Chapter 109: Letter
Chapter 109
It is said that after Jiang Yuqing's assistant finished his work, he found that she had not yet returned. Thinking that she had gone back to the medical tent, he went to her tent. When he found no one in her tent either, he hurried around looking for her, even checking the women's toilet without finding anyone. The assistant panicked and hurried to report to Wei Qing.
When Wei Qing heard that the child was missing, this would not do. He immediately ordered the whole camp to search around. However, after turning the entire camp upside down, they still could not find the person.
His first reaction was that she had been abducted by Xiongnu spies lurking within Guanzhong.
Just when everyone was extremely anxious, the guards on the city head came to report that a small deer-like animal appeared in the distance outside the pass, presumably the mount of the little doctor goddess.
Wei Qing immediately rushed up the city head. In the hazy dawn light, he did see a beautiful little deer slowly walking over from the distance.
When it got closer, on the deer's back there was still someone riding it, it was their little doctor goddess they had searched everywhere for but could not find. The little doctor goddess lay motionless on the deer's back. He subconsciously felt it was not good. He hurriedly ordered the city gates to be opened to go receive the person.
The heavy city gates slowly opened, and people rushed out. Seeing the people come, the little deer let out a long, sad cry. The soldiers saw that it was crying.
Lying on its back was the tiny figure, her face pale as gold paper, motionless, with blood around her mouth and nose. Her right hand was clenched tightly around a sharp wooden stick on her shoulder. The protruding end of the wooden stick had two blood-drenched wrapped objects hanging on it.
A soldier went up and took it down, unwrapped it and looked, and it turned out to be two bloody human heads. They were exactly the two Xiongnu chiefs who had escaped earlier: Xiongnu's Fifth Prince Huyin Agula and General Habater.
Wei Qing tremblingly stretched out his hand and tried under Jiang Yuqing's nose, found that there was still a faint breath. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly snatched away the stick in her hand, lifted her off the deer's back, and ran rapidly towards Guanzhong.
"Go quickly, find a doctor!"
Soon, the doctor came, examined her, and found that her five internal organs were all heavily injured, her pulse was intermittent, fragile as if she could pass away at any moment.
Not daring to be negligent, Wei Qing immediately sent someone galloping fast horses to Jinling Pass to bring her master Doctor Qiu to come, while sending people to report back to Yumen Pass, and also sending people to Su Prefecture City to report to Jiang Wenyuan.
When Doctor Qiu heard that his little apprentice was injured, he almost exploded. The old man didn't care about anything else, grabbed a horse and ran towards Tongluo Pass without stopping to rest on the way.
Rushing all the way to Tongluo Pass, after taking his little apprentice's pulse, this was not just injured, damn it, she only had one breath left. If he had come a little later, I'm afraid he could only collect her corpse.
What the hell was that Wei Qing kid eating, that with so many people he couldn't even protect a child well. Although angry, Doctor Qiu also knew that this was not the time to settle accounts with others. Saving his darling little apprentice’s life was most important.
Doctor Qiu worked hard for most of the night before finally managing to save his darling little apprentice’s life. As he breathed a sigh of relief, he also felt sad enough to cry. His old man's darling little apprentice, how did she get so badly injured?
This won't do, he had to settle accounts with that Wei!
When Doctor Qiu angrily went to find Wei Qing. Wei Qing was listening to the scout report.
The scout said, "Your subordinate followed the traces of the Xiongnu's retreat all the way to a gentle slope sixty miles away, where the traces suddenly disappeared.
That place was very strange, with no snow at all, but was dark red in color, as if blood had been poured over it. When you got close you could still smell the bloody odor.
It was as if there had once been a battlefield there, and after the battle someone had cleaned it very cleanly. Your subordinate felt it was strange, so I took a stick and drew a circle along the edge of this area, and found that it was actually a very regular circle.
I then used the hoe I carried with me to dig down half a meter, and found that the bottom was full of fragmented fresh bones, flesh, ironware and fabric debris.
Your subordinate tried digging in several other spots within the circle, and found the same results, while outside the circle there was nothing. "
Speaking of this, the scout couldn't help shivering. In all these years of military service, this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre incident.
The scout presented a package taken from the pit. Wei Qing looked at it carefully and found that there were human bones and horse bones, broken blades that were clearly Xiongnu sabers according to the style, and fragmented skins and furs that Xiongnu people usually wore.....
Looking at these, thinking back to the two human heads, Wei Qing dared not think too deeply. He could only instruct the scout, "The general knows, you may leave. Remember, this matter is top secret, you must not divulge the slightest bit to anyone externally!"
The scout said, "Yes, General!" He saluted and withdrew.
The scout had just gone out when Doctor Qiu rushed in angrily. Seeing him, Wei Qing immediately stood up and said, "It's good that the doctor has come. Please sit here, Doctor!" He then repeated what the scout had just said and asked, "Does the doctor know what was the cause?"
Hearing this, Doctor Qiu's eyes brimmed with tears and was silent for a long time. After a while, he finally let out a long sigh and said, "She used forbidden arts and suffered the backlash!"
Wei Qing was shocked and asked in dismay, "What are forbidden arts? Why does the doctor say so?"
Doctor Qiu said, "The world only knows that she is this old man's closed-door disciple, a disciple of my Bianque Valley. But they don't know that before me, she had another master.
Her master was a true transcendent, I have never met him. I only know that he could fly and move instantaneously, with unfathomable supernatural abilities. What this transcendent taught my little apprentice were also some strange arts.
My little apprentice has the heart of an innocent child. Even though she has learned divine arts, she only used them to save people. Using forbidden arts this time was most likely also due to the blood debts incurred by the Tartars within Guanzhong, which provoked her. It's just that this will really cost her life..."
