A merchant from the Northern Black Mountain, Lu Yunan, was riding a horse wearing a cone hat across the official road of Suzhou.
In just one short month, the entire Suzhou had undergone earth-shattering changes.
In the city, pits and large holes could be seen everywhere; construction teams were busy excavating water wells—a well traditionally signified a safe and reliable drinking water source, greatly enhancing resistance to droughts.
A good well was akin to a family heirloom, requiring a specialized well master to locate deep water sources, with construction costs ranging from ten to twenty strings of coins.
In some villages with poor irrigation conditions, conflicts over well ownership sometimes arose between neighbors and villages, even escalating into large-scale brawls and feuds.
However, the arrival of cultivators from the Academic Palace and Lu Li Academy changed this.
They would extend Mind Silk into the depths of the earth to seek reliable water sources and then use their Cultivation to directly excavate stones, enabling ordinary construction teams to quickly build wells.
Moreover, even if the wells weren’t artesian, cultivators from the Academic Palace also brought pump valve blueprints designed by Doctor of Science Su Feng.
Once built, water could rapidly be pumped out of the well by simply moving the valve handle up and down by hand.
Additionally, construction teams composed of cultivators and common people were also building numerous public toilets and accompanying sewer systems in the city.
Ceramic sleeves produced by ceramic factories were connected to each other to form pipes, sealed with glue-like substances to prevent corrosion, leakage, and odor. One end of the pipe was connected to the public toilets, while the other led to septic tanks of various sizes. Each septic tank consisted of three tanks connected in parallel, with volume ratios of two to one to three, where domestic wastewater and sludge would circulate and settle, eliminating suspended matter and converting easily decomposable raw sludge into stable mature sludge that could be used as fertilizer, reducing environmental pollution. Furthermore, some septic tanks even used a technology called "three-phase separation" to accelerate settling and reduce wastewater.
By now, the common people in Suzhou and throughout Jiangnan Road had come to understand the principles of schistosomiasis treatment and transmission through publications from the Academic Palace. They showed exceptional support for the court.
Prince Li Shan, who was rumored not to be valued in Chang’an, displayed impressive abilities, coordinating the transportation of materials in Jiangnan Road, formulating policies, and mobilizing manpower in his dual role as Prince and Inspector. He also revisited the "Yu Code" and strictly adhered to its laws and regulations: "Those who bore holes in walls to discharge foul waste into the streets: sixty lashes. If the officials in charge do not forbid this, they are equally culpable." Anyone who indiscriminately dumped feces on the streets, polluting the alleys, would be lashed sixty times. He subtly amended the law "Those who discharge water directly are exempt from blame" as well. Those who urinated indiscriminately were also fined. In short, with so many public toilets now in the city, defecating or urinating anywhere was not acceptable.
Compared to the city, the changes in the surrounding towns and rural areas of Suzhou were even more significant.
The people from the counties around Suzhou were all called to action. Men and women, old and young, were equipped with cloth socks, oil socks, leg wraps, face masks, and gloves distributed to them. They found places where nail snails were most prevalent, excavating new ditches, filling in old ones, burying nail snails alive with soil; constructing dams to change water flow; burning weeds, cleaning reed marshes; soaking the land with pesticide, flipping over turf with shovels; tearing down uninhabited dilapidated houses, incinerating the spreading nail snails under tiles with flames; applying quicklime on the walls of residences to prevent the spread of nail snails;
Common people, civilians, soldiers, clerks, and cultivators—people from all walks of life contributed their strength to the cause, striving to kill as many nail snails and Blood-sucking Worms as possible before the spring plowing.
As Lu Yunan and her guards rode along the road and saw the endless number of united, busy Yu Country people in the fields, she felt deeply shocked. The shock was so direct and heartfelt that Lu Yunan subconsciously tightened the reins, slowing her riding pace, squinting her eyes to carefully admire the scene before her. The two guards involuntarily held their breath; the pressure from countless Yu Country people bending their backs and swinging hoes and shovels on the river embankments was even greater than the towering city walls or the so-called cultivators.
