Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

The border of Northern Yan, Wailing County.

As early spring arrives, the snow melts and all things revive.

After a long winter of silence, the earth has finally ushered in a new life.

North of Wailing County lies a grassland, its blue waters stretching to the horizon, a truly captivating sight.

"Araso~~"

A loud and clear song rang out.

The simple shepherdess waved her whip, sang local tunes, and drove her flock of sheep toward a place with lush pastures.

Looking out, the lush, verdant mountains rise in layers, herds of cattle and sheep graze, and the songs of shepherdesses create a beautiful and enchanting scene.

The clear water is like a mirror, and the blue sky is like silk; the two complement each other, creating a stunningly beautiful scene in the frontier that is truly breathtaking.

Several miles away from the grassland, inside a tribal enclosure, rows of yurts stand in orderly rows.

In front of the yurt, women and children carried their babies on their backs, constantly squeezing up and down a stick as thick as a baby's arm to dilute and filter the freshly squeezed milk in a wooden bucket.

Seeing the milk, which was originally cloudy, gradually become clear and shiny, the women and children milking the cows showed a relieved smile.

A melodious zither tune reached the ears of the tribe members.

At the fence entrance, an elderly man with a weathered face and white pupils in his eyes is facing the rising sun, intently playing a morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) that bears the marks of time.

The music attracted nearby children, who gathered around the old man and sat on the ground, trying to glean from the music the tragic story of that year.

Smoke curls from the chimneys; it's time to cook in the blink of an eye.

An elderly woman was at the entrance of her yurt, spreading a spoonful of batter onto a flat pan.

A sizzling sound rang out, and the fragrance instantly spread inside the yurt.

Before long, a multigrain pancake was ready.

The old woman simply grabbed the pancake with her bare hands and put it in the cloth bag next to her. Then she scooped a spoonful of beans from the pot and put them in a wooden bowl.

Finally, the old woman carefully took out a small cloth bag from her bosom, untied it, pinched off a little salt, and sprinkled it on the surface.

After finishing, I carefully put everything away, making sure there were no leaks, and then put my salty fingers in my mouth and sucked on them to avoid wasting any.

Salt is more precious than gold in the tribe.

While the border dwellers began cooking, the men in the tribe started packing their belongings, picking up their bows and crossbows, and gathering in small groups to discuss going hunting in the nearby forest after dinner to improve their lives.

"Sangji is back!"

Suddenly, a loud shout rang out.

It immediately attracted the attention of the tribe.

In the distance, a horse-drawn carriage slowly drove towards the tribe. As the carriage drew closer, it was discovered that it was filled with large and small bags.

At the back of the car sat a woman who was still quite attractive.

Her arrival immediately drew enthusiastic cheers from the tribespeople.

The woman's name was Sangji, she was twenty-two years old, and she had married into the family from elsewhere.

Sangji was also a woman with a tragic fate. She married into the family at the age of fourteen, and before she even saw what her husband looked like, she received a notice of death at the front, saying that her husband had died in battle at Fengsui Fort in Bingzhou.

In the blink of an eye, she became a widow.

After shedding a few symbolic tears at her husband's death, Sangji began to consider practical matters.

That is eating.

Sangji's husband's family consists of six people: her parents-in-law and four young children. Herding alone cannot support so many people.

To prevent her family and herself from starving, she joined the pile-driving team.

The term "piling" is, of course, slang; it actually refers to prostitution, and it's said to be a lucrative business.

Unlike the strict etiquette and laws of the Great Chu, which even divided professions into different classes, the Northern Yan was much more open-minded and liberal in this respect.

No matter what you do, as long as you can support your family, you will receive the full support of your entire family.

Sangji was able to bring salt and food to her family, so naturally no one would look down on her status.

Ironically, Sangji did business on the border of Bingzhou, the very place where her husband died in battle.

But so what? In Sangji's mind, those Chu soldiers and Northern Yan soldiers were no different. The difference was that Chu soldiers would pay after driving in the stakes, while Northern Yan soldiers might not.

In contrast, she preferred to do business with the soldiers of Bingzhou, which allowed her to earn a lot of money each time. She could bring a lot of food and salt to her family, and even have money to buy cloth and other items, which made the other members of the tribe quite envious.

Sometimes, when she thought of the Chu soldiers who did business with her, who even swam across the icy Han River in the cold winter to cling to her and cry about how hard life was, she could feel a strange sensation.

When Sangji returned, he not only brought a lot of food and salt to his family, but also many snacks and small items that he would never have dared to imagine on ordinary days.

Because this might be the last time she returns to this beautiful yet impoverished tribe.

During her business trip to Bingzhou, she met a man who was about to become a military officer. He didn't care about her status and said he wanted to take her as a concubine and take her back to Chu to enjoy a life of luxury. He gave her a lot of money and even some sweets.

This was the first time Sangji had experienced being cared for by another man, and she had decided to leave this absurd life behind and go with this man to live in the prosperous Central Plains.

Throughout the winter, Sangji only took this man's business, and even cooked for him, did his laundry, and felt like he had a home.

Before leaving, she still wanted to say a final goodbye to her in-laws, believing that they were reasonable people.

In the distance, a boy learning to ride a horse kept pulling on the reins, wriggling on the horse's back.

The young children had no idea what Sangji's arrival meant; it was far less tangible than taming a wild warhorse as their future mount.

However, the boy discovered that his mount, which he had tamed just yesterday, had become so irritable today.

The horses kept neighing, as if warning something.

"What's going on, Hong Lie? If you don't behave, I'm going to spank you!"

The boy raised his whip as if to scare the horse.

"Uu——"

Suddenly, the horse neighed loudly, throwing the boy off its back, and then turned and galloped away.

"Red Blaze!"

The boy got up, wanting to chase after the horse.

But when he looked up, he was stunned.

The once azure sky was now covered with a dark, heavy cloud.

"Meow~~"

"Moo~~"

The normally docile cattle and sheep suddenly became unruly and began to scatter and flee.

"What's going on? Don't run away, really."

The shepherd girl pouted, her face flushed, and she stood with her hands on her hips, looking at the scattered cattle and sheep, clearly annoyed.

She vowed that once she brought the cattle and sheep back, she would give them less hay tonight as punishment.

"Xu~"

Suddenly, a horse's neigh echoed.

The girl looked up and stood there dumbfounded.

Not far away, a knight dressed in black iron armor, with a carved bow on his back and a tiger-shaped sword at his waist, was looking down at him.

The knight's face was extremely ugly, with yellow teeth and drool constantly dripping from them. In particular, the long coin rat tail hanging down to the back of his head was especially eye-catching.

The girl was completely terrified and stumbled, collapsing onto the grass, utterly bewildered.

"Ow~"

With a wolf howl, several more black dots appeared densely on the horizon behind the cavalryman.

"The barbarians of Tianlang are here!"

The girl mustered her courage and uttered her final words.

bass--

Accompanying this was a galloping warhorse, its wake flashing with a cold light.

The girl closed her eyes in despair.

But the expected death did not come. Instead, he felt a bright light above his head and a few strands of hair fell in front of his eyes.

In the blink of an eye, the girl's cloth hat had been ripped off by the cavalryman's sword.

(10 updates today)