Top-notch Little Horseman

"Those officers and their guards ate well every meal, even meat."

Looking at the two distinct groups of soldiers on the training ground, Ye Chen's heart sank.

The Qin army is absolutely rotten!

The stables are located at the innermost part of the camp, right next to the rear camp wall. They are long, narrow sheds made of rough wood and dry grass, occupying a large corner of the camp.

From afar, you can smell a strong aroma of mugwort and medicinal dregs.

The ground was littered with burnt mugwort ash and dried medicinal dregs, which made a rustling sound when stepped on.

Several elderly veterinarians dressed in gray cloth shorts were squatting at the entrance of the stable, their heads huddled together, whispering something, their expressions as if a death sentence had been handed down.

It must be said that they do have some skills, using some folk methods, but obviously they didn't work.

Upon seeing Yunhe Bridge approaching, the veterinarians all stood up and bowed.

The leader was an elderly man in his sixties, with a white beard, a deeply lined face, and hands as rough as old tree bark, his fingernails filled with the juice of herbs.

He was the most senior veterinarian in the Northern Border Army camp, surnamed Qian, and had been in the camp for over twenty years.

The soldiers in the border army camp all called him Doctor Qian.

"General!" The old physician Qian stepped forward, his voice hoarse, and bowed to Yunhe Bridge, saying, "I am incompetent; five more warhorses have fallen this morning."

"This disease is so contagious that it takes only half a day for someone to go from having a fever to not eating grass."

"I've tried bloodletting, force-feeding medicine, and fumigating the shed with mugwort, but none of them worked."

"The only solution now is to isolate the uninfected horses and burn all the sick ones. This way, we might be able to save some warhorses."

Burn them all to death?

Upon hearing this, Yunheqiao's eyes widened; he absolutely could not accept this outcome.

There are at least two hundred horses that are now sick. If they are all burned to death, his cavalry strength will be cut in half.

"Nonsense! These warhorses can clearly be saved. What a quack!"

Just then, a voice came from behind Yunhe Bridge.

Several veterinarians standing to the side all looked over at the sound, their eyes landing on Ye Chen.

Dressed in coarse cloth and a short brown, he looked like a lowly soldier, not a veterinarian at all. He really dared to say whatever came to his mouth!

He's so young, yet so full of youthful vigor, and he's talking big without a second thought.

The veterinarians exchanged glances, their expressions full of disdain, while the old doctor, Dr. Qian, frowned slightly.

He coughed lightly, looked at Yunhe Bridge, and asked, "General Yun, who is this?"

"This is a veterinarian we invited from Yanmen Pass. He said he cured the epidemic in the Third Horse Camp, so we brought him here to treat the horses!" Yunheqiao glanced at Ye Chen and said indifferently.

"Plague?" Upon hearing this, the old doctor Qian was taken aback, his eyes filled with disdain. "General, what are you talking about? Plagues are not something that can be cured just by saying so."

"There are plenty of swindlers out of their own these days, so don't let them fool you!"

The other veterinarians whispered amongst themselves without any restraint, their words filled with sarcasm.

Chen Baiquan frowned, his gaze turning cold as he swept over the veterinarians, saying, "Brother Ye cured the sick horse; I witnessed it with my own eyes. Are you... saying I'm lying?"

Upon hearing Chen Baiquan's words, all the veterinarians lowered their heads, but their faces were filled with resentment.

"Alright, since he says he can cure it, let him take a look first. I, the general, also want to see if he really has this ability," Yunheqiao shouted.

Since Yunhe Bridge had spoken, the others naturally couldn't say anything more. They all wanted to see if Ye Chen really had a way to cure these sick horses.

Ye Chen ignored them and walked directly into the stable.

He squatted down in front of a sick horse lying on the ground and carefully examined its condition.

This is a yellow-brown stallion, four years old, with an excellent frame and a shoulder height of at least five feet.

It lay on the hay, breathing rapidly. Pus from its nostrils had covered half of its mouth, and yellow mucus was secreting from the corners of its eyes. Under the fur on its belly, one could vaguely see some dense bumps.

Ye Chen reached out and pressed on the horse's belly. The horse let out a low neigh in pain, and its four legs twitched spasmodically.

He pried open the horse's mouth to look at its tongue coating, which was thick, greasy, and yellow. Then he opened the horse's eyelids and saw that its pupils were somewhat unfocused.

Ye Chen didn't find it disgusting. He lowered his head and took a closer look at the horse manure, then crushed a small lump with his fingers and spread it on his palm.

The feces were loose and greenish in color, containing undigested hay and some lumpy secretions.

He put the horse manure to his nose, smelled it, scraped off some of the secretions from the manure with his fingernail, and rubbed it between his fingertips a few times.

"Huh! It seems this kid is actually quite capable!" Doctor Qian's expression changed. He didn't expect that the first thing this young man did was not to ask about the symptoms or shake his head and sigh, but to squat down and rummage through horse manure.

His eyes flickered slightly, and his expression turned somewhat serious.

He naturally knew the principle of judging a horse by its manure, but he had never seen a young man with no experience squat down to squeeze horse manure, and do so so calmly.

Ye Chen stood up and wiped the feces off his fingertips on the hay.

The problem with the horse still needs to be examined by looking at the dense cluster of small bumps under its belly, but we still need to double-check.

He examined the symptoms of several other sick horses and found that they all exhibited the same characteristics.

These sick horses all had fever, purulent nasal discharge, swelling under their abdomen, and loose, bloody feces.

This is no ordinary plague; compared to the sick horses in the Third Horse Camp of Yanmen Pass, this disease is far more serious!

Even with his veterinary knowledge from his previous life and his experience with various difficult and complicated diseases, this disease was definitely a troublesome one.

However, he had indeed seen this disease before; it was a disease transmitted by the bite of blood-sucking insects.

It is prevalent in autumn and specifically affects the lymphatic system of equines; in its previous form, it was called equine infectious anemia.

In the era before "Epidemisinin" was available, this disease was almost incurable.

These veterinarians are quite skilled, and their judgment is correct: isolating and burning the sick horse is the best way to stop the spread of the disease.

Ye Chen frowned. Curing this disease was really troublesome!

Seeing Ye Chen's serious expression, Chen Baiquan and Luo Kai couldn't help but feel nervous.

The elderly doctor stroked his beard, smiled gently, and asked, "Young man, after examining you for so long, you must have reached a conclusion by now, right?"

"Tell me, what disease do these warhorses have? Didn't you say you could save them? So, what are your plans for saving them?"

The veterinarians threw the dregs of medicine on the ground, clapped their hands, and wore undisguised mockery on their faces.

These veterinarians were all waiting for him to speak, wanting to see what kind of nonsense he could come up with!

After some thought, Lin He had a better understanding of the situation.