Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 719: The Yellow River is as fierce as a fierce woman, while the Nile is as gentle as a little boy

"I didn't want to bother you so much, but everyone's schedule is very tight. And there are always many unexpected situations during this period." Guo Kang came up to explain: "My wife wrote to me again, threatening me that I must go to Cyprus. This time, Tuohuananda can't help me anymore. I can only deal with official business first, and then squeeze out time to go. Other things can only be expedited, and I have to trouble everyone to work together."

"In addition to your affairs with the Caliph, the Governor has been busy focusing on water conservancy these days." The translator helped him explain, and then added: "The government plans to complete the excavation of several main canals this year and clean up the banks so that we can make better use of this year's flood season. All of this must be completed in the next two months."

"You are really busy," Sheikh said politely, "You have official business to attend to. No one will blame you for working so hard for your country, right?"

"I've delayed her several times before. If I don't go this time, she'll go crazy." Guo Kang shook his head repeatedly: "Tuhuan Anda also told me that she insisted on me going this time, saying that there are no qualified doctors here and I'm the only reliable one. So, I have to go and see her in person to ensure the safety of the mother..."

The translator waved his hand at him. Guo Kang didn't react for a moment, so the translator whispered, "Sir, this is not appropriate to say in this situation..."

"what……"

"The governor just said that Taiji and the princess asked him to go to Cyprus for an inspection." The translator thought for a moment, then turned to Sheikh and said, "Everyone thinks that in the face of such a serious plague, other doctors are not qualified. The governor is the one who knows the most about medicine and plague response here, and he is the only one we can trust."

"Cyprus is relatively close, after all, and there is a risk of the plague spreading. I can only trouble him to go and take another look to ensure the safety of the place, especially the princess." He finished speaking, and added with a smile: "Of course, the princess may have her own selfish motives as well."

"Did I say something wrong?" Guo Kang was still a little confused while the translation was going on.

"You say that as if you are studying gynecology." His advisor Hussein hurriedly explained in a low voice: "It's fine at other times, but it's not appropriate to say it in this situation."

"Studying how to treat women is not a science that can be accepted by the public." Another assistant, Father Peter, also said, "If outsiders knew about this, they would inevitably look down on us. The Patriarch told you this when you were promoting the cleaning of delivery rooms in various churches."

"That's it..."

Only after he mentioned this did Guo Kang remember.

At that time, he made some tools and materials for disinfection, and also promoted them through the church, hoping that everyone would have this basic awareness and establish the process of delivery. Whether it is the delivery room environment or the delivery staff, they should be kept as clean as possible.

In this way, both the mother and the baby will be much safer, and even in places where there is a lack of professional equipment, many people can be saved - compared to the old Western doctors who dare to deliver a baby with blood on their hands, even if everyone learns to wash their hands and make their beds, it will be much better.

These methods did produce results quickly, and the beneficiaries were very grateful. However, many people did not know that Guo Kang was the one who proposed them, and instead began to worship a person called "the Saint with the Lantern", who was said to be a pious saint. This made Guo Kang very confused.

Later, he told this to Lama Wang and others, but the church thought that this was actually a good thing. Because if it was in other areas, it would be easy to clear his name. But in this area, they didn't know what to do.

The medicine of Rome and later the entire Mediterranean world was greatly influenced by Greek medicine. Like other Greek intellectuals, Greek doctors also had some special views on women.

From Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine", to Galen, the master of classical medicine in the Roman era, many people have experience in treating women. In the classical era, there were also female doctors, and Galen's medical books also recorded their experiences. Despite this, the situation of gynecology and obstetrics is still awkward.

Since the time of Hippocrates, the old Greek doctors believed that women and men were completely different animals in all aspects. Therefore, although there are many books on women's diseases, strictly speaking, this is a different category from treating men. If you study both, it's fine, but if you specialize in a certain direction, it will probably affect your social status and reputation.

With this in mind, doctors often make some strange diagnoses when treating women. For example, the word "hysteria" comes from the Greek word for "uterus". Greek doctors believed that this was a disease unique to women, and the cause was the uterus.

In the eyes of the Greeks, women are born more emotional, lack rationality and logic, are controlled by emotions, and are more likely to shed tears and lose control of their emotions than men in daily life. These are all caused by an organ unique to women - the uterus.

In the classification of Greek medicine, many mental problems can be attributed to this category. When they see a woman with hysteria, they say that she is hysterical. As a result, mental illness is regarded as a gynecological disease by them...

As for the cause of the disease, according to the "medical saint" Hippocrates, it is the lack of sexual life that causes the uterus to dry up, and the uterus wanders around in search of water, thus causing hysteria. Plato also recorded that if a woman does not mate and reproduce, her uterus will become sad and unhappy. To put it simply, it is probably repression. Therefore, the way to treat this disease is to get married and get pregnant.

