Chapter 268 Medical Chi Yang
Ju Su said that agricultural books should not be promoted rashly, because their agricultural system was different from that of Bingzhou and could not undergo a complete reconstruction process at will.
Shen Pei said that medical books could only be used as auxiliary materials for the time being, because they did not have enough conditions and manpower for copying.
The situation with mules is somewhat different.
This is just a matter of allocating a batch of horses and donkeys for breeding. There is no need to consider the implementation of the people below, and there is no need to worry that after such a move is exposed, people will think that they are directly seizing the development achievements of Bingzhou.
At best, this matter is just an imitation of the predecessors in the pre-Qin period.
Because mules are still considered ornamental animals, Yuan Xi explained, "I learned about their carrying capacity and appetite from Bingzhou, but I didn't believe them completely. I took the opportunity to let them pull more loads while traveling with the caravan, and then we separated and traveled alone. The consumption of refined food and the weight of the loads were recorded in detail."
Yuan Shao frowned.
If the words about raising "precious" ornamental animals to transport military supplies were not spoken by Yuan Xi, but by someone he could not be sure was loyal to him, he would probably have doubted the other party's intentions.
But Yuan Xi, who said this, would never betray him as a father, so there was no question of him taking the opportunity to set a trap.
He asked, "Can a stallion and a donkey produce a steed?"
A donkey is a mule.
If that were the case, Yuan Shao thought it might be possible to give it a try.
However, the answer he got from Yuan Xi was, "No, a mule is born from a male donkey and a female horse."
"If that's the case, then this is not appropriate," Ju Su said. "It is customary for mares to give birth to foals for use in military equipment. If you make a hasty change, it will reduce the number of horses you can use. It's better not to make this change."
Ju Su was not entirely afraid to take risks.
You know, Qingzhou and Jizhou where Yuan Shao is located have far fewer horses than Bingzhou and Liangzhou. Although these two states also have pastures due to their location in the north, if you really compare the horses of the two states together, Qiao Yan is at an overwhelming advantage.
This is why Yuan Shao was so wary of the north.
Even though there were the Eight Passes of Taihang Mountain in the west, the area was still isolated from all traffic, and its blocking effect on cavalry was particularly obvious.
As long as Qiao Yan is not given the conditions to launch a large-scale invasion of Jizhou from the north, the time has not come for the two sides to engage in direct combat.
Under such a disadvantage, in order to save the consumption of supplies on the march, a group of foals that should have been born were rashly turned into foals of mules. This was tantamount to destroying the Great Wall!
But soon after he finished speaking, he heard Guo Tu say on the other end: "It's not impossible to give it a try. Compared to Bingzhou, we are indeed short of food. If we can reduce the loss in the transportation of military supplies, it will be safer than to promote the farming method with great vigour. Besides, you don't need to breed with the existing mares. After Gongsun Zan of Youzhou and Tadun of Wuhuan asked the court for titles, didn't they send you a batch of Youzhou war horses?"
Gongsun Zan and Tadun had limited awe for Yuan Shao.
After they expelled Liu Yu and formed a standoff with Zhang Liao who stayed in Shanggu County, it was Yuan Shao who needed to win them over so that they could put more energy into fighting against Qiao Yan, rather than them having to adopt a flattering attitude towards Yuan Shao.
So, although these Youzhou war horses were nominally good northern horses, in reality most of them were difficult to tame.
"Your Excellency's original plan was to use them to breed the next generation of war horses if they still couldn't be tamed. Now it doesn't matter if they are used for another purpose." Guo Tu finally caught an opportunity to show his ability and contradict Ju Shou. He would never give up. The more he talked, the more he felt that this was indeed the case. "Of course, before that, Your Excellency could also use the mule brought back by the Second Young Master to test the mules already in Jizhou to see if the mule is really as outstanding as the Second Young Master said."
Is there anyone in Jizhou who raises mules for fun? There really are some among these powerful clans.
However, due to the scarcity of mules and the fact that Yuan Shao had concentrated the war horse resources in his own hands in recent years to guard against attacks from other places, there are basically no young mules among the current mules in Ji and Qing states.
So if he really listened to Guo Tu and went to find the mule for inspection, he would only get the same result as what Yuan Xi told him.
