The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 67 Is there an alternative?

Jiang Fan's words surprised Shen Yuan.

According to his understanding, although the Wucheng Bingmasi had 10,000 people, they usually only handled some miscellaneous tasks.

He is very good at things like finding a cat for the Shangshu's family and a dog for the Marquis's mansion.

Therefore, he had a preconceived notion and was not optimistic about the soldiers of the Five Cities Army.

But at this time, listening to what Jiang Fan said, there are indeed quite a few good seedlings.

After a while, Jiang Fan added, "But these people are relatively old, most of them are in their twenties."

In ancient times, boys as young as thirteen could serve in the military, so twenty-something was indeed a bit too old.

Jiang Fan continued before he finished speaking, "Most of the runners of the Wucheng Bingmasi were in the frontier army before. Because they were not good at making friends, they were ostracized. Later, when they returned to the rear, they were stuffed into the Wucheng Bingmasi to do miscellaneous work."

"An old soldier from the border army?" Shen Yuan's eyes moved slightly.

Jiang Fan nodded.

After a moment of silence, Shen Yuan pondered and said, "New troops and old soldiers are a good match."

He didn't care about the issue of age. A man in his twenties is considered an adult and is at the age of greatest strength. It was only because life expectancy was short in ancient times that he felt old.

Recruiting such a group of veteran border soldiers can greatly shorten the time it takes for the new army to form combat effectiveness.

Of course, military discipline must be strictly enforced and no troublemakers should be allowed to emerge.

After collecting his thoughts, Shen Yuan looked at Liu Xianglian and Zhao Huan again and asked, "How is the situation in the market?"

Liu Xianglian clasped his fists and said, "Brother Zhao and I have set up recruitment platforms in the east and west of the city respectively. Many young people among the people admire Lord Shen, and many have signed up to join the army, but not many can meet the recruitment standards. Today I have only recruited 200 people."

Zhao Huan continued, "I have a little more people here, about 300 people."

Shen Yuan nodded after listening to this. He was quite satisfied with the current situation and said in a clear voice: "Brother Feng, you don't need to go to the Beijing camp anymore. Tomorrow you will organize the soldiers you have recruited into the team and start training according to the new military drill manual. Remember, military discipline always comes first and no one can challenge it."

"Yes!" Feng Ziying responded.

Shen Yuan then instructed Jiang Fan and the others, "Continue to recruit soldiers until the quota is reached."

"Yes!"

According to today's situation, it will only take three to five days for the new army to recruit 5,000 people.

In the next few days, everything went on in an orderly manner.

The courtyard in the west of the city.

When Shen Yuan returned home from work, he came to the backyard and saw Baochai waiting in the side room, drinking tea and chatting with Qiu'er. Xiangyun also came with them today.

Seeing Shen Yuan coming back, the girls all showed joy on their faces.

"Brother Shen." Baochai called softly.

"Sister Xue is here."

As Shen Yuan spoke, he came to the table and sat down. Ying'er poured him a cup of tea.

"It feels like I haven't seen Brother Shen for a long time. Are you very busy recently?" Xiangyun asked.

Shen Yuan has indeed been quite busy recently, with the recruitment and training of the new army guards, and he also has to visit the Military Equipment Inspectorate from time to time.

Baochai hadn't been here for several days. She came today with an appointment in advance, and an imperial physician came to take Baochai's pulse.

Shen Yuan drank a sip of tea, looked at Xiangyun, and said with a smile: "The new army has just been established, and there are indeed a lot of things to do. It will be better after some time." Baochai heard this, her almond eyes moved slightly under her willow eyebrows, and she said softly: "Brother Shen is busy with work, my health is not serious, I have Lengxiang Pills."

Shen Yuan said seriously: "For me, my sister's health is the most important thing. The Lengxiang Pill is an external object after all. I am worried if you keep relying on it like this."

He had heard Baochai mention before that Lengxiang Pills were a "magic recipe from the sea" he heard from a monk and that it was extremely difficult to prepare.

