My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 187: Sending Troops to Jiangxia
After Cao Cao decided to follow Xun Yu's advice, within two or three days, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry made preparations for deployment, and then followed Cao Cao west and south, and moved to Runan.

Anyway, Lu Bu has been besieged in Pengcheng for nearly a month. He has not left the city to fight back in the past month. He will only be more exhausted in the future and it is even more impossible for him to come out for a field battle. The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry have no battle to fight if they stay in Xuzhou.

Cao Cao had just started to make arrangements, and it was already late March.

On the other side, Sun Qian, who was returning from Xudu, had already traveled most of the way.

On March 24, Sun Qian first arrived in Hefei, planning to rest for a day or two before continuing his journey south.

Of course Zhuge Liang received him warmly. At this time, the busy spring farming season was almost over, and Zhuge Liang had less things to do.

As long as he takes care of transplanting rice seedlings a month later to ensure that there are no problems with the rotation of the two seasons of staple food this year, Zhuge Liang will be completely freed from the busy work of military farming.

During the banquet, Sun Qiancai said, "I stopped in Hefei for a while this time, not because I was lazy or delayed, but because the imperial court replied to my order, which is quite related to you, so I just came to announce the good news."

Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "My lord sent me a private letter last time, and I needed Gongyou to convey it. That's fine. What does the imperial court's reply have to do with me? Didn't my lord's memorial request Liu Qi to be appointed governor of Jiangxia?"

Seeing that Zhuge Liang did not seem to be pretending, Sun Qian smiled proudly and said, "Haha, this is so rare, there is something in the world that even you, Kong Ming, could not have predicted - the court rejected Liu Qi's request to confer the title, and made an exception to promote you to the position of governor of Jiangxia.

Alas, I figured it out on the way back. This must be Cao Cao's attempt to alienate the lord and Liu Biao, but we didn't lose out. Although I didn't take the opportunity to ease the relationship between the two sides, at least I got an imperial edict from the court to appoint a governor.

Although the lord can appoint a governor on his own after conquering Jiangxia, it is still not as convincing as the imperial decree. I still want to congratulate you, sir."

Zhuge Liang's expression suddenly turned serious when he heard this: "I have already guessed that Cao Cao might reject your proposal. Even if Cao Cao rejects it, as long as your sincerity is shown, it can still temporarily ease the tension with Liu Biao.

I just didn't expect Cao Cao to appoint me as the governor of Jiangxia. This move would anger Liu Biao more than a direct rejection. Alas, this strategy was proposed by my brother. My lord will not..."

Zhuge Liang did not finish the second half of his sentence, because through his contact with Liu Bei over the past two years, he had already roughly understood Liu Bei's temper. He knew that Liu Bei was not a suspicious person, so there was no need to say some things.

Sun Qian also obviously noticed the second half of Zhuge Liang's sentence, and quickly comforted him:

"What's there to worry about? The lord is more open-minded than ordinary people. You and your brother have made great contributions, and any reward is not excessive. If it weren't for Brother Ziyu who turned the tide three years ago, alas, it would be unimaginable."

Zhuge Liang listened silently without saying anything else, and the matter ended there.

Sun Qian stayed in Hefei for two days to rest, then continued his journey south and returned to Wuhu to report to Liu Bei, giving him a detailed account of the situation along the way.

Liu Bei really didn't think there was anything wrong with the court appointing Zhuge Liang as the governor of Jiangxia, and he just readily accepted the fact:
"Oh? How can I be so embarrassed? I didn't expect Brother Mengde to treat us so well. Kongming is only nineteen, and I didn't even have the nerve to express my gratitude, but he came to me for free."

……

In the following days, Zhuge Jin was making final preparations before attacking Huang Zu. There is not much to elaborate on.

Zhuge Liang also had more and more free time, and the things he was doing came to a temporary end.

However, during their free time from official duties, Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying were able to spare some time to spend with their family and enjoy family time.

