Steam trains in ancient times (10): Modern medical technology crushes

The snow was falling heavily, and the armored soldiers sat cross-legged in the icy wilderness.

It was already noon, but no one was lighting a fire to cook. Everyone was holding a small piece of military rations in their hands, eating with a happy look on their faces.

Although they were very dry and thirsty, they were reluctant to drink a sip of water to dilute the rich taste in their mouth.

They were talking about it, “What flavor is yours?”

“Corn, do you want to change?”

“Let’s change it. Mine is sweet potato, which is extra sweet.”

“Sweet?! Give me some!”

“Wow, I’ve never eaten anything so delicious…”

“If I could eat this delicacy every day, I would be willing to fight wars for the rest of my life!”

Ever since they learned that the food and fodder had been cut off, the generals following the prince had already prepared themselves for their morale to plummet to the bottom.

They imagined many situations, such as how to motivate the soldiers to work together to overcome difficulties, how to get enough food for everyone in the icy border, how to defeat the enemy in the desperate situation of food and grass shortage… However, none of the situations were like the current one, where the soldiers were eating delicious food and were so happy that they cried for joy.

It was not hard to understand their feelings…

The generals, who were eating military rations and drinking hot soup, looked at the scene of rising momentum with deep emotion, and could not help but say: “Lord Si is truly a god.”

He actually conjured up enough food for everyone out of thin air, squeezing so much dry grain into such a small and light piece, and it tasted so good.

At this moment, Si Qi called out to them from a distance and asked them to bring some boiled water. Without a word, several generals put down their half-eaten food and rushed to get the hot water. Finally, the fastest general rushed to Si Qi first, eager to serve tea and water to Si Qi himself.

They were rough people and were not good at speaking, so they could only express their gratitude through actions.

Si Qi took out a few wooden boxes and asked the Crown Prince what he wanted to eat.

The Crown Prince said something about boiling fish, and the general who happened to hear it said sensibly, “I’ll ask the waiter to do it!”

“No need.” Si Qi paused and said, “It will take a lot of time to catch fish in the river in the snow and ice, and we are in a hurry to get on the road.”

The general smiled innocently: “It’s rare that His Highness wants to eat, it’s no problem.”

During these days, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ate and lived with everyone, and never asked for anything from anyone because of the harsh conditions on the road. Everyone saw it.

Now, His Highness just wanted to eat a fish, so what did it matter?

Si Qi: “Just put down the water, I will prepare boiled fish for His Highness.”

The general looked at Si Qi with a puzzled look on his face, thinking, could Lord Si even catch fish? It didn’t look like that?

Could it be that… Lord Si also brought the fish as military rations?

The general, who was good at drawing inferences from one instance, suddenly understood and nodded, thinking that Lord Si was meticulous and capable, and he would definitely be able to do this.

But… could the fish be kept for that long like dried food?

It had been ten days since they left the capital. Even if it was a live fish kept in a bucket, it would be tired after being tossed around day and night, right?

Si Qi opened the wooden box, poured boiling water into it, and covered it with a lid.

After a while, the fragrance slowly wafted out from the narrow gap.

The general standing beside him changed his expression slightly. Si Qi opened the lid and took a look, then handed the hot boiled fish noodles to the prince: “Your Highness, would you like to try it?”

Even though he had prepared himself mentally and believed that something Si Qi called delicious wouldn’t be bad, Chu Feng was still surprised by the boiled fish instant noodles with an extremely tempting appearance, aroma and taste.

Fresh and smooth white fish filet, crisp and refreshing cucumber strips, crystal clear soybean sprouts, and the strong and springy ramen…

As the generals beside him drooled with envy, Chu Feng picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of the boiled fish. He was amazed by the rich taste and couldn’t help but say, “How did you do that? It tastes just like it was freshly made…”

Si Qi tried to explain in simple terms: “I freeze the food I just made, extracting all the water from it, leaving the food and seasonings in a vacuum. When you want to eat it, you can add hot water back in and it will be about 70% of the way cooked.”

The prince nodded, not quite understanding, and could not help but sigh again: “In this world, is there anything you can’t do? You probably have already absorbed all the knowledge in the world into your mind.”

Si Qi smiled and said, “Your Highness is wrong. The more you know, the more you realize your own shortcomings. I am probably the dumbest person in the world who is most eager to learn more.”

