A divine healer, a general, a young marquis! Who can rival them!

On February 18th, the snow on Black Stone Bridge melted.

All three battalions set out, totaling 9,100 men. The vanguard had 4,000, the left flank 2,300, and the right flank 2,800. Those who remained behind or could not move were combined into one group of 3,100.

Of the 858 who were lying down, 612 stood up on the day the troops were dispatched.

When Cui Ting was announcing the number, he paused for a moment when he got to this number.

"General, in previous years when we reviewed the troops in the spring, at most three out of ten wounded soldiers could stand up."

"There are seven this time."

"There are seven."

Three days before setting out, Yang Hu did one more thing.

He sent a document to the military supply depot in the northern region, requesting the records of soybean intake and output for the past three years.

The document was written according to regulations: the three battalions outside the Great Wall will set out in the spring, with more than 4,000 horses. The amount of bean feed must be checked and stored to determine the number of pack animals.

The reply arrived the next day.

The reply consisted of four words: "The accounts are in the register room."

Cui Ting took the paper in his hand and examined it twice: "General, what kind of reply is this?"

"It's not considered a gift."

"He dared not refuse. The general is the commander-in-chief of the three battalions."

"He didn't say he wouldn't give it to me." Yang Hu pressed the paper down on the corner of the table. "He said the accounts are in the bookkeeping office. Who manages the bookkeeping office? The Ministry of War. If I want to transfer it, I have to send a document to the Ministry of War. After the Ministry of War sends it down, it goes to the Northern Circuit, and the round trip takes three months."

Cui Ting was stunned for a moment.

"So, these three months..."

"In these three months, you can change as many of the accounts in the warehouse as you want."

"Then what is the general's purpose in issuing this document?"

“Once this document is issued, he will have to make a move,” Yang Hu said. “Once he makes a move, the ledger in the records room will be tied to him. From now on, whoever checks it will only be checking the one he altered.”

He folded the palindrome and put it into the small box he always carried with him.

There were already three things in the box: an arrow, a pinch of medicine residue, and a strip of cloth.

Now there are four items.

On February 22nd, the army marched out of the pass.

We weren't taking the old route from October. This time we headed due north, past Black Stone Ridge, and into the grasslands.

The first four days went smoothly. Liu Ye's scouts split into five groups, each leading the main army by thirty li. One group returned each afternoon and evening. Upon their return, they would report three things: where the water was, whether the water was drinkable, and whether there were any beans along the way.

On the afternoon of the fifth day, the group that returned did not arrive on time.

Only two people returned; the other three remained where they were.

"General." The scout dismounted, his face grim. "There are livestock lying by the water forty miles ahead."

"How many?"

"Eleven. Eight sheep and three cows. They're all dead."

Cui Ting spoke first: "When the ground thaws in the spring, the livestock lose weight and die because they can't survive the winter. This happens every year on the grasslands."

The scout shook his head.

"It doesn't look like it."

"Why doesn't it look like it?"

"Hoofprints," the scout said. "The hoofprints around the dead animal all lead towards the water; none of them came out of the water."

Yang Hu stood up.

"Prepare the horses."

The puddle was in a depression, where the ice had just melted halfway, and a layer of yellowish-brown foam floated on the surface.

Eleven animals lay sprawled about three to five steps from the water, their hides still intact. Liu Ye and her men erected a circle of wooden poles twenty steps around the perimeter, with strips of cloth tied to the poles, forbidding anyone from entering.

Yang Hu dismounted but did not approach immediately. He walked around the wooden poles for half a circle before squatting down to examine the marks on the ground.

The hoofprints were very close together, one layer on top of another, all heading towards the water. There were drag marks next to some of the tracks, left by people driving the animals from behind and the animals refusing to move.

"They rushed over," Liu Ye said.

"How far did you travel?"

"I can't tell. But out of these eleven, six of them have worn-out hooves." Liu Ye pointed to the nearest sheep. "Sheep on the grassland don't wear out their hooves on their own. They've been driven a long way."

Yang Hu untied the hood's straps and then tightened them again to cover his mouth and nose.

"Bring me a long pole."

He didn't let anyone near him and went in alone.

