Chapter 1710 Who is afraid of who?
This was the first time that Manbao had attended court since he was a child, but it was not the first time for Xiao Yuanzheng. Although the imperial physician could not participate in politics, sometimes when the emperor was ill and the court was uneasy, as the director of the Imperial Medical Bureau, he had to go to court to answer the ministers' questions and reassure the ministers.
However, this was his second time attending such a grand court meeting. The first time was when the emperor ascended the throne. At that time, no matter whether he was an imperial physician or not, he had to stand below and pay his respects.
Manbao was walking with her head held high. When she reached the entrance of the main hall, she saw Xiao Yuan lowering his head slightly. She thought for a moment, then followed him in with her head lowered.
Both of them were holding things in their arms. After entering the hall, they put the things at their feet first, and then saluted the emperor.
The emperor waved his hand, exempting them from formalities, and asked, "Zhou Man, are you impeaching Wang Ji, Liang Fei, and others for their corpses and idleness?"
Manbao immediately responded with a "Yes."
The emperor pointed to Wang Ji, who was not far away from her, and said, "Wang Ji has made a plea, so you should answer him."
Wang Ji's question was not difficult to answer. She had consulted Doctor Lu for medical advice, and had also studied with Doctor Ji and Doctor Fan. Later, she learned a lot from Doctor Ding and Manager Zheng. Even now, she can still learn skills from the doctors in the Imperial Medical Bureau.
She knew too well how difficult it was to study medicine alone.
The reason why she was able to move forward so smoothly was simply because she had Ke Ke, and behind Ke Ke was the Encyclopedia and Teacher Mo.
Teacher Mo taught her many things, and the books in the encyclopedia could be purchased as long as she had points. It was thanks to those books, the things Teacher Mo taught her, and the various prescriptions he found for her that she was able to exchange medical skills from other doctors.
So the path she took was not the path that ordinary doctors would take.
But this doesn't mean that she doesn't know how difficult it is to become an ordinary doctor.
The most typical example is her fifth sister-in-law's grandfather, Doctor Lu. He worked as a medicine boy for nearly twenty years before he learned a few prescriptions and some basic medical theories from his master. It took him another seven or eight years to accumulate some experience before he returned to the village and became a doctor himself.
Most of the medicines he used were collected from the mountains and then prepared by himself.
Wusao and Manbao said that when she was a child, her grandfather was very careful when preparing medicinal materials. If the medicinal materials were not prepared properly, the toxicity would not be removed. If the medicine was prescribed to the patient, it would not only fail to cure the patient, but could also harm the patient.
But no matter how careful he was, he still made people suffer from it.
Basically, Doctor Lu can only treat a few diseases. For more serious diseases, he can only ask people to go to the county town and wait for the doctor in the county town to prescribe medicine. Next time, he will prescribe medicine according to that prescription, or add or subtract some.
In the past, Manbao thought that Doctor Lu was very good, but after actually seeing the prescriptions written by Doctor Ji, Doctor Ding and others, she realized that there are actually many ways to treat a disease, and the prescriptions can be better.
Doctor Lu was like this, and Zheng Shao was from a branch of the Zheng family, so his situation wasn't much better. He wasn't very talented, and relied entirely on hard work. But even so, he couldn't serve as her medicine boy until he was sixteen or seventeen years old.
According to the rules, he has to work as a medicine boy by her side for at least ten years before she will help him pick out some prescriptions and diseases to teach him. After he has learned them, he has to stay and work in Jishidiang for several years before he can go out on his own. At that time, it is up to him to decide whether to start his own business or continue to stay in Jishidiang.
But no matter which one it is, with his talent, it is impossible for him to be very powerful, because no doctor would be willing to waste too much time on him.
There are many more talented people besides him, and they also have their own nephews and nephews who need to be trained. Why should they spend so much effort on an ordinary medicine boy?
Wang Ji's comparison of the students of the Imperial Medical Bureau with ordinary apprentices was a far-fetched argument.
Anyway, everyone is already standing in the court. She had breakfast made by her sister-in-law in the morning and had just eaten a lot of snacks. Now that she is full, everyone can talk slowly.
So Manbao talked about Doctor Lu and Zheng Shao, using them as examples to tell the emperor and ministers how much time it would take for apprentices to become successful and what they could learn.
She said, "A person's life span is only a few decades. How long can a person live? According to the Ministry of Revenue, it's only 52 years, yet they need about 30 years to study, and all they gain is just superficial medical knowledge. May I ask, Lord Wang, is there anything more valuable than time in this world?"
"However, the Imperial Medical Bureau teaches students the Pulse Secrets, Materia Medica, Mingtang, and Suwen from the moment they enter school. The medicinal herbs they need to identify are purchased by the Imperial Medical Bureau, and the raw herbs and materials they need to prepare the medicines are also provided by the Imperial Medical Bureau. They don't have to please their masters or teachers, and they don't have to observe carefully. They can learn knowledge that ordinary apprentices need ten or even fifteen years to learn."
"Some people can't even learn in their entire lives, but the Imperial Medical Bureau can teach them." Man Bao glanced at Wang Ji and said, "Why do people in this world value scholars and noble families? Is it because you have a lot of money, or because you have a lot of land? Or is it because you are so proud of the books you dare not throw away even in times of chaos and war?"
Xiao Yuanzheng felt something was wrong and coughed lightly twice. However, Manbao was so engrossed that he didn't notice him. So, he said directly, "If Lord Wang still doesn't understand, think about how the children of noble families, poor families, and commoners study. Then you will understand how precious the knowledge taught by the Imperial Medical Bureau is."
Everyone understood it instantly. The Imperial Medical Bureau was equivalent to the Imperial College. No matter whether the people admitted were "children of noble families", "children of poor families" or "commoners" who knew nothing, they were all taught the same way and were taught all their skills.
Moreover, looking at the enrollment of the Imperial Medical Bureau this time, most of the students admitted are from "poor families" and "commoners". Many of them have never been exposed to medicine before, and some of them don't even know how to read.
If this really happened among the gentry, these officials would naturally not allow it, but this is in the medical world, and in the eyes of those doctors, these people are probably considered "poor families", so they relaxed the restrictions, and it benefited them.
Wang Ji was not stupid, so of course he understood what Zhou Man was telling him. The most valuable people in the Imperial Medical Bureau were the doctors who taught and the knowledge in their heads.
But just because he understood it didn't mean he had to agree with Zhou Man. Wouldn't that mean he had lost and was admitting that he was just sitting there doing nothing?
So he said with a stern face: "I am complaining about the Imperial Medical Bureau's money-making. Medical skills are rare, so do you think your Imperial Medical Bureau can set high prices just to make money?"
Manbao glanced at him, dug out a book from the materials on the ground and said, "Well, since you want to discuss the cost, then I will have a good discussion with you."
See you at 9pm
(End of this chapter)
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