Chapter 183: Bringing a Female Doctor for a Visit
Chapter 183
General Guan frowned deeply. He had never seen live broadcasts from the future at the border, but he had heard about them on his way here. It seemed this thing was called a cannon?
It had once driven away fifty thousand soldiers led by Guan Pei.
However, it was said that this thing had distance limitations and couldn't shoot too far.
But General Guan was thinking of a quick victory, wanting to capture the Plague City in one fell swoop, and then rush to the frontier to defend against the Xiongnu without delay, fearing that any delay would lead to complications.
The deputy commander said, "General, I've heard of this thing. It's powerful, but has many limitations. We can overwhelm them with our numbers."
"With no one guarding the border now, I'm very anxious."
"Why don't we end this quickly?"
General Guan remained silent, and the troops behind him stood as still as statues.
General Guan looked at the cannon, then in the direction of the city tower. He wondered how many more of those celestial fireballs the Elder Princess had.
With General Guan's experienced eye, he could guess that while these things had astonishing combat power, they were expensive to produce. The Elder Princess probably couldn't use them indefinitely.
If they could withstand these two waves of attacks, taking the Plague City would become much easier.
However, the soldiers behind him were men who had fought bloody battles alongside him. He couldn't use these men's blood and sweat to counter such cold-blooded weapons.
He couldn't exchange the lives of tens of thousands for the Plague City!
These men shouldn't die on their own territory. If they were to die, it should be on the frontier defense line. That would be a worthy death!
"Today is not a good day for attacking the city. Retreat with all the wounded and fallen soldiers."
"Hear my order, retreat immediately!"
"Set up camp ten miles away!"
At General Guan's command, the entire army immediately retreated in an orderly manner, taking the wounded with them. They didn't abandon a single comrade, not even the bodies!
Seeing the army withdraw, the Elder Princess, Zhou Qichen, and General Qin all breathed sighs of relief.
General Guan considered all his men to be great heroes protecting their homeland. Even though they were on opposing sides, the Elder Princess didn't want this fierce army to suffer too many casualties.
The Elder Princess greatly admired these heroes who had been stationed at the frontier for years.
Seeing that General Qin had returned to the city, the Elder Princess remained silent for a few seconds before speaking to Zhou Qichen: "The burns caused by the ammunition require special herbs."
"Qichen, you should personally lead the female medical team to deliver medicine to General Guan's camp."
"Given General Guan's attitude towards his soldiers, he won't give you trouble."
Zhou Qichen was stunned for a moment, then looked at the Elder Princess in disbelief. He hesitated, but after a few seconds, he couldn't suppress his thoughts and asked bluntly:
"Elder Princess, although we're on different sides and I've thought about saving these soldiers, they are respectable. But if we go to their camp, what if..."
What if we're detained?
Wouldn't that be counterproductive?
The Elder Princess gazed into the distance and smiled, "It won't happen. General Guan isn't so petty as to detain a group of female medics."
"I trust his character."
"Moreover, who knows if we're enemies or friends until the very end?"
"Perhaps, I think we could cooperate with General Guan. Bring more medicine for the wounded. We can't let these heroes die in our internal strife!"
The Elder Princess could march all the way to the Capital City without burden and face the imperial guards without hesitation.
But faced with these heroes who had guarded the border for a lifetime, leaving home for decades, she truly couldn't be cold-blooded and merciless!
After mentally preparing himself, Zhou Qichen finally led several hundred female guards, feeling uneasy as he approached General Guan's encampment.
"Go inform General Guan that I'm here to catch up with him!"
"These are all female medics, experienced in treating wounds caused by gunpowder."
The reason Zhou Qichen didn't mention the Elder Princess's name was that sending medics to treat wounds in her name could be seen as collaborating with the enemy.
But he believed that General Guan wasn't the kind of person to be so devious.
At this moment, General Guan was pacing anxiously for his wounded soldiers. The medics under his command reported that the gunpowder wounds required special medication to clean, and if not cleaned properly, they would become inflamed and infected.
The medics had no solution.
It was at this moment that Zhou Qichen arrived.
When General Guan heard this, his eyes reddened with anger: "What does this Zhou fellow mean? We're enemies, and he brings a group of so-called female medics to treat what illness? Has he gone mad?"
"He's putting me in an impossible situation!"
The deputy commander lowered his voice: "General, we have three hundred severely wounded, and over two thousand affected by the gunpowder. The medics have looked at them and say the gunpowder wounds are prone to infection. One wrong move and they could die from inflammation."
General Guan: "But this Zhou is on the Elder Princess's side! He's putting me on the spot!"
The deputy commander cautiously said: "But our brothers will die if infected. Listen to the screams of agony in the camp. We might lose half of them in seven days."
General Guan: "......"
The deputy commander: "The main issue is that the gunpowder is special, and our medics really have no solution. We can't just watch our brothers die from fever, can we?"
General Guan: "That's not what I meant."
"Then what do you mean?"
"Why didn't that fool Zhou come secretly? Couldn't he have come at night? Why be so open about it? It's like I owe him something. Tell him to get in here and treat them!"
With General Guan's order, Zhou Qichen used the pretext of catching up to allow the female medics to treat the soldiers injured by the explosions.
The people had already come in.
The treatment had begun.
The blame had been taken.
General Guan was speechless inside.
He put on a cold face and had dozens of generals accompany him outside, drinking, barbecuing, and chatting: If they wanted to be open about it, then let's be even more open!
He, Guan, didn't feel guilty at all.
Not far from their gathering, a group of female medics walked through the military camp.
Many soldiers' eyes were drawn to the female medics.
They were dressed in simple men's clothing, each carrying a wooden box. Opening the boxes revealed various medicines and bandages, which they used skillfully to bandage the soldiers' blast wounds.
Initially, the soldiers were skeptical of the female medics, but upon seeing their proficient bandaging skills, some of their doubts were dispelled.
However, there were still some who wanted to test the limits of these female medics' endurance, gathering together with the intention of deliberately teasing them.
"Old Zhang, let's make a bet. Guess whether they'll cry in fear when they see even bloodier dismembered limbs?"
"That goes without saying. They'll definitely scream in terror, faint, and run away."
"I think so too. Hehe, if hundreds of women faint all at once, that'd be quite a spectacle."
"Then let's bet on how many they can endure before breaking down."
A dozen or so soldiers laughed with malicious intent.
They had been through dozens of battles, big and small. Their bodies were covered in grotesque, frightening wounds. Some of their injuries had even become infected, with maggots growing in them in this stuffy, sweltering weather.