Chapter 464: Liu Zheng's Ambition

"What is this?"

"Young Master, this..."

A group of people watched with curiosity.

Inside this Glass bottle was a transparent liquid.

Liu Zheng chuckled: "Give it a try."

In truth, he was not entirely certain whether this thing would be useful... He knew that morphine in opium was an opioid receptor agonist, with an average content of 10% in opium. In the early 19th century, specifically in 1806, the German chemist Sertürner first isolated it from opium and named it morphine after the Greek god of dreams. Its derivative, morphine hydrochloride, is a commonly used clinical anesthetic.

Morphine has an extremely strong analgesic effect, and its analgesic action has good selectivity. It is mostly used for severe pain caused by trauma, surgery, burns, etc., and also for angina pectoris caused by myocardial infarction. It can also serve as an analgesic, antitussive, and antidiarrheal agent; the diacetate of morphine is the heroin that makes people tremble with fear in later generations... But its greatest drawback is that it is easily addictive. This causes long-term users to develop a severe dependence on morphine both physically and psychologically, resulting in serious drug addiction, thereby causing immense harm to themselves and society.

So, to put it plainly.

This was the powder (everyone understands) that Liu Zheng had extracted according to the more advanced extraction Methods of later generations that he could understand... As for the purification Method, it is not displayed here due to national laws and policies...

Heart-wrenching?

Heart-wrenching.

However, morphine and its derivatives are the primary drugs for clinical relief of severe pain and the most widely used potent analgesics in the world. Even in later generations, this remains the case.

Therefore, facing these ten thousand wounded soldiers, Liu Zheng had almost no room for choice.

Death, or the possibility of addiction—which would you choose?

In this tent, some people's wounds had already festered, urgently requiring amputation, urgently requiring the removal of flesh, and urgently requiring more decisive treatment... The traditional Chinese medicine's golden sore medicine was no longer helping them.

The army physician asked again: "Young Master, are you certain?"

Damn it...

Liu Zheng felt a sense of insecurity from being asked; how was he supposed to answer that? He mumbled: "The dosage, start with a smaller amount..."

"Understood!"

At this moment, in the tent, there happened to be a young man who needed an amputation. He looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. In this war, he should have earned many honors; if things went smoothly, he should not have had to worry about food or drink for the rest of his life. The medal hanging on his chest was enough to make everyone in the Liangzhou Army envious. However, one of his legs had been severed this time... During this period, what with the disinfection and treatment, his wound had long since festered, and his leg was covered in a black-blue color...

If it were not amputated, his life would be in jeopardy.

Liu Zheng's eyes grew moist as he watched. He walked over and looked at the young man: "You must have an amputation. Are you afraid?"

The young man roared loudly: "Young Master, in the Liangzhou Army, there is only dying standing up, never living on one's knees. I am not afraid! What is there to fear about one leg? I can still fight!"

"Good!"

Liu Zheng took a deep breath, turned his head, and nodded at the physician.

"You, you, you, what on earth are you doing? This won't work, it won't work, he will die from the pain!"

Jie Yu was scared silly watching.

At this time, according to normal procedures, shouldn't they be using anesthetic powder? The physician was seen slowly feeding the liquid from the Glass bottle into the young man's mouth—in this era, there were no syringes, so general anesthesia could only be achieved through oral administration.

Everyone present was watching.

Slowly...

Slowly...

The young man first became mentally agitated for a while, even gesticulating wildly, a complete change from the listlessness after his injury, and then, he slowly fell asleep.

"Begin!"

Liu Zheng nodded.

Amputation!

At this moment, a situation that shocked everyone present occurred.

As almost an entire leg was being amputated by the physician, the young man did not even wake up. Then, there was more disinfection and bandaging. By the time all these procedures were finished, two or three hours had already passed.

"Will he... be able to wake up?"

Jie Yu's eyes were already full of tears.

Everyone was watching with bated breath.

Liu Zheng's heart was also in his throat.

Would he be able to wake up...

This matter was too critical. It not only concerned the morale of these ten thousand wounded soldiers but also concerned his own subsequent plans.

Time.

Passed bit by bit.

The atmosphere in the tent gradually became oppressive.

People's eyes began to glisten with tears as they looked at the young man.

Liu Zheng finally could not stand the oppression of the scene and went outside to pace a few times.

"He's awake, he's awake!"

Just as he had walked five laps, a scream suddenly came from inside. Liu Zheng's heart stirred, and he hurried inside. Sure enough, the young man had woken up with sleepy eyes. Liu Zheng could not help but rush over: "How do you feel?"

"Young Master, Young Master, I... I think I had a dream. I returned to Liangzhou, saw my parents, and even married a wife..."

The young man smiled brightly.

The whole room burst into laughter.

Following that, the tense atmosphere instantly dissolved.

"You will, you will go back soon, hahaha, and you will have a wife too!"

Liu Zheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Others also began to tease him one after another. Of course, there were still people asking with concern whether it hurt and how he felt... Next came the follow-up observation; anesthetics certainly had a time limit. Liu Zheng handed the morphine he had subsequently purified to the physician, instructing him to be sure to start trying with small doses; this could, on one hand, avoid addiction for the wounded, and on the other hand, it was also for the sake of safety.

At this time.

Qin Zhangfeng, Pei Yanran, and Jie Yu were all stunned.

Since when did this Prefect Liu become a physician? And it appeared his medical skills were quite remarkable?

The young man's successful surgery gave Liu Zheng a great deal of confidence.

The next day.

Better news arrived. That man from the Western Ocean, Rhodes, had arrived at the farm without stopping to rest. When Liu Zheng saw him, his face was full of smiles.

This slave who came from the Western Ocean was the leader of this Chemistry Laboratory. It was evident that Rhodes had grown a lot in Yintan City; even his beard had sprouted.

"Viscount!"

Upon seeing Liu Zheng, Rhodes was also quite excited.

Liu Zheng gestured for him to sit down and chuckled, "Rhodes, I hope you have been well. Are you accustomed to life in the Longyan Dynasty?"

"Accustomed, accustomed!"

Rhodes indicated that he was very satisfied.

Liu Zheng exchanged a few more pleasantries, then went straight to the point: "Can you tell me what the Western Ocean is like now?"

"What?"

Rhodes's expression changed drastically.