Chapter 546: Preparations of the Great Ming's Military and People (Part Two)

The Divine Physician Dong, who lifted the curtain and entered, seemed to carry a sterilizing halo with him. The Ming people in the tent who had been watching the excitement instantly fell silent, and for a moment, only the wounded man's agonized roars remained on the scene.

Although information circulated slowly in ancient times, that was caused by technological reasons. In fact, the ancients' sensitivity to the various personnel changes within the court was not one bit lower than that of later generations.

Take the "Gentry Register," "Grade A Register," and other such directories publicly sold in bookstores during the Ming and Qing dynasties; these were essentially real-time updated official rosters. The Gentry Registers from the Liangjing Bookshops, in particular, were released almost simultaneously with the Ministry of Personnel, which could be called dynamic, real-time offline updates—at lightning speed.

There is an interesting anecdote about this: paper was expensive at the time, so the Gentry Registers sold in bookstores sometimes had "patches." When only a few officials changed positions, the bookshops, to save costs, would directly smear over, cut out, and patch a few new names onto the original book before selling it as new... Customers expressed understanding one after another, and their emotions were stable.

And in this plane of the transmigrators, when a powerful faction represented by the Cao Clan forcefully inserted itself into Guangzhou City, the economic and cultural center of Southern China, the fog that had previously shrouded the distant barbarian lands dissipated overnight.

The native Ming people, at least the native elites, after realizing the current situation in Guangdong and coming into close contact with the transmigrators, quickly had the origins and names of these legendarily risen figures collected and summarized by those with intent.

Although they could not bestow a gentry title upon the transmigrators, who ostensibly held no scholarly rank, this did not stop the natives from publishing a "Hero Register" equivalent to the Gentry Register. At the same time, based on some crude explanations about their origins that the transmigrators had released early on, a widely accepted, native-brainstormed Great Ming-style romance began to circulate among the common people.

The story's template, of course, could not escape the modes of the vernacular tales and storytelling that Ming people loved. The general content was: Back when Regional Commander Cao was still Sea Merchant Cao, he already harbored great ambitions. Thus, on a certain day of a certain year, three hundred and sixty-one heroes (corresponding to the number of the circumferential stars) agreed to gather for justice on a South Seas island. The people of the time, seeing Cao Chuan's great talent, bold vision, and unparalleled righteousness, publicly recommended Brother Cao as their leader, and he took the first seat, and so on...

Collecting information on the transmigrators was an inevitable social phenomenon.

Regardless of the name, the fact was that a small number of transmigrators held enormous wealth and power. This could not help but draw people's attention; in other words, society had a demand for it.

To this day, apart from a portion of tech-otaku far away in Taiwan who were usually obscure, most of the others who needed to deal with Ming people, especially those who had successively come to Guangzhou, were already well known to the Ming people.

Therefore, in the eyes of friendly figures like Provincial Graduate Bai, who had already boarded the ship, Dong Qiang, who was responsible for healing the sick and saving the wounded, was no stranger... He was, after all, a hero on the level of the Divine Physician An Daoquan, and even had a character-standard doggerel verse to his name.

Not to mention that Ming-style doggerel, even if someone in Provincial Graduate Bai's family fell ill now, they would go to the New District Hospital to "seek medicine" at the first moment. So today, when Dong Qiang, Dong Yuanzhang, entered the tent, the scene immediately quieted down.

After entering and sweeping his gaze across the tent, seeing so many people, Dong Qiang could not help but frown slightly. However, as a high-ranking transmigrator who had single-handedly established the Min-Yue Medical System, he now viewed problems with the gaze of a superior. So, apart from frowning, Dong Yuanzhang simply asked two brief questions about the injury, then shooed out the workers who had brought the wounded man. As for Provincial Graduate Bai and his group, he pretended not to see them.

After clearing out the "idle spectators," Big Shot Dong swung his hand, and the next step was the medical students' work. The young students immediately swarmed over with a "whoosh," and many hands busied themselves with the wounded man.

It must be said that medical students of this era were quite fortunate. They did not need to be like their counterparts in later generations, who, after several years of medical school, would go to a hospital for internship and not even get a chance to stitch up a belly.

Studying under the transmigrators, there were plenty of living and dead people for everyone to practice on. And regardless of their skill, patients and their family members would absolutely never commit medical violence. Students who had only studied theory for one or two years were already veterans in terms of practical experience; at least routine surgical operations were not a difficulty for them.

However, today's wounded man had relatively severe injuries, clearly exceeding the students' treatment capability. So, after completing the peripheral cleaning work, the big shot needed to step in: "Director, the wounded man has a deep wound in the abdomen, massive bleeding."

"Mm, inject morphine, prepare for surgery and blood typing."

At this point, Dong Qiang had to roll up his sleeves and step in himself.

Speaking of which, this wounded man was also an unlucky fellow. A snapped steel cable from the construction site had whipped over and brutally lashed open his abdomen, cutting a fifteen-centimeter wound. So, when the cloth stuffing his belly was removed, blood began gushing from the wounded man's abdomen, and even his bluish intestines spilled out.