Due to the great influence of Hippocrates, the Greeks still followed the experience of the medical saint until this time: if a woman is crazy, just lock her up at home and get pregnant. Many people told Guo Kang that this trick works quite well, and it seems that the wisdom of the ancient sages is still effective. Guo Kang didn't know how to comment on this. This conclusion does feel strange, but even in his time, people liked to attribute all kinds of problems to repression. It can be seen that the old Greek doctor's ideas are still accepted by many people.

However, he really didn't know how to judge. Because Theodora and others never restrained their repression, he didn't know what it would really be like in the end...

Under the guidance of this kind of thinking, people naturally don't take gynecological diseases seriously. If someone is said to be a gynecological expert, everyone will probably doubt whether it is a sarcastic remark. In this way, it is hard to know how to publicize Guo Kang's contribution. Even his care for Theodora has to be described in a different way.

During this time, the translator continued to brag for him.

"Our governor had many opportunities to go to Cyprus. Several times, he boarded the mail ship heading there, but he always returned after sending the envoys." He told the Sheikh and others: "We all admire him very much."

"Isn't this what a man should do?" Sheikh nodded in agreement, but he didn't show much admiration: "When you want to do something big, you can't let a woman stop you."

"Hey, this is different from ordinary people." Hussein also helped to explain: "The princess has a bad temper and is very strong. It is not easy for him to persist."

"So that's how it is..." Sheikh finally understood: "In fact, we can also take care of that first. After all, the water conservancy of the Nile River is just the icing on the cake. Even if we don't need so many projects, judging from the situation this year, when the river floods on its own, the harvest will be good."

The translator told Guo Kang his thoughts. Guo Kang was not surprised, but still said: "Maybe it's the experience we brought from our ancestral home. I always feel that it's safer to do our best to handle such things."

"I have inquired about Seris before and learned about it." After hearing this, Sheikh thought for a moment and said by analogy: "It seems to me that the rivers there are as violent as... uh, your Roman wife. If we refer to their experience, it is understandable that they attach so much importance to water conservancy."

"But don't worry, the Nile is as gentle and lovely as a well-educated little boy." He assured: "Even if you don't have to pay so much attention to it, there will be no problem."

His analogy left Guo Kang at a loss for words and he could only nod politely.

Next, the two chatted about some basic arrangements for the future. Sheikh came here on his own this time, but according to the previous agreement, the court would give him a quota to send one of his sons to Dadu to join the Keshig.

In the early years, this policy had a heavy hostage connotation. But now, the element of showing good will may be even greater. Because most members of the Qiexue do not perform military functions, but can get a lot of opportunities to participate in the civil service work of the court. Because they are in the administrative center, the more motivated members of the Qiexue can often get good promotion opportunities because of their rich management experience and background. Those who lack the ability to govern or just want to have fun can also get enough connections, and it will be no problem for them to do business with the Khan in the future and become a rich man.

The word "Qiexue" sounds like grassland, giving people a primitive and rough feeling. However, as long as you replace "Qiexue" here with "Langguan", you will find that it is actually the same. Maybe this is the traditional art of the old Liu family, so they are very skilled in it...

Of course, more than a thousand years have passed since the Western Han Dynasty. Compared with the current Central Plains, this system is indeed much more primitive. However, in Europe, people don’t even see this kind of situation very often, so they even feel a sense of incomprehension.

On the other hand, due to the lesson of the ancient Rome being infiltrated by barbarians, the Purple Tent Khanate is very wary of the children of these external powers among the members of the Keshig. However, as long as they don't go back to their hometown, it's actually not a big problem. If he has the ability, he can go to Europe to be a provincial darughachi. Considering the level of the Mamluk regime, in terms of the power that can be mobilized, his future may be better than his father's...

Therefore, Xie He attached great importance to this and had a special talk with Guo Kang, preparing to send his third son to follow the team to Dadu. According to him, the first two sons were born when he was starting out, and they fought with him all the way up. They were good at fighting and cunning enough, but their behavior was too rude, and they might not be able to adapt to the environment of the court.

But the third child was born after he became the Great Emir. He was educated by several teachers since he was a child. He has a gentler temperament and is generous when dealing with people. In terms of wisdom and ability, he may not be the most outstanding. But he is definitely more suitable to live in Dadu than his two brothers.

Now, he is on his way here. Sheikh hopes Guo Kang can meet him and help him.

As for the other two sons, the Sheikh had asked the elders to take them to Mecca first, and planned to wait for a while before making any arrangements. According to him, the two men were not well educated, so they had to go to the temple to temper their tempers. However, Guo Kang estimated that they might be afraid that the two men would cause trouble, so they quickly sent them out of Egypt.

Of course, he had no objection to these arrangements, so he agreed to them.

(End of this chapter)