Chapter 27: Dead Man's Meal
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When Xu Yan heard the battle cries, he was helping several cooks prepare breakfast.
“Is it time already?” The fat head cook scooped up a spoonful of thin porridge, drinking it with relish.
“Seems a bit early. I remember the last battle shouldn’t have been half a year ago yet.” Another cook not only wasn’t startled by the battle cries but seemed quite pleased: “Whatever, once three days pass, we can make another small fortune. Hehe, without eating dead man’s meals, we’d be poor every day.”
“Let them kill! Best if those border troops kill each other until both sides are devastated. The more people die, the more money we can make!” The fat head cook grinned wickedly.
The faint battle cries came from the other side of the mountain range. The kitchen could hear some of it, but the stronghold couldn’t make it out clearly. However, news of the two nations’ border armies engaging in battle clearly excited the Yuan Mountain bandits.
Soon, news flowing out from the kitchen spread throughout Yuan Mountain Stronghold, and occasional bursts of happy laughter could be heard.
“Dead man’s meal?” Xu Yan asked Zhang He beside him while chopping firewood. “How do you eat it? Does it taste good?”
“Depends on luck. Whoever has good luck eats well.” Zhang He chuckled. “The good place I mentioned to you before—that’s Qi Yuan Gorge. This time the border armies of Qi and Pu seem to have started fighting a bit early. I thought we’d have to wait until after three months, but it started after just over two months.”
Looking at the honest and hardworking little Taoist priest before him, Zhang He hesitated for a moment, then said, “Fine, I’ll take you along. When we get there, don’t run around—follow me. Let’s agree beforehand: if you find anything valuable, you have to give me half. Technically, newcomers who’ve joined the stronghold for less than three months aren’t allowed to leave Qi Yuan Mountain, but I happen to like you.”
“Sure!” Xu Yan nodded vigorously. “I’ll definitely share any good stuff with fellow traveler benefactor.”
Hearing “fellow traveler benefactor” every day, Zhang He had gotten used to it. He waved his hand helplessly and went to busy himself with other things. At first, he really had stuck close to Xu Yan, but after two months, he was too lazy to constantly watch a foolish little Taoist priest.
‘In his view, even if this kind of fool who could eat and sleep ran away, it would be good—at least it would save Yuan Mountain Stronghold some grain.’
Three days wasn’t long. Amid the occasional battle cries from the back mountain, Xu Yan still ate sweetly and slept sweetly.
‘Since his goal was to be a pig, naturally he had to act like one.’
After three days passed, Zhang He and Xu Yan set out before dawn. Crossing over the mountain peak where Yuan Mountain Stronghold was located, the two disappeared into the depths of the dark mountain forest. Soon after, bandits from Yuan Mountain Stronghold left the stronghold in groups of three to five, all heading toward the back mountain.
On the western side of the mountain range lay a massive gorge. The gorge was flanked by thousand-zhang-high peaks and stretched over fifty li from front to back.
The mountain range on the eastern side of the gorge was called Qi Yuan Mountain, while the western mountain range had a different name—Lin Yuan Mountain. This massive gorge was called Qi Yuan Gorge.
Qi Yuan Gorge was not only a gap in the Wan Heng Mountain Range but also the border between two nations to the north and south.
Pu Nation was located south of Qi Yuan Gorge, while Qi Nation was north of it.
The massive gorge was the only passage between Qi and Pu. Both nations stationed large numbers of border troops on the north and south sides of Qi Yuan Gorge, not only to guard their borders but also to intimidate each other.
Qi and Pu were hardly friendly nations. Given the chance, either would want to bite off a chunk of flesh from the other.
Territory and state power—naturally, the bigger the better. The emperors of both nations throughout history had frequently clashed and even engaged in fierce battles. Though Qi and Pu hadn’t experienced warfare for decades, six years ago, following an order from Great Pu’s Left Chancellor, the border armies of both nations stationed at Qi Yuan Gorge once again engaged in large-scale conflict, and this conflict had continued to this day.
