Chapter 60: Writing a Good Prescription Himself

(Seeking 100 follow-reads, seeking follow-reads.)

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

A miner named Xue Gui sat on the ground, clutching a crude yet brand-new yellow clay bowl, and said to the brother beside him.

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

In the early years of the Chongzhen reign, their family was not doing badly; they were considered somewhat well-off self-cultivating farmers, but with constant natural disasters, even though the whole family worked diligently to irrigate and water the fields, they were on the verge of starvation.

In such a plight, the most significant cause was the relentless, never-ending tax collection.

Since the Wanli reign, the regular land tax had not been high, but in the middle and late periods, there were countless apportionments and miscellaneous taxes. After Zhang Juzheng’s "Single Whip Law," the common people had to pay in silver, which provided room for various "buy low, sell high" manipulations, making the people's suffering even more unbearable.

By the Tianqi and Chongzhen years, natural disasters were constant. Most importantly, tenant farmers had to bear double the rent and taxes, and with the entire Northwest suffering an eight-year drought, not only were taxes not exempted, but they were actually increased.

Yet Jiangxi, which suffered far less from drought than the Northwest, received tax exemptions every year. The reason was likely that the imperial government was controlled by the Southern literati, and the Northwest lacked sufficiently powerful landlord representatives; after all, late Ming had an unwritten rule that "Northerners do not become Grand Secretaries."

Therefore, the absurd part was that they not only had to bear over sixty percent of the land rent and government taxes, but also had to share the summer and autumn grain taxes of those who had fled the famine in the village.

"If the people leave but the grain remains, the burden is placed on the original household; if the household cannot pay, it is placed on the original neighborhood, or perhaps on their relatives. Among these households held responsible, the wealthy might empty their purses to pay, while the extremely poor simply abandon their homes and leave. Thus, villages today are ruins, and fields are completely abandoned—all because of this." [Note]

To tell the truth, the Ming land tax itself was extremely low; even with these miscellaneous taxes and apportionments, it was not much compared to the Tang or Song dynasties. In a normal year, life would have been manageable.

But the deadly part was that the Heavens had gone mad these past few years. Looking around, the land was scorched, rivers had dried up, and trees as thick as millstones had withered from drought—let alone crops as thin as chopsticks.

With such man-made disasters, the land became a hot potato; who would be willing to farm it?

It was better to just obediently become a displaced refugee.

The Xue brothers hadn't even had the chance to choose when a bandit leader named Yuan Tao emerged in Mianxian.

He followed the rebel leaders Yao Zhangru and Huang Youtian to revolt, participated in the Xingyang Assembly in the eighth year of Chongzhen, witnessed the vast power of the "Thirty-Six Camps" and "Twenty-Four Houses," and upon returning to Hanzhong, conceived the idea of setting up his own faction. [Note]

At that time, Wu Zhuge and Zhang Zhuanggen were still small-time crooks, but Yuan Tao had already gathered over ten thousand men and had long since ravaged all the surrounding villages and dams.

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, after Yao Zhangru responded to the call of the "Dashing King" Gao Yingxiang, he was defeated and died in Heishuiyu.

Yuan Tao then absorbed his troops, took up the banner of Liu Xiyao, became the second-generation "King Who Contends for the World," and headed south to Sichuan.

Xuejiaba had long since fallen victim to his cruelty. The two brothers had just fled the famine and only returned from Hu County last year, only to be captured by the Mao'erba bandits and sold to Cao Er as forced labor.

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

"Sigh, then what can we do? Just keep being forced laborers like this? Isn't being a forced laborer just stupidly waiting for death?" [Note]

Xue Gui said disappointedly: "Just keep being forced laborers? Look at how hard Song Jinyin, Zhong Yuncheng, and Song Jian are working today. If we don't strive, they will be riding on our heads by then, whipping us to make us work."

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

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

Xue Bing asked: "Why?"

"Look, this clay bowl—Wang Dashun just made them, there are only twenty-something of them. The Master didn't even keep one for himself, he gave them to us first... Just now I saw the Master eating, and he was even sharing a bowl with Wa Qingyun and the others."

"Tsk..."

Xue Bing clicked his tongue, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Xue Gui carefully put his bowl away, covered it with some dry grass in the dugout, then spat into his palms, rubbed them together, picked up his carrying pole, and started working.

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

The mine was buzzing with activity, while Li You went to verify the efficacy of his penicillin.

A few days ago, Li You had already cultured the staphylococci in the pus; they only grew around the applied penicillin, which was enough to show that the penicillin he made was effective, but overall, the potency was still relatively poor.

It just so happened that Huang Maoer caught a cold the day before yesterday, and his high fever wouldn't subside; everyone said he was going to die.

Li You thought he would treat him first—treating a dead horse as if it were alive—to test the efficacy of the medicine.

He cut the penicillin from the gauze, totaling eighty-five pieces—that is, eighty-five pills—and then carefully stored them in a dry sand jar.

"It took three attempts to make just this much. Sigh, in the future, I'll have to teach others to do these things... There still aren't enough women. If there were enough, after removing those who wash clothes and cook, we could form a medical team!"

