Traveling through the mountains and farming

Chapter 128 Ancient Suturing

While Li Changli and his men were frantically fleeing from the county town gate, the people living in seclusion in the cave began their normal morning exercises, but today was a little special.

He Lizheng brought all the people in the secluded valley to the secluded cave before their morning exercise, and vowed to learn from the secluded cave. They also wanted everyone to be able to defend themselves and fight.

He didn't dare to think about the consequences that would have been disastrous if the ten people a few days ago had targeted the valley where they lived in seclusion.

After seeing how the group of people living in seclusion in the cave bravely fought against the bandits, he immediately decided that all the men, women and children in the valley should practice diligently.

Fang Xuewen also thought that this should be done, so the next day they found Uncle Li and Luo Dashan to negotiate.

After some discussion, everyone finally agreed to let the people in the Secluded Valley study and train in the Secluded Cave for half a month. After they have mastered some attack and defense skills, they can train in the Secluded Valley by themselves.

Starting today, everyone in the valley will officially train together.

When Doctor Zhong saw that He Yunzheng, who had a serious knife wound on his arm, was also among the people training, he immediately walked over and took him to check on his recovery.

"Didn't you apply the medicine on time and rest well? Your arm is red, swollen and festering. Don't you want it anymore?"

"I applied the medicine on time. I haven't used my injured hand in the past few days. Really, I just moved my body around."

Seeing that Doctor Zhong's face was terribly gloomy, He Yunzheng hurried to explain.

Doctor Zhong's scolding just now was urgent and angry, which attracted the attention of the people who were training nearby.

He Lizheng and his wife immediately ran over to inquire about the situation. When they learned that their son's wound had worsened, they felt angry and regretful.

They were busy digging kudzu and konjac these days and did not personally check on their son's injuries. When they asked him, he just said that he was getting better.

Qin held He Yunzheng's hand and said with a sob, "You kid, this must be in so much pain. Why didn't you find a doctor?"

"I was thinking of waiting until I finished the training before asking Doctor Zhong to check it out, but Doctor Zhong discovered it first." He Yunzheng smiled and comforted his mother.

After this period of hard work, he was no longer a weak scholar. He gradually took on the burden of the family and tried his best to share the worries for his parents.

He Lizheng turned to Doctor Zhong and asked anxiously: "Doctor Zhong, what should we do?"

Looking at his child's bloody wound after the sackcloth was removed, he felt so distressed. The child had never suffered any hardship since childhood, and now even with his hand in such a state, he could still endure it and comfort them with a smile.

"We need to quickly clean the festering flesh, apply medicine and bandage it again, but the process will be very painful." Doctor Zhong looked serious.

Lin Wan was the first one to hear the noise and rushed over. She looked at the wound, which was more than ten centimeters long. It was cracked and swollen, and the medicine powder on it had long been soaked with pus. It was obvious that the wound had worsened and needed to be treated quickly.

Such a long wound needs to be sutured to heal faster. It became inflamed and festered before, probably because the wound is too deep and too large to recover easily.

I just don't know if Dr. Zhong knows how to suture. She has learned that in ancient times, deep wounds could be sutured, but it was not popular, and the tools and materials needed for sutures may not be available in this valley.

Lin Wan couldn't help but ask, "Doctor Zhong, his injury is so serious. If we only clean the wound and apply medicine and bandage, it will probably get inflamed again. Why don't you consider suturing the wound? Maybe it will heal faster."

After hearing what Lin Wan said, Doctor Zhong felt that Lin Wan was really intelligent. As far as he knew, there were only a few famous doctors who knew the suturing technique, and almost no one in the folks knew about it. It was amazing that she, a non-doctor, could think of such a method.

Since the art of suturing had only recently become popular, he had not delved into this area and had only seen others perform it a few times before.

"You are right. However, although I know a little bit about the art of suturing, I have never practiced it much. Besides, I don't have any tools for suturing right now."

Lin Wan tried hard to recall what she had seen before about the materials used in ancient suturing techniques. Novels often mentioned that the heroine made catgut, but she had no time to do it now. As for methods such as alcohol disinfection, she had no conditions to implement them at the moment.

She felt that no matter what method was used, as long as she could find suitable sutures and take proper disinfection measures, it should be worth a try to suture with an embroidery needle. It would be better than doing nothing.

He Lizheng, who was standing nearby, heard this and quickly agreed, "Doctor Zhong, as long as the child's wound can be healed quickly, we will do our best to help him find anything he needs."

"We need special needles for suturing and silk or silver threads as sutures. These things probably cannot be found in this deep mountain." Doctor Zhong stated the tools needed based on his previous experience.

However, He Yunzheng's injuries were not optimistic. When he first treated the wound a few days ago, he was worried that it might worsen. He did not expect it to develop to such a serious level.

After hearing what Dr. Zhong said, Lin Wan realized that suturing was just beginning in this era, and the materials and tools available were extremely limited.

Lin Wan eagerly pulled Doctor Zhong over and told him about the idea of ​​trying a household needle. Although Doctor Zhong had some doubts, he had to give it a try as the situation was urgent. The only thing left now was what to use as sutures.

Seeing that Doctor Zhong decided to give it a try, He Lizheng asked the others to continue training and asked He Yunzheng to follow Doctor Zhong back to his home to treat his wounds.

Lin Wan was also taken away by Dr. Zhong because Dr. Zhong felt that Lin Wan might be able to give him some good ideas on suturing.

As he wished, Lin Wan actually remembered the material that could be used as sutures.

She recalled a rural project she had done before, where the main crop was mulberry. She remembered that when she went there to investigate, a cultural research expert invited by the village said that mulberry bark thread was invented at some point in ancient times for use in skin sutures, and that mulberry bark thread could be absorbed by the body, so there was no need to remove the stitches after suture.

Lin Wan quickly told Dr. Zhong about this idea.

Although Doctor Zhong had never heard of thread made from mulberry bark being used for sutures before, he heard Lin Wan say that she had seen it in a miscellaneous book. Now the situation was urgent, and out of trust in Lin Wan, he decided to give it a try.

Because he knew that it was impossible to get silk or silver thread in the deep mountains, but the chance of finding mulberry trees would be much greater.

And if it is feasible, this will be a major invention in the medical field. Mulberry bark thread has a low production cost. Lin Wan also said that there is no need to remove the stitches, and this will be the best suture thread.

Doctor Zhong excitedly pulled Lin Wan aside to explain to him how to make it, then he immediately called He Lizheng and asked them to send more people out to look for mulberry trees, and asked them to dig up the root bark of the mulberry trees and bring it back.

Because Lin Wan remembered that the cultural expert at that time introduced it as: "The root bark of the mulberry tree, the surface yellow skin is removed, leaving the white and soft long fiber layer, and then hammered and processed into fiber fine threads."

She also asked in detail how to hammer and process it. She was told that the coarser veins in the inner layer of the mulberry root bark should be torn into thin threads, and then wrapped with the outer bark and rubbed from beginning to end seven times to obtain smooth and shiny mulberry bark threads.

At that time, the expert also specifically emphasized that mulberry bark thread is not only simple to make and easy to use, but also not easy to break. It also has a mild medicinal property, can clear away heat and detoxify, and promote wound healing.

Lin Wan told Dr. Zhong all the details she could remember.