Chapter 534: Cowpox Inoculation at Yanguan

The latest website: "Your Highness, how could this be? Let the old man go first."

Yan Wang had already explained to them that this Cowpox Inoculation, when applied to a person, would also cause illness, only with milder symptoms.

This was enough to prove that Cowpox Inoculation still carried a bit of risk.

How could he let Yan Wang take such a risk?

Zhao Xu waved his hand; he knew what Hu Yan was worried about.

However, unless there was an immune deficiency, there would be no problem with Cowpox Inoculation.

The Ninth Prince had once been kept in a filthy room by Zhang Han for a long time, yet his body had no issues at all.

There were no problems with his immunity, so he was very confident in himself.

Furthermore, he was the first to be inoculated, which was also to serve as an example.

Once he had been inoculated, the soldiers would naturally have no reason to resist.

"No need to say more." At this moment, Zhao Xu drew a Dagger from his waist and lightly sliced his wrist; he only broke the skin without drawing blood.

Immediately, he used the Dagger to pick some pus from the cow's ulcer and smeared it onto the scratch.

"This is the process of inoculation. Did you see clearly?" Zhao Xu asked.

Shi Zhengui and Hu Yan looked at each other; they had thought it would be very complicated.

It turned out to be so simple.

However, they thought again that if Yan Wang had not demonstrated it to them, they truly would not have been able to guess the method of inoculation.

"We saw it clearly," the two said in unison.

Zhao Xu nodded, "I will have the Weaponry Department forge a batch of special Daggers for you, specifically for inoculation. Now go back and practice."

The special Daggers he spoke of were naturally small knives resembling modern scalpels.

Responding with an acknowledgement, the two led the others away.

Another day passed, and twenty more cows infected with cowpox were driven to Yancheng.

Zhao Xu kept one for Liu Fu,

and had him drive it into the herd outside the city, while simultaneously creating wounds on the other cows and smearing the cowpox pus onto them.

As for the remaining cows, he gave one to each Lengbao, and all the rest were driven to Yanguan.

At the same time, he demanded that Hu Yan and Shi Zhengui be quick.

Cows only have pustules in the early stages of cowpox; after half a month, the cowpox will scab over, fall off, and heal on its own.

If the inoculation is not completed within this timeframe, the cows will be of no use.

After issuing this order, he and Shi Zhengui prepared to head to Yanguan.

Just as they left the Prince's Mansion, they saw Chang Wei arriving, covered in the dust of travel.

He had just returned from Yanguan.

"You have come at the right time. I am going to Yanguan now; you go to the Lengbao," Zhao Xu said to Chang Wei.

He then explained the matter of the Smallpox.

Upon hearing this, Chang Wei was shocked, and at the same time, his face turned red with anger, his eyes almost spitting fire.

"This shameless, low-life tactic—even Mule Hongzhen can use it; he is truly a son of a bitch," Chang Wei cursed.

Then, without stopping, he followed Zhao Xu's order and headed to the Lengbao to supervise the Cowpox Inoculation.

Zhao Xu hurriedly called him back and gave a few more instructions before letting him go.

For the past two days, he had been thinking day and night about the ways the Northern Di might spread Smallpox.

First, have Servant Soldiers infected with Smallpox attack the city, then feign defeat and leave behind a pile of corpses, so that the Yanguan soldiers would be infected while cleaning them up.

Second, use Artillery or bows and arrows to throw items carrying Smallpox into Yanguan, so that the soldiers would be infected while cleaning them up.

He felt the probability of the first method was very low.

Because once the soldiers cleaning up discovered that the enemy soldiers had growths on their bodies, they would certainly be vigilant.

Thus, it would not cause a large-scale infection.

Furthermore, the risk was too high; if the Servant Soldiers charged back, the Northern Di soldiers would be the ones in trouble.

The second method was much more likely; if it were him, he would also choose this.

One only needed to select some soldiers who had been infected with Smallpox and survived to shoot the items into Yanguan with bows and arrows.

Therefore, what he told Chang Wei was that if they encountered such a situation, they should let the soldiers who had been inoculated handle these items.