The general standing beside him said gloomily, “Lord Si, you are too modest. If you are the dumbest person in the world, I am afraid I am not even a human being.”

The Crown Prince smiled when he heard this, knowing that the general had not even eaten properly standing here, so he asked him to leave. The general said with a shameless face: “Your Highness, can I eat here? I just want to smell the smell, these noodles are too fragrant, it goes well with rice!”

Many soldiers in the distance also smelled the fragrant aroma of instant noodles. Even though the rations in their hands were already delicious enough to make them intoxicated, the temptation of the boiled fish with its color, aroma and taste was too great. They all raised their noses to sniff in this direction, with a look of yearning.

Seeing this, Si Qi thought for a moment and said, “In the future, when we go to war, let the logistics department prepare more food like this for the journey. It’s lighter than grain and straw, easier to carry, and tastes better.”

They could also prepare canned food, such as canned meat, canned fish, and canned fruit. Only when you are full can you have the strength to fight!

The general was deeply moved when he heard this: “Lord Si is so kind-hearted. I thank you on behalf of all the soldiers in the world!”

“We are all doing this for His Highness.” Si Qi shook his head slowly, took out two new bowls of instant noodles, poured water to heat it up, and handed him one of the bowls under the shining gaze of the general beside him.

When other generals in the distance saw this scene, their eyes turned red with envy.

Next time they must get ahead of this bastard and come and bring water to Lord Si!

Si Qi and the other two slurped their hot noodles. Even in this freezing cold world, they felt warm all over and felt indescribably comfortable.

Xiu Xiu was lying in the consciousness space, watching Si Qi eating noodles deliciously, and said with some envy: [Master, are the instant noodles delicious? ]

[Well, it’s better than the state banquet in my previous life]

Precisely because there was nothing good in this ancient environment, even a bowl of instant noodles seemed particularly delicious.

Xiu Xiu was probably the system that loved to act cute the most in the world: [Master, Xiu Xiu also wants to taste the instant noodles~]

Si Qi was puzzled: [Why not just use the power of the world to buy it in the mall?] The pocket money he gave Xiu Xiu was enough for him to buy a mountain of instant noodles to drown himself.

Xiu Xiu blushed and said: [But Xiu Xiu only wants to taste the flavors that the master has tasted~~~]

Si Qi smiled: [Let’s wait for a chance in the future. ]

[OK~~^^]

While eating noodles, Si Qi suddenly remembered something. He stood up and went to the carriage that the soldiers had slandered as being extremely ugly. He took out a book of military tactics and handed it to General Huang: “I took some time to write this these days. You can take it and read it with your colleagues.”

Because it was handed to him by Si Qi himself, even though he was a grassroots general who never liked reading and could barely read, he still took the book with careful hands and solemnly stated that he would study it seriously.

Si Qi: “You really should study it carefully. I’ve read your previous combat records. They are too sloppy and disorganized.”

The general muttered quietly: “This…”

If the person who spoke was not Si Qi, this rough warrior would probably teach the other person a lesson through his actions.

He was not good at other things, but wasn’t he good at fighting?

Being able to sit in the position of general, there was probably no one in the Chu State who had more say in leading troops to fight than him.

Even Lord Si, who was extremely intelligent, could not belittle him so casually.

General Huang said he felt aggrieved.

So he slurped his noodles while laboriously flipping through the book of military tactics in his hand. As he read, he forgot to chew, and he didn’t know when he stopped using his chopsticks. He held the book in his hands, completely absorbed in it.

He even completely forgot about the delicious food in front of him.

Seeing this, the prince standing by became very curious about the contents of the book.

He never expected that Si Qi was so proficient in military tactics.

What was it that this young man didn’t know?

The more he spent time together, the more he would be attracted to each other.

As the general read through the book, he found that there were a few words in the Art of War that he could not understand, and he could not wait to ask Si Qi, “Sir, what do these words mean?”

Si Qi took a look and explained, “Coordinated action refers to different military services and professional units carrying out coordinated actions to achieve the same combat objectives, so that the sum of the parts is greater than the parts.”

“Sabotage warfare refers to attacks on enemy transportation lines or scattered strongholds. It falls within the scope of guerrilla warfare. Its main feature is to break the blockade and disrupt transportation.”

