Soon it was dark again.

The army stopped and started to set up camp. Li Mengxi was going to find Tian Bu, the military doctor, and was going to tell Tian Bu to go to the women's and children's camp to have a look. As soon as Li Mengxi was about to go, Tian Bu had already come over.

"Commander, the pig is dead." Tian Bu said straight to the point.

Pig? Dead?

Li Mengxi was stunned for a moment, and then he suddenly remembered that it was a pig, the pig that was experimenting with intestinal suture surgery.

"Let's go and have a look!" The pig died, which meant that the suturing technique was useless, but Li Mengxi even looked a little happy.

This made Tian Bu a little puzzled.

The reason why Li Mengxi was a little happy was because he knew that even if the intestinal suture operation failed and the pig died, it would still be meaningful.

Because you can see what caused the pig to die.

In other words, dead pigs still have the value of summarizing experience.

The pigs were placed in the wounded barracks and tied to a cart.

Li Mengxi saw that the pig was indeed dead and stiff, with its eyes closed, the pig's mouth open, the pig's tongue hanging out of the pig's mouth, motionless, and many flies flying around the pig.

He stretched out his finger and poked the pig's trotter lightly to confirm that the pig was really dead.

Li Mengxi frowned and said, "Tian Bu, remove the stitches and take out the intestines to see if they have grown properly."

Li Mengxi commanded.

Bu nodded and immediately went to get the things.

After a while, Bu came with a lot of things, including catgut, scissors, a scraper made from the broken edge of a ring knife, needles, and of course a jar of strong wine.

Tian Bu completely remembered the surgical procedures explained by Li Mengxi. He kept the details in mind. Before starting the operation, Tian Bu rolled up his sleeves, picked up the alcohol and poured it into his hands.

This is the sterilization process.

Li Mengxi was surprised and hesitated to speak.

Xin said, Tian Bu, are you so old-fashioned? This pig is already dead, do you still need to use disinfection...

Can't you save some alcohol? Alcohol is so hard to get, my God.

His mouth opened again and again, but Li Mengxi finally failed to stop Tian Bu.

He saw that Tian Bu was serious and careful, so he just thought about it and Tian Bu became familiar with the process, so he just practiced it.

After Tian Bu sterilized his hands, sterilized the knife, and even sterilized the needle, he took scissors to cut the catgut in the pig's belly.

This is the first practical application of catgut. Tian Bu is very curious. He wonders whether this thread can really grow with the meat.

Tian Bu couldn't help but get closer and take a closer look.

"Hey, you really have a lot of flesh, military advisor."

Tian Bu happily pointed it out to Li Mengxi.

The car was at a certain height. Li Mengxi put his feet up and looked up. He saw that the wound on the pig's belly was sutured with catgut a few days ago. The catgut had almost disappeared.

It has only been a few days, maybe three days, and the gut has been partially absorbed, which is really amazing.

Because they were so close, and the pig was already dead, there was a putrid smell wafting out. Li Mengxi accidentally smelled it, which disgusted him so much that he hurriedly stayed away.

"Bu, take out the intestines and take a look."

Li Mengxi is like a hands-off shopkeeper. He doesn't do the work himself, but he does everything under Tian Bu's command.

After Tian Bu cut off the catgut with scissors, he had to disinfect his hands again according to the procedure. When Tian Bu's hand touched the wine jar, Tian Bu suddenly realized that there was no need to go to such trouble.

The pigs are dead, what's wrong with dirty hands?

So, Tian Bu started directly, tore open the slightly healed incision in the pig's belly with his hands, reached into the pig's belly, and took out the severed intestine that had been sutured at that time.

Tian Bu didn't exert much force on his hand, but the pig's intestine broke in his hand when he pulled it.

Although the smell was unpleasant, Li Mengxi went up to take a look in order to see what was going on.

Tian Bu deliberately lowered his hand to make it easier for Li Mengxi to see.

The intestines in Tian Bu's hands were black and rotten. No wonder they were broken when he pulled them out.

This pig probably had an intestinal infection and then died. Li Mengxi frowned slightly.

(Sure enough, the intestines still have to be washed.) Li Mengxi seems to have realized something.

