novelraw Chapter 241
Chapter 241
Chapter 241: The Two Armies Unite
Wei Yu reunited with his Third Brother at Pei Yongjie’s residence.
Cao Ji had colluded with Japanese pirates, a matter of great seriousness. After settling affairs with Pei Yongjie, Wei Yu stayed in the city and did not continue wandering around.
Besides writing a letter to his father, Wei Yu also wrote to the Third Prince to inform him of the situation here.
The reason for writing was none other than to urge his good Third Brother to come quickly and help him clean up the mess here.
One must say, the Third Prince truly was a good elder brother. Upon receiving the letter, he arranged a series of matters overnight, and on the third day, he led a group of people straight to the capital of Qian Commandery.
Even when resting on the way, affluent people who heard of the situation and wanted to donate money approached, but the Third Prince was unmoved.
He truly did not rest for even a moment.
With the two armies united, the city suddenly became much livelier.
“Third Brother!” Having not seen his brother for several months, upon seeing the dusty and weary man walk in, Wei Yu immediately burst into tears and rushed to give his dear Third Brother a warm hug.
However, this kind of hug was refused by the Third Prince.
With one hand firmly holding back the advancing Ninth Brother, the Third Prince looked at him expressionlessly, “You’ve caused trouble again.”
This was not a question, but a calm and certain statement.
“How can you say that, Third Brother!”
Wei Yu’s heart broke. Since he could not hug him, he settled for shaking hands, grabbing the hand pressing on his shoulder, and with a look about to burst into tears, said, “We brothers haven’t seen each other for months, haven’t you missed your younger brother? Look at my face, I’ve lost all the cheek flesh from exhaustion, and Third Brother, you must be exhausted too, look, you’re all darkened—oh, it truly pains the heart.”
Over the years, too many unresolved facts had accumulated in Qian Commandery. Although Pei Yongjie was willing to try to rectify things, due to Cao Ji and the Japanese pirates, there were too many obstacles from above and below. Pei Yongjie, a prefect with no roots in Huzhou, simply could not change the status quo of Qian Commandery.
Therefore, Wei Yu had truly had no free time during this period while managing affairs of Qian Commandery.
He was living painfully!
Regarding Wei Yu’s words, the Third Prince could only describe it as: whining without cause.
“Where is Pei Yongjie?”
Without small talk, the Third Prince directly asked about Pei Yongjie’s whereabouts.
Wei Yu blinked, “He and all the Pei family members are locked up in the backyard. Third Brother wants to go see?”
There were many Pei family members; if they were all locked in prison, the noise would be considerable.
“No need.”
The Third Prince withdrew his hand and walked inside, bypassing him. “Give me the list of charges Pei Yongjie wrote.”
Getting straight to business right away, tiring.
Wei Yu sighed to the sky and followed the Third Prince, “Understood, Third Brother.”
–
With the two armies united, the leaders had to handle official matters, and naturally the lower ranks had their own duties.
The epidemic in Xinghua Village had been resolved already. Ding Facai had long ago led people to join Wei Yu.
Tan Lin, Doctor Shi, and Yu Pufan—these three medical practitioners naturally had to be taken along. Although Yu Pufan was just a passerby, Ding Facai, who understood His Highness’s personality well, knew one thing for sure: no useful person could be let go!
His Highness had personally went to recruit Medical Saint; a traveling doctor like Doctor Yu, who could discuss medical skills with the Medical Saint and Lord Tan to solve the epidemic, was definitely needed by His Highness!
Therefore, Doctor Yu could not be let go.
Because of Ding Facai’s thinking, when Xinghua Village’s epidemic was over and the satisfied Yu Pufan prepared to take leave, Ding Facai singlehandedly blocked Doctor Yu.
There was no coercion or inducement, only shamelessness.
How did he do it?
Basically, every time Doctor Yu tried to leave, Ding Facai would send someone under the pretense of protection but in reality to monitor Doctor Yu; these people would shamelessly follow him and refuse to leave. When Doctor Yu finally relaxed and became tired, they would grab Doctor Yu’s bundle and forcibly bring Doctor Yu back to the main group…
It was truly shameless.
Doctor Yu found their shamelessness both amusing and frustrating: he scolded, got angry, even fought back, but ultimately it was all useless.
What else could he do!
He was just an old man who knew some medical skills; the others were numerous and powerful—if they were serious, he would definitely be dead!
So in the end, Doctor Yu, just like Doctor Shi, was “tied” by these shameless people and brought to Wei Yu.
Tan Lin had been in the city for half a month.
During that half month, Tan Lin had been setting up stalls outside the city along with Doctor Shi and others, providing free medical consultations.
Qian Commandery was a disaster area with many sick people, both outside and inside the city, with many poor people unable to afford doctors.
Because the entire capital of Qian Commandery was under Wei Yu’s control, even though their free medical service outside the city initially caused quite a stir, with soldiers enforcing order, later no one dared create trouble.
Outside the city gate, on both sides of the road, several stalls were set up with roofs.
Some doctors sat under the shelters diagnosing and writing prescriptions for patients, who lined up in long queues behind the stalls. Soldiers were stationed at intervals to prevent anyone from cutting in or causing trouble.
Tan Lin sat under one shelter, writing prescriptions while advising a thin, old man sitting in front of him, “Old sir, you have chronic injuries and suffer from deficiency symptoms… I’ll write a prescription for you. If you want to get the medicine, go to the Yiqi Hall inside the city. That’s the place designated by the government where medicine costs less.”
The old man, wearing rough cloth, thin, with a gaunt dark face, looked at Tan Lin with deep gratitude, timidly biting his lip and repeatedly thanking him.
“Thank you, Doctor, thank you for treating me. You truly are a living Bodhisattva…”
Tan Lin smiled gently, “Old sir, you flatter me. This is all what the Imperial Court has instructed us to do, really nothing special.”
Recently, the doctors who set up stalls had been often called living Bodhisattvas by the people, and some, moved emotionally, even knelt down and kowtowed… Having heard and seen this many times, Tan Lin was almost numb.
However, he still felt compassion all the same.
After giving the prescription to the old man and seeing his hesitation, roughly understanding his concerns, Tan Lin explained further, “Old sir, don’t worry about the cost of medicine. When you go to Yiqi Hall to get the medicine, the government subsidizes 50 wen for you.”
The old man widened his eyes in disbelief, “The government… subsidizes 50 wen! What… what does this mean?”
“The so-called government subsidy means that during this free medical treatment period, the government will pay 50 wen of the medicine cost for everyone who takes a prescription to Yiqi Hall,” Tan Lin explained softly. “This 50 wen means that if the medicine costs 60 wen at Yiqi Hall, you only need to pay 10 wen yourself; the remaining 50 wen is covered by the government. If the medicine costs only 45 wen, you don’t need to pay anything, just register your name at Yiqi Hall, and Yiqi Hall will note that you still have 5 wen of subsidy left…”
“If the cost exceeds the 50 wen subsidy and you cannot afford the extra medicine money, that's okay too. Now, by registering your name at Yiqi Hall, when the government needs manpower for road repairs or factory construction in the future, you can repay the debt with labor.”