But Yuan Shao did not realize this at this time. Instead, he had reservations about what Guo Tu said and planned to give it a try first.
Yuan Xi took out another piece of paper.
There was a sketch on the paper, with a crescent-shaped footprint pressed on the edge.
"If father is worried that our cavalry is not as good as that of Bingzhou Sili, there is good news here."
"During this Chang'an Road exhibition, the chariots and horses of the Bingzhou Army have all appeared. There is a very special thing among them. I noticed it, and I believe that if there are spies in other states, they can also see it. There is a horseshoe like this under the feet of the Bingzhou horses. It is made to save wear and tear on the horseshoes."
"It's a pity that Mr. Yuan Hao didn't personally get involved in the production of this thing, so he could only draw it based on his impression. However, this thing shouldn't be difficult to make. If father has someone study it, the finished product should be ready soon."
horseshoe?
Yuan Shao looked at this thing quietly and also evaluated it in his mind.
If this thing can really reduce the wear and tear on the horses' feet and is widely used among the cavalry in Bingzhou, he must join the ranks of production.
Once the consumption of horses is reduced, the pressure of shortage of war horse resources will be immediately relieved.
In this way, the batch of Youzhou war horses that still need manpower to train can actually be put into the production of mules, and even some more horses can be added according to the needs of logistics and transportation!
Compared with the previous two, it is much more feasible.
He knew very well that one of Yuan Xi's words was right. As Chang'an showed its strength to all parties, it was no longer possible to hide things like the horseshoe from other parties. It would definitely be imitated by various states. The most he could do was to get the news more accurately and directly.
But with the additional information like the logistical mule team, he is far ahead of others!
Very good.
Of course, he thought so, and just said: "Let's not discuss this in detail for now, let's talk about the next one."
He thought that since the mule had made a good start, he should be satisfied with the future.
But what he didn't expect was that this mule news, which had both positive and negative effects, was actually the best news he could ever hear.
In comparison, those things that were visible in benefits but could not be copied before are now considered real good things.
Of course, seeing but not being able to eat is much more despairing than being able to see but only be able to take a bite.
Yuan Xi took out the soy sauce.
According to him, it was because of the existence of this thing that Qiao Yan was able to obtain the official sales authority for liquor from the noble families in three or even five states without causing their hostility.
The flavor of this thing is even better than black bean sauce, which can make dishes more delicious and may even impact the market for official salt sales.
Yuan Shao's eyes almost lit up after hearing this, and then Yuan Xi blurted out something, but unfortunately he didn't know how Qiao Yan had produced it.
Yuan Xi took out allicin again.
According to him, this thing can cure many common diseases, especially diarrhea.
But he only knew that this thing was garlic that had gone through some processing procedures and then stored in wine, and he didn't know the specific process.
He took out another bottle of high-purity wine.
This wine was added to Guo Jia's luggage as a local specialty of Sili that he was asked to bring back.
It is precisely because of the existence of this thing that Yuan Xi was able to perform a novel scene of wine catching fire in front of everyone.
But how did Qiao Yan purify such liquor? Yuan Xi didn’t know either.
There was something wrong with the way Yuan Shao looked at Yuan Xi.
If he had not been able to confirm that Yuan Xi was merely a little tanned and dressed more simply, and that he had not been replaced by someone who looked similar to him, he would have thought that Yuan Xi was an undercover agent sent by the enemy.
What is the difference between these things and the paper whose benefits he knows but cannot make?
It seemed to be of no use other than undermining his self-confidence and disrupting the morale of his own troops!
Who taught Yuan Xi to gather intelligence in this way!
Oh, Tian Feng.
Yuan Shao took a heavy responsibility on Tian Feng in his heart and found that in the end he could only consider using five things.
Farm tools and pest control tools in Bingzhou agricultural books, medical books, horseshoes, mules and garlic.
The last three require him to invest manpower and material resources to research, while the first two cannot be used in their entirety.
"You don't have to be so unhappy, sir," Shen Pei said as he sent Yuan Xi to rest and left Yuan Shao to talk with his advisers. "The more things the western opponents want to hide, the easier it is for them to lose sight of one thing while focusing on another. Now that Yuan Hao has established a firm foothold there and has uncovered many secrets, it will be sooner or later that we will be able to use more of her things for our benefit."
