Chapter 529: The Disposal of Corpses and the Settlement of Post-War Bounties

Soon, several injured Warriors received initial medical treatment; this meant removing excess debris from their wounds, stopping the bleeding, and performing preliminary closure.

In reality, the interior of the wounds remained very fragile; not only were some Viscera difficult to repair, but the seemingly healed skin and muscle were also extremely delicate, leaving the injured Warriors unable to move for the time being. Furthermore, for the sake of treatment, these Warriors had not only lost blood but also a significant amount of fat and other nutrients, requiring proper rest and a good diet to recover.

Jier saw that after Bataer Jiaoshi finished the initial care for the wounded, he gave some instructions to Weier and the others, then hurried off toward the village cesspit; there was no need to ask to know that this was actually what Bataer Jiaoshi cared about most at this moment.

It even took precedence over searching for the Divine Statue that had vanished from the Church hall.

"Or could it be that this is what the God of Agriculture values in him?"

Jier muttered, then walked out of the Church hall. In the open space outside, Aoni and the others had already retrieved the corpse of the enemy Heavy Crossbowman whom Jier had killed with his Long Spear, along with his weapon.

Jier first whistled to summon the Tianxuecao that was wandering around the village, then stuck the butt of his Long Spear into the ground and looked at the enemy corpse.

"This enemy was wearing two layers of Armor!" a Warrior said while stripping the equipment off the enemy's body.

Aoni looked greedily at the Armor on the enemy, repeatedly patting his own Armor, imagining what he would look like in a full set of sturdy gear.

Before long, the man was stripped bare. Jier used a Dagger to casually carve an 'X' on the enemy's body to indicate it had been killed by him; the two corpses previously carried out from the Secret Chamber had also been marked with such signs.

After writing and drawing on paper for a while, Jier left one Warrior to guard the corpses and equipment, while he led Aoni and four other Warriors toward the Jiedian at the Northern Border of the village.

Bataer Jiaoshi was covered in tears, digging alone in the cesspit by the village wall.

One by one, he found dry, foul-smelling, slender bones, then gently placed them into the three bags he was carrying.

Because the weather was too hot, there were no maggots crawling on these female bones; the remaining flesh tissue had become dry and firm, clinging tightly to the bones.

Clearly, the bodies had not been moved since the Defeated Soldiers threw them into the cesspit. Bataer Jiaoshi soon finished finding the remains of the three female Villagers. Ignoring the filth and stench all over his body, he dragged the bags with staggering steps, walking step by step toward the village well.

The bucket and basin used for drawing water yesterday were still in their original place. Bataer Jiaoshi drew a basin of water and then personally placed the collected bones into the basin to wipe them with his hands. The once lively and cheerful young girls of the village now had only these few remains left in this world; they had suffered miserable torture while alive, and after death, they had actually been fed to the hungry domestic dogs of the village by those immoral Defeated Soldiers, then thrown into the cesspit.

"It's all my fault, my fault for not being able to protect our village." With tears streaming down his face, Bataer Jiaoshi gently wiped the bones in the water basin.

The water in the basin quickly became murky and foul.

But Bataer Jiaoshi did not care.

He washed away the feces and filth clinging to the bones, leaving only the skeletons and the dry flesh attached to them.

"But fortunately, I led people to avenge everyone."

He carefully set the clean bones aside, then poured the dirty water from the basin far away, drew a fresh basin of water, and continued his work.

"Those arrogant Defeated Soldiers who bullied you, they are all dead. Oh, and there is one being controlled by the power of my staff; don't worry, he will die soon too."

The Priest smiled and rambled on about what had happened after he left the village.

This included how he went to Mengtuoka City alone, how he met the Warrior Jier, and how he led the large Refugee Team back.

"The situation everywhere is bad. Sigh, people in area after area are suffering. People can only flee; they clearly have the strength to completely defeat those enemies!"

One girl's bones were cleaned by him and placed neatly to the side, then Bataer Jiaoshi opened another bag, which contained the remains of a female Villager from another village.

"If only there were more good people like the Warrior Jier. Oh, you surely don't know him, he is a good man. I could confirm it from the first moment I saw his eyes. Those were kind eyes, but filled with power and wisdom, so they would not easily change color."

Not far away, several Maomao were secretly observing every move of Bataer Jiaoshi. At this moment, Bataer Jiaoshi's behavior, even to the Maomao, seemed slightly strange and terrifying. They communicated softly, not understanding why the corpse of a dead Human needed to be treated with such care by a leader of a Human team like Bataer Jiaoshi.

Shouldn't the corpses of dead tribesmen be buried under the big trees around the tribe? Let these departed ones protect the other living tribesmen so that the whole tribe can multiply and thrive.

