A divine healer, a general, a young marquis! Who can rival them!

Yang Hu sealed off the well, isolated people, and rescued them, effectively suppressing the deadly dysentery epidemic.

But the hand hidden in the shadows did not give up.

The epidemic had just subsided, and the camp still lingered with the stench of the epidemic and the anxiety of the people. Then, a message came from the central command tent.

It came so quickly, as if they had prepared their excuses in advance, just waiting for the epidemic to subside before launching their attack.

This time, the military clerk personally led several officers and stormed into the wounded soldiers' camp with great momentum.

"Medical Officer Yang!" He gave a forced smile, but his eyes betrayed his schadenfreude. "You're in charge of all the camp's medicine, but this time a major epidemic has broken out, killing several brothers. Where did this epidemic come from? As the medical officer, you're probably not without responsibility, are you?"

This is a case of the guilty party turning the tables and the wicked accusing the innocent first.

Yang Hu understood perfectly.

When the attempt to poison him failed and the attempt to kill him under the guise of the epidemic failed to implicate him, the other party decided to turn around and pin the blame for the epidemic on him, the medical officer in charge of auditing the accounts.

A medical officer who couldn't even prevent the epidemic in his own camp and caused deaths was naturally not qualified to inquire about the military supplies accounts. The plan was shrewd: first, remove him from his position as an accountant, and the increasingly messy accounts would be left unresolved.

The soldiers watching were all sweating for Yang Hu.

"Yes, the camp was perfectly fine, how did an epidemic break out?" A military officer chimed in, all vying to blame Yang Hu, "People have died, someone has to take responsibility!"

"I think this medical officer is all talk and no action," the clerk sneered, raising his voice as if to make sure the whole camp could hear. "In my opinion, we should detain him and await further orders. The supply books should also be returned to the central command to prevent any further problems."

With just a few words, he subtly and gradually cornered Yang Hu, cutting him into a corner step by step.

Yang Hu remained calm and composed.

"Where did this epidemic come from? Good question." Yang Hu said calmly, without the slightest panic. On the contrary, it seemed as if he had been waiting for this question. "I also wanted to explain this matter clearly and plainly in front of all the brothers in the camp."

Seeing this confident and composed demeanor, the military clerk felt a sudden, inexplicable sinking feeling in his heart.

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Yang Hu remained calm and unhurried. Instead, he took a step forward, meeting the gaze of the military clerk, advancing instead of retreating.

He turned around and ordered his men to bring up the rotten matter that had been dredged from the well.

A large, rough earthenware basin was filled with filth dredged up from the bottom of the well. The stench was so foul that the soldiers watching covered their noses and backed away.

"The root of this dysentery epidemic lies in the well in the camp," Yang Hu said loudly, pointing to the basin of rotten, foul-smelling filth. "The well water was contaminated, and the brothers drank the dirty water. The foul odor entered their intestines, causing widespread diarrhea. By sealing the well, boiling the water, and isolating the sick, the epidemic will naturally subside."

The military clerk's expression changed slightly, but he still forced himself to remain calm and sneered, "If a well gets dirty, it's your dereliction of duty as the medical officer, what does it have to do with anyone else?"

"But this well," Yang Hu's tone shifted, his gaze sharp as a knife, landing on the military clerk's face, "is normally guarded by designated personnel, and the rules for drinking water are extremely strict. How could it have become so filthy for no reason, with these rotten things of unknown origin soaking in it?"

He paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately.

"This is not a natural disaster. Someone deliberately put something dirty into the water that is the lifeline of this battalion of brothers, hoping to cause a plague to kill people and then pin the blame on others."

Upon hearing this, the entire camp fell silent for a moment, then erupted into chaos.

"Poisoning? Someone poisoned the well?"

"How vicious! This is going to kill our entire battalion!"

The military clerk, his forehead beaded with cold sweat, forced himself to remain calm: "You...you're making baseless accusations! Who would believe you if you just spouted empty words?"

"Believe it or not, look at the evidence," Yang Hu said calmly.

He was prepared.

In the days since he sparred with that hand, he had learned to prepare his escape route and evidence before making a move. He never spoke without proof.

On the day the well was sealed, he had already taken precautions and carefully inspected the area around the well platform.

On the wet mud by the well, where someone was being carried, lay a line of messy footprints. The treads on the soles of the boots were deep and regular, indicating they were standard military boots, not the tattered straw sandals worn by ordinary soldiers with their toes showing.

And in a clump of withered grass by the well, he found half a torn piece of indigo-blue clothing. The fine material was something ordinary soldiers couldn't afford; only the clerks in the central army could wear it.

A line of official boot footprints, half a piece of a clerk's robe—every single one points to the same type of person.

"These official boot footprints, this clerk's robe," Yang Hu approached step by step, his voice not loud, but each word striking the clerk's heart, "May I ask, sir, what were you doing by this well that night, in the dead of night, instead of being on duty in the central command tent?"

This question hits the nail on the head.

Faced with irrefutable evidence, the military clerk's face turned pale and then red, cold sweat rolling down his forehead, and he could no longer utter a word.

All eyes in the camp were fixed on him, and those eyes were filled with boundless rage.

The brothers in this battalion were almost killed by him under the guise of an epidemic.

"What a clever scheme to use someone else to do the dirty work and frame someone else." Yang Hu looked at the disheveled military clerk with a cold gaze. "You thought you could use an epidemic to secretly harm the entire battalion and then throw the blame on me. Unfortunately, you underestimated the eyes of this battalion, and you also underestimated my ability to investigate cases."

No matter how secretly you do dirty things in this world, they will always leave traces. If you don't want others to know, then don't do it in the first place.

"I...I still have military duties to attend to!" The military clerk, forced back by the angry glares from the entire camp, forced back step by step, and said in a fierce but weak voice, "This matter, this matter will be judged by the central army. How dare you make false accusations!"

Before he could finish speaking, he realized that his attempt to frame someone had failed and he had instead exposed his own weakness. He dared not linger any longer, and after uttering this mild but harsh remark, he fled in panic amidst the jeers and curses of the entire camp.

The military clerk's escape caused an uproar throughout the camp.

The soldiers then realized that this young medical officer had not only saved their lives, but had also publicly exposed the villain who wanted to kill them by taking advantage of the epidemic.

This incident greatly enhanced Yang Hu's prestige within the Western Camp. Those soldiers who had previously harbored some doubts now spoke of this young medical officer with complete conviction and unwavering loyalty. Their address of "Doctor Yang" was more sincere than anyone else's.

Faced with the overwhelming cheers and applause from the entire camp, Yang Hu simply smiled faintly, raised his hand to quiet everyone down.

He knew better than anyone that while today's victory was brilliant, it was merely a fluke. The military clerk had acted carelessly and slipped up, allowing him to catch him red-handed. But next time, the other side might not be so careless.

Yang Hu's brows furrowed even more tightly than before.

That central military document was merely a section floating on the surface of the water.

The hand that truly poisoned the enemy and used the epidemic to kill remains hidden deep within the central command tent, watching all this unfold unscathed.

Sacrificing a piece is, for the hand that makes the move, merely cutting off its own tail to survive; it doesn't fundamentally harm the opponent.

This breakthrough has only revealed a small part of the truth; there's still a long way to go before we can find the real culprit.

But Yang Hu was not discouraged. He peeled back the layers one by one, examining every inch with great patience.

The snowstorm hadn't stopped, and the snow outside the wounded soldiers' camp had suddenly intensified.

But the real contest has only just begun.