Chapter 12: Help?

It should be said that the Persians not only fulfilled their promises, but they also did a great job. They brought the Greeks to a fertile land, there are dense number of farmland in here, surrounded by dozens of fertile villages and two villages was vacated for the Greeks, and a large number of foods was prepared.

After several days of fatigue and hunger, the soldiers were fed to their heart’s content.

The next day, Davos woke up, he felt energetic and his fatigue was swept away. He felt confused thinking of what the Persians did, if this is the enemy’s plan, is it necessary for them to pay so much? Is this country bullies the weak and fear the strong, just like the Northern Song Dynasty in Chinese history.

He tried to recall the description of the ancient Persian imperial system by the university professors who were invited to teach the lessons of the decline of great powers during his previous studies at the Party School[1]. The Persians took advantage of the decline of the two hegemon of the two rivers, Medes[2] and Assyria[3], and rose in power. Because Cyrus the Great[4] adopted a very tolerant policy towards other cultures and religions, and so wherever the soldiers went, all kinds of tribes surrendered, and its territory like a snowball became bigger and bigger.

How did they manage such a vast territory? First of all, the most prosperous place in Persia that is – Persepolis, the capital of Persia, was established by the king himself. The Mesopotamian Valley was the most fertile area under Persia and the Mesopotamian territory is directly under the rule of the Persian king! Most of the ethnic groups under the Persian jurisdiction are autonomous and paid taxes regularly and so on. While the rest was governed by the Satraps.

Davos had a flash of inspiration, he recalled that when the mercenaries passed through Cilicia, Cyrus the Younger allowed the Greeks to plunder but once they crossed the river in Thapsacus[5] and entered Mesopotamia, they were much more tightly managed and need to pay for everything they bought, could it be….could it be that….

“Davos, come with me to see Asistes!” A big hand dragged Davos and interrupted his thoughts.

“Who?” Davos asked Hielos slightly confused.

“Asistes, the nephew of Antonios. When he was crossing the wooden bridge yesterday, the bridge suddenly broke and he fell into the river, he got a big wound on his thigh from getting struck by a broken wood. We didn’t expect that this morning, he started burning up and even though he is unconscious, he kept saying some strange things and the physician can’t do anything.” Hielos said anxiously.

“Speaking strange words?! It seems that he has reached hell and met Rhadamanthus[6], there is no hope for him.” Olivos saw Hielos glared at him, and corrected himself: “Of course, if Davos, who Hades ‘Favored’, doesn’t agree then even if he doesn’t want to live, he can’t!”

Davos smiled: “I want to help, but I’m not sure I can cure him.”

Hielos comforted him by saying: “Antonios understands. But for a person who is about to lose his loved ones, even if there is a little hope, he will still try.”

In the face of Hielos’ expectant eyes, Davos was silent and he gradually calmed down from the tension, even if he can’t save Asistes, he just can’t forget the help he had gotten from them these 2 days! Besides, he can just gain their trust again with his own ability without pretending to deceive them! And without this nickname, maybe some of Meno’s jealousy will decrease.

Thinking of it, he nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll go with you.”

“I will go too.” Giorgris also stood up.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When they came to a house with the doors and windows closed, the house was full of people.

“Davos is here!” A word quickly gave way to a passage.

Davos saw a young man in his twenties lying on the bed with his eyes closed, his lips were dry and he is very red all over his body. There is a six-centimeter-long wound on his left thigh near the knee and the wound was swollen as big as a fist. He is saying some strange things, his hands and feet are twitching, but someone is restraining him tightly.

Davos first put his hand on the patient’s forehead and felt it hot. Davos then gently pressed the swelling with his hands, and the wound expelled some green pus. He felt his fingers were sticky and has a faint fragrance.

At this time, the man who was restraining the patient raised his head and looked at him and said: “I applied a scented oil from grape leaves on the wound, hoping to make him quiet, but it doesn’t seemed to be effective.”

“He is Herpus, the camp’s physician.” Hielos saw Davos’s doubts and whispered. Such a strong guy is actually a physician?! Davos looked at him and blurted out: “Why didn’t you use bloodletting treatment[7]?”

