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

Wild Dog Gully is nestled between two low ridges.

The north wind couldn't reach the bottom of the gully, so the snow was thinner than outside, and the withered grass still showed yellow tips. More than three hundred cattle were huddled together in the wooden fence on the east side, while more than eight hundred sheep huddled together in a large, white-gray cloud. Fifty hay carts were parked on the west slope, with more than sixty warhorses tied behind them for changing.

This is no ordinary grain depot.

It was the belly of the Ugut vanguard.

As long as they have enough food, the Northern Barbarians besieging Blackstone Fortress can continue their attack.

The gray vehicle slowly moved inwards along the mouth of the ditch.

Chen Mu was clad in captured heavy armor, his face smeared with blood and ash, revealing only his eyes. Anato sat on the other side of the carriage shaft, her hair tucked into her leather hat, holding aloft the copper pass left by Liang Qi.

Behind the wooden fence, a northern barbarian scout shouted a question.

Anado cursed back in the northern dialect.

She cursed quickly and fiercely, and the sentry was taken aback at first, then he actually laughed.

Chen Mu couldn't understand.

He asked in a low voice, "What did you say?"

Anato's lips didn't move.

"I said Black Stone Fortress was about to fall, and Ugut, the centurion, asked me to send some wine from the Han people."

"Is there alcohol in the car?"

"With you."

"I am not like wine."

"You're stronger than alcohol."

Chen Mu didn't ask any more questions.

Upon seeing the bronze tally and the men in northern barbarian armor behind the chariot, the scouts indeed moved the barricades aside.

The gray vehicle entered the wooden fence.

More than a hundred barbarian soldiers guarding the camp were roasting meat around a bonfire. The men who attacked the city last night had not yet returned, and they never expected that Han troops would take the initiative to sneak up here.

Chen Mu glanced at it.

The horse pen was on the left, the cattle pen on the right, and a black crow flag stood in front of the main tent. Under the flagpole sat a shirtless, burly man with wolf teeth hanging from his chest, carving a roasted lamb leg with a small knife.

Anato whispered, "Kumu, the younger brother of the garrison commander."

"Can I kill him?"

"You're asking me?"

"He's also from the North."

Anato's eyes turned cold.

"Last year he seized my mother's winter pasture, and seventeen children froze to death."

"Leave it to me."

The gray wagon continued to move closer to the main tent.

Kumu smelled the blood in the car and finally looked up.

His gaze fell on Chen Mu's face.

Which one?

Anato jumped off the car and answered in the northern dialect.

Kumu was initially puzzled, then his expression changed drastically.

He recognized her.

"Anado!"

Before he could even draw his scimitar, Anado had already smashed the travel talisman into his face.

The copper talisman was used to cut open the brow bone.

Chen Mu simultaneously overturned the vehicle's side panel.

Er Gou, Shi Tou, and eight border soldiers, who had been hiding in the cart, leaped out. The first volley of crossbow bolts fired almost to the faces of the northern barbarian guards, and seven of the men roasting meat around the fire fell instantly.

"Steal the horse!"

"Open the cattle pen!"

"Don't light it!"

Chen Mu shouted three times, drew his sword, and charged toward the horse pen.

Twenty-four border soldiers, clad in northern barbarian armor, first cut the palisade ropes, then dragged the chevaux-de-frise over to block the main tent. The rest of the men, hidden behind the hay carts, also lifted their felt blankets, revealing knives, axes, and lassos.

Wild Dog Gully exploded instantly.

Some of the northern barbarian soldiers were looking for horses, some were grabbing bows, and others were rushing towards the mouth of the ditch to light beacon fires.

Chen Mu did not pursue the stragglers.

He led ten men straight into the horse pen.

More than sixty horses, startled and scattering, were being guarded by barbarian soldiers who were about to cut the reins to scatter the herd. Chen Mu pounced from the side, severing two of the guards' fingers with a single stroke, then grabbed the reins and dragged them around to the wooden stake.

The barbarian soldiers screamed and slashed back.

Shi Tou, clad in his newly acquired Han family iron armor, charged forward, taking a blow that left only a white gash on his chest. He roared excitedly and shoved his opponent headfirst into a ditch of horse manure.

"Sergeant, this armor is really useful!"

"Stop yelling, tie up the horse!"

The horse stable has been acquired.

On the other side, Er Gou led his men to break open the cattle pen. More than three hundred cattle slowly squeezed out, blocking the Northern Barbarian soldiers who came to their aid in the narrow passage.

Old Chai didn't come along, so Er Gou imitated him, wielding a horseshoe hammer the size of an iron ladle and smashing it against the wooden fence behind the cow.

