Chapter 139: To save or not to save, that is a question

Why did Zhang Siwei hate Zhang Jizheng so much?

Because before, Zhang Siwei couldn't return to the capital, and Zhang Jizheng took the blame for scolding Zhang Siwei for being ugly; it was Zhang Jizheng who accelerated the compilation of the *Veritable Records*, making Zhang Siwei unable to be promoted for his merits. In Zhang Siwei's view, it was Zhang Jizheng who provoked him first!

That was why Zhang Siwei wanted to bribe the cook at the Quanchu Guild Hall to kill Zhang Jizheng.

Zhu Yijun rushed to the Dissection Institute at high speed. The court officials were not willing to come to this place at all. Even if there was no smell of blood here, there was not even the sound of cicadas in the summer. It was a hell on earth, a place where Zhang Jizheng demonstrated his terrifying authority. Dissecting people alive—what kind of cruelty was this?

But Zhu Yijun was not afraid at all. Zhang Jizheng, Qi Jiguang, Tan Lun, Lu Diaoyang, Wang Guoguang, and Hai Rui were all people who loved to watch the excitement, following His Majesty into the Dissection Institute.

As soon as Zhu Yijun entered the Dissection Institute, he asked loudly: "Where is Zhang Siwei? Has he breathed his last yet? It's simply too regrettable that the *Yongle Encyclopedia* hasn't been finished yet!"

Zhang Jizheng could only hold his forehead. In Zhang Jizheng's view, the little Emperor was a very benevolent monarch. From the perspective of the Emperor's teacher, although the little Emperor occasionally transformed into an indescribable monster, most of the time, the Emperor was really kind.

Before the Prince of Dingxiang passed away, the little Emperor didn't feel it was unlucky at all, personally visiting him, and it was holding Zhu Xizhong's hand that he accompanied Zhu Xizhong through the last leg of his journey. When Zhu Xixiao passed away, Zhu Yijun even sent Zhu Xixiao off as a disciple, because Zhu Xixiao was truly the Emperor's teacher.

After Tan Lun fell ill, even though the country needed Tan Lun to supervise military affairs, because of Tan Lun's health, the little Emperor firmly refused, almost to the point of sending anyone who advised him to let Tan Lun work hard on the battlefield to the Dissection Institute. Since Qi Jiguang returned to the capital, he had almost been summoned to the palace every three days, and the little Emperor always wanted to keep General Qi for a meal in the palace.

Governor Yin Zhengmao, a corrupt official whom the entire Great Ming knew was greedy, was protected by His Majesty in every way just because he could get things done. Even when Zhang Jizheng advised him, the little Emperor refused to accept the advice, saying that Governor Yin Zhengmao had his own difficulties and feared hurting the efforts of officials who were doing their jobs.

Before Yang Bo retired to his hometown, His Majesty specifically pointed out Yang Bo's merits. After Yang Bo passed away, the little Emperor didn't care about the unpleasantness in the court, giving him posthumous titles, promotions, and hereditary honors, missing nothing.

All signs indicated that His Majesty was a benevolent monarch, but it was this very benevolent monarch who, from beginning to end, did not hide his disgust for Zhang Siwei at all.

The Emperor's words were regrettable, but his tone was clearly "that dog finally kicked the bucket!"

There was no sign of regret at all. The only regret was that Zhang Siwei hadn't finished his work before dying.

At this very moment, Zhang Siwei's face was covered in red streaks, his veins were popping out, and he was rolling on his stomach non-stop. When the pain reached its peak, he couldn't even shout, only feeling waves of dizziness before his eyes, with colorful lights flashing.

"Arsenic?" Chen Shigong looked at Zhang Siwei, who was in pain like a cooked shrimp, and asked Li Shizhen with nine parts of certainty.

Li Shizhen stretched out his hand and said: "He can be saved, but should he be saved?"

To save or not to save, this was a question. Li Shizhen was extremely anxious, as if he had returned to his contradictory self from before.

