CHAPTER 507: CHAPTER 501 PULLING OUT THE ARROW

Fu Tinghan cut away all the obstructive armor, revealing the shoulder. The military doctor lowered his head, and only after Fu Tinghan urged him did he look up to examine the place where the arrow had hit.

The armor of Zhao Hanzhang had helped to some extent, so the arrowhead wasn’t deep. However, Fu Tinghan and the military doctor were still very afraid because, for those struck by arrows, the real fear isn’t the damage caused by the arrow, unless it hits a vital spot; it’s the infection that follows the arrow wound.

The military doctor took out a knife, glanced nervously at Zhao Hanzhang, "General, I’ll remove the arrowhead for you now."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded.

Seeing the doctor was about to proceed this way, Fu Tinghan frowned, "No anesthetic?"

"Ah?" The military doctor said, "Does the General want anesthetic? I’ll have someone prepare it right away."

"Alright, by the time you make the anesthetic after I’ve already been undressed, how long will I have to wait?" Zhao Hanzhang said, "Go ahead, dig it out quickly. I still have things to do afterward."

Fu Tinghan gave her a look, quietly took a block of wood wrapped in cloth from Ting He’s hand, stuffed it into her mouth, and then sat behind her to support her.

Zhao Hanzhang obediently bit down on the cloth, motioning for the military doctor to proceed.

Only then did the military doctor approach with the knife. He used it to separate the flesh around the arrowhead a bit, then quickly and steadily pulled out the arrowhead...

As soon as the arrowhead was removed, blood spurted out, and the medical assistant quickly pressed herbs onto the wound. Zhao Hanzhang broke into a sweat on her forehead, only letting out a muffled groan before leaning weakly into Fu Tinghan’s arms, looking as if she had lost all hope and not wanting to speak at all.

The military doctor examined the arrowhead after removal, ensuring there was no damage to it before preparing to apply the next round of medicine.

Once the bleeding eased up a bit, the military doctor opened the herbal pack and began to clean the wound.

The main concern was that the arrow might have brought some unwanted bacteria, so some flesh needed to be cleaned away before applying the medicine.

As a result, the wound was somewhat large. Seeing he was about to apply the medicine, Fu Tinghan intervened, weary in voice, "Didn’t you practice suturing skills? First stitch with the thread, then apply the medicine."

"Ah, this wound isn’t that large... Yes, right away with the needle and thread." Under Fu Tinghan’s gaze, the military doctor immediately took out the needle and thread.

They generally didn’t suture arrow wounds, only using suturing skills for large gashes caused by swords where bleeding couldn’t be stopped.

Since they weren’t very familiar with this newly learned medical technique, it always took a long time whenever they used it.

Once the military doctor stitched Zhao Hanzhang’s wound and was about to sprinkle golden sore medicine on it, Fu Tinghan took over and said, "Let me do it."

The military doctor was more than happy to step aside, quickly giving the herbal prescription for someone to prepare, while he stood quietly, not daring to look at the pair—oh no, the three of them—on the bed.

Ting He helped by passing implements to Fu Tinghan, and together they bandaged Zhao Hanzhang’s wound.

Zhao Hanzhang slowly raised her hand to take out the cloth strip from her mouth, face pale, "The doctors in my army have worrying medical skills."

Military doctor: ...

Zhao Hanzhang spoke to Ting He, "Go, send a message to Fan Ying, ask her to recruit doctors and apprentices who have studied medicine from among the refugees, each one counts, be generous with money and win them over for me."

She added, "There still aren’t enough military doctors. We can’t always hope to select people from outside; we need to train our own people too. You aren’t accustomed to suturing such a large wound yet, so how big a gash do you need to suture otherwise?"

She said, "Once you’ve learned a new medical skill, you have to use it, otherwise isn’t it wasteful? Recruit more people, it doesn’t matter whether they’re men or women, as long as they’re attentive and strong, recruit them, wound treatment is the first thing they need to learn."

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at the military doctor who didn’t dare to look at her and sighed, leaning back to look at Fu Tinghan.

Fu Tinghan: "... Don’t worry about these matters, take a good rest, I’ll handle it."

