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

On the first morning after the flag was changed at Tiemabao, a line of people stretched for two miles outside the east gate.

There were herdsmen who had escaped from Baiquan Ranch, military households from nearby military settlements with their families, and wounded soldiers who had just run back from Han Wanshan's troops last night.

They dared not go straight in.

Although the Han family's Black Mountain Banner had been thrown into the furnace, the city walls and the blades remained. Many people, accustomed to kneeling outside the Han family's stronghold, would first lay out their last remaining grain and sheepskins on the snow upon seeing the gate, only daring to raise their heads after waiting for others to finish selecting them.

Chen Mu stood in the doorway and watched for a while.

"Take the items back."

The old soldier at the front thought he had misheard.

"No need to pay grain rations to enter the fortress?"

"Do you have any food?"

There was only half a bag of blackened beans at the old man's feet.

Chen Mu ordered his men to push open all the gates of the fortress.

"Let's go in and eat first."

The old man did not leave immediately.

He pulled out a young man from behind him, who was missing his left ear. The young man had been a garrison soldier at Iron Horse Fortress and had just surrendered to Chen Mu the night before, but today he stood inside the gate wearing the old armor of the Han family. Father and son looked at each other across the threshold, neither daring to recognize the other.

In the past, deserters would implicate their entire families, and surrendered soldiers would be skinned alive and displayed to the public.

The young man thought his father had come to arrest him on behalf of the Han family, while the old man thought his son had already been beheaded by Chen Mu.

Chen Mu tossed a bag of rice to the young man.

"Take your dad to find a house."

The young man clutched the rice bag, stood frozen for a long time, then suddenly knelt down. Chen Mu kicked him near the knee, making him stand up again.

"You guarded the west gate for me last night, so walk with your head held high today."

The young man's eyes were red as he carried his father on his back and then took the rice sack into the fort.

A newly made iron pot stood in the middle of the long street, its opening large enough for two children to lie side by side. White rice, minced meat, and dried cheese simmered and bubbled, their aroma wafting over the city gates and all the way to the end of the procession.

No one knelt anymore.

The child at the front started running, and the mother tried to catch him but failed, so she could only follow him inside. When the others saw the bowl being handed to the child, they also started pushing forward.

Er Gou, dragging his injured leg, stood guard by the pot, holding a wooden spoon in one hand and a cleaver in the other.

"One bowl per person!"

"Eat your food first, or I'll cut off your hand!"

He had a loud voice and a fierce face, yet every spoonful of rice he scooped was overflowing. Some people squatted by the roadside with their bowls in hand, and cried after swallowing the first bite; others couldn't bear to eat it, hiding the meat in their sleeves, wanting to give it to the elderly still at the end of the line.

When Su Wan arrived with the grain carts from Black Stone Fortress, the long street was already full of people.

She didn't bring an empty car.

The wagon carried the families of the dead and wounded, medical supplies, silver chests, and over a hundred military households willing to move to Iron Horse Fortress. Black Stone Fortress was defensible, but it lacked iron furnaces and could not accommodate the ever-increasing number of horses. Iron Horse Fortress, with its thick walls, numerous houses, and proximity to White Spring Pasture, perfectly bound the people and the furnaces together.

Su Wan got off the bus and went to see the thirty-two granaries first.

The key to the granary is still in the hands of the old granary manager of the Han family.

The old warehouse manager, along with more than twenty servants, blocked the warehouse door, claiming that the grain belonged to the White Wolf Pass army and that no one could open it without Han Wanshan's order.

The two warehouses that Chen Mu opened last night have become a capital offense in his mind.

"General Han will come back." The old granary chief stared at the soldiers receiving porridge. "Eat one bite today, and your whole family will be stuffed into a ditch tomorrow."

The people who were originally queuing gradually stopped.

Many people know Old Warehouse Head.

In the past, if any family paid half a bushel less grain, he would lead his servants to tear down their roofs and drag away their oxen. Of those who froze to death outside the fortress, at least half were driven past the granary by him.

Su Wan didn't try to reason with him.

She took a battering ram from the car and handed it to the two furnace workers.

"Smash it."

Old Cangtou's expression changed.

"You dare touch the military rations?"

The first hammer blow cracked the lock.

The second hammer blow sent half of the door crashing into the warehouse.

White rice flowed out from behind the broken wooden plank, covering the ground. The people in line were envious when they saw so much grain.

