the snow.

Few people die silently.

Ma Liu understands this principle.

That's why he was even more afraid.

He lay prone outside the frozen ditch at the North Gate, the frozen snow seeping into his collar, making his teeth chatter from the cold.

A member of the Lu family's personal guards behind him asked in a low voice, "Do you really know about the old salt route?"

Ma Liu turned around and glared at him.

"I delivered salt in the kitchen for three years."

"I know better than you which road has a pit and which rock can shelter you from the wind."

After he finished speaking, he added another sentence.

"But knowing doesn't mean not being afraid."

No one laughed.

They crawled northwards along the bottom of the ditch.

The old salt road was not a main road, but a hard snow ditch made by salt carts.

Further ahead lies the area sandwiched between Han Zhao and the Northern Barbarian outposts.

Ma Liu did not go straight.

He first found a collapsed salt shed.

There was still half a broken old steelyard in the shed, but the weight was long gone.

He stuck the steelyard into the snow and probed it three times.

The third time, the snow fell with a snap.

An animal trap sprang up, clamped onto the scale beam, and the wood split open on the spot.

The two military judges' expressions changed.

If it weren't for Ma Liutan's strike, it would have broken a person's ankle.

Ma Liu's lips turned white, but he still cursed in a low voice: "That bastard Han Zhao even set traps for the old salt route."

The way the Lu family guards looked at him changed.

The errand runners in the fire station were not just fast on their feet.

They truly knew about these rotten roads that no one had written into the military register.

Mazda 6 stopped behind a black rock.

There was blood on the snow.

not much.

Drop by drop, slanting eastward.

He reached out and touched it.

It's already frozen solid.

"It wasn't freshly spilled."

The military judge asked, "Miao Jiu's?"

Ma Liu shook his head.

"have no idea."

"But the person was dragged."

They followed the bloodstains and found a broken shoe.

The soles of the shoes were worn very thin, and the uppers were stuffed with grass.

Unlike the boots of the Black Tiger Battalion cavalry.

Like the old shoes worn by accountants.

Ma Liu turned the shoe over and found a piece of sawdust stuck in the lining of the sole.

There is only half a word above.

Library.

Ma Liu's eyes lit up immediately.

"Found it."

The Lu family guards reached out to take it.

Ma Liu slapped it away.

"Don't touch it."

"It contains oil."

The sawdust was covered in frozen oil, which was mixed with black ash.

It tastes the same as the bottom of the red iron bowl and the leather cord.

Miao Jiu's life was not in vain.

He stuffed sawdust into the soles of his shoes to avoid being searched by Han Zhao.

People who are afraid of death are the most likely to hide small things.

There are also three shallow scratches on the back of the wood shavings.

It's not a character.

Like three short bars.

Ma Liu couldn't understand it, so he first traced it on his own sleeve.

His memory is not as good as Crippled Three's.

We have no choice but to use the brute force method.

A bar, possibly a vehicle.

The two bars are likely crossbows.

We'll take the three bars back first.

As Chen Mu once said, don't throw away accounts you don't understand.

Ma Liu wrapped the sawdust in a cloth and was about to retreat when he suddenly heard voices ahead.

"Say it again."

That's Han Zhao.

The sound was much closer than when it was below the city.

Another person cried and said, "Captain Han, that's really all I know."

"The general ledger is in the Red Iron Treasury, not on my person."

With a snap.

It felt like a knife sheath striking someone's face.

Miao Jiu let out a half-scream before his mouth was gagged again.

Ma Liu stood frozen in the snow.

He saw the low sheds beside the old salt road.

A small fire was lit inside the shed.

In the firelight, Miao Jiu was tied to a wooden stake, his face so swollen that he was unrecognizable.

Han Zhao stood in front of him.

There were also two northern barbarians nearby.

One of them was holding a ladder hook from the main beam.

It was not seized.

It was just coated with eczema.

Han Zhao used the tip of his knife to lift Miao Jiu's chin.

"You say the Chitieku general ledger can be kept in suspense."

"Then recite it to me."

Miao Jiu cried and trembled.

"Three hundred sets of snow claws, twenty folding ladder hooks, and twelve barrels of frozen oil."

"Nine sets of crossbows."

"Three of them were in Xigou; two were overturned, and one was towed away..."

Han Zhao kicked him over.

"I asked if there were six sets left!"

Miao Jiu huddled in the snow.

"Two sets to the Northern Barbarian Camp."

"Two sets are in the rear warehouse of the Hei Tie warehouse at Bailang Pass."

"Two more sets..."

He suddenly stopped.

Han Zhao squatted down.

"explain."

Miao Jiu shook his head, crying.

"If I told you, I really wouldn't survive."

Han Zhao smiled.

"You think you can survive now?"

The knife tip landed in Miao Jiu's hand.

The cloth on Ma Liu's face was soaked with sweat from biting his teeth.

He wanted to rush.

Two guards from the Lu family held him down, one on each side.

Chen Mu said that he was not asked to save people.

But the person is right in front of me.

The knife was right in front of him.

Miao Jiu suddenly shouted, "Under the carriage of the Deputy General Han's personal guards!"

