Chapter 68: Allicin
There is not much time left for Yan Xuanyu. The Turks and Rongdi will not dare to make any more moves just because he shows an image that is different from the tyrant they imagined.
Now the Great Zhou Dynasty has changed from its past decline to prosperity, and there has been no movement from the Turkic and other tribes. The news obtained by the spies sent by Yan Xuanyu some time ago surprised Yan Xuanyu. The Turkic king was seriously ill.
Because the Turkic king acted recklessly, the Turks were divided, and after the Turkic king fell ill, several tribes began to stir.
Yan Xuanyu read the spy's report on the Turkic king's condition and suddenly felt it was very familiar... His body was getting weaker and weaker, but his pulse was normal and there was no sign of poisoning. He was dizzy and occasionally coughed up blood.
Isn't this exactly the condition of this body when he first came here?
Yan Xuanyu's eyes flashed, and he began to recall the plot carefully. The original owner's personality became more and more moody, and the Turkic King's current situation was the same. Yan Xuanyu initially thought that the Turkic King was a fool. Could it be that... this medicine can actually make people confused?
It's not impossible. To explain it in modern terms, this poison may contain some toxin that can cause nerve damage?
However, Yan Xuanyu had no intention of doing anything. To him, both the Turkic king and the person behind the poison were his enemies, and the current conflict between them was very advantageous to him. However, Yan Xuanyu couldn't help but wonder what the purpose of the person behind the poisoning was. The Turkic people were already in chaos, and it was only a matter of time before the truth came to light.
A few months ago, the Turkic tribe once again launched a large-scale raid on the Great Zhou border, but was repelled by Yuan Kang's troops. The Great Zhou narrowly won this battle, but Yan Xuanyu was not happy at all. Others only deified Yuan Kang, saying he was the protector of the Great Zhou border. The Turkic, Rong, and Di tribes were also very afraid of Yuan Kang.
But if there was only one Yuan Kang, how could he resist the enemy's millions of troops?
They were the soldiers who charged into battle under the leadership of Yuan Kang.
Previously, the scene of Huangsha City described in the battle report sent to the capital was still vivid in Yan Xuanyu's mind. He knew that time was pressing and the border war was inevitable. It was impossible for the soldiers of the Great Zhou to have no casualties. He just wanted to keep the casualties as small as possible.
He consulted ancient books and searched for a long time before he found in the chronicles of the previous dynasty a story about a Taoist priest in the palace exploding while refining elixir. However, this matter did not attract anyone's attention, and there was no ancient book recording the recipe at that time.
Yan Xuanyu only knew that ancient gunpowder was a mixture of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur in a specific ratio. He didn't know much more. He had already established a research center in an uninhabited suburban area, and needed to gradually figure out the ratio and formula. To develop it as soon as possible, he also assigned a large number of people.
...
Just when everything was going well, Su An suddenly came to the palace to ask for a meeting.
"What? Not enough money?" Yan Xuanyu was shocked.
Su An also looked heavy-hearted, "Yes, Your Majesty."
Since stabilizing the court, Yan Xuanyu has been busy with many things, spending money like water. The previous emperor's extravagant spending had left Yan Xuanyu with a sparsely populated Great Zhou treasury. Furthermore, some of the aristocratic families were like termites, constantly sucking the blood out of it. Even though Yan Xuanyu later confiscated many mansions in the capital and brought out seemingly box after box of gold, it was simply not enough once it was used! Adding to that Yan Xuanyu's personal income from places like the Auspicious Theater outside the palace, it still wasn't enough!
Not to mention that this year Yan Xuanyu ordered a 10% tax reduction for the people in order to encourage them to farm. It was not noticeable before, but now the shortage of silver became obvious instantly when money was needed.
Yan Xuanyu held his forehead and had forgotten about this matter.
Once you want to do something that benefits the country and the people, it will be the most expensive!
Not to mention the long-distance projects, just the construction of official roads, if there had not been a decree to recruit wealthy households in each city to contract for the projects, the expenditure would have been terrifying if the government had to pay for it alone.
"You..." Yan Xuanyu started to speak, but then stopped, "Let me think about it."
Su An suggested, "Your Majesty, Fengxian City has become increasingly prosperous recently. Why don't I write a letter to Lord Feng..."
It is indeed a solution, but Fengxian City itself still needs to develop. Moreover, the economic development of Fengxian City has only just begun to show signs of improvement. How much silver can Feng Guangwei come up with to send to the capital?
At this time, Yan Xuanyu was still in the mood to think wildly. If it was in his previous life, he could still take out a loan...
