Chapter 182: Destroying Woguo

Yan Ning thought for a moment: "There is indeed a necessity for this."

Yan Ze also said: "Woguo is truly bold; perhaps there are still Woguo spies among us, otherwise why would Woguo start harassing the people of Daxia the moment we leave?"

Yun Shu gritted his teeth and said: "I have heard that those Woguo pirates do not just steal things; they also abuse and kill the common people. Those women and young girls are humiliated by the Woguo pirates."

Everyone fell silent.

The Woguo pirates have come to invade our Daxia Dynasty and have committed every evil deed, yet the Daxia Dynasty still harbors spies from the enemy nation.

This requires Woguo to be wiped out; once the nation is destroyed, those spies will be of no use.

Yun Shu continued: "I think we should cut the weeds and dig up the roots this time, otherwise the people on the borders of the Daxia Dynasty will all suffer."

Since the founding of the Daxia Dynasty, there has never been a war to annihilate an entire nation; usually, after winning, the territory is seized and the people submit accordingly.

But Woguo is different.

Yan Ze said: "Tomorrow, have General Xie take the Cannon to Woguo and destroy the nation directly."

This time, the civil and military officials had no objections.

If they were only stealing some things, that would be one thing, but they abuse and kill commoners and humiliate women and young girls; it is simply insane.

At this moment, someone asked Yun Shu: "Will this Cannon explode if it is placed here? What if it explodes and blows up the ship?"

Yun Shu replied: "I have this concern as well, so I have tested it many times. After several improvements and modifications to the internal structure, I can guarantee that it will not explode inside."

Hearing Yun Shu's assurance, everyone was finally relieved.

That afternoon, General Xie packed up and prepared to take ten thousand elite soldiers to Woguo. Yan Ning prepared a ship for them with the Cannon placed on it; they could destroy their entire nation without even going ashore.

When Yun Shu built the Cannon, he had intended to destroy Woguo, so he had conveniently made many Bombs and had General Xie bring them all along.

At court the next day, the minds of the civil and military officials were all stirred up.

Yan Ning was the first to step out: "I think the next Cannon should be sent to the Southern Frontier. Nanzhao has become increasingly bold these past few years; it is time to have a Cannonball to intimidate them."

This time, all the officials echoed the sentiment.

After court, Yan Ning took the rewards and went to the Imperial Academy to find Yun Shu.

Before she even saw a shadow of Yun Shu, she heard the commotion in the classroom.

Someone asked Jiang Zhi and Song Yu: "Do you two know how the Cannon is made?"

Both of them said they did not know how to make it.

At this time, someone whose identity was unknown said something to sow discord: "Master Yun is so good to you, and you study those things together every day, so why don't you even know how the Cannon is made?"

Song Yu immediately changed his expression and questioned: "What Master Yun does are matters of military importance. You keep asking how the Cannon is made—are you trying to make a Cannon in private and wanting to rebel?"

That person then said: "What rebellion or no rebellion? Don't you go spitting blood at people. I just think Master Yun is always ordering you around, yet he doesn't even tell you about this."

Song Yu and Jiang Zhi were both speechless.

It was true that Yun Shu liked to order them around, but he really paid them well; making a Mirror earned them one hundred taels of silver a month, and if they were temporarily asked to help him with something, he would give them extra money.

It was normal not to let them participate in such matters of military importance.

Yan Ning was amused listening from outside.

Seeing that they were still talking, she walked in.

Yan Ning was wearing a black robe with a Dragon Pattern; one could tell her status just by looking at the clothing.

Everyone in the room immediately fell silent.

Yan Ning sneered: "Who was just playing the innocent victim and sowing discord?"

Everyone pointed at a man nearing thirty.

Yan Ning said with a stern expression: "Instead of studying properly, you spend your days sowing discord and even want to spy on military intelligence?"

"You don't need to come tomorrow."

Yan Ning expelled him directly.

The atmosphere at the Imperial Academy was truly hard to describe; she wondered how Yun Shu managed these few people.

The things that needed to be done recently were all finished.

Yan Ning was free again.

As soon as she had free time, she began to tinker with some strange and peculiar gadgets.

This time, she wanted to make Alcohol.

The disinfecting effect of Alcohol is very good and can be used to disinfect various medical instruments.

Nowadays on the battlefield, many people do not die from the war, but from wounds that did not receive proper treatment.

If Alcohol could disinfect those medical supplies and avoid wound infection, more people would survive.

Alcohol has great utility, so Yan Ning prepared to make Alcohol.

At the very beginning, Yan Ning went to the Medical Academy to see how they treated people.

Every month on the fifth, Qian Ruofang would set up a stall outside the Imperial Academy to provide free medical consultations to people.

Of course, Qian Ruofang did not provide free treatment for nothing; she would have several apprentices take turns checking pulses, and sometimes students would help with acupuncture.

But the common people had no objections; after all, it was free, and sometimes they could even get free massage and acupuncture.

Today happened to be the fifth, and when Yan Ning went, she saw Qian Ruofang treating people.

She saw that after the Silver Needle was used, it was placed aside and then used on the next person.

Yan Ning stood there for a long time, telling Qian Ruofang not to mind her.

When Qian Ruofang finished checking a person's pulse and there was no one else around, Yan Ning asked: "Don't you disinfect the needles after using them?"

Qian Ruofang was stunned.

Yan Ning knew from her expression that they did not have this concept.

Qian Ruofang said: "After the needles are used, they are wiped clean, but I do not know what the Crown Princess means by disinfection?"

Yan Ning took a jar of Alcohol from the carriage, scooped a spoonful into a plate, and then soaked the Silver Needle in the Alcohol.

Yan Ning said, "This is what we call disinfection."

Yan Ning introduced the function of Alcohol to Qian Ruofang.

"If one does not disinfect, and the person before had some major illness, it could potentially be transmitted to others through acupuncture."

Qian Ruofang immediately perked up, "This Alcohol is a good thing; I will have the doctors I am acquainted with use Alcohol right away."

It was merely a matter of soaking the needles in Alcohol while at it.

Yan Ning had not expected Alcohol to be promoted so quickly in the Capital.

It was mainly because Yan Ning's recent ingenious ideas were all beneficial to the country and the people.

Therefore, even though Yan Ning said Alcohol could disinfect without being able to produce any data references or experimental results, others were still willing to believe Yan Ning's words.

Moreover, Yan Ning sold this Alcohol very cheaply; the cost was fifty copper coins, and the price Yan Ning sold it for was sixty wen.

This kind of thing was purely thankless work.

But it was necessary to promote it further.

However, once outside the Capital, promoting Alcohol would not be so easy.

They all felt that without proof or evidence, how could just soaking it in alcohol make it better?

There were even people who did not use Alcohol for disinfection; seeing that Alcohol was cheap, they actually used it for stir-frying!

Yan Ning could bear it no longer, so when attending court, she brought this matter up.

Yan Ning said, "I think we can issue a government decree requiring all medical clinics to disinfect their Silver Needles, Scissors, and other instruments before use."

Yan Ze immediately agreed, "It should indeed be so."

The Minister of Revenue was somewhat displeased: "But Your Highness, this Alcohol factory will lose money!"