Old Cangtou drew his sword and lunged at Su Wan.

A soldier who had just surrendered from Iron Horse Fortress rushed forward and pinned him to the pile of rice. Before the old granary foreman's servants could move, the surrounding stokers, soldiers, and shepherds had already grabbed bowls, carrying poles, and fire tongs and surrounded him.

More than twenty people couldn't even last one round.

When the old warehouseman was dragged in front of Chen Mu, he was still calling out for the Han family.

Chen Mu asked, "Where do you live?"

Old Cangtou was taken aback.

The largest brick courtyard in the fortress belonged to him. The cellar contained twelve vats of grain, five chests of silver, and sixteen military household indentures. In the backyard, seven girls who worked for him were locked up.

Chen Mu ordered his men to break open the cellar and the backyard.

The girls took the money and threw all the indentures into the furnace. The courtyard was divided among the families of the blacksmith who died in battle and twenty homeless military households.

The old warehouse manager panicked as he watched his box being carried away.

"This is mine!"

Chen Mu drew his short sword from his left hand.

"Not now."

The knife went into his chest.

The old granary manager collapsed in front of the granary he had guarded for more than a decade.

One after another, the warehouse doors were smashed open.

Chen Mu did not disperse all thirty-two granaries, but only opened four. Those who entered the fort today received three days' rations first, and those who wished to stay in the furnace, stable, or on the city wall would then receive winter clothing and lodging.

Once the warehouse door opened, the people went to find their own rooms.

If someone wants to stay in an empty room, they can simply push open the door. If there are any belongings left behind by Han's private soldiers inside, whoever goes in first gets to keep them; if two families are vying for a room, they will decide which family has more elderly people and children.

Before noon, smoke was rising from the chimneys of all the empty houses in Iron Horse Fort.

More than 30 households still failed to secure a house.

They set their sights on the eastern stables, intending to drive the horses out to live in the pens. The herders who raised the horses refused, and the two sides first exchanged insults, then grabbed wooden sticks. The newly surrendered garrison soldiers stood by, unsure of whose side to take, until the old man Baiquan, sent by Anado, lashed the manger with his whip.

"Humans are afraid of the cold, and so are horses!"

"Tear down the empty shed where Dong Kui trained his troops!"

More than two hundred people immediately rushed to the drill ground.

Those wooden sheds were originally used by Han's personal guards for sword practice, and the roofs were all made of good wood. The forge workers used hammers, the herdsmen untied ropes, and the soldiers carried the beams; in less than half a day, they were dismantled into a pile of timber. Thirty households each carried away a few pieces and built new houses against the south wall.

Chen Mu did not send anyone to keep an eye on things.

When I went to check again in the evening, the three houses that had been built first were not occupied by young people, but by elderly people and children who had no one to take care of them. The two families who had fought so fiercely over the timber ended up sharing a mud wall and even setting up their cooking pots together.

Once a person has their own house, they will understand many things on their own.

The stables were also not empty.

The first batch of fodder delivered by Bai Quan arrived, and all 216 warhorses ate the new grass. Zhou Tie led his men to arrange the captured horses according to their height. Those that could be worn with heavy armor were kept, the shorter horses were given to the light cavalry, and the docile ones were assigned to the families of the deceased to pull carts.

A widow chose the blue horse her husband had ridden home, but didn't know how to ride it. Zhou Tie squatted down to adjust the stirrups for her and threw her his leather gloves.

"You'll get it after falling twice."

The widow asked, "Is the horse really mine?"

"Your man risked his life for her; anyone who dares to take her away will have to mention my name."

"Does your name even matter?"

Zhou Tie pointed to the soot on his chest.

"This one works better."

The three iron furnaces were also reignited.

The blacksmith, his face scarred from burns, disassembled the heavy armor left by Dong Kui and reforged it to resemble the physique of the Black Pot Cavalryman. Five old blacksmiths, each with twenty apprentices, repaired the armor by day and forged the spearheads by night. The mining hammer of their fallen comrade still hung on the furnace door, its shadow falling on the heads of the group every time the furnace fire blazed.

The first batch was not shaped.