Zhuge Liang recently traveled north from Hefei to Shouchun, more than a hundred miles north, to visit his brother-in-law Zhao Yun who was stationed there, and to see his sister Zhuge Zhi and nephew who had just given birth. Zhuge Zhi found out she was pregnant in April last year after Zhao Yun went on an expedition, so she gave birth to her baby at full term in early February this year.

Zhuge Zhi did not interfere with the naming of the Zhao family's descendants, so Zhao Yun's son was still called Zhao Tong, but he was obviously not the same person.

Zhao Yun was a low-key person. Because the infant mortality rate was relatively high in that era, Zhao Yun did not want to make a big fuss when his son was born, nor did he rush to announce the good news. He first raised the baby until it was about to be one month old, and confirmed that it was not likely to die, and then announced it to the public.

Zhuge Liang didn't find out about it until his nephew was one month old, and a few days later he took his wife to Shouchun.

Zhuge Zhi has been recuperating for a month and her complexion has recovered well. Moreover, she is already 22 years old, which is considered late for marriage in this era, and she is in good health.

Zhao Yun didn't read much, so Zhuge Zhi couldn't talk to her husband about some topics. When her brother came, Zhuge Zhi talked to Zhuge Liang about some medical skills:

"Aliang, my eldest brother passed on the secret scroll written by my mother. Some of the insights in it are truly miraculous. When I was conceiving and keeping the baby safe, I followed the instructions and everything went smoothly.

The most amazing thing is that the secret scroll also states that after giving birth, one should first sharpen a pair of brand new rust-free iron scissors, boil them with boiling water, then roast them over a fierce fire until they are dry and hot, and finally use the scissors to cut the umbilical cord, which can protect both mother and baby from sadness and evil spirits.

Before I gave birth, I made special arrangements for these things. The bedding and clothes were all boiled, washed, and then dried. The iron scissors were also boiled and dried. In the end, there was really no evil spirit at all. I heard from many people who had experienced it that the evil spirit heat would have lasted for at least three to five days. "

When Zhuge Zhi said this, she was also deeply impressed. Of course, she didn't know that many of the tips that her elder brother Zhuge Jin wrote in the name of the Song family were not discovered until the Qing Dynasty in the original history. For example, using clean scissors that were boiled to cut the umbilical cord directly led to a several-percent drop in infant mortality since the middle of the Qing Dynasty.

Before this, for thousands of years in Chinese history, midwives would tear the baby's umbilical cord with their hands. Some even did not wash their hands. Some even bit it off with their teeth in a hurry. There were all kinds of tricks. Of course, there were also people who used scissors, but almost no one would think of boiling or roasting before cutting.

As for the so-called "postpartum wind evil entering the body", it is actually the main wound of the umbilical cord that is not treated properly, which will lead to infection. Especially for newborn babies, who only have the umbilical cord wound and have weak resistance, most babies die from infection due to umbilical cord infection.

It is unrealistic to ask the ancients to use a red-hot iron to burn the cut end of the umbilical cord. However, if the scissors themselves are heated to a slightly red color, the iron at several hundred degrees will basically complete the sintering and healing of the wound at the moment of cutting.

If it were a peaceful time, Zhuge Jin would not dare to use such technology recklessly, and he would also have to consider the impact of the Malthusian trap and population explosion. But now that there are so many people being killed in the war, it doesn't matter for the time being.

Moreover, it takes time to promote this kind of thing, and it is also difficult to promote it. If only Liu Bei's population exploded in the next 20 years, and the territories of other princes did not explode, the Han Dynasty would not fall into the Malthusian trap.

After listening to the elder sister talk about so much medical knowledge, Zhuge Liang was also a little curious. He vaguely felt that the elder sister seemed to have the potential to "become a good doctor after suffering from long-term illness". By treating herself and trying her own hands, maybe she could gradually become a "gynecological expert" and continue to refine and promote those secret scrolls in combination with actual conditions.

Zhuge Zhi himself seemed to have the same idea. When chatting with Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang, he mentioned that after he fully recovered, he wanted to show his skills to the wives and concubines of the gentry in Shouchun City and summarize his experience.