Not understanding, the Maomao felt this might be a unique custom of Humans for treating the dead; they decided not to ask further if they didn't understand.

So these few Maomao quietly slipped away and rushed to the gate outpost in the south, which had been captured by them. According to the previous agreement between their leader and that Human, Jier, the enemy supplies in this place they captured would all belong to them!

Although they didn't like the wooden tools and the grain eaten by Humans inside, the metal items in the entire gate outpost were quite numerous. Not to mention anything else, just the weapons and equipment on the enemies, the steel metal used could arm all the Maomao.

These few Maomao were going to take over the Jiedian they had conquered, while the other Maomao were ordered by the leader to carry the corpses of the Human enemies they had killed, transporting them all to one place for sorting.

The sky quickly turned from morning to afternoon, and the sun continuously released heat, baking the long-parched earth without a moment's pause.

After cleaning the bones of the victimized Villagers, Bataer Jiaoshi specifically offered a Prayer for their remains. He wished and prayed that the souls of these poor girls could receive the protection and tranquility of the God of Agriculture after death.

Then he found several door panels from the rooms, placed the bones neatly on the panels, and found a Warrior to help him carry the bones to the Church.

At this time, the Church was exceptionally lively. The drivers had turned the entire convoy around; carriage after carriage was continuously unloading excess cargo, and they were feeding, watering, and brushing the horses of the entire convoy, including Jier's Tianxuecao.

The stripped corpses of the enemies were laid out neatly one by one on the ground at the entrance of the Church, with a mark carved by a Dagger on each person's body, representing who had completed the kill.

The lumberjack Warriors also took advantage of the time before dark to pull over a full cart of fresh wood; the subsequent disposal of the corpses would rely on burning this wood.

Among the scattered corpses, one covered with a square piece of Linen Cloth and dressed neatly was the deceased Warrior under Jier. The Warrior's personal belongings, as well as their meager property, were packed in a large bag beside them, but the bag was flat; this Warrior did not have many personal possessions.

The Maomao were also dragging corpses over one by one, eight Maomao at a time. Of course, although these corpses were not stripped completely bare like those of Jier's group, the weapons and equipment on the bodies, including some small metal items, were also gone.

"This is, Maomao's, battle results! Today."

Yongqi Maomao pointed proudly at the enemy corpses being transported over and said loudly to Jier.

Jier counted; the number of enemies they had taken out was quite significant. In addition to the enemies killed during the attack, there were some scattered Defeated Soldiers hiding. These people thought Jier and his group were few in number and could not watch over the entire Changmai Cunzi, leaving them a gap to escape. But these people did not know that while gathered Humans were hard to deal with, individual hiding Humans were simply no match for these Maomao Warriors.

"Great job! Thanks to your help today! Besides the weapons and equipment on these enemies belonging to you, I will give you the corresponding reward for every enemy killed."

According to what was agreed upon earlier, after Jier counted the number of people, he handed the not-so-many, but not-few, coins to Yongqi Maomao.

The golden coins made Yongqi Maomao overjoyed. It knew that these metal coins, which looked few, could actually be exchanged for more things among Humans; this was called commercial trade.

But the Maomao were still young; they didn't know that there was a type of person in Human society called a profiteer.

The female Villagers who had slept all day also got up. The few who were in better physical condition set up pots here and took the initiative to cook fragrant Wheat Porridge for everyone who had saved them.

As for some female Villagers whose physical condition was not very good, they sat on the steps at the entrance of the Church, huddling together and looking at the corpses of those Defeated Soldiers, their eyes dazed, not knowing what they were thinking.

Everyone was busy, and Jier was even busier, flying about.

The paper in his hand was filled with text and marked symbols. Jier kept calling over Warriors to confirm the situation when the enemies were killed: was the enemy killed by one person, or defeated by two or more people working together?

The contribution of each person had to be clarified, and he also needed to understand how everyone performed in this battle to attack Changmai Cunzi, what their abilities were, and what their future potential was.

This allowed Jier to implicitly score every Warrior in his heart and define the skills they were good at, to facilitate his future command.

Moreover, Jier was constantly reviewing and thinking about the shortcomings of the Warriors, and even his own shortcomings.

It was clear that the capable Warriors had sufficient ability and only needed further training, but more Warriors didn't even understand basic combat coordination; they still had many areas to learn. And as for Jier himself, although everyone expressed that the battle of Changmai Cunzi was very smooth, Jier himself was not satisfied.

Because the only casualty was caused by his own negligence.

His initial Scout did not discover the true strength of the enemy Heavy Crossbowman, so during the approach to the Church in the morning, he gave the enemy a chance to pierce through the house and kill the Warrior who trusted him.