“As for the clock’s position…”

Si Qi used chopsticks to tap the water in the teacup and drew a corona on the table, which was the ancient clock that determined time based on the direction of the sun’s shadow: “With our own position as the center, different directions are represented by Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, and Si. For example, if we are here and the enemy’s target is here, we can directly say ‘the enemy is in our direction’. This is more flexible and convenient than east, south, west, and north. We don’t need to deliberately look up to identify the direction through the sun or stars.”

General Huang was fascinated by what he heard, and he sighed repeatedly: “It’s amazing, it turns out it can be like this… No wonder Lord Si just said that my command was rough and sloppy, it’s true!”

Well… it was a bit too bullying to compare modern electronic combat command with the ancient times when only military flags were used to command battles.

Si Qi just nodded, without any thought of boasting too much.

General Huang asked eagerly, “Lord Si, can you be our military advisor?!”

Si Qi hesitated for a moment.

He had been a knight and a soldier, had fought on the battlefield and killed enemies, and had been a marshal in the interstellar age, but he had never been a military advisor in the ancient world. These military tactics, in the final analysis, were just the knowledge learned in the previous worlds recorded and made into textbooks for people to refer to. When it came to commanding cold weapons in combat, he was probably not good enough. It was just a theory. If he made a mistake, it would cost many lives.

He declined, “I have never commanded a battle, so it’s not appropriate for me to start right away. But I can provide you with another kind of assistance.”

Seeing General Huang’s gradually disappointed look, Si Qi comforted him, “Don’t worry, I can defeat ten thousand enemies with one without any problem.”

General Huang was speechless. One second he was wondering why Lord Si was so self-deprecating, and the next second he began to doubt his life.

One against ten thousand?

He was afraid Lord Si was bragging too much…

But Si Qi said modestly: “Of course, I still need your cooperation.”

General Huang nodded a little confusedly, indicating that this was certainly not a problem.

Then, in a daze, he returned to his colleagues, holding the instant noodles and the military strategy.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince always had extraordinary confidence in Si Qi. He smiled and said, “You said one against ten thousand, that’s an understatement, right?”

Si Qi nodded: “It would be best if fewer enemies died, after all, they will be your people in the future.”

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was stunned for a moment, and it took him a long time to understand the full meaning of Si Qi’s words. He was so agitated by Si Qi’s matter-of-fact tone that he didn’t know how to respond.

The more he thought about it, the more he found the young man in front of him, who spoke bold and ambitious words in a calm tone, to be indescribably adorable.

After eating the convenient and quick rations, the troops quickly set out on their journey.

Si Qi found General Huang, who was so excited about a book of military strategy that his face flushed and sweat broke out on his forehead, and pulled him out of the endless discussions among the top leaders of the army.

Si Qi: “Give me some of the best archers.”

General Huang nodded quickly, and personally ran several times to find the famous archers in the crowd one by one and brought them to Si Qi.

Si Qi asked: “How far away can you hit the enemy?”

Several people answered one after another: “To reply to your words, within 180 feet of windless sky, we can make sure that no arrows miss their target.”

Several other people also replied that if there was no wind and the view was unobstructed, there would not be much problem within 10 to 18 zhang.

In this era, one zhang was equal to ten meters, which meant that this group of archers could only hit targets within 180 meters at most, and that had to be on a windless day.

Today, they were in the cold and desolate wilderness, with howling winds and heavy snow. In this kind of weather, the accuracy of archery would definitely drop a lot.

Moreover, the distance of 180 meters was too close. No wonder most archers on the battlefield use a wave of archers. After the enemy rushes past the one-shot range, they could not be used again, otherwise it would only affect their own side in the melee.

At this point, it was too late to improve the bow and arrow. Si Qi pondered for a moment and said to General Huang: “Forget it, there is no need for these archers. Find some people who are not afraid of sacrifice and know how to use a bow.”

Upon hearing this, several archers present said directly: “Sir, we are not afraid of sacrifice.”

Si Qi looked at them carefully for a few times and saw that everyone had a resolute look on their faces and showed no fear at all. After thinking for a while, he nodded and said, “In that case, it’s your turn.”

Several people showed happy smiles, and General Huang looked at them expressionlessly without saying a word, as if everything was natural.

But afterwards, he secretly found Si Qi and asked him worriedly how dangerous Si Qi’s plan was. It was not easy for the army to train these people, and he hoped to keep them alive as much as possible.

