There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 139 Famous General
A night of chaos.

"The criminal general pays homage to the general!"

The surrendered Qing army generals in Chenlong Pass were already kneeling on the ground.

Nie Yu was wearing half-body armor, playing with his only rifled musket in his hand, with a slightly scrutinizing look in his eyes.

It's not that Nie Yu doesn't want to work on rifled guns, but they're currently too flashy and impractical. They require extremely experienced craftsmen to slowly rifle the gun by hand, resulting in a high failure rate and a long production cycle. Only one rifle can be produced at a time, a sheer waste of manpower and resources.

If I have this much time, why don't I make ten smoothbore guns and try to cover the firepower?
At least until the steam engine has sufficient production capacity to replace manual rifling, the cost of rifled guns cannot be reduced and mass production is impossible. It would be great if Nie Yu could make one for self-defense.

"Where is your chief guard Yang Fang?" Nie Yu pondered for a while and finally asked.

"Yang Fang has already been handed over to the Han army. The culprit... the culprit is still unclear."

General Yang Qian, who was kneeling in the front, was very confused. He thought that the rebels outside the pass were just the vanguard, but he didn't expect that even the rebels' generals had arrived.

No wonder, no wonder the rebels are so powerful, they can appear behind them and trap them from the front and back.

Well, these surrendered Qing generals were obviously overthinking it. Nie Yu had actually just arrived at Chenlong Pass, and he hadn't even had time to unload the cannons from the ship.

Yang Fang!
This guy is quite famous and is considered to be one of the more capable generals in the late Qing Dynasty. He and Yang Yuchun are half-master and apprentice, and he may even be better at fighting.

Such a powerful general was actually captured by him. The key point is that the other party seemed to have a low official position and was obviously just starting out.

Tsk!
"Let's join the surrendered soldiers camp first!"

Upon hearing this arrangement, the surrendered Qing army generals were disappointed, but also glad that they could save their lives.

They didn't know where the Han army's surrendered troops came from; they simply didn't have the time to deal with them right now. After defeating the 100,000 Qing troops in western Hunan, they would divide them up. Those guilty of serious crimes would be publicly tried and beheaded, making good use of their waste and appeasing the people. Those guilty of minor crimes would be spared the death penalty, but those convicted alive would be forced to work mining and road construction, working them to death.

When we arrived at the military camp's medical tent, we found that there weren't many wounded soldiers inside, and they were all Qing soldiers, not a single Han soldier.

The Chenlong Pass was breached too hastily, late at night. The Han soldiers were afraid of a trap and did not dare to rush through the pass immediately. They prepared a trial attack during the day.

The Qing army had already opened the gate and ran out to surrender.

Yang Fang's armor was cut open by the military doctor, and his entire arm was exposed. It was almost unsightly and there was a foul smell. It was obvious that it had been delayed for too long. The wound began to become infected and festered, and pus was accompanied by lying down.

"The injury is too severe. I'm afraid it will be difficult to save this arm." Military doctor Zhou Xueting took a closer look and immediately made a conclusion.

This man is a well-known figure in history, a renowned physician in the Hunan and Xiangxi regions during the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods. Because he had been sickly since childhood, he abandoned his studies to pursue medicine, traveling extensively to broaden his horizons and seek out renowned teachers to study medicine.

It was really by chance that he came to the Han army to serve as a military doctor. He saw that the Han army used allicin to solve external wound infections. He smelled it carefully and found that it was actually garlic.

In order to study, he came to the Han army. Nie Yu gave him half a medical book and successfully turned him into the permanent military doctor of the Han army.

Nie Yu stepped forward and asked, "How is it? Is there still hope?"

"Greetings, General!" Zhou Xueting quickly stood up and saluted.

Nie Yu waved his hand to stop them and said, "This is the military camp's medical tent. Don't worry about me for now. Is this man still safe? Will he really need amputation?"

Traditional Chinese medicine surgery has always existed, but surgical procedures involving amputation appeared relatively late, the earliest being in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty.

There was a Chinese medicine surgeon named Chen Shigong. He believed that conventional surgical drug treatments were too conservative and could not cure diseases and save lives at all. He believed that surgical operations should be used to thoroughly remove the diseased tissues of patients and injured people, unclog the pus ducts, and drain the pus (infected pus and blood) in order to better save lives.

As for Hua Tuo's use of Ma Fei San to remove tumors? This is actually controversial because there are historical records, but the source of the historical records cannot stand up to scrutiny.

The most crucial doubt lies in the medical and health level of the Eastern Han Dynasty. How could they solve the problem of death from infection by opening a person's stomach with only Ma Fei San?

Modern scientific research has shown that the Ma Fei San formula recorded at the time made it almost impossible to provide painless disinfection for patients. If the patient's stomach was really cut open, even if the pain was not severe, there would be a 200% chance of infection and death.

Therefore, it is very likely that Hua Tuo was a miracle doctor, but he was not so incredible as to say that he could scrape bones to cure poison, which was mostly fabricated by later generations.

"General, I'll tell you the truth!" Zhou Xueting, obviously aware of Nie Yu's habits, spoke bluntly, "I've seen this man's arm. He must have been hit by one of our army's crossbows. The injury wasn't serious originally, but because it took too long, treatment wasn't timely, and he was overworked, the arrow wasn't completely removed. Now he's been infected with the epidemic, the wound is festering and oozing pus, and the poison has entered his body. Even if he were to have his limb amputated, I'm afraid he wouldn't survive."