"I remember there’s a doctor named Zhang Sheng... okay, I won’t speak," Zhao Hanzhang obediently closed her mouth under Fu Tinghan’s gaze, leaning into his arms, "I’ll leave this matter to you. By the way, where is Mr. Ji?"

Fu Tinghan saw she couldn’t stay idle, so he had someone bring up the medicine, gave it to her, and pressed her onto the bed, "You must rest for at least half a day, stop attending to affairs, leave the rest to me."

Fu Tinghan turned his head and instructed Ting He, "Stay here and watch, don’t let her get up and move around."

Ting He immediately responded, "Yes."

Fu Tinghan left with the military doctor.

Zhao Hanzhang lay honestly on the bed, but couldn’t fall asleep.

The shoulder was still in pain. She felt the burning sensation of the golden sore medicine on the wound, but her heart wasn’t as troubled. She was replaying today’s battle.

She hadn’t expected Liu Cong to be more shameless than her, a modern person, ignoring the rules of dueling and turning to flee. It seemed she wasn’t shameless enough; this wouldn’t do.

If only she had thrown her spear at that moment, she wondered if she could have injured Liu Cong.

Zhao Hanzhang envisioned the scene in her mind, her eyes glowing brighter and brighter as she thought, becoming more convinced that if she had hurled her spear back then, she could have certainly struck him dead.

After all, her spearhead was steel!

But would she have had enough strength?

Zhao Hanzhang clenched her right hand under the blanket, feeling her body’s strength before shaking her head slightly, "No, I still need to train my strength."

"Ah, what did the lady say?" Ting He turned back to ask.

"Nothing," Zhao Hanzhang said, "I’m hungry, go get me something to eat."

Ting He hesitated for a moment before saying, "My lady, you have a wound, you can’t eat things that could cause irritation."

"I’ll eat pork."

Ting He said, "My lady, it’s not that I’m looking down on pork, but we’re currently marching, and we don’t have pork to eat."

"Where’s Mi Ce? Hasn’t he arrived yet? He’s the one bringing the military provisions, right? I remember he brought pigs along with the army."

Seeing she truly wanted to eat, Ting He got up to inquire, and only returned after quite a while, "General Mi’s army says it’ll take another two days to arrive."

"That’s too slow," Zhao Hanzhang said, "Send someone to hurry them up, make sure they arrive before sunset tomorrow."

She then asked, "And Xun Xiu? I asked him to lead the troops on a detour, where on earth has he gone? I’ve been here a whole day, and he hasn’t appeared."

Ting He went out to inquire again, returning shortly after with a somber face, "General Gou will arrive tomorrow. My lady, please stop asking me questions. The young master scolded me earlier, saying I failed to keep an eye on you. He clearly said you should rest, yet you’re using the excuse of wanting meat to handle military affairs instead."

Zhao Hanzhang: "I have one last question, how is the Second Son doing in the city? They haven’t started fighting, right?"

Ting He wanted to ignore the question but couldn’t withstand helping her inquire, soon returning, "The Second Son is exchanging harsh words with the Xiongnu on the other side, cursing loudly, but no fighting has started."

"You mustn’t ask me again, and even if you do, I won’t tell you anymore."

Zhao Hanzhang mimed zipping her lips to show she’d keep quiet.

When she said she’d be quiet, she really quieted down, closing her eyes to rest, but her mind was unwilling to rest.

The current situation wasn’t unfavorable for them; after all, they were outside while Wang Mi and Liu Cong were inside. However, the situation was quite dire for those inside the Imperial Palace, making a rescue very difficult.

Actually, Zhao Hanzhang had one concern that she hadn’t spoken about: she was very afraid that Liu Cong and Liu Yao would, in their rage and humiliation, burn down Luoyang City.

Historically, they did exactly that, turning the magnificent Luoyang City and the Imperial Palace into ruins.

If they couldn’t capture the Imperial Palace after a prolonged siege, they might resort to setting it on fire.

Historically, they burned it even after successfully capturing the Imperial Palace; how much more might they do so now, when they haven’t succeeded?