allonlinenovel Chapter 150 Old Zhu is going to set up a people-benefiting pharmacy.
Chapter 150 Old Zhu is going to set up a people-benefiting pharmacy.
As soon as he returned to the county government office, Magistrate Yang went straight to his study, intending to write down all the dish names he had just thought of.
But as he wrote, Magistrate Yang slowly stopped again.
There's an old saying that goes, "To make chicken flavorful, add angelica root and galangal."
The secret to the deliciousness of Linyi fried chicken in later generations actually lies in angelica and galangal.
The problem is that there are not many angelica and galangal in Ningyang County. Apart from the amount that Liu Hongchang and Master Geng had stored in the cave, which later all fell into the hands of Magistrate Yang, there are no other sources of angelica and galangal in Ningyang County.
Other miscellaneous spices were similar, because there were no dedicated spice shops in the Ming Dynasty. If you wanted to buy spices such as incense, cinnamon, thyme, and many other miscellaneous spices, the only place to go was a pharmacy.
Even spices like Sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, and star anise could only be bought at pharmacies.
Unfortunately, Ningyang County has no pharmacies, and not even a doctor!
What should be done if ordinary people get sick?
Just bear it, tough it out. If you can endure it, you live; if you can't, you die. The lives of the poor have never been worth much.
The more Magistrate Yang thought about it, the more agitated he became. He simply threw aside the paper with the names of several dishes written on it, and then took out the special paper for writing memorials and began to write a memorial for Old Zhu.
"Yang, the magistrate of Ningyang County, Yanzhou Prefecture, respectfully requests the allocation of physicians and medicine villages. The reason is... respectfully submitted."
As always, Magistrate Yang first used over a hundred words to demonstrate the people of Ningyang County's reverence and love for Emperor Zhu Chongba, proving how much Emperor Zhu Chongba was regarded as "bird-born fish soup" by the people of Ningyang County. Then, he used several dozen words to argue for the potential hidden dangers caused by the lack of medical care and medicine in Ningyang County. Finally, he used over a hundred words to argue that "Emperor Zhu is not worthy of being called bird-born fish soup by the people of Ningyang County if he does not send a doctor to Ningyang County."
Every line of text is filled with a thirst for doctors and medicines, and between each character are the seven words "allocate doctors and medicines" written crookedly.
Then, adhering to the principle of not putting all his eggs in one basket, Magistrate Yang wrote separate letters to Wu Zude, the Prefect of Yanzhou, and Wang Qiong, the Attendant of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
After finishing writing all the memorials and letters, letting the ink dry, and sealing them up, Magistrate Yang shook his head and sighed slightly.
It's a pity that because of an unnamed old man who suddenly went mad, Ningyang County was inexplicably placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Central Secretariat and was no longer under the administration of the Shandong Provincial Secretariat and Yanzhou Prefecture. Otherwise, I could have directly written documents to Wang Guangyang, the Vice Minister of the Shandong Provincial Secretariat, and Wu Zude, the Prefect of Yanzhou, asking them to help me find a solution. I wouldn't be in this situation now, having to swallow my pride and beg Old Wu and Wang Qiong.
A doctor who gets a job through personal connections is nowhere near as desirable as one who gets transferred by a superior through official channels.
Then, Magistrate Yang took the sealed memorial and letter out of the study, called over Limpy Five, and instructed him: "Please trouble Limpy Five to arrange for someone to make a trip. Send the memorial to the Office of Transmission, the letter to Prefect Wu of Yanzhou, and the letter to Attendant Wang of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices."
After the lame man bowed and agreed, Magistrate Yang continued, "Also, have someone ask the relatives of Liu Hongchang and Master Geng to see if any of them know anything about medicine and medicine."
"Anyone who knows about medicinal herbs and treating illnesses can stay in the county and work as a doctor, just like those who are now teaching in the Confucian Temple. They won't have to go up the mountain to collect stones or do hard labor like building roads anymore."
"By the way, whoever claims to know about medicinal herbs and medicine, bring them over for me to examine first. We must not make any arbitrary judgments."
After Limpy Wu went to make the arrangements, Magistrate Yang couldn't help but mentally rant.
What the hell is going on?!
How can a county town like this not even have a doctor or a pharmacy? If I were to suddenly fall ill one day, wouldn't I have to risk my life to tough it out, and if I couldn't, I would just have to wait?
Hopefully, Lao Zhu can lend a hand and send a few more top-notch doctors to Ningyang County, and bring over more medicinal herbs.
Especially medicinal herbs such as angelica, galangal, star anise, fennel, cardamom, amomum, long pepper, bay leaves, and cinnamon are better the more the better.
……
As the messengers sent out by Limpy Wu arrived in Yanzhou Prefecture and the capital one after another, the prefect of Yanzhou, the interpreter, and even their boss, Zhu Chongba, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, all felt an urge to curse.
If Ningyang County lacks doctors, does that mean Yanzhou Prefecture and the capital city don't?
Your Ningyang County lacks medicinal herbs, but does that mean Yanzhou Prefecture and the capital city don't?
It’s his mother’s fault!
Zhu Chongba angrily threw the memorial written by Magistrate Yang onto the table, snorted coldly, and said to Zhu Biao, "Look, look! We told you before that this bastard dared to treat us like cattle and horses, and now look, here we go again!"
Zhu Biao picked up the memorial and said with a helpless expression as he flipped through it, "He not only submitted a memorial, but he also wrote a letter to Wang Qiong, asking him to help him find two doctors in the capital."
After only a couple of glances, Zhu Biao couldn't help but exclaim, "Wait, does he want a doctor, medicine, or spices?"
"Angelica dahurica, galangal, star anise, fennel, cardamom, bay leaves, and cinnamon are the most requested spices. Why doesn't he ask for more of the rest?"
"Logically speaking, Ningyang County is located in the north, and it is currently winter. Even if medicinal herbs are needed, they should mainly be those for preventing and treating colds. But which of these herbs he wants is for treating colds?"
Emperor Zhu Chongba snorted coldly, his face expressionless: "It's true that this bastard wants doctors and medicine, but it's also true that he wants these spices."
Emperor Zhu smacked his lips and said, "I reckon he probably wanted to use these spices, but Ningyang County didn't have them, so he thought of pharmacies through the spices, and then he thought of doctors."
Zhu Biao flipped through the memorial several times, and finally could only ask helplessly, "Then what should we do? Should we give him the doctor and medicine or not?"
Emperor Zhu Chongba sighed slightly: "Give it to him. No matter what this scoundrel wants these spices for, he definitely wants these medicinal herbs and doctors on behalf of the people of Ningyang County."
After a slight pause, Emperor Zhu continued, "Also, remember to have people prepare more medicinal herbs. Not only should they be allocated to Ningyang County, but some should also be transferred to other prefectures and counties, especially those medicines that can ward off the cold."
"In addition, you should write an official document to each prefecture and county, telling the county magistrates to use the medicinal herbs we have allocated to open pharmacies, hire doctors to provide consultations, and if the people are sick and cannot afford the consultation and medicine, let them pay on credit until they have the money to pay back. If they really cannot pay back, they can go to the pharmacy and clean up the dust as a way of paying back the debt."
"However, we must keep good records of people's visits to doctors and their purchase of medicine on credit. If we find out who is lying to us about these records, we will not only chop off their heads, but also bring misfortune to their entire family for three generations."
"Well, let's call this pharmacy the Huimin Pharmacy. From now on, the imperial court will allocate funds or medicinal materials to the pharmacy every year. You should go and discuss this with Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen to see how to implement it as soon as possible."