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

Before dawn on the 23rd of April, Liu Ye's team returned. Of the eight who went out, seven returned. The missing one was not dead; he was sitting in a tent a hundred paces outside the camp, a bone-tipped arrow embedded in his left leg.

According to the third order issued the previous night, he was not allowed to enter the camp.

The military council at dawn (5-7 AM) was convened based on this news.

Cui Ting was the first to speak.

"General, I have something to say that deserves a beating."

"speak."

"retreat."

Cui Ting lowered his head, but his back remained straight.

"This humble general has calculated it. The scout team went out seven times in the past fourteen days. Of the four who were hit by bone-piercing arrows, three died, and the fourth has less than two days left. All four were the best at recognizing grass."

"Go on."

"This poison isn't for fighting, it's for scouting." Cui Ting looked up. "The barbarians shoot this kind of arrow whenever they see our people going out. If we can't get out, we can't find water. These seven sweet spots were discovered by scouts; there aren't any new ones. How long will it take for eleven thousand people to drink from these seven spots?"

"Your method."

"Retreat two hundred li south of Baishaliang, once we're out of the alkaline land, we won't need to wade through the water, and we won't need to set up our camp so loosely," Cui Ting said. "Those forty-three tribes have been gathered for forty-seven days, and with the men and horses fed, a single pasture won't last two months. Let them disperse on their own before we come back up."

Yang Hu picked up the bone arrow from the table.

"I can't think of anything more reliable than General Cui's case."

Everyone inside the tent looked up at the same time.

"But it has three leaks. What about the old man? He pointed out the water to us for half a month, and people up north are already saying he's a traitor. I retreated two hundred li to hand him over."

"Secondly, the numbers reported by the messenger on the ninth day of the fourth month were ones he himself came in to see. Now that we've left, those numbers have all become false overnight. Since he reported a false number once, the Khan will never believe him again. Right now, only this one person can bring the truth back."

"And the third one?"

"This poison won't disappear just because we've retreated." Yang Hu put the arrow back on the table. "We'll have to come back next spring, and it'll be the same arrow on the first day. Today, I have the auspicious times for three people, eleven methods I've tried, and Su Heng's stack of papers. Next year, we won't have any of those."

Cui Ting placed his hands on his knees and stopped arguing.

Captain Pang asked, "Then how do we solve this?"

"try."

"What should we try?"

"Take me."

"no."

It was Qin Ying who said those two words.

"You're no longer the medical officer from Qing Shi Kou; you're the commander-in-chief. You'll be bedridden for three days. Who will give orders during those three days?"

"General Cui is going out; you stay by his side."

"That's not what I'm asking," Qin Ying said. "Everyone in the camp knows who's lying in that tent a hundred paces outside. If we set up another one today, the general will be lying inside. Who will be willing to leave the camp tomorrow?"

"This is correct, so we can't try it secretly," Yang Hu said. "We have to try it in front of people, record it in front of people, and report it in front of people every hour. The camp only hears that the general has been poisoned, that's the collapse of the camp; they see how I draw lines, how I record it, and what changes at which hour, that's the work of the military medical team."

Qin Ying's fingers tightened on the edge of the table.

"It's my turn to try." Su Heng stood up. "I tried each of the eleven items one by one, including the sheep."

"That stack of papers in your hand, right now only you in the army can handle it."

"I can hand it over to someone else first."

"What you handed over was paper," Yang Hu said. "What you can't hand over is what you guarded for those three days. When Shi was smoking, you held him down, and you knew that the more you held him down, the more violent he became; you covered up the lamp, and you knew that covering it up made him more relaxed. The person who tested it must report it, and the person who recorded it must live. You were the one who recorded it."

Captain Pang asked the most unpleasant question.

"The one outside has already been infected; his leg is covered in a thick clump. Why would the general need to cut his own arm as well?"

"He couldn't give me the one I wanted."

Which one?

"Quantity".

Yang Hu pushed the booklet to the center of the table.

"All three people were covered in the same layer of paste, and all three took exactly three days, not a minute's difference. This means that this amount of material took three days. But what if it was only one-sixtieth?"

"If one in sixty also completes the process in three days, then it will manifest immediately upon contact with blood, regardless of the amount; the poison can only be blocked. But if one in sixty only develops purplish swelling and doesn't develop lockjaw, then the two things have different thresholds: the purplish swelling manifests immediately with a little blood, while lockjaw requires a sufficient amount to manifest."

