Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 1276 Midnight Nightmare, Additional Information on Battlefield First Aid (Two Chapters Combined)
"Twenty-three?"

"Director Fang, you're not kidding me, are you? When I was twenty, I was still copying prescriptions from old Chinese medicine doctors!" Wei Guohao was extremely surprised.

Fang Yan rolled his eyes and said:

"Why did I lie to you?"

Wei Guohao was taken aback; there was absolutely no reason for Fang Yan to lie to him.

Is it because the TCM doctors at Peking Union Medical College Hospital are inherently incompetent? Is that why Fang Yan was able to become the department head?

After the idea popped into his head, he immediately dismissed it. What kind of hospital is Peking Union Medical College Hospital?
Becoming a doctor here requires rigorous screening; if you don't have some serious skills, you absolutely can't stay here.

Fang Yan said to him:
"Alright, I know you're curious, but this is a matter that can't be explained in just a few words."

"Let's get the letter of introduction you need processed first, and then I'll have someone send it back to you."

"It's getting late, you should rest after your long journey. We'll be doing medical checkups for you returning overseas Chinese tomorrow, you can come along then."

Upon hearing the dialect spoken, Wei Guohao thought for a moment and agreed that it was indeed the best way. He nodded.

"Okay! Then I'll trouble Director Fang with the letter of introduction. I'll come with them tomorrow morning."

"Please don't hesitate to ask if there's anything I can do to help."

Then Fang Yan went to get him a note, which would be used to prove his identity. Later, Fang Yan also needed to talk to Lao Hu and explain to him what Wei Guohao did.

After the matter was settled, Fang Yan asked An Dong to drive Wei Guohao back.

With things settled at the hospital, Fang Yan returned home.

It was already 10 p.m. when Fang Yan returned home, and his family began to ask him about the Vietnamese overseas Chinese he had hosted.

He explained the dialect to them from beginning to end.

At the same time, he also informed Lao Hu, asking him to find a way to notify the other side.

"You mean send this Wei Guohao directly to Hong Kong?" the old woman asked in Fangyan.

Fang Yan nodded and said:

"Well, it's nothing. Just come with our boat."

The old man standing to the side said:

"Wei Guohao is all alone in the capital, with no relatives or friends. Where did you ask An Dong to take him back to? Has he been settled into a place to stay?"

"Don't worry," Fang Yan took the water glass and took a sip. "I asked Anton to take him to the temporary resettlement site for overseas Chinese next to the Minzu Hotel. It's a place specially prepared by the government for returned overseas Chinese. There are dedicated people to register and receive them. They have bedding, hot water, and convenient meals. They've even taken their tastes into consideration."

Fang Zhenhua frowned slightly: "Won't there be any paperwork issues if you let him go to Hong Kong on our ship? After all, it's cross-border, what if they investigate..."

"Don't worry," Old Hu explained with a smile. "I know people in Tanggu Port, and they'll help Wei Guohao get a temporary exit permit in advance. Besides, our ship regularly transports goods to Hong Kong every week, and it's all done through proper customs procedures. If Wei Guohao goes with us, he can just say he's a medical worker on board, and no one will give him any trouble."

At this moment, Huang Huijie, who was standing to the side, asked:
"Is that Wei Guohao really the hospital director in Vietnam? Is he a skilled doctor?"

Fang Yan said, "I've talked to him. He's been practicing medicine in Vietnam for many years and is very experienced in treating tropical and chronic diseases. But I've never seen him do it. I only heard about it from him. I'm not really sure what his skill level is like."

"But the fact that he was able to escort his employer's family safely to the capital under such chaotic circumstances shows that he is a thoughtful and responsible person."

"I like him and he's in the same industry, so I'll help him if I can."

“His hospital was confiscated, his money was frozen, and all he had left was a box of medicine. If he hadn’t met me, I don’t know when he would have been able to see his wife and children again.”

Zhu Lin, who was standing to the side, said to him, "I thought you were going to keep him around to help, after all, talented people are hard to find."

Huang Huijie then chimed in:
"That's what I was just thinking about. If he's capable, instead of sending him to Hong Kong, we should recruit him into our ranks."

"As for his wife and children in Hong Kong, we can just bring them over."

