LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 341
As a result, they were discovered by Lin Beifan just as they entered Great Xia.
“Instead of taking the path to heaven, you barge into the gates of hell!” Lin Beifan waved his hand gently, and just like that, they were ‘sent away’ to another place, disappearing without a trace.
After dealing with this group, Lin Beifan still felt unsatisfied.
His eyes began to roll around, hinting he was up to something not good.
Soon after, he let out a sly chuckle.
……
Four days later, within the camp of the Gret Shí Kingdom.
The anxiously waiting advisor and others began to wonder, “What exactly is happening over there? It’s been three days now. Why is there no movement at all, and why have they lost contact?”
When the plan was set, they had agreed to keep in touch, with messages being sent back every day.
At the very least, they were supposed to maintain communication every two days.But now it had been four days with no news at all, as if they had vanished into thin air.
A bad premonition began to rise in everyone’s hearts.
“Could they… have met with some mishap?” someone asked with unease.
“Impossible!”
The advisor asserted confidently: “We sent out 30 Innate experts. Unless a Grandmaster intervened, there’s no way they could be killed! Besides, almost all of Great Xia’s Grandmasters are deployed on the battlefield or guarding the imperial city. They simply can’t spare anyone!”
“Moreover, they entered Great Xia in batches from different directions. Even we don’t know their exact whereabouts, so how could Great Xia possibly discover them? And even if they were discovered, some should have been able to escape, right?”
“Thus, I conclude that they might have been delayed by some matter. Let’s not scare ourselves and wait patiently. There will come a time when the flowers bloom and bear fruit!” the advisor reassured everyone.
In fact, he too suspected that something had gone wrong with the group.
But he couldn’t let the army’s morale be affected.
Without solid evidence, he had to keep the army’s spirits up.
Just then, a soldier rushed in hurriedly, his face filled with panic, “Marshal, Advisor, something terrible has happened! Tens of thousands of soldiers have been poisoned!”
“Poisoned?” Everyone was shocked.
The advisor urgently asked, “Could it be that Great Xia sent someone to poison us?”
“This… we can’t be sure, you should all go out and see for yourselves!”
The generals left the camp and saw tens of thousands of soldiers vomiting and suffering from diarrhea, writhing on the ground in agony, their faces extremely pale.
“What in the world is going on? Where is the doctor? Come quickly and take a look!” the Marshal of Great Shi demanded grimly.
“Coming, I’m here!”
A doctor emerged from among the soldiers, his face covered in sweat.
“Marshal, I was just treating the soldiers, and there was some delay. Please forgive me.
“What have you found? What’s wrong with them?” Great Shí Marshal pointed to the group of fallen soldiers and asked.
“The situation is not good. They might have contracted dysentery!” the doctor explained.
“Dysentery?” The others looked at each other in dismay.
The doctor immediately clarified, “They have headaches, fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, general weakness, loss of appetite… these are indeed symptoms of dysentery! If not treated promptly, the condition will worsen and could be fatal!”
“Ah? Is there an effective treatment?” the advisor inquired.
“Advisor, fortunately, we’ve discovered it early. As long as they follow my prescription and recuperate for a few days, they should all recover!” the doctor said with a bow.
“That’s a relief!” the advisor sighed.
“Advisor, Marshal, now is not the time to relax! Dysentery is contagious, and if it spreads, it could infect the entire army. If we don’t control it, I fear the whole army might fall ill.”
“What? The entire army might fall ill?” The generals finally realized the gravity of the situation.
If the whole army were to fall ill, it would definitely affect their combat effectiveness.
While there is medicine that can cure the illness, they feared that they would not have the opportunity to recover if the enemy took advantage of the situation and attacked.
“How do we control it?” the Marshal urgently asked.
The doctor stroked his beard as he spoke, “As the saying goes, ‘disease enters through the mouth, and trouble comes out of it!’ After my inquiries and understanding, I see that they must have fallen ill from drinking unclean water! Therefore, we must control the water to control the spread of the disease! All drinking water for the soldiers must be boiled before consumption to mitigate the crisis.”
“Boil water for the entire army?” Everyone frowned at the thought because it would consume too much firewood!
You must understand that firewood is expensive, and burning it like that is akin to burning money.
Their army of over two million people would consume astronomical amounts of firewood.
Thus, their firewood is only used for cooking rice and porridge.
If they now had to boil drinking water as well, the amount of firewood needed would be enormous.
However, given the urgency of the situation, if they did not do this and the entire army became infected, the problem would be even greater.
Great Shí Marshal nodded his head: “Very well, let’s arrange it immediately!”
Following that, the Marshal immediately arranged for people to boil water and prepare medicine…
And he propagated throughout the army that the river water was unclean and that they could only drink boiled water.
After a few days, the epidemic was finally under control.
However, a new problem arose.
“Marshal, Advisor, there’s terrible news: the soldiers have been poisoned!”
“How could they be poisoned again? Didn’t you boil the water before giving it to the soldiers?”
“Reporting to the Marshal, this time it’s not dysentery, but snake venom!”
“Snake venom?”
Everyone’s faces turned pale with shock, and they stepped out of the military camp.
They saw tens of thousands of soldiers lying on the ground, wailing.
On their legs or arms were the marks of snake bites, their faces turning purple and green, showing signs of deep poisoning.
“Reporting to the Marshal, last night, many snakes appeared in the camp, mostly venomous ones, and the soldiers were bitten by these snakes!” someone reported loudly.
Great Shí Marshal’s face turned ashen: “Damn it! No sooner has one problem subsided than another arises! Where did these snakes come from? Doctor, can you treat the soldiers?”
The doctor sighed helplessly: “Marshal, this is difficult for me! The snake venom varies from case to case, and many types still have no antidote. I’m just an ordinary doctor, I don’t have the power to reverse fate!”
The Marshal said forcefully: “I don’t care! If you can’t save them, I’ll take your life!”
The doctor sighed again, indicating he would do his best.
Following that, despite the doctor’s utmost efforts, he still couldn’t save the lives of most of the soldiers.
When night fell, the venomous snakes reappeared, claiming the lives of tens of thousands more soldiers.
This continued for two consecutive nights until they managed to bring in a large quantity of realgar, which somewhat alleviated the situation.
However, these events cast a shadow over the soldiers.
They couldn’t sleep during the day and dared not sleep properly at night, fearing a venomous snake bite.
After several days like this, many soldiers were not brought down by dysentery or snake venom but fell ill due to sheer exhaustion.
The army’s morale was low, completely devoid of fighting spirit.
Great Shí Marshal and others could only sigh at this sight.
What kind of misfortune had they brought upon themselves!
We fell ill ourselves before we could defeat the enemy. How can we continue to fight like this?
***
TLN: Thank you EJB for the tipss!
396/519 –> 396/539
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