Chapter 2702: Arrow Wounds

Manbao ultimately followed Heli and the others, but of course, she didn’t go for nothing, Heli provided her with twenty pieces of fine hemp.

The medicinal herbs were sufficient, but the fine hemp used for bandaging wounds was in short supply, as exposed wounds sometimes hindered recovery.

The twenty pieces of fine hemp given by Heli were spoils of war, distributed among everyone privately after the city was captured.

Manbao was very satisfied with this, packed her belongings, informed Bai Shan, and left with Heli.

This time she also brought a group of students, leaving Zhou Liru, Wen Tiandong, and others with Imperial Doctor Lu.

Since it’s a training experience, it’s only natural to take turns.

Between Liaodong City and Anshi City, there is a large expanse of open land with villages, mountains, rivers, and some small towns that need to be gradually pushed through.

However, Baiyan City is immediately reached once the troops are dispatched; its position is crucial. If Baiyan City cannot be captured, the enemy can harass the troops from the flank, which would be detrimental to their advance.

Therefore, when Heli launched an attack on Baiyan City, the emperor brought two thousand elite troops to observe the battle. If necessary, reinforcements would be drawn from State Duke Zhao’s side.

The medical tent is either located in the camp or at a fallback position on the frontline. Since it’s a siege battle and the fight has been ongoing for days, Heli assured that they could capture Baiyan City within two days.

Thus, Zhou Man set up her medical tent near Baiyan City.

Each student had a horse, so if they were to be overrun, they would carry the wounded and retreat in another direction.

At this time, the emperor directly arrived at the medical tent, glanced at the wounded continuously being brought from the front, frowned, mounted his horse, and went to a nearby high ground to look toward Baiyan City.

Over there, Heli was also aware of the emperor’s arrival and raised his arm to call out, “Soldiers, His Majesty is watching us, let us capture Baiyan City for the emperor, do you dare?”

“Dare! Dare! Dare!” The soldiers, as if injected with adrenaline, charged forward. Li Si took the lead, rushing ahead with a cavalry squad, slaughtering back and forth among the Goguryeo troops coming out of the city to engage, disrupting their morale. Some turned to flee.

The general on the city wall saw this and was greatly alarmed, shouting, “Close the city gate, close the city gate!”

Baiyan City shut its gates, abandoning the army outside.

The command was given to shoot arrows from the city walls, resulting in indiscriminate shooting, killing many on both the Great Jin and Goguryeo sides.

Heli had to order a retreat to exit the range of the archers.

While Goguryeo could abandon the army outside the city, he could not, as every soldier they brought was precious.

Li Si led the retreat and had just returned to the ranks when he suddenly fell off his horse with a thud.

Li Si’s deputy caught him and shouted, “General is wounded—”

Heli lashed him with a whip, shouting, “What’s the commotion, send him to the medical tent—”

Li Si’s deputy immediately fell silent and, along with one of Heli’s personal soldiers, helped lift Li Si onto the horse and rushed to the medical tent.

The emperor descended from the high ground as he saw the end of a wave of attacks and wanted to go forward to inquire about the situation.

As he descended, he saw the injured Li Si being returned, his expression changed slightly, and he immediately hurried forward, “Where is Zhou Man, quickly call Zhou Man.”

Manbao was extracting an arrowhead from a soldier. This time, there were quite a few who had been hit by arrows.

Upon hearing the emperor’s call, she responded but continued to focus on extracting the arrowhead.

Arrow wounds are harder to treat than knife wounds because the arrowhead is embedded in the body. The first challenge is preventing massive bleeding when extracting it, and after that endure the second challenge of the wound worsening.

Since the arrowhead is made of iron, the earlier it’s removed, the better. The longer it stays in the body, the greater the chances of wound deterioration. If any tiny fragments remain inside, it can be deadly.

Thus, when extracting arrowheads, sometimes one must stop bleeding immediately, while other times, it is necessary to bleed it, or sometimes to stop the bleeding first and then allow it to bleed, all of it must be handled carefully.

The reliance is on the initial judgment for these steps, so Zhou Man did not move because she needed to finish extracting the arrowhead for this soldier before attending to anything else. Relying on someone else’s judgment may not be correct.

Manbao extracted the arrowhead, observed that the bleeding was not extensive, so she did not immediately stop it. Instead, she allowed the bad blood to flow before stopping it. She left the stitching process to the students.

She then turned to see the emperor.

At this time, the emperor was by Li Si’s side, personally cutting off his tail feathers. Knowing Zhou Man was treating another soldier, he didn’t mind her tardiness, and as she approached, he immediately stood up to make way for her, “Quickly save Courtier Li.”

Manbao agreed, looked at the arrow’s tail feathers and shaft, and had an uneasy premonition, “This arrow…”

The emperor asked, “What’s wrong?”

Manbao sympathetically glanced at Li Si and said, “It’s nothing, perhaps my judgment is mistaken. We’ll know once the arrowhead is extracted.”

Saying this, she still had someone prepare the antiseptic powder and began to take his pulse, check his mouth and eyes.

Then she completely stripped him of his armor, cut off his clothes with scissors, and started needling him.

On the second needle insertion, Li Si startled awake.

The needle was intended to wake him, and once he woke, Zhou Man withdrew the needle.

Upon seeing the emperor, Li Si immediately tried to get up to salute, but the emperor held him down and said, “No need for formalities, focus on healing. I command you to remain seated and do not move.”

Because the emperor was present, earlier when a student had rushed over to assist, they stood aside as Manbao turned and instructed, “General Li’s heart rhythm is irregular, go and fetch a heart-protecting pill.”

He immediately ran to the pharmacy to get the medicine.

The arrowhead’s location was unfavorable and deep, which wasn’t much of an issue. Manbao continually examined the arrow shaft and tail feathers, feeling that she hadn’t judged incorrectly, believing this to be an old arrow.

Li Si was very unlucky.

Of such arrows, Zhou Man, having treated so many people, encountered only around twenty, with only four survivors to date. Most died on the eighth or ninth day after removing the arrowhead.

One survived until the fifteenth day, and his wound was almost healed, but because of a slight fluctuation in the weather, getting a bit warmer, his wound began deteriorating internally and became fatal within a day.

Of course, Manbao did not tell Li Si any of this but said, “General Li, remain calm. When I extract the arrowhead, try to relax as much as possible; it will reduce the pain, and my work will be smoother.”

The pill was delivered, and Manbao had him swallow it with water, then started needling him to relieve pain. Once he felt the pain had lessened, she began the surgery.

From the start, the emperor sensed something unusual in Zhou Man’s demeanor. When she cut the flesh and exposed the arrowhead, the emperor understood why. He felt a wave of dizziness and grief as the arrowhead was rusted. For such a rusted arrowhead to still penetrate Li Si’s armor, the archer’s strength must have been considerable.

How could this happen to his great general!

The emperor glanced at Zhou Man and said nothing, standing by and observing.