Si Qi also wanted to discuss his plan with General Huang, so he told him the general situation. General Huang’s face turned pale, and after struggling for a long time, he said in a low voice: “Isn’t that just sending them to their deaths?”

Si Qi: “I will try my best to keep them alive.”

General Huang remained silent, feeling very lost.

It was not that he didn’t want to believe Si Qi, but what Si Qi said was too outrageous. Even if he thought about it from an exaggerated perspective, it was just that level.

The team was still rushing towards the border battlefield. In the last two days, Si Qi had them practice the same action, aiming to hit wherever they were pointed, and try to make it as easy as using one’s own arm.

Two days later, the 150,000-strong army finally arrived at the border. Even across a mountain, the bloody smell of the battlefield carried by the wind from the other side of the mountain could already be felt in the air.

Chu Feng led his men into the city. Inside the city, blood could be seen everywhere and soldiers were lying on the ground wailing.

General Huang and others were worried that Lord Si, who had always lived in the capital and had never seen a chicken being killed, would feel uncomfortable after coming here.

So they let Si Qi take a rest. They first found the manager here and asked him to find a clean place for Si Qi and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to rest.

When the manager saw so many people coming, he was moved to tears. While expressing his gratitude, he cursed the fourth prince for being insane.

He had been under too much pressure recently. Even though he knew that such remarks might lead to him being advised by people with ulterior motives to despise the royal bloodline and be executed on another day, he did not hesitate at all. While scolding the Fourth Prince, he knelt down and kowtowed in the direction of Chu Feng, expressing his gratitude to the Crown Prince for rushing to his aid in times of crisis. He said that he would never forget the great kindness.

Just from this point, you could see that he was somewhat impulsive, otherwise he would not be sent to such a place with nothing to guard the border and suffer hardships.

At this time, Si Qi, who was supposed to stay in the clean camp to rest, walked in alone. He looked at the seriously injured soldiers waiting to die and frowned and said to the manager: “How can we let the injured soldiers fall on the roadside without doing anything? Take them all to the barracks to rest for a while. Lying on the roadside will not only affect morale, but also be bad for recovery.”

The manager had been facing life-and-death battles for a month, and his emotions were tense to a certain extent, and he was already exhausted. When he saw a young nobleman who was elegant and weak coming to trouble him, he had some prejudice in his heart, and told Si Qi with a cold face not to say anything more, saying that this was not a place for a civil servant like him to show off his power and play tricks.

General Huang and others beside him felt very uncomfortable after hearing this and were so angry that they wanted to teach him a lesson, but Si Qi stopped them: “I am not showing off my power, but I think it is necessary to do so.”

The manager’s eyes were bloodshot, his body was thin and his face was pale. He couldn’t bear to hear Si Qi’s nonsense suggestions, and frowned and said, “The war situation is so urgent now that we have to go to the battlefield even if we lose our hands and feet! There is no time to let them stay in the back to recuperate as you said! And with so many injuries, what about medicine? What’s the point of recuperation if there is no medicine!”

Si Qi: “I brought the medicine naturally.”

The official glanced at Si Qi and said coldly, “I looked at the baggage list. There is only one cart of medicine. What use can it have? Young Master, do you think that when people are injured, they only need to drink a few sips of ginseng soup? Do you know how much blood those soldiers shed when their intestines were cut open? You don’t know anything, so shut up!”

Si Qi frowned, “I am more proficient than you in curing illnesses and saving lives. Forget it, now you won’t listen to anything I say. General Huang, have your people gather the injured, even those who look like they are about to die, and bring them here. I will save them.”

The manager snorted coldly and said disdainfully: “Fake benevolence and false righteousness, you are here to fight for power and authority.”

But he started to worry about how much help such a person could bring to the battle. They only had six carts of rations left! How long could such a team last? How much internal fighting would they cause at this critical moment? Just thinking about it made him feel overwhelmed.

General Huang glared at the manager coldly, and followed the orders with the others. The manager was even more angry after being glared at. He had thought that General Huang was a brave and capable official, so he gritted his teeth and cursed, “It’s better to hear about him than to meet him in person!” He followed Si Qi with a stern face, wanting to see what tricks he was going to play.

Even if there was only a small amount of medicine in a truck, they couldn’t let this guy waste it, right?

