Chapter 555 – Drought and Refugees (Part 1)
“Oh doctor, is there anything wrong with my daughter-in-law’s pregnancy…?”
Ever since Jiang Pengji implemented the new laws, the Common People were puzzled yet couldn’t help but feel a strange joy.
As for their confusion, they couldn’t wrap their heads around why their Lord would want older women aged twenty-five to thirty to have children, with babies coming out as big as grandkids—didn’t that make them feel embarrassed?
But the Young Doctor said the Lord was on point.
The Common People were easily swayed, more likely to follow the loudest opinions around them.
Who could speak with more authority about childbirth and health than the Young Doctor?
He mentioned that if an underage mother gave birth, the baby would be weak, and the mother’s health would suffer. The Common People began to reminisce.
Most of them were married and having babies at a young age; which family didn’t have wives who were pregnant multiple times, giving birth to seven or eight kids?
But what happened then?
How many of those kids survived?
When discounting human errors and starvation, just thinking about how many naturally weak infants passed away is chilling!
In those days, there were no effective birth control methods; if you got pregnant, you had to deliver, no matter how close the kids were born.
Thinking about it this way sent shivers down their spines. Wives usually started birthing from their teens; if they didn’t die in labor, kids would be hopping out one after another. Having seven or eight kids, only two or three survived in the end.
If they faced other disasters, they might be left with just a single sprout, and some wouldn’t even keep a child.
They realized that indeed, kids born later were sturdier, which they thought was merely because life had improved.
Families with pregnant wives couldn’t sit still, lining up outside the medical clinic.
Like the nervous grandmothers worrying about their unborn grandkids, the Young Doctor could encounter hundreds of them in a day.
He secretly sighed, feeling unlucky today—why did it have to be me on duty?
“Your daughter-in-law is strong. If you focus on a healthy pregnancy, she will surely give birth to a healthy child.”
“But, my daughter-in-law is only sixteen this year!”
The Young Doctor smirked in his heart; even at sixteen, could a pregnancy be just taken out like that?
Who in medicine didn’t know earlier births often resulted in weaker children?
But he couldn’t say that out loud; marrying off daughters was all about carrying on the family line, and these grandmothers only thought of their future grandkids, so why would they care? For them, a daughter who couldn’t produce a son was at fault, and even if the son couldn’t be raised, that was wrong too.
Everyone was at fault, but the grandmothers never were.
The Young Doctor felt irritable inside but replied gently, “Having children depends on both nature and nurture. Even if there’s a slight innate deficiency, with good care, it can be compensated for, although it requires more effort. Looking at your daughter-in-law, she seems troubled, and her pulse is weak, which indicates internal stress. Please don’t worry too much; excessive pressure won’t help. A happy and healthy mind leads to healthier kids—don’t you think?”
With instructions in hand, they insisted that early childbearing leads to more infant deaths, but they couldn’t say it too harshly. Early births might be weak at first, but with attentive care, they could grow to be lively and healthy, it just needed adult supervision—no slack.
The clinic established by Jiang Pengji was quite the popular institution.
With subsidized herbs and doctor salaries from the government office, the Common People found it less costly to seek medical help, and the Young Doctor could focus more on patient care without worrying about other trifling matters.
Anyone with a cough could drop by, costs were low, medicines were cheap, and to cater to female patients, the clinic even had female medical trainees on rotation—after nearly a year, the Yangxiang medical clinic amassed nearly overwhelming goodwill from the populace.
Since the Young Doctor said so, the Common People thought for a moment and accepted Jiang Pengji’s decree.
Pregnant women in their twenties might be a bit older, but easier childbirths and healthier babies were a plus!
Fengyi County was experiencing a small baby boom, slightly lightening the heavy atmosphere and bringing about some joy.
This year, the North was facing severe drought; the fields yielded nothing, and the blazing sun hung high in the sky, everywhere was dry and waterless.
With no food, enduring hunger was manageable, but starvation would drive folks to eat mud, tree bark, root, or grass. Lack of water, however, would leave one dead in three or four days. The Green Garment Army was the first to collapse, as they could only destroy and not cultivate or manage. To stay alive, desertions were rampant.
With more desertions came more rioting refugees.
In contrast, the Red Lotus Sect was faring somewhat better. They relied on faith to fight, and governed the populace through it. Amidst the harsh drought, they led the Common People in prayers, and while it wasn’t much help, it did ease some of the people’s fear.
Under these circumstances, Fengyi County’s development settled into a routine; the previously broken Maolin County, Cheng’an County, and Jiaoping County began to show signs of life. Some returned refugees couldn’t believe they were back in their old homes!
Every day, new refugees flooded into Fengyi County, and outside the city, folks waited for inspections and placements.
While still poor, with enough people, development was inevitable, right?
“Right now, the weather is scorching, and the water level in the wells keeps dropping, with dry patches appearing in the mountain streams…” Yang Si, with a face resembling a moon’s last quarter, had lost so much weight his chin jutted out, and his unshaven dark stubble made him look quite disheveled. “The water channels are covered with Blue Bricks, but the water is diminishing; I guess the other three counties are the same… what to do?”
The Book Boy was no longer shadowing the cook to learn culinary skills; he was dragged over by his master to help sort out documents, serving as half a labor source.
He suggested, “How about restricting the Common People’s daily water usage?”
Wei Ci shook his head, “No way! If we do that, it’ll panic the populace; families will rush to hoard water, and chaos will ensue.”
Every day, new refugees converged; just imagine the turmoil if news spread that the city was running out of water!
The Book Boy wore a bitter face, “Then what should we do?”
Wei Ci pondered, “Why not try a different approach?”
Same water conservation, but with a different promotion method, and the outcomes would be worlds apart.
Yang Si raised an eyebrow, “A different approach?”
Wei Ci continued, “With so many refugees outside and so many folks in the North lacking water—some might even die of thirst—let’s inform both citizens inside and outside the city about the harsh situation up North. We’ll clarify that while the county doesn’t lack water, everyone should cherish the current situation and save water, reducing unnecessary waste…”
Just think about how guilty the other folks would feel if they wasted water while others had none!
Both the Book Boy and Wei Ci aimed for the same end; the first would incite panic and chaos, while the latter could guilt-trip the populace into conserving water, possibly even increasing their gratitude towards Jiang Pengji.
Without her, would there be today’s circumstances?
Yang Si thought for a moment, then playfully scolded, “You sly fox!”
