novelraw Chapter 208
Chapter 208
Chapter 208: Separate Routes
Wei Yu was very calm in response to Third Brother’s questioning.
“Oh dear, when there’s a lack of manpower, you just have to learn to be flexible. Whether they are mountain bandits or not, broadly speaking, everyone here is a subject of Great Wei. Third Brother, I’m just trying to give the people of Great Wei a secure future.”
Wei Yu looked heartbroken, “Third Brother, as for becoming a bandit, if we couldn’t survive any other way, who would want to do something so life-threatening? As the saying goes, ‘If I don’t enter hell, then who will?’ Third Brother, my kind-hearted nature simply cannot stand to see the common people suffer.”
Third Prince: ……
In a way, he seemed hesitant to speak.
To get his Third Brother to agree to proceed first and to use the bandits as vanguards, Wei Yu’s tea ceremony display lasted quite a while.
The aroma of the tea was so rich that Third Prince remained silently quiet.
Finally, Wei Yu clapped his hands and unleashed a big move: “Third Brother, the flood problem is urgent. If we delay any longer, resettling the people won’t be easy either. Suppose some get sick and a plague breaks out—that would be a huge problem!”
Third Prince frowned. Indeed, no matter what natural disaster occurs, reconstruction is not so difficult afterward. The real fear is the outbreak of plague!
In this era, medical conditions were very primitive and doctors were very few.
How few? Perhaps only one or two doctors in an entire county, or sometimes none at all.
And the medical skill of doctors was uneven at best.
Doctors at this time could only diagnose illnesses by observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking—they lacked the extensive clinical experience modern doctors have. Due to the lack of widespread information, doctors’ diagnoses were passed down from their masters and ancestors. The idea of traveling far and wide to diagnose complicated cases practically did not exist.
Even if it did, it was very rare.
Because transportation was inconvenient, doctors had to know some martial arts or survival skills for traveling.
Due to the limited medical expertise, when patients had somewhat complicated symptoms, doctors could only shake their heads regretfully, basically leaving the patient to die.
When facing infectious plagues, people simply had to resign to fate.
If they could resist, they survived; if not, they were eliminated. In summary, it was “survival of the fittest.”
If the Imperial Court encountered a plague outbreak, they basically only had two options: “prevention” and “blockade.”
Prevention was self-explanatory; blockade meant the government would close off city gates and checkpoints.
Since ancient people moved very little—some never leaving their villages—this blockade could more or less control the epidemic.
What came next was taking Chinese herbal medicine. If the medicine worked, patients recovered; if not, they had to wait for the plague to die out on its own. How many infected survived depended on the strength of the virus. At this time it was vital to rely on individual physical constitution differences, since many could survive stubbornly by their own immunity.
Therefore, once a plague broke out in ancient times, it often resulted in a widespread fatality rate, leaving nearly empty households.
Wei Yu’s reminder was not unusual; anyone involved in disaster relief would know what might happen during the process, but it still served as a warning to Third Prince.
Third Prince looked at Wei Yu, “When do you plan to leave?”
So, he agreed?
Wei Yu brightened, “Tonight!”
“Tonight?”
Third Prince frowned, “Traveling at night is dangerous. Move it to tomorrow.”
“Oh no, please don’t,” Wei Yu started to whine while holding Third Brother’s arm, “Third Brother, I’m traveling on the official roads. How dangerous can it be? Do bandits or refugees rest at night? At worst, I’ll be a bit tired, but traveling at night means arriving at Xinshan Commandery sooner!”
Third Prince had never experienced someone acting coy or spoiled in front of him.
Like Wei Yu, he had also lost his mother early in life.
However, Third Prince was naturally quiet and cold, seemingly hard to get along with. Since the Emperor had only a few children when young, he valued them highly. After Third Prince’s mother passed away, he was raised by the Empress Dowager.
His childhood wasn’t difficult; in fact, he lived comfortably.
Though materially well-off, spiritually Third Prince was very lacking.
Originally silent by nature, being raised by the Empress Dowager made him even more taciturn, making it impossible for him to bond with other princes and princesses.
Of course, Third Prince wasn’t one to enjoy playing around much.
But not liking to play was one thing; having someone cling to you affectionately was another.
When facing Ninth Brother’s spoiled closeness for the first time, Third Prince stiffened.
He didn’t know how to respond to Wei Yu.
Men tend to be rigid, and Wei Yu couldn’t tell what was wrong with Third Brother. Seeing Third Brother not speak, Wei Yu thought he was still reluctant, so he started to pester harder.
“Third Brother~~ With so many people around me, what are you worried about? I know you’re concerned for my safety, but as officials dispatched for disaster relief, we must put the people’s safety first! Don’t worry about other things. I was doing just fine in Ji Commandery before…”
What a ‘just fine’.
Just mentioning it made Third Prince recall the bandit army Wei Yu had there.
Stiffening his body, brushing Wei Yu’s hand away, Third Prince said with a stern face, “You can go, but take two hundred people.”
Two hundred?
Wei Yu thought it over and bargained down, “Make it one hundred. You have a lot to handle here, and you never know what might come up later. It’s better for you to have more people as backup. I’ll just hasten as fast as I can.”
Mainly it was troublesome to bring too many people along.
They weren’t his personal guards, so it wouldn’t be convenient for tasks.
Third Prince frowned, stared at him for a moment, then finally agreed.
“Alright. If there’s any trouble, you must immediately send someone to report.”
“Got it, got it.”
Having persuaded Third Brother, Wei Yu was overjoyed and went straight to find Fang Sheng.
“Oh, it’s time to get back to old business. My guards better rest well to be in good shape.”
—
Tan Lin was the youngest Imperial Physician in the Imperial Medical Institute.
Because he was young, most people figured his medical skills were not the best, so he was usually the most idle at the Institute.
Therefore, in this list of doctors dispatched on the official mission, besides Left Court Judge Qi Xiuzhi who was also an Imperial Physician, Tan Lin, a robust young man, was the only one left.
Qi Xiuzhi was older and already mentally exhausted from traveling, so the task of treating the disaster victims was handed over to Tan Lin.
After roughly examining the patients and confirming no one had a particularly severe illness, Tan Lin squatted by the fire and began preparing medicine.