Si Qi brought the military doctors to the barracks full of wounded soldiers, pointed at various novel things the doctors had never seen before, and quickly said to them: “This is iodine, this is a hemostatic agent, this is an anesthetic, this is suture needles and thread, this is a fever reducer, this is…”

He didn’t have time to explain too much. He took the medical equipment he brought with him one by one and used it skillfully on the injured patient who looked a little terrified and resisted. He demonstrated while saying: “Potidol can disinfect and prevent easily corrosive wounds from getting worse. Use hemostatic agents directly on the wounds, and the bleeding will stop in a few breaths, but it must not be used directly on dirty things. For things like this, you can use needle and thread to suture them, but because it will be painful, you can use anesthetics for local anesthesia first…”

Under the stunned gaze of a group of military doctors, Si Qi pinned down the soldier who was trying to run away screaming with a pale face. He pulled over his arm which was severely slashed by the knife and applied the hemostatic agent near the wound which was bleeding like a fountain and was difficult to heal.

After a while, the blood solidified like blood tofu and formed a thin scab.

The screaming soldier: “…………”

The military doctor thought his eyes were blurry: “…………”

The dumbfounded manager who was about to find fault with Si Qi: “…………”

Si Qi nodded: “That’s about it.”

All the people nearby who witnessed this scene were so shocked that they held their breath, staring with wide eyes at the wound that “healed” in the blink of an eye. They racked their brains but could not understand how such a miracle could happen so casually before their eyes without any flash or fairy air.

Si Qi grabbed another soldier who needed stitches. The soldier was sweating from the pain. When he saw Si Qi approaching with an embroidery needle, he was half afraid and half expectant. Si Qi said, “Don’t cover the wound with your hands.”

The man quickly took the hand that was pressing on the calf, and under the torn skin, the white bones could be clearly seen.

Even the soldiers who had been on the battlefield for so long were so frightened when they saw this scene that they turned their eyes away, their faces filled with fear.

However, Si Qi did not even blink. Under the watchful eyes of General Huang and others who had just taken some time to come after finishing their work, he injected the anesthetic near the wound, disinfected it, and started to sew it up directly.

General Huang and his group felt their scalps tingling at this scene. They thought that throughout history, the most ruthless people had never been military officers, but those civil officials who knew exactly what the consequences of these policies would be but did not even blink an eye.

Look at the stitching, it was scary just looking at it!

The manager said anxiously: “You, what are you doing! You can’t do this, you are deliberately torturing people!!”

Although General Huang thought Si Qi’s behavior was scary, he stopped the manager who was trying to rush forward without saying a word, and said loudly: “Just watch! Lord Si will not do anything wrong!”

Si Qi didn’t care about the dispute behind him, and his movements were still steady.

He knew that he might encounter such a situation one day, so he did not just enjoy himself in the past. He went to medical school to learn first aid measures and practiced suturing techniques for an unknown period of time.

He knew that many people learned theoretical knowledge very well in school, but when they actually inserted needles into other people’s bodies, they would still be scared to tears by the feeling of piercing muscles. Therefore, after graduation, he went to war-torn areas as a medical volunteer. Under poor conditions and lack of sufficient supplies, he treated seriously injured patients one by one to ensure that he had truly mastered this skill and was not just talking about it on paper.

With deft hands and feet, he inserted the sewing needle into the soldier’s leg accurately and perfectly like a zipper. Si Qi asked two military doctors who were brave enough to do the operation to come over and carefully observe the needle insertion technique and process. He then continued to take other military doctors to instruct them on how to use those magical and effective medical supplies.

Many soldiers who were waiting to die silently looked at the military doctors who were studying hard with sweat on their foreheads and trying their best to save the lives of everyone present. They couldn’t help but lower their heads and cry, feeling indescribable gratitude in their hearts.

The suppressed crying seemed to be contagious, and many people shed tears unconsciously.

Si Qi led the military doctors one by one until they could almost do it independently, then stood up and looked at the group of people sobbing softly, and comforted them: “Don’t worry, since we are here, everything will be fine.”

“You have shed enough blood and tears for the State of Chu. Now it is our turn to protect you.”

“Just rest and everything will be fine.”

The manager stood aside and witnessed all of Si Qi’s work with his own eyes. His initial doubts and anxiety completely disappeared, leaving only deep shock and admiration in his heart.

He bowed deeply to Si Qi and apologized sincerely: “I was wrong to blame you!”