Fang Yan shook his head and said:

"Everyone has their own ambitions. His mind is all in Hong Kong now, and I can't keep him here."

Old Hu, who was standing to the side, also said:
"Well, it's better to do someone a favor than to do that."

Huang Huijie and Zhu Lin exchanged a glance. Since their husbands had said so, they decided not to get involved.

The father-in-law, standing nearby, sighed, "Back then, many people went to Vietnam to make a living. They worked hard all their lives, only to end up like this. It's truly heartbreaking. But thankfully, the country hasn't forgotten them. They were able to bring them back and help them settle down, which is a way to give them a way to survive."

“Yes,” Fang Yan nodded in agreement. “Director Liao said at the meeting today that the civil affairs, industry and commerce, and labor departments have all taken action. It won’t be long before the accommodation and jobs for the returned overseas Chinese are settled. Our hospital will also open two more physical examination windows tomorrow to provide free physical examinations for the returned overseas Chinese and establish health records. He also said that priority will be given to the elderly and children, especially those like the old lady with heart disease who we met today. They need to be treated as soon as possible.”

Upon hearing this dialect, the father-in-law said:
"Tomorrow's task is going to be quite challenging again."

Fang Yan smiled and said:
"There aren't actually that many people this time, only about a hundred in total. And some of them are perfectly healthy, so I don't need to give them medical checkups. I just need to treat those who are already in poor health."

“Master, I want to go and take a look tomorrow too,” said Zhao Zhengyi, a child, to Fang Yan.

After hearing this, Fang Yan thought for a moment and said:
"can."

Upon hearing Fang Yan agree, Zhengyi the little boy immediately pumped his fist in delight.

At this moment, the eldest sister asked with some concern:

"Is there any infectious disease?"

He said in dialect:

"No, even if they could carry infectious diseases, they would only have malaria, dengue fever, hookworm, or roundworm, which are not contagious from person to person."

"Most of the people involved are elderly people. Their property has been confiscated, they have traveled long distances, their eating and sleeping habits have been disrupted, and they are under a lot of stress. They are prone to illness, just like the old lady today."

After hearing the explanation in dialect, the older sister was finally relieved.

Meanwhile, my second sister is also flying back to study tomorrow, so Fang Yan doesn't plan to see her off. There will be someone and a car to take her, and making the whole family come out for a farewell would only add to the sadness.

In addition, I do have other things to do, so I can just say goodbye at my doorstep.

Anyway, she landed in Shanghai in just a few hours.

Sometimes, when the journey is short, it doesn't feel that far.

It takes Lao Hu two hours to travel to and from the factory in the Shahe area of ​​Changping.

Tonight, Anton dropped someone off at the Minzu Hotel, and eighty minutes passed in that time.

Besides, everything that needed to be prepared for my second sister has already been prepared. Fang Yan herself doesn't even have that many people seeing her off when she goes out.

The family didn't specifically mention sending off my second sister.

After Anton returned with the people, Fangyan told everyone to rest.

Lying in bed, Fang Yan massaged his wife. Zhu Lin was quite interested in the situation in Vietnam and asked Fang Yan a series of questions.

Fang Yan summarized some of the news he had heard that day and shared it with Zhu Lin.

After listening, Zhu Lin asked Fang Yan curiously:

"You know, they're really strange. We tightened our belts to support them, and in the end, our support turned them into enemies?"

Fang Yan stopped massaging, leaned against the headboard, thought for a moment, and said:

"This matter is complicated and not as simple as 'supporting them and turning them into enemies.' Back then, we helped them sincerely. From the resistance against the French to the resistance against the Americans, we sent many people there, provided them with weapons and food, and even sent engineering teams to help them build railways and factories. But later the situation changed, and the mentality of those in power in their country changed."

He reached for the water glass on the bedside table, took a sip, and continued, "After they unified, they felt like the 'hegemon of the Indochina Peninsula,' and with the Russians backing them up, they started to get arrogant. On the one hand, they felt that our support was 'a matter of course,' and even complained that it wasn't enough or good enough; on the other hand, their emotions at home were stirred up, and in order to divert attention from the contradictions of economic difficulties, they turned their attention to us people over there."