He squatted down next to the nearest cow and used a long pole to lift its head. The discharge from the cow's mouth and nose had congealed on its hair and was black. He then used the pole to open a gash on the cow's belly.

The gash wasn't cut with a knife; it burst open after death. The blood flowing from the gash was also black, thin and black, and didn't coagulate.

He pulled the long pole back and stepped out.

He stepped back outside the wooden pole, stuck the long pole into the snow, stood still, and watched for a long time.

"General?" Cui Ting greeted him.

"None of these eleven animals shall be skinned, their meat cut off, or burned."

"You're not allowed to burn it?" Cui Ting was taken aback. "General, weren't you just saying...?"

"Don't burn them yet," Yang Hu said. "Dig a pit right here, deeper than one and a half people. Push the livestock in whole, skin and all, first put a layer of quicklime on top, then fill it with soil. After filling it, weigh it down with stones."

"What about the water?"

"Give up."

"General, this is the only water source within fifty li to the north. If we abandon it, the entire army will have to march for another day."

"Give up."

Cui Ting didn't ask any more questions and turned to pass on the order.

Sixty people were sent to dig the pit.

Su Heng blocked the way for the sixty people and distributed three items: a damp cloth soaked in vinegar to cover their mouths and noses; a pair of coarse hemp gloves to be put on their hands and tied with rope at the cuffs; and a pair of old boots, broken boots that were taken from the baggage train and would be thrown away when they returned.

"Don't go back to camp after you've finished digging." She instructed them one by one. "Go to the stream downwind, take off all your clothes, and wash yourself from head to toe. Throw your gloves, boots, and face covering in the pit and bury them all."

One of the centurions, finding it troublesome, said, "Miss Su, it's just a few dead animals."

"Eleven dead animals can carry sixty people away at once," Su Heng said. "If you find it troublesome, stand further away, and I'll find someone else."

The centurion took the gloves.

The pit was dug to a depth of one and a half people, which took two hours.

When pushing livestock, you are not allowed to use your hands; you must use a long pole and a rope. Two layers of quicklime were laid, and the soil was filled to a height of one person. On top of that, there were more than seventy stones that were brought from the edge of the depression.

Yang Hu watched them fill in the last shovelful of soil.

"Make a mark."

"A mark?" Cui Ting asked. "General, this place is very desolate, and no one comes here."

"It's not for others to see," Yang Hu said. "It's for ourselves. If we take this road again on our way back, we'll see this mark and take a three-mile detour."

Liu Ye followed Yang Hu back, and after walking a dozen steps, she couldn't help but speak.

"Brother Yang, what kind of illness is this?"

"The blood doesn't clot, it's black and thin, and it swells and bursts after death," Yang Hu said. "If livestock get this, people who touch its skin or flesh, or drink water that has been soaked in it, will also get it. Once they get it, it will die within three days."

"Wouldn't burning it be the cleanest solution?"

"It won't burn through," Yang Hu said. "This thing is hidden in the cracks of bones and in the soil. Scorching a layer of skin with fire won't help. Dig a pit and bury it deep, crush it to death. That's more secure than burning it."

Liu Ye nodded, then shook her head.

"But what about the livestock drivers? Aren't they afraid?"

Yang Hu stopped in his tracks.

This question directly addressed the core of his being.

Driving sick animals into the water means the driver will also bump into the animals. A person who doesn't understand this disease, after driving eleven sick animals, will not live more than ten days.

Unless the person chasing them knows how to avoid it.

"Willow leaf".

"exist."

"The scouts should go another eighty li north," Yang Hu said. "Don't report anything else, just one thing: there are several bodies of water to the north, and we need to know if there are any livestock lying by those bodies of water."

Liu Ye responded and mounted her horse.

Yang Hu stood there for a while longer.

The wind blew from the north, carrying the earthy smell of the thawed grass. Nine thousand one hundred people lined up behind him, turning around in columns and heading east onto the road that would take an extra day to reach them.

The half-frozen wild sheep in October died by itself by the water.

This is not it.

Here, someone carried eleven sick livestock, drove them for dozens of miles to this waterway they had to pass, and then turned back.