Chapter 469: Chapter 337: Solving the Fertility Problem
"Of course." Maximus said confidently as he picked up the two items and patiently began explaining.
In his previous life, Maximus discovered the forceps in the game Civilization Conquest under the options for modern medical technology. The image even noted that "the emergence of forceps marked a major advancement in the history of human childbirth."
His curiosity led him to specifically research forceps. He learned that forceps had been used in childbirth for a long time, with records in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome, but due to low success rates, they were not widely adopted. The development and popularity of modern forceps mainly involved the Chamberlain family.
This 16th-century French midwifery family developed a kind of perforated, curve-shaped forceps that fit the infant’s head well after extensive practice, greatly improving childbirth success rates. They kept this secret and made a fortune from it, spreading it only by the 18th century.
Maximus also specifically watched an animated video introducing forceps, through which he learned about the fetal aspirator. These two small instruments, working in tandem, are powerful tools for successful modern obstetric delivery.
Maximus tried hard to recall the demonstrations in the videos from his past life, trying to demonstrate with the fetal aspirator and forceps in hand while stutteredly explaining.
It was indeed awkward for a man to explain how to use instruments to assist childbirth. Even though the only observer was his wife, Maximus still felt very uneasy. But to improve the tribe’s childbirth success rate, he forced himself to finish the explanation.
Finally, he said, "...The basic usage of the forceps and fetal aspirator is like this. It may seem simple, but to successfully apply them to women’s childbirth and help them successfully deliver their babies, doctors, and nurses need to constantly practice and explore a set of successful experiences in using them."
"Doctor? Why would the women in our tribe need a doctor to give birth?" Nexia asked in surprise.
Maximus was taken aback.
The truth was, indeed, for the Nix people, childbirth was a family matter. No one would deliberately take the pregnant woman to a hospital to give birth. Only when danger arose during childbirth would they seek help from a hospital, but by then it was too late.
Later, Horace learned the lesson and recruited a dozen tribal women with rich childbirth experience. After training, they became hospital midwives, dispatched to assist childbirth whenever a woman was in labor... In fact, there was indeed no specialized doctor responsible for childbirth. On one hand, the doctors in the Nix Tribe were all men, and none of them were willing to do such work, fearing gossip. Moreover, the tribespeople were unwilling to let a man help with their wives’ childbirth.
"Actually, there’s no need for a doctor. We can teach the nurses to use these two instruments——" Maximus immediately corrected himself.
But before he finished speaking, Nexia interrupted: "Since the Danu Goddess gave you such an inspiration in a dream, hoping that our tribe could have doctors use Her magical tools to help pregnant women give birth smoothly, but since our hospital doesn’t currently have one, why not let me seriously learn to use these two magical instruments and become a doctor specifically helping women in childbirth!"
The reason why Maximus asked the craftsmen to make the two instruments and didn’t directly call for Horace, but first told Nexia, was because he thought that matters related to childbirth would be more convenient if Nexia conveyed them to the Medical Department. However, he didn’t expect Nexia to make such a request.
Maximus saw Nexia leaning slightly forward, her lips pressed tightly, and her hands firmly clasped, seemingly trying to control her emotions. But her bright eyes could not hide her inner tension and anticipation. So he hesitantly reminded, "Nexia... You are no longer the nurse cleaning and bandaging the wounded, but the Deputy Officer of the Medical Department, assisting Horace in managing the medical care and improving the health level of all the tribespeople——"
"I don’t want to be the deputy officer in the Medical Department anymore." Nexia interrupted him softly, earnestly pleading, "Ever since I became this deputy officer, I have had nothing to do every day. It’s far less fulfilling than when I was a head nurse leading the nurses to save the wounded... Leader, I really want to be a doctor specializing in helping pregnant women give birth, and be able to see them delivering their babies smoothly. I think I would be very happy!"
Faced with his wife’s deep, desire-filled gaze, Maximus felt her determination and resolve. Suddenly, he understood why Nexia made such a request: because she could not have children herself, she wanted to help other women successfully have their own children, turning her regret into others’ hope.