“Many of us Chinese do business there, and we have some savings. We also tend to stick together and have a significant share of the local economy. The authorities deliberately spread rumors that ‘Chinese are taking away jobs from the locals’ and ‘Chinese are disloyal to Vietnam.’ First, they raised taxes and restricted business, and later they simply confiscated property and assets, claiming it was for ‘confiscated for construction,’ but it was actually outright robbery.”

Zhu Lin frowned and asked in confusion, "The overseas Chinese businessmen over there have lived there for so long, some for generations, haven't they put up any resistance?"

"Why didn't they resist?" Fang Yan shook his head, his tone tinged with helplessness. "At first, many merchants joined together to strike, and some people even went to the government building to petition, but they were all suppressed. The authorities sent troops and police to keep an eye on the residential area. Anyone who dared to resist was either arrested and sent to a labor camp or directly deported. Moreover, they confiscated their passports and identity documents. Many people were even stripped of their 'human' status and became stateless 'illegal immigrants,' so they didn't even have the confidence to resist."

"Besides, our compatriots are a minority there. After being incited by public opinion, the local indigenous residents also started to ostracize us. It got to the point that the vegetable market wouldn't sell vegetables to us, people deliberately pushed and beat us on buses, and some even took advantage of the chaos to rob our shops. In this isolated and helpless situation, many people had no choice but to flee, either to Hong Kong or Macau, or back to our mainland."

Zhu Lin was silent for a moment, then asked, "So our country just stands by and watches them bully others? Didn't we step in to negotiate?"

“We’ve negotiated several times,” Fang Yan nodded. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued multiple statements condemning their authorities’ persecution of our people and has sent a delegation to negotiate, demanding that they stop the deportations and return our property. But the authorities there, relying on the support of the Russians, simply won’t listen. Instead, they’ve intensified their actions and even caused trouble on the border…”

"Later, it got even worse, with large-scale expulsions to the Friendship Pass area. Today at dinner, I heard a statistician say that in just the last six months, tens of thousands of returned overseas Chinese have been brought back from Vietnam. The civil affairs, overseas Chinese affairs, and labor departments have been extremely busy just settling these people in. They have to find housing, assign jobs, build schools, and also provide them with medical treatment and psychological counseling. They have put in a lot of effort."

Zhu Lin rubbed her stomach and said softly, "It's really not easy. Those returned overseas Chinese suffered so much over there. It's good that they can have a peaceful life after they come back. By the way, when you give them a physical examination tomorrow, you have to be careful, especially with the elderly and children. Don't miss any problems."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I take this matter very seriously." Fang Yan held Zhu Lin's hand. "Tomorrow, I'll have Zhengyi come with me. On one hand, he'll learn how to diagnose and take a pulse; on the other hand, he'll see the difficulties these returned overseas Chinese face and understand that our peaceful life now is hard-won. That kid is smart, but he hasn't experienced hardship yet. He needs more experience." Zhu Lin smiled: "That's true. Let him follow you and see more of the world. That kid is smart."

After saying that, she repeated her old tune:

"By the way, that Wei Guohao, are you really planning to just help him go to Hong Kong like this? Why not try to keep him? If he really is a highly skilled doctor, he can be of a lot of help to you if he stays at Peking Union Medical College Hospital."

Fang Yan laughed:

“I asked him, and he said his wife and children are in Hong Kong, and he has saved some money there. He wants to open a traditional Chinese medicine clinic there and live a peaceful life. Forcing him to stay would be bad; it would be better to do him a favor. Besides, Mr. Huo also has a hospital there. If he encounters difficulties in Hong Kong, he can always find someone to help him. In the future, we might need his help when we cooperate with the traditional Chinese medicine community in Hong Kong.”

"You've thought of everything." Zhu Lin yawned. "Alright, that's enough. You have to get up early tomorrow, so go to bed early."

Fang Yan helped Zhu Lin cover herself with the blanket and turned off the bedside lamp: "Okay, go to sleep."

In the darkness, Zhu Lin softly hummed in agreement and quickly fell asleep.

The dialects we just heard were relatively mild. The outrageous dialects we used in the car were so bad they might scare my wife. To be honest, when it comes to being inhuman, this guy is truly inhuman.

Then, as Fang Yan continued thinking, she drifted off to sleep.