“Must bloodletting be used? I was considering it, but in case it would take a long time for Asistus to recover and we are on our way home!” Herpus explained: “I don’t have much ‘Mài è cài wēng xiāng[8]’ left and was force to use it because the other spice doesn’t work.” He looked a little depressed.

No wonder there is a strange smell in the air, and it seems to be the smell of these people. Didn’t the west always use bloodletting treatment to cure diseases before the Renaissance? Davos was thinking about some interesting stories about the ancient west that he had seen in his previous life.

“Oh, what is your name? From which camp’s physician did Antonios call you in?” asked Herpes.

Dave hesitated for a moment and thought about how to answer. Antonios, who was waiting anxiously, interjected: “He is Davos! The ‘Favored’ of Hades, the king of the underworld!” After that, without looking at the sudden change of Herpus’ expression, asked Davos anxiously: “Asistes…he still has…hope?”

“I’ll try my best, but I’m not sure if it will turn out well.” Davos answered cautiously.

“Just do your best! Just do your best!” Antonios’ tired face eased: “Do we need to prepare the altar and the statue of Hades?”

“What do you need to prepare it for?”

“To pray!”

Davos glanced around, except for Herpus, who look coldly from the sidelines, the others are looking at him with anticipation and excitement: they are waiting to see “God Descend”!

Davos laugh in his heart and said solemnly: “I won’t pray and I don’t know how to pray. But I have some other treatments, to try, if you only want God to save Asistes, then I can only leave!”

“Hey!” Some murmured with disappointment.

Antonios, however, seemed to understand something, and said it firmly: “Just do what you have said!”

The reason why Davos said it: Firstly, it is to find a way out in case he failed on his treatment. Secondly, he does not want these people to associate him with God in all matters.

“Make everyone go out and wait!…Open the doors and windows!…Boil a bucket of water, find a few clean linens and put them in the boiling water! At the same time, find a sharp knife without a rust and put it in the boiling water!…And bring few more buckets of cold water!…” Davos shouted slowly and clearly.

Antonios, Hielos, and Giorgris didn’t question him and began to seriously carry out his orders and hurriedly rushed around.

Herpus had thought that Davos was a witch doctor and looked at him badly. Seeing what he had arrange at the moment is quite familiar, he couldn’t help but curiously asked: “Davos, how do you plan to treat him?”

“There is no massive bleeding in the wound and obviously the blood vessels wasn’t damage, but the wound is red and swollen with pus, he also have a high fever and it is clear that the wound infection had cause his high fever, so we must first perform debridement, then reduce his fever.” Davos explained it in detail. For modern people, this is just common sense, but in this primitive age, people tend to think that it is caused by the supernatural, which is why witch doctors are so popular and made Herpus thought that Davos was a witch doctor previously.

After hearing Davos’ words, Herpes’ eyes lit up: “This is somewhat similar to Hippocrates[9]‘ method of dealing with fractures, ‘debridement, traction, and reduction’.”

“Hippocrates of Kos?” Davos was very familiar with this name. After all, Hippocrates was called ‘the father of Western medicine.’

“Yes. You know him?”

“I’m not familiar with him, but I have heard about him.”

“When I was crossing the Aegean Sea, I wanted to visit him, but he wasn’t there. Although many physician in Greece disagreed with him, but he did cure many people.”

Davos was moved after seeing Herpus’ regret and admiration: “You can be my assistant later, will you?”

“Thank you very much!” Herpus said gratefully. In this era, most physician have a tradition to passed down their knowledge from father to son. a commoner who wants to study medicine, will need to sign an agreement, pay expensive tuition fees and serve as an assistant for many years.

[1] Party School – School of the Communist Party of China to train party members.

[2] Medes was an ancient empire of ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran.

[3] Assyrian was a Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.

[4] Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire.

[5] Thapsacus was an ancient town along the western bank of the Euphrates river that would now lie in modern Syria or Turkey.

[6] Rhadamanthus was one of the judges of the dead and he is the son of Zeus and Europa and brother to Sarpedon and Minos.

[7] Bloodletting is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease.

[8] 麦厄菜翁香 – some kind of herb/spice.

[9] Hippocrates was a Greek physician of the Age of Pericles (Classical Greece), who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.

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