Chapter 16 4. Scorpion venomous sting

Half a month passed in a flash. Although Hua Tuo, Gao Zhan and other medical teams were busy all day long, the epidemic situation in the Cao Jun Navy did not ease at all, but seemed to be getting worse—the number of sick people It is still rising rapidly, and the number of people with severe illness has increased from the previous six to seven thousand to more than 13,000. Although from the current point of view, it seems that the infantry and cavalry of the northern army did not catch the disease from the sick soldiers of the navy, but because of the unacceptable climate and unsuitable climate, many soldiers were frostbitten and frostbite.All of this made everyone in the Southern Expedition Army Office feel devastated.

Human life is very fragile in the face of major epidemics and diseases, just like reeds in the waves that cannot withstand tossing.During this period, Rao Cao Cao had always been physically strong, and Jia Xu had always been cautious in protecting himself, but they were also knocked down by the illness.Cao Cao caught wind and cold because he was patrolling the military camp one night, which caused his old headache to attack violently. He has been bedridden for the past few days, and every night he put a hot water cowskin bag on his forehead to keep warm. I heard other people come to the bed to report; Jia Xu suddenly caught a cold, and at first she had a runny nose, and then her nose gradually became stuffy, her head felt heavy, and her voice became muffled when she spoke.In the end, I felt like a big stone was pressed on my chest, and I was extremely bored and uncomfortable.

Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun, etc. saw that the elite soldiers under their command were also suffering from colds, diarrhea, and lying down, and they couldn't help feeling anxious.Finally, one night, they couldn't hold back anymore, so they asked Mao Jie and Sima Yi to come to the bedroom of the left army division Jia Xu to discuss how to deal with it. As soon as Xia Houyuan and the others were able to enter the tent, Jia Xu, who was lying on the couch, ordered the guards standing near the tent door: "Come on! Separate the guests' seats by a foot away from the military commander's couch. ..." Then, facing the suspicious gazes of Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun and others, he hastily explained, "To tell you the truth, according to Dr. Hua Tuo, the severe cold that this military division is currently suffering from can also infect others. Yes, a few days ago, two guards of this military division also got this disease. Alas... this military division can only respectfully ask everyone to forgive me for being rude!"

"Master Jia, you...why are you so sick? Do you want to see some Jingzhou doctors for follow-up consultation?" Cao Chun asked in surprise. "That's not necessary. Doctor Hua said that what I'm suffering from is just a headache, stuffy nose, chest tightness and shortness of breath." "This...Mr. Jia, don't be careless!" Sima Yi interrupted with great concern, "There is a jug of 'Zhu Yan Wine' for Yi, if you don't have enough, I will send someone to bring it to you later .” "Thank you Zhongda for your concern. Now this 'Zhuyan wine' is precious, you should keep it for yourself." Jia Xu glanced at Sima Yi gratefully, then turned to look at Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun, and Mao Jie Waiting for others, "What's the important thing for you to visit late at night?"

"Mr. Jia, do you think we should just wait for the sickness to die better, or go to battle and die to be honorable? Just give me a clear explanation!" Xia Houyuan always spoke freely and straightforwardly. Before he sat down on the seat, he shouted loudly. Jia Xu was originally lying sideways on the sickbed, but after hearing what Xia Houyuan said and seeing their serious expressions, she couldn't help but hastily propped up her upper body and asked in amazement: "Why did General Xiahou say that? " "Jia Junshi, look at the current situation, the soldiers will fall ill today, and the other will fall ill tomorrow, and if this continues, without Zhou Yu and the others crossing the river to fight, our entire Celestial Empire might surrender without a fight! "

Cao Chun also had an anxious look on his face, and he was quite emotional when he spoke. "General Cao, don't say such unlucky words again!" Although Mao Jie was extremely anxious in his heart, he still instinctively felt taboo against Xia Houyuan and Cao Chun's unrestrained bluffing.However, facing Jia Xu's questioning look, he sighed deeply, and said calmly: "Mr. Jia... Now the epidemic is critical in the army, you have always been well versed in current affairs, and you have a good grasp of military opportunities, and you must act as soon as possible." Come up with a good strategy that can treat both symptoms and root causes to resolve this crisis!"

Jia Xu has also secretly thought about how to prevent the spread of the epidemic within the navy and even the entire army for a long time in private.Of course, using the thirty altars of "Zhuyan wine" to treat those seriously ill patients is a top priority.However, Cao Cao had obviously decided to leave these "Zhuyan wine" to the 80,000 northern elite infantry for backup.Those 80,000 northern infantry are Cao Cao's "heart"!Jia Xu knew that it would be difficult for him to persuade Cao Cao to use "Zhu Yanjiu" to save those Jingzhou naval divisions who were not direct descendants of the Cao family.Then, besides this, he really couldn't think of any suitable method of "treating both symptoms and root causes"-perhaps the most critical point is to stabilize the morale of the navy.Therefore, he had no choice but to say softly: "As the saying goes, 'Illness comes like a mountain, and sickness goes like a thread. ''Recruiting famous doctors' are just two ways! The Prime Minister should now advertise the world, offer rewards, and recruit famous doctors. The more the better, this will probably alleviate the epidemic in the army. As for the soldiers who have been infected with diseases, Now we can only follow the advice of Hua Tuo, Gao Zhan and other doctors - 'find one, isolate one, and treat one'. We must let the sailors clearly see all the efforts we have made to treat and rescue them. ..."