Then he had a dream.

In my dream, the strong smell of gunpowder, the pungent stench of blood, and the acrid smell of humus from the soil being repeatedly churned by artillery fire violently filled my nostrils.

The surrounding area was filled with deafening gunfire, explosions, and the heart-wrenching screams of the wounded.

Fang Yan found himself in an unfamiliar mountain forest.

The trees were charred black, their branches and leaves scattered haphazardly across the ground. Behind the makeshift shelters were the familiar yet unfamiliar figures of comrades-in-arms... Their faces were hidden beneath the smoke and mud, only their anxious eyes and hands gripping their weapons were clearly visible.

The colors of the military uniforms and the styles of the equipment subtly bear the marks of the era, yet remain unclear.

"Dr. Fang! Over here! Quick!!" A hurried, hoarse shout pierced through the gunfire. Fang Yan looked down sharply and found himself wearing a gray-green homespun military uniform, with a conspicuous white armband with a red cross on his left arm and the familiar first-aid kit slung across his body.

Several soldiers rushed to him carrying a makeshift stretcher.

A young soldier lay on a stretcher, his abdomen torn open by shrapnel, blood and intestines gushing out.

The soldier's jaw was clenched, trembling violently from extreme pain, and his face was ashen. This was a typical critical condition in traditional Chinese medicine, characterized by a "floating and rapid pulse, with qi and blood depleting."

"Dr. Fang!" came the panicked voice of a comrade beside him. "The enemy is pressing in! Carry people and evacuate! Evacuate quickly!" Bullets hit the nearby tree trunks and soil, making a chilling "thud thud" sound.

In this critical moment when every second counted, Fang Yan caught a glimpse of several ordinary figures dressed in tattered foreign clothing, huddled trembling in a nearby bomb crater... There were elderly people and women holding children! The familiar, bewildered, and utterly terrified expressions on their faces instantly overlapped with the images of the Vietnamese returnees getting off their vehicles at the entrance of the Minzu Hotel!
"Protect them!" Fang Yan shouted to someone, as if Director Liao's words from earlier that day were echoing across the battlefield. The next second, a huge explosion rang out nearby!
Boom! ! !

The powerful shockwave threw him violently to the ground. The first-aid kit was jolted open, and what rolled out of it was no longer modern syringes and stethoscopes, but moxa sticks, a powder container, several rolls of old cotton gauze, and a few silver needles that gleamed coldly.

The whole world was shrouded in a huge buzzing sound and blinding white light. Through the blur, I seemed to see the face of the seriously wounded soldier, contorted in pain, and the terrified and desperate eyes of the returned overseas Chinese women and children...

"Uh!"

Fang Yan suddenly opened his eyes, his heart pounding wildly as if struck by a heavy hammer.

Cold sweat had soaked through the back of my pajamas.

Outside the window, the night in Beijing was serene, with only the faint chirping of summer insects.

He was breathing heavily, the smell of gunpowder, the stench of blood, the screams of the wounded, and the terrified faces of the returned overseas Chinese from his dream still vividly clear in his mind, incredibly real.

He subconsciously touched his left arm, finding only sweaty skin.

Is it because they've heard too many descriptions of the tragic situations from returned overseas Chinese during the day?

Fang Yan rarely dreams, but today she actually had a dream, which is quite rare.

He raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, his eyes gazing at the silent night sky outside the window with a complex expression.

The looming shadow of war, yet to come, was like the smoke of gunpowder in a dream, disturbing his dreams for the first time with such vivid realities.

The palpitations he felt upon waking were far more devastating than the gunfire itself.

He suddenly slapped his forehead:
"Yes, battlefield first aid supplies! Still not enough!"

Previously, we only provided the pulse-blocking acupuncture technique, but now I realize that it's still insufficient. We must develop first aid for battlefield situations. What can provide fast and effective first aid?

Fang Yan's mind popped up with a whole list of modern military first aid products.

My thoughts were in turmoil; I needed something that could be manufactured using the technology of 1978!

After thinking for a moment, Fang Yan jumped out of bed.

"Huh? Is it dawn?" Zhu Lin asked Fang Yan when he heard the noise.