The other soldiers were to be kept separate from these soldiers, with no contact between them.

After two days of travel, Zhao Xu's party arrived at Yanguan.

Upon learning of Zhao Xu's arrival, Mo Yu immediately led the Yanguan generals to welcome him at the Nanmen.

After the salute, Mo Yu looked at the fourteen cows behind Zhao Xu with a puzzled expression.

Over the past two days, Zhao Xu had explained it to everyone he met, and he was getting a bit annoyed.

However, this matter was of great importance, so he explained it in detail to Mo Yu once more.

Upon hearing this, Mo Yu, like Chang Wei, disregarded his image and cursed the Northern Di for eighteen generations.

Zhao Xu waited for him to vent, then said, "No need to say any more. Immediately organize the soldiers to come for inoculation."

They had been delayed for two more days on the road; there was no time to delay further.

"Yes, Your Highness." Mo Yu and the generals immediately rushed back to their respective barracks as if their tails were on fire.

Zhao Xu led Shi Zhengui and fifty others straight to the Drill Ground.

Before long, a large number of soldiers gathered under the guidance of their generals.

At the city gate, he had already instructed the generals to briefly explain it to the soldiers.

So, although they were curious, they did not find it strange.

Furthermore, once they learned that Yan Wang had also been cut, they had nothing more to say.

Before the soldiers arrived, Zhao Xu had Mo Yu set up a tent on the Drill Ground and shoved the cow inside.

This was also to maintain the mystery of the Smallpox Inoculation.

In this way, even if the soldiers knew it was related to a cow, they would not know it was related to a cow that had contracted Cowpox.

Of course, besides this, the generals would also instruct the soldiers to keep their mouths shut.

"Begin."

Everything was ready, and Zhao Xu said to Shi Zhengui.

He had set up ten long tables in front of the tent, and Shi Zhengui and the others sat behind them.

Then, he said to Mo Yu, "This is also a form of charging into battle; you generals go first."

A phrase he often said to the generals at the Military Academy was that generals must take the lead.

They could not be like the Forbidden Army of Great Song, sending soldiers to die while they kept the benefits for themselves.

Any general who acted like that would have no place in the Prince's Personal Army.

Mo Yu smiled nonchalantly and sat down in front of Shi Zhengui.

Ever since his father was murdered, he had long since looked past life and death.

Now he had only two aspirations: first, to continue his father's legacy, hold Yanguan, and expel the Northern Di; second, to find the murderer who killed his father.

For the first, he believed Yan Wang would lead him to achieve it.

And for the second, he believed it would not be long either.

In Jingshi, he also had friends, and he knew what the powerful clans had been doing recently.

The world of Great Song had seemingly fallen into fragmentation.

A chaotic era was approaching, and in this chaotic era, it was not impossible that they would clash with the Xiao Family.

When that time came, he would definitely capture Xiao Yuanshan with his own hands.

"Palm facing up." At this moment, Shi Zhengui placed Mo Yu's arm on the tabletop and turned to enter the tent.

When he came out, he wiped the small knife in his hand across the scratch on Mo Yu's wrist.

"Next." Shi Zhengui had a strictly professional air.

After Mo Yu was inoculated, he came to Zhao Xu's side, "Your Highness, how many soldiers can be inoculated in total?"

"About twenty thousand," Zhao Xu said.

It would be good if the pus from one cow could inoculate two hundred people right now.

After the pus dried up, one had to wait for the cow's ulcers to continue accumulating pus.

And as time went on, the pus would only become less and less.

In the end, it would be good if one cow could inoculate thirteen or fourteen hundred.

Moreover, a cow that has contracted Cowpox, just like a person, will not contract Cowpox again.

Therefore, the Cowpox would only become scarcer.

This was also the reason he prioritized the soldiers first.

For the next few days, Zhao Xu remained at Yanguan.

He wanted to see the methods of the Northern Di with his own eyes.

But on the second day at Yanguan, small pustules grew on his body, and he also developed a low fever.

Over the next two days, the soldiers who had been inoculated also successively developed this condition.