"Do you now understand why Yu Country is the most powerful empire in the world?" Lu Yunan spoke softly. "In terms of bravery and ferocity, they can’t outdo West Jing,
"in terms of Cavalry tactics, they don’t surpass the Turkic,
"and when it comes to a superior climate, they can’t compare with Nanzhou,
"not to mention, in terms of physique, they are no match for us, the Northern People, and the Desert People of Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains.
"But unity—it’s a unity achieved not through the oppression of tyrants or officials, but for the sake of one’s own life and that of others..."
Lu Yunan fell silent for a while, with a strange light flickering in her eyes, as if she were lost in some memory.
"Let’s go. It’s time to meet this Li Ang."
She pulled the reins and led her guards towards the sick house.
"...There should be no issues for now, but you’ll need to rest for the next few days and maintain a light diet..."
In the sick house, having just completed a surgery, Li Ang explained the precautions to the patient with patience. During this period, he had been constantly in the sick house, performing the removal of Blood-sucking Worms with Mind Silk and hastily training volunteer cultivators from Lu Li Academy, besides eating and sleeping.
The Mind Silk Surgery Technique, first conceived by Qiu Feng, indeed deserved to be called innovative; on the basis of meticulous care, a successful surgery was able to remove over ninety percent of the Blood-sucking Worms in the patient’s body. If the patient had strong immunity, self-healing was also possible. Moreover, Doctors like Qiu Jing and Qiu Quan had made significant contributions. Traditional medicine couldn’t eliminate the Blood-sucking Worms, but some prescriptions developed based on medical theories, such as Ascites Grass among others, could significantly relieve the pathological symptoms of the patients and ease the pain they suffered. The source of this content ɪs 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝙣𝙚𝙩
The problem, however, remained: there were too many patients and too few qualified cultivators.
After sending off the patient who couldn’t thank him enough, Li Ang collapsed heavily into a chair, his face unable to conceal his exhaustion and languor.
Qiu Feng said with concern, "I’ll prepare a bed for you; you might want to sleep a little. I can handle the next surgeries."
"No need, there’s still a little Spiritual Power left; I’ll sleep after using it all up."
Li Ang rubbed his face and stood up from the chair. For a cultivator, depleting all Spiritual Power led to an extremely uncomfortable state of exhaustion. However, Li Ang had long since developed muscle memory for the surgeries, and even when weary and with slow thinking, it didn’t affect the operations.
Just as he was about to shake the bell on the table to proceed to the next surgery, a knock came from outside the door.
An attendant from the sick house entered, and said with utmost respect, "Mr. Li, someone has responded to your reward posting. She says she can provide a large quantity of grape wine. She’s in the courtyard at the moment."
The attendant from the sick house paused momentarily. During this time, Li Ang had collaborated with Prince Guang Li Shan and the Suzhou Governor to mobilize a large amount of resources; for items difficult to obtain in the short term, high rewards were offered among the common people—items such as tea cakes and grape wine, for example.
As for what the wine was for... who cared? Mr. Li was always right, that was all that mattered. Besides, Mr. Li was exhausting himself for Suzhou; what was wrong with him enjoying a little wine?
"Hm? Someone responded to the posting so quickly?"
Li Ang was slightly startled and immediately went out to see the girl with white hair, admiring the flowers and plants in the courtyard.
"Ah, you must be the rumored Little Medicine King God." Lu Yunan extended her hand to Li Ang in a casual and uninhibited manner. "Let me introduce myself, I’m a merchant from Northern Black Mountain. The Fengshun Trading Company in Chang’an City is mine."
"Oh, quite influential, it’s the one that sells Black Wood Water Kettles, right?"
Li Ang took a moment to remember, and apart from a slight surprise at the other’s age, he had little reaction—he didn’t care about her background or whether she was seeking to curry favor with him.
"Let’s be frank, you said you can provide a large quantity of high-quality grape wine?"