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

When the iron box was carried into Blackrock Castle, the south gate was already half cracked.

The old crossbow strings were tangled behind the door; two of the seven strings were broken, and the remaining five were stretched taut like tendons about to burst. Stone, Er Gou, and the remaining soldiers from the South Gate were all pressed against the winch, their palms bleeding.

When Zhou Tie crawled out of the wastewater ditch, his first words were not to report his achievements.

"The box is back!"

These four words are louder than a bugle call.

Everyone outside the military tent turned their heads.

Han Wenshan also turned his head.

When he saw the iron box, his expression finally changed.

It's not cold.

It was murderous intent.

Chen Mu sat at the entrance of the tent, supported by Lin Qinghe. He was already on the verge of collapse, but when he heard that the box had returned, his eyes regained their light.

"Unboxing."

Yan Heng immediately said, "The three tents shall be sealed together; the seals shall be verified first."

Han Wenshan said coldly, "A broken token dug up during wartime, does it deserve to be jointly sealed by three tents?"

Ma Liu squeezed out of the crowd, clutching a military license plate in his hand.

"Broken card?"

He slammed the cards onto the snow.

"That's me engraved on it!"

"I'm still alive, but the cards are in the dead man's box!"

That shout stunned everyone.

Ma Liu is usually a chatterbox, a coward, a fast runner, and will hide whenever possible.

But now his eyes are frighteningly red.

"Who killed me off?"

"Who would risk my life to take credit for someone else?"

No one answered.

The men from the Fire Station looked at the sign, and their expressions changed.

Ma Liu is most afraid of pain.

When he ran the old salt road, his feet were so cold they turned purple, but when he came back he still complained that he wanted to remember to drink half a bowl of soup.

But now his name is engraved on a plaque for the dead, and all the jokes are no longer funny.

Er Gou touched the military tag around his neck.

"If I die, will my father not receive the relief grain?"

Old Chai's face darkened.

"Don't mention death."

Er Gou whispered, "I'm just asking."

No one can answer that.

Because the answer has already been given for this box of cards.

If a person can be written off, a dead person can have their name erased, and a living person can be given a different name to join the imperial guard, then the grain, pensions, and land taxes of the military households can all be wiped out with a single stroke of the pen.

Chen Mu looked at Er Gou.

"So we need to investigate."

Er Gou nodded.

"I will guard the south gate."

"I'll stick to my cards."

Han Wenshan didn't even look at him.

"The card was picked up amidst the chaos of battle; its authenticity is uncertain."

Su Wan came out from behind.

She was holding a stack of military tags in her arms, and the wound on the back of her hand had reopened, with blood staining the edge of the top tag.

"It wasn't picked up."

"It was taken from the old iron box containing military merit certificates at Bailang Pass."

He Wenbai stepped forward to verify the seal.

The more he looked, the paler his face became.

"It's an old seal."

"It was used for sealing off the warehouse three years ago."

Han Wenshan said, "Old seals can also be forged."

Chen Mu said, "Miao Jiu."

When Miao Jiu was carried out, his face looked almost as bad as a dead person's.

Lin Qinghe had forbidden him from moving, but when Miao Jiu heard the words "military license plate," he struggled to see it.

He used to work with old military license plates.

He knew that if he didn't speak up, the next transport vehicle would take him away.

Yan Heng picked up a card.

"recognize."

Miao Jiu glanced at it and made a hoarse sound in his throat.

"This piece... has three short marks on its back."

Yan Heng turned over.

There were indeed three paths.

Miao Jiu continued, "I carved it."

"Back then, Han Zhao asked me to separate the death squad badges from the Black Tiger Battalion merit badges, to prevent them from getting mixed up. I carved short marks on the backs of the real death squad badges."

Han Zhao stood behind the prison door, his face ashen.

Han Wenshan looked at Miao Jiu.

"Think it through."

Miao Jiu shuddered.

Chen Mu suddenly said, "Miao Jiu."

"If you lie, no one will recognize this box of cards."

"They died a second time."

Miao Jiu's lips trembled.

He's not a good person.

He had taken care of Han's dirty accounts, stolen playing cards, and changed his name.

But when he looked at the box of cards, he finally lowered his head.

He suddenly raised his hand and pointed to two of the seventeen dead pawn cards.

"These two pieces... I remember them."

Yan Heng asked, "Why?"

"Han Zhao had me shave my back back back back back years ago."

Miao Jiu was panting heavily.

"But these two pieces weren't scraped clean."

The lame man turned over.

Sure enough, there were shallow knife marks on his back, as if someone had only scratched halfway before stopping.

Miao Jiu glanced at Han Zhao.

Han Zhao's face was even paler than his.

"That day was urgent."

Han Zhao said in a hoarse voice, "The northern barbarians launched a night attack, and my godfather is urging me to finish changing the box before the commendation and award ceremony."

Han Wenshan coldly replied, "Nonsense."

Chen Mu said, "I'll remember."

"Han Zhao said that he rushed to change the military license plate before the commendation and sealing box was ready."

Upon hearing these words, Han Zhao felt as if he had been whipped.

He finally realized that every word he uttered would become a pretext for him to turn against Han Wenshan.

But it's already unstoppable.

"It's true."

"This box is genuine."

Yan Heng immediately took note.

Su Wenyuan also recorded it.

Ji Yunzhou pressed his arm, which had been struck by an arrow, and ordered the imperial clerk to make a copy.

Han Wenshan sneered: "A mere accountant and a box of old tallies, and you think you can settle a three-year-old case at White Wolf Prison?"

