After being fired, I became the light of medicine

Chapter 217 Market Research
Anyone who knows about Chinese medicinal materials knows this.

There is a rather complicated process from planting to harvesting of Chinese medicinal materials and then turning them into Chinese medicine that can be boiled and used as medicine.

After harvesting, almost all Chinese medicinal materials need to undergo primary processing, which is also called processing at the place of origin.

This step includes cleaning, cutting and drying processes.

Purification means removing impurities and non-medicinal parts, such as roots, leaves, etc. from the harvested Chinese medicinal materials.

Cutting is relatively simple, which is to cut the cleaned medicinal materials into pieces of certain specifications for easy processing and sales.

Medicinal materials such as rhizomes will be cut into thick slices, and whole herbs such as mint will be cut into sections.

Needless to say, drying is mainly divided into natural ventilation drying and artificial drying.

Natural ventilation is mainly used for herbal Chinese medicines such as honeysuckle and chrysanthemum, while artificial drying uses professional equipment such as ovens and drying rooms to precisely control the drying of some medicinal materials with precise drying requirements, such as yam and rehmannia.

The next step is deep processing, also known as processing.

The processing methods mainly include water processing, fire processing, and water and fire processing.

Water processing is the use of clean water or other liquids to assist in the processing of medicinal materials. The most common methods are washing, soaking, and rinsing. Its main purpose is to remove the odor of the medicinal materials and the hard texture of some medicinal materials. After rinsing, they are softened so that the medicinal effect can be better boiled out.

Fire processing is to heat the medicinal materials directly or indirectly with fire. The most common methods are frying, roasting and calcining.

Stir-frying, as the name suggests, means constantly stirring Chinese medicinal materials in a heated iron pan. The purpose is to make the effective ingredients of the medicinal materials more easily dissolved through high temperature, thereby increasing the efficacy.

Roasting is also done by frying; the only difference is that a certain amount of liquid auxiliary materials are added to the stir-fry so that the auxiliary materials are integrated into the Chinese medicinal materials. The main purpose is to reduce the toxicity and irritation of the drugs.

For example, Arisaema is poisonous, but its toxicity can be reduced by roasting it with ginger, alum and other auxiliary ingredients.

Another example is ephedra.

Ephedra itself is slightly toxic and contains alkaloids such as ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Direct use will stimulate the central nervous system and cardiovascular system, and large-scale use is more likely to cause poisoning.

The irritation of ephedra after being roasted with honey is greatly reduced, and the medicinal effect is milder. It can be used for diseases such as asthma and cough, and is more suitable for the elderly and weak, those with spontaneous sweating due to deficiency of the exterior, and those with long-term cough.

In addition, there are several other ingredients for roasting, such as vinegar roasting, wine roasting, salt roasting, and ginger roasting.

Calcination is mainly used for medicines with hard texture, such as shells or minerals, such as dragon bones and oysters.

A common method is to place the drug directly in a refractory container. After high-temperature calcination, it becomes brittle and easy to process into fine powder.

These are the methods of fire processing.

The preparation method of water and fire uses both water and fire. Common ones include steaming, boiling, stewing, and blanching.

For example, there are two types of Polygonum multiflorum on the market: raw and cooked (processed).

The raw ones are directly picked, washed, sliced ​​and dried.

For the cooked one, slice the Polygonum multiflorum, mix it with black bean juice, and then place it in a container and stew (steam) until all the juice is absorbed.

It can be seen that if you want to obtain high-quality Chinese medicinal materials, it is not as simple as growing the herbs. The processing methods of different medicinal materials are completely different, and the process is very complicated.

After completing the preparation step, the next step is storage.

The storage requirements for Chinese medicinal materials are not low. The most important ones are classification, insect prevention and moisture prevention.

Therefore,
When Zhang Yang walked into the warehouse, he saw packages of bulging white woven bags neatly stacked in various areas of the warehouse.

Looking around, in some areas, there are dozens of white woven bags stacked up, at least five or six meters high;

In some areas, the codes are not high, only three or four meters, but the length of the stacking is dozens of meters, covering an area of ​​more than one hundred square meters.

It was also the first time for Zhang Yang to personally visit the storage warehouse of Chinese medicinal materials. Looking at the huge scale, large quantity, yet neatly stacked warehouse, he couldn't help but look up to He Ping standing next to him.

Don’t underestimate warehouse management. The ability to organize and summarize is the greatest guarantee for the production of medicinal materials.

At this moment, he noticed that there was a tag hanging above each area, and each tag corresponded to the name of the Chinese medicinal materials stored in that area.

Forsythia, mint, bupleurum, atractylodes, astragalus...

Zhang Yang was not actually very familiar with Chinese medicinal materials. When he saw the name of Astragalus on the sign, he immediately thought of the example that He Ping had just given of Astragalus.

Subconsciously, he walked straight towards the area where the astragalus was piled.

He Ping hurriedly followed him and saw Zhang Yang stopped at the area where the astragalus was piled. He immediately said:

"Mr. Zhang, this is the astragalus that I just gave you as an example."

"It's a good opportunity for you to take a look and compare the differences between three-year-old, two-year-old, and one-year-old astragalus."

"Okay, I'll take a look."

Zhang Yang was already interested, so he nodded in response.

Seeing this, He Ping hurriedly stepped forward, forcefully pulled down the top bag of astragalus, then skillfully opened the seal, and suddenly a bag full of bright yellow astragalus appeared before his eyes.

