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

At 7:00 AM on the 12th of June, the people from the capital arrived at the gate of the camp.

At the same moment, someone came from Liutan.

"General, someone lay down in Liutan last night." Liu Ye entered the tent still covered in dew. "A seventeen-year-old young man, he dug up two otters on the ninth day of the sixth lunar month."

Yang Hu closed the booklet in his hand.

"Did his family report it themselves?"

"His mother forced him to report it," Liu Ye said. "His mother said that if he reported it, he wouldn't be punished, but he could hide the whole tent with him."

"Prepare the horses."

The official from the Ministry of Rites who was tasked with delivering the imperial decree was stopped outside the central command tent.

He is fifty-one years old this year. He came to Xuan as a viscount last October and knows the rules of the camp, but this time he looks unwell.

"Where is the general headed?"

Willow Beach.

"The message is as follows."

"Return at 1-3 PM," Yang Hu said. "My lord, rest in the camp for a while. The imperial decree is for the living, but that person is to die."

The doctor's words stuck in his throat. He watched the group of people leave through the gate, then turned back to ask Cui Ting, who was standing beside him.

"Has he always been like this?"

"My lord, the last time the general made people wait, it was for the Khan's envoy," Cui Ting said. "That time, it was also until the hour of Wei (1-3 PM)."

Willow Beach.

The young man lay in a solitary tent at the northernmost edge of the beach. He had a high fever, and a hard lump, like a date, swelled up under his left armpit; it cried out when pressed.

His mother squatted three steps outside the tent, refusing to let him in or leave.

Why was he digging for otters?

The translator asked a question, and the woman answered at length with her head down.

"His sister traded a sheepskin for half a bag of salt, and they were shortchanging him," the translator said. "He knew the order; he said he chose the one that could run away."

"The one that can run away, there are others in the nest," Yang Hu said.

Yang Hu washed his hands three times and put on a cloth soaked in medicine.

"When did the heat start?"

Yesterday afternoon.

When did you first touch the nucleus?

It's not dawn yet today.

"It's faster than those nine people," Yang Hu said. "Those nine people had diarrhea first and then spots, but this one had the nucleus first."

Su Heng took notes from the side.

"How many people were in the same tent?"

"Nine mouths".

"The nine people will be separated today, one person per tent, for ten days. Food will be delivered three steps outside the tent, and it is forbidden to pass it to them face to face. Report who else went with him on the day he dug for otters."

"The two who went with us moved out on their own last night," said the military doctor in charge of Willow Beach. "They didn't need anyone to tell them. They had already heard about the previous volume."

"Write this down," Yang Hu said. "This one should also be written in the book: 'No punishment for reporting.' Today, we saved nine people."

The core was cut open at 3 PM that day.

The incision is one inch long, and the contents that come out are dark. After it's all in, stuff it with a cloth soaked in acid, changing it twice a day. Pour in water, half a bowl every hour.

Yang Hu stood outside that tent until the beginning of the 11:30 PM.

"Will he survive?" Su Heng asked.

"I don't know," Yang Hu said, "but this time we were six days ahead of those nine people. Six days ahead means six days' worth of supplies."

Before mounting his horse, he said something to the military doctor in charge of Liutan.

"If he survives, he should record the exact dates: when he dug it up, when it was hot, when he picked the pit, when he cut it, and when he retreated. Write it all down clearly, so that if he encounters a second one, he can save the second one's life."

The official from the Ministry of Rites waited in the camp for two hours.

He didn't sit down. He first went to see the wounded soldiers' camp, where sixty tents were lined up at intervals, each with a small wooden stake outside it. He then walked a hundred paces outside the gate and saw six tents there, with more than thirty barbarians squatting outside, who had come to collect medicine, lining up and entering one by one.

He asked the clerk accompanying him: Are these people prisoners?

The clerk said no, he came on his own.

Back in the central command tent, he saw several stacks of books on the table. The top one was open, page after page filled with names, followed by the place of origin, date, and the person who handled the matter. He flipped through three pages, closed the book, and sat there for a long time.

At 3:45 PM, at the drill ground.

The three battalions, totaling over five thousand men, stood in a single field. The June sun was scorching; even standing still, sweat dripped from their chins.

The doctor's hand was steady as he unfolded the imperial edict.