As a medical official, he had to save every patient in his hands; this was his duty as a medical official. But this person was hated by His Majesty, and from Chen Shigong's words, the earliest batch, including Wang Jinglong, Chen Hong, and a group of dissection prisoners, were all related to Zhang Siwei.

In the court, there were no good or bad people, only machines of mutual destruction. What kind of good end would a medical official have in this level of party struggle? Why did Li Shizhen run away from the Imperial Hospital? This anxiety tortured him, making Li Shizhen hesitant.

Now, he had encountered this problem again.

"Save... save me." Zhang Siwei didn't hear the discussion between the two medical officials, but stretched out his hand, wanting to grasp the last hope of life.

Zhu Yijun came to the main hall of the Dissection Institute. Li Shizhen hurriedly paid his respects and repeated the symptoms, asking quite urgently: "Your Majesty, if we don't use medicine, he will die."

A doctor has a benevolent heart. Every patient who died in his hands Ma Deli Shizhen feel painful, and saving Zhang Siwei meant offending Zhang Jizheng, His Majesty, and the people who wanted to harm Zhang Siwei.

Zhu Yijun heard that the person hadn't died yet, and was full of disappointment. He waved his hand and said: "Save him. The struggles in the court have nothing to do with the medical officials. Just do your best to save him. It will be the same in the future. But for dissection prisoners who haven't been sent by the Ministry of Justice with a warrant for execution, the medical officials should do their best to save them."

"Save?" Li Shizhen was stunned, looking at the little Emperor and saying in disbelief: "Save him alive?"

"Yes, go, go." Zhu Yijun nodded and said.

Zhu Yijun didn't avoid it either, looking at Zhang Siwei's painful appearance, frowning slightly. He naturally knew that this was a good opportunity to kill Zhang Siwei, but he was not happy about letting the Dissection Institute participate in the court's party struggles. There were ten thousand ways to kill him, but it was absolutely not by letting the medical officials of the Dissection Institute break the rules.

Li Shizhen took out a white copper tube about the thickness of a finger and nearly a foot long. Chen Shigong couldn't pry open Zhang Siwei's mouth alone, so the little Emperor let Zhao Mengyou step forward to help. Several people pressed Zhang Siwei down, pried open his mouth, and Li Shizhen measured it, inserting the white copper tube bit by bit, and then poured the already prepared soap water into Zhang Siwei.

Soap was made by melting pig pancreas, pig fat, sugar, lye, and wood ash. When pig fat is at forty degrees, it decomposes under the action of pig pancreas into fatty acids, and the fatty acids react with wood ash and lye to produce fatty acid soap.

This kind of pig fat had a rich, fishy smell of pancreas. The taste was definitely not good. None of the raw materials were purified. This bowl went down—whether the arsenic was more poisonous or this bowl of something infinitely close to a talisman was more poisonous, it was unknown.

Li Shizhen finished feeding the soup and signaled everyone to let go and move away. Zhang Siwei burped, and some foamy things flowed out from the corner of his mouth.

Zhu Yijun found it novel and asked suspiciously: "He spat out white foam! Is he dead?"

Before the words fell, Zhang Siwei spat out a mouthful. This mouthful could be described as colorful. Zhang Siwei just lay half-prone like that, spitting everywhere.

Li Shizhen didn't mind the dirt, signaled Chen Shigong and the others to pinch his mouth open again, and extended the copper tube in, pouring water in. This time, he poured a lot of water.

"Tap his throat," Li Shizhen said after pulling out the tube.

Zhao Mengyou's fingers reached straight in and tapped a few times. The water in Zhang Siwei's stomach surged out again.

Following the same method, Li Shizhen fed him water two more times, and then fed him a bowl of concentrated croton soup. This was a laxative. Only one part was needed to make a fierce man like Li Rusong have weak legs. Li Shizhen used one part. After this bowl went down, not long after, Zhang Siwei, whom everyone thought was already dead, suddenly straightened his body.

Zhang Jizheng wished he could step forward and cover the little Emperor's eyes. Such a brutal scene would seriously harm the physical and mental health of the young Emperor.

