Chapter 2694: Heartflutter

Governor Niu looked around at the busy medical tents before turning around and striding towards his horse; he needed to report military matters to the main tent.

He had only run halfway when he met State Duke Zhao and others coming with their entourage.

The entire main tent moved forward.

Governor Niu immediately ran forward, “Minister Zhao, is the main tent moving into Hengshan County?”

State Duke Zhao shook his head, “We will camp outside the city and send people in to clean up. Be careful of Goguryeo’s counterattacks.”

He said, “His Majesty will arrive in a couple of days. We must ensure that the captured city is secure.”

Governor Niu replied excitedly, acknowledging the command.

State Duke Zhao continued towards Hengshan County. Upon reaching outside the city, he was among the first to see the medical tents. At this time, only the soldiers guarding the city remained inside, while others withdrew and camped near the medical tents, gradually surrounding them.

State Duke Zhao led the generals to visit the wounded soldiers and was as amazed by the students from the Imperial Medical Bureau as the rest.

General Ashina, being more worldly, couldn’t help but sigh, “Remarkable women not inferior to men.”

He then looked at the scale and was even more impressed, “During the Western Expedition, if the army had so many doctors, it would have been much better.”

At that time, although Zhou Man was in their ranks, the number of people they could save was far fewer than now.

The response speed this time was also much faster than during the Western Expedition.

As the sun set, all the wounded had been treated, unlike during the Western Expedition when treatment could take until the next day, causing some to die from blood loss due to delays.

However, even though they were treated, the mortality rate for severely wounded soldiers remained high.

Manbao focused mainly on them, setting up several additional medical tents to gather and treat these people.

Other wounded soldiers also set up tents nearby, and after arranging for students to patrol at night, Zhou Man let them go have their meals.

State Duke Zhao personally came to invite Zhou Man to the victory banquet.

Manbao thought for a while and then went with Wen Tiandong and Zhou Liru.

Wen Tiandong was also Manbao’s student, studying the therapy department. Manbao had taught him for three years. When troops were summoned, Imperial Doctor Zheng specifically kept eight male students she was familiar with for her. Among them, Wen Tiandong was most familiar with his classmates and equally skilled, so Manbao let him manage all the students.

Manbao said to Wen Tiandong, “When I get busy, I may forget some things. Take note; our medicinal materials were previously shipped in batches out of the capital. Several batches are only ordered and haven’t arrived yet. After the Imperial Medical Bureau receives them, they will be processed and shipped out.”

“But delivery is the Ministry of War’s responsibility, so we need to maintain good relations with the Ministry of War and local post stations, especially since military logistics is involved. We can’t reach the local post stations directly, so we need to urge military logistics. I’ll take you to meet them, and you should pay more attention in the future.”

Manbao continued, “When the medicinal materials arrive, you and Liru, Bansha, and others need to carefully count them. You are all familiar with the methods of the Imperial Medical Bureau students to process medicinal materials, and our cooperating pharmacy merchants are fixed. So during inspection, be vigilant, and if there are any issues, inform me.”

She said, “We must ensure the quality of the medicines. The slightest deviation in medicinal materials can result in errors thousands of miles off course, and this cannot be taken lightly.”

Wen Tiandong and Zhou Liru nodded in agreement.

Seeing the apprehension on Wen Tiandong’s face, Manbao sighed internally. It was a pity Zheng Gu wasn’t here; he was experienced in this role, having been a junior manager at Jishi Hall for several years.

Alternatively, Bai Shanyin or Bai Erlang could also do it; they were familiar as well.

Manbao thought of Bai Shan and Bai Erlang and asked State Duke Zhao when she saw him, “When will His Majesty arrive here?”

State Duke Zhao said, “Soon, very soon.”

He wouldn’t disclose the exact time as it was confidential.

Meanwhile, Governor Niu had quietly spoken with the military doctors.

Actually, the garrison in Yingzhou only had one military doctor. The other was forcibly taken from a city medical hall because of the war.

Each time they went to war, many soldiers died unnecessarily because of the lack of military doctors.

Governor Niu asked them and the deputy generals of various camps, “What are the casualties?”

“Currently, 286 have died in action, 595 are wounded, 128 of them severely,” the deputy general glanced at the two military doctors and told Governor Niu, “These are our own statistics, but the medical tent’s count for severe injuries is sixty-eight. The other sixty are categorized as moderately wounded, not counted among the severely wounded.”

Governor Niu looked at the military doctors, especially the old military doctor from his family.

The old military doctor said, “Sir, the new Lord Zhou is truly skilled. Many of the injured whom we wouldn’t normally treat, they have taken in this time, and all have been treated.”

Governor Niu asked, “How is the situation?”

The old military doctor shook his head, “These are severe wounds, even if they survive initially, it is hard to guarantee later. At least five days are needed to confirm their status. One high fever could mean death.”

Governor Niu stared at him intensely and asked, “So, what is your opinion?”

The old military doctor paused and said, “Of the sixty-eight deemed severely injured, previously we in the medical tents would not treat a single one. Among those classified as moderately injured, whom we would treat, the survival rate was only about thirty to forty percent. But now, looking at it, I’d say the severely injured soldiers they classified might have a fifty percent success rate.”

Most importantly, they have more manpower, allowing many injured to be treated promptly, not to mention receiving more comprehensive and effective treatment this time.

The old military doctor wiped his face and said, “Sir, we used to treat the wounded by applying medicine to stop bleeding and giving them some blood-stopping and blood-nourishing drugs. Survival depended on endurance. The most advanced medical techniques were extracting arrows and suturing.”

He continued, “But now, with the arrival of these Imperial Medical Bureau students, any one of them can suture, scrape flesh, saw off limbs, amputate arms, and use acupuncture to stop bleeding. The blood-stopping medicine packs are prescriptions I’ve never seen before. The trauma medicine reportedly includes Chinese ginseng, worth an ounce of gold per ounce of Chinese ginseng powder.”

Governor Niu felt his heart tremble; was it so costly?

“Not to mention the large containers they have prepared of Angelica and Ginseng for replenishing qi and blood and the equipment to transfuse blood to those who have lost it. Seeing their recovery, I believe at least twice as many people will survive as in our previous battles.”

Governor Niu swallowed hard and told him, “Learn more skills from them. Haven’t you taken on two apprentices? After all these years, they haven’t learned to suture. I see those young women suture wounds beautifully and stop the bleeding very quickly.”

“I figured it out on my own, but they have famous teachers teaching them. Lord Zhou said that even suturing requires understanding of textures; they can even suture internal organs and blood vessels, which is meticulous…” the old military doctor puffed his chest and said, “Lord Zhou heard that I found out suture techniques on my own and even praised me, saying being able to figure it out without guidance is remarkable, and not many doctors worldwide can do that.”