Chapter 109: The Wounded Camp

  Not yet entering the infirmary, he saw Li Yinghong leading two maids, rushing over with a large pile of white gauze. Seeing Li Mu, Li Yinghong also found it somewhat strange and said: "Father, why have you come?"

  Li Mu smiled slightly and said: "There haven't been many things happening these days, I heard that the treatment effect of the wounded camp made by Gao Yuan is not bad, so I came over to take a look."

  Li Yinghong also smiled and said, "Father, you've really come at the right time. Actually, most of the wounded soldiers in our camp have almost recovered, but just these two days, we received more than 500 wounded soldiers from other camps, so it's been busy."

  Li Mu laughed and said: "Really? I didn't expect that Gaoyuan had this skill, it's true that I didn't see it coming."

  Li Yinghong handed the gauze in his hand to a soldier and asked him to take it to the wounded soldiers' camp. Then he said to Li Mu, "Father, I'll take you to see."

  Li Mu also nodded and smiled: "That's even better."

  At this time, the scale of the wounded soldier camp had already expanded to twelve tents, with three treatment camps and nine wounded soldier camps. Li Yinghong brought Li Mu and Zhao Xuan to one of the treatment camps first, but before they even entered the camp, they heard a string of miserable cries from inside.

  Li Mu furrowed his brow and quietly walked into the tent.

  All that can be seen is more than 20 beds with white cloth laid out in the tent, each with a wounded soldier lying on it, covered in bloodstains. On one side, there are also rows of single berths, each with a wounded soldier lying on it.

  At the side of each bed, there were two to three people, some pressing down on the wounded, some cleaning their wounds, and others bandaging. People kept coming in with water, washing towels, handing over things, etc. At the head of the bed was a small cart loaded with various medicines, gauze, tools, etc. Although the whole camp was bustling with people coming and going, everything was in order, and no one noticed Li Mu and others entering.

  However, the entire tent was a sea of white, and apart from the wounded soldiers, everyone else was also dressed in white, making it look like a funeral parlor. It's unknown why, but this was actually just Gao Yuan's personal preference, after all he was used to hospitals having white rooms everywhere, and white indeed gave people a sense of cleanliness and purity, which psychologically speaking, was beneficial for the patients' recovery.

  Li Mu carefully observed that beside each bed, there were three ceramic jars. They seemed to be filled with water. There was also a large basin for soldiers to wash their wounds. One jar contained bandages and tools like knives and scissors. Another jar's water was used to clean the bloodstains left by wounded soldiers. The three jars had different uses. The large basin was used to hold the bloody residue after treating the wounded soldiers. Although the entire tent was filled with the smell of blood, medicine, and herbs, compared to the past wounded soldier camps, the conditions were much better.

  The soldiers who were yelling the loudest earlier are now being cleaned of their wounds, with two people holding them down tightly. The person cleaning the wound says: "Bear with it a bit, bear with it a bit, it'll be over soon. If we don't clean the wound thoroughly, it won't heal. Who told you not to come early? Otherwise, you wouldn't have had to suffer this second time. Just bear with it."

  Although that's what they said, when the wet cloth was applied to the wound, the soldier let out a loud cry like a pig being slaughtered. Despite two people holding him down, he almost broke free.

  Zhao Xuan furrowed his brow and said, "Is it just washing the wound that makes you cry out in such agony?"

  Li Yinghong smiled and said, "Rinse the wound with salt water, isn't it going to hurt that much? These few guys are still okay, a few days ago there were two guys who as soon as they applied the salt water, they were in so much pain that they couldn't be held down no matter how hard you pressed. In the end, they had to be tied firmly to the bed before their wounds could be cleaned. The screams were so loud that the entire camp could hear them."

  Li Mu then said: "Why use salt water to clean the wound? Can't you just use clear water?"

  Li Yinghong shook his head and said, "No, Gao Yuan has said that clear water is only seemingly clean, but in fact there are invisible germs inside that can harm the human body. It's easy to infect wounds, and most of the soldiers who didn't recover were because of this reason. Only by using saltwater to clean the wound can we kill these germs, so we have to use saltwater to rinse the wound clean."

  Li Mu nodded and didn't ask again, instead looking around left and right.

  At this time, Zhao Xuan sniffed his nose a few times and said, "Yinghong, is someone drinking here?"

  Li Mu also noticed that, in addition to the smell of blood and various medicines, there was indeed a wine fragrance. Just as Li Mu was about to ask, Li Yinghong smiled and said: "It's not someone drinking wine, but it's used for disinfection."

  Zhao Xuan couldn't help but laugh and say: "This is the first time I've heard that wine can detoxify."

