Horsetail has a rough texture to the touch, and its nodes have tubular, dark brown scale-like leaves.
It can be easily pulled off from the joint; it is brittle and easily broken, with a hollow cross-section.
The name of this medicine is: Equisetum hyemale.
In front of Zhang Juntou, Xu Dong did not rush to identify the medicine. Instead, he recited aloud: "The Jiahu Materia Medica states: Equisetum hyemale treats eye diseases and removes corneal opacity. It also eliminates lumps, benefits the liver and gallbladder, improves eyesight, treats intestinal wind, stops dysentery, and treats irregular menstruation in women."
The *Yuqiu Yaoxie* also notes: It soothes sores and swellings, and relieves vomiting of phlegm and saliva. It treats carbuncles, scrofula, boils, furuncles, tinea versicolor, pustules, and various leukorrhea and metrorrhagia.
Zhang Jun's face turned green: "Speak like a human being!"
It's embarrassing that I can't understand it!
Listening to Physician Xu spouting off his erudition, Li Laoshi chuckled dryly and waited until he finished reciting before saying, "Physician Xu, I'm an honest man, just tell me if this is medicine or not."
Xu Dong smiled and nodded: "It is medicine, of course. This thing is called horsetail. It can be used as medicine after being dried and cut into small pieces."
It's also convenient to treat tinea versicolor externally; just grind it into powder and apply it topically.
Li Laoshi clicked his tongue. He only knew it was called "eyebrow grass," but the pharmacy in town wouldn't even tell him its real name.
Although Xu Dong had never gone up the mountain to collect herbs, he knew the herbal classics by heart and had seen them in the pharmacy. So when he saw them now, he could recite them from memory.
Beside him, Zhang Jun pouted: What's wrong with him?
They clearly recognized each other, yet they kept saying it was from the mountains or the pharmacy.
Medicine is medicine, no matter how it changes. Do you think medicinal herbs are like women, changing clothes or putting on red lipstick and becoming different?
Despite his complaints, Zhang Juntou was quite curious.
Who would have thought that the grass that rubbed my feet raw yesterday would be medicine today?
Horsetail has rough and sturdy stems and many everyday uses.
In the days before sandpaper and polishing machines, people would use dried horsetail grass to polish wooden objects and also as a tool for polishing bronze mirrors.
The bamboo hairpin in Chunfeng's hair was made by Xu Dazhu using horsetail grass.
Many people use herbs every day, but few know their medicinal effects, so they have to spend a lot of money to buy them when they get sick.
Li Laoshi traded a bag of horsetail for two cakes, then immediately went home, giving one to his wife and one to himself.
Regardless of the fact that it was still dark, he finished eating and went to bed with his wife in his arms.
I'm an honest person, I can't teach these money-making tricks to others anymore.
The medicine cannot be collected in large quantities at once, so the medical shed cannot function without its own help.
From now on, I can collect some herbs every day to exchange for cakes, so I can have food to eat every day. Just thinking about it makes me happy.
Li Laoshi went to sleep, but the other refugees were still hungry and couldn't be left idle.
They learned as they went, and since houttuynia cordata and calamus could be exchanged for cakes, they immediately began looking for medicine.
In no time, the houttuynia cordata around Xujia Village suffered. The houttuynia cordata that was originally growing very lushly on the edge of the field was pulled up and the soil was turned upside down, and the roots were completely lost.
The few sweet flag plants in and around the stream in the village fared even worse; they not only died inexplicably, but even the sage bushes that looked extremely similar to them were all uprooted.
Xu Dong was very happy when someone brought him more medicine.
But when he saw the pile of fish mint with its old leaves and weeds in front of him, along with the sweet flag mixed with its fragrance, he immediately frowned.
“These fishy herbs won’t do; they need to be cleaned up, the grass inside needs to be removed… And this pile of yours doesn’t look right!” he said, pointing to the sweet flag.
The refugees were still waiting to exchange their cakes for the medicine, and when they heard that it wasn't possible, they immediately became anxious: "Do you even know how to identify medicine? This is clearly what you called Shi something Pu, but now you're saying it's wrong."
As he spoke, he picked up a few plant leaves that looked like orchid leaves and shook them, causing the muddy water on them to drip down.
Xu Dong was also anxious. The sweet flag he saw was all dried, with segmented rhizomes that looked like bamboo whips.
