Chapter 2342 Where did it come from
Manbao Baishan and Bai Erlang saw Yin Huo and Liu Huan at the palace gate. The five of them looked at each other, then lowered their heads and followed the eunuchs who came to lead them into the palace.
Manbao and Baishan were holding something in their hands. The guards wanted to open it for inspection, but Manbao said, "This is a record about cowpox."
As for the box in Bai Shan's hand, he said, "This is our annual gift to His Majesty and the Queen."
The guards took one look at them, then opened the box and checked to make sure there were no sharp weapons before letting anyone in.
As soon as they left, the guards couldn't help but whisper, "They're really rich."
The eunuch also knew that they had brought gifts for the emperor, so when they were halfway there, he quietly reminded them, "Your Majesty is in a good mood. Your Royal Highness Prince Gong and the princesses will be eating breakfast with you."
Manbao immediately became alert and looked at him with gratitude. Bai Shan even stuffed a purse into his hand.
The eunuch declined the offer. Everyone in the palace had received Zhou Man's favor to some extent. Even if they couldn't use it now, they would be able to use it in the future. So unless the master explicitly said so, they wouldn't want to make things difficult for Zhou Man.
Bai Shan had no choice but to take back his purse and follow the eunuch all the way to Taiji Hall.
The emperor was not in the main hall, but in the study at the back.
As soon as Manbao and the others entered, they found that Prince Gong was also there. He was sitting at a table writing. Manbao and the others took a quick look and secretly thought that he must have been punished to write.
Prince Gong also looked up at them, then lowered his head and continued writing.
The five people quickly withdrew their gazes and knelt down to salute the emperor.
The emperor raised his eyes from the desk and glanced at them. Seeing the two boxes on the ground, he snorted and said, "You came quite quickly. I thought if I called you in the morning, I might not see you until the evening."
Manbao immediately took the lead in apologizing, saying, "Your Majesty has summoned us, how dare we neglect it?"
"Then tell me how you went on this trip to the Western Regions." The emperor remembered something and stopped them. "Let's not talk about going there, just about coming back."
"You had plenty of reasons to go, and you asked for prescriptions along the way. I know. But how did you manage to get to Shazhou with General Ashina, setting off from Shazhou on the same day, yet arrive later than him...how many days later is that?"
He turned and asked Gu Zhong.
Gu Zhong bowed and whispered, "Twenty-six days."
"How did you manage to arrive in the capital twenty-six days later than General Ashina? That's enough time for another round trip to the Western Regions."
Manbao added: "At most, we can only go to Shazhou and back."
The emperor was furious. "Isn't Shazhou far enough west? You've traveled for over thirty days from Shazhou to the capital, which is more than two times the journey time for others. And you still dare to talk back?"
Everyone bowed their heads and knelt obediently. Bai Shan apologized, saying, "It was we who were delayed on the way. We brought veteran soldiers who had been vaccinated against cowpox back to Beijing with us. They were either injured or old and frail, and we were riding in ox carts, so our speed was much slower."
The emperor frowned and asked, "Is there no one left in Anxi? Why use a group of old soldiers for vaccination?"
Manbao explained, "The war was raging at the time, and vaccination was a matter of life and death, so people had to be willing to get it."
Although the emperor wanted to scold them, he also felt that the business was more important, so he reluctantly raised his hand to let them stand up and answer, asking, "How is the cowpox matter going?"
Manbao immediately opened the box, took out two booklets and a thick stack of paper and began to report on his work.
The emperor was delighted to hear that there had been no deaths and that everyone was confirmed to be immune to smallpox. "Is that true?"
Manbao replied yes and handed over the booklet and materials.
The emperor flipped through the booklet. He could not understand the pulse conditions recorded in the booklet, but he could understand the superficial appearances. For example, he could understand words like fever, high fever, low fever, and pox.
The emperor carefully examined the test subjects' household registration and experience, then knocked on the table and asked, "Are you bringing these people back to keep them locked up to see what happens?"
Manbao: "...It's not necessary to lock him up. It's been more than three months since the vaccination. I think we can determine if there are any sequelae after observing for another three months."
She said, "It would be great if they could stay in the capital, but if they don't want to stay and return to their hometown, that's fine too. We can have the local officials bring doctors to examine them and confirm their pulse and physical condition."
The emperor waved his hand and said, "Why bother? Let the people in the inner treasury arrange for them. Since they are veterans, they should be able to raise horses and do some farm work. I will have them arranged to be stationed at the imperial farm."
Bai Shan couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, they were injured and have been discharged from the army."
"I didn't tell them to continue serving as soldiers. They should stay in the imperial farm and observe the situation. The cowpox issue is of great importance and should not be taken lightly."
Once it is confirmed that cowpox can be vaccinated, the people of Dajin may not get smallpox in the future.
Bai Shan didn't object anymore.
The emperor then asked about their return journey again. "You have more people with you, so you could have walked slower, but tell me, how did you manage to be twenty-six days slower than General Ashina?"
He thought that being five or six days late was already the limit. After all, although General Ashina was riding at full speed, he was not made of iron. It would take time for him to come back, right?
This time the five people did not make excuses and bowed their heads to admit their mistakes.
The emperor snorted coldly, stared at them for a long time before looking at another box and asking, "What is this?"
Bai Shan immediately picked up the box and said, "These are some local specialties that we collected in the Western Regions. We brought them back especially for Your Majesty and Your Majesty. It just so happens that it is New Year's Day, so I wanted to present them to Your Majesty and Your Majesty as a New Year's gift."
The emperor glanced at Gu Zhong, and Gu Zhong immediately went down with a smile to take the box and opened it for the emperor to see.
Inside were spices and gems, also packed in small boxes.
The emperor did not like musk very much, he liked storax. At this time, there was a whole piece of storax in the box. When it was opened, a faint fragrance slowly came out.
The emperor's expression brightened considerably, and he asked, "I heard from others that you participated in the Western Regions expedition and obtained a lot of spoils, didn't you?"
Bai Shan immediately stated that all the spoils of war had been handed over to General Ashina for registration and storage in the national treasury. He paused and explained, "In fact, during the renewed attack on the city of Kucha, the army distributed the spoils collected during the initial assault to boost morale and encourage the soldiers."
He said, "Because the soldiers were fighting for their lives, we cannot go back on our word, so we did not ask them to hand it over, and this part ended up in the hands of the soldiers."
General Ashina had reported all of this to the emperor, who nodded slightly before changing the subject and asking, "Where did you get these gemstones and spices?"
Bai Shan and the others answered confidently, "We bought it!"
"Really?" The emperor looked at them suspiciously, "You have so much money?"
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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