Governor Duan was very enthusiastic and quickly said, "Really, it’s too much trouble for Young Master Bai. How can I let you do such rough work? Someone—"

Immediately, a soldier stepped forward to take the wooden basin. Bai Shan did not fuss, handed it over, and said, "Pour it out and then bring a basin of hot water." Only then did he begin to speak with Governor Duan, "Has the bandit suppression been going smoothly, sir?"

"This time, thanks to Assistant General Nie’s help, the bandit chief and the third leader of the horse bandits have been captured. The second leader got away, but Assistant General Nie has taken people to pursue him."

Governor Duan remained confident and said, "Only five managed to escape; they shouldn’t be able to get away."

Assistant General Nie took over a hundred people to pursue them, so this time the odds of winning are the greatest it’s ever been.

Bai Shan said, "It’s naturally good if we can capture them. If not, we’ve obtained the bandits’ loot from the mountains; they wouldn’t dare to cause trouble upon returning."

Governor Duan sighed, "We turned the bandit hideout upside down. There were some loot, but not much."

He remembered something and, looking pained, said, "We found two carts of goods that hadn’t been sold yet from the bandit hideout. I heard they belong to your friend Old Master You, Young Master Bai? Later, let him go to the Liangzhou governor’s office to register and pick them up."

Bai Shan thanked Governor Duan on behalf of Old Master You and continued to steer the conversation back to the bandit loot, saying, "As long as the goods remain in the mountains, they can be found, unless they moved them to the city or elsewhere."

Governor Duan thought for a moment before shaking his head, "Impossible in Liangzhou City. I know these horse bandits frequently come and go from Liangzhou City, but such large goods couldn’t be hidden from the governor’s office, and going to Suzhou City, which is larger, is too far. It’s inconvenient for them to use the money."

"Every time they’re scattered, they return. I’m sure the goods are hidden in the mountains, but..." Governor Duan turned to look at the mountain and pursed his lips, "Although this mountain isn’t particularly large, it’s not small either. I sent people to search it twice but couldn’t find their treasure trove."

"Nobody confessed?"

"Those willing to confess don’t know; those who know aren’t willing to speak."

"But now the bandit chief has been captured."

Governor Duan pondered, "Makes sense. I’ll go interrogate the bandit chief later."

After finishing this topic, Governor Duan inquired about the medical supplies.

Bai Shan replied, "Everything else is fine, except we’re short on some urgently needed herbs."

Governor Duan had a headache but could only say, "It’ll be resolved once we return to Liangzhou City." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

He lowered his head to enter the medical tent. Upon entering, he saw Zhou Man holding a knife, cutting open the flesh, then using tweezers to extract an arrowhead. The arrowhead had barbs, which typically make it very difficult to remove once embedded, as removing it would damage the flesh and make recovery difficult, not to mention possible excessive bleeding.

But when Zhou Man extracted the arrowhead, not much blood sprayed out, and only a small amount of flesh came out with it.

She didn’t notice Governor Duan coming in and accelerated her treatment of the wound. After slightly stopping the bleeding, she began stitching and said to the military doctor, "Arrow wounds look smaller than knife wounds, but they’re actually harder to stitch because extracting the arrowhead brings out some flesh, making perfect alignment impossible. During stitching, you must pay attention to preserving and aligning the tendons, trying to preserve as many tendons as possible for better flexibility post-recovery, especially for deeper arrow wounds."

As she spoke, she taught the military doctor how to align and stitch tendons, even making Governor Duan, who was a layman, listen with great interest.

Thus, he couldn’t quite comprehend.

The military doctor stood beside her like a child, listening intently. When she finally finished stitching, he took the medicine to stop the bleeding and bandage the wound.

Manbao twisted her stiff neck, then turned and saw Governor Duan, her eyes lighting up as she asked, "Governor Duan, has the bandit suppression ended?"

Governor Duan nodded, "Assistant General Nie has taken people to chase Erge and others, only five escaped. When we capture them, we can triumphantly return to the city."

"And the treasure, was it found?"

Governor Duan sensed Bai Shan and Zhou Man were very interested in the treasure, though they had agreed that if they found the loot, they’d split it 80/20, and if they were responsible for finding it, it’d be a 70/30 split. But not everything has been found, right?

There’s not much after keeping some for themselves and returning some to Old Master You from the bandit hideout.

Which of these people is short on money?

Just as Governor Duan was about to shake his head, Manbao said, "If it was found, could we quickly send someone back to Liangzhou to bring more herbs?"

Governor Duan replied, "Once the bandit suppression is over, these wounded soldiers must be sent back to Liangzhou City."

Manbao said, "Some wounded soldiers are not fit for transport. Others need to be bandaged before moving them; otherwise, even with carts, after a day’s journey, they’ll bleed out."

Governor Duan was stunned and looked at Bai Shan.

Bai Shan innocently said, "Lord Duan, I’m not a doctor; naturally, this is a matter for the doctors."

Even the military doctor got a little bolder, chiming in, "Indeed, Lord, many of these individuals shouldn’t be moved. It’s necessary to prepare medicine for two or three days at least."

Governor Duan gave him a sideways glance, causing the military doctor to shrink back in fear.

He was caught for a crime and placed in the army, although he’s a military doctor, he’s essentially still a prisoner.

Manbao then cast her eyes towards Governor Duan.

This time, Governor Duan felt a bit intimidated. He pondered, and after some thought, gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, I’ll immediately send someone back to buy the medicine. Imperial Doctor Zhou, could you give me a prescription list?"

Manbao nodded and didn’t waste time, while having the next wounded soldier brought over, she said to Bai Shan, "I’ll dictate, you write?"

Bai Shan nodded, turned to get paper and pen.

Manbao only requested the urgently needed medicines, the variety wasn’t large, totaling just twenty-two kinds, but the quantities were big, counted in pounds.

Governor Duan took a glance at the list and found himself unable to calculate, so he pulled Finance Officer aside asking, "About how much is it?"

Finance Officer is responsible for procuring medicines and actually knows the prices. Even if some medicines’ current prices are unknown, he can estimate them.

He took out an abacus, made some calculations, and said, "Sir, it’s about two hundred and sixty-four taels."

Governor Duan felt a pinch, "So much money just for medicine for two or three days?"

Finance Officer reminded, "Sir, this is medicine for one hundred and sixty-nine people."

"Some of the medicines for qi and blood replenishment are quite expensive..." Finance Officer softly persuaded, "Sir, the brothers are all watching."

Governor Duan glanced around and lowered his eyes, whispering, "Don’t I know it? Two hundred sixty-four taels don’t seem like much now, but they’ll need at least a month or two to recover once back. Can we afford this?"

"The later expenses shouldn’t be this high..." Finance Officer hesitantly asked, "Sir, do you mean..."

Governor Duan gritted his teeth, "Alright, first send someone to buy the medicines from the governor’s office funds."

Finance Officer hesitated, as using public funds from the governor’s office for garrison expenses is difficult.

Seeing him hesitate, Governor Duan finally pulled the purse from his waist, took out a private seal, and gave it to him, "Forget it, go to my house and find my wife, tell her to give you the money; I’ll allocate the funds after returning."

Finance Officer happily agreed. As to whether Governor Duan can get the money from the governor’s office later, who cares?