"Bank!" Yan Xuanyu suddenly excited.
Su An didn't understand and hesitated, "Your Majesty, what did you just say?"
Xunzi once said, "Take from the people and use it for the people." Yan Xuanyu suddenly understood.
Moreover, building an official bank for the entire Zhou Dynasty would definitely be beneficial and have no disadvantages. At that time, the personal property of the people was actually not protected at all. Theft, theft, and loss due to personal reasons, which can be traced in modern times, are almost impossible to recover now, so many people would choose to bury their family property or hide it in a secret place in their home.
Deposit your family money in an official money house and you can get interest after a certain period of time.
As for Yan Xuanyu, it is equivalent to borrowing money temporarily, and once everything develops, he will naturally no longer be short of money.
"I know how to solve the problem of insufficient silver that you mentioned today." Yan Xuanyu said to Su An after thinking, "I plan to open a Da Zhou Bank."
...
On the day when the money shop was officially opened, Yan Xuanyu left the palace in a carriage to see what the situation was like.
As early as a few days ago, the government had posted information about the money houses, and the Beijing Daily also devoted half a page to explain to the people what the money houses were.
Local newspapers have also been published in other parts of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but they have not yet been widely popularized, so the government needs to make some efforts in this regard.
We cannot allow people to deposit money without knowing the reason, nor can we allow people to not deposit money because they do not understand the reason.
This was what Yan Xuanyu said to the governors of each city when he issued the decree, and it was sent out along with the document.
Now that the official roads of the Great Zhou Dynasty have been repaired, the exchange of official documents has become countless times smoother than in the past. In addition, there are fixed supply stations on the official roads, which greatly speeds up the efficiency of travel.
Ordinary people can also use official roads. Both sides have clearly defined routes and do not interfere with each other. At this point, except for some remote areas of Da Zhou, transportation is much more convenient than before.
...
“Bang, bang!”
A man who looked like a bank clerk took a gong and drum and beat it a few times.
Several other shop assistants began to shout, "The Da Zhou Bank, opened by the government, offers convenient deposits and withdrawals!"
"You can save money now and come here to get food!"
With a "swish", the guys on both sides pulled open the long cloth in their hands one by one. On the left was written "Government-run", and on the right was written "Guaranteed profit".
As the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the people in the capital have more money than those in other places.
Yan Xuanyu sat in the carriage, pulled open the curtain and looked from afar. He saw many people with their hands in their pockets, craning their necks to watch. As Yan Xuanyu came to power and stabilized the court, he implemented various policies in the Great Zhou. Of course, he did not forget to guide positive speech in the capital's daily newspapers, both overtly and covertly. In short, people are now becoming more and more trusting of the government, which is a very good thing.
In the past, let alone talking to officials, even seeing them from a distance would require one to keep one's head down and avoid them for three feet. But now, many people are chattering and asking:
“How long is the deposit period?”
“What’s the difference between one year and two years?”
Although they had been told these things before, the guys still explained them again in a very nice manner. After the onlookers listened to them, some walked in half-believing and half-doubting, some planned to continue to wait and see, and a small number of people left.
All of this was within Yan Xuanyu's expectations. He hadn't thought that once the money shop was opened, everyone would deposit their money into it. This would require a process. Only when they saw that those who deposited money first got real benefits, would they feel at ease to follow suit and deposit money in the money shop.
After a while, Yan Xuanyu even saw several officials from the capital coming to the bank to deposit money.
It should be mentioned here that because the money shop was opened by Yan Xuanyu, he formulated some rules according to his own ideas. For example, the interest rate for ordinary people's deposits is different from that of officials and wealthy households, and will be slightly higher than theirs. Of course, in order to prevent people from taking advantage of loopholes, the slightly higher interest rates for ordinary people's deposits and withdrawals can only be within a certain range. If the amount exceeds this, the interest rate for everyone will be the same.
Overall, the first day of the opening of the Da Zhou Money House in the capital was very successful. The small bags of grain given out as gifts were very popular, and there was a constant stream of people coming in and out.
...
"Your Majesty, it's time for us to go to the villa." Li Zhongxian reminded from the side.
Yan Xuanyu then retracted his gaze and said, "Let's go."
He left the palace today not just to take a look at the bank.
"Your Majesty, the ceramics you requested have been delivered to the villa some time ago, and Doctor Ma has already brought people there," said Li Zhongxian.