"Oh! The epidemic situation in the army is so urgent, why is Master Jia still thinking about 'waiting for peace' and 'recruiting famous doctors'!" Xia Houyuan's heart suddenly burned when he heard it, "Your 'waiting for peace', to put it bluntly The only thing is to let the soldiers sit and wait to die of illness! Your 'recruiting famous doctors', I don't know when and what month you recruited those famous doctors! ——It's all slow and stupid methods..." Hearing Xia Houyuan's confession, Jia Xu frowned slightly, his face flushed immediately, and his eyes were like ice knives and frost swords, gouging Xia Houyuan's face!

Xia Houyuan suddenly felt a chill coming up from the base of his back and spine. Seeing Jia Xu's increasingly stern face, his whole body trembled, and he murmured that he didn't know what he was justifying. "Miaocai (Xiahouyuan's word Miaocai) why do you speak so harshly? Why are you so rude to Junshi Jia?" Mao Jie yelled violently and reprimanded Xiahouyuan severely, "Just discuss the matter, you are so armed with a gun and a stick What are you doing? Hurry up and apologize to Junshi Jia." At this time, Jia Xu didn't even look at Xia Houyuan, slowly picked up a cup on the table beside the couch, took a sip of tea, smiled suddenly, and said faintly: "'Stupid way'? Good, good, good—— General Xiahou must have his own ingenious strategy in his chest? How about this, when you go to offer good advice to Prime Minister Cao later, by the way, I will also bring the golden seal of my "Left Army Division of the Prime Minister's Mansion" to the Prime Minister. Forget it. It fits well on General Xiahou, don’t you think so, Mr. Mao?”

"Master Jia...Yuan...Yuan knew he was wrong..." Xia Houyuan knocked his head on the ground, his face covered with sweat in shock and fear. Sima Yi sat aside, seeing Mao Jie's face lost, and Jia Xu's serious words, which scared the shit out of Cao's in-law Xia Houyuan, he couldn't help but secretly sighed: Cao Cao is really good at controlling talents!He can make his subordinates "fear relatives but fear estrangement, military and fear literature", and act and judge completely based on the principle of fairness and selflessness, which is really unmatched among the monarchs of all dynasties!If it is another lord, such mediocre lords as Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, Jia Xu, Mao Jie and other counselors with foreign surnames, would they dare to lose face and talk seriously to relatives of the same family like Xia Houyuan?

At this time, Cao Chun saw that both Jia Xu and Mao Jie were angry, and hurriedly opened his mouth to save Xia Houyuan: "This, this, Junshi Jia, Lord Mao, General Xiahou's speeches are always very rough, and they are all his scriptures." Don’t worry about the lack of reading! His mood is the same as that of Zihe (Cao Chunzi). Every day he sees those brothers and sons who are alive and well, sick and crooked one by one. It hurts so much!" After speaking, his eye circles were also red, "Thinking of how brave and mighty our northern army swept Jizhou, destroyed Wuhuan, and wiped out Shuofang! Unexpectedly, we came to this land of Jingchu , before a tough battle was fought, he was inexplicably contracted a serious illness all over his body, making it impossible for horses to ride, spears to be lifted, formations to be arrayed, and each one of them looked like 'soft-legged shrimps'." In the end, he seemed to have touched the soreness in his heart, a majestic and brave general, couldn't help but wept bitterly while hugging his head. Seeing Cao Chun crying, Xia Houyuan couldn't help but tore off his helmet, hit his forehead on the ground, and cried endlessly. Mao Jie, Sima Yi and others had no choice but to pull him up and support them, and comforted them with soft words.Jia Xu also expressed his deep understanding on the sick bed, and Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun and others gradually stopped crying. There was a moment of silence in the tent, and everyone was speechless for a while.Jia Xu already had a bad cold, but just now he heard the two men crying, and couldn't help being disturbed, and after they had almost calmed down, he asked, "How about this, the two generals are very concerned about the prevention and control of the epidemic in the army. If you have any ideas, you can express them frankly in front of everyone. It doesn’t matter, as long as it is beneficial to the prevention and control of the epidemic, you can speak freely about any strategy.” Sima Yi was secretly startled when he heard Jia Xu's words.This Jia Junshi usually looks unpredictable, but at the critical moment he still has an open and upright style.No wonder a reckless man like Zhang Xiu would submit to him!This kind of master who can "retract and release, tighten and relax" in manipulating people's hearts is really rare. When Xia Houyuan and Cao Chun heard Jia Xu's question, they raised their heads and looked at each other in surprise——Xia Houyuan coughed and said, "This... this, in fact, it is not impossible to prevent the epidemic from spreading in the army. There is a solution. Yuan remembers that in the second year of Jian'an, a disease broke out in Yanzhou, and it almost spread to the military camps stationed in the state. At that time, the prime minister made a decisive decision and dispatched heavy troops to surround the villages with serious epidemics. They set a few big fires and burned them up, both sick and sick..." As soon as he said those words, the sleeping tent immediately became dead silent. "Burn them all, including their illnesses?" Jia Xu's complexion changed, and he suddenly raised his eyes to look at Mao Jie, "Xu remembers that in the second year of Jian'an, Master Mao Jie was Yanzhou Biejia, you...you Did you know there was such a thing?" Mao Jie let out a long sigh, with a serious expression on his face, he turned his head away and didn't dare to look him in the face - although he didn't open his mouth to answer, it was tantamount to acquiescing that what Xia Houyuan said was the truth. "This... this... this is really..." Sima Yi also seemed to be startled, and gasped in amazement.He suddenly saw Xia Houyuan and Cao Chun looking over with hidden anger, and said anxiously: "Prime Minister Cao sweeps away the epidemic with iron fists and prevents it before it happens. It is truly a shocking act."