Chapter 60: Composing a Good Prescription

(Begging for 100 continued reads, begging for continued reads.)

"Brother, this is the fullest we've eaten in years!"

A miner named Xue Gui sat on the ground, holding a rough yet brand-new yellow earthenware bowl, and spoke to his brother beside him.

His brother was named Xue Bing, twenty-six years old, from Xuejiaba in the suburbs of Mianxian.

In the early years of Chongzhen, their family was not poor, considered somewhat well-off self-cultivating farmers, but with constant natural disasters, even though the whole family worked diligently to irrigate the fields, they were still on the brink of starvation.

In such a situation, the most critical factor was the relentless tax collection.

Since the Wanli era, the land tax itself was not high, but in the mid-to-late period there were countless surcharges and miscellaneous taxes; after Zhang Juzheng's "Single Whip" reform, common people had to convert their grain payments into silver, which created various opportunities for "buying low and selling high," making the people suffer even more.

By the Tianqi and Chongzhen eras, natural disasters were constant; most critically, tenant farmers had to bear double rents and taxes, and with the entire Northwest suffering an eight-year drought, taxes were not only not remitted but actually increased.

Yet Jiangxi, which suffered far less drought than the Northwest, had tax remissions every year; the reason was largely that court politics were controlled by the scholar-gentry of the South, while the Northwest lacked powerful landlord representatives, after all, the late Ming already had the unwritten rule that "Northerners do not become chancellors."

So the absurdity was that they not only had to bear over sixty percent of land rent and official taxes, but also had to start sharing the village's summer taxes and autumn grain to cover the flight of refugees.

"When people flee but grain remains, the loss falls on the household; if the household cannot bear the loss, it falls on the village, or sometimes on relatives. These households thus burdened, if wealthy, still empty their purses to pay, but if extremely poor, they abandon their homes and flee. Thus, today villages are ruined and fields lie fallow, all due to this." 【Note】

To be honest, the Great Ming's land tax itself was extremely low; even with these miscellaneous surcharges, it was not much compared to the Tang and Song dynasties, and in normal years, life was bearable.

But the fatal thing was that in recent years Heaven had gone mad; looking around, the land was scorched, rivers dried up, trees as thick as millstones had died of drought, let alone crops as thin as chopsticks?

With such man-made disasters, the fields had become a hot potato; who would be willing to farm?

It was better to obediently become a refugee.

The Xue brothers hadn't even had time to choose when Mianxian produced a fierce bandit named Yuan Tao.

He followed the rebel bandits "Yao Huang Bandits" Yao Zhangru and Huang Youtian in rebellion, participated in the Xingyang Conference of the eighth year of Chongzhen, witnessed the vast might of the "Thirty-Six Camps" and "Twenty-Four Families," returned to Hanzhong, and conceived the idea of establishing his own faction. 【Note】

At that time, Wu Zhuge and Zhang Zhuanggen were still mere petty thieves, while Yuan Tao had already gathered over ten thousand men and had thoroughly ravaged the surrounding villages and hamlets.

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, Yao Zhangru responded to the rebel leader Gao Yingxiang, only to be defeated and killed at Heishuiyu.

Yuan Tao then absorbed his troops, took up Liu Xiyao's banner, became the second-generation "Contending World King," and headed south to Sichuan.

Meanwhile, Xuejiaba had already suffered a cruel fate; the two brothers had just fled as refugees, returned from Huy County only last year, only to be captured by Mao'erba and sold as laborers to Cao Er.

"The Young Master is a great benefactor, but to be a bandit... how can we face our parents?" Xue Bing said in a low voice.

"Sigh, what else can we do? Just keep being laborers forever? Being a laborer isn't just waiting stupidly to die?" 【Note】

Xue Gui said disappointedly, "Keep being laborers forever? Look at how eagerly Song Jinyin, Zhong Yuncheng, Song Jian, and others are working today; if we don't fight for our place, they will end up riding on our heads, whipping us to work."

Xue Bing looked up at Zhong Yuncheng, Song Jian, and the others; since Li You spoke of the "New Policy," the atmosphere among the miners and salt slaves had immediately changed, working as if their lives depended on it.

"I think the Young Master definitely won't lead us to really do those filthy things!" Xue Gui stood up.

Xue Bing asked, "Why?"

"Look, this earthen bowl, Wang Dashun just made it, only twenty-something pieces; the Young Master didn't even keep one for himself but distributed them, giving them to us first... Just now I saw the Young Master eating, even squeezing into one bowl with Wa Qingyun and the others."

"Tsk..."

Hearing this, Xue Bing clicked his tongue, momentarily at a loss for words.

Xue Gui carefully placed his bowl down, covered it with dry straw from the underground dwelling, then spat into his palm, rubbed his hands together, picked up the carrying pole, and started working.

Xue Bing watched his brother's back, paused for a moment, then stood up and hurriedly followed.

The mine was bustling with activity, while Li You went to check the effectiveness of his penicillin.

Several days ago, Li You had already confirmed that the staphylococci in Qi Jingkun's concentrated water only grew around the applied penicillin, which was sufficient to prove that the penicillin he produced had medicinal effect, but overall, the potency was still relatively weak.

Coincidentally, the day before yesterday, Huang Mao'er caught a cold, with a high fever that wouldn't break; everyone said he was going to die.

Li You thought he would treat him first, trying the medicine on a dead horse as if it were alive, to test its effectiveness.

He cut the penicillin from the gauze pads, totaling eighty-five pieces, which meant eighty-five pills, then carefully stored them in a dry sand jar.

"It took three attempts to make this much; sigh, in the future, these tasks must be taught to others... There aren't enough women; if there were enough, after removing those who wash clothes and cook, we could still form a medical team!"

