The military doctor was very steady, pressing the wound with a dicine pack while feeling his pulse. Seeing Zhao Hanzhang’s anxiety, he said, "The General can try to call to him; if he wakes, great, if not, it’s fine too."
Zhao Hanzhang: "Won’t fainting from pain be dangerous?"
"There is a risk, but his pulse is still good now, not much difference."
Despite this, Zhao Hanzhang still called to Fu Tinghan, seeing his brows furrowed, eyelids slightly moving, trying to wake but not quite awake, she knew he heard, so she called more firmly.
The military doctor waited until the bleeding stopped a bit, then removed the dicine pack and began to clean the wound with a knife, to prevent arrowhead fragnts and dirt from being left in the wound.
But as soon as the dicine pack was removed, Zhao Hanzhang saw the large bloody hole, with flesh and blood muddled inside; clearly, the secondary damage from pulling out the arrow was severe.
Her brows tightly furrowed, she stopped calling Fu Tinghan, and picked up the arrowhead on the plate, looking thoughtful.
The military doctor glanced at her, and while treating the wound, introduced, "This is a special arrow, rarely seen on the battlefield, generally used against significant figures like a General. Once hit, pulling out this arrow creates a large wound, unavoidable."
"The gentleman was lucky, the opponent used a short bow, so the wound is not deep and avoided vital areas. Had a longbow been used, even if avoiding vital areas, a deeper strike would make it hard to pull out. At that ti, you’d have to dig out so flesh first, it could hook out half a bowl of flesh, and the blood would gush out, one couldn’t stop bleeding and would die." The military doctor said, "Even if the bleeding stops, such a large wound is hard to heal, carelessness could lead to death."
Zhao Hanzhang gripped the arrow tightly, asking, "Do you know which army has such arrows?"
The military doctor thought for a mont and replied, "I’ve followed many armies, it seems that except for the barbarians, our Jin Army has them."
Alright, looks like these arrowheads are an open secret.
Zhao Hanzhang looked down to watch the military doctor handle the wound.
His moves were quite quick, soon clearing out the fragnts from the wound. Cleaning the wound caused more bleeding, which he wiped simply before pressing the dicine pack on to stop the bleeding.
Zhao Hanzhang quickly stopped him, "Just stop the bleeding like this? How long will it take?"
"Not long, not long, this dicine pack is very effective. Press it for a bit, in a quarter of an hour the bleeding should start to reduce, and it should stop in half an hour, but movent is not allowed; any movent will cause bleeding, so the pack needs to be fixed for a day."
Zhao Hanzhang: "Won’t the dicine pack stick to the flesh? Won’t removing it to change the dicine cause more bleeding?"
The military doctor: "By then the blood flow will be less, it is negligible."
He said, "A real man won’t be bothered by such an injury."
With that, he was about to press down the dicine pack, but Zhao Hanzhang felt secondary damage was a cruel thing, so she stopped him, "With such a big opening, stitch it first."
"The General ans using mulberry thread or sheep gut thread to stitch, right?"
Zhao Hanzhang nodded.
"I’ve only heard about it, never tried it on people. Soldiers in the army are unwilling to let try; are you willing to let try it on the gentleman?"
Zhao Hanzhang: "...Bring the needle and thread, I’ll do the stitching."
The military doctor: "Have you stitched before?"
Zhao Hanzhang: "I learned it as a child."
When she was young, she was interested in everything, especially experints, so she followed along to stitch rabbit wounds. Later, she joined her father in parent-child military events, where besides shooting and military boxing, learning from military doctor uncles and aunts was a must.
Moreover, having been injured many tis, she learned a lot about injuries. She grew up falling and getting hurt, so she had a lot of experience dealing with trauma.
The military doctor, seeing her determination, didn’t refuse, and still pressed the dicine pack on Fu Tinghan’s wound as he explained, "We must stop the bleeding first."
Zhao Hanzhang didn’t object this ti, waiting for the military doctor to bring out his treasured needles and threads.
Zhao Hanzhang wasn’t stitching for the first ti, but many years had passed, and her experience was limited, having only done it twice before, making this the third ti.
But her heart was calm, her hands steady; once the dicine pack was removed, she seriously separated his flesh and began to stitch with the needle...
Her parents once praised her skill, claiming she was born to be a soldier or a doctor.
The couple even argued over whether she should be a soldier like them or beco a doctor. Eventually, they agreed that she should be a military doctor.
Yet Zhao Hanzhang didn’t want to be a military doctor at all; she and her grandfather shared the sa thought that she would beco a scientist in the future, specifically one who develops weapons.
Unfortunately, in the end, she beca none of the above, first serving as a music teacher, albeit unsuccessfully, leading to her becoming a librarian.
She hadn’t thought she’d be doing what her parents hoped for her in another realm.
Zhao Hanzhang finished stitching the wound, handing the follow-up care to the military doctor, and after standing for a mont, Qiu Wu ca to report. Zhao Hanzhang then went out.
"Prince East Sea was defeated, Gou Xi captured many, they’re still fighting, but most are rounding up Prince East Sea’s remnants. Gou Chun occupied the camp, and our n are pursuing Prince East Sea; there’s no news yet."
He said, "The Scout searched the path as instructed, found no signs of ambush, the way is safe. However, as for Gou Chun, after taking the camp, he fortified the defenses and quietly ordered people to dig horse traps."
Zhao Hanzhang’s face darkened, she instructed softly, "Send soone now to fetch Erlang and the others, tell them to co back moderately and not to return by the original path, but take the route we previously used from Chang’an."
Qiu Wu nodded and left.
Zhao Hanzhang sneered, summoning a trusted aide, "Go, pass the order to Deputy General Chen leading the infantry, instruct him to imdiately target the remnants of Prince East Sea’s troops by the river, assisting General Gou in suppressing the remnants, gathering captives, and clearing the battlefield."
"Yes!"
In saying suppressing remnants and gathering captives, naturally whoever gathers them gets the credit, clearing the battlefield too, whoever claims the weapons, horses, they belong to them.
Zhao Hanzhang didn’t originally plan to contest over these things with Gou Xi, as this year Yu State was really difficult, with limited provisions.
She temporarily was only looking to coerce the scattered people in the mountains and forests, and reclaim the remnants not captured by Gou Xi. That number should be small enough for her resources.
Unexpectedly, Gou Chun pulled a stunt like this, so she naturally had to put forth effort as well, not letting them beco too complacent.
Moreover, Yu State’s strength is currently far behind Yan State; she needs manpower to develop.
Let everyone suffer a bit together, tightening the belt to get through the days.
The battle continued into the night; Gou Xi captured many remnants, while Zhao Erlang and the others returned following Prince East Sea, bringing back many captives.
They didn’t return via the sa route but took the path Zhao Hanzhang had previously used to return from outside Chang’an to Yu State, quietly bypassing the riverside camp.
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