"Your Majesty, it's better not to save him. It's too painful." The patient's family member, Wang Chonggu, looked at such a brutal scene and very solemnly suggested giving up treatment. Wang Chonggu knew very well why Zhang Siwei was sent to the Dissection Institute—it was his son, Wang Qian, who did it.

So why save him?

Li Shizhen fed him water again, and after feeding him water, he fed him one part of concentrated croton juice. Until there was only water in the cycle of five grains, Li Shizhen nodded. Zhang Siwei was no longer in danger of life.

Zhu Yijun frowned and looked at Zhang Siwei. There was no danger of life, but his vital signs seemed to have disappeared as well.

"Sure enough, sending scum to the Dissection Institute is a very good idea." Zhu Yijun was very satisfied with the treatment process. He thought for a while and said: "Feed him some sugar water, don't let him die in the Dissection Institute."

Zhu Yijun's words were golden. Since he said he wanted to save him, he wouldn't let Zhang Siwei die in the Dissection Institute as a patient.

Concentrated sugar water is a strategic material. On the battlefield, it can be used to quickly replenish physical strength and treat the wounded, quickly increasing blood sugar concentration and significantly restoring physical strength. When Zhu Yijun did physical training on weekdays, the palace would prepare pear water, which would have a piece of sugar in it, but not much.

Zhang Siwei was not in the status of a criminal, but a patient who came to the Dissection Institute. Doing his best to save him was the duty.

Zhang Siwei slowly regained consciousness in a pile of mud. He remembered some things and forgot some things. This was an experience enough to make him unforgettable for a lifetime. Death was only an inch away from him.

He only remembered that when he was eating breakfast, he felt nauseous, vomited, had a burning sensation in his stomach, and abdominal pain. He immediately reached his hand into his throat to induce vomiting and asked his family to send him to the Dissection Institute for treatment.

Zhang Siwei's first reaction was not to let his family send him to the Imperial Hospital, but to the Dissection Institute, because the medical skills of the Dissection Institute were truly superb.

Zhu Yijun saw Zhang Siwei open his eyes, exhaled through his nostrils, flicked his sleeves, and left the Dissection Institute. It was a pity that he didn't get to see the excitement.

Chen Shigong pondered a little and whispered: "The situation was quite urgent just now, he induced vomiting himself. Actually, if we didn't wash his stomach, he wouldn't have died, right? Look at him when he came, he was still full of life."

Li Shizhen shook his head and said: "After all, he is our patient. We should wash it if we should wash it. When he wakes up, he will have to thank us."

"That's also true." Chen Shigong thought about it and nodded. It was better to wash it. If he really died, the Dissection Institute's signboard would be smashed.

Chen Shigong was telling the truth. Zhang Siwei sensed something was wrong and induced vomiting himself. He wouldn't have died.

The poison Zhang Siwei drank was actually red orpiment, commonly found in pharmacies, also called red arsenic. This thing was not pure enough. If you want to poison someone to death, you have to increase the dosage.

Red orpiment is arsenic, just not pure.

If you want to obtain arsenic, you can also calcine realgar to obtain red arsenic, also called raw arsenic. This kind of red arsenic is the same as red orpiment, with a huge smell. If you really want to further purify it, you need to use the condensation method.

Method of taking arsenic: Place raw arsenic on the fire, cover it with a vessel, let the arsenic smoke fly up and stick to the covering vessel, then it will condense, hanging down like milk. The sharp and long ones are the best, the flat and short ones are second.

Chen Shigong and Li Shizhen both mastered this calcination method. Which medical master is not a master of poison? But they rarely take the initiative to spread it.

"Pity, pity." Zhu Yijun was still a little regretful when he returned to the palace, but he didn't regret it. The medical officials of the Great Ming were always in a dilemma. Being able to simply treat illnesses and save people, Zhang Siwei's trip to the gate of hell was not in vain.

Arsenic is an effective poison. The Guangxu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was poisoned to death by a bowl of arsenic poison from the old witch Empress Dowager Cixi. The autopsy report on Guangxu clearly indicated that the cause of death was arsenic.

This thing is indeed easy to use. If the purity is not high, the dosage must be large, and at the same time, you can't let people spit it out.