Grind up 12 liang of white peony, white lotus, white hibiscus and white plum stamens into powder, and use 12 qian of rain from the Rain Water festival, dew from the White Dew festival, frost from the Frost Descent festival and snow from the Minor Snow festival of the same year, add honey and white sugar to mix, make large longan pills, put them in a container and bury them under the roots of the flower tree.

When heat toxicity attacks, take one pill with a decoction of 12 parts Phellodendron chinense.

With such harsh conditions, who can guarantee that nothing will go wrong in the future?

Baochai felt warm in her heart as she heard her lover's sweet words. She felt that Shen Lang truly held her in his hands and loved her dearly.

Xiangyun was touched when she saw Brother Shen showing such a rare serious and worried expression. She felt that Brother Shen treated Baochai differently from others. Is this love?
Qiu'er was staring at Shen Yuan at this moment, her pretty eyes showing a bit of infatuation. Brother Shen was always so gentle and kind as jade. If she was unwell one day, Brother Shen would also be nervous, right?

They chatted for a while, and then Doctor Li arrived as scheduled to diagnose Baochai's pulse and treat her.

After taking the patient's pulse, Doctor Li made a preliminary diagnosis.

"Sir Shen, your wife does have a heat poison in her body. I wonder how long she has been suffering from this disease?"

Shen Yuan's mind was slightly tense, and he replied, "It was brought from my mother's womb, and is usually suppressed by Lengxiang Pills."

"Can you show me the pills and the prescription?"

Upon hearing this, Baochai did not hesitate. She poured out a pill from the small porcelain bottle she carried with her and handed it to Doctor Li along with the prescription.

Doctor Li took it, stared at the pill, and then picked up the prescription to examine it carefully. Suddenly, his face showed surprise, his old eyes flickered, and he said in surprise: "This is the prescription. I have seen it in an ancient book. It can cure congenital heat poison. I didn't expect that someone could actually make it?"

Shen Yuan was delighted when he heard this. Since this prescription was recorded in ancient books, perhaps more treatment methods could be found.

He had originally worried that the bald monk and the lame Taoist who gave the prescription were some kind of immortals, but now it seemed that they were just capable people.

"I wonder if the old gentleman has a cure?"

Doctor Li pondered for a moment, shook his head, and said with emotion: "The heat poison from the fetal origin has already penetrated into the blood and marrow. I don't have the skills to cleanse the essence and marrow."

Shen Yuan's heart sank and he fell silent. He had never thought that this heat poison was so difficult to cure.

"Brother Shen, I'm fine." Baochai felt sad when she saw Shen Yuan's gloomy expression. She gently pulled the corner of her lover's sleeve with her bare hands and said something to comfort him.

"Yeah, it's okay." Shen Yuan reached out and stroked the girl's soft hand.

He then looked at Doctor Li and said, "This prescription is difficult to make. Does the old doctor have any alternatives?"

Since there is no cure, it would be nice to have a simpler prescription.

Doctor Li pondered for a moment and said, "In my opinion, it is not necessary to follow this prescription. Many herbs have similar pharmacological effects, and perhaps we can find a substitute among them."

After a pause, he looked up at the prescription and pills, and continued, "Master Shen, can I take this thing back with me? Let me consult with my colleagues in the Imperial Hospital, so that we can find an alternative prescription faster."

Shen Yuan glanced at Baochai, then nodded to Doctor Li and said, "Thank you, Doctor Li."

After seeing off Doctor Li, Shen Yuanfu returned to the backyard room.

Qiu'er and Xiangyun, who had been avoiding the group, also came over. When they learned the diagnosis results, they couldn't help but feel sad.

"It's okay. Haven't we come through all these years?" Seeing the depressing atmosphere, Baochai smiled and spoke to comfort them.

Shen Yuan suppressed his worries, stepped forward and took Baochai into his arms, put his lips on the girl's forehead, and said softly: "Well, it's okay. We have already met in this life, how could I let my sister slip away from me!"

(End of this chapter)