Although Zhao Yun felt that it was unnecessary to ask his wife to do anything, he agreed considering that his wife just wanted to do some research. He just made a suggestion:
"Madam, you want to find something to do that will benefit the people. I, your husband, will naturally not object. However, the work is complicated, so you'd better not overwork yourself. Madam, you need to recruit some old and experienced midwives, and some women or female doctors who know a little about medicine to learn from. Madam, you only need to study and manage it, and you don't have to do it yourself often."

Zhuge Zhi was only interested in doing research in this area and wanted to summarize her experience. She was not very interested in doing hands-on work, so she readily accepted the offer. This meant that she was only the "research team leader" and naturally someone else would be the experimenter.

Zhuge Liang, who was standing by, was of course also keenly aware of the value of this technology. After all, something that could reduce infant mortality, combined with exponential multiplication, would be very exaggerated... Perhaps other people were not good at math and could not understand the horror of "exponential growth", but Zhuge Liang definitely understood it.

Zhuge Liang felt that if this matter was really reliable, it would be necessary to mention it in the work report to the lord, and he should not let his sister summarize the experiment so slowly.

So he asked, "Sister, I wonder if this method of 'boiling and roasting the sharpened scissors to cut the umbilical cord' was only tried this once? Has it been tried on other women since then?"

Zhuge Zhi smiled proudly: "How could I be so reckless? Not to mention later, even a few months before me, I had arranged for people to patrol Shouchun City, looking for women who were prone to difficult labor, giving them money and medicine, and persuading them to give it a try first. In the end, it was all beneficial and harmless.

Even if there were difficult births or premature deaths, it was not due to wind evil, nor was it related to cutting the umbilical cord. It was due to other diseases or congenital deficiencies. No one would make a fuss about it. "

When Zhuge Zhi tried it, she also gave free medical treatment to poor people. When those people heard that General Zhao's family gave the medicine to the midwife for free, who would refuse? Even if the childbirth was difficult in the end, they would never blame the person who did the good deed.

In particular, the people of Shouchun already knew that General Zhao's wife's surname was Zhuge.

Once this surname was put there, the people benefited from it, so they naturally burned incense and prayed for the Zhuge family, and worshipped them. Those who were not able to bear it also admitted that it was because of their poor physical condition.

In this era, if Zhang Jiao's talisman water fails to cure someone, people will only blame themselves for being insincere. How can they blame the person who did a good job of delivering the medicine?

After hearing this, Zhuge Liang felt relieved and asked his elder sister whether she had left any "experimental records". Zhuge Zhi then ordered the maid to find a few scrolls. Although the writing style was different from the medical record cards of later generations and was not very standardized, the content was clear.

Zhuge Liang took a quick look and felt that it was necessary to include the hygiene suggestion of "using roasted scissors to cut the umbilical cord" in the report letter to his lord.

At least this one is absolutely beneficial and harmless, and has no risks. At most, it costs a little money, and not every household has a pair of clean iron scissors. But if you don't have enough scissors, the government can register the private midwives. The registered "semi-professional midwives" are all equipped with a pair of scissors, which must be disinfected every time they are used.

……

A few days later, as it was about to enter April, Zhuge Jin had completed the preparations for the attack on Huang Zu and was ready to send troops.

Zhuge Liang was also ready to meet Chen Deng at any time and contacted Chen Deng first.

Zhuge Liang's last report letter before meeting Chen Deng was also delivered to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei took a look and found that the first half of the letter mainly explained the rice seedling cultivation work during this year's spring farming season.

He also said that the winter wheat in Jiangbei County had reached the grain filling stage last year. Now that there is little rain, the wheat grains are expected to be fully filled and plump. After the harvest, the fields can be watered immediately and rice seedlings can be planted.

