Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 98 Studying Medicine
In a bright room, a wooden bed is placed near the window.

On the bed lay the naked body of a Native American, with the lines of his body appearing exceptionally clear under the light.

Military medical officer Dong Xinping was wearing a gray shirt, holding a sharp scalpel in his hand, his eyes focused and calm.

The room was filled with a pungent stench of corpses, mixed with a hint of an indescribable smell of blood.

In a corner of the room, there was a series of knives and surgical tools, reflecting the cold silver light.

Dong Xinping's hand gently slid across the skin of the corpse, and the blade trembled slightly with his breathing.

His movements were precise and steady, the tip of the knife moving across the corpse, gradually going deeper, and as the blade advanced, the corpse was uncovered layer by layer.

A deep bloody wound was cut open, and the internal organs of the human body were gradually exposed, filling the air with an inexplicable gloomy and murderous atmosphere.

"This is the heart. It's like a small water pump, uh, the power source of blood. Through the expansion and contraction of the heart, blood is ejected into the aorta. Then, through the branches of the arteries, it is distributed to various tissues and organs throughout the body to meet the needs of the body and pump blood to various parts of the body..."

"This is the stomach. The food we eat every day is digested here, and then..."

"Wow!……"

"Wow!……"

The two girls standing next to the bed couldn't hold it in any longer and ran out of the house in a panic. Then they squatted on the ground and vomited continuously, almost vomiting out all the corn paste and steamed buns they had eaten in the morning.

"Wow!……"

In a short while, two more teenagers aged fifteen or sixteen ran out, squatted on the ground and began to vomit continuously.

"To be honest, it's a bit early for you to be exposed to human anatomy at your age. However, there's nothing we can do about it. We need you to grow up quickly in the shortest possible time, so we have to force your growth." Dong Xinping stood at the door, looking at the four apprentices' embarrassed appearance, wanting to say a few words of comfort, but the words that came out of his mouth changed into a different tone.

"In the eyes of us doctors, there's no difference between animal corpses and human corpses. You need to train more in the future. Not only should you practice with animals, but you should also stay by my side when treating injured people and see more blood and gore. Only then can you overcome the many distracting thoughts in your mind."

"Teacher, we were wrong..." Liu Azhu stood up pale and lowered his head to admit his mistake to the teacher.

"Teacher, we..." Cai Shuigen felt his face flushed and he was ashamed.

On weekdays, he prided himself on being very brave and daring enough to kill sea otters with his bare hands and peel off their fur intact. He even helped kill many of the chickens and ducks in the cafeteria.

However, I didn't expect that I would be so bad at human anatomy when I first came into contact with it, which disappointed my teacher very much.

This is a rare opportunity to learn the magic of medicine from my teacher. If I cannot adapt to the blood and filth, I will miss this great opportunity in vain.

During this period, the Book of Documents, one of the Confucian classics, recorded that there were five kinds of blessings: "One is longevity, two is wealth, three is health and peace, four is good virtue, and five is a good end to one's life."

Among the five blessings, three indicators are related to life and health, which makes doctors have a relatively high status in society.

Not only can it provide for the family, but it can also be passed on to future generations, bringing blessings to future generations.

However, the threshold to become a qualified doctor is quite high.

Many famous doctors basically come from families that have been practicing medicine for generations. They have inherited the art and prescriptions passed down from their ancestors.

It is very difficult for an outsider to find an opportunity to learn a little bit.

If one is famous for his medical skills, then there is a high probability that he will be recruited by the court to be a highly respected imperial physician, who can treat and prescribe medicine for the emperor, princes and nobles, and have the most stable "iron rice bowl".

In this way, not only will you be respected, but you will also become the object of flattery and recruitment by the royal family and court officials.

After all, everyone gets sick and needs to find a skilled doctor to treat them.

Moreover, influenced by traditional customs, it is extremely rare for women to practice medicine.

A few months ago, this skilled medical commissioner, Mr. Qi, selected several apprentices from the school. After thorough observation and testing, he chose these four people from more than 60 students.