After Wang Chonggu returned home, he called his son and, after confirming there were no ears behind the wall, whispered: "Zhang Siwei is still alive. Did you do it cleanly?"

"Cleanly. The person has already been sent to Sichuan." Wang Chonggu's son, Wang Qian, acted very decisively, and the follow-up processing was also extremely rapid. The cook who poisoned him left the city without any delay, changed a road permit, and disappeared without a trace with a lifetime of unspendable silver.

Zhang Siwei wanted to retaliate but couldn't find anyone. Wanting to know the truth was as difficult as ascending to heaven. Just like what Zhang Siwei did, the truth of the matter was like being underwater.

"Why did His Majesty want to save Zhang Siwei?" Wang Qian asked strangely.

When Wang Chonggu heard this question, his expression became even more strange: "Because His Majesty is a gentleman. Although the Dissection Institute seems dirty, His Majesty still didn't let Zhang Siwei die there. The duty of the medical officials is to treat illnesses and save people, just like soldiers have to fight. Fighting is fighting, and winning is the duty. Each performs his own duty."

"Don't provoke the medical officials of the Dissection Institute. Who among us doesn't let the medical officials treat us when we are sick?"

Wang Qian could naturally understand the logic, but he never believed that good people would be rewarded. He smiled and said: "I hate these gentlemen. They are always restricted by various gentlemanly rules. It doesn't matter. I am a villain. Zhang Siwei didn't die once, can't I do it a second time?"

"Zhang Siwei seems not to understand what kind of hell on earth it is to have the power of life and death in the hands of a villain. Let him feel it well."

"He likes to create headless cases, right? Then let him taste this flavor well. What should I use next time?"

"Poisonous snakes will do."

Wang Chonggu pondered and said: "If he didn't die, then forget it. Let him know the power. If you walk on the night road all day, you will eventually meet a ghost. He just doesn't understand this truth. Zhang Jizheng is a gentleman. If Zhang Jizheng were a villain, Zhang Siwei would have died long ago."

"If he died, it would be great. By then, I would make up a story: Zhang Siwei exploited the cook, drank the cook's blood to practice witchcraft for longevity, and was poisoned by the cook. This story would be perfect."

Wang Qian felt this story was familiar. He pondered for a moment and asked: "Father, isn't this the Renyin Palace Change, the time when the Shizong Emperor was almost strangled?"

The Jiajing Emperor's Taoist cultivation was actually a follow-up to the Great Rites Controversy. After the Jiajing Emperor called his biological father "father," in order to consolidate his authority, the old Taoist kept using Taoist arts to deify himself. In the 19th year of the Jiajing reign, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Yang Zui, remonstrated against the absurdity of seeking immortality and asked the Jiajing Emperor to stop practicing Taoism. The old Taoist didn't listen and directly beat Yang Zui to death.

The Renyin Palace Change was the turning point of the Jiajing reign. The new policies of the first twenty years of the Jiajing reign were destroyed in a few years, border affairs were abandoned, Japanese pirates began to rise, and the world was exhausted.

Zhang Siwei truly felt what kind of hell on earth it was to have the power of life and death, celebration and punishment in the hands of a villain.

When Zhang Siwei woke up in the Dissection Institute, he felt as if he was exhausted. His soul seemed to float out of his shell, stripped from the world. His eyes were dull, staring blankly at the bed curtain.

Chen Shigong saw Zhang Siwei wake up and said coldly: "Awake? If you are awake, hurry back."

Chen Shigong hated Zhang Siwei very much. The first batch of dissection prisoners had a thousand-thread relationship with Zhang Siwei. Those people shouted in horror, "Zhang Gong, save me!" Was it Zhang Siwei's Zhang, or Zhang Jizheng's Zhang?

Changing the Emperor as the Prime Minister of the Empire and the old ancestor of the palace, can he really guarantee his status?

A word from the medical official brought Zhang Siwei back to reality from his wandering state with a jolt. He shivered, looked at Chen Shigong in horror, and slowly figured out the situation. He knew he was alive, and sending him to the Dissection Institute was indeed the right choice.

