Chapter 72: Chapter 71 The Importance of Medicinal Materials Chapter 72: Chapter 71 The Importance of Medicinal Materials “Ming Zhi!”
Yang Zhenshan called Yang Mingzhi again.
“You will send these grain carts to the Left Camp’s campsite later, and ask if Zhao Yuan has returned!”
The Left Camp’s campsite is located to the south of Linguan Castle, and it’s only a dozen miles away. Since he didn’t plan to leave all the oxen, mules, and provisions behind, it was naturally best to send them off sooner.
However, there probably weren’t many soldiers at the Left Camp’s campsite now. Although Zhou Lan had returned, the Left Camp had not regrouped yet. They still needed to assist Zhang Shouwang in blocking the pursuing Northern barbarian cavalry.
Yang Zhenshan was still worried about the situation beyond the pass.
Although they had already lost the battle, he hoped that the Five Camps wouldn’t suffer too much loss.
As long as the losses of the Five Camps were not severe, the main force of Chongshan Town would still be intact, and the East Sea Hu Clan wouldn’t be able to act too arrogantly.
Once the Five Camps suffered heavy losses, the entire Chongshan Town would be in danger.
Following Yang Zhenshan’s instructions, by noon, the training ground had been completely cleared.
But Zhao Yuan still hadn’t returned, and Zhao Desheng had already led men out of the pass to inquire about Zhao Yuan’s situation. However, the situation outside the pass was extremely chaotic, with defeated troops fleeing everywhere, Northern barbarian cavalry continually pursuing, and soldiers blocking the barbarians, making looking for Zhao Yuan akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
In the following days, Chongshan Pass City remained in complete turmoil, with the returned defeated troops bringing a multitude of false information to the whole city.
Some said that Zhang Shouwang had been captured alive by the barbarian cavalry.
Some said that Zhang Yude had defected to the Hu Clan.
Others said that the West Road army had been completely wiped out, and barbarian cavalry would soon strike at the city.
Rumors spread everywhere, causing widespread panic.
Many citizens of the city, bringing their families, fled from Chongshan Pass.
The number of those escaping now exceeded even what had been seen when the Hu Clan army had approached the city.
Initially, when the Hu Clan army gathered below Chongshan Pass, the people felt more confused and lost because they hadn’t experienced large-scale war for twenty years, and didn’t believe the Hu Clan could breach the city.
But now, with the army returning in defeat, it instantly shattered the confidence of the people in Chongshan Town, and worry arose within them.
Many civilians felt that there might be a risk of Chongshan Pass being overrun, prompting numerous people to consider fleeing.
However, Yang Zhenshan felt such worries were premature.
Though Chongshan Town had been defeated this time, Da Rong’s national strength had not decayed to the point of being unable to defend Chongshan Pass.
The East Sea Hu Clan seemed ferocious, but they were only a small tribe with a population of just twenty to thirty thousand—not enough to sustain attacks on a fortified city like Chongshan Pass.
As long as the East Sea Hu Clan wasn’t foolish, they wouldn’t risk heavy losses to assault Chongshan Pass.
Moreover, as far as he knew, Zhang Shouwang had not been captured or met with complete defeat; he was outside the pass, gathering scattered troops to stabilize the situation.
Zhou Lan had already joined forces with Zhang Shouwang to counter the Hu Clan cavalry.
The Left and Right Camps, when unleashed, still possessed formidable combat strength.
With equal forces, in head-to-head confrontations, the Five Camps had the capability to decisively defeat the barbarian cavalry.
On the fourth day after Yang Zhenshan returned to Linguan Castle, Zhao Yuan also returned to the city with the last of the fleeing troops.
Despite the camp being overrun, Zhao Yuan did not flee with the routed troops but went to the commander’s tent, following the retreat of the front, rear, and middle camps of the Five Camps.
However, they encountered an attack by the barbarian cavalry on their retreat, and Zhao Yuan was unfortunately wounded.
He returned so quickly because Zhao Desheng had risked finding the retreating main force and carried him back.
In the campsite of the Left Camp, Yang Zhenshan looked at Zhao Yuan lying unconscious on the bed. “Did the doctor say when he could wake up?”
Next to him, Zhao Desheng, looking exhausted, said: “Sir, his wound is infected, and he’s been feverish for three days. The doctor said that if he can hold on for another two days, he should be able to wake up.”
