Chapter 2301 Have to Agree
General Guo was preparing for the next expedition. When he heard the doorman report that Zhou Man wanted to see him, his first instinct was to refuse.
But thinking that she had just returned from outside, she might actually have found out the cowpox prescription. This matter was indeed very important. As the Protector of Anxi, he really needed to be informed. So he suppressed his temper and said, "Please let someone in."
Manbao only came with Mr. Zhuang Baishan, and the others were not very willing to see General Guo's old face.
General Guo picked up the tea and drank half of it. After hearing Zhou Man's intention, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Master Zhou, have you found the prescription?"
Man Bao said, "We don't have a specific recipe. After all, we don't know how far away the legendary Far West Country is, and the area around Kucha is uneasy, so it's difficult for us to get through. But we do know some steps, so we want to give it a try."
Manbao said, "We didn't know the whole story when we were testing the human smallpox method in the capital, but we figured it out, didn't we? We're also very confident in the cowpox method this time."
She had confidence, but General Guo did not.
The battlefield is now at its most brutal, how could he allow something like smallpox to appear in Xizhou?
Once it spreads, the consequences will be unimaginable.
General Guo smiled and said, "Since Lord Zhou is so confident, why don't you return to the capital and try again? Xizhou is remote and barren, and many medicinal herbs are unavailable. Besides, if we return to the capital, we will have the imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital to consult with Lord Zhou."
"Although we are confident, we are not completely certain," Man Bao said, "so we want to test it out here. If it fails, we can continue to inquire. Otherwise, if we return to the capital and still can't test it, do we have to travel thousands of miles to the Western Regions again?"
General Guo was about to start Tai Chi with a smile on his face when Mr. Zhuang suddenly said, "General, there's no need to worry. We know from the merchant you sent to the courtyard last time that the cowpox test exists. If it exists, we can definitely test it."
General Guo said, "That's just a legend after all."
"So we can't just return with a legend," Mr. Zhuang said. "We've traveled thousands of miles to the Western Regions, enduring two raids by bandits and one by Tibetan soldiers. We lost so many soldiers and guards to get here. If we return to the capital with only a legend, even if Your Majesty doesn't punish us, we won't be able to return to the capital."
Mr. Zhuang looked at General Guo implicitly, waiting for his decision.
General Guo pursed his lips. Zhuang Xun had said so much, they had to get the result here before returning to Beijing. What else could he do?
The delegation had a high degree of autonomy, and His Majesty had already sent an order asking him to give them the greatest support.
General Guo was silent for a long time, but finally he had to ask, "What does Lord Zhou need?"
Manbao had originally intended to ask him for a few people for the experiment, but after watching Mr. Zhuang and General Guo clash, she suddenly realized that being soft and gentle wouldn't do much for General Guo. Instead, being tough would be more effective. So, she said with a smile, "I need a few cows and an open area to build a house for the experiment. Of course, I also need people to vaccinate."
Manbao said: "We have precedents. We can just recruit from prisoners."
General Guo snorted and said, "Most of the prisoners in Xizhou are on the battlefield. If we were to recruit voluntarily, I'm afraid no one would respond."
Bai Shan smiled slightly and said, "Although there's a chance of death from vaccination, there's also a chance of death from fighting on the battlefield. If they don't want to, then we can just give them some extra silver in addition to exempting them from punishment."
To put it simply, wouldn't they all have to pay the money?
General Guo suddenly thought of something and said meaningfully, "Master Zhou, you don't know that Anxi is currently at war and can't even raise enough money for military expenses. How can we get so much money to recruit prisoners?"
Everyone's eyes fell on the jade cup in his hand. It was said that General Guo, whose military tents were inlaid with gold and jade, would actually cry poor?
However, Bai Shan quickly said, "Sir, just help us recruit. We can't do anything like exempting us from punishment, but we still have some money."
He said, "We still have some silk cloth we brought from the capital, and it's of decent quality. If they're willing, after the matter is completed, whether they live or die, I will give them a piece of silk cloth."
"If they are alive, the things will naturally be delivered to them. If they are dead, whether they want to be buried with them or sent back home, we can do it for them." Bai Shan said, "I will definitely prepare thick coffins for them."
General Guo choked. Ordinary people might think that Bai Shan was cursing or swearing at someone after hearing this, but General Guo knew that for these prisoners, this was truly an obsession.
Many prisoners exiled here want to be buried in peace, but who will prepare coffins for them?
It's okay to die in prison, at least you can dig a pit and bury it with a straw mat. If you die on the battlefield, those who have time to collect the body will be buried in a big pit with everyone else, and those who don't have time to collect the body will most likely be fed to birds and wolves.
General Guo rubbed his forehead and nodded, saying, "You three can go back first. I'll have someone make some arrangements. We'll talk about it once everything is done."
Naturally, General Guo would not handle such a small matter personally, so he summoned an official from the Protectorate and handed him the task.
The other party secretly asked whether he wanted to make things difficult and delay?
General Guo pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Forget it. Let's get it done for them as soon as possible."
He felt that he might not be compatible with them. He had not been in a good mood since they appeared. At this time, they still needed food and grass from the Ministry of Revenue, and it was not appropriate to compete with Liu Huan.
And he is an elder after all, and if he always argues with a junior, he will have a bad reputation outside. He really doesn't want to always fall into the hands of the Liu family's grandparents and grandchildren, so forget it, get it over with as soon as possible, and send the person away as soon as possible.
At this time, General Guo did not know that Zhou Man and the others wanted to stay here and wait for General Ashina to return together, otherwise he would definitely take back his instructions today.
By the time he found out, they were already on their way to the battle, and sending someone back to tell the officials of the Protectorate would have been too much trouble, so the matter was dropped.
Of course, they don’t know about these treasures.
At this time, they had just left the Protectorate. After walking some distance, Manbao said, "So he only responds to hardship and not softness."
Mr. Zhuang thought she was being too naughty, so he patted her on the head and said, "Stop messing around. General Guo is your superior, how can you talk like that?"
Manbao shrank his neck, but the master didn’t object when they were discussing it yesterday?
Just as they were complaining, two horses came galloping towards them. The riders were startled when they saw them, then ran over, greeted them with a smile, and said, "Master Zhou and Master Bai are back? Did everything go smoothly on the journey?"
It was General Guo and General Meng. Manbao and Baishan had a good impression of them, so they smiled and greeted them. "It went well. Where are you two coming from?"
General Guo Xiao smiled and said, "We just came back from training in the military camp."
See you at 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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