Chapter Nineteenth: Physical Cooling

  "Get all the braziers out of the room, and prepare another jar of wine and a clean towel for me. Everyone else can leave!" Zhao Yan had decided to take action, so he wanted to act quickly. He planned to use physical methods to lower Zhao Yun's body temperature first, in order to buy time for the imperial physicians in the palace.

  As soon as Zhao Yan's words came out, Cao Ying immediately said in a low and anxious voice: "Are you really going to treat the illness of King Wei? You should know that this is not a trivial matter. If King Wei's condition worsens, even if you jump into the Yellow River, you won't be able to wash it clean, and the entire palace will suffer with you."

  Cao Ying is not a selfish person, she is the mistress of the county king's mansion and has to consider the hundreds of people above and below her, so she can't help but be cautious.

  "Don't worry, it's just a temporary drop in body temperature for big brother. This is nothing." Zhao Yan said with extreme confidence, Zhao Xun was only suffering from high fever due to wound infection, this kind of small matter would be solved by just an injection of antipyretics and anti-inflammatory in the future, it's not even considered an illness. Although there are no such conveniences now, he had at least attended a few years of medical school, if he couldn't cure this minor illness, he wouldn't be able to face his girlfriend who was also from the medical school.

  If it were in the past, Cao Ying would have stopped Zhao Yan no matter what, but since Zhao Yan miraculously cured Xiao Rou Ding last time, coupled with Zhao Yan's unusual performance over this period of time, although he hasn't completely changed his impression of Zhao Yan in Cao Ying's heart, in Cao Ying's view, Zhao Yan is indeed different from before, regardless of his character, at least he seems to have suddenly understood many trivial things.

  Cao Ying lowered his head and considered for a moment, finally nodding: "Alright, I hope you will be careful when treating him. The future and fate of the several hundred people in the Duke's mansion are all in your hands!"

  Cao Ying said to this point, in her heart also can not help but some regret, when she followed the grandfather known as the world's first divine doctor to learn medicine, although familiar with various medical books, and understand various treatment methods, but she had very few actual treatment of patients opportunities, which also makes her medical skills are mostly only stay in theory, really used to treat diseases rescue people, but not too useful. In fact, this is not her fault, as the daughter of Cao's family, the elders of Cao's family would never let her expose herself to treat others' illnesses.

  With Cao Ying's consent, the servants of the Wang Fu quickly prepared what Zhao Yan needed. The brazier and quilt were also taken away. At this point, Zhao Yan drove everyone else out, leaving only him and Zhao Xun in the room, as well as the imperial physician and Guard Chen Ding, who, as the guardian of the Duke of Ying, would never allow the unconscious Zhao Xun to be alone with another person in a room.

  "Chen Ding, take off my brother's jacket quickly!" Zhao Yan picked up the wine jar and ordered Chen Ding at the same time.

  Chen Ding was a military man, so he was used to following orders and would not disobey Zhao Yan's commands as long as they did not harm Zhao Yun. Therefore, he quickly removed Zhao Yun's outer garment. The imperial physician thought this would only worsen the illness, so he opposed it several times, but unfortunately, his objections were all ignored by Zhao Yan.

  Zhao Yan opened the mud seal on the wine jar, took a towel and dipped it in, starting to wipe Zhao Yun's neck, chest, armpits and palms. The alcohol can stimulate human capillaries, opening the pores on the skin, which helps to dissipate heat, and the evaporation of alcohol also takes away some heat, making it a very effective and quick way to lower body temperature.

  Although the liquor used by Zhao Yan was not alcohol and its degree was not high, it was definitely not suitable for disinfection, but just to reduce fever in the human body. After Zhao Yan wiped it a few times, he found that Zhao Yun's body temperature had dropped, and his breathing was no longer as urgent as before, but became much more stable. This made even Chen Ding, who didn't understand medical skills, see that Zhao Yun's condition was improving, which also made him have more confidence in this county king Zhao Yan.

  "Prince Jun, the body temperature of the King of Ying has dropped, and his condition seems to be improving. What's going on?" The imperial physician who had been taking Zhao Yun's pulse was also surprised, it was the first time he saw that wine could lower a patient's body temperature.

  "Alcohol in wine can stimulate human skin..." Zhao Yan simply explained the principle of cooling down with wine, and then added, "However, when giving patients a fever, attention should be paid to not using wine for young children, but instead warm water. Moreover, this method of lowering body temperature only treats symptoms and not the root cause, after lowering body temperature one must also drink medicine to reduce fever!"

  Physical cooling is only temporary, the real reason for Zhao Yun's persistent high fever is that his wound has become inflamed, causing inflammation in his body as well. To thoroughly cure Zhao Yun, it is necessary to eliminate the inflammation in his body. Fortunately, when Zhao Yan crossed over, she brought some anti-inflammatory injections with her, which were originally intended to treat Liu Dajie's bronchitis and are also anti-inflammatory medications, so they can be considered relatively symptomatic.

  Thinking of this, Zhao Yan asked the imperial physician to temporarily take care of Zhao Yun and not to rush to cover him with a quilt. He wanted to go to the inner house to fetch an anti-inflammatory injection for Zhao Yun. Originally, such things could be done by Xiaodouya, but Zhao Yan was worried that Xiaodouya's hands and feet were clumsy, and if he accidentally dropped the injection on the way, it would be terrible.