Fang Yan said while putting on his slippers:
"No, I just thought of something and I need to write it down in the study. You go to sleep first!"

"Let's talk about it tomorrow," Zhu Lin said to Fang Yan.

He said in dialect:

"I can't sleep, so I'm writing this down."

With that, he got up and walked outside.

His first thought was that the traditional method of using cloth strips to stop bleeding was too slow and needed to be improved.

Ideally, it should be quick to operate, so he thought of CAT tourniquet, which stands for Combat Application Tourniquet.

Developed by NorthAmericanRescue, it has been the official tourniquet of the U.S. Army since 2005.

Fang Yan recalls that this innovative design received a US patent.

I learned about this dialect in detail in my previous life, and it is indeed a precipitous lead.

It employs a durable winch system and a patented free-moving inner belt that provides true circumferential pressure to the limbs.

Once the winch is fully tightened, the bleeding will stop. Then, use a hook winch securing strap to lock the winch in place to maintain pressure during the evacuation of the wounded.

Moreover, this CAT tourniquet was designed for easy one-handed operation, and can be used easily even under high pressure or when fine motor skills are impaired.

Its single application protocol and single-loop routing system reduce the time required for users to apply hemostasis and the difficulty of pre-use training.

Based on the dialect's memory, tests conducted by the U.S. Army Surgical Institute proved that this CAT tourniquet is 100% effective in stopping blood flow to the upper and lower limbs and can quickly control life-threatening bleeding in limbs.

The key point is that this thing is not difficult to manufacture. In 1978, China's textile industry had already reached a considerable scale, and the technology for producing various fabrics was mature.

The outer bandage of the CAT tourniquet can be made of common high-strength nylon fabric, a material widely used in the production of parachutes and military backpack straps at the time, ensuring both strength and durability.

For the inner layer that comes into contact with the skin, choose soft, skin-friendly pure cotton fabric. Textile factories can easily supply it in large quantities at a low cost.

A winch system may sound complicated, but it is actually made up of simple components when disassembled.

The winch rod is made of ordinary metal rods, which can be cut and ground into shape by common machining equipment such as lathes and milling machines.

The ribs on the pole can be achieved using a knurling process, which increases friction and makes it easier for soldiers to operate.

The winch's fixing clamp is made of metal stamping. Stamping machines are standard equipment in machine factories, as they are used to stamp small parts with high precision and high efficiency.

As for the fixation strap, sturdy Velcro was chosen. At that time, domestic chemical companies were already able to produce it. It was reliable in quality, had strong adhesion, and was commonly used in both civilian and industrial fields, fully meeting the needs of tourniquet fixation.

In terms of manufacturing processes, the production processes for each component were familiar to the factory in 1978.

In the textile process, textile workers are highly skilled in everything from raw material procurement to fabric weaving. In metal processing, machine operators can precisely complete processes such as cutting, drilling, and grinding metal parts by operating machine tools. After the various components are produced, they are assembled. With simple training and basic assembly skills, workers can assemble CAT tourniquets.

The key point is that the equipment needed for the entire production process is widely available in state-owned factories and collective enterprises in China, and there is a sufficient number of skilled workers. As long as there is demand, organizing production is not difficult.

Moreover, compared to some complex medical equipment and precision weapons, the manufacturing technology of CAT tourniquets is much less difficult. It does not involve cutting-edge technologies such as high-end electronics and precision optics, and it is completely within the acceptable and achievable range for the domestic industrial level at that time.

Thinking of this, Fang Yan pulled out a sheet of white paper, picked up a fountain pen, and scratched the nib across the paper. He first sketched a rough draft, gradually making the shape and size of the winch, and the length and width of the straps, clearer under his pen…

Not only that, the dialect also incorporates the design of Yunnan Baiyao hemostatic powder.

After finishing, he thought for a moment and then started drawing new types of folding stretchers and modular waterproof first aid kits. These are rescue wisdom accumulated through countless experiences and lives on the battlefield in the future. Now Fang Yan can just copy them. No one needs to lose their life for these things. Fang Yan only needs to draw up the blueprints and then find a factory to produce these things.

Before I knew it, the sky outside was slowly brightening...

PS: The basic chapter of 6000 words is now complete. There will be an extra chapter later.

(End of this chapter)