Another key point is that catgut can be used to suture wounds on the surface of the skin, but can it be used for intestinal suture surgery? Can the intestines heal?

Li Mengxi started, he picked up the intestines, frowned and observed, he saw that the catgut sutured on the intestines had not been absorbed much, but it was also adhered to the intestinal wall.

It may be that due to infection, the intestines have long been necrotic, so the intestines have not been absorbed. This should be the case.

Also, after the catgut is made, it can be stored for a period of time.

There were not many catguts made at that time, and because he was afraid of being contaminated by bacteria, Li Mengxi soaked the catguts in wine. He thought that the wine would probably be a sterile environment.

After the catgut was done, it took two days before the pig was brought in and the suturing operation began.

At that time, Li Mengxi was still not sure whether the catgut soaked in wine for several days was still inactive and would still be useful.

Now it is confirmed that the gut that has been stored for a short period of time can still be used. Didn’t you see that the incision in the pig’s abdomen has absorbed a lot of gut?

This discovery is extremely important.

Gut can be preserved, which means there is no need to kill the sheep temporarily when needed.

No matter what the shelf life is, even if it is only three to five days, the practical value of the gut will be doubled.

Suppose there is a wounded soldier who has been cut in the stomach and needs sutures urgently. If we want to temporarily make gut, we have to find a sheep, kill the sheep, remove the intestines, wash the intestines, break open the intestines, and give the intestines a hand.

After disinfection, it is very troublesome to roll the intestinal membrane into a thread.

Such a production process can take at least half an hour, or even longer.

Within half an hour, the wounded soldier bled to death.

And if the catgut is always on hand, when surgery is needed, the catgut can be taken out immediately and sutures started, which reduces the operation time by half an hour.

A small detail improvement can increase the success rate of suture surgery more than ten times.

As for why wine can preserve gut, Li Mengxi thinks it may be because, just like salting, wine also pickles gut. Not only does gut soaked in alcohol not breed bacteria, but it also won't deteriorate or become rotten.

.

If you don't soak it in alcohol, the gut won't last for half a day and will become odorless.

This was a failed intestinal suturing, but Li Mengxi summed up two valuable lessons.

First, it is absolutely necessary to clear the intestines and stomach, otherwise infection will definitely occur.

Second, since the gut can be preserved, you can make more preparations on weekdays. You don't have to actually bring a group of live sheep with the army and use the live sheep as a reserve of medical supplies.

Li Mengxi figured it out, but Tian Bu didn't understand.

Tian Bu couldn't help but admire Li Mengxi's medical skills.

Tian Bu didn't have the means to disembowel someone.

So, seeing Li Mengxi looking like he had some enlightenment, Tian Bu hesitated for a while and couldn't help but ask cautiously in a flattering tone.

"Military advisor, how did this pig die? Can you tell me?" Tian Bu had a flattering smile on his face, and he began to ask Li Mengxi for advice.

"Oh!" Li Mengxi came back to his senses, "That's it, before you sew, the inside of the intestines must be washed."

"Think about it, if the intestine is broken, doesn't it mean there is a wound in the intestine?"

"What do the intestines hold? They hold feces."

"If you don't wash it and the feces touches the opening of the intestines, won't you get infected?"

I don't quite understand the word infection.

However, Tian Bu understood the general meaning.

But no. Tian Bu remembered that during the war, the arrows were smeared with dung. Isn't it just to let the dung on the arrows hit someone? The dung on the arrows got into the wound, and the blood was stained. If it didn't hit the vital point, the person would die.

There is also feces in the intestines. If the intestines are broken, the wound will be next to the feces. How can it not be stained with blood? There must be stained blood!

Tian Bu figured out the key to this.

"Commander, shall we wash the intestines with water and sew them next time?" Tian Bu bent down and asked tentatively.

"Don't use water." Li Mengxi's eyes hesitated and his tone was uncertain, "...water probably won't wash it clean, so use soapy water?"

"I'll see if the soap comes out in two days," Li Mengxi said.

Tian Bu was confused again, what is this soap?

Honey locust?
Chapter completed!