Enemy Situation

Regarding the medical team, Victor had no intention of explaining too much. He relied on his authority to sidestep the questions, because no amount of explanation could compare to showing everyone the results.

The miraculous plants of this world possessed natural medicinal value comparable to many modern medicines from his previous life. Bitter Bamboo leaves could serve as bandages while stopping bleeding and killing bacteria; Green Bark Tree bark had anti-inflammatory effects comparable to penicillin; and all kinds of fruit contained enormous amounts of vitamins. Even with feudal exploitation and war in this world, ordinary serfs could still live into their fifties or sixties thanks to these miraculous plants.

Victor's reform of the medical team drew on Nightingale's reforms. Its core lay in scientific management, sanitary ward conditions, and the training of nursing staff. Through these measures, he hoped to reduce combat casualties from another angle, prevent severely wounded soldiers from deteriorating further, allow lightly wounded soldiers to recover quickly and return to the army at the fastest possible speed, and preserve their fighting strength to the greatest extent possible. To Victor, people were the most important thing.

To raise the medical team's standards, aside from spending heavily to recruit several well-known physicians, he had also gathered every kind of plant with medicinal value. Unfortunately, most were difficult to cultivate or required special growing conditions, so only finished products could be bought.

Since arriving on the grasslands, Victor had also consciously collected some of the miraculous plants found there, especially those with special effects. At times like this, Little Paru deserved praise. Perhaps it was his unique talent, but he was especially skilled at finding things others could not. On top of that, he had studied under Paru for a long time and had learned quite a lot, particularly about identifying special medicinal herbs.

The grasslands also had many unique plants. In particular, the Boiling Blood Grass used by the Barbarian Cavalry under the northern Coalition of Nobles, which Victor had seen before, had left a deep impression on him.

Little Paru had also led Victor to this plant. Unfortunately, gathering it alone yielded far too little to meet the army's needs. Still, its effects were indeed terrifying. Humans could not consume it, but after horses ate enough of it, their endurance increased severalfold. With some concentrated feed prepared for them, they could run for thousands of kilometers without sleep or rest and without losing speed. The downside was that it might leave the horses utterly exhausted afterward, requiring a long period of rest.

There was also a Bone Marrow Fruit, pale in color and shaped like a little finger bone. After eating it, a person would vomit everything in their stomach and intestines as thoroughly as if they had taken a natural emetic.

When food was scarce on the grasslands, many herders accidentally ate all sorts of poisonous plants or even rotten, spoiled food. They relied on this to save their lives, so Victor also collected Bone Marrow Fruit as an important medicine.

A unique type of reed grew widely along the banks of the Great Fish River, and its fibers were exceptionally abundant. Victor and Number 1 reached the same conclusion through the Calculation Module: this reed should be highly suitable for papermaking. Therefore, Victor marked it as an important local resource.

Although papyrus already existed as a writing material, it was too expensive to serve as an everyday commodity. If a relatively cheap substitute appeared, its market prospects would not be bad, provided Victor could prepare for the various impacts it might bring. If this reed grass could be used to make paper, it could provide the territory with an important product in the future.

Victor was very grateful to Little Paru for finding these special plants, so he also brought Little Mouse, Little Paru's younger sister, into his tent and assigned a dedicated maid to care for and watch over her.

Of course, he also understood why Paru of the Green Grass Tribe had valued Little Paru so highly before. The child truly was very intelligent. His experiences from a young age had made his spirit exceptionally tough without robbing him of his kindness. The hardships he had endured simply to keep his younger sister alive were already no small burden for a half-grown boy.

Little Paru had a strong ability to absorb and learn new things. In less than a month with Victor, he had already learned to write in the Common Tongue normally. Before that, he had only been able to speak it.

Now, like Michael, he served as one of Victor's little attendants and often followed Victor around the territory.

This included visiting the sites of all kinds of factories. Those experiences gave him a general understanding of the territory's construction, and he greatly admired Victor's vast knowledge and many talents.

Victor also intended to cultivate Little Paru. He often explained in detail some of the experiences and knowledge from his previous life, hoping Little Paru could use his own way of thinking to absorb that knowledge and the spirit behind it.

Little Paru could understand the deeper meaning of the knowledge Victor spoke of and accept those theories and ideals. As for whether this might amount to aiding the enemy, Victor had no deep attachment to distinctions between peoples in this world. Moreover, in terms of ethnic hatred, he felt that the Barbarians, whose lands had been steadily encroached upon by various countries for nearly two hundred years, were the more pitiful side.

He did not care what these teachings might eventually be used for, because in his eyes, Little Paru, having learned this knowledge and spirit, was naturally someone walking the same path as him.

During this period, Victor gained a new understanding of the grasslands within his territory, including some of their unique resources. He also selected the grasslands where the two miraculous varieties of alfalfa he had brought would be planted on a large scale in the future. They would become Muyuan Town's most important forage-growing area.

On October 18, while Victor was still exploring the grasslands' resources, Knight Jack personally came to report to him. The scouting cavalry Jack had dispatched had sent back news: a Barbarian Tribe outpost had been discovered 120 kilometers west of the watchtower on the north bank of the Great Fish River.

This outpost was not large and was clearly scouting the way ahead, but the tribe appeared quite wealthy. Its people carried many iron weapons and wore a considerable amount of leather armor. The entire outpost had only around three hundred people, yet they were driving four or five thousand head of cattle and sheep, along with horses numbering twice as many as their people. They marched quickly, and the scouting cavalry did not dare approach too closely.

Their direction of advance was precisely toward the north bank of the Great Fish River. Victor ordered Jack to immediately send additional men to track the tribal outpost. At the same time, he dispatched people to find a way to push deeper into the grasslands and determine where this tribe's main force was located.

Victor also notified every unit to prepare for an emergency. All leave was canceled, and the commanders of every unit were ordered to return to their camps, muster their soldiers, sort out their weapons and equipment, and stand ready for assembly while awaiting Victor's order to deploy.