kvmb Chapter 410 General
Chapter 410 General
The shouts grew louder and louder.
Xiao Tianshi's face was grim, and he had no choice but to release Cheng Ruoxue first, gently comforting her: "Madam, please stay in the room for now, I'll go out and see what's going on."
Cheng Ruoxue nodded gently, "Husband, please be careful."
Xiao Tianshi gave a soft "hmm" and hurriedly left.
As soon as he left, Cheng Ruoxue took off her nightgown and threw it on the ground, then lay loosely on the bed wearing only her inner garment.
She looked at the carvings on the ceiling, chuckled, and then closed her eyes.
Outside, on the rooftop, Sheng Junyi, dressed in disheveled clothes, lay on the blue tiles, looking up at the layers of dark clouds, as if it were about to rain.
The fire broke out simultaneously in the side rooms and rear building of the new house, sending up plumes of smoke that nearly alerted the entire Xiao State Duke's mansion.
There was noise everywhere.
Only the two people lying on the roof and the one lying on the bed, lost in thought, quietly enjoyed this moment of tranquility.
……
Jiangnan Mansion.
After several days of rest, Old Meng finally recovered his spirits.
After listening to Luo Jing recount the recent events, Elder Meng requested to meet Lu Yangyang.
Upon hearing the news, Lu Yangyang immediately went to see Elder Meng. Last time in the mountain stronghold, Elder Meng did not join the others due to health reasons, so this was the first time Lu Yangyang had met him.
Old Meng was a thin old man with completely white hair, but his face was extremely kind and gentle.
Upon seeing Lu Yangyang, Old Man Meng hurriedly stood up and bowed, saying, "This old man greets Miss Lu."
Lu Yangyang quickly stepped forward and helped him up: "I'm sorry to have troubled you, Elder Meng. Please don't stand on ceremony. I have something I'd like to discuss with you. Would that be convenient?"
Old Meng already knew what she wanted to ask, and turned to look at Luo Jing: "Boss, would you please go out and keep an eye on things?"
Upon hearing this, Luo Jing stood up, nodded to the two of them, and walked out.
Only Lu Yangyang and Old Man Meng remained in the room. Lu Yangyang helped Old Man Meng sit down, and Old Man Meng looked at Lu Yangyang with gratitude and relief, saying, "The chief told me about your identity. In the Northwest, you found a way to prevent smallpox and also cured the syphilis in those girls. I am so happy to hear such good news in my lifetime that I can die without regrets. Young lady, my surname is Meng, and my given name is Qianghuo. You study medicine, and Qianghuo is a kind of medicinal herb. All of us brothers have names based on medicinal herbs. I have a junior brother surnamed Fang, named Du Zhong, and a senior brother who is the head of the Imperial Medical Academy. If you count the years, he will soon be retiring."
Lu Yangyang looked at Elder Meng in surprise, almost blurting out, "The junior brother you're talking about, is he the military doctor in the Northwest Army, Uncle Fang?"
Old Meng nodded with a smile.
Lu Yangyang really didn't expect that after going around in circles, there would be such a connection.
Master Meng explained to her, “There are more than a dozen of us fellow disciples, all of whom are disciples of the former head of the Imperial Medical Academy, Head Du. The most talented one is our junior brother, Wen Yu. He is also the only one who did not become famous for medicinal herbs like us fellow disciples. When I met him, he was not even as old as you. I never expected that now, his disciple would surpass him.”
Lu Yangyang was a little embarrassed: "You flatter me. This is not my achievement. I just happened to borrow these methods. I am really unworthy of being called a student who has surpassed his teacher. What I learned from my master is still only the tip of the iceberg."
This wasn't her being modest; both the methods for preventing smallpox and treating venereal diseases were things she learned from her aunt, not things she invented.
Mr. Meng remarked, "It is important who discovers the method or researches it, but it is equally important that it can help more people in need."
Lu Yangyang looked at him expectantly: "Uncle-Master Meng, can you tell me what exactly happened in Chenzhou back then?"
Mentioning the past, Old Meng couldn't help but get red in the eyes, and his old hands trembled uncontrollably. It took him a while to calm down a little: "The young lady is a very insightful person, and His Highness the Crown Prince is also a wise man. The Chenzhou case...too many people died. Those who survived were just some unburnt bones. There was nothing we could do to change the situation. There was nothing we could do to change the situation."
He shook his head: "I used to always advise the chief to let go and live a good life. If the general were still alive, he would certainly not want to see future generations imprisoned in the shadow of the past for their entire lives."
Lu Yangyang asked him, "Is the general you're talking about the Duke of Rong, the Grand General of the Northern Expedition back then?"
"Yes, when I first met the General, he wasn't yet Duke Rong, but just the young General Rong, full of vigor and unyielding spirit. Some of my fellow disciples stayed in the palace as imperial physicians, while others volunteered to serve as military doctors in various regions. The moment I saw the young General, I knew my path would be clear: to follow such a person would be the greatest fortune in life." Old Meng, perhaps recalling Rong Che in his youth, couldn't help but reveal a hint of nostalgia and reluctance. What a beautiful past, what a flamboyant and unrestrained person he was, and in the end, in the end…
Old Meng's eyes became cloudy, and they were already filled with tears.
"Most of us military doctors were in the rear, so we didn't really know what the situation was like in the army at that time. We only remember that everyone was very excited. The general had reached a consensus with several armies and had also made a prior agreement with Governor Xiao of Jinzhou that the troops would split into several routes and head north, which would surely break through the defenses and advance north in one fell swoop. But when we reached Chenzhou, whether it was a leak of the battle plan or some other reason, the Rong family's army of 100,000 men fell into the trap of Northern Yan. Northern Yan mobilized all the troops they could muster and secretly besieged Chenzhou, trapping the Rong family's army there. At this point, the only way out was to break out and seek help. At that time, the troops from the surrounding states totaled nearly 50,000 to 60,000 men. If they could come to the rescue in time, with the help of both inside and outside forces, there was still a chance for a major battle."
"But later, none of those who went out to seek help returned alive. For ten days and ten nights, Chenzhou City ran out of food. In order to protect the people in the city and give them a chance to live, the general led the charge. Wave after wave of Rong family soldiers died, but the general did not close his eyes for a moment. He was exhausted to death at the city gate. When the Northern Yan dragged his body out, there was not a single patch of good skin left on his body. He looked like a blood gourd, all the blood had drained away, leaving only his eyes, which remained open in death. Those people cut off his head and hung it on the city tower. They dismembered his body and fed it to the wild wolves they had captured, making them fight over it for their amusement."
"Not even a complete corpse was left. Tell me, who could have imagined that this was the young man in silver robes, riding a spirited horse, the general who shouted that he would lead the soldiers of the Great Zhao to crush the Northern Yan and reclaim the homeland, the great hero who led the troops and died in battle to the last moment, protecting the people with his spine? Who could have imagined that his iron bones would be fed to the wolves?"