In the eyes of the silent Ming gentlemen watching nearby, this kind of injury was basically fatal: whether cut by a knife or lashed by a steel cable, wasn't this just having one's guts pierced and belly torn open?

Yet, this kind of injury was really not a big deal in later generations. Compared to various heart surgeries and brain surgeries, the emergency surgery level for an abdominal wound in a proper hospital was not high. With Dong Qiang's surgical skill, doing this was truly not difficult, even in the seventeenth century. At the very least, the instruments, drugs, and knowledge Dong Qiang possessed when performing surgery today already far exceeded the conditions Comrade Bethune had at the time.

Next, Divine Physician Dong began to operate step by step. First, he searched for bleeding points inside the wounded man's abdomen, then stopped the bleeding in sequence, then sought out the damaged intestinal section, debrided and excised it, and then joined and sutured it, proceeding methodically and in an orderly manner.

During the entire operation, the "blood donors" pre-arranged by the Field Hospital also came in very handy.

These people, whose blood types had been tested in advance, were all workers. They had been excused from work recently and were kept well-fed and well-rested. Once the battle started and the hospital officially began operating, they would be responsible for providing immediate blood transfusion services to wounded soldiers. So, today's wounded man was also somewhat lucky; he inadvertently became a lab rat testing the Field Hospital's surgical operations and received high-quality medical service.

In today's surgery, a total of three blood donors took turns providing the wounded man with over 1000 cc of same-type blood. After donating, each blood ox could receive a few Cao Big Heads, along with two chickens and two ducks to replenish their bodies, and one week of paid leave. So, the others who hadn't had their turn watched with envy as the lucky ones left carrying their chickens and ducks...

The gentlemen of the visiting delegation nearby blinked their eyes, equally tongue-tied.

Whether it was the "anesthetic powder" that stopped the wounded man from struggling, the surgical operation akin to sewing clothes, or the "blood transfusion" that seemed understandable but felt far more complex, all of it greatly broadened the gentlemen's horizons.

"Jiang Adi, what is the most important thing in this operation?"

"Teacher, it's finding the bleeding point at the first moment."

"And what about post-surgery?"

"Preventing abdominal infection."

"Mm, not bad. You close the abdomen. After it's done, administer a shot of sulfonamide, and closely monitor for infection."

Forty minutes later, the wounded man, originally deemed certain to die in the eyes of the Ming people, had completed the surgical process under Dong Yuanzhang's skilled hands. All that remained was the task of stitching up the belly, which became a gift the big shot rewarded to his student.

And Provincial Graduate Bai could no longer conceal his admiration. With a face full of reverence, he cupped his hands towards Dong Qiang, who was removing his gloves, and said: "Brilliant, truly brilliant! Reviving the dead and restoring flesh to bone, need I say more, Divine Physician Dong? We are all in awe!"

"Mm, let's see the prognosis. There's still the infection hurdle to pass."

Although Big Shot Dong was being flattered, this wasn't something anyone would find excessive. So, he smiled and chatted with Old Master Bai for a few moments, then led the observation group to several other tents, inspected the various prepared medical supplies, and even provided some popular science education along the way.

The Ming gentlemen were not too clear on the value of healed veteran soldiers, so after visiting the hospital, most of them generally still felt this place was a venue for winning people's hearts. "General Daren loves his soldiers like his own sons" was everyone's consensus.

However, looking at the boxes of various medical supplies piled up, the rows of clean and tidy beds, and the mobile kitchen outside emitting black smoke and constantly producing hot water, the gentlemen truly felt, once again, the Cao Clan's monstrous strength hidden in the most inconspicuous places.

Strength was the one thing that could not be faked. Without needing to display thousands of mighty soldiers, the ample supply of materials itself was a unique advantage ahead of this era, enough to give those with intent something to ponder.

As the sun set in the west, the observation group left this place before the Gate Barrier was locked at dusk and boarded a ferryboat with bright lights. The boat slowly traveled upstream on the Pearl River, whose navigation conditions had greatly improved, heading to the nearest Ming city: Xiangshan County's Xiancheng.

The guests of the observation group naturally would not come all this way just to go home. Today's activities were, to put it plainly, just a prelude. Everyone knew that in a few days, a real great battle would begin, and at that time, they would return to the Gate Barrier once more.

As the Ming "capital" closest to Macau, the area around Xiangshan County's Xiancheng had recently seen the gathering of a large number of soldiers mobilized by the transmigrators. Several military camps and scout fields originally inside and outside the city had now been requisitioned. Supplies, including massive quantities of military necessities, had been stockpiled in Xiangshan, and Xiangshan County had become the de facto base camp for operations against Macau.

So, when the observation group arrived at the Guanxiang dock in the county city at night, they found the place brightly lit, with human shouts and horse neighs, as bright as day. Everywhere were young soldiers in new-style military uniforms and civilian laborers working busily through the night.

Soon, under Advisor Xiao's leadership, the gentlemen passed through areas already controlled by the New Army and arrived at the newly built Xiangshan Guesthouse to rest.

And just on the morning of the second day, the Ming side officially sealed off the Lotus Stem Pass Gate. Macau had become an isolated island, and a great battle was on the verge of breaking out.