"Does the general mean that it can be separated?" Su Heng asked.

"None of the eleven methods worked because we treated it as one thing," Yang Hu said. "If the two poisons are treated separately, they can be treated separately. Even if we treat one first and then treat the other separately, we can save more lives within three days."

"That doesn't necessarily mean he has to be a general," Captain Pang added. "There are forty-seven barbarians in the camp."

Several people's eyes moved.

"On the ninth day of the fourth month, the messenger stopped at the supply train. He recognized the old man and bowed to him. More than two hundred people in the camp saw that bow," Yang Hu said. "Today I will choose one of these forty-seven men and make a cut; tomorrow the remaining forty-six will all be mute. I obtained this prescription at the cost of other people's lives; who will be willing to entrust their lives to me in the future?"

"Please invite that old man here."

The old man arrived quickly, and the young barbarian translated for him.

"Do you usually use iron heads on your arrows?"

"Yes. The iron spikes were bought; they were expensive, but we only use them when it's wartime."

"What about the kind with applied medicine?"

"Bone," the old man answered very quickly, "It must be bone."

Why must it be?

The old man thought for a while and said something that the translator had translated twice.

"Witch doctors are not allowed to touch iron when preparing medicine."

"Use a stone mortar and pestle to pound the medicine, a horn tool to hold it, and a stone slab to cut it," the old man said. "If it touches iron, the medicine will die."

"Is it just a matter of etiquette, or does it really not work?"

"I saw it once. A witch doctor's apprentice cut it with an iron knife once, and that batch of medicine was later fed to a dog, and the dog was fine."

Yang Hu picked up the bone arrow again.

"Write it down," he said to Su Heng.

It was the open space outside the military medical team's main tent at 1-3 PM.

Su Heng spread the scraped powder evenly on a piece of paper, cut it into sixty portions with the back of a knife, and took one portion.

Yang Hu rolled up his left sleeve to his elbow.

Why did the general choose this location?

"It's far from the heart; under the skin are tendons, no major blood vessels." He pointed three inches above the wrist. "If this area is damaged, the whole thing can be cut off, and the person will still be alive. If it's cut on the leg or shoulder, it won't be clean."

Qin Ying stepped forward and tied a leather strap tightly around his upper arm.

"By binding it here, the blood will flow more slowly," she said. "One of my father's former subordinates survived this way."

Yang Hu handed her the paper he had written. There were four points on it.

First, for the next three days, military orders shall be issued by Lieutenant General Cui, with Qin Ying by his side. No one is allowed to break camp, engage in battle, or change any orders for me.

Second, if this area turns purple by tomorrow afternoon, tie your upper arm tightly, cut it open, and dig out that piece of flesh until fresh blood comes out. Do not ask me anything.

Third, if your jaw is clenched, cover the light, close the curtains, do not press on my jaw, use a piece of wood to support your teeth, and do not force-feed me any medicine that cannot be swallowed.

Fourth, there is only one line: "The stack of papers was given to Su Heng, and the copper tally was given to Military Advisor Cui."

Qin Ying finished reading the paper, folded it twice, and put it into her sleeve.

"If you really can keep your jaw clenched within three days, I will do every single thing you wrote down," she said. "Not one."

Yang Hu took the knife. The tip of the knife made a horizontal cut across the inside of his forearm, about three-tenths of an inch long, just breaking the skin, and a bead of blood slowly seeped out.

Su Heng applied the powder to her face.

"Record the time."

Su Heng picked up his pen: April 23, 1:45 PM.

Standing on the outermost circle were the sixty scouts who were responsible for identifying grass. They stood there until the sun began to set.

Nothing happened that night. At 7 PM, he was still checking the water level for the next day; the cut was neither red nor swollen.

The next afternoon, around 1:30 PM, Su Heng's pen stopped on the paper.

The skin around the three-tenths-inch-long gash had changed color.

"remember."

"General."

"Record the time."

Su Heng wrote: April 24th, the first quarter of the hour of Wei (1-3 PM), Zi.

Yang Hu turned his arm over to look at the color. The edges were very clear, just like the one on Shi's leg, only smaller.

"Shi's head turned purple the next afternoon," Su Heng said, her voice trembling.

"They're different," Yang Hu said. "He started in the afternoon, while I started an hour later."

He rolled up his sleeves.

"It was an hour late."

"Go and fetch that old man. Also, go to the kitchen and get a pot, the oldest one, the most rusty one."