Chapter 1179: Can the Gathering Continue?

This Military Doctor's acupuncture experience was quite insufficient, but they had one advantage: they were all bold. In this era, most illnesses went untreated, which meant certain death; if someone was willing to treat you, there was at least a chance of survival.

Therefore, at a time like this, you could not concern yourself with the skill level of the person saving you; as long as someone was saving you, that was enough. Huaxia also strictly protected doctors by law, unlike later times when doctors were the truly vulnerable group.

If a complaint was filed, it didn't matter whose fault it was; even if the patient was being unreasonable, it would still have to end with the doctor or nurse apologizing. Now, there were no such troubles.

As a doctor, you could treat boldly; as long as your starting point was correct and you did not commit any fundamental errors that should not have occurred, you were not guilty.

Because at this current stage, the most important thing was to let doctors accumulate enough experience. Without treatment experience, theory was also very weak. Under such an era's background, if there were still such harsh requirements for doctors, then it would be impossible for doctors to have rapid technological development.

The Military Doctor wanted to insert needles, but even though it was sheltered here, it was still very cold and not suitable for performing acupuncture. So the Military Doctor said, "General, let us go into the Tent to perform it. It is too cold here; I fear that inserting needles will not only be useless but will have the opposite effect."

Yishang had no reason to refuse, so he had to enter a relatively spacious Tent with the Military Doctor and let him perform the acupuncture. This was also Yishang's first time receiving acupuncture.

He did not know if the needles were inserted in the right places or not, but he just felt needles pricking his body.

The Military Doctor's skill was average. After the needles were inserted, he still had to ask, "General, how does it feel? Is there a sensation of distension or pain?"

If there was no feeling, the Military Doctor would feel like pulling the needles back out, sighing to himself that he hadn't hit the mark, and then re-inserting them until he found that so-called "viscous" sensation and Yishang himself felt the arrival of Qi, only then could he stop.

After Yishang's needles were finished, he only felt that his headache had eased slightly, but he was still severely cold, though he could barely manage to eat a little food.

Finally, after repeated instructions, he went back to sleep, feeling somewhat uneasy. As soon as he lay down, he felt the Heaven spinning and the earth turning, and he instantly lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, the Soldiers outside were also discussing whether this year's Golden Autumn Gathering could still be held smoothly and whether they could successfully attend.

Most Soldiers thought it might not be possible, because once this cold wave arrived, although it was still early, it meant that Winter had arrived. Future days would only get colder and colder; it was impossible for it to warm up again.

However, some Soldiers believed that such cold was only temporary, just a cold wave. It was not as if Huaxia had never experienced it before; it was just a bit colder overall compared to before, but Autumn was still Autumn.

Only those Soldiers who had been to the Golden Autumn Gathering before had a correct understanding.

Especially Ma; after considering everything, he expressed his own view: "I estimate there will be no Golden Autumn Gathering this year, because now is exactly the time when everyone is heading to the gathering location."

"This cold wave must be all over Heaven and earth; it cannot be only here. Therefore, other tribes currently on the road will also experience this, just like us."

"But they do not have equipment as good as ours, nor do they have such sufficient food reserves. Perhaps in just one night, many people might have already frozen to death."

"Furthermore, they are not sure what this cold wave is. Without such a strong awareness of time, they might think that Winter has arrived early. They will naturally give up on attending the Golden Autumn Gathering and hurry home; otherwise, they might not have a chance to return."

"At least for tribes like us, it used to be like this in the past, so I feel that this time, there will be no gathering. If we go, it will be a wasted trip."

After hearing Ma's words, everyone was a bit silent. Indeed, what Ma said made a lot of sense, but whether to continue moving forward still depended on Yishang's command.

If they did not go, but the Golden Autumn Gathering was held as normal, then these people would be sinners of Huaxia, unforgivable.

But if they went like this, and there was not a single person at the Golden Autumn Gathering, then they would have wasted so much time and energy, as well as so many supplies and manpower—a purely wasted trip, very wasteful, and also so dangerous.

Whatever was to be done had to be decided by Yishang, but Yishang had suddenly fallen ill and was now back to sleep, so they could only wait—wait for when Yishang recovered. Just then, the Snow had not stopped, and the wind was also very strong.

In his heart, Ma certainly still wanted to be able to attend the gathering, because he wanted merit. He did not want to make a wasted trip. Having been out for so long and already reached this point, returning now would be a true return without merit.

Merit would be impossible to obtain because this was just bad luck. At most, there would be an outing subsidy, a note in the book, and in the future, Huaxia would give him some material subsidies.

But this was not what Ma wanted, nor was it what those Soldiers wanted. They wanted merit, they wanted a more beautiful future. Such an opportunity only came once a year; would it be their turn again next year? That was not certain.

But no matter how one thought about it now, it was all in vain; it still depended on what Yishang said.

Although Yishang was ill, according to the Military Doctor, it should not be a big problem. In Huaxia, there should be no one who could die of illness, and furthermore, Yishang was a Noble; it was even more impossible to let him die.

Thinking like this, everyone also had work to do.

Firewood still had to be chopped; not much was chopped in the middle of the night. An encampment with so many people was very wasteful of firewood.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Snow was not yet that thick, they should hurry to pull the wood over, chop it, and prepare it. Only by preparing more firewood like this could they cope with this wind and Snow that did not know when it would stop.

The cattle had all come behind the sheltered Tents, and some even had the idea of competing with people for space. Fortunately, the cattle could not get into those small Tents, and the people could not bear to let the cattle freeze, so they had to give up the space and even keep the fire going.

Cattle that had lived with people for so long were not that afraid of fire anymore, and they also knew where it was hotter—certainly by the fire pile—as long as they didn't go crazy and drill into the fire.

Competing with people for space and such were all small matters; everyone could understand and was willing to give up space for the cattle.