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

"It's not that I'm complaining, Master, but how is that Huang Maoer any different from Tian Si, Gu Laosan, and the others? Which of these people doesn't have the blood of one or two miners or salt slaves on their hands?

That stove-worker Yin Ping's wife was ravaged by Huang Maoer for an entire night and was ravaged to death, and you have to know that woman was pregnant... Hmph, if you ask me, this is Heaven coming to collect him. Why does the Master still want to save him?"

Wa Qingyun seemed somewhat reluctant, filled with righteous indignation on the way.

After hearing this, Li You's expression turned cold: "Do I have such a kind heart? I just made some new medicine, so I'm treating him first to see if the medicine works!"

"Then what if it works? Wouldn't that be saving him for nothing?"

"Then we'll just let Yin Ping kill him later!"

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

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

Currently, the mines and salt fields on the Nanzhai side were all under Li You's responsibility, so Lian Yu, Shi Youchun, Xu Lifang, and the others were simply huddled in the side room, playing Mahjong. [Note]

Li You's sudden arrival startled everyone. They all stopped what they were doing, their expressions varied—some glared, some were anxious and fearful, some gave forced, perfunctory smiles, and so on.

"Has Huang Maoer died of fever yet?"

Wa Qingyun snorted coldly: "Hmph, if he hasn't died, the Master has come to treat his illness!"

These words made the wary Shi Youchun and Xu Lifang breathe a sigh of relief, and they hurriedly said: "He's not dead, not dead, but he's almost there... He's in that corner, right here..."

Li You nodded and walked in. Sure enough, a thin, small figure was curled up in the corner of the bed against the wall—it was Huang Maoer.

Li You touched him and found his whole body burning hot. Xu Lifang and the others called out several times, but there was no response; it looked like he had already lost consciousness from the fever.

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

Li You said to Xu Lifang, while muttering: "Hmm, give it to him, have him take two pills, the medicine's strength will be more potent!"

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

Xu Lifang looked at the tablets, which looked like pieces of vinegar-soaked cloth, and was extremely curious; it was his first time seeing medicine pills shaped like this.

However, he didn't think too much about it. Although he was very unhappy with Li You, Xu Lifang still acknowledged his medical skills and abilities.

At this time, Cui Shan also brought water over in a bowl, and the two helped Huang Maoer take the medicine.

Li You stood by and watched, not intending to leave.

Before long, Huang Maoer began to moan, his chest heaving violently as if he couldn't catch his breath.

Li You felt a surge of joy—could it be that the medicine was taking effect? Was he about to break into a heavy sweat?

He leaned in for a closer look and his scalp immediately went numb. He saw red rashes appearing on Huang Maoer's face, neck, and hands, sticky white foam appearing at the corners of his mouth and nostrils, his throat wide open like a fish out of water, and his body twisting like a rope—a picture of oxygen deprivation.

"Oh no, oh no, he's having an allergic reaction, an allergic reaction... skin test... skin test... Oh my, that's right, I didn't do a skin test!"

Li You let out a loud cry, panicked. But this kind of medical accident wasn't something he could treat. Watching Huang Maoer suffocating, he thought he should at least try CPR first...

But unfortunately, just as he got on the bed and before his mouth could touch him, Huang Maoer's neck tilted toward the corner of the wall, and his chest stopped moving.

"Dead? No way, no way, why are you in such a rush to die!"

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

"Ha... wonderful, truly wonderful!" Wa Qingyun was actually amused for a moment.

Li You was stunned, and a sentence inexplicably surfaced in his mind: "First studied literature, failed for three years; then studied martial arts, fired an arrow at the drill ground, hit the drummer, and was expelled; then studied medicine, achieved some success. Wrote a good prescription himself, took it, and died." [Note]

[Note]: Wu Yingji, *Loushan Hall Collection*.

[Note]: The "Xingyang Assembly" is controversial in the historical community. Mr. Gu Cheng, in his history of agricultural warfare, provided sufficient evidence to refute it.

There are about a dozen historical records that mention the Xingyang Assembly, such as *Draft History of Ming*, *Ming Records*, *History of Ming*, *Chronicles of the Xiaotian with Appendices*, *Comprehensive Mirror of Ming*, *Miscellaneous Notes on What Was Seen and Heard*, etc., but they all essentially stem from Wu Weiye's record in *Brief Records of Pacifying the Bandits*, which is essentially a single source.

During the same period, Dai Li's *Records of the Beginning and End of the Bandits in Huailing*, Zhang Dai's *Sequel to the Stone Casket Book*, Ji Liuqi's *Northern Sketches of the Ming Dynasty*, Peng Sunyi's *Records of Pacifying the Bandits*, and Tan Qian's *Guoque* do not record the Xingyang Assembly.

Most importantly, according to local gazetteers, in the first month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the peasant army had not yet captured Xingyang, so how could they have held an assembly? This bug... really needs the novelist Wu Weiye to explain.

[Note]: During the Tianqi period of the Ming Dynasty, what was originally a game accessory evolved into a new type of entertainment tool, namely, Mahjong cards. A full set of Mahjong cards has 40 cards, divided into four suits: Ten Thousand Guan, Thousand Guan, Strings, and Wen Coins.

[Note]: Ming Dynasty, Master of Fubai Studio, *Xiaolin (Forest of Jokes)*.