"Walk!"

"Everything's in the pot tonight!"

The cattle were so frightened that they charged forward.

More than a dozen northern barbarian soldiers were knocked over on the spot and trampled, crying out in pain.

Zhou Tie's thirty cavalrymen then charged down the southern slope.

Instead of charging the main tent, they first intercepted the scouts who were trying to run to report the news. The lassoes flew off, and three riders fell from their horses. The remaining riders turned around, only to be blocked back into the ditch by a herd of cattle.

The most dangerous part is actually the west slope.

Twenty Northern Barbarian archers were hiding there.

Arrows rained down from behind the hay cart, hitting two soldiers who fell to the ground. One arrow was lodged in Chen Mu's breastplate, making his wound go numb.

"Lift the platform!"

The soldiers unloaded the wooden planks from both sides of the gray cart and pushed it forward, arrows looming overhead.

The second round of arrows filled the cart floor.

Chen Mu hid behind a plank and threw a pottery jar filled with lamp oil toward the west slope. The archers saw the jar and scattered in panic, thinking he was going to set it on fire.

The earthenware jar was smashed, leaving only a pool of clear water.

Chen Mu had already rushed out from the other side of the vehicle.

He slipped close to the hay cart and into the midst of the archers, first slashing the bowstring with his short sword, then stabbing them in the waist and abdomen. In close combat, the longbow was no match for a fire poker. Stone and the border guards followed, smashing the men's faces with the backs of their axes and the hilts of their swords.

Half of the twenty archers fell in the blink of an eye.

The remaining people wanted to retreat, but behind them were cartwheels loaded with hay.

Chen Mu kicked the leader of the archers to the ground, and pressed the tip of his knife against his throat.

"Lie down."

The other party does not understand Chinese.

Chen Mu pressed the knife down half an inch.

Blood beads appeared.

The man immediately threw away his bow, covered his head with his hands, and lay face down in the snow.

Others followed suit.

Eleven survivors were bound behind their backs with bowstrings and pushed behind the hay cart.

In front of the main tent, Kumu had already exchanged more than a dozen blows with Anado.

Kumu was strong; each strike of his scimitar carried a gust of wind. Anado had a gash on her left arm, but her pace quickened. She didn't confront Kumu directly, instead circling around the crow flagpole.

Enraged, Kumu swung his sword, but missed, and the blade got stuck in the flagpole.

Anato grabbed the Black Crow Flag and pulled it down.

The flag cloth covered Kumu's head.

Her scimitar pierced under the flag, the tip going through her soft ribs.

Kumu grabbed her wrist like a madman and lifted her up.

Anato's face turned purple from being choked, but she didn't let go of the knife. Instead, she used her knee to hold the handle of the knife and pushed it in inch by inch.

When Chen Mu arrived, Kumu was about to smash her into the fire.

He slashed Kumu's knee from behind.

The burly man suddenly knelt down.

Anato landed, drew her sword, and stabbed him in the chest from the front.

Kumu stared at her.

Anato leaned close to his ear and whispered something in the northern dialect.

The fierce glint in Kumu's eyes dissipated.

He fell under the black crow's banner, his blood slowly staining the crow's wings red.

Chen Mu asked, "What did you say?"

Anato was panting.

"Tell him that the children of the winter pasture have come to take the sheep."

She bent down and cut off the gold wolf buckle from Kumu's waist, then casually tossed it into the snow.

There was nothing left to show off.

He simply cut the black crow flag in half with one stroke.

With the death of the commander defending the camp, the remaining Northern Barbarian soldiers were thrown into complete chaos.

Some ran towards the north slope, some hid among the sheep, and some even threw down their knives and knelt down. Zhou Tie led his cavalry to circle around them, preventing them from getting close to the beacon tower.

In less than half an hour, Wild Dog Gully became quiet.

This time, no one was busy counting the heads.

Everyone was chasing cattle, herding sheep, lassoing horses, and checking hay carts.

Ma Liu rode a small yellow horse, galloping wildly through the ditch, his voice already hoarse from shouting.

"Three hundred and twelve cows!"

"There were too many sheep, the count got messed up, but it's definitely over eight hundred!"

"Sixty-seven horses, fifty cartloads of fodder!"

"There are also salt bricks and cheese in the back tent!"

Er Gou dragged two large bags of salt out of a leather tent, grinning from ear to ear.

"Sergeant, we're rich!"

Chen Mu corrected him.

"I'm full."

The money will be taken away.

Herding cattle and sheep back will ensure that Black Stone Fort doesn't go hungry throughout the winter.

