Chapter 168: The Isaacs' New Year (6)

Haridi was also an Isaac, and a student of a sage and an outstanding craftsman.

When the Isaacs discussed this matter in the meeting, they didn't leave him out.

But he didn't participate in this matter, just kept silent.

He was ready when he was brought into Cesar's room. No matter how the other party wanted to punish him, whether he was hung upside down or whipped, he would accept it willingly.

In any case, Cesar could be considered his benefactor, and he had saved his life more than once. Even if he repaid it with his own life, he had nothing to complain about.

But unexpectedly, Cesar not only allowed him to sit in front of him but also ordered Longinus to bring a cup of clear water and a large candelabra with many candles. The room suddenly became bright.

Then Cesar drove away Longinus, leaving only him and himself in the room.

The young Bethlehem knight carefully took out a piece of parchment about three feet square from the drawer.

This size was rare among parchments. After all, parchment was peeled from a sheep, and then processed through processes such as soaking in lime water, removing wool, scraping thin on both sides, stretching, drying, and polishing to become the current parchment.

During the whole process, as long as there was one carelessness, cracks and holes would appear on the parchment, and the result was that a large piece of sheepskin could only be cut into small pieces for use.

He thought the other party was going to show him some holy relic or scripture? Unexpectedly, after the parchment was unfolded, Haridi only saw a few strange patterns—or for those who were not good at this, just some strange patterns, but as a craftsman with exquisite and skilled skills and advanced thinking, he could see at a glance that it seemed to be a small weapon that could inject poison into the enemy's body.

He thought, ah, this day has finally come. Didn't the Christian knight keep him just for this purpose? But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a sense of disgust in his heart—he had indeed crafted harmful instruments with his own hands, but at that time he was almost crazy, and everything he had was destroyed by the hyenas brought by Sultan Nur ad-Din.

His teacher, his clansmen, his wife, and his daughter all died. He drifted alone, like duckweed, difficult to establish a foothold.

Indeed, as Saladin said, he still had a few desires to survive. He couldn't commit suicide, nor could he acquiesce to others' slaughter of him, but because he lost those ancient scrolls, he couldn't return to their secret place as his teacher had instructed to pray for the protection of his clansmen.

He also disdained to do so, but he also found it difficult to accept that he would only craft things that took human lives in the future.

Those people were not necessarily pagan and murderous murderers like Sultan Nur ad-Din. They might be a promising monarch, or they might be a wise scholar.

He knew these Christians, knew these knight lords. Perhaps they had a good reputation outside, but when they moved their hands for profit, they were merciless.

"Can you see what this is?"

Haridi was about to refuse, even if the other party was furious and hanged him immediately, he didn't care. But then he saw another device, which looked like a complete set of extraction equipment, but more complex than the one for extracting flower dew...

"What do you intend to use this for?"

He said the first sentence after coming to this room.

"To save people." Cesar said.

He originally thought he could see surprise and relief on Haridi's face. But in fact, he just looked at Cesar suspiciously, as if to see if there were any compassionate qualities in this Christian knight.

Afterward, he picked up the large parchment and looked at it back and forth several times, "Do you also agree with the blood transfusion balance theory?"

What he said here was not the blood transfusion that would only exist hundreds of years later, with certain medical concepts and practical innovations.

This assumption was still based on Hippocrates' humoral theory. Clerics believed that if a person was sick, the liquid in the body was out of balance. Since this was the case, draining some liquid—which was the well-known bloodletting, or inputting some liquid, wouldn't that allow the person to recover?

This statement was supported by many people, and as early as ancient Egypt and Rome, there was bloodletting therapy. But blood transfusion could only exist on paper, and no one had been able to truly implement it. The main thing was that they didn't know how to ingest other people's liquid into their own bodies.

The only attempt they could make was to take it directly or apply it. Like the beautiful women of ancient Rome, they often collected the blood and sweat left by gladiators during training or fighting and mixed them into wine for consumption, believing that this could enhance their charm.

Ancient Egyptians would also drink the blood of strong men directly, believing it could treat epilepsy.

In the world of Christians, eating blood and flesh appeared more in various evil sacrifices. Believers who worshipped the devil would also share the blood and flesh of victims, believing that they could draw from them what they didn't have—like youth, health, etc.

Even the Isaacs were firmly believed by people to eat babies.

Haridi had indeed heard of Cesar's good name, but to be honest, he didn't believe it much. He had seen too many dignitaries, and the credit of Christians in his place was not as good as that of Saracens. They set up a fake idol and regarded it as the Son of God sent by God to the earth, believing that he had redeemed all human sins with his own death.

But how could this be possible? The Messiah would only appear before people when the end of the world came. As recorded in the scriptures passed down from generation to generation, at that time he would lead the sinless souls through Jerusalem and ascend to heaven surrounded by angels and saints.