Doctor Ma was the apprentice of the old doctor whom Yan Xuanyu met in Fengxian City. Yan Xuanyu cleaned up the capital and naturally would not let go of the Imperial Hospital. Many doctors were kicked out of the Imperial Hospital by him. At that time, Doctor Ma could not even enter the palace to treat the nobles, because Doctor Ma's medical skills were far superior to others. The former director of the Imperial Hospital was afraid that he would catch the eyes of the nobles, so he suppressed him wantonly and did not even have the chance to enter the palace.
Now this Imperial Physician Ma has been promoted by Yan Xuanyu and has temporarily become the director of the Imperial Medical Bureau. He has followed the old Imperial Physician for many years and has learned almost everything. His medical skills are very superb. After becoming the director, he does not keep anything to himself and will answer any questions others ask him about medical treatment.
Yan Xuanyu observed him for a while before deciding to give him the task of extracting allicin.
That’s right, it’s allicin, which is essential in ancient times.
The raw materials for allicin are easy to obtain, and the environmental requirements are lower than those of penicillin. The operation difficulty is relatively low. Because glass has not yet been fired and glassware cannot be made, the utensils used for allicin are first replaced by ceramics.
While he was thinking, Yan Xuanyu had already arrived at the villa.
Yan Xuanyu now has many villas, and each villa is busy with different things.
For example, at the villa where Doctor Ma is now, as soon as Yan Xuanyu arrived at the villa, he went to see how Doctor Ma was doing with the allicin extraction.
...
Ma Chengqing was ordered to come to Biezhuang to develop something called "allicin" as mentioned by His Majesty.
When he first saw the ceramic utensils sent by His Majesty, he was amazed. After learning how to use them, he was even more amazed at the ingenuity of the utensils.
With the emperor's help, he already understood what "distilled water" meant, but he could only slowly try to understand what the emperor meant by "about 75 degrees".
He tried many times, but failed to obtain the "condensed golden liquid" that the emperor said. Ma Chengqing's greatest advantage is his patience. His master once said that although he is not smart, he can keep calm.
This was indeed the case. After a few days, Ma Chengqing finally obtained the golden liquid after several failures.
"It really smells like garlic!" the boy who was helping him exclaimed in surprise.
Another person laughed at him: "If it's made with garlic, how can it not taste like garlic?"
Ma Chengqing also laughed along.
On the second day, he did it again according to yesterday's successful record and succeeded as well. He then told the other people in the village the good news.
However, he discovered a problem yesterday. He had not yet found a way to preserve the extracted allicin. Ma Chengqing tried several times, but it could only be preserved for a few hours.
The emperor only said that he forgot when he saw the word "allicin" in an ancient book. Then he thought of a new question: how to test the medicinal properties of "allicin"?
"Sir, the emperor is here!" the steward of the villa came over and said.
"It's just right! My lord just made the allicin that Your Majesty mentioned yesterday!" The more lively young man said again that he was the person Ma Chengqing was going to take in as his apprentice, and his name was Ma Ping.
...
"You said, this allicin can only be preserved for a few hours?" Yan Xuanyu pondered.
Ma Chengqing said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Perhaps I am not a skilled martial artist."
Yan Xuanyu waved his hand: "It's not your fault."
After being reminded by Doctor Ma, he vaguely remembered that it was indeed the case...homemade allicin could only be preserved for a few hours.
Yan Xuanyu smiled and said, "No problem, this thing is very useful and easy to extract."
Yan Xuanyu had no plans to produce penicillin right now. He wasn't specialized in this area, and with the current conditions, he could only make homemade penicillin. Moreover, he knew that homemade penicillin could cause severe allergic reactions, which could be life-threatening. If it were used on the battlefield, he wouldn't know whether it would save lives or kill them...
Although allicin's efficacy is not worth mentioning compared to penicillin, it is easy to prepare and has a great antibacterial effect. The raw materials are very easy to obtain, and...
Yan Xuanyu looked at the golden liquid extracted by Doctor Ma and others, and suddenly thought of something. After a while, he muttered, "Is it time to raise chickens now?"
Doctor Ma:?
...
As we all know, there was no example of large-scale chicken farming in ancient times. Eggs were always something that only the rich could afford. Eggs were expensive, so why didn't people raise chickens on a large scale? The reasons include fowl plague, the lack of large-scale chicken farming technology, and the fact that chickens today don't have hormones to induce fertilization, so their egg production rate is relatively slow.
The problem of fowl plague may be solved by using allicin.
At the same time, allicin also has the effect of stimulating animal growth and improving meat quality....
Yan Xuanyu thought it was a good idea, eggs are also meaty!
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