"Medical official, saved me?" Zhang Siwei looked at Chen Shigong blankly and asked.

Chen Shigong said impatiently, "It is His Majesty's decree that he must be saved. His Majesty does not allow us to get involved in your factional strife. If you pillars of state want to fight, fight, but don't drag us commoners in the lowly professions into it, alright?"

"His Majesty?" Zhang Siwei's chaotic brain finally recovered its clarity. As long as His Majesty issued an edict—no! As long as His Majesty had been a little later, Zhang Siwei would have walked on the Naihe Bridge by now, instead of wandering at the gate of hell.

Soon, a terrifying question appeared in his mind: who was it that wanted to kill him so much!

Zhang Jizheng, Tan Lun, Ge Shouli—one name after another appeared in his mind, but they were excluded one by one. He naturally also suspected Wang Chonggu, but he quickly excluded Wang Chonggu, because Wang Chonggu was his uncle, and he, Zhang Siwei, was Wang Chonggu's nephew! This was a relative whose bones were broken but tendons were still connected.

Zhang Siwei thought and thought, and a name suddenly flashed through his mind: Gao Gong!

It was probably Gao Gong. The more Zhang Siwei thought about it, the more he felt it was possible, because Gao Gong had the motive and the ability to do it. Back then, during the assassination attempt on the Emperor, Gao Gong harbored resentment but couldn't vent it. He waited until things gradually calmed down, then used the same method to treat him as he had treated others.

Zhang Siwei restored the truth as he believed it to be.

"Hurry up and go." Chen Shigong urged Zhang Siwei impatiently.

Zhang Siwei staggered to his feet and said: "Thank you, medical official, for saving my life."

Li Shizhen waved his hand, looking at Zhang Siwei who was being helped away by his family, and said to Chen Shigong with a smile: "Look, he still has to thank us."

"Yes." Chen Shigong answered indifferently.

The Great Ming's wool factory was under construction in full swing. The factory site was chosen in Wanping, near the capital, rather than in the more convenient Northwest, Xuanfu, and Datong. The purpose of doing this was naturally to facilitate the Imperial Court's control over the Northwest.

And Wu Dui bought large bags of wool in the Northwest. Although these Northern Barbarians who sold wool didn't quite understand why the Imperial Court wanted this useless wool, this wool would be washed in fermented urine at the Xuan-Da cleaning factory and then sent to the Wanping wool factory.

The wool would be washed again in the wool factory. A kind of white powder mixed with wood ash purification was poured into the wool factory basket by basket.

Of course, the craftsmen didn't know what they were pouring, but after the wool was treated like this, it would become soft and smooth, more convenient for spinning and dyeing. After four months of preparation, the first bolt of pure wool fabric appeared in the Wanping government office.

Li Yashi looked at the precise pure wool fabric, constantly stroking the extremely exquisite, flat, soft, and stiff fabric, and said with great emotion: "Two hundred years ago, England mainly exported wool. Just like the long history, they were always exporting bag after bag of wool. At its peak, they could sell over 20,000 bags, which could weave over 80,000 bolts of wool satin. These wools were concentrated in France, Germany, Milan, and other regions."

"Damn British guys, the amount of wool in their exported goods is lower year by year, from 20,000 bags, gradually decreasing to 8,000 bags, and now the export of wool is prohibited, all used to manufacture wool fabric. And now England can export nearly 150,000 bolts of wool fabric every year. These wool fabrics have become their main source of wealth."

"Wool once accounted for 90% of England's exports, earning 147,000 silver coins a year. Later, wool fabric accounted for 90% of England's exports, earning 900,000 silver coins a year. Slightly converted, it is about 603,000 taels."

"Damn British guys! They fenced in all the land of their commoners, planted all winter feed, and didn't care about the lives of their farmers at all. The imported goods are also dyes, spices, tobacco, and sugar cane. Commoners can't afford sugar!"

Li Ya was cursing the British for their complete cruelty to their own people, because the British completely cruel enclosure movement concentrated most of the means of production in the hands of the big landlords. More land occupied, more pastures, and more displaced commoners meant more factories working day and night to create wealth for the English nobles and merchants.