The imperial edict reads: Yang Hu, the commander of the vanguard camp beyond the Great Wall, was appointed general last year and has now set out beyond the Great Wall. He has pacified and subjugated six tribes, bringing in 9,400 people and 110,000 livestock; he has established three camps; the three border counties have been peaceful since April; and he has exchanged 237 captive border residents for his services.

He paused here.

The merit of opening up the borders lies not in the number of kills. He is specially promoted one rank in nobility, granted the title of Earl, and continues to lead the vanguard camp beyond the Great Wall.

There was no sound at first, then sounds started coming from behind, layer by layer.

Cui Ting counted on his fingers from below the stage. From that baron in Qing Shi Kou to today, it has been one year and three months, and he has reached level three.

Standing next to him was an old squad leader who had followed him all the way down from Qing Shi Kou. That man was doing something else: of his team of twelve, only seven remained.

Lieutenant Pang refuted Yang and Hu's arguments four times during the year's military council. On this day, he stood in the second row, did not shout, but simply took off his helmet and held it in his arms.

After announcing the imperial decree, the physician invited Yang Hu to the side.

"Count, I have a few words to convey."

"Please speak, sir."

"That account book you submitted in May," the doctor said, "was received by the Ministry of War and transferred to the Privy Council. The Privy Council wanted it and held it for twenty days."

"And then?"

"It was then sent back to the Ministry of Personnel for record-keeping, just as it was."

Why was it sent back?

The doctor stroked his beard before answering.

"Because the names are in the register," he said. "Two hundred and thirty-seven people returned, their names, places of origin, and the year and month of their capture, not one is missing. There are also more than eight hundred who did not return, and they are listed at the end as well. Two people from the military law department signed it, and the date was written down down to the hour."

"Can't this kind of booklet be stored properly?"

"It can be suppressed," the doctor said. "But if we keep it suppressed and don't move it, in the future, if someone asks where these eight hundred people went, the person who suppressed them will have to answer."

Yang Hu did not respond to that sentence.

"There's another saying in court," the doctor lowered his voice even further, "Some say that pacifying the barbarians is like raising a tiger. If we give them salt today, they'll use that salt to attack our passes tomorrow."

"What was the adult's answer?"

"I am not in that position, so I cannot answer," the doctor said. "But on my way here, I have seen people queuing up for medicine a hundred paces outside your camp. Tiger breeders would not make tigers queue up."

"Someone in court asked why it wasn't a victory achieved through military exploits," the physician continued. "The Council of State debated it for three days. It was only after one person said something that the decision was made."

Which sentence?

He said: "If we behead 3,000, we'll have to fight another battle next year; if we pacify the six tribes, we won't have to fight in this area next year."

"Who is this person?"

"This humble official is merely here to deliver an imperial decree."

The doctor cupped his hands in greeting and took a half step back.

"There's another thing I said myself," he said. "Last year I said here that paper in the archives is alive. This year, the Earl has submitted more papers than I've seen in twenty years."

That night, the people on Willow Beach also found out.

The translator explained the meaning of the edict to the two newly arrived officials, repeating it three times before they understood. The headman thought for a long time before asking a question.

"Now that he's been promoted, will he still care about our sheep?"

"Manage," the translator said.

"That's good."

Early in the morning of June 14th, a person came to the outside of Liutan.

He didn't go into the beach; he just stood on the perimeter and said he wanted to buy medicine.

The army doctor guarding the beach asked him what medicine he wanted to buy.

"I vomit after drinking water," the man said. "My lower back hurts, there's blood in my urine, and I haven't been able to urinate for three days. My stomach is swollen like a drum."

The military doctor was an experienced veteran brought from Qingshikou, and he could tell at a glance that this was not something that could be resolved by simply buying medicine.

"Is it swollen? Can you press down on the top of your foot and it spring back?"

"It's swollen. Pressing on it leaves a dent that doesn't flatten for a long time."

How old is the patient?

"Fifty-nine."

Has anyone done this before? His father, his brother?

The person paused for a moment.

"That's how his father died," he said. "And his older brother did too."

The military doctor asked again, "Who are you to your family?"

That person didn't answer.

Liu Ye arrived at Liutan at dusk. She glanced at the man from outside the beach, then turned and went into her tent.

"General, I saw that man's belt outside the gate," she said. "It was inlaid with silver."