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Chapter 93
"Company Commander, I volunteered to join the shock troop," said Gong Xiaohua.
A single word of "volunteer" made Old Wei laugh out loud.
"Ha, this is rare. Nowadays there are still people who are eager to come and die, and it's a woman too. Little girl, this is a battlefield, not child's play. Especially here, those who come in are all people who have made serious mistakes and are here to die."
"I know," said Gong Xiaohua.
"Tell me, why did you voluntarily come here?"
"I came to find someone," said Gong Xiaohua.
"Find someone? Who? Your lover?"
"No, I'm looking for someone called Li Zichen. Company Commander, do you happen to know him?"
"Li Zichen? I know him. What do you want with him?"
"He is my elder relative. May I ask the Company Commander where he is?"
"Er Zhuzi."
"Company Commander."
"Take her to see Li Zichen."
"Yes."
"Miss, please come with me."
Soon, the two came to a camp tent. Outside the tent sat a group of wounded soldiers.
Seeing Gong Xiaohua walking over, they only glanced curiously for a moment, then lowered their heads again. No one had any extra thoughts to wonder why a young woman had come to the military camp.
In Gong Xiaohua's eyes, these men had already lost their desire to live.
From inside the tent came waves of agonized screams.
Gong Xiaohua felt heavy-hearted, clenching her hands tightly. It was clear her uncle had been in battle already and was severely injured.
If anything happened to her uncle, and she managed to return to the capital, she would fight the Lin family to the death.
Er Zhuzi took Gong Xiaohua into the tent. At a glance, the ground was covered with all kinds of wounded soldiers.
Some had arrows shot through their eyes, blood dripping down their faces. Some had lost arms or legs, some even had their bellies stabbed through with intestines nearly spilling out.
Clearly these soldiers carried into the tent were in extremely critical condition and could die at any moment.
Doctors were busily treating the soldiers, but unfortunately with so many wounded and limited doctors, many soldiers writhed in pain on the ground, some unable to endure it and took their own lives.
Gong Xiaohua felt heavy-hearted, clenching her hands tightly. It was obvious her uncle had already been on the battlefield and was severely injured.
If anything happened to her uncle, and she managed to return to the capital, she would fight the Lin family to the death.
Er Zhuzi brought her before a man covered in blood with a broken arrow shaft still stuck in his chest, eyes closed and unmoving as he lay on the ground.
This man was her uncle, Li Zichen.
"Miss, he's been carried here unconscious for some time now, barely clinging to life. If you had come any later, you would have only seen a corpse."
"Shall we wake him now for you to properly bid farewell? Meeting a relative before he passes could be considered his blessing."
"No need, thank you for bringing me here," Gong Xiaohua replied. She paid Er Zhuzi no more attention.
Seeing this, Er Zhuzi said no more, shook his head with a sigh, and left to give them some final private space.
The moment Er Zhuzi turned away, Gong Xiaohua began swiftly examining Li Zichen's body.
The arrowhead was positioned barely offset from his heart. Pulling it out directly could easily kill him on the spot. That was why no doctor had dared remove the arrow til now.
Peeling back his eyelids, his pupils had not yet dilated, and his neck pulse was weak but present. There was still a chance to save him.
Right now the urgent task was to quickly pull out the arrow, or else as Er Zhuzi said, he would soon become a corpse.
She located a doctor, thinking to ask if he had any strong spirits, but the doctors were clearly all busy and had no time for her. One even scolded her to get out quickly and not disturb their treatment of the wounded.
With no other option, Gong Xiaohua went back out of the tent to find Old Wei of the First Platoon again.
"I need you to prepare some things for me. I want to save someone."
"You want to save someone? Li Zichen? You know how?"
"I know how."
"Tell me what you need then?"
"A flask of strong spirits, an oil lamp, and a basin of clean water." "Just those three things. And hurry, send it all to the infirmary tent."
Gong Xiaohua returned again to Li Zichen's side. She opened her luggage, took out a clean shirt and tore it into strips. She set out the medicinal powder and blood-staunching medicine she had prepared.
After Old Wei arranged for people to deliver the things she needed, Gong Xiaohua tore away all the clothing around Li Zichen's wound to fully reveal it.
She carefully cleaned the blood from around the arrow with spirits-soaked cloth strips.
A doctor who had noticed Gong Xiaohua about to pull the arrow came over and couldn't help scolding loudly, "What are you doing? Do you know he'll die immediately if the arrow comes out?"
He called towards the soldiers outside, "Come men! Hurry and drive her away! Letting anyone in like this, who will take responsibility if something happens?"
The soldiers outside had just entered when Old Wei stopped them. He hadn't intended to come over originally but couldn't resist curiosity and came to watch.
Li Zichen was a man from his First Platoon. Old Wei knew Li Zichen had offended someone and was framed and demoted here to the shock troops.
Although he was a scholarly weakling, he was cultured and smart. Not only did he often write letters home for his platoon mates, more importantly he gave them tactical advice.
For example, in this latest offensive, the other shock troop platoons were scattered all over fighting individually the moment they hit the battlefield.
But Old Wei's platoon, following Li Zichen's strategy, advanced in groups of five men covering all sides, attacking and defending simultaneously.
In the end, though they also had many injuries, most of Old Wei's men survived, unlike the heavy casualties suffered by other platoons.
Old Wei entered the tent and said to the doctor standing by Gong Xiaohua, "I say, Dr. Sun, he's been lying here half dead all this time with you unable to treat him, just leaving him to die. Why not let someone else try?"
"Utter foolishness! Such a young girl, what could she understand? Hurry and take her away!"
"He'll die sooner or later anyway. Who knows, maybe this young lady can heal him after all?"
"Ridiculous! I have practiced medicine for decades and never heard of anyone healing such a wound."
"You can't heal him doesn't mean this girl can't. And she's his niece, so she'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong."
Hearing they were relatives, Dr. Sun stopped interfering and huffed, "Hmph, do as you please then!"
Seeing no more disturbances, Gong Xiaohua thanked Old Wei and resumed her work.
She had Li Zichen drink some medicinal powder dissolved in water. Then she took out a sharp dagger from her leggings, sterilizing it repeatedly in spirits before placing it over the flame until glowing red hot. Being extremely careful to avoid major blood vessels, she slowly carved open the flesh around the arrow bit by bit.
The meat sizzled upon contact with the searing dagger. The people near enough to smell the odor of cooking meat couldn't bear to watch.
After who knows how long, Gong Xiaohua finally extracted the arrow. She quickly poured blood-staunching medicine into the wound. Before long the bleeding solidified, then she tightly wrapped layer after layer of torn cloth strips around it.
"Commander Wei, I've done all I can for now. Please help me get ingredients for some medicinal soups to prevent infection."
Beside them, Dr. Sun had watched the girl remove the arrow from the patient without major bleeding. He immediately rushed over to grab her hand and check the man's pulse—faint but steady, the crisis seeming to have passed.
"A miracle! It's a miracle!"
"He's... healed?" Old Wei looked at Gong Xiaohua differently now. He had held the attitude of trying any last resort, never expecting she truly had such skills.
"He probably won't die now."
"A goddess of medicine! Please save us too!" The other patients nearby, seeing Gong Xiaohua save a man at death's door, rekindled their hopes.