General Guo was preparing for the next expedition. When he heard the concierge report that Zhou Man was asking for an audience, his first instinct was that he would not see him.

But thinking that she had just come back from outside, she might actually find out the recipe for cowpox. This matter was indeed very important. As the protector of Anxi, he really wanted to be informed, so he suppressed his temper and said

: "Please invite someone in."

Man Bao only came with Mr. Zhuang and Bai Shan, and the others were not happy to see General Guo's old face.

General Guo picked up the tea and drank half the cup. Hearing Zhou Man's intention, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Master Zhou, have you found the recipe?"

Man Bao said: "There is no specific recipe. After all, I don't know how far away the legendary Kingdom of the Far West is, and the Qiuci area is uneasy and it is difficult for us to get through. But we also know some steps, so we want to

Give it a try.”

Man Bao said: "We didn't know everything when we tested the variolation method in Beijing, didn't we try it out? We are very confident about the vaccinia method this time."

She has confidence, but General Guo does not.

Now that the battlefield is really at its most tragic, how could he allow something like smallpox to appear in Xizhou?

Once it spreads, the consequences will be disastrous.

So General Guo said with a smile: "Since Lord Zhou is so confident, why don't you go back to the capital and try again? Xizhou is remote and barren after all, and there are not many medicinal materials. And when you return to the capital, there are also the imperial doctors from the imperial hospital and Lord Zhou.

Negotiate together.”

"Although we are confident, we are not completely sure," Man Bao said, "So we want to try it out here. If it fails, we can continue to explore. Otherwise, if we can't try it out when we return to the capital, how can we go all the way to another place?"

Going to the Western Region?"

General Guo smiled and was about to do Tai Chi. Mr. Zhuang suddenly laughed and said: "General, there is no need to worry about it. From the businessman you sent to the yard last time, we knew that the cowpox method exists. Since it exists, we will be able to test it."

.”

General Guo said: "That is just a legend after all."

"So we can't just go back with a legend," Mr. Zhuang said: "We traveled thousands of miles to the Western Regions. Along the way, we experienced two attacks by horse thieves and one attack by Tubo soldiers. We lost so many soldiers to protect us before we got here.

, if we only get a legend and then go back to the capital, even if your majesty does not ask questions, we will not be able to return to the capital."

Mr. Zhuang looked at General Guo implicitly, waiting for his decision.

General Guo pursed his lips. Zhuang Xun had already said this. They had to get results here before returning to Beijing. What else could he do?

The mission has a high degree of autonomy, and His Majesty has already given instructions to give them the greatest support.

General Guo was unhappy and silent for a long time, and finally he had to ask: "What does Mr. Zhou need?"

Man Bao originally planned to ask him how many people he wanted for the experiment, but now after watching the confrontation between Mr. Zhuang and General Guo, she was so blessed that she knew that a soft attitude would not be of much use to General Guo. On the contrary, a tougher attitude would be more effective.

So he smiled and said: "I want a few cows and an open space to build a house for experiments. Of course, I also need people for vaccination experiments."

Man Bao said: "We have a precedent, just recruit from prisoners."

General Guo snorted and said: "Most of the prisoners in Xizhou have gone to the battlefield. If they are recruited voluntarily, I am afraid no one will respond."

Bai Shan smiled slightly and said: "Although you may die from vaccination, you may die from going to the battlefield. If they don't want to, then in addition to exempting them from prison, just give them more money."

To put it simply, the silver taels are still not allowed to come out of the Protector's Mansion?

General Guo thought of something and said pointedly: "Master Zhou, I don't know, there is a war in Anxi now, and we can't even raise the military expenses. How can we have so much money to recruit prisoners?"

Everyone's eyes fell on the jade cup in his hand. Legend has it that General Guo, who even had his military tents inlaid with gold and jade, could cry for poverty?

However, Bai Shan quickly said: "Sir, just help us recruit people. We can't do anything about exempting them from prison, but we still have some money."

He said: "We still have some silk cloth brought from the capital, and the quality is not bad. If they are willing, after the matter is completed, whether they live or die, I will give them a piece of silk cloth."

"If you are alive, the things will naturally be delivered to them. If they are dead, whether they want to be buried with you or sent home, we can do it for you." Bai Shan said: "I will definitely prepare a thick coffin for them."

General Guo choked. After hearing these words, ordinary people might think that Bai Shan was cursing or swearing, but General Guo knew that for these prisoners, this was really an obsession.

Many of the prisoners exiled here want to be buried in peace, but who will prepare coffins for them?

It would be better if he died in prison. At least he could dig a hole and bury it with a roll of straw. If he died on the battlefield, those who had time to collect the bodies would be buried with everyone in the big pit. Those who had no time to collect the bodies would probably be fed to the birds and other people.

Wolf.

General Guo rubbed his forehead, nodded and said, "You three, please go back first. I'll have someone make arrangements. We'll talk about it after the arrangements are made."

Naturally, General Guo would not handle such a small matter personally. He recruited an official from the Protectorate and left it to him to handle.

The other party secretly asked if he wanted to embarrass himself and delay it for a while.

General Guo began to think about it, and after a while he shook his head and said, "Forget it, let's do it for them as soon as possible."

He felt that he might not get along with them. Ever since they appeared, he had not been in a good mood. At this time, they still needed food and grass from the Ministry of Revenue, and it was not appropriate to compete with that kid Liu Huan.

And he is an elder after all, and he is always arguing with a junior. There is already a bad reputation outside. He really doesn't want to always fall into the hands of the Liu family's grandparents, so forget it, finish the matter as soon as possible, and send the person away as soon as possible.

At this time, General Guo still didn't know that Zhou Man and the others wanted to stay here and wait for General Ashina to return together, otherwise he would definitely take back today's instructions.

By the time he found out, they were already on their way to the expedition. It seemed too troublesome to send people back to tell the officials of the Protectorate, so the matter was dropped.

Of course, they don't know about these full treasures.

At this time, they had just walked out of the Protectorate's Mansion. After walking some distance, Manbao said: "It turns out that he eats hard things but not soft things."

Mr. Zhuang thought she was too naughty, so he patted her on the head and said, "Don't mess around. General Guo is the commander, how can he talk like this?"

Man Bao shrank his neck, but his husband didn't object when they were discussing it yesterday?

Just as I was cursing, two horses came running towards me. The people on the horses were stunned when they saw them, then they ran over and said hello with a smile: "Master Zhou and Mr. Bai are back? Did everything go well on the way?"

It was General Guo and General Meng. They had a good impression of Man Bao and Bai Shan, so they smiled and said hello, "It went well. Where did the two generals come back from?"
Chapter completed!