The troops on the opposite side began to slow down when they were about fifty meters away from Yan Liqiang and his men. On the grassland, this was a sign of non-hostility. Zuo Yuquan and the others looked at each other, and each of them felt a little relieved, but they still did not dare to be careless.
The black-faced man led his men, holding a big knife hanging down, riding on a rhinoceros horse. He did not stop the rhinoceros horse until he was seven or eight meters away from Yan Liqiang and his men. He carefully looked at Yan Liqiang and his men, as well as the bloody linen bags hanging on the horses next to them. After Yan Liqiang and his men seized the rhinoceros horses of the Shatu cavalry, they had transferred the chopped heads to the saddles of the rhinoceros horses and let the rhinoceros horses carry them for easier movement.
"Judging from your appearance, you should be the rangers who entered the Gulang grassland, right?" asked the dark-faced man.
At such times, it was Zuo Yuquan who spoke on behalf of Yan Liqiang and the others. Riding on his horse, Zuo Yuquan clasped his fists towards the man with a smile on his face. "Yes, we are the rangers who entered the Gulang grassland. Thank you for bringing people to help us just now. Otherwise, I don't know when we can get rid of those sand dogs!"
The dark-faced man laughed heartily, "Hahaha, no need to thank me, no need to thank me, this is God's will. I am Zhao Tianyi, the owner of Zhaojiazhuang in Wulong Mountain, Yinzhou. These are my brothers. I have been worried about not being able to find the traces of those Shatu dogs these past two days. I didn't expect that these Shatu dogs would take the initiative to deliver themselves to my door. They sent me so many heads and so many rhinoceros horses at once. If I have to say thank you, I want to thank you!"
“Ah, it turns out to be Master Zhao from Yinzhou Wulong Mountain!” Zuo Yuquan’s expression changed again, his guard suddenly reduced a little, and he even showed a little more respect. “I have a few friends who have passed through Yinzhou before. They all said that the Master Zhao from Yinzhou Wulong Mountain’s Juyi Building is very famous and he often helps his friends in the martial arts world. I didn’t expect it to be Master Zhao in person. I’m so disrespectful!”
Not only Zuo Yuquan, Yan Liqiang also found that after that person said his name, Mao Taishun and others were visibly relieved. It was obvious that several people should have heard of this name, but Yan Liqiang was still a little unfamiliar with this name. He didn't know who this Zhao Zhuangzhu of Wulong Mountain was. Of course, with Yan Liqiang's status, it was normal for him not to know these ordinary people in the world. Those who knew him were not ordinary people. Take his subordinate Situ Feixing for example, he was a powerful figure in the Northwest Road and the leader among the Northwest horse bandits.
"It's just a small reputation, all thanks to my friends in the martial arts world. The Juyi Building is just a place for my friends in the martial arts world to stay and eat when they pass by Wulong Mountain. It's nothing. I just love making friends!" The dark-faced man was modest, but his expression seemed very happy. "What are your names?"
"My name is Zuo Yuquan. These are our friends who came to Gulang Grassland with us. This is Mao Taishun, this is Xu Meng, this is Zhao Bing, this is Jia Lang, and this is Wang Baoqiang!" Zuo Yuquan pointed at the people around him and introduced them to Zhao Tianyi. When he mentioned Yan Liqiang, Yan Liqiang, like everyone else, nodded to Zhao Tianyi, and they became acquainted.
"By the way, how did you get into trouble with so many Shatu people and be hunted by them?"
"Nothing much, we just discovered a small tribe of Shatu people these two days. We followed them for two days and touched some Shatu people's heads tonight. Then they found us and sent cavalry to chase us here!"
"A small tribe of Shatu people?" Zhao Tianyi's dark face suddenly brightened up when he heard this, his eyes sparkling. "I wonder how many people are there in that small tribe? How many tents are there?"
"We followed them for two days. That small tribe had about 2,000 to 3,000 people and 500 to 600 tents!"
"Are those Shatu people far away from here?"
"Not far, not close, probably more than a hundred miles!"
Hearing Zuo Yuquan's words, Zhao Tianyi's eyes lit up even brighter, and he rubbed his hands together, "Damn, this is a big piece of fat meat..."