"At most, we need to cover up the fact that the two have the same origin when promoting them, so as to avoid the situation where the other party controls public opinion and directly seeks to seize our development results."
After all, this is their first time working undercover, so being able to accomplish what they have now is already pretty good.
There is really no need to demand so much.
but--
"Do you think Sili has really developed to this point?" Xin Pi could not help but ask his brother Xin Ping when returning from Yuan Shao.
Both of them were from Yingchuan, but they did not hang out with Xi Zhicai, Guo Jia and others, so they had been under Yuan Shao's command for quite some time. In the long-standing factional struggles in Yecheng, these things in Chang'an that were beyond people's imagination and beyond the ability of advisers to assess the situation were not only useless to them, but also a wake-up call.
The changes in the weather in Sili make people feel indescribable confusion.
What Xin Pi was afraid of was not that Yuan Shao would soon be defeated by the iron cavalry of Sili, but whether these self-conceited and well-read people would be abandoned by the trend of the times.
Will the knowledge they have acquired due to their status as aristocratic family naturally become no longer useful after a period of time?
Compared with the great scholars who delved into the classics, Xin Pi and Xin Ping, the counselors who advocated practicality, needed to worry about such a situation more than anyone else.
Xin Ping and Guo Tu had previously presided over the research on the Ju Zhang Crossbow, but now the opponent has a lot of new things that are too much to handle.
What will they face next time?
Xin Pi's question did not receive an answer from Xin Ping. The two brothers looked at each other in silence. There were probably many things that were not suitable to be said at this time.
Xin Ping only said: "Didn't you say you wanted to hold a birthday party for Xianying? Let's go to your house and have a drink."
They were not under the jurisdiction of the Chang'an court, so there was no rule against drinking.
As for whether they wanted to celebrate Xin Pi's daughter's first birthday or drown their sorrows in alcohol, they just had an excuse to tell the outside world.
In Yecheng, everyone was in a state of confusion because of the things Yuan Xi had sent. While everyone was thinking about what to do, Qiao Yan also had a formal meeting with Zhang Zhongjing.
Zhang Ji is different from Hua Tuo. He was both a doctor and an official, so when he appeared in front of Qiao Yan, he gave people the feeling that he was not the detached and unrestrained type of a famous rural doctor, but rather had the demeanor of a down-to-earth and steady official.
This is a good attitude.
Before Zhang Zhongjing could even have a few words with Qiao Yan, she had already dragged him to visit the newly designated medical school area.
But perhaps because of his habit of doing as much practical work as possible, Zhang Zhongjing was actually quite adaptable to Qiao Yan's unusually vigorous and decisive attitude.
Since both the Academy of Painting and the Medical College had to be built at the same time, the area occupied by both could not be too small.
The medical school may need to receive patients with infectious diseases in order to make the most accurate diagnosis and treatment of the epidemic, so this place cannot be located in Chang'an City.
"I finally decided to put the medical school in Chiyang." Qiao Yan rode forward, pointed the whip in that direction, and said to Zhang Zhongjing, "The hills behind this place are used to grow herbs, and the water source is specially cut off to prevent confusion with other places. I wonder if you are willing to do this?"
Although Zhang Zhongjing was surprised by this kind of invitation, he was not a shy and hesitant person.
He originally thought that Qiao Yan would have a few more words with him about her thoughts on strong liquor and her considerations on promoting universal medical care such as emergency prescriptions before talking to him about taking up the position here. But now, directly pointing to a piece of land and asking him to show his skills seemed to make people feel her sincerity better than any words.
What doctors fear most is that patients or their families have some ideas of making decisions. The same applies to the relationship between superiors and doctors.
The word "trust" is truly the most valuable thing.
He immediately accepted the commission.
Qiao Yan clasped his hands together and smiled, "Since you have agreed to help here, I can rest assured and have someone send all the things from Bingzhou."
"I hope you won't be too surprised. Mr. Yuanhua's disciple Wu Pu has lived in Leping for six or seven years and has found some slightly strange things. It's just right to explain this to you before the medical school is built so that we can cooperate with each other in the future."
I don’t know if it was Zhang Zhongjing’s illusion, but he felt that these “strange things” might break many of his inherent cognitions.
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