Chen Mu said, "Uncertain."

"Count first."

Old Chai immediately led the cooks to surround them.

The lame man reported his number.

"First layer, seventeen pieces."

He laid out the tablets of the seventeen dead soldiers of the cookhouse, one by one.

Wu Daniu.

Feng Shi.

Li Shuang.

Guo Xiaoman.

As names were announced one by one, the cooks in the kitchen fell silent.

They had heard Chen Mu read these names before.

It was posted on the list.

Memorize it.

But today was the first time I saw the sign.

It's not a name on paper.

It was iron dug out from a pile of corpses.

Old Chai's eyes were red, but his voice was even rougher.

"remember!"

The lame man continued.

"The second layer, twenty-one substitute death cards."

"One Mazda 6."

Ma Liu stood to the side, his face pale.

"I'm still alive."

"Remember to live."

Chen Mu said, "I'll remember."

The third layer contains what appear to be thirty-nine old military merit badges.

On the fourth floor, sixty nameplates were scratched off.

The total number is one hundred and thirty-seven.

One hundred and thirty-seven placards were laid out on the snow in front of the military law tent.

Even the sound of the northern barbarians banging on the door seemed to subside for a moment.

This is not a single page of testimony.

It wasn't just a word from Chen Mu.

It's iron.

It is a name.

It's a grievance that a living person can touch.

Du Song had someone bring three coarse cloth bags.

The cloth bag had no pattern; only three names were written in charcoal.

Dead soldier.

To die in someone else's place.

Scrape the name.

He personally turned the bag inside out for everyone to see.

"Empty bag."

"The three tents were sealed together."

He Wenbai reviewed and approved the document.

Ji Yunzhou pressed the wooden plaque of the Imperial Inspector.

Yan Heng was instructed to use military law seals.

When the three seals were affixed to the bag's seal, someone in Han Wenshan's personal guard gasped quietly.

They finally understood.

Once this box of cards is put into the three accounts, it will no longer be Chen Mu's private account.

It is a military law office.

It is the imperial inspector's account.

It is a review of the accounts.

If Han Wenshan wanted to seize it again, he would have to seize the seals of all three families.

When Su Wan sealed the bag, she made a separate rubbing of Ma Liu's substitute card.

Ma Liu looked at his name on the paper and his lips moved slightly.

"I'm not dead yet, and there's already a dead man named Taku."

The lame man said, "That's why we should keep him."

Ma Liu wiped his face.

"Keep."

"If anyone ever says that my Mazda 6 is fast because I'm afraid of dying, I'll slap this in their face."

Old Chai cursed, "You've always been afraid of dying."

Ma Liu stuck out his neck.

"Being afraid of death but daring to come back, that's what makes you valuable."

A few cooks nearby chuckled softly.

This smile was not frivolous.

It's like a person catching their breath after being buried in a coffin.

Han Wenshan suddenly said, "Chen Mu."

"You're very good at boosting morale."

He looked at Yan Heng.

"If old signs from mass graves are displayed in front of the army during wartime, disrupting the morale of the defenders, what should be done according to military law?"

Yan Heng did not answer.

Because this knife is sinister.

The military license plates are real.

Revealing the truth when the enemy is pressing in can indeed disrupt morale.

Han Wenshan turned to the soldiers.

"Do you want to defend the city, or do you want to kneel and weep?"

That's a harsh statement.

Another loud bang came from the south gate.

The latch broke completely.

Lu Shuangyi shouted from the south gate, "Repair the gate!"

The stone was shaken and fell over, but it got up and pounced on it again.

Chen Mu looked at the military license plate on the snow, his voice low.

"Old Chai."

Old Chai looked up.

"exist!"

"Put away the cards."

Everyone was taken aback.

Chen Mu said, "Divide it into three bags."

"One bag of seventeen dead soldiers, one bag of substitute cards, and one bag of old cards with scratched names."

"The lame three carried the number on his back."

"Su Wan sealed the bag."

"The rest of you, go up on the wall."

He looked at Han Wenshan.

"Vice General Han is right."

"The city must be defended."

A hint of smugness flashed in Han Wenshan's eyes.

But Chen Mu's next sentence came right away.

"But this city was defended by these dead men."

"Anyone who dares to say they are undermining morale should take off their own dog tags first."

Nobody moved.

An old soldier from Blackstone Fortress suddenly pulled his dog tag from around his neck and pressed it to his chest.

"I'll go up on the wall."

"Don't let my cards go into the dead man's box."

the second.

The third.

More and more people are touching their military license plates.

It's not chaos.

It is stable.

Han Wenshan wanted to use the morale of the troops to pressure the military license plates.

Chen Mu used military license plates to reassure the troops.

They crashed into the south gate again.

This time, the shouts from the wall were louder than the banging on the log.

"Don't let your cards end up in a ditch!"

The cooks, the soldiers at the south gate, and the archers at the north wall all shouted together.

Chen Mu closed his eyes.

He won this battle.

But the next moment, a new bugle call sounded outside the old South Road.

Anato's expression changed.

"The northern barbarians want to release a train."

Chen Mu opened his eyes.

"What train?"

Anato looked towards the south gate.

"A car crashed with a load of oilseeds."

"If the door won't be broken down, then burn it down."

Outside the south gate, a dark figure was pushing a smoking wooden cart, rolling towards the city gate.

One hundred and thirty-seven military license plates were just sealed into a bag.

What was actually to be burned was the entire Blackrock Fortress.