Chapter 224: The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon

The storm that had erupted at the Orchid Terrace Palace during the Shangsi Festival quickly spread through Jiangling City. Just as noble and official sons like Qi Xia and Huang Tian were loudly slandering Heifu, cursing him as a crude boor who understood nothing of romance and had ruined everyone's refined pleasure, an edict emerged from the Commandery Governor's manor:

"Qin has practiced the laws of Lord Shang for over a hundred years; statutes and decrees issue from a single source. The common people, in managing their households, devote their strength to farming and crafts; the scholars study the laws, ordinances, and prohibitions. Thus the state has achieved great order."

"Yet now the various scholars of Nan Commandery do not follow the present but imitate the past; they do not recite the laws but study poetry and rhapsodies. Though this does not violate the statutes, it does not accord with the conduct of a good Qin official."

"Moreover, the verses of Qu Yuan and the rhapsodies of Chu are mostly compositions of Jing noblemen and high officials in exile or flight, filled with lines that mourn the state of Jing and slander Qin's governance. At this time of enmity between Qin and Chu, allowing their circulation unchecked may delude and unsettle the black-haired folk."

"From this day forward, all government officials and disciples of the academy chambers, whether at public or private gatherings, are forbidden to study or recite the verses of Qu Yuan and the rhapsodies of Chu. Those who violate this order shall be stripped of their official posts!"

This edict caused a great uproar in Jiangling City. Qi Xia and his ilk were left dumbstruck, but could only sigh in lament and quietly put away their collected Chu rhapsodies. After all, compared to this small hobby, their clans and official posts mattered more. At the same time, they muttered darkly to themselves: "Isn't this exactly what Heifu said that day? The Commandery Governor may hail from the Central Plains and be well-versed in literary composition, but how can he be just as overbearing as that Anlu brute?"

Heifu had also heard of this matter, but merely smiled indifferently. He had said that day that Qin and Chu were still enemy states; openly gathering a crowd to promote the rhapsodies of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan was bound to cause trouble, which was why he had flipped the table and left. Sure enough, upon learning of the incident, the Commandery Governor had promptly tightened control over public discourse.

However, Governor Ye was also a sensible man; he only strengthened control within the government offices and academy chambers, making officials and disciples understand their own status and duties, while not excessively interfering among the common folk.

Heifu could not spare any more thought for this matter, because he was immediately engulfed by busy work once again...

In the middle of the third month, within Ying County city, a courtyard belonging to the Military Section was filled with thirty to forty men of varying ages. The oldest were past forty, the youngest had just come of age. There were physicians from Jiangling and Ying County, squad leaders from the commandery garrison, and several minor clerks still wearing black uniforms. Tang Jue, who had been dumped on the spot by his beloved during the Shangsi Festival gathering a few days prior, was also among them.

Though their ages and statuses differed, they all shared one commonality: every one of them held a noble rank and could read and write. The group sat within this large room, listening with rapt attention as the physician Chen Wujiu lectured them...

This Physician Chen, who had studied under the Imperial Physician-in-Chief, had an unconventional teaching method. He had one of his young disciples remove his upper garment and stand before the crowd, arms stretched out to either side, while Physician Chen held a bamboo rod and pointed here and there across the young disciple's body.

"The human body is covered with blood vessels above and below, left and right, front and back. There are twenty-eight major blood vessels, with a total length around the body of sixteen zhang and two chi!"

"Among these, the major blood vessels are distributed within the muscles and interstitial spaces, deep and invisible; the minor blood vessels are distributed beneath the skin and can be seen. All the above blood vessels interconnect and link through one another, ending only to begin again."

"When a person ingests food, the stomach and intestines remove the dregs and absorb the essence, which is then transformed into blood within the lung organ to supply nourishment to the limbs and internal organs of the whole body. Thus, in the Inner Canon, blood is also called constructive qi."

"Blood and qi cannot but flow, like the flow of rivers, like the cyclical movement of sun and moon, never ceasing, without a dock. The essence of blood flows within the vessels, internally irrigating the five viscera, externally moistening the interstices, nourishing the entire body, ending only to begin again, just like the laws governing the movements of heaven, earth, sun, and moon!"