By now, Zhao Yuan’s chest had been bandaged. Just now, Yang Zhenshan had examined him; Zhao Yuan’s injury was a knife wound, stretching from his left shoulder to his lower abdomen—similar to his own wounds.
Unfortunately for Zhao Yuan, his wound had become inflamed. In this medically backward society, an inflamed wound was fatal, and whether he could survive depended entirely on how resilient Zhao Yuan was.
Yang Zhenshan did know of some medicines for treating inflammation, such as sulfonamides, penicillin, erythromycin, etc., but he did not know how to make them.
And the Spiritual Spring Water doesn’t have the effect of treating inflammation; it can only nourish the body and enhance physical condition.
Following the principle of doing no harm, Yang Zhenshan still fed Zhao Yuan a bowl of Spiritual Spring Water.
“Let me know when he awakens!”
After giving these instructions to Zhao Desheng, Yang Zhenshan left, as there was no use for him to stay; he was not a doctor.
Inside Linguan Castle, during the quiet of the night,
Yang Zhenshan once again entered the Spiritual Spring Space.
In five days, the vegetable seeds he had planted had all sprouted.
Especially those watered with the Spiritual Spring, which astonishingly grew over an inch tall.
“Spiritual Spring Water aids in the growth of plants and seems to have significant benefits for plant growth!”
Yang Zhenshan stroked the growing gourd seedlings, his eyes sparkling with joy, then he looked at the vegetables watered with river water, which also had tender buds emerging from the soil.
“Even without the Spiritual Spring Water, they grow faster than those outside!”
“If that’s the case, then this land has great potential!”
Yang Zhenshan thought secretly.
Naturally, growing vegetables couldn’t make one rich, but what if he planted medicinal herbs?
Though the Spiritual Spring Space wasn’t miraculous enough to mass-produce Treasure Medicines, even planting ordinary medicinal herbs could bring Yang Zhenshan considerable profit.
Martial Arts cultivation requires a lot of medicinal herbs for support, Body Refining Realm Martial Artists could use medicinal baths to enhance their physical constitution, and Postnatal Martial Artists could consume elixirs to increase Jin Qi.
Previously, Yang Zhenshan didn’t use medicinal herbs partly because he had Spiritual Spring Water, and partly because he was penniless.
The saying “poor scholars and rich soldiers” isn’t baseless.
The Yang Family has a Martial Arts lineage, why isn’t it producing any Martial Artists?
Because they are poor.
For those Martial Arts Families and noble families, every one of their children can become Martial Artists, perhaps not achieving very high, but becoming Martial Artists is still pretty easy for them.
Because they have silver to buy various medicinal herbs for their cultivation.
However, to start planting medicinal herbs, he needs to prepare well; presently, Yang Zhenshan doesn’t have the seeds for medicinal herbs, and he lacks understanding of the medicinal herb industry, uncertain which herbs have a higher cost-performance.
…
On the ninth of August,
Zhang Shouwang finally returned to Chongshan Pass with the Five Camps.
After the main camp was breached, the army from the eastern road of Chongshan Town suffered heavy losses, although the Five Camps were not greatly affected. Still, during these past dozen days, Zhang Shouwang had a few battles with the Northern barbarian cavalry while gathering the scattered fleeing soldiers outside the pass.
Both sides had their victories and defeats, inflicting considerable losses on the East Sea Hu Clan, but the Five Camps also suffered heavy casualties.
Zhang Shouwang came back, and naturally Zhou Lan returned with him.
Upon receiving the news, Yang Zhenshan took a familiar path to the campsite of the Left Camp.
Zhao Yuan had already woken up; though he had survived, his physical condition was not great, and it was estimated he would need about two months to recover.
Upon seeing Zhou Lan again, Yang Zhenshan noticed an unshakeable gloom in her eyes and knew where this gloom stemmed from.
Once again, the Left Camp had suffered serious losses.
Of the more than three thousand cavalry, less than sixty percent had returned.
Not just the Left Camp, the Right Camp had almost the same losses, as the cavalry of Left and Right Camps always acted together.
This time, to ensure Zhang Shouwang’s safe retreat, they fiercely battled the Northern barbarian cavalry, with both Left and Right Camps suffering heavy casualties, but their battle achievements were also remarkable.
It was said that they had routed as many as eight thousand Northern barbarian cavalry, which was considered a major victory.
However, this time the Left Camp was deeply wounded, and even a great victory could not compensate for the price they paid in this battle.