Ancient physicians were said to be skilled in surgical procedures, serving as ministers to Huangdi. Three literary historians from the Western Han period recorded the deeds of the ancient physician Yufu, as discussed by Qin Yue-ren. Han Ying, who served as a scholar during the reign of Emperor Wen and lived around the mid-2nd century BCE, wrote in Han Shi Wai Zhuan, Volume 10: "Zhongzhe Zi said: I have heard that in ancient times, there was a physician named Yufu. Yufu practiced medicine by using twisted wood for the brain and fragrant grass for the body. He would blow into the orifices to stabilize the brain, and the dead would come back to life." The historian Sima Qian (circa 135 BCE–?) noted in Shiji‧Bian Que Cang Gong Liezhuan: "There was a physician named Yufu, who treated illnesses not with decoctions or medicinal wines, but with stone needles, traction, massage, and cauterization. With a single adjustment, he could reveal the response of the illness. Based on the meridians of the five zang-organs, he would cut through the skin, separate the muscles, regulate the vessels, tie the tendons, manipulate the marrow and brain, clean the membranes, wash the intestines and stomach, and cleanse the five zang-organs, refining the essence and transforming the form." Thus, the accounts of Yufu's medical practices by these two scholars likely stem from the same source. Slightly later, the bibliographer and literary scholar Liu Xiang, in his work Shuo Yuan‧Bian Wu, recorded a narrative that largely aligns with Han Ying's account.