Acorus
These "sweet flag" plants only have a bunch of leaves, and although the rhizomes below are also there, they are short and small.
“Your roots are short and small, and they’re red at the top, which doesn’t look right…” he said, pointing to the root of the “Sweet flag” in the man’s hand.
The refugee was displeased: "Doctor Xu, you should speak properly. If you don't recognize the medicine, just admit it. Whose root is short... and what the hell is this red head!"
Beside him, Zhang Jun's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He was already anxious, and when he saw Xu Dong say that these medicines were no good and the refugee was still arguing, he immediately cursed angrily: "If Doctor Xu says your penis is short, then it is short. If you don't behave, get out of the village."
The refugee immediately shut his mouth and dared not utter a word.
Of the pile of herbs, only a portion of houttuynia cordata and calamus were selected, while the rest of the false calamus was discarded.
If Jiang Zhi were to see this now, she would be heartbroken.
The "stone calamus" that was mistakenly picked by refugees is called "sui shou xiang" (literally "fragrant calamus"), also known as "wu xiang cao" (literally "five fragrant herbs"), and has another famous name: "shan nai" (literally "mountain galangal").
Because it looks similar to sweet flag, it is also called fennel sweet flag, making it very easy to confuse with sweet flag.
Shannai
This is a king of spices for braising and stewing, on par with star anise and fennel. It is specifically used to remove the fishy smell from meat, and it also has the effects of warming the middle and dispelling cold, aiding digestion and relieving pain, and is used for stomach cold pain.
Fresh galangal also has other names, such as sand ginger, and it is an essential ingredient for Cantonese people to make poached chicken.
If it were there, wild boar meat would taste even better, but unfortunately it wasn't in the ditches on the mountain, and Jiang Zhi hadn't been able to find it.
Now, the wild galangal, which has been haphazardly pulled out, along with the real sweet flag, is discarded in a corner, forced to end its aggrieved life.
Outside the village, at the place where Li Laoshi had previously gathered horsetail, the tall, thin man with a thick beard reappeared.
He found the spot where Li Laoshi was squatting and pretending to defecate. Looking at the smooth ground and the large clump of horsetail grass that had been pulled up to its roots, he immediately realized that the seemingly half-dead guy was bluffing.
He couldn't help but yell, "Li Laoshi, you're such a glutton, you'll regret it!"
He cursed under his breath, but his hands didn't stop. He pulled up all the remaining horsetails along the ditch and brought them to the medical shed.
Although it was the same horsetail grass, Xu Dong was somewhat reluctant to collect it this time.
Prescribing a prescription requires compatibility, not just using one medicine alone, which would require many different kinds of medicinal materials.
A small medical shed can only consume a limited amount of horsetail wood; once it's collected, it's saturated.
The tall, thin man with a thick beard was happy. He plucked out a piece of horsetail and exchanged it for three flatbreads, enough to eat his fill for a day.
So, the next morning, when Li Laoshi went straight to the outskirts of the village to "take a dump," he saw a scene that made him collapse: the patch of horsetail had been torn to shreds.
Knowing his actions had been exposed again, Li Laoshi could only search the surrounding area for another bag to exchange for the bread, but Xu Dong scolded him: "Do you really think this place is for feeding cows? We don't accept these medicines anymore, we need new medicines every time."
Li Laoshi was dumbfounded. Not only would they not accept horsetail, but they would also not accept houttuynia cordata. He was hoping to make a living off these two things!
The refugees knew their source of income had been cut off. They cursed under their breath but were helpless. Their eyes all turned to Li Laoshi.
At this moment, Li Laoshi was already secretly complaining. He knew only a limited number of medicinal herbs, and as soon as he picked one, someone else would learn it too. If this continued, he would run out of food in just three days.
He would never agree to teach others for free, so he had an idea: he would not gather herbs or eat cakes himself, because he was an honest man and could not suffer a loss.
When Zhang Juntou was pushed to the limit, he would only gather horsetail grass to make do, and he wouldn't work if he wasn't given food.
Feeling that he had the medical tent under control, Li Laoshi lay down comfortably.
His idea was good, but the next day Zhang Jun beat him out of the shack with a few blows: "If you want to stay here, go work for me. You're not allowed to come back until you find a bag of medicine."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com