As the old man spoke, tears streamed down his face.
Upon hearing that the Tartars had been driven out of the pass, Jiang Wenyuan had not yet had time to be happy when news came of his daughter being critically injured and dying. He would never have imagined that this would happen. At that moment, his mind went blank. After reacting, he immediately told the attendant to first keep this news hidden and not let his wife know.
Bearing the pain, he left instructions with his staff and rode with only two guards towards Tongluo Pass. All the way there, his mind was full of various scenarios, both good and bad ones. If the situation really turned out to be the worst, what would he do?
Upon arriving at Tongluo Pass and seeing his daughter's small body just lying there motionless on the bed, seemingly fragile as if she would shatter at a touch, his heart felt shattered.
Bai Xiaoshi squeezed up and shoved a small garment at him. Jiang Wenyuan recognized it as the little male outfit his wife had personally made for their daughter before she set off.
Bai Xiaoshi pawed at the clothes with his hooves, signaling him to look inside the lapel pocket. Jiang Wenyuan understood Bai Xiaoshi's intention, took out a letter from the lapel. The handwriting was very messy, clearly written in a hurry. The contents were as follows:
"Dear father, mother, elder brother and all my beloved relatives:
In my past life I must have accumulated good karma to have the fortune of being born in the Jiang family in this life, enjoying all my elders’ extreme doting, yet unable to always be by your side, I, Qing, feel ashamed. I was also fortunate to have my master wholeheartedly teach me medicine techniques, which I should have used to serve the people.
However, things are not as one wishes. Our motherland is beautiful and bountiful, yet it also attracts the coveting of tigers, leopards and jackals.
The jackals trample our land and homes, slaughter our people and compatriots, even sparing no infants or pregnant women. I, Qing, have personally stitched a fetus into its mother’s belly before.
Countless brothers-in-arms soldiers have died heroically. I also have a friend whose mother gifted him a banner saying to die gloriously. Now, I, Qing, am willing to lay down my insignificant body to bury all evil under the wilderness.
Forbidden arts violate the harmony between Heaven and Earth, and violators are bound to suffer backlash. If I, Qing, have the good fortune to survive, I will often attend at your side in the future. If I unfortunately perish, you need not grieve.
I will transform into a star, shining eternally in the sky.
I will always love you!
Your unfilial daughter/apprentice, Qing, kowtows.
After reading it, Jiang Wenyuan clutched the letter while tears streamed down his cheeks as he wept over his daughter’s bedside. It is said that real men do not shed tears easily, only when extremely grieved.
Doctor Qiu took the letter and read it, then he also cried nonstop. He passed the letter to Wei Qing. After reading it, Wei Qing sighed deeply, "Such is the heroine."
Wei Qing classified Jiang Yuqing’s matter as top secret and wrote a letter to be delivered by special envoy into Qin Yijian’s hands.
After reading it, Qin Yijian also could not help but sigh deeply, “Heroes come from the youth.” He then wrote a memorial, sealed it and sent it posthaste to the capital by fast horse.
Outsiders only knew that Jiang Yuqing had brought back the heads of Huyin Agula and Habater, but was also seriously injured because of it. However, they did not know what method she had used. But this did not prevent the soldiers from admiring her.
The army is a place that worships the strong. As long as you have the ability and strength, no matter how old you are or what you have done, you will get the soldiers' sincere respect from the bottom of their hearts.
If it was said that before, the soldiers' positioning of Jiang Yuqing was only "a lovely, rich and generous little divine doctor". After this incident, she also gained a very awesome nickname: "Little Battle God".
They hung Agula and Habater's heads on the city gate, allowing the northwest wind to dry them, just as these beasts had done to several generals before.
Agula and Habater were beheaded at the Tongluo Pass, and the news that the entire army was wiped out greatly boosted the morale of the Da Xia army. At the same time, it also dealt a heavy blow to the Xiongnu army.
The Xiongnu king was furious, but had no good solutions. Of the 210,000 people he had brought, more than half had already been killed or wounded, and fodder was also scarce.
The chieftains of the various tribes also lost heart with him, complaining endlessly. Because when he fought, he always sent the warriors of other tribes to the battlefield first.
In other words, cannon fodder!
At the same time, the news that Jiang Yuqing was injured also spread among the various camps.
As one of the most important and respected former teachers of the army doctors, Jiang Yuqing's position among the army doctors can be imagined. The army doctors hated the Tartars even more.
Now that the teacher is seriously injured and falls down, her students will naturally take over.
Three days later, Lu Yi learned that his little junior sister had an accident. He was so angry that he wanted to go to Tongluo Pass to see Jiang Yuqing.
Just then, Doctor Qiu sent someone to bring him a letter "Good baby, don't worry about your life, do your job well, don't let her sacrifice be in vain!" Only then did he restrain his temper and continue with the things at hand.
The soldiers at Yumen Pass had been with Jiang Yuqing the longest, so they fought the enemy as if their lives depended on it. They wanted to avenge the little medical god.
Jiang Wenyuan stayed at Tongluo Pass for five days until Doctor Qiu confirmed that Jiang Yuqing was basically out of danger before taking his daughter back to Su Prefecture City.
On the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, when her carriage left, all the soldiers of Tongluo Pass lined up on both sides to see her off. This is the highest respect the soldiers give to heroes!
When Jiang Yuqing left Tongluo Pass, Doctor Qiu also returned to Jinling Pass.
His apprentice's wish was to drive away the Tartars and save more people. This wish has not been fulfilled yet, but the little one has fallen down. But it doesn't matter, there is still this old guy who can continue.