  "How is it?" Zhao Yan had just come out of the room, and Cao Ying immediately came forward to ask, surrounded by the officials who were guarding the living room outside. They didn't actually believe that Zhao Yan could cure the illness, but these officials were all low-ranking officials from the Ministry of Works, not those bold speaking officials, and they didn't have the guts to go against Zhao Yan.

  "Don't worry, the fever has temporarily subsided. I'll go to the back house to fetch some medicine, and once we've used it up, everything will be fine!" Zhao Yan said with a smile, feeling quite accomplished that he could cure someone's illness in the Northern Song Dynasty.

  When Zhao Huan's fever subsided, Cao Ying and the attending officials all breathed a sigh of relief. Then, Zhao Yan instructed Cao Ying to keep watch here, while he himself went to the rear residence to fetch medicine. However, what Zhao Yan didn't know was that just as he had left the front courtyard, a large group of people arrived at the gate of the Duke's mansion in the heavy rain, and the guards on both sides were actually imperial guards.

  After this group of people arrived at the Wangfu in Guangyang County, the imperial guards immediately took over the defense of the Wangfu. A luxurious horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of the gate, and before anyone got off the carriage, a large yellow silk umbrella had already been set up, surrounded by eunuchs and palace maids. Such ceremony was only available to the current emperor and empress.

  The carriage door was opened, and two palace maids came out first. Then a noblewoman in her thirties, supporting a middle-aged man wearing a yellow robe, walked out. These two were the Emperor of Song, Zhao Xun, and Empress Gao. The empress's face was full of anxiety, while Zhao Xun, despite his sickly appearance, had an urgent look between his eyebrows. Zhao Xun was their most beloved and valued son, as well as the future heir to the throne of Song. If anything happened to him, the entire empire would be shaken.

  Zhao Xian's condition had just improved slightly, and during this time, the sky poured heavy rain. Empress Cao's body was also somewhat uncomfortable, so Zhao Xian also helped to handle some court affairs. Just now, he was discussing matters with several ministers when he suddenly received news that his son Zhao Yun was in a high fever and coma, which made Zhao Xian greatly shocked, and he called for Empress Gao to hurry over.

  After Zhao Xu and his wife got off the carriage, several officials came down from the carriage behind, who were Han Qi, Zeng Gongliang and other important officials of the Song Dynasty. When they were discussing with Zhao Xu, they heard that Zhao Yun was ill, so they also followed to visit him.

  Zhao Shu and others hastily rushed to the room where Zhao Xian was, and Cao Ying also hurried forward to pay her respects: "Daughter-in-law Cao pays respects to Father and Mother!"

  In general, unless in the imperial court, the way princes and princesses, as well as queens, address the emperor and empress is not much different from ordinary families, which is also a major feature of the Song Dynasty royal family.

  "No need for formalities, how is Zhaoyou now?" Zhao Xun had not yet spoken, but instead it was Empress Gao who asked impatiently, her expression revealing that she truly cared about Zhao Yun. Compared to when she visited Zhao Yan in the past with a cold demeanor, Empress Gao now seemed like a real mother.

  "Don't worry, Princess. The high fever of the Crown Prince has subsided and his condition is under control..." Before Cao Ying could finish speaking, Empress Gao had already rushed into the bedroom in the wing room, and Zhao Shu also didn't dare to say anything to his daughter-in-law, so he followed her inside. Cao Ying could only helplessly shut her mouth.

  As soon as Empress Gao entered, she saw Zhao Yun lying on the bed with his upper body exposed, without even a quilt to cover him. The room was not warm either. This made her immediately furious and interrogate the imperial physician who was attending to him: "Is this how you take care of the Prince of Yong? Don't you know that my son is running a fever? Not keeping my son warm is one thing, but you've even removed his clothes! I think you're trying to kill my son!"

  The imperial physician of the Wangfu recognized Empress Gao and saw that this powerful empress was furious as soon as she came in, which also made him confused. He had to answer honestly: "I beg to report to Your Majesty, it's not that I want to take off Prince Yong's clothes, but rather that Duke Gong thinks this can help Prince Yong reduce his fever..."

  "What nonsense! Zhao Yan doesn't even understand medicine, and you're listening to him?" Empress Gao angrily questioned, "I think you're not trying to cure the Crown Prince's illness at all, but rather want to harm my son!"

  The imperial physician retreated in a flurry, his forehead covered in cold sweat, and he didn't even dare to defend himself for half a sentence. Zhao Shu's face also showed a few shades of anger, and he was wondering why Zhao Yan would do such a thing. Did he really want to harm his own brother?

  The Empress Dowager saw the imperial physician's evasive attitude and became even more enraged. She ordered the palace maid to cover Zhao Yun with a quilt, then immediately turned around and went to the outer hall, where she loudly questioned Cao Ying: "Where is Zhao Yan? Didn't I tell you to supervise him and let him stay in the inner courtyard to rest and recover from his illness? How could he come to the front courtyard and recklessly treat Yun's illness? What kind of queen are you?"