What they were making were pots, horseshoes, and a hundred short shovels. Iron Horse Fortress didn't lack soldiers who could kill, but it lacked things that could dig wells, repair walls, shovel snow, and bury corpses. The stoker, his face covered in burn scars, was worried that Chen Mu would find him too slow, but Chen Mu took a shovel first and personally shoveled away the frozen, blood-stained soil in front of the granary.

The dead blacksmith was buried on the slope visible from the furnace.

The five old blacksmiths did not weep; they simply placed the first newly forged horseshoe before the grave. When the Black Pot Cavalry charged out again, each hoofbeat was a testament to his continued blacksmithing.

The nail trimming only begins on the second batch.

The black mountain patterns on the Han family's armor plates were flattened piece by piece by hammering, and then the furnace workers used round hammers to create the rim of the pot. Some people disliked the pot patterns, and the furnace worker, whose face was covered in burn scars, simply threw the armor plates back.

"You get what you pay for."

"If you think it's ugly, then take it off."

Nobody was willing to take their clothes off.

As Chen Mu walked to the third furnace, his injured leg suddenly gave way.

Lin Qinghe supported him from behind.

She came with Su Wan's medical tent, and as soon as she entered, she heard that Chen Mu had once again crawled through the ash tunnel, stepped on hot coals, and swung a hammer with his injured hand.

"sit down."

Chen Mu did not move.

Lin Qinghe directly inserted a needle into his side.

Half of my leg went numb on the spot.

"Can I sit down now?"

Chen Mu was forced onto the wooden stool by the stove by her. The bandage on his right shoulder was removed, revealing a gaping wound that was stuck to his clothing. Lin Qinghe gently soaked the wound in warm water, cut away the rotten flesh, and then stitched it back up.

Chen Mu gripped the edge of the stool with his left hand and remained silent.

As Lin Qinghe stitched the last stitch, sweat beaded on her forehead.

"One should not draw a bow for three days."

"Is someone attacking the fortress?"

"Let Lu Shuangyi kill him."

"What if she can't kill him?"

Lin Qinghe tightened the needle and thread, causing Chen Mu's shoulder to tremble in pain.

"Then let me finish sewing you first."

Lu Shuangyi happened to be coming down from the city wall when she heard this, and threw a black knife that she had confiscated at Chen Mu's feet.

"I can kill them."

After Lu Shuangyi finished speaking, she didn't leave. Instead, she sat down on the other side of Chen Mu. She took out half a still-warm meat pie from her bosom, broke it in half, and handed one half to Lin Qinghe.

Lin Qinghe glanced at her and accepted it.

"You're injured too."

"Old wound."

"Come tonight to change the dressing."

"Wait until we finish walking along the city wall."

Neither woman uttered a single unnecessary word. One was concerned with whether Chen Mu would survive, and the other with whether the fortress would fall. Neither considered the other to be someone who would only cause trouble.

Su Wan then returned from the granary, her sleeves covered in white rice.

She placed the three small cloth bags on Chen Mu's lap.

The first bag contained the grain used up in the granary today, the second bag contained medicine for the medical treasury, and the third bag contained loose silver from the old granary manager's cellar. She didn't read out the numbers, only saying that the silver was enough to add another thick quilt to the homes of all the fallen soldiers.

Chen Mu pushed the third bag back.

"Go and send it."

"Aren't you afraid I'll take it?"

"If you wanted to take it, Han Wenshan took it from the silver vault that night."

Su Wan's fingers lingered on the cloth bag for a moment before she tucked them back into her sleeve.

"I won't take it."

"I want them to remember who made sure the children had blankets in winter."

She had just finished counting the people who could fight.

Blackstone Fortress and Iron Horse Fortress combined have 410 men who can immediately ride horses and 84 men who can wear heavy armor. Among the newly surrendered garrison soldiers and forge workers, there are more than 400 who can wield swords, but have never fought in mounted combat.

The pots for two thousand people are already prepared.

There are fewer than a thousand who are truly capable fighters.

Just then, the soldier who had his leg broken by a wheel the night before was carried in.

He saw the white rice on the long street, ordered a bowl, and only spoke after finishing it.

"The second grain cart convoy from White Wolf Pass will pass through Crow's Neck tomorrow afternoon."

"Sixty-four vehicles."

"There are also two thousand taels of silver in the carriage for Black Tooth's pay."

Chen Mu looked at Lu Shuangyi.

Lu Shuangyi had already picked up the black knife from the ground.

"You sit down."

"This time I'm going to rob it."