  "It's not detoxification, it's disinfection. The gauze used to dress wounds, as well as knives and scissors, all carry those invisible viruses that we can't see. Using wine water can eliminate them. Therefore, the gauze, knives, and scissors must be washed with wine water before use. Before dressing a wound, one must also wash their hands with wine water before treating the soldier."

  Listening to her talk, Li Mu couldn't help but laugh and say: "You really do know the truth clearly, did Gaoyuan tell you all these things?"

  Li Yinghong also said: "Yes, father, of course he told me, otherwise how would I know."

  Zhao Xuan said: "If our eyes can't see it, then how did the highlands know?"

  Li Yinghong stuck out her tongue and said, "Then I don't know, can only go ask him. But as long as the soldiers who entered our wounded soldier camp, nine out of ten can recover completely, this also shows that what he said should be true. In the past, there was such a good thing."

  Li Mu also nodded, actually he didn't fully understand what Li Yinghong said earlier, but there were many things about Gao Yuan that were hard to comprehend, and Li Mu had long since grown accustomed to it. Moreover, the results of the wounded soldiers' treatment were right in front of him, leaving no room for doubt. Although the cost of establishing this wounded soldiers' camp was enormous, the effect was indeed real, and Li Mu naturally understood that if one wounded soldier could be cured, at least three or four new recruits would be gained. Therefore, this price was absolutely worth paying.

  Just then, Gao Yuan and Shen Chen walked in shoulder to shoulder, coincidentally bumping into Li Mu. Gao Yuan was also taken aback, hastily saying: "General, you're here too."

  Li Mu smiled and said: "I had some free time today, so I thought I'd come over to take a look. It really opened my eyes."

  Gao Yuan also said: "There, there, General, you're overpraising me. These things are what a commander should do. Improving the medical environment in the military camp and letting injured soldiers recover as much as possible actually increases my troops. Not only can it reduce the number of recruits, but it can also boost the morale of the soldiers and make them more at ease in battle. It's indeed a win-win situation."

  Li Mu nodded and said: "Gao Yuan, can you expand this wounded camp to let all the wounded soldiers in the whole army receive treatment here?"

  The purpose of establishing this wounded soldier camp on the plateau is to promote it throughout the entire army, after all, a wounded soldier camp in just one camp can only treat so many wounded soldiers. Only by integrating all the wounded soldier camps in the Zhao military camp and operating them in their own way can they play a greater role.

  However, to reorganize the Zhao army's camp on a large scale would be too broad in scope. Although Gaoyuan has already led his own troops, it is still limited to Li Mu's central camp and has not affected the entire army. Although the medical conditions in the military camp are very poor, they have been implemented for nearly a thousand years, and everyone has been doing so. Suddenly changing would be somewhat adventurous, let alone establishing such a wounded soldier camp, which requires a lot of money. Therefore, Gaoyuan also did not dare to act rashly, and could only start from his own camp, first establish a model, wait for other camps to believe in it, and then promote it throughout the army, which would be a natural thing to do.

  The effect of the wounded soldier camp has already been revealed, and each camp has also sent wounded soldiers to be treated, which also shows that they have recognized their own wounded soldier camps. Therefore, it is time for Gao Yuan to say: "Of course, as long as the general orders, let all the medical personnel in the army listen to my instructions, within a month, we can build the wounded soldier camp of the whole army into this style."

  Li Mu nodded and said: "Alright, I'll issue the order now. However, you need some things. Currently, there are only thirty Langzhong in the entire army. Is that enough?"

  Gaoyuan Road: "The number of doctors is not a big problem, as long as we find some clever and capable people with quick hands and feet. After ten or so days of training, they can take care of the wounded soldiers' dressing changes, because most of the soldiers' injuries are just flesh wounds. As long as they learn how to clean and dress the wounds, they can do it themselves, no need for so many professional doctors. However, General, to establish a new wounded soldier camp, we still need to purchase a large amount of herbal medicine, white cloth, wine, salt, etc. Without these things, the wounded soldier camp cannot be established, and my camp's supplies are also running low."

  Li Mubai said, "As for herbal medicine, the army should also have some stockpiles, which can be used temporarily. As for wine and salt, we can first use a portion of the grain and grass from the camp to mobilize it, and then replenish it later. Only the amount of white cloth is likely not that much, can't we use other fabrics as substitutes?"

  Gao Yuan Dao: "Actually, it's not necessarily white cloth, other fabrics can be used too, but they must be woven very thinly and not dyed." He paused for a moment, then continued: "Also, the clothes of doctors and other bandaging personnel should be light-colored, white, pale gray are all acceptable."

  "Alright, I'll have the logistics camp provide as much as possible for you. If it's not enough, I'll also order people to procure more quickly. You go ahead and set up the wounded soldiers' camp first."