In the morning, they continued to attend group classes at school with their peers. In the afternoon, they came to the infirmary to learn some basic medical knowledge from Commissioner Qiong. They tried to treat some simple illnesses and prepared some practical herbal remedies based on the records in several Ming Dynasty medical texts. A few days ago, Master Qiong had mentioned that they needed to directly experience and understand the basic structure of human organs to lay a foundation for better medical practice in the future.

In fact, as early as the initial stage, Master Dong would take some small animals, such as chickens, ducks, geese, or rabbits, cut them into pieces, and teach them the relevant organs and functions one by one.

Moreover, when slaughtering cattle, sheep or prey in the forest in Shixing Fort, he would take them to observe closely, explain and instruct them on the body structure and organ functions of these animals, so that they could understand and master some simple medical points.

However, they never expected that Master Dong would place a "live" Aboriginal corpse on the bed in the medical clinic this afternoon, cut it open with a sharp knife, point to the bloody internal organs, and give them a real human anatomy experiment class.

These boys and girls, who were sixteen or seventeen years old, could not bear this scene. In less than a quarter of an hour, they rushed out of the door one after another and squatted outside the door to vomit violently.

They had seen dead bodies before, including elderly people in their families, refugees during famines, and beggars who died of hunger and cold on the streets of Guangzhou.

However, the strong visual impact of cutting a person open bloodily and exposing the internal organs still made them collapse immediately.

This is completely different from the scene of slaughtering chickens and sheep!

Liu Azhu and another young girl were "wives" bought from Guangzhou, while Zhang Gou'er and Cai Shuigen were beggars who had lost their parents. They were clearly dependents of Shixing Fort, and it was normal for them to be slaves.

But after they arrived at Shixing Fort, they received extraordinary attention and care.

Not only did they have better living conditions, living in sturdy and beautiful brick houses like the early residents of Shixing Fort, but they also received food and drink that other adult immigrants could not enjoy.

With milk, eggs, fish and shrimp, in just half a year, not only did his complexion become rosy, but he also grew a lot taller, living a good life that he had never dreamed of.

What surprised them was that the "masters" of Shixing Fort also taught them to read and write and learn various cultural knowledge.

You have to know that in the Ming Dynasty, only the children of wealthy families were qualified to go to school. People like them, "mud legs", had been digging in the fields for generations, so they had no chance to read and learn to read.

Women have even less opportunity and are not qualified to study.

The ancients had the idea of ​​"give food to those who give it and wear clothes to those who take it off", but they would also have the attitude of "doubling the bad luck will make it harder even if you die".

So, with the meticulous care and attention from Shixing Fort, how could so many beggars and helpless girls not be drawn to it, and even have some thoughts of "dying for the country" and "serving the king with their own bodies".

"In other words, these women from the Ming Dynasty are not opposed to marriage?"

When Li Xianqing, director of the decision-making committee, came to the medical center, Dong Xinping asked several disheveled boys and girls to go and rest and wash up, and come back to class later.

After listening to Dong Xinping's introduction of dozens of herbal decocted herbs based on the "Medical Encyclopedia", Li Xianqing pondered for a long time and quietly raised a question.

"Director, are you worried that these Ming Dynasty girls are too young to get married and have children?"

"Yes." Li Xianqing said with a wry smile, "In our time, a girl of seventeen or eighteen was just a middle school student with little experience in the world. How could she marry someone else?"

"However, in ancient times, women generally married at thirteen or fourteen, and men married and had children at fifteen or sixteen." Dong Xinping pondered for a long time and said slowly, "Although, medically speaking, the optimal childbearing age for women is over twenty-two, which is also the most suitable age for both mother and child. However, in the traditional culture and customs of that period, twenty-two is too... late."

"Do you think... that's appropriate?"

"Director, I'm not a gynecologist." Dong Xinping smiled.

"In our entire group, you are the only one with the greatest medical authority."

"In fact, our biggest concern should be the moral constraints from future generations."

"..." Li Xianqing couldn't help but sigh slightly when he heard this, and then looked at him steadily.

"According to medical theory, women reach puberty around the age of sixteen and are ready to... marry and have children."

After listening to this, Li Xianqing nodded, said nothing more, patted his shoulder, and left.

(End of this chapter)