Before that, any savior was fake, a liar, a heretic, and should be cast directly into hell.

And for him, if he met a Christian lord who was extortionate, greedy, and cruel, he would take it for granted and treat it calmly.

Although he might escape, it was also possible to follow in public and oppose in private.

But similarly, he didn't believe that there was such a perfect and selfless person in the world.

He frowned and looked for a long time. Now he could basically be sure that this thing was indeed similar to his previous works, but more precise.

As a highly skilled craftsman, he couldn't help but want to try it. "No, this is not used for bloodletting or blood transfusion." Not to mention whether bloodletting and blood transfusion were beneficial to Baldwin's current physical condition, even if they were, Cesar didn't have the guts to do it. Other things aside, just say blood type—with current medical technology, there was no way to determine each person's blood type. Once the wrong blood type was transfused, Baldwin would only die faster.

"I want to extract some drugs, and use a syringe—that is, this instrument, to inject these drugs into the patient's body to let them recover as soon as possible."

"You mean herbs, can't herbs be taken orally?"

"Some illnesses can be treated by taking herbs, but if herbs pass through the mouth, throat, stomach, and then to the large and small intestines, the effective ingredients the patient can ingest are too few—there are acids in the gastrointestinal tract, and they can corrode anything."

"And if you can extract the useful parts from them and then input them directly into the patient's body, that would be twice the result with half the effort."

He explained this, not worried that Haridi wouldn't understand. He was a student of a sage, which meant he was also a physician and teacher in the Isaac community.

"Did your teacher teach you this?" Haridi asked. If it was that Patriarch Heraclius, he and his students were really bold—he was teaching a knight how to be a physician, and this knight actually had some ideas of his own, "Have you tested it? What you said about that method."

Of course, it was just in another world, and it would be hundreds of years later.

Cesar naturally couldn't say so, "There is a relatively simple verification method, but it is a bit uh... a bit embarrassing."

"What does embarrassing mean?" Haridi showed a suspicious look: "If possible, I would like to understand it."

The other party's request was also reasonable. Perhaps contrary to the expectations of later generations, people at this time already had some understanding of blood circulation. As Cesar said, it was not letting the patient drink the medicine, but injecting it directly into the blood through blood vessels, which might indeed be possible.

The syringe hadn't been made yet, but Cesar did have a way to prove it.

"You know that there are more tiny blood vessels in the intestinal tract than in other places," Cesar signaled slightly, "You can find someone and let him drink a bottle of wine directly, and... separately..." He didn't finish, but Haridi already understood his meaning, "Then you observe carefully and see which time he will get drunk faster."

In fact, his statement was not completely correct. But at this time, he couldn't conjure up a whole system out of thin air, and could only let Haridi understand a little bit about what he was going to do. He had to let Haridi know, otherwise, the things Haridi crafted wouldn't be able to meet his requirements.

Haridi was shocked. In addition to the strange verification method, there was also the fact that this Christian knight, the lord of Bethlehem, was clearly explaining to him what only clerics should do.

"Do you know that if I report you to the Church, you might be excommunicated?" Haridi said, but then he denied his own guess: "No, they won't accept an Isaac's tip-off."

Haridi thought about it and thought it made perfect sense, "I understand. You mean you hope I can complete this matter. If any accident happens—"

An Isaac messing with some witchcraft, wouldn't that be very normal?

He said self-righteously, "Yes, you have saved my life twice, and just for this... I can take all the responsibility. When the time comes, let them burn me to death."

Cesar knew he should be happy, but he was more helpless. He found that Isaacs seemed to be divided into two extremes. One extreme was to be everyone's master, and the other extreme was to be everyone's slave.

Before, when he gave generous treatment, Haridi just wanted to escape, but now he wanted him to be a scapegoat and die, but he accepted it willingly.

Cesar found that he couldn't figure out what these Isaacs were thinking at all.

But since Haridi was willing to craft this thing for him, things became simple.

He gave Haridi a box of Roman gold coins as materials and commission for crafting this thing, and sent him back to Bethlehem.

Before Haridi left, Cesar called him, "Do you know Neri?"

"No, I don't know any Christian woman."

"Okay, but I still want to thank you." Cesar said, "After returning to Bethlehem, go to the church to work. Pay attention to your own safety."

Neri ran to the Castle of the Holy Cross to tip off Cesar for the sake of previous favors. This seemed to be a very ordinary thing.

But thinking carefully, how could such a woman who hadn't received any education, rude and barbaric, know the malice hidden behind good deeds? She might discard the Isaacs' gifts aside, or she might eat them regardless.

But for her to think deeper, I'm afraid it's impossible.

It could only be said that someone who knew the inside story gave her a reminder, telling her to warn Cesar, so she appeared in front of Cesar.

But this was indeed something that couldn't be spoken of. The punishment of Isaacs for traitors was much more vicious than that of Christians.

(End of chapter)