After his initial excitement, Zhou Tie looked towards the north slope.

"Should we send them all back to the fort?"

"With such a large herd of cattle, Ugut will catch up with them halfway through the journey."

Chen Mu also looked towards the north slope.

The terrain on both sides of Wild Dog Gully is low, but there is a stone beam on the north side. Originally, a northern barbarian sentry post stood on the stone beam, and behind the post was a spring that could hide hundreds of people. Whoever occupied the stone beam controlled the three paths west of Black Stone Fortress.

They only robbed cattle and sheep, and then they were chased all the way.

If we occupy this place, the northern barbarians who want to take back their grain will have to charge up the stone beam with their heads held high.

Chen Mu quickly gave the order.

"Zhou Tie drove two hundred cattle and six hundred sheep back to the fort, taking the wounded and half of the warhorses with him."

"Ergou, stay here with me."

Zhou Tie was stunned.

"How many people should we keep?"

"forty."

"Ugut may have thousands of riders!"

"So we can't wait for him on flat ground."

Chen Mu pointed to fifty hay and fodder carts.

"Push the cart onto the stone beam, load it with earth to build the wall."

"The cattle pen was demolished, and wooden barriers were used to make barricades."

"Move all the Northern Barbarian bows and arrows up there."

"Leave the remaining cattle and sheep in the ditch, with bells tied to them. If anyone sneaks in at night, the cattle will know before the person does."

As soon as the order was given, the forty border soldiers immediately took action.

They were no longer just cooks guarding the pots, nor were they mere foot soldiers waiting for others to strike them. They rode the Han family's horses, donned the armor of the Northern Barbarians, and pushed the newly plundered hay carts onto the stone beams.

These things are visible and tangible.

Each one makes you stand a little more upright.

Anato wrapped her arm and walked to Chen Mu's side.

"Are you really going to stay?"

"Um."

"Ugut is my uncle."

Chen Mu turned to look at her.

This was the first time she had spoken so clearly.

Anato gazed into the distance.

"If he knew that Kumu was dead and the grain depot had been seized, he would come in person."

Are you afraid of him?

"I was afraid when I was a child."

She gripped the scimitar tightly.

"Now I want to see if he'll be afraid of me."

Chen Mu handed her a round shield that he had captured.

"Then let's stay and see."

Anado took the shield and suddenly asked, "Aren't you afraid I'll have to go back before the battle even begins?"

Chen Mu looked at the soldier who was busy on the stone beam.

"If you go back, the cattle and sheep will be mine."

"If you stay, the position is yours too."

"Choose for yourself."

Anado smiled, carried her shield, and climbed onto the stone beam.

Dawn finally broke.

The first rays of sunlight crossed the low hill and shone on the severed black crow flag, as well as on the cattle and sheep slowly leaving the ravine.

From the direction of Black Stone Fortress, Lu Shuangyi climbed the west wall and saw the long black line on the snowfield.

The soldiers' children ran after the cattle, and the guards threw down their empty bowls to catch the reins. The whole fortress was filled with shouts.

Zhou Tie drove the twelve fattest cows to the south gate first.

"Chen Mu said, three heads will go to the wounded soldiers, three heads to the military households of the West Fort, and the rest will be distributed among the entire fort!"

Old Chai swung his butcher's knife, laughing until tears streamed down his face.

Han Wenshan, stripped of his sword, stood outside the military tent, watching his warhorses carry back grain from the Northern Barbarians, and watching the lowly soldiers who had once dared not even look him in the eye cheering around the cattle.

No one asked him what he meant anymore.

On the stone beam of Wild Dog Gully, Chen Mu tore off the tattered cloth from Liang Qihui's cart and tied it to a long spear.

The rag had no bugle call or general's seal.

The only thing on it was a black pot drawn by Lao Chai with soot.

Er Gou thought it was ugly.

"Sergeant, are we really going to be carrying the cooking flag from now on?"

Chen Mu inserted the spear into the crevice in the rock.

When the wind blows, the black flag flutters on the stone beam.

"A good flag is one that can feed people."

At the end of the north slope, a line of riders suddenly appeared.

First came ten riders.

Then came the hundred riders.

More black dots emerged from behind the horizon, like a dark cloud spreading across the snowfield.

Anado walked to Chen Mu's side.

"Ugut is here."

Chen Mu stood up, supporting himself with the knife.

The forty soldiers behind him stopped what they were doing and grabbed the bows and spears they had just seized.

He glanced at the cattle and sheep in the ditch, then looked at the thousands of cavalrymen under the stone beam.

"Tell him."

"Once the cattle and sheep enter my ditch, don't even think about leading them back."