1. A general will die in a hundred battles, and a strong man will return in ten years. ——Anonymous "Mulan Poems/Mulan Ci" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties
Meaning: The soldiers went through countless life-and-death battles, some died, and some returned victorious ten years later.
2. The accumulation of corpses smells of grass and trees, and the bleeding Kawahara pills. ——"Farewell to the Elderly" by Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty
Meaning: The dead bodies overlapped, filling the grass and trees with a fishy smell; blood flowed everywhere, dyeing the plains and fields red.
3. After the war broke out in the countryside, the flesh and blood wandered off the road. ——"Looking at the Moon and Feelings" by Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty
Meaning: After the war, the countryside was deserted and the flesh and blood were scattered on the roads in foreign lands.
4. Looking at each other with blood flowing from one blade to the next, one never cares about the death of a man. ——"Yange Xing" by Gao Shi of the Tang Dynasty
Meaning: Looking at each other with white blades flying around and mixed with blood, how can we still ask for meritorious service after we have always sacrificed ourselves to serve the country?
5. White bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no rooster crow for thousands of miles. One of the hundreds of things left behind by the living people will break people's hearts just thinking about it. ——Cao Cao of the Han Dynasty, "Hao Li Xing"
Meaning: The bones are exposed in the wild with no one to bury them. There is no human habitation for thousands of miles, and no roosters can be heard. It is extremely sad to think that only one out of a hundred people is still alive.
6. If the armor is infested with lice, thousands of people will die.
——Cao Cao of the Han Dynasty, "Hao Li Xing"
Meaning: Soldiers fight all the year round, and their armor is covered with lice, causing numerous casualties among the people