The wounded soldiers' camp in the south of the city.
A corner of the heavy felt tent was lifted, and the strong, bitter stench of medicinal dregs, mixed with the foul smell of festering wounds and the sour reek of sweat, immediately hit the face.
The old military doctor, Lao Sun, had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. Sweat gathered on his forehead, rolling down his heavily wrinkled cheeks to drip onto the tattered clothes of the sick soldier.
He was pressing a clean strip of linen firmly against the gums of the soldier on the cot. Within just a few breaths, the cloth was soaked through with dark red blood.
The soldier on the cot let out a painful groan, his hands gripping the straw mat beneath him in a deathly clutch.
Tie Lanshan was not wearing his armor, dressed only in a breathable summer tunic. He strode into the tent and stopped before the wooden cot. His gaze swept over the dozens of sick soldiers lying haphazardly across the tent, his brows knotting tightly together.
"Lao Sun, we just distributed new rations these past few days, and the brothers have drunk meat broth. Why are even more of them falling ill?" Tie Lanshan asked, his tone heavy.
Lao Sun tossed the blood-soaked linen into a wooden basin by his feet, straightened up, and let out a long sigh. He replied, "Commander, this illness is wicked. In past years when the army lacked food, the brothers couldn't see anything at night—that was night blindness."
"I used to prescribe some pork or mutton liver boiled into soup, and after drinking it for a few days, they would recover. But this current batch of sick soldiers not only have blurred vision at night, but they are also completely devoid of strength during the day. The most deadly part is their jaws."
Lao Sun bent down, pinched the sick soldier's jaw to force his mouth open, and pointed at the swollen, festering gums inside. He continued, "Look, these gums bleed for no reason. At the slightest touch, the bleeding won't stop. It even makes all their teeth loose, so they can't chew dry rations at all."
Tie Lanshan leaned in for a closer look. The dark red blood trickling down the corner of the sick soldier's mouth was a shocking sight.
He straightened up, his mind rapidly calculating the situation before him.
The day before yesterday, rations were distributed at the drill ground. One hundred thousand taels of silver and five thousand piculs of millet had just pacified the thirty thousand border troops. It should have been a time of great morale.
Yet, at this critical juncture, a strange disease broke out on a large scale in the camp. Most of the soldiers at the bottom were illiterate. If this strange disease was allowed to spread...
In less than three days, rumors would spread through the army, claiming that He Minghu and Ma Jin'an had distributed poisoned grain, or that the Imperial Envoy had brought down heaven's wrath.
Once the rumors gained momentum, those rowdy soldiers who had just eaten their fill and regained their strength would very likely take the opportunity to cause trouble, triggering a mutiny.
Tie Lanshan turned around and strode out of the stifling wounded soldiers' camp. Standing in the glaring sunlight, he ordered his personal guards beside him, "Prepare a horse. Go to the West City Ward and invite the Imperial Envoy to the manor to discuss matters."
Half an hour later, in the main hall of the Commander's Manor.
There were no ice basins placed in the hall. Several deputy generals and guerrilla generals sat on either side, all sweating profusely. Their whispering revealed an unconcealed anxiety.
Xu Qinghuan stepped over the threshold, with Xu Zhan half a step behind, holding a single mace to guard her side.
Tie Lanshan stood up from the main seat, took two steps forward to welcome her, and bowed with cupped hands. "I apologize for troubling the Imperial Envoy to come over under the scorching sun. It is truly because a thorny incident has occurred in the army."
Xu Qinghuan sat down in the guest seat. She picked up the herbal tea served by a maid, skimmed the foam, and asked casually, "Commander Tie is so anxious, could it be that Deputy General He has caused trouble again?"
Tie Lanshan shook his head and sat back down in the main seat. He truthfully recounted the tragic situation in the wounded soldiers' camp and Lao Sun's diagnosis. Finally, he leaned forward, pressed his hands on his knees, and added in a grave tone:
"My lady, we have just distributed the rations and pay, yet such a bizarre night blindness disease has emerged. If it cannot be quelled as soon as possible, those rough men below will definitely let their imaginations run wild, and I fear there is a danger of mutiny."
After hearing this, Xu Qinghuan placed her teacup on the table and did not reply immediately.
She pondered for a moment, then looked up at Tie Lanshan and made a request: "I must trouble the Commander to send someone to carry two sick soldiers to the side hall. I will personally examine them."
Tie Lanshan immediately waved his hand, signaling his guards to get it done.
Before long, two sick soldiers with sallow complexions and weak breathing were carried into the side hall on stretchers.
Xu Qinghuan stood up and walked into the side hall, with Xu Zhan following closely behind. The windows of the side hall were wide open, and the midday sun slanted in, illuminating every detail of the sick soldiers' pale faces.
Xu Qinghuan pulled a pure white silk handkerchief from her sleeve, draped it over her fingers, and bent down to pinch open one of the sick soldier's mouths.
She carefully examined the gums, which were red and swollen like rotten peaches. She pressed gently with her fingertips through the silk handkerchief, and dark red blood immediately oozed out, staining the white cloth red.
Xu Qinghuan released her hand, folded the blood-stained silk handkerchief, turned to look at the sick soldier on the cot, and asked, "In the past half year, besides the daily millet porridge, have you eaten anything else, such as wild vegetables or tree bark?"
The sick soldier struggled to open his eyes and replied hoarsely, "To answer the Imperial Envoy, the heavy snow sealed the mountains in winter, and we couldn't even dig up grass roots. After spring arrived, Helian nomadic cavalry frequently appeared around Wild Fox Shoal. The Commander strictly ordered us not to leave the city. Every day, we only had a shallow bowl of stale rice porridge to sustain our lives."
Xu Qinghuan nodded and continued to question, "The day before yesterday when the army was rewarded at the drill ground, how much of that mutton soup did you drink?"
The sick soldier swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva and answered, "Having starved for half a year, it was so hard to finally see meat. I ate three large bowls in a row and even licked the grease at the bottom of the pot clean."
Xu Qinghuan stood up, walked to a copper basin nearby, and washed her hands with clean water.
In her mind, she had already pieced all the clues together. It was fortunate that she used to enjoy reading such encyclopedias.
A lack of fresh fruit and vegetable intake for half a year had led to severe scurvy; this was the root cause of the bleeding gums and full-body weakness.
Night blindness was caused by a lack of related nutrients. Although the ancients knew to use animal livers to treat night blindness, they knew absolutely nothing about scurvy.
The hearty mutton soup from the day before yesterday had indeed replenished their meat intake, but for soldiers who had been starving for a long time and had extremely weak stomachs, suddenly consuming a large amount of greasy food had instead increased the burden on their organs, becoming the final straw that broke their bodies.
Tie Lanshan stood at the door of the side hall, watching Xu Qinghuan methodically dry her hands, and couldn't help but ask, "Imperial Envoy, have you discovered the cause?"
Xu Qinghuan tossed the hand-drying cloth into the copper basin, turned around, and met Tie Lanshan's inquiring gaze.
She did not directly point out the cause of the illness, but simply gave a straightforward answer: "Commander, there is no need to worry. This illness, I can cure."
