Chapter 114
Ba Yuan was silent for a moment, then said, "I've thought about what you said. I originally wanted to do it when I was old and couldn't walk anymore. Now that I can still walk, I want to walk more. It would also be good to treat more people."
He had no children, only a nephew who was somewhat unskilled. He truly wished to pass on his life's learning, but he had never found a suitable apprentice. His medicine boy was already someone he was quite fond of, but unfortunately, his talent was far from what he expected, so he could only learn the basics from him.
A young member of the shogunate had been listening for a while, and then he interrupted, "Doctor Ba, isn't it easy for you to treat a few more people? Find a good place to live, and patients will naturally come to you." Historically, it has only been patients who go to doctors, not doctors who go to patients.
Ba Yuan shook his head, "You don't understand."
"Dr. Ba has compassion." Yao Chunnuan understood his thinking. Ba Yuan could certainly do as the young doctor suggested. She could easily imagine that when Ba Yuan started practicing medicine in a certain place, initially everyone would be treated equally; ordinary people would be able to see a doctor. But gradually, things would change, and only the rich and powerful would come. The upper class squeezed the lower class, and the ultimate result was that the poor were no longer even eligible to see a doctor. This was probably one of the reasons why Dr. Ba remained a traveling doctor.
"Doctor Ba, there's one more thing. Have you thought about it?" Yao Chunnuan decided to give him another strong dose of medicine.
"What?"
"As I said, a person's energy is limited. Even if you, Doctor Ba, don't sleep for twelve hours a day, the number of patients you can cure is limited. But if you can research and develop corresponding medicines for typical symptoms, it will be different." Yao Chunnuan decided to trick him into making some over-the-counter Chinese patent medicines that are very popular in later generations.
"What do you mean?" After hearing her say this, Ba Yuan felt that he had grasped something, but when he thought about it carefully, he had no clue.
"Let's put it this way. For example, in the summer, many people fall ill due to heat and humidity. Therefore, the medical department imports a large amount of herbs like Patchouli, Tangerine Peel, and Atractylodes. Great doctors like you and Doctor Zhu should have a set prescription for these types of illnesses, right? Then, based on that, you can add or subtract ingredients based on the patient's condition."
Ba Yuan nodded slightly, indicating that she was right.
"So, can we improve the formula and make it into a medicine suitable for everyone? This kind of medicine has a precise, stable, and highly safe effect, suitable for everyone. Is that possible?"
Ba Yuan seemed to be lost in thought.
"Let me give you another example. For example, when you first catch a cold, that is, when the cold is in your skin, you use a ready-made medicine. After a few days, the cold moves from the outside to the inside, and the symptoms become increasingly severe. Then you use another ready-made medicine. If the cold moves into your lungs..."
When she said this, Yao Chunnuan noticed that Ba Yuan was glaring at her, and she immediately changed her words, "Then you must see a doctor, and you have to find a doctor with excellent medical skills." Because at that time, it must be a serious illness, and fixed medicines are actually not suitable.
Above, Yao Chunnuan talked about the difference between prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs.
"The same applies to wind-heat entering the body. It's divided into several stages. You can prepare a medicine according to the different stages, process the herbs appropriately, and then make them into pills. You can do all of this, right?"
"What's so difficult about this?" Ba Yuan said proudly. Isn't it just mixing medicine and rolling pills? It's just a simple illness like the initial or intermediate stage of wind-cold and wind-heat invading the body! He didn't often make pills before, simply because he was traveling and it wasn't that convenient.
"Doctor Ba, think about it, we could write the indications on the outside of the bottles containing the pills. Wouldn't that make it much more convenient for poor people to see a doctor?"
She knew that medicine was not well developed here, and even a half-baked barefoot doctor would be sought after by several villages. If there were a patent medicine that treated the corresponding symptoms, it would be better than a barefoot doctor prescribing medicine indiscriminately, right?
The indications are written on the outside of the medicine bottle. There are definitely more people who can read than those who understand medicine. Minor ailments can be treated at home with medicine, preventing them from becoming more serious over time and eliminating the need to travel thousands of miles to seek medical help.
Ba Yuan was thinking about the feasibility of what she said, but the more he thought about it, he realized that it seemed to really work?
"Doctor Ba, why don't you stay? Staying here will kill three birds with one stone. It's much more useful than running around everywhere." Yao Chunnuan wanted to say that it was much more cost-effective.
In the military settlements, one person could perform three functions: research over-the-counter medicines, teach students, and treat patients—all without compromise. Traveling as a traveling doctor, one could only perform one or two functions. He could treat patients and take students, but he definitely couldn't create medicines. Furthermore, both research and teaching took time. Dr. Ba, though young, was certain he would later lament the lack of time.
Yao Chunnuan slowly played another card. "And if you stay in our Yichun military settlement, we will do our best to supply the medicinal herbs you need for your research." Yichun is blessed with exceptional natural resources for growing medicinal herbs. It will be a successful business in less than three years.
After she said this, Ba Yuan's last bit of hesitation disappeared. But he wanted to save face, so he glared at Yao Chunnuan and said stubbornly, "You've already said everything. What else can I say?"
Yao Chunnuan suppressed her laughter and said, "Doctor Ba, just agree to stay. You don't need to say anything else. I understand." She knew you were being stubborn.
Ba Yuan snorted twice, too lazy to argue with her, "What should we research first about the patent medicine you mentioned?"
"Isn't this simple? Now is the hottest time of summer, so of course we should research a good way to get rid of the heat." This is also what their military settlement needs most urgently.
"According to the order of seasons? That's fine too. For each season, we'll research one or two patent medicines for common diseases, and then we can gradually add more based on the symptoms. Then let's start with Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills!"