Aside from the few physicians, the rest of the crowd only now began to grasp the concept, looking thoughtfully at the blood vessels on the backs of their own hands. Having never received medical training before, they had been ignorant of these mysteries of the human body. In this moment, it was as if a novel door had been opened before their eyes.

And Heifu, auditing the class from the very back of the room, nodded to himself in approval.

"As expected of a wondrous book passed down from the medical school — the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon even proposes a theory of blood circulation."

Although this medical text was pseudonymously attributed to the Yellow Emperor and Qibo, it was in truth not the words of a single era, nor the work of a single hand. It was perhaps authored by the successive leaders of the medical school, the generations of "Bian Que," compiled over their three hundred years of medical practice based on countless patients. It was a pity that this school's lineage had been severed, otherwise its future prospects would have been worth anticipating.

Professional matters are best left to professionals. Although there were some errors in the Inner Canon, Heifu had recently wanted to keep a low profile and not appear so omniscient and omnipotent, so he did not rush forward to correct them.

Chen Wujiu had only lectured on a small portion of the content from the Plain Questions and the Spiritual Pivot, but even the theories within were enough for this group to benefit from. After all, they were only being trained as medical corpsmen for battlefield first aid, not to become physicians.

After popularizing the knowledge of the body's blood vessels and blood for the crowd, the reason why excessive blood loss from injury leads to fainting, shock, and even death became self-evident.

At this point, Chen Wujiu directly pulled out a knife and slashed it across his young disciple's arm! In an instant, dark red blood flowed out, yet the young disciple merely bared his teeth and did not dare show any displeasure.

"Trauma not only injures the skin and interstices, but also ruptures the blood vessels, causing blood to flow out. If left unattended, it will bleed continuously until the blood coagulates. At such times, bandaging is required."

With that, Chen Wujiu deftly picked up a newly made linen bandage and swiftly bandaged the young disciple's wound, and the bleeding stopped.

"And if some major blood vessel is injured, the blood will spurt out. Without bandaging, death from excessive blood loss will soon follow! As men tasked with medical aid and emergency rescue, what you must do is promptly bind the wounds of injured soldiers and save their lives!"

At this point, bandaging technique became of paramount importance — this was the significance of those later-era bandaging techniques Heifu had demonstrated to Chen Wujiu.

Fortunately, in the cold-weapon era, most injuries were open wounds from sharp implements, rather than the penetrating wounds of the hot-weapon era. Thus, many of the wounded suffered shock and fainting from blood loss. If one was unlucky enough to be wounded in the head or internal organs, there was basically no saving them.

After lecturing all morning, Chen Wujiu's class was considered finished. He hurriedly packed his medicine bag and left with his disciple. Heifu knew that these past few days, Chen Wujiu had been enthusiastically searching for wild hemp in the outskirts, then having that pitiable young disciple test-eat its flowers and leaves...

Heifu and Chen Wujiu had divided the labor: Chen Wujiu was responsible for teaching these thirty to forty men medical theory and the techniques of wound bandaging, while Heifu was to teach them battlefield military discipline and points of attention.

When the group assembled on the commandery garrison's training grounds that afternoon, looking at the motley crowd of varying heights, weights, and ages, Heifu felt as if he had returned to the scene of his first rotation militia training. However, the men before him at least all held noble ranks, were literate, and half of them had already served military duty — making them orderly again would not be difficult.

Before the training began, Heifu first told them a story...

"There was a physician who claimed to be skilled at treating external injuries. A deputy general had charged the enemy lines and been struck by a stray arrow, which penetrated deep into the interstices. He summoned the physician to treat him. The physician then took a bronze shear, cut off the arrow shaft, knelt, and asked to take his leave. The deputy general said: 'The arrowhead is inside my abdomen and must be treated urgently.' The physician replied: 'I am skilled at treating external injuries. Beneath the skin and flesh is internal injury — you cannot expect to hold me responsible for that as well!'"

Hearing Heifu's story, the crowd all burst into laughter despite themselves, then shook their heads one after another, saying that the physician was truly arguing sophistry, that there could actually be such a fraudulent scoundrel in the world.