"How about this?" Nie Yu didn't waste any words and took out a bottle of medicine.

The military doctor asked, "What is this?"

Nie Yu said, "Anesthetics can numb the body and make it feel no pain. Also... this is anti-inflammatory drugs and penicillin, which can treat the infection and prevent the wound from festering further."

"General, this..."

Zhou Xueting was a little surprised, unsure whether he should take it. Using a miracle drug like penicillin was fine, but all those other anesthetics that could numb the body, and anti-inflammatory drugs he had never heard of, just for this dying Qing army general?
Nie Yu didn't explain much. He couldn't just say that this person would be very powerful in the future and could become a powerful general of the Han army, right?

"I have some surgical instruments and medical bandages and gauze here. You can use these to perform surgery on him. Whether he can be saved or not depends on fate!"

"Yes!"

Without further ado, Zhou Xueting set up a simple operating tent in the military tent that day.

It would be best if he could be rescued, as the Han army would gain a brave general. But it doesn't matter if he cannot be rescued, as the Han army will not lose anything.

The operation lasted for an entire night. The next morning, Nie Yu had already gotten up, and Zhou Xueting came over tiredly to report: The operation was half successful!

The reason why it was semi-successful was that the arrow had been taken out, and Zhou Xueting also tried his best to preserve Yang Fang's arm and did not amputate it.

But the problem was that not only did Yang Fang not wake up, he also had a high fever that wouldn't go away.

What to do now?
There is no other way, we can only rely on technology and work hard, use penicillin, antipyretics, and anti-inflammatory drugs. It's a bit rough, but there is no other way, so we have to make do with it for now!

If he can withstand it, it means he is not destined to die. If he can't withstand it, it means he has bad luck.

On the first day after the operation, Yang Fang had a high fever that wouldn't go away.

On the second day after the operation, I don’t know if it was the effect of the antipyretic medicine, but the fever of this strong man actually subsided.

On the third day after the operation, Yang Fang began to talk in her sleep, and seemed to be showing signs of regaining consciousness. However, the dream talk was a bit awkward, either "kill the rebels" or "kill the Miao people."

Well, he is worthy of being a famous general in the late Qing Dynasty. He is the most educated among the military generals and the best fighter among the scholars. His recovery ability is simply unparalleled.

While he was half asleep, Yang Fang seemed to feel someone feeding him rice porridge. He subconsciously opened his mouth to drink the porridge, and then opened his mouth to take the medicine. The medicine tasted bitter, but he swallowed it anyway.

When he came to, he didn't know how many days had passed. He wanted to get up, but his arm hurt so much, as if it had been cut.

"Where... where am I?" Yang Fang asked groggily.

The military medical apprentice who was dozing off suddenly woke up with a start. Looking at Yang Fang who had already woken up, he was almost in disbelief and crawled out to call for help.

Yang Fang gradually regained consciousness and looked up at the surrounding military tents. He was no longer in Chenlong Pass?
So where is it now?

Before he could react, the apprentice returned, followed by several others. The one in front was a young man wearing half-armor, a style he had never seen before, but the others behind him looked somewhat familiar...

"Traitor...traitor!?" Yang Fang was instantly shocked.

He was very familiar with the uniforms of those Han soldiers. He was almost killed by a hidden arrow. How could he not be impressed?

Zhou Xueting said calmly, "I advise you not to move around. I worked so hard to save your arm. If you have to chop it off because of moving around, don't blame me for not healing you."

Yang Fang obeyed and stopped moving. He sat back and asked, "You are the great general of the Han army, the traitor rumored to be guilty of all kinds of evil, cruel and brutal, and committing all kinds of atrocities, right?"

"Oh? How come I am so evil and cruel that I harm the people?" Nie Yu said with a smile.

Yang Fang also laughed and said, "Giving the landlords' land to the tenants and refugees, isn't that just heinous and cruel, harming the people?"

It sounds like irony, and it is indeed irony, but I don't know who it is ironic about.

Nie Yu nodded: "You are right. My distribution of land to the tenants and refugees is indeed a perverse act for the landlords. I am afraid that it is unacceptable to landlords all over the world!"

The scene fell silent again for a long while.

Nie Yu said: "Surrender!"

"Okay!" Yang Fang nodded.

"Huh?" Nie Yu was a little confused. He had thought that the other party would surrender, but he didn't expect him to surrender so quickly.

Yang Fang said, "I have already served the court loyally once, and there is no need to be loyal again. I know the extent of my injuries. If the Han army had not broken through the pass so quickly, I might have died at Chenlong Pass. Since I can survive, why continue to struggle and risk my life? I am from Guizhou, not Hunan. It was that bastard Helin who stripped me of my military power and transferred me to Hunan to keep my troops stationed."

"...So what?" Nie Yu asked.

Yang Fang replied, "I need to think about myself now. The Han army has already taken over most of Hunan. If nothing unexpected happens, the southwest will be in turmoil within a few years, and the Qing government will be unable to suppress it. This is also an opportunity for our Han army. Taking advantage of the chaos in the southwest, we can quickly annex territory and expand!"

Wow, thanks to the gift from the Qing army, such a natural born warrior was forced to join his side.

(End of this chapter)