But this wealth would eventually return to the hands of the merchants, because the land was occupied, the price of grain soared, and the grain imports against England came from the most fertile land in Spain, Andalusia.

Chen Xuehui pondered a little and asked: "So, the contradiction between your country and the British mainly lies in the wool business?"

Li Yashi thought seriously for a long time and shook his head: "It's not entirely wool competition. The Green-Clothed Great Food people in the highly autonomous Andalusia region are always colluding with the British, causing great trouble for the Empire."

Chen Xuehui could actually understand Li Yashi's trouble. Andalusia was a land ruled by the Great Food people for over a thousand years. These Great Food people here were alienated from their Imperial Court and were colluding with the English, which was understandable.

How to understand Spain's Andalusia trouble? It can almost be understood as the clique in the Northwest.

"Can such exquisite wool satin be sold to us? Let England feel the charm of Eastern wool satin. They are so exquisite, they will definitely occupy the English wool market immediately!" Li Yashi said quite excitedly.

Chen Xuehui interpreted these words as: in the wool market, Spain had lost its traditional commodity advantage, and the outbreak of war was not entirely for religious reasons.

"No, no, no, the factory's output is too small. In the short term, we don't intend to engage in maritime trade." Chen Xuehui smiled and rejected Li Yashi's proposal. The wool fabric woven from pure wool is a kind of fur; it is extremely warm, and the Great Ming has extremely strong demand, so it will not be supplied to the West in the short term.

Various colored wool fabrics were first sent to the palace, and then woven into several wool cloaks by the Directorate of Imperial Apparel.

Zhu Yijun circled around the wool cloak again and again, nodding repeatedly. The aesthetic of the Directorate of Imperial Apparel was still normal. This was a straight-collar, front-opening, fully wrapped design, sleeveless, with a length past the knees, a bit like the Great Ming's *beizi*, with exquisite silk decoration on the lace, and a circle of sable fur collar on the top. This was a neutral design cloak, and men and women only needed to change the color to wear it.

"This thing is very good. Send it to the teacher to use." Zhu Yijun said to Feng Bao.

Feng Bao bowed his head and accepted the order. He had guessed that this thing would definitely be sent to the Quanchu Guild Hall. If there was anything good, the little Emperor would never forget to reward Zhang Jizheng.

Feng Bao brought the bestowed clothes to the Quanchu Guild Hall, announced the edict, and bestowed the wool cloak. The cloak had three button loops for fixing, and a waist belt decorated with medicine jade as a waist seal. The production was extremely exquisite.

"Your subject thanks Your Majesty for the great favor." Zhang Jizheng bowed again, thanking the Emperor for the reward. The little Emperor bestowing clothes was naturally a celebration of the monarch's sagehood and the subject's virtue, and it was also a statement to the outside world that the teacher was still deeply in his heart. It was also sincere, thanking Zhang Jizheng for his outstanding contributions to the stability of the Empire since he took charge of the country.

There was another purpose: the little Emperor wanted Zhang Jizheng to bring goods. Zhang Jizheng had already demonstrated his powerful ability to bring goods. As the exclusive spokesperson for the Imperial Manor's goods, the Imperial Manor had made a lot of money selling *Contradiction Theory*, *Four Books Direct Explanation*, and *Grandmaster Chairs*, so naturally, he had to give some endorsement fees.

"Wait a moment, Eunuch." Zhang Jizheng returned to his study, handed a piece of paper to Feng Bao, and said with great emotion: "His Majesty's great favor, your subject has nothing to repay. I have obtained a clever diagram, please let His Majesty take a look."

"This is... forget it, I can't understand it anyway." Feng Bao tried to understand, but failed. This was mathematics, and he didn't understand it.

Zhu Yijun got the diagram sent by Zhang Jizheng and said with a smile: "Is the teacher leaving homework?"

The diagram sent by Zhang Jizheng was a standard Taiji diagram drawn with a ruler and compass, which was extremely exquisite.

Requesting monthly tickets, Aowu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 140 =====