For six years, approximately every half year, the border armies of both nations would battle in Qi Yuan Gorge. The warfare involving tens of thousands had turned this massive gorge into a burial ground. Countless border troops had died, and relations between Qi and Pu had gradually deteriorated.
Strangely, regardless of who won or lost each battle, both sides would very tacitly withdraw their troops after three days, never invading each other’s territory or breaking through the border passes to enter enemy lands.
On the mountain peak at the top of Qi Yuan Gorge, Xu Yan and Zhang He lay on rocks, looking down.
Since it was a dead man’s meal, naturally it could only happen after people died. Right now in Qi Yuan Gorge, the final clash between the two armies was playing out. When those border troops were alive, Yuan Mountain bandits wouldn’t dare go down.
From the thousand-zhang-high mountain peak, with Xu Yan’s eyesight, the gorge was filled with dense black dots, like two groups of ants fighting. Even so, the figures falling in waves on the battlefield were like harvested wheat fields—a heart-stopping sight.
“Two nations at war—this is what you call life-and-death combat.” Zhang He lay on the rock, clicking his tongue repeatedly. “If we let these killing stars charge into Yuan Mountain Stronghold, probably none of us would survive. Border army cavalry are much stronger than those useless government soldiers and constables.”
“Do Qi and Pu fight often?” Xu Yan asked curiously from the side.
“About once every half year. It never stops. At least since I came to Yuan Mountain Stronghold, we’ve come to Qi Yuan Gorge every half year.” Zhang He spoke casually.
“Why do they fight?” Xu Yan asked again.
“I heard it was because of an order from the Left Chancellor six years ago. Haven’t you heard the saying about treacherous ministers bringing ruin to the country? That’s talking about Pu Nation’s Left Chancellor.”
“How did the treacherous minister ruin the country?”
“Treacherous minister… how would I know how he ruined the country?” Zhang He said irritably. “Before coming to Yuan Mountain Stronghold, I was just an accountant who fell into misfortune with my master!”
“Accountant benefactor, did you also kill someone?”
“Killed a steward. If I didn’t kill him, I would have died. When a person reaches that point, who can still care about others? Forget ‘accountant benefactor’—you should just call me ‘fellow traveler benefactor.’ I’m used to it…”
As the two conversed on the mountain peak, in the gorge below, the armies that had fought for three days finally both withdrew. Looking from above, the ant colonies in the gorge seemed to have been cut down the middle with a blade—the living retreated to outside the gorge, while the dead remained forever in this burial ground.
“The fighting’s over. Let’s wait a bit longer. We should go down around noon at the earliest.”
Seeing Yuan Mountain bandits in the distance already starting to climb down the mountain, Zhang He appeared cautious. Though this mountain peak was steep, it wasn’t impossible to reach the valley floor—a rugged, steep mountain path had been worn out by Yuan Mountain bandits over the years.
“The corpses below are all border troops. Some might not be completely dead. Get too close and they’ll give you a blade, and you’ll be heading west. When those killers know they’re about to die, they look at living people like they’re looking at blood food.”
Zhang He rolled over and lay comfortably on the rock. “Haste makes waste. Getting burned by hot tofu doesn’t matter, but getting burned to death would be frustrating.”
‘Having such insight, it seemed this fellow had suffered losses before.’
The border armies of both nations had long since withdrawn from the gorge. Groups of three to five Yuan Mountain bandits crept toward the battlefield from the mountain base like ghosts, constantly searching the corpses for valuable items. Some found scattered silver pieces, others stripped off half-sets of armor, and some obtained sharp steel blades.
Zhang He’s so-called “dead man’s meal” meant profiting from these dead border troops.
Every half year’s battle between the two nations’ border armies resulted in at least several thousand deaths in Qi Yuan Gorge. The border armies did clean the battlefield, but only perfunctorily before calling it done. No one would carry all the corpses back.
This was, after all, a crucial border region. Both sides didn’t dare be careless—they’d rather leave those corpses to feed wolves than give their opponents the slightest opportunity.
