knife

Chapter 784 Collecting the Corpse
The setting sun is like blood.

The last arc about to disappear below the horizon appeared exceptionally bright red, perhaps because of the excessive blood flowing on the ground.

After a long day of intense fighting, the battle finally came to a temporary end as both sides were exhausted. The attackers retreated a short distance, and the defenders tacitly refrained from retaking the area, thus making this short distance a buffer zone between the two sides.

The attacking Tiger Legion retreated, and able-bodied men and auxiliary troops moved to the front to replace them. A wooden fence, roughly constructed in the rear, was transported to the front and planted directly into the trench. With a series of clanging sounds, the fence was firmly erected on the ground by wielding iron shovels. Wooden watchtowers were also set up, consisting of a pole about the thickness of a bowl with a sieve attached to it. Small but sharp-eyed sentries would quickly climb up to keep watch, and if they spotted anything, they would immediately ring a gong to warn others.

After securing the front lines, they began cleaning up the brutal battlefield of Bailidi.

Corpses were everywhere.

The first thing to be dealt with was naturally one's own fallen comrades. They carefully tidied up the bodies, especially those missing limbs, trying their best to find and piece them back together. After doing this, they wrapped the bodies in burlap and carried them to the rear for safekeeping.

If it's an enemy, then it's simple.

With a hook, they threw the iron hooks directly into the trenches, stacking them layer by layer.

"Don't throw too much out. Leave at least a few feet of soil around it. Wild animals have very sensitive noses. If they smell it, they'll dig it up and eat it!" an officer shouted from the side. "Don't worry about the trouble. There are plenty of trenches here. You won't be asked to dig any more!"

"Hey, Wu Tou'er, they're all enemies who've been killed a thousand times, why bother with them? It'd be better if they got eaten by wild dogs!" someone shouted back. "These guys killed a lot of our comrades, we just dragged several hundred brothers back with us!"

"Death is the greatest tragedy!" the officer surnamed Wu rebuked. "They're already dead, why hold onto so much hatred? Besides, why bury them so deeply? Didn't Dr. Gan explain the reasons behind this to you?"

"He's burying people and sprinkling lime, Dr. Gan is such a busybody!" someone complained.

"Enough with the nonsense, get to work!" the officer surnamed Wu roared.

Everyone then fell silent and buried themselves in their work.

Although they were used to seeing death, when layer upon layer of corpses were piled up, and all sorts of pre-death appearances were presented before them, everyone's emotions inevitably sank down.

Things harm their own kind, and the autumn song is also sad.

"Where did this dog come from?" someone shouted. "It's got some nerve, not running away at all? Heh heh, skinny but with a big frame. We can make dog bone soup after work. Zhao Er, you're a good archer, take care of him!"

When Zhao Er looked at the dog, it was lying on a pile of corpses, whimpering and occasionally pecking at them. It also pawed at the corpses on its body with its mouth. Judging from its appearance, it shouldn't be gnawing on the dead bodies.

With so many people here, most stray dogs would have been scared away long ago.

"Hey, isn't that the dog that fell into the mud the other day?" A scout riding by saw this scene and suddenly recognized the dog. "Zhao Er, don't kill this dog. Speaking of which, we found that there were traps set by the other side in this area thanks to this dog! It's a dog that has done a good job."

Zhao Er, who was about to shoot, reluctantly lowered his bow. He was just an auxiliary soldier, while the other side was a scout. The difference in their strength was significant, and he dared not act rashly.

"Judging from this, this dog probably has an owner!" The scout waved his hand. "Go and help, see if the dog's owner is still alive. Dogs have a spirit; if they were dead, they wouldn't be pawing at each other like this!" The crowd gathered around, and the dog didn't dodge. Instead, it got up and walked to the side, staring at the crowd expectantly.

As they moved the corpses away layer by layer until they reached the bottom layer, the dog suddenly pounced on one of the men, grabbed his clothes, and dragged him out.

"What a clever dog!" exclaimed the scout watching from the sidelines. "Is this person still alive?"

With everyone's help, they lifted the man out, and when they checked his pulse, they found he was still alive.

"He's still alive! If we'd pressed him down any longer, he probably would have been dead!" Zhao Er took a water pouch from his waist, poured a little into his palm, and then dripped it into the man's mouth, one drop at a time. "This kid's unarmed and has no blood on him, so he probably hasn't killed any of our brothers. For the sake of this dog, I'll save you!"

The group placed it on the ground and then went to move the other corpses. There was no need to be polite then; with a hook and a flick, a corpse was thrown into the pit.

The dog stayed by the man's side the whole time, occasionally sticking out its big tongue to lick his face.

When everyone finished dealing with the corpses in front of them, sprinkled lime, and then covered them with soil, Tao Silang finally caught his breath, opened his eyes and saw Gouzi, and then saw the enemy auxiliary soldiers who were burying the corpses.

There's nothing so scary about someone who's died once.

She simply reached out and hugged the dog, then sat up with some difficulty.

"Young man, you're really lucky!" said an older man. "A local from Liyang?"

Tao Silang nodded, staggered to his feet, walked to the edge of the ditch, and looked down at the corpse in the pit.

"You know them all?"

“From the same village!” Tao Silang sobbed.

“Then remember this place. When there’s no more war, your family will still have a place to burn incense and paper money!” Zhao Er said.

"Aren't you going to arrest me?"

"Why are we arresting you?" Zhao Er sighed. "You're a poor fellow too. If you have nowhere else to go, you might as well come and work with us. The officials here are good; they don't let us die needlessly on the front lines. They only let us do things like transporting grain and burying corpses. It's not much money, though. Of course, if we can find some silver on the corpses, most of it will be ours. It's much better than these guys in the city!"

"The people in the city are all barbarians; I can't understand their language!" Tao Silang said. "I'll work for you, as long as I can get enough to eat!"

"We can still eat our fill!" Zhao Er said with a grin. "Even if it's old grain, it still has bran mixed in, but it's better than what my family usually eats. Besides, there's bone broth, and if you're lucky, some of it even has a piece of meat on it!"

For Tao Silang, being alive now was probably because his ancestors had already used up all their connections with Yama, the King of Hell. He might not be so lucky next time. He was already overjoyed to hear that he no longer had to go to the battlefield with a red-tasseled spear like before, but only had to do his best after the battle.

(End of this chapter)