Han Zhao stopped wielding his knife.

Ma Liu was also stunned.

Han, the deputy general, was personally leading his troops under the carriage.

It's not the Red Iron Citadel.

It wasn't the Northern Barbarian Camp.

It was outside Black Stone Fortress, in Han Wenshan's own personal military vehicle.

If this statement is taken back, Han Wenshan will no longer be able to claim ignorance.

Han Zhao slashed Miao Jiu's shoulder with a backhand stroke.

It wasn't a severed hand.

But blood gushed out immediately.

"Shout again."

Shout to Blackrock Fortress.

Miao Jiu trembled with pain and cried, "Captain Han, please spare my life."

Han Zhao grabbed his hair and dragged him outside the shed.

"A clerk like you has no life."

"The account is valuable."

The northern barbarians laughed.

Ma Liu's eyes were so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

He stuffed the half-piece of sawdust into the military officer's hand.

"Go back."

The military law officer was taken aback.

"And you?"

"Let me take another look."

"Corporal Chen said he was looking for sawdust."

"Found it."

Ma Liu stared at the sled behind Han Zhao.

"But I also saw the bottom of the carriage."

He wasn't trying to be a hero.

He was looking at the things around Han Zhao.

A large felt was tied to the sled.

Half of the copper seal was visible at the edge of the felt.

The copper seal bears the vehicle number of Han Wenshan's personal guards.

Ma Liu recognized it.

Because when Han Wenshan's personal guards entered the fort during the day, he was chained to the outside of the military law tent and happened to see the vehicle.

The accounts now match up.

He dared not stay any longer.

But as he stepped back, a hand reached out from the snow and grabbed his ankle.

Ma Liu almost shouted out loud.

Looking down, I saw Lu Ping.

Lu Ping is not dead.

Half of his face was buried in the snow, his lips were purple, his waist badge was gone, and he was only wearing a tattered inner armor.

His voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.

"Don't go back the way you came."

"There are clips."

Ma Liu's eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

"You're still alive!"

With all his might, Lu Ping shoved a blood-soaked fragment of a waist tag into his hands.

The badge wasn't his.

It's from the Black Tiger Camp.

The back is engraved with the character "照".

The waist tag of Han Zhao's personal guards.

After being dragged away, Lu Ping did not just wait to die.

He also tore off a piece of the tent.

Ma Liu wanted to carry him on his back.

Lu Ping grabbed his sleeve.

"Carry me on your back, and no one can walk."

After he finished speaking, he pointed behind Ma Liu.

When Ma Liu turned around, he saw two new footprints on the ditch where they had come from.

Not theirs.

Someone from the Black Tiger Camp has already sneaked in.

If you go back the way you came, you'll definitely run into them.

Lu Ping didn't want to die.

He knew that if he made a move, no one would be able to leave.

His mouth was full of blood and foam, but he still tried to stuff something else out.

A handful of broken rope.

Half a piece of copper sheet was hanging on the rope.

The two small characters "second from the left" are engraved on the edge of the copper sheet.

Ma Liu was startled.

The second car from the left.

Miao Jiu just called for the car.

After Lu Ping was dragged away, he ended up touching the same tent.

This is no coincidence.

It was because Han Zhao's people were in such a hurry that they took the same bad road when they were dragging people, escorting goods, and changing vehicles.

If you do too many bad things, you'll eventually get mud stuck to the soles of your shoes.

Ma Liu's teeth were chattering.

Lu Ping stared at him.

"Remember, I didn't run away."

This sentence carries even more weight than a cry for help.

Ma Liu stuffed the fragments of the waist tag into his pocket and nodded vigorously.

"You didn't run away."

"I remember."

After retreating back to Black Rock, he led his men to withdraw around the ice gully on the north side.

Behind them, Han Zhao dragged Miao Jiu onto the snow slope.

Shout towards Blackrock Fortress:

"Hand over the evidence before dawn!"

"Or we'll chop off his hand first!"

Ma Liu lay in the snow, listening to Miao Jiu's cries, his mouth filled with the taste of blood.

They couldn't save Miao Jiu.

It didn't save Lu Ping either.

But they brought back three things.

Half a piece of wood chips with the character "库" on it.

Bronze seal for the vehicle number of Han Wenshan's personal guards.

There were also fragments of the Black Tiger Camp waist tag that Lu Ping had torn back.

The road back is even more difficult.

Ma Liu's toes were so frozen he couldn't feel them, and he didn't even feel the pain when he stepped into a snowdrift.

Two military officers took turns supporting him, and neither of them said they would drop him.

When they reached the North Gate Frozen Gully, someone on the wall almost mistook them for a Northern Barbarian outpost.

With his last ounce of strength, Ma Liu shouted, "Don't shoot!"

"I'm Ma Liu!"

Old Chai on the wall recognized his voice, cursed, but his voice was hoarse.

They didn't bring anyone back with them on this journey.

But they brought back a tent that could save lives.

Before entering the room, Ma Liu touched the three scratches on his cuffs again, afraid that he might forget them if he fainted from the cold.

These three things are enough to turn a tent into a knife after dawn.