Zuo Yuquan shook his head and advised, "Master Zhao, please forgive me for being frank. After killing Hu Ling, the Shatu people now know that they have no way to survive. When something happens, men, women, old and young all rush out to fight. There are two to three thousand people in that small tribe, and there are about seven to eight hundred men who can fight. Although Master Zhao has brought a lot of troops, if he really collides with the two to three thousand people of the Shatu tribe, I am afraid he will not gain much advantage, and he will also lose a lot of brothers..."
"Well, the number of men I have is not enough to deal with two or three thousand Shatu people. But if we can have a thousand more, would you dare to lead the way and chop off the heads of those Shatu people together?"
Zuo Yuquan, Yan Liqiang, Mao Taishun, and Zhao Bing exchanged glances and said without hesitation, "If there are really so many people, we are willing to lead the way!"
"Okay, Brother Zuo's words are enough!" Zhao Tianyi smiled, waved his hand, and said a few words to a capable follower next to him. The man nodded, then waved his hand and led more than ten people, riding on rhinoceros horses, and quickly rushed to the northeast. "Let's take a short break here. In less than half an hour, someone will be here. When the time comes, I'll trouble Brother Zuo and the others to lead the way. Let's go and chop off the heads of those Shatu people!"
"Does Master Zhao have any friends nearby?"
"I guess so. I just met him these past two days. The son of the governor of Bo'an County in Lanzhou, Lu Yuhen, brought more than a thousand servants and horses to Gulang Grassland to hunt for heads. He set up camp twenty miles away. That son Lu has been in Gulang Grassland for four days and has not encountered a single Shatu person. Now he is looking for Shatu people everywhere. I asked someone to pass on a message. After hearing this, that son Lu will definitely bring his people here..."
"I see… "
…
Zhao Tianyi's people were still cleaning up the battlefield, so it would take some time.
Seeing the opportunity to strike back, Yan Liqiang was of course willing to do so. Everyone took this opportunity to dismount and let their mounts rest for a while, then found a place to treat Xu Meng's thigh wound. Xu Meng had been enduring it just now, but now he couldn't delay any longer.
Mao Taishun said that he had dealt with similar arrow wounds several times before and had "rich experience", so he was asked to do it this time.
Xu Meng lay on the grass. Mao Taishun asked Xu Meng to bite the scabbard with his teeth, then pulled out the dagger from his waist and cut open Xu Meng's pants on his thigh. Then he found a rope and tied it tightly around the wound, making a knot...
When the rope was tightened around his thigh, it pulled the wound, and the broken arrow shaft stirred in the wound. Big beads of cold sweat flowed out on Xu Meng's forehead, but he still gritted his teeth and said nothing.
Zuo Yuquan was watching from the side and could feel the piercing pain in Xu Meng's heart. He quickly said, "Brother Mao... be careful... be careful... The arrow is too deep in the thigh. It might hit a blood vessel. Be careful when you take it..."
Mao Taishun looked at the hideous wound on Xu Meng's thigh, his face solemn, "The reason why I tied this rope around him is to stop the bleeding if the blood vessels are ruptured..."
"Brother Mao is still experienced. Brother Mao, I'll leave my leg to you..." Xu Meng, who was lying on the ground, turned around and said gratefully.
"Don't worry, I've treated this wound several times, it won't kill you..."
Xu Meng just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Mao Taishun say this, but the second half of Mao Taishun's words made Xu Meng's face turn pale again.
"... But if you are unlucky, the worst that can happen is that your legs will be amputated. As rangers, we can only rely on luck at times like this. Look at the Mo Lao San and Lao Cao we met in Yingwei County. They were also wounded by arrows and ended up having their arms and legs amputated. It's hard to say..."
Seeing Mao Taishun roll up his sleeves, wipe the dagger on his clothes, and use the tip of the dagger to gesture near the wound to find the place to cut, mumbling something in his mouth and praying for God's blessing, Yan Liqiang, who had been silent all this time, quickly spoke, "Brother Mao, let me do it..."
"Ah, Brother Wang can also do this?" Mao Taishun turned his head and looked at Yan Liqiang.
"I used to stay with a doctor for some time, so I know a little bit!" Yan Liqiang said modestly.
"Well, then, Brother Wang, you come over..." Mao Taishun immediately gave the position of "chief surgeon" to Yan Liqiang.
Seeing Mao Taishun give way and Yan Liqiang taking over, Xu Meng, who was lying on the ground, felt relieved for some reason. Yan Liqiang's performance tonight made his friends around him understand that Yan Liqiang was the typical person who did better than he said. Since Yan Liqiang said he knew a little and was willing to help Xu Meng take out the broken arrow, he must be quite confident...
