69novels Chapter 279 Cao Qingdi's Field Hospital
Chapter 279 Cao Qingdi's Field Hospital
"Sister Cao is at the field hospital in the rear. She's been working non-stop these past few days. You should go and see her."
Chen Zijun nodded silently, bid farewell to Mo Huixin, and then walked to the other side of the inner courtyard.
As you pass through an ornate moon gate, the faint scent of ink in the air vanishes instantly, replaced by a strong, pungent smell of Lysol and alcohol.
This is the rear field hospital of the First Army.
In the spacious courtyard, rows of clean and tidy bungalows are painted snow-white, and eye-catching red cross signs hang under the eaves.
In the corridor outside the ward, many Chen family army soldiers who were wounded on the front line in Xuzhou, as well as many wounded Fengtian soldiers, were sitting in groups of three or five on the benches under the corridor, some of them sunbathing.
Their wounds were mostly neatly wrapped in clean white medical dressings, and their complexions were rosy. They were sitting together in small groups, chatting and boasting.
Seeing Chen Zijun stride in, dressed in a crisp German-style general's uniform, the soldiers were initially taken aback, but their faces immediately lit up with fervent admiration as they stood up in unison, saluted, and stood at attention.
"Young Marshal! Long live the Young Marshal!"
Chen Zijun smiled and waved to the soldiers, patted a few young wounded soldiers on the shoulder, told them to take good care of themselves, and then walked into the pharmacy.
At this moment, in a corner of the ward, Liu Dashan, the company commander of the Second Company who had been shot in the abdomen during the Battle of Xuzhou and was originally deemed unlikely to survive, was trying to stand up with the help of a nurse.
In other warlord armies, being pierced in the abdomen by a stray bullet was almost a death sentence, because the wound would quickly swell and turn black within three days, and the person would die in agony with a high fever and screams.
However, at Chen Jiajun's hospital, thanks to the latest improved premium sulfonamide powder from Cao Qingdi's team, Liu Dashan's abdominal cavity underwent thorough drug rinsing and external application before suturing. Now, not only has his fever subsided, but tender new flesh has also begun to grow from the wound.
"Young Marshal! It was Dr. Cao and sulfonamides that saved my life! Now that I'm healed, I'm going to fight alongside you all the way to Beiping!" Liu Dashan shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes gleaming with fervent loyalty.
Chen Zijun patted his arm and laughed:
"Fine, I'll be waiting for your vanguard company in Beiping!"
Walking through the corridor, Chen Zijun pushed open the pharmaceutical office at the back.
Inside the pharmacy, Cao Qingdi was wearing a slightly loose white coat, her beautiful hair hidden under a medical cap, and her pretty face showed signs of fatigue.
She was directing a dozen young female nurses to sort and stack boxes of exquisite blue and white wooden crates.
"Sister Cao."
Chen Zijun stood at the door, looking at his wife's slightly thin profile, and his heart trembled slightly.
Cao Qingdi turned her head, a hint of surprise flashing in her beautiful eyes.
She handed the record board to the head nurse beside her and walked over quickly. Her white coat swayed slightly with her steps, carrying a cool medicinal fragrance.
"Why are you here? Aren't the vanguard troops supposed to set off soon?"
I missed you, so I came to see you.
Chen Zijun didn't say that it was all just an act. He simply pulled over a wooden chair for his wife to sit down, reached out to massage her slightly sore shoulders, and softly asked:
"Sister Cao, how is the military sulfonamide reserve? This Northern Expedition is a long journey, and casualties are inevitable. I least want to see soldiers die needlessly due to wound infections."
When her professional field was mentioned, a proud professional glow immediately appeared on Cao Qingdi's pretty face:
"Don't worry, young marshal. We have completed the mass production of high-purity military-grade sulfonamides at our second pharmaceutical plants in Ma'anshan and Shanghai."
"We successfully extracted key precursors for the synthesis of sulfonamides by utilizing coal tar waste generated during the coking process of Maanshan Iron and Steel Complex, completely eliminating our dependence on imported raw materials from German pharmaceutical companies Krupp and Bayer."
"The latest sulfonamide powders and tablets have a purity three percentage points higher than those we sell externally, and their cost is only one-tenth of theirs."