Li You thought to himself, then went out with Wa Qingyun to the side room outside Cao Er's courtyard.

"Not that I'm saying, Young Master, but what's the difference between Huang Mao'er and Tian Si, Gu Laosan, and the others? Which of these people doesn't have one or two miners or salt slaves' lives on their hands?"

"The stove-house woman Yin Ping's wife was raped by Huang Mao'er for a whole night and literally raped to death; remember, that woman was pregnant... Hmph, if you ask me, Heaven wants to take him; why does the Young Master still go to save him?"

Wa Qingyun seemed reluctant, full of indignation along the way.

Li You listened, his expression slightly cold, and said, "Where do I have such a kind heart? I just made some new medicine, so I'll treat him first to see if the medicine works!"

"But what if it works? Won't that just save him for nothing?"

"Then later let Yin Ping kill him!"

"Heh... Good, the Young Master is straightforward!"

As they spoke, the two arrived at the courtyard in the middle of the riverbank.

Currently, Li You was in charge of the mines and salt fields on the Nanzhai side, so Lian Yu, Shi Youchun, Xu Lifang, and others simply stayed in the side room, playing Mahjong. 【Note】

Li You's sudden arrival startled everyone; they all stopped their hands, their expressions varied: some glared angrily, some were uneasy and fearful, some forced a dry laugh to brush it off, and so on.

"Has Huang Mao'er died from the fever yet?"

Wa Qingyun snorted, "Hmph, if he hasn't died, the Young Master has come to treat him!"

These words made the guarded Shi Youchun and Xu Lifang sigh in relief, quickly saying, "He hasn't died, hasn't died, but he's about to die... He's in this corner, right here..."

Li You nodded, walked in, and by the bed in the corner against the wall, indeed crouched a thin, small figure; it was Huang Mao'er.

Li You touched him and found his whole body burning hot; Xu Lifang and others called out several times, but there was no response; it seemed he had already fevered into unconsciousness.

"Go quickly get water and have him take this medicine..."

Li You said to Xu Lifang, while pondering, "Hmm, give him, eat two pills, the medicine needs to be strong enough!"

He took out two homemade penicillin tablets and handed them to Xu Lifang.

Xu Lifang looked at the pills, which resembled vinegar-soaked cloth pieces, with great curiosity; it was the first time he had ever seen medicine pills shaped like this.

Nevertheless, he didn't think much of it; although he was very displeased with Li You, he still recognized his medical skill and ability.

At this moment, Cui Shan also brought water over in a bowl, and the two of them helped Huang Mao'er swallow it down.

Li You had been watching from the side all along, with no intention of leaving.

Before long, Huang Mao'er began to groan, his chest heaving violently as if he couldn't catch his breath.

Li You's heart leaped with joy; could it be that the medicine was taking effect? Was he about to break into a profuse sweat?

He leaned in for a closer look and immediately felt his scalp tingle; he saw red rashes appearing on Huang Mao'er's face, neck, and hands, thick white foam oozing from the corners of his mouth and his nostrils, his throat gaping wide like a fish out of water, his body twisting like a wrung-out rope, looking utterly oxygen-deprived.

"It's bad, it's bad, an allergic reaction, an allergic reaction... skin test... skin test... oh dear, right, we didn't do a skin test!"

Li You shouted loudly, also at his wit's end, but this kind of allergic medical accident was beyond his ability to treat; watching Huang Mao'er suffocate, he thought to himself that he had to give him artificial respiration first...

Unfortunately, just as he climbed onto the bed and before his mouth could touch the other's, Huang Mao'er's neck slumped against the corner of the wall, and his chest stopped moving.

"Dead? No way, no way, in such a hurry to die?"

In an instant, everyone in the room fell silent, all staring at Li You.

"Ha... wonderful, truly wonderful!" Wa Qingyun suddenly found it amusing.

Li You was stunned, a sentence inexplicably floating into his mind: "First studied literature, failed the exams for three years; then studied martial arts, fired one arrow at the training ground, hit the drummer, and was driven out; then studied medicine, achieved some skill. Wrote a good prescription himself, took it, and died." 【Note】

【Note】: Wu Yingji, "Collection of Loushan Hall"

【Note】: The "Xingyang Grand Assembly" is disputed in the historical community; Mr. Gucheng, in his work on the history of agriculture and warfare, provided ample arguments to refute it.

Historical records mentioning the Xingyang Grand Assembly number over a dozen, such as "Draft History of Ming," "Chronicles of Ming," "History of Ming," "Xiaotian Jinnian F Kao," "Mingtongjian," "Jianwen Suibi," and so on, but in fact they all stem from Wu Weiye's account in "Sui Kou Ji Lue," essentially constituting a single piece of evidence.

During the same period, Dai Li's "Huailing Liu Kou Shi Zhong Lu," Zhang Dai's "Shi Kui Shu Hou Ji," Ji Liuqi's "Ming Ji Bei Lue," Peng Sunyi's "Ping Kou Zhi," and Tan Qian's "Guo Que," among others, made no mention of the Xingyang Grand Assembly.

Most importantly, in local gazetteers, in the first month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the peasant army had not yet captured Xingyang; how could a grand assembly be held? This bug... truly requires the novelist Wu Weiye to explain.

【Note】: During the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty, what was originally a gaming token evolved gradually into a new form of entertainment tool, namely the Ma Diao card. A full set of Ma Diao cards consists of forty cards, divided into four suits: Ten Thousand Guan, Ten Thousand Guan, Suozi, and Wenqian.

【Note】: Ming Dynasty, Fubai Zhai Master, "Xiao Lin"