Of course, no one would blame Jier for this; after all, who could have imagined that the enemy's Crossbow could fire all-metal armor-piercing Heavy Crossbow Bolts?

Even though Jier tested these Heavy Crossbow Bolts this afternoon, they could only attack targets within one hundred meters; if the distance was any further, the bolts would lose altitude and fall to the ground due to their weight, lacking any power, and the flight trajectory of the all-metal armor-piercing bolts was also quite strange, following a standard parabolic arc, so hitting an enemy at a distance required a great deal of practice.

Ordinary Heavy Crossbow Bolts, however, had a stable flight trajectory and a longer range; although their power was much smaller, they were more convenient to use and had higher accuracy.

At the noisy entrance of the Church, although corpses were laid out all over the ground, everyone was jubilant and having a good time; some Warriors held up freshly boiled Wheat Porridge, drinking it in large gulps as if it were liquor, while boasting about today's battle.

There were also some Warriors sitting to the side, counting on their fingers how much money they would receive for today's battle.

Jier had plenty of money, and once he finished calculating, he would distribute it directly to the Warriors; even though they were in a remote location where this money could not be spent, this was still a task that had to be completed, and completed as soon as possible.

Only when the money actually landed in the Warriors' hands could they realize that coming out to fight alongside Jier was truly a way to earn money.

This could be considered an account given to their families and friends; after all, many still had family and friends remaining at White Stone Pass and New Hope Town in Babotali Valley, and the money earned could be sent to their families in the future through some means.

There were expenses here and expenses there; while it seemed that Jier would spend quite a lot of money on the battle at Changmai Cunzi today, hiring the Mao Mao and giving bounties to the Warriors, he had actually earned quite a lot as well.

Many enemy Soldiers had some coins in the money pouches they carried on their persons; some were brought from their hometowns, some were seized during their battles along the way, and even more were looted from the homes of the Villagers in Changmai Cunzi.

Naturally, most of this money fell into Jier's pockets; you wouldn't think Jier would return the money obtained from the pockets of Defeated Soldiers to the Villagers, would you?

Surely not?

Even if the money in the hands of these Defeated Soldiers was bloody, Jier had obtained it by defeating them through a legitimate punitive expedition, so it was naturally Jier's spoils of war.

These coins were mostly Copper Coins and Silver Coins, along with bag after bag of loose Iron Coins; at this moment, Xueya Site was busy counting these gains, which was a physically demanding job that required selecting reliable personnel to handle.

In the team, besides Xueya Site, Jier could not find anyone else to do this task.

"Jier, there are three bags of Iron Coins alone; they are heavy and troublesome, and they aren't worth much. Can we stop counting them?" Xueya Site asked helplessly as he approached; he had quickly counted the Silver Coins and Copper Coins, with over one hundred Silver Coins alone and several hundred Copper Coins, which were packed into two separate bags.

Truth be told, this money was not much, totaling less than fifty Gold Coins, and the thousands of Iron Coins were only worth a few Silver Coins, but that was not how things were calculated.

Even if this money could not be spent or was difficult to spend, the material of these metal coins themselves could be used to hire the Mao Mao more cheaply, especially since the Mao Mao had not yet fully grasped the various values of the coins.

Additionally, the Iron Coins themselves could be used by the Mao Mao as weapons; these small, heavy objects, once sharpened at one end, could serve as throwing weapons for the Mao Mao, posing a significant threat to unarmored enemies.

Therefore, the Mao Mao liked Human Iron Coins very much, and if holes were punched in these Iron Coins, they could even be used as Metal Armor Plates on the small-bodied Mao Mao.

It was just that the Mao Mao had not yet mastered the technology for accurately drilling holes in metal, nor the skill to string Metal Armor Plates together to make Armor.

Jier was also extremely annoyed looking at the very complex kills and the contribution values for each enemy kill; hearing Xueya Site's question, he waved his hand and said, "Then stop counting, just bag them up and move them to my carriage. Also, you like using a Crossbow, so I will temporarily give you this Heavy Crossbow used by the enemy, and the Kendall Militia Crossbow you were using before can be given to one of the drivers; try to get them armed as well."

"They did a pretty good job in this battle, but the fact that the corpse of the enemy you were dealing with has gone missing is very troublesome for me. By the way, find me some Fine Salt, at least a whole handful."

Xueya Site breathed a sigh of relief; he was truly numbed by the bags and bags of Iron Coins; these small things were heavy and fragmented, and some were even stained with suspicious, sticky liquids, so it was much better not to count them.

"What do you need salt for? To eat? One person can't eat that much."

Muttering, Xueya Site walked away with a happy smile on his face, carrying the Heavy Crossbow Jier had handed over to him.

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