"The first batch of field medical teams that went north with the army consisted of 1,200 female nurses who had undergone rigorous training, and each of them was equipped with a sufficient amount of disinfection kits and sulfonamide drugs."
"As long as the soldiers don't die from their injuries on the spot, as long as they're carried here with a breath of life, I can use sulfonamides to pull them back from the brink of death!"
Chen Zijun felt genuinely at ease.
In the era before penicillin, sulfonamides were the only "miracle drug" on the battlefield.
Many soldiers only suffered minor injuries on the battlefield, but due to poor sanitary conditions, their wounds became infected and inflamed, and they eventually died slowly in pain.
Now he has unlimited supply of top-quality sulfonamides, which is equivalent to giving each soldier an extra life.
"Sister Cao, you are a living bodhisattva who saves people from suffering."
Chen Zijun exclaimed sincerely, holding his wife's hand with eyes full of heartache.
"But you also need to take care of your health and not overwork yourself."
"I am a doctor, and also your wife. If we can save one more brother of Chen Jiajun, you will have one less worry on the front line."
Cao Qingdi leaned gently on Chen Zijun's shoulder and murmured softly.
In this warm and cozy space behind him, Chen Zijun felt a long-lost sense of peace.
This terrifying army, which appears cold-blooded, brutal, and imbued with German militarism to outsiders, is actually supported by two seemingly frail yet incredibly strong women.
One used endless wealth to support a massive industry and military expenditure, while the other used skillful hands to soothe the wounds caused by war.
After a brief moment of tenderness, Shen Li knocked lightly on the door, somewhat inappropriately, his expression hurried:
"Young Marshal, an urgent telegram from Liu Zhenliang, the General Manager of Jiangnan Shipyard."
Upon hearing this, Chen Zijun gently released his wife, his expression once again regaining the coldness and ruthlessness befitting a commander-in-chief.
"Sister Cao, after I recover Beijing and Tianjin, I'll take you to Beiping to admire the flowers. We'll invite your father-in-law along too..."
"Okay, I'll wait for you."
Cao Qingdi nodded with a smile.
Chen Zijun strode out of the field hospital and into the headquarters' confidential room.
Inside the confidential room, several telegraph machines were beeping, and the translators were nervously translating coded messages.
Shen Li handed over a red-sealed urgent telegram and lowered his voice, saying:
"Young Marshal, the first phase of the Jiangnan Shipyard project is complete!"
Chen Zijun took the telegram and glanced at the handwriting:
"Young Marshal, Miss Lily took advantage of the economic crisis of the Italian and French mafia families and the Weimar government in Germany, using high salaries and special industrial equipment as bait to successfully bring in thousands of senior European shipbuilding technicians and designers who had lost their jobs due to the Great Depression."
"She even bribed port officials in Genoa and Hamburg to smuggle two entire ships full of extremely valuable high-precision gear grinders, Zeiss optical lens production lines, and alloy tool steel materials back to us through a sleight of hand."
"These German and French technicians are now eating beef and drinking beer in their dormitories in Taihu and Taicang, and working themselves to the bone to instruct our local apprentices."
"Currently, the first batch of German-style Class VII submarines under construction in the top-secret dry dock at the Mawei Shipyard has been 100% completed ahead of schedule!"
"These underwater behemoths, each 67 meters long and with a displacement of nearly 800 tons, have passed the pressure resistance test of the shell made of Ma'anshan Special Steel and are ready to be launched at any time."
"But the Japanese Special Higher Police's spies have been patrolling and scouting near the Mawei River, and seem to have noticed something."
"The gates to the top-secret dock are ready, awaiting the young marshal's order to launch."
As Chen Zijun looked at the telegram, the suppressed aura of iron-blooded violence around him suddenly erupted.
He slowly folded the telegram, his eyes filled with a cruel and excited killing intent:
"Is the Japanese Special Higher Police trying to probe Mawei's secrets?"
"Have patrol boats and the water police blockade that section of the river. When the launching ceremony begins in three days, send all those Japanese rats roaming the river to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish, as a tribute to our new submarine!"
Outside the window, the night sky over southern Shandong is dotted with stars, while thousands of miles away at the Mawei Shipyard, beneath the black river, the fangs of this great nation's heavy equipment are already coldly exposed.