Chapter 660: Results

Chapter 660: Chapter 660: Results

Compared to Shimen Military Camp eighty li away, the Military Camp named "Before the Door" by Cheng Jinhou was actually much smaller in scale, and it didn’t have any defensive auxiliary structures. In fact, for the convenience of cavalry in and out, even the scattered rocks in the vicinity had been cleared into several convenient paths.

When Cheng Jinhou came here from the Upper Military Camp, he already knew his task: to carry out defensive duties with an offensive posture.

In other words, Cheng Jinhou needed to display an appearance of attack while tenaciously defending this new military camp. In the words of Shen Wanlin, the commander-in-chief of Jianchuan theatre: You are a nail, and you are also a grindstone! I want you nailed deep into the enemy’s flesh, grinding down their blood and flesh!

In fact, Cheng Jinhou understood that speaking of grinding down flesh and blood meant that not only the Barbarian Race would die, but also many fine men of Jingjiu Dynasty.

The intensity of the fighting in Jianchuan was far too high. Although due to the terrain it was at most a clash of tens of thousands, not great wars on the scale of one hundred thousand. But the fighting was nearly unending.

Every time he had to put his signature on the casualty and condolence rosters, Cheng Jinhou had to exert great self-control just to keep his hand from shaking. He even dared not dwell on how many batches of his own subordinates had already been replaced.

It is said all a general’s merit is built on piles of bones. Though it sounds harsh, Cheng Jinhou acknowledged it. His lifetime of martial achievements—every inch had been bought with the lives of his soldiers. To say he walked over a field of white bones after him was only the truth.

But just like most generals, Cheng Jinhou had a heart of iron, but not one truly made of stone—he would also feel sorrow, would also bleed inside. Only, faced with victory or defeat, they could not show it directly.

Cheng Jinhou had been through the last great war against the Barbarian Race, and it was in that war where he made his name, afterward slowly rising to become a commander of an army.

So Cheng Jinhou was mentally prepared when fighting the Barbarian Race. Their brutishness and cruelty was not reserved for their enemies; they treated their own kind just as ruthlessly. This was a group nature shaped by a universally harsh environment for survival.

But while the Barbarian Race dared to disregard the dead, even risking their clan’s future in desperate battle, the Jingjiu Dynasty was not willing to play along. Every fallen soldier was something the commander-in-chief did not wish to see. And compared to the dead, the wounded put an even greater burden on the army. How to reduce casualties, and how to treat and evacuate the wounded as quickly as possible, had always been persistent headaches for all generals. Often, ability in this area would directly affect an officer’s promotion.

Yet there had always been few methods to reduce combat losses. This was because battles still depended on the collisions of large numbers of non-cultivator soldiers and their formations. High-tier Cultivators had their own equally cruel battlefields, so in the main conflict zones only flesh and blood could grind away at one another. The result of this grinding was layer upon layer of casualty rosters.

This time, the intensity of battle was especially terrifying, surpassing even all that Cheng Jinhou had previously experienced.

However, there was also something different this time. For instance, there was a new position previously unheard of, called "Chief of Miscellaneous Affairs." When Cheng Jinhou first heard of it, he sneered, knowing it was a tacit deal between the military and Xuanqing Guard, and didn’t expect it would have any real use.

But reality is always unpredictable.

First came an order from this Chief of Miscellaneous Affairs regarding drinking boiled water to prevent diarrhea. This order was relayed to all the armies. From top to bottom, all the armies went through the emotional stages of "doubt," to "half-belief," to "it really works." Only then did they begin to take that Chief of Miscellaneous Affairs seriously.

Later on, Cheng Jinhou himself personally witnessed the Chief of Miscellaneous Affairs displaying valor atop the camp walls, and afterward saw this same individual leading the charge in assault formations. Only then did he discover that even among the Xuanqing Guard, there were men of blood and courage.

After that, the name of the Chief of Miscellaneous Affairs was frequently heard in the army. The thing that attracted Cheng Jinhou’s attention the most recently was the newly established "first aid team." None of the other armies had it; only in Shimen Military Camp, where it was first promoted, were there hundreds said to have been personally trained by the Chief of Miscellaneous Affairs while he was stationed there.

So Cheng Jinhou visited in person, lingering in the commander’s main tent at Shimen Military Camp without leaving, and only after promising ten great banquets of fine wine after the war did he manage to obtain fifty members of the first aid team as instructors to take back and rapidly train his own men. At the same time, he got from Wu Lake the latest plan for the first aid team, which even included methods for unified organization and deployment of first aid teams and physicians.

Compared to others, Cheng Jinhou had more confidence in this first aid team—or rather, in the Chief of Miscellaneous Affairs—so, while urging the fifty first aid instructors he obtained to speed up training his own soldiers, he also made arrangements with the Wu Lake central army to take on missions testing the first aid teams in live combat.

After several large battles, Cheng Jinhou was immensely grateful for his decision—the first aid team proved invaluable on the battlefield.

The wounded would shout directly for help, and the first aid team would arrive with stretchers to carry the seriously injured to an appropriate place for treatment. If the situation was urgent, they’d immediately provide measures such as stopping bleeding, then transport them further. There was no need to waste other warriors on the wounded during battle, which maximized the integrity of the formation.

Moreover, the seriously wounded carried away would no longer be left to fend for themselves as before, but instead sent to field hospitals built to the rear, where physicians handled rescue and treatment, and then managed their aftercare in a centralized fashion.

Later, a batch of rather roughly made "first aid kits" was sent for front-line elite troops to test out. These items also proved immensely useful, able to rapidly handle minor wounds and injuries on their own, without needing the first aid team or physicians, and without fears of the injuries worsening with delay.

Cheng Jinhou did not understand the technical details, and had no time to research them, but after every battle, whenever he saw the casualty reports, he could easily spot the difference before and after.

The number of combat losses, before and after integrating the first aid team into the combat structure: casualties were reduced by fifteen to twenty percent!

This was a figure originally provided as an estimate in the plan from Wu Lake central army. He never expected that just after initial implementation, it would already have such results. What if every soldier were fully equipped with a first aid kit? What if the proportion of first aid teams in the army rose even higher?

Just recently, when the Barbarian Race launched simultaneous night raids on Shimen and Before the Door military camps—again pushing the attack with utter desperation—if it hadn’t been for the first aid teams’ assistance, Cheng Jinhou felt manpower might really have run critically short. In such heavy, attritional combat, a reduction of one or two tenths in casualties was an absolute lifesaver.

After this, Cheng Jinhou immediately sent three copper rods in a row to the Daoxing Chief’s Office of Wu Lake central army, with only one request: that every soldier be equipped with a first aid kit, and the shortfall be remedied twofold. In his battle report on the effectiveness of unified management of first aid teams and physicians, he directly recommended rolling out the first aid teams across the whole army as soon as possible, since practical results showed immense value.

And reports and requests similar to Cheng Jinhou’s were not limited to Wu Lake’s side. Pan Shigui, the commander at Shimen, made the same request—he nearly filled an entire sheet of paper with the words "first aid kit."

PS: This was today’s fourth Chapter, a bonus. Thank you all for your continued support. Respectful bow!

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