At that moment, Maximus’s heart was fiercely gripped, then he smiled and loudly encouraged her: "Since you are determined to be a doctor that helps women deliver, then go ahead and do it! I hope that one day the children born under your hand will grow up and respectfully call you ’Nexia Mother’!"
Maximus’s words gave Nexia, who was a bit uneasy, more confidence. She broke into a blossoming smile and firmly responded: "Yes, I definitely will!"
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Starting in January, the Public Works Department began to take charge of building roads on the south bank of the Kupa River.
Originally, road construction was the affair Chief of Public Works Department, Capito, was most concerned with. He had long instructed Spukala and other engineers to comprehensively plan and measure the roads to be built, and had Deputy Officer Gaius, who was specifically responsible for construction projects, summon most of the Roman veterans in the tribe to supervise and guide the foreign tribesmen. To this end, he also summoned a group of stone masons to open a quarry in the mountains not far from the old road, expanded the scale of lime kilns, and increased the output of kiln-fired concrete...
Capito organized more than ten thousand foreign auxiliary, divided them into over a dozen teams, led by Roman veterans and engineers familiar with road construction, to build sections from Snowdonia to the floating bridge east of Todleduo.
He also had carpenters build a new wooden bridge at the spot where the floating bridge on the Kupa River was dismantled, and he even convinced the administrators of the three towns Danu, Westeni, and Todleduo to mobilize the populace for some auxiliary work...
Hence, the south bank of the Kupa River turned into a vast construction site, bustling with tens of thousands of people working every day, filled with lively clamor during the day.
Even by March, during the rainy season, the enormous construction team remained busy every day. And by April, as the populace had to sow fields for farming, part of the foreign auxiliary were also dispatched to help with farm work, but the number of the construction team did not significantly decrease because another batch of new laborers joined...
All of Capito’s painstaking efforts were aimed at building a road comparable to the Roman Road.
By May, the wheat seedlings in the farmland were flourishing, and looking out at the fields of lush green were like two huge emeralds set on both banks of the Kupa River. At the edges of the fields and along the paths, wildflowers and bushes began to bloom, adding more charm with their fragrance and colors.
Warm weather also made road construction easier and less exhausting. However, the people did not become slack; instead, they worked even harder. After more than four months of hard work by tens of thousands of people, the approximately twenty-five-mile-long road was close to completion.
On this day, on the newly constructed road leading from Snowdonia to Westeni, a few foremen and engineers, led by Roman veterans, after repeated inspections, publicly declared: the section of the road they were responsible for has been successfully completed!
Over a thousand laborers danced with joy, erupting into deafening cheers, and the foremen and engineers even shed tears for it.
Indeed, it wasn’t easy at all! Notably, among these over a thousand laborers, most were Pannonia prisoners from last year’s battle. Although they were disciplined for two months, the troublemakers were sent to Alde, and those remaining were relatively obedient, issues kept occurring during the construction, with disobedience, even laziness, quarrels, and resistance...
To resolve this, Capito and the foremen devised numerous strategies—threats, hunger, corporal punishment, even beheading to deter escapees, while also giving benefits to well-behaving prisoners, such as meat rewards, promotion to construction team leader, consideration for inclusion on the release list (as Desitia clandestinely sent an envoy to propose a ceasefire and peace with the Nix), and for those changing their mindset and wanting to join the Nix Tribe, the promise of a place on the next foreign auxiliary to reserve tribe member transition list...
With their continuous efforts, after entering April, the large prisoner construction team was finally tamed, willing to follow instructions, work hard, and cooperate with others, which greatly improved the efficiency of road construction, enabling completion within Capito’s set timeframe.
For the prisoners, the excitement and cheers were partly because they could finally end the hefty roadwork, but more because:
Initially forced by the Nix to blindly use the iron plow and other tools to loosen soil on the old road, excavate the roadbed, then layer small stones, mortar, and clay on the base, then further compact pebbles, small stones, bricks, and concrete mix; subsequently, they had to lay a layer of pure concrete without impurities, using a huge smooth wooden roller for repeated compression and compaction, and finally pave the top surface with neatly carved stone slabs and rubble... The Nix even required them to dig drainage ditches on both sides of the road and smooth paths for pedestrians...