NOVPUBChen Xi rubbed his forehead, truly at a loss for words. It’s just a ritual, do you really need to go this far? Even Zuo Ci has been invited, what on earth are you planning to do?
"Fine, you just keep at it. Zuo Yuanfang is probably already on his way to Mount Tai, right? Oh, and you have quite the network—try to find Hua Yuanhua from Qiao County as well. He’s one of the top figures among the Taoist priests. If you find him, I’ll give you some extra funds for expenses. Your current setup looks rather shabby. Remember, you’re representing our face here, we need it to be magnificent and luxurious. No more acting so petty. I’ll advance you some cash first; jazz up the event for us. We want more people at the ceremony!"
Chen Xi observed Liu Yan for a long while before deciding to give him another task. As for the funding for the event, if he could just find Hua Tuo, his medicinal herbs could be cashed in—correction, his medicinal herbs could save lives. People can create value, and in comparison to that, a little funding is just trivial!
"Hahaha, leave it to me!" Liu Yan now had friends all over the Great Han Dynasty, and they were all Pure Stream Celebrities who the authorities could only turn a blind eye to. So for him, money was easy to spend. Besides, Liu Yan had grown accustomed to spending money like water. Asking him to return to his old ways, inviting a few friends over to his home for some homemade wine and green beans, was now out of the question.
"Mmm, later I’ll write you an IOU. You take it and draw three million coins. Just find Hua Yuanhua for me. As for Yu Ji the Hermit and Elder Zixu, those kind of people will show up if they wish, and if they don’t, no amount of searching on our part will do any good. They may not excel in much else, but they are quite talented at playing hide and seek." Chen Xi said as he began to write the IOU for Liu Yan to dispense the money, while also subtly lowering the tone of those mythical hermits from lofty celestials to hide-and-seek players.
"Hey, hey, hey, Zichuan, aren’t you being a bit too generous? Thirty million coins! Wow, you actually approved thirty million—are you sure Weishuo can spend it all?" Lub Su was initially indifferent when he heard Chen Xi was approving funds for Liu Yan; a mere million coins would have been enough for Liu Yan’s expenses for a while. For Mount Tai nowadays, a million coins really was trivial. But when he heard Chen Xi approve thirty million, he became agitated all of a sudden.
"Trivial, as long as we can find Hua Yuanhua, even thirty million coins are trivial. Three hundred million would be trivial too. As the only one who can stitch you back up and make you good as new, as long as we get Hua Yuanhua to Mount Tai and he properly teaches a group of students, the reduction in the army’s casualty rate by half is not just talk." Chen Xi quickly stamped the document and passed it to Liu Yan without giving Lub Su a chance to intercept. He was serious; after all, in ancient times, it wasn’t the battle itself that killed most soldiers but the lack of timely medical treatment.
These soldiers had seen battle, and as long as they made it back alive, they would be considered veterans. Someone who’d fought personally over a dozen times and not died had experience that was nothing to scoff at. Just give them a bit of training and a new set of equipment, and they could boast about being an elite regiment. Moreover, they would genuinely possess combat power!
And take those veterans who have really been through dozens of battles without dying; as long as they are not the type that runs at the sight of the enemy, grab any one of them and they could do well as a junior officer. How to kill enemies and protect oneself on the battlefield was something they understood all too well. If we can establish a systematic medical corps and retain plenty of veterans, then things would really get interesting. A single veteran may not be able to defeat five new recruits, but ten thousand veterans would definitely show fifty thousand newbies who’s boss...
Think about the cost of training five hundred new recruits for battle, then consider the attrition rate and combat power. Chen Xi thought it’d be better to maintain thirty medics and three hundred veterans instead. There would be no pressure at all fighting new recruits! Plus, with a low attrition rate, high combat power, and an affordable settlement fee!
"... Are you sure Hua Yuanhua is worth that much?" Lub Su raised an eyebrow, not because Liu Yan was given too much money—thirty million coins wouldn’t faze him. Just a few days ago, he had turned into a young suave millionaire. Now, he had moved his grandmother to Mount Tai and was planning to find a respectable girl to marry and start a business to expand the Lub Clan.
"With him around, we could ignore the plague, just that alone I think is worth it," Chen Xi said solemnly. To prepare for next year’s epidemic, the quantity of medicinal herbs stockpiled at Chen Xi’s camp had already become astonishing.
Forget the historical records that mention only several hundreds of thousands or close to a million people affected; now, even if the entire Qingzhou were to be afflicted, Chen Xi could withstand it. Not knowing what medicines were needed, he collected all kinds, having amassed enough ginseng for over a hundred thousand people, each getting their own herb. As for the rest, they were tallied by the storeroom, with millions scraping the land during the slack farming season, their efforts were simply ruthlessly insane.
Chen Xi’s statement wasn’t a joke—ignoring the disease might be an exaggeration, but after 192, the worst of the epidemics as well as typhoid were eventually suppressed, largely thanks to the abilities of Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing!
Although Zhang Zhongjing became the only survivor in his family because of typhoid, there’s no denying that, after his mad research, he managed to suppress the typhoid that was ravaging Jing-Yang. Hua Tuo, on the other hand, had a knack for seeking out places plagued by epidemics, which was also why Chen Xi couldn’t find him. This fellow was essentially a rolling stone, and with no major epidemic currently, who knows where he might be?
As for tracking down Zhang Zhongjing, better forget about it. The man wouldn’t leave Jingzhou until he found a cure for typhoid and wrote his "Treatise on Febrile Diseases Caused by Cold," sworn not to leave Jingzhou until he eradicated typhoid—a vow stemming from his whole family being wiped out by the disease. 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝔲𝔟.𝔠𝖔𝖒
It is said that around the year 200, he actually managed to conquer typhoid, and then defying the ancient Chinese practice of ’teaching sons, not daughters,’ he disseminated his book all over the world. After Hua Tuo read it, he gave it an appraisal: "This is truly a book that saves lives!"
In short, Zhang Zhongjing is now essentially possessed, throwing himself entirely towards a goal. If you wanted him to leave Jingzhou, you’d have to overturn typhoid, but sadly Chen Xi had no recollection of how to treat it. It seemed that after Zhang Zhongjing crushed it for over a thousand years, it was still under his shadow up to this day.
"Oh," Lub Su nodded. Although Chen Xi was sometimes unreliable, he felt that if Chen Xi spoke up, there was about a fifty percent chance of success. To try to ignore plague with a fifty percent probability for thirty million, Lub Su thought it was worth it.
Moreover, the Medic Trooper Program that Chen Xi had been working on for so long had only been equipped for a small part of the troops. In Lub Su’s eyes, this plan had more potential—an excellent plan for the elite transformation of troops, very promising. It cost much less and was much more effective than Yu Jin’s intense soldier training program, so he no longer tried to stop Chen Xi. As long as they could recruit a hundred thousand seasoned veterans, Lub Su would dare to incite Liu Bei to challenge the Four Directions.
"Hmm, since this plan is problem-free, let’s start the next one!" Chen Xi said with a serious expression, then took out a stack of plans from the paper bag beside him. Instantly, the previously laughing crowd turned solemn. Chen Xi didn’t often bring out his plans, but whenever he did, it was always about a strategy for the long-term—what major move was he going to initiate this time?
The unfinished business from before weighed on us all—don’t burden us with more, thought all the civilian officials in the room. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)