Yan Liqiang first took out the wine flask from his waist, washed his hands with strong liquor, then washed the short knife, and then asked Jia Lang to bring a torch, and then burned the blade with fire several times...
"Brother Wang, why do we need to wash this knife with wine and burn it with fire?" Mao Taishun, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know either, but I've seen doctors in the past do it this way when removing arrowheads from patients..." Yan Liqiang replied.
The strength of the medicine of the Han Empire was the production of various elixirs, but its weaknesses were also very obvious. The weakest weakness was surgery. Among a hundred doctors, there might be less than one who could perform surgery. Even for doctors who could perform surgery, the most they required was that the knife must be clean. There was no complete concept of bacteria and disinfection. Yan Liqiang certainly couldn't explain these things to the people around him at once, but it was difficult to explain, so he could only say that he didn't know why it was like this.
Although others did not understand the principle, they could not help but feel more confident when they saw Yan Liqiang was very serious and methodical.
"Brother Xu, I'm about to start, please bear with me..." Yan Liqiang said to Xu Meng.
"Brother Wang, come on, it's okay..." Xu Meng said while gritting his teeth.
Yan Liqiang nodded, took out the wine jug again, and poured the wine on Xu Meng's wound, washing the wound first, which was also considered disinfection...
When the wine was poured on Xu Meng's wound, all the muscles in his body tensed up at once.
"Brother Xu, relax your thighs. If you tense your muscles, the arrowhead will be trapped, making it difficult to remove..."
“Okay… okay…” said Xu Meng, who was sweating profusely, and slowly tried to relax the muscles in his thighs.
Seeing that Xu Meng was almost done, Yan Liqiang moved the dagger in his hand. With a light cut, he lightly cut the wound, exposing the arrow shaft completely. Then he pinched the broken arrow shaft with two fingers, slowly inserted the tip of the dagger into the wound until it touched the arrowhead. He moved it left and right, picked it up, and exerted force with the two fingers holding the arrow shaft. In three seconds, he deftly took out the arrowhead that was embedded in the muscle...
Others were stunned, unable to believe that Yan Liqiang had taken out the arrow in just two breaths. It was simply amazing.
You have to know that the shape of the arrow is very special. After it enters the human body, the edges and corners of the tail of the arrow are like two fish hooks that are embedded in the human body. If you want to take it out, even an experienced doctor will have to spend a lot of effort, and it may cause people to suffer from excruciating pain. However, I didn't expect that it would become so simple in Yan Liqiang's hands.
Of course, they didn't know that Yan Liqiang could see clearly the arrowhead's penetration into Xu Meng's thigh. The tail of the arrowhead had already pressed against the aorta in Xu Meng's leg. If Mao Taishun had used his method just now, the blood vessels would have been cut when operating or taking out the arrowhead. That's why Yan Liqiang volunteered to take the initiative. After using a dagger to gently open the blood vessels and tendons buried deep in Xu Meng's thigh, he used the smallest wound and the most clever angle to take out the arrowhead. No one else could do this except Yan Liqiang. This ability is considered a top-notch skill in surgery...
After taking out the arrowhead, Yan Liqiang skillfully applied the wound medicine that everyone brought with them and bandaged it at the same time.
When he stood up, he found that Zuo Yuquan, Mao Taishun, Zhao Bing, and Jia Lang were staring at him in amazement, as if they had seen a ghost. Xu Meng, who was lying on the ground with his back to him, asked curiously, "Brother Wang, why do I feel you bandaging me before the arrowhead is taken out? Is it difficult to remove the arrowhead?"
"Brother Xu, I have already taken out the arrowhead from your thigh..."
"Ah, it's taken out. Why do I feel like it hasn't even started yet..." Xu Meng said, and when he turned around, he saw that Yan Liqiang was holding a bloody broken arrowhead in his hand. Xu Meng himself was stunned. You know, two minutes ago, he came to Mao Taishun to remove the arrowhead for him with the feeling that he might have to have his leg amputated. He never thought that Yan Liqiang could take it out so easily.
"Amazing skills...Amazing skills...Brother Wang, your skill of taking out arrows is so amazing that I have traveled all over the world and have never seen anyone who can compare to you, Brother Wang..." Zuo Yuquan said excitedly while looking at Yan Liqiang...
(End of this chapter)