Heifu, however, told the crowd that what medical aid and emergency rescue personnel had to do on the battlefield was precisely like the "external injury physician" above — only manage emergency aid and stop bleeding. As for how to treat metal wounds and how to make the wounded recover, that was the job of the wound physicians and their subordinates.

This was also why Heifu had split the medical aid and emergency rescue personnel into two groups: half to assist the military physicians in treating wounds at the field hospital, and the other half to accompany the army into battle. This gave them a clear division of labor, increased efficiency, and made management easier.

But regardless of which type, they all had to undergo standardized military training. Because what they faced were not ordinary patients, but living, breathing soldiers who were shouting and hysterical! The areas they operated in were not peaceful city wards and village lanes, but battlefields ringing with the sounds of slaughter!

Heifu envisioned that the medical corpsmen would wear no armor, carrying only a short sword for self-defense. However, their equipment would include two more items than the average infantryman: a first-aid pack stuffed with over ten rolls of linen bandages, and a stretcher.

When accompanying the army to the front lines, the medical corpsmen, led by their hundred-man commanders and platoon leaders, would stand in the same row as the military judges. Before the formation battle ended, they were to remain motionless beneath the army banner. Only after the great army had defeated the enemy formation and advanced forward could they proceed to the area where the two sides had just clashed, search for their own wounded soldiers, bandage them, place them on stretchers, and bring them back to the main camp.

Considering that warfare in this era, unlike the skirmish lines of later ages, was positional warfare that placed extreme emphasis on formations, often involving standoffs and slaughter lasting an hour or two, Heifu repeatedly emphasized to the medical corpsmen that saving people was their fundamental duty, but the prerequisite was that disrupting the formation was absolutely forbidden!

"Military law states: those who disrupt the ranks shall die! You are no exception."

Only when the medical corpsmen's hundred-man commanders and platoon leaders gave the order to advance and render aid could they move forward. Otherwise, they might disrupt the formation and instead become black sheep that harmed the whole flock.

Thus, the group first had to undergo standard training in identifying gongs, drums, bells, and flags. This training lasted half a month. By the end of the third month, the group had reached the standard of ordinary soldiers in forming ranks and changing formations: advancing at the beat of the drum, hastening when the flag dipped, retreating at the sound of the bell. They moved left when signaled, moved right when signaled, and sat when both gong and drum sounded together.

In addition, Chen Wujiu's medical theory classes had also concluded, and the group began technical training in wound bandaging and stopping bleeding...

By the beginning of the fourth month, this freshly minted group of medical corpsmen underwent their first inspection by Commandant Li You. Seeing that they could now recognize gongs and drums, never moved recklessly before orders were given, and were methodical when bandaging others, Li You was very satisfied.

Heifu reported: "Commandant, with one more month of training, by the fifth month, we can disperse these men to the various counties, each teaching ten others. Then by the autumn harvest, Nan Commandery can obtain several hundred medical aid and emergency rescue personnel! When the day of the expedition comes, spread this news throughout the entire army, and it will surely let the soldiers have no more worries behind them, greatly boosting morale!"

Heifu was brimming with confidence. He wanted to finish this task as quickly as possible and thereby receive a new appointment: one that would allow him to participate in training soldiers as well. When the time came to campaign against Chu again, he hoped to be at least a company commander leading a thousand men!

Upon hearing Heifu's request, Li You shook his head: "You have other matters to attend to. After the busy farming season ends in the fourth month, not only Ying County and Jiangling, but all counties will begin large-scale conscription and training. This matter is of great importance. The Commandery Governor has decided to tour the counties in the fourth month, inspecting various places, supervising their agricultural affairs, seeing how the techniques of composting and retting fertilizer are progressing, and how the water-powered trip-hammers are being promoted. Incidentally, he will also inspect the military registers and armory conditions of each county. This requires the Military Section to send someone to accompany him, and as for the choice of that person..."

Li You patted Heifu on the shoulder and said helplessly: "The Commandery Governor seems to think highly of you. He personally named you to accompany him on the county tour, departing the day after tomorrow!"

(End of Chapter)