The most dissolute couple in the capital

Li Zhao acted swiftly and decisively. In less than half a day, he dispatched a team of armored soldiers to carve out a water transport line from a spring ten miles away, following the mountain path that had not been completely destroyed by the mudslide.

Although transporting water by horse-drawn carts and manpower was not easy, it managed to calm the emotions of the disaster victims and provide a clean water source.

With a pillar of support in place, the rest is about healing the illness.

The old physician Qi spread out several newly drafted prescriptions on the simple wooden table and discussed the treatment with his colleagues: "After careful consideration, I believe that this vomiting and diarrhea should be treated primarily with aromatic herbs to dispel dampness, clear heat, and detoxify. What do you think of adding Huanglian and Baitouweng to the base of Huoxiang Zhengqi San?"

After the imperial physicians finished examining the patient, none of them had any objections.

Li Chengjing hesitated before speaking, "Elder Qi, the prescription is certainly excellent. But simply giving them the medicine might not be enough."

Old Qi was taken aback, then sighed, "Your Highness, after such a great disaster, there are countless patients. All we doctors can do is try our best and leave the rest to fate. We should prescribe medicine to save as many people as we can."

"It's not that I have any issues with the prescription, but I definitely need to take this medicine." Li Chengjing rubbed his temples in frustration. "I'm still worried about the water source. Although the well water is sealed off, it's still a flood, and the spring water that's been brought in might not be clean. The wooden buckets used to hold water along the way, and the broken bowls that the disaster victims use to drink from, are still not clean enough."

Diarrhea is not a serious problem, but the extreme environment in disaster areas can greatly reduce the effectiveness of traditional methods such as "observation, listening, questioning, palpation, prescription of medicine and decoction".

Li Chengjing thought for a moment: "Didn't the Imperial Medical Academy discuss this before? Raw water after a flood is prone to harboring filth and toxins. Even if it has been filtered and settled, it still needs to be boiled before it can be consumed. I will go and tell the Prince of Yan."

Without hesitation, Li Chengjing made up his mind and headed straight for Li Zhao's main tent.

Inside the main tent, Li Zhao was intently studying a river engineering blueprint, his brows slightly furrowed.

"My dear niece!" Li Chengjing strode in and got straight to the point, "The water that's been brought in can't be given directly to the disaster victims; it has to be boiled! Right now, get me a batch of large iron pots from the government treasury or the river works, along with enough firewood. Each camp needs to have several dedicated water-boiling sheds!"

Li Zhao wasn't bothered by her royal uncle's frequent flashes of inspiration; she simply looked over and asked:

"Boiling water is indeed a good method. So, Uncle, how much firewood do you need?"

"This..." Li Chengjing opened his mouth, "Of course, the more the better, there has to be enough to boil water."

Seeing that she didn't understand, Li Zhao asked more clearly, "How many pots do you want?"

"So... how about a dozen or so for each camp?" Li Chengjing gestured somewhat uncertainly.

Li Zhao sighed softly: "Uncle, the dam is leaking, and the river workers are in a real hurry. All the timber and firewood are being used there to reinforce it and for heating. If you can't give me a definite answer, I won't be able to get anything out of the river workers."

"How many stones of firewood do you need per day? What size pot do you need? How many buckets of water can one pot boil at a time? How many hours does it take to boil water? How many disaster victims can it supply with water? And how much firewood and stove will be needed to brew medicine?"

Lee Seung-kyung opened his mouth, but only managed to utter an "ah" before nothing else came out.

Back in the capital, if someone had an idea, they could just pat their head and have servants take care of it for them. It's nothing like now, where you have to come up with your own solutions.

"I..." Li Chengjing subconsciously wanted to call a servant to do it, but looking at the bluish-gray look in Li Zhao's eyes and the soldiers bustling around, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

"I'll go back and calculate it, and I'll tell you when I've finished." Li Chengjing took a deep breath, turned around, and strode out of the main tent.

Back in his tent, Li Chengjing began to write and draw on the medical records and personnel register from the past few days.

He cursed inwardly: "I, a prince, have never been able to bear even counting silver notes in my life, and now I have to manage the accounts myself! If only that bastard Wang Chengyuan were here, that kid's calculations are faster than the wind!"

He was slightly distracted. He had heard about the floods in Jiangnan and was worried about Wang Chengyuan. He sent a letter to inquire and found out that Wang Chengyuan had gone to travel elsewhere and had not been affected.

How comfortable!

He spent a long time keeping track of the number of people, but when he started counting, he realized that he had never boiled water before, so he had to ask Liu Lu how much firewood he usually needed.

Liu Lu had worked his way up from a lowly eunuch, so he had some impression of the process, but he had never been exposed to this kind of large-pot cooking method. He then went out and borrowed a minor official position for Li Chengjing.

It turns out that even calculating the amount of water to boil is so complicated. He not only has to calculate the number of people in the ward, but also the daily water consumption, how much water can be boiled in each pot, how much firewood is needed, and to leave some margin, but he can't arrange too much, otherwise there won't be enough manpower and supplies.

As night fell, Li Chengjing finally confirmed all the data. Unable to wait until the next day, he went into Li Zhao's tent again.

"Assuming each person drinks at least three bowls of water per day, approximately 20,000 bowls of water would be needed. A large cooking pot can boil 100 bowls of water at a time, taking half an hour. If it were to be boiled continuously for twelve hours, one pot could produce 2,400 bowls of water per day. Add to that the losses from decocting the medicine—"

"My dear niece, after calculating, you can provide me with nine large iron pots and two hundred catties of coarse firewood every day. In addition, forty people from the lightly injured disaster victims will be selected to take turns tending the fires. Just add some extra food, and that will be enough. I will also have the Imperial Guards send a few people to oversee the distribution of water. That should be fine."

Li Zhao quickly checked the booklet, took the vermilion pen, wrote a line on the transfer order beside him, stamped it with the official seal, and handed it to Li Chengjing. "Uncle, here's the stuff. How you manage it is up to you. If adjustments are actually needed, come find me again."

"No problem!" Li Chengjing was in high spirits after receiving the transfer order. He was wide awake and immediately went to find Xiao Jue to finalize the manpower for guarding the water shed.

However, sealing off the old wells and forcing the disaster victims to switch to drinking boiled spring water was not easy to implement. Not only did Li Chengjing have to painstakingly allocate firewood and iron pots, but the disaster victims were also full of complaints.

The refugees below were whispering among themselves, saying that this prince from the capital was spoiled and pampered, wasting good firewood and insisting on boiling water before letting people drink it. He was just being a busybody.

Hearing these rumors, Li Chengjing didn't bother arguing with them. His experience of going to the countryside to treat patients a few years ago had already taught him that sometimes reasoning with people was like casting pearls before swine; as long as the Imperial Guards held their swords, these people would always come to drink.

Fortunately, these forceful measures quickly proved effective. After about seven days, the number of disaster victims suffering from vomiting and diarrhea in the camp had visibly decreased by more than half. In addition, the continuous rain and cold nights meant that a bowl of hot water could dispel a lot of the chill, and the number of people suffering from colds also decreased significantly.

In this way, the doctors of the Imperial Medical Academy and the young pharmacists who prepared the medicine were finally able to catch their breath, and a lot of the precious medicinal materials consumed daily in the camp were saved.

When Li Chengjing told the old physician Qi about this matter, he was practically strutting around with pride.

Seeing the situation in the disaster camp gradually improving, he felt a sense of accomplishment. He was able to save so many lives by simply keeping a few accounts and setting up a few iron pots!