Hearing this, Yao Chunnuan's eyes lit up, "Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills? Okay, that's good. Please list the relevant medicinal materials to me, and I'll have someone prepare the venue and the necessary materials for you." Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills are the king of medicines in summer. It is the right time to use it in summer. It is the right thing to use for symptoms caused by summer heat and humidity.
"By the way, in addition to this, you can provide me with the list of medicinal materials needed for the next medicine in advance so that I can have someone prepare it in advance." They need a large quantity of medicinal materials and need to collect them in advance, otherwise they will not be able to get them all at once.
"Winter comes early in Yichun, autumn is short, and there are no seasonal diseases. I can just make some Ganmao Shufeng Granules and Jiuwei Qianghuo Pills."
Yao Chunnuan cleared his throat and suggested, "Doctor Ba, after the Ganmao Shufeng Granules and Jiuwei Qianghuo Pills are prepared, how about we make some hemostatic medicine?"
Ba Yuan glanced at her and hummed, knowing that he had no way to deal with her smuggling behavior.
Since he decided to stay and arranged his next work, Ba Yuan planned to go back. He wanted to go back to organize his medical notes, write teaching materials, etc. There was a lot of work waiting for him to do.
When he returned to his residence, he met the medicine boy. When he saw Doctor Ba coming back, he was about to stand up and ask if they could leave. Unexpectedly, Doctor Ba told him that they would not leave and would stay in the Yichun military village.
The boy administering medicine was stunned. "No, Doctor Ba, weren't you going to say goodbye? My luggage is packed and I'm ready to leave anytime. You went to see Chief Secretary Yao and came back to tell me you're not leaving? And not just for a short stay, but for a long-term stay, or even permanent?"
What kind of magic potion did Yao Zhubo give you? The medicine boy was stunned. He really wanted to know how Yao Zhubo had fooled his miracle doctor. Isn't this a complete change of heart?
Yao Chunnuan offered strong support to Ba Yuan, whether recruiting disciples or developing his own medicine. He even allocated him land to build a teaching area and a medicine factory. Of course, he also discussed his treatment with him. An emperor shouldn't starve his soldiers, right?
Everything is developing in an orderly manner.
The sea salt processing workshop also went smoothly in purifying and processing the crude sea salt. The processed crude sea salt turned into a kind of snow-white table salt like fine sand, and was put on the exchange floor.
The military settlements had never been short of salt, and although they thought the new salt looked better and was more upscale, it didn't cause much of a stir, and things went smoothly. But when the first batch of Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills, developed by Doctor Ba, hit the shelves, they sold out in less than half a day.
At first, because the exchange building was limited in number, everyone rushed to buy it out of habit, not realizing it was a good thing. But within two days, after people who had used it came forward to tell us about their experiences, everything changed.
It was also a coincidence that a big sister who bought Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills as soon as possible met her neighbor on her way back. The neighbor felt chest tightness after working in the farm for a long time under the sun. Seeing her pale face and fatigue all over, the big sister thought that this was exactly the symptoms corresponding to the ten pills she bought.
So he fed the three pills to his neighbor. After taking them, he immediately felt much better, at least he no longer felt nauseous or vomiting. After resting for a while under the tree, he was able to slowly walk back home with the help of his relatives.
The older woman's eyes widened in amazement. Her neighbor had just been limp, practically limp, and now he was walking again. Seeing this, she immediately realized this was a promising solution. With a slap on her thigh, she returned to the exchange building, hoping to redeem sixty pills. However, she was told that each person could only redeem ten pills, and she had already used up her allotment. She quickly pulled out her son's merit book, instantly qualifying for thirty pills. This also cost her five merit points.
The elder sister sighed that these pills were quite expensive.
After the neighbor returned, he immediately asked his son to take the work point book to the exchange building to exchange for some Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills.
After they exchanged their pills, they told their friends to exchange theirs as well. In this way, the name of Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills spread quietly. The first batch of Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills that arrived at the exchange office was gone in just half a day.
The residents who didn't get any money were slapping their thighs in regret. They've always told you to keep an eye on the exchange office, because it might suddenly have some good stuff. If you don't keep a close eye on it, it'll be sold out in a flash.
As more and more people confirmed that the pills were effective in treating symptoms such as summer heat and dampness, colds, headaches, heaviness in the body, chest tightness, abdominal distension, vomiting, and diarrhea, and that after taking three pills, people would immediately feel much better, word of the effectiveness of Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills spread quickly, and more and more villagers learned about it.
The settlers clamored for the exchange office to quickly deliver the second batch. The army also sent someone to say they wanted Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills in large quantities, regardless of how many merit points they wanted.
Ba Yuan hadn't expected the pills he'd made on a whim to be so popular with the villagers. Furthermore, they actually worked; he knew they'd saved several people from feeling unwell due to the heat.
For a moment, he felt quite emotional, thinking that perhaps Yao Chunnuan was right.
At the request of the general public, the pharmaceutical factory worked overtime and soon produced the second batch of Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills. To avoid a stampede, they had to issue a notice, asking the villagers to wait at home while they arranged for people to deliver the pills to every household. Those who needed them could exchange them for merit points or work points, and those who didn't need them would not be forced to do so.
As soon as the announcement of the exchange building came out, everyone waited with peace of mind.
Naturally, there weren’t that many people in the exchange building, so we had to borrow people from the recruit camp.
There was still a purchase limit this time. There was no other way. The second batch of pills was limited in quantity, and evenly distributed to each person in the military settlement, there were only about fifteen pills. Whether they were settlers or soldiers, everyone was sharpening their knives, so there was no way without purchase limits.
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