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

Although the deadly trap of that night was averted, the bloody battle at Qing Shi Kou intensified day by day.

It was the height of summer, and the sun at the border was scorching. The soldiers on the city walls fought bitterly under the blazing sun, while the wounded soldiers' camp was as stuffy and hot as a sauna.

After several days of bloody battles, the soldiers were already exhausted, and under the scorching sun, they were as withered as dried-out firewood.

At noon that day, soldiers suddenly collapsed one after another on the city wall. When they were carried into the wounded soldiers' camp, each one had a flushed face and burning skin, yet they were not sweating a drop of sweat. They were unconscious, their limbs were twitching incessantly, and they were talking nonsense.

"Dr. Yang! These people are possessed! They were standing perfectly fine on the city wall, and then suddenly they collapsed!"

An old soldier was so anxious he kept stamping his feet. The army doctors who were surrounding them examined the foreheads of the fallen soldiers, and they all backed away in fright.

"This...this is heatstroke affecting the heart, a demonic possession!" an old doctor said tremblingly. "Look at this, burning hot, convulsing, clearly afflicted by heatstroke. It's so dangerous, even a god couldn't save him. Let's call a shaman to perform a ritual."

"Possessed by evil spirits? A ritual to ward off disaster?" Yang Hu's eyes suddenly darkened. He stepped forward, checked the soldier's temperature, and then examined him closely. "This isn't possession by evil spirits; it's heatstroke. In this sweltering heat, fighting under the blazing sun, the heat inside his body can't dissipate, it accumulates, and it's driving him crazy. He's burning up and not sweating because the heat has dried out his body. If this heat isn't brought down, he'll really die!"

Ordinary people, upon seeing such a heatstroke patient with high fever, delirium, and convulsions, would simply assume it was due to heatstroke or evil spirits, and would be helpless to help.

The danger of heatstroke lies entirely in the word "heat." If the body's heat cannot dissipate, it accumulates and eventually damages the internal organs. To save someone, you must use the fastest method to forcefully reduce the body's heat before it burns them to death. The faster the heat is reduced, the more likely the person is to survive.

At this critical moment when the heat is raging, every moment of delay will cause further damage to the body.

There is no room for hesitation.

"Quickly! Fetch the coldest well water! A lot! And soak clean cloths in the water!" Yang Hu ordered sternly. "Carry them all to a cool, well-ventilated place, and strip them of their clothes to cool them down!"

Qin Ying, disguised as a medicine boy, had already brought over several buckets of cool water freshly drawn from the well. Having been by Yang Hu's side providing emergency care these past few days, she had long since learned this method and was now assisting him with swift and efficient movements.

Yang Hu first had the soldiers suffering from heatstroke carried to a shady, well-ventilated area outside the wounded soldiers' camp, where he loosened their sweat-soaked clothes. The soldiers and doctors guarding the area were astonished and suspicious to see him immersing perfectly healthy patients in cold water, thinking that this young physician was trying to kill them with cold water. But Yang Hu paid no attention to their astonished looks, his movements swift and steady.

He applied cloths soaked in cold water to their foreheads, sides of their necks, and armpits—areas through which major blood vessels pass—and continuously poured cold water over their bodies.

"These are the areas where the blood vessels are most rapidly flowing," Yang Hu said in a deep voice as he worked, his eyes revealing a certainty that understood life and death. "When you apply cool water, the heat in the blood vessels dissipates with the coolness. Pour cool water over the body to draw the summer heat downwards. You have to keep applying and pouring cool water like this to draw it out."

Bucket after bucket of cold water was poured down, and piece after piece of cool cloth was applied. The soldiers' burning bodies gradually cooled down.

After cooling down the heat outside, it's also necessary to replenish the body's fluids. People suffering from heatstroke may appear to have collapsed from the heat, but the water and salt in their bodies have already been washed away by the sweat. Simply cooling them down isn't enough. Yang Hu personally prepared a large basin of lightly salted water and rice porridge, and then pried open the soldiers' teeth, slowly feeding them spoonful by spoonful.

"You've sweated so much in this heat, all the water and salt in your body have evaporated," Yang Hu said as he fed you. "This salted rice soup will replenish what's been evaporated, and you'll recover."

With both internal and external methods employed to reduce heat and replenish fluids, Yang Hu and Qin Ying stayed under the shade of the tree, constantly changing cloths, watering, and feeding the baby with salt water, not daring to relax for a moment. In less than half an hour...

Those soldiers who had previously been condemned as "possessed by evil spirits and beyond saving," their faces flushed red, gradually cooled down, their convulsing limbs relaxed, and fine beads of sweat began to seep from their foreheads.

"He's sweating! He's sweating!" The veteran guarding him was both surprised and delighted.

Sweating meant that the accumulated heat had finally dissipated. The heat in the body was gradually released with this thin layer of sweat. One by one, the soldiers lying in the shade of the tree slowly woke up. Although they were still weak and their eyes were somewhat dazed, the burning redness on their faces had finally subsided, and they had finally come back to life.

A group of soldiers who had been diagnosed with "heatstroke and incurable evil" recovered in large numbers thanks to Yang Hu's method of watering them to cool them down and replenishing them with salt and water in one go. Those with mild fevers were fine after half a day of rest; those with severe fevers, although they still needed to recuperate for several days, ultimately had their lives saved.

The army doctors who had previously said that "possessed by evil spirits is beyond saving" were stunned as they watched the soldiers regain consciousness, their faces showing a mixture of shock and shame.

Having practiced medicine their entire lives, they had always considered cases of heatstroke and high fever as an incurable form of heat poisoning, even believing that dousing someone with cold water was a sure way to hasten death, and no one had ever dared to do it. Who could have imagined that these people, delirious with fever and condemned to death, could be pulled back from the brink of death by dousing them with cold water and administering saline solution? The old doctor who had so resolutely declared them dead now looked at the soldiers regaining consciousness, his old face flushed with shame.

"Dr. Yang's skill is truly remarkable; he has saved even those who were possessed." None of the doctors in the tent uttered another word.

Yang Hu did not answer. He had no way of explaining these methods of cooling down and replenishing salt and water to people of this era. He only knew that these methods could save lives.

And those rescued were soldiers who could climb the city walls and fight hard under the scorching sun.

Defending the city in the sweltering summer heat is more agonizing than a barbarian's blade. While swords and spears inflict temporary wounds, the scorching heat silently ravages entire areas; a moment's inattention and a large section of the city wall is left undefended. Soldiers who succumb to heatstroke are rescued, given a day's rest, and are once again shouldering their spears and standing atop the walls. In this bloody battle to defend this isolated city, the defense depends on the soldiers; saving even one soldier means preserving a portion of the city's fighting strength. Here, medicine is not merely about treating the sick and saving lives; it is the key to whether Qing Shi Kou can be held or not.

After tidying up, Yang Hu straightened up and looked at the sliver of white sky above the city wall.

Last night's failed raid will not be tolerated by the hand that lurks in the central army, colluding with the barbarians. It protects the crime of treason and will make them pay with their lives.

The military report hidden close to his body, and the assassin's confession that revealed Zhou Lushi's identity, were gradually closing in on the outline of that hand.

The sliver of sky atop the city wall is gradually turning white. A new day is about to begin, and no one knows how many people will be carried down this day.

At this point, saving lives and apprehending the perpetrators are no longer mutually exclusive. And the matter is about to reach its conclusion.