Liu Bei was very pleased with this. When the winter wheat was harvested, the famine in the five counties occupied by him could finally be overcome. Kong Ming had been worried about persuading farmers for so long, promoting rice-wheat rotation on a large scale, and having an extra harvest every year. This was Shennong's contribution, and his merits were immeasurable.

After reading the job report, Liu Bei took a closer look at the second half, which was some medical knowledge about preventing infant death relayed by Zhuge Liang. It also included an overview of experimental data, saying that this method had been very effective after being tested in Shouchun, and perhaps it could be tried again in Hefei and Wuhu. If the results were good, it could be further promoted.

Liu Bei was puzzled when he saw it: "How can Kong Ming know this? It's not just about planting rice and wheat, which can yield a lot of harvests. Does he even know how to 'plant people'? If it can really reduce the number of infant deaths, this merit will be no less than Shennong's two harvests a year.

Send a message, quickly arrange for personnel, organize a trial in Wuhu City, don't be reckless, observe for half a year or three months first. Infants with wind-induced colds seem to be most susceptible in summer. If they can survive this summer, then it is probably really useful."

Liu Bei was already 39 years old. He had lost one or two children to wars before, as well as some who died young from illness. So he was very experienced and knew that children were most likely to die from wind-cold in the summer.

This is because infections are more likely to occur in hot and humid weather, while bacteria are less active in cold winter conditions.

Zhuge Zhi gave birth to Zhao Tong in early February, which was a relatively cold time. Liu Bei felt that he should not rush into the promotion and it would be better to wait and see before taking it easy.

……

After Liu Bei arranged what Zhuge Liang had reported, two or three small things happened continuously in Wuhu City over the next two or three days.

First, one day at the end of March, Zhuge Jin took the initiative to say goodbye to Liu Bei, saying that he would go to Yuzhang first to conduct a final comprehensive inspection and supervision for the dispatch of troops to Jiangxia.

Liu Bei held a grand banquet for Zhuge Jin to practice his military skills, and told him that after arriving in Yuzhang, he could just act according to circumstances without asking for permission. This was not considered a formal ceremony for the expedition, because a formal expedition would only be considered after arriving in Yuzhang.

Guan Yu, Gan Ning and Taishi Ci also set out with Zhuge Jin, and Liu Bei drank with them one by one and encouraged them.

This had been discussed beforehand. In order to show that Liu Bei was "dedicated to fighting Huang Zu without reservation", not many generals were left in the rear.

In this way, when Xuzhou sent troops to support Chen Deng, it would seem that it was "sudden and hasty".

Since Guan Yu's military rank was higher than Zhuge Jin's, he was the General of Annan, so he was nominally the commander-in-chief of the expedition against Huang Zu. Pang Tong was the military advisor, and Zhuge Jin strictly speaking was only "stationed in Yuzhang, providing support and supervision to Guan Yu."

After Liu Bei sent Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin away, he felt a little relieved.

Unexpectedly, just the next day, Yi, who was in charge of scouting and analyzing intelligence under Liu Bei, brought him a rumor that he had recently collected.

Shi Yi, who was doing this in history when he served Liu Yao and later when he served Sun Quan, was also responsible for this. He also knew that this rumor seemed unreliable and might be a trick of the enemy, but he still had to report it, at most with his own analysis and reminder.

So he bit the bullet and reported the truth: "My lord, a rumor has suddenly spread in Wuhu City recently, saying that... it is said that the previous suggestion for you to recommend Liu Qi as the governor of Jiangxia was... it was a plan of General Fubo, who wanted to use you to get an official position for his second brother.

My lord, please don't be impulsive. This may be a plot by Cao Cao to sow discord, but there are indeed such rumors in the streets, and I have to report it."

After listening to Shi Yi's report, Liu Bei had a calm expression and patted Shi Yi on the shoulder: "I am not impulsive. It is obvious that this is a plot to sow discord. It is not easy for Kong Ming to get promoted.

If I could have appointed myself as a governor, I would have appointed him as such long ago. How many great contributions have the Zhuge family made? How high of an official position can they not hold?"

(End of this chapter)