"Mr. Zhang, this is three-year-old astragalus, of top quality. All of this is used in our 'Lung Toxin Clearing Granule'."

"Take a look."

As he spoke, he bent down, grabbed a handful of food from the woven bag, and placed it in front of Zhang Yang.

But just as he finished speaking, he suddenly said:
"Mr. Zhang, let's put it this way. You can't tell what's good or bad just by looking at it this way. I'll have someone get one-year-old and two-year-old astragalus from other warehouses for you to compare. You'll be able to see the difference at a glance."

"okay."

Zhang Yang was slightly stunned, but did not refuse. About two or three minutes later, the warehouse staff brought two small bags of one-year-old and two-year-old astragalus from the warehouse next door.

With just one glance, even a layman like Zhang Yang in Chinese medicinal materials immediately noticed the huge differences between the three types of Astragalus of high, medium and low quality.

The slices of one-year-old Astragalus are the smallest and light yellow in color. When you break them gently, the slices break into pieces instantly, leaving countless powder residues on your hands.

The slices of two-year-old Astragalus have moderate size and are light brown in color. When you gently break them with your fingers, the fracture is even, but the texture is obviously brittle.

Only the three-year-old Astragalus slices have the largest diameter and are brown in color. They cannot be easily broken with fingers, and one can even clearly feel their toughness with fingers.

"Mr. Zhang, in addition to the appearance and texture, you can also put it in your mouth and take a gentle bite, the feeling is even more obvious."

"Try the one-year-old one first."

"it is good!"

Zhang Yang immediately followed He Ping's advice and took the lead in putting the one-year-old Astragalus slices into his mouth.

He chewed it lightly and then spit it out.

One-year-old Astragalus is too brittle. It crumbles into medicinal residue as soon as you bite it, and you can't even smell the medicinal fragrance.

He then put the two-year-old astragalus into his mouth.

Two-year-old Astragalus has a light medicinal aroma and bean flavor, and the mild sweetness of Astragalus also appears in the mouth.

This is obviously much better than the annual astragalus.

Then he put a piece of three-year-old astragalus into his mouth, chewed it gently for a few times, and suddenly a look of deep shock flashed in his eyes.

Compared with one-year-old and two-year-old astragalus, the three-year-old astragalus not only changes its taste from slightly sweet to obviously sweet, but its medicinal aroma is more than twice as strong as before!
What surprised him the most was that the three-year-old Astragalus slices would not break even if chewed hard, and he could even clearly feel that there seemed to be juice flowing out of the Astragalus slices!

The juice instantly spread throughout the mouth, and the rich medicinal aroma went straight to the Baihui acupoint. After chewing just two pieces, I actually felt unusually clear-headed.

After a moment, he looked at He Ping and couldn't help but exclaimed: "He Ping, why is the gap so big?!"

To be honest, before this, Zhang Yang always knew that there was some difference between high-quality, medium-quality and low-quality medicinal materials, but only after personally checking and tasting them at this moment did he truly realize the huge gap between good medicinal materials.

It can be said that in front of top-grade medicinal materials, inferior ones are really worthless!
However, this kind of medicinal material is mostly found in major Chinese patent medicine and Chinese medicinal material markets!

He Ping saw Zhang Yang's surprise and nodded:
"That's right, Mr. Zhang. The gap is just that big!"

As he spoke, He Ping suddenly sighed:

"Now everyone says that the effects of traditional Chinese medicine are getting worse and worse, and there are even many people on the Internet who say that traditional Chinese medicine is a scam."

"But what many people don't know is that before the market demand was not so great, both herbal farmers and planters worked hard to earn money."

"At that time, not to mention three-year-old astragalus, even four-year-old and even wild astragalus could be bought on the market; the Chinese medicine prescriptions prescribed by doctors were naturally very effective."

"Who would buy one-year-old astragalus at that time? Buyers didn't want it."

"But what now?"

"Let alone four-year-old astragalus, even three-year-old astragalus is basically unavailable in the retail market except for professional pharmaceutical factories and herbal medicine wholesalers like us."

"All the major pharmacies and hospitals sell one-year-old astragalus. What diseases can the better ones cure with two-year-old astragalus?"

Zhang Yang suddenly fell silent.

He knew before that 90% of the country's high-quality medicinal materials were exported to Japan and South Korea, and only 10% remained in the country.

As for why domestic pharmacies do not sell high-quality medicinal materials.

It's nothing more than high-quality medicinal materials, especially the Chinese medicinal materials that need several years to grow. The price is too expensive, the demand is not high, and the people's awareness has not kept up.

At this moment, He Ping's words also confirmed Zhang Yang's thoughts.

"In fact, a few years ago, there were two or three pharmaceutical companies that tried to wholesale high-quality medicinal materials, but..."

“The prices of high-quality medicinal materials are relatively high, and ordinary people don’t understand this. They think that medicines from other places are so cheap, why are yours so expensive?

As a result, sales were not increasing at all, and many pharmacies were unwilling to continue purchasing high-quality medicinal materials."

"Plus, there are too many types of Chinese medicinal materials. If we were to deal with all the high-quality, medium-quality, and low-quality medicinal materials, it would be too much work and the financial pressure would be too great."

"As a result, the few remaining pharmaceutical companies have completely abandoned the retail business of high-quality medicinal materials. After all, who would be willing to do such a troublesome business with low sales volume and little profit?"

Zhang Yang felt a little heavy-hearted after listening to this.

He never had any idea of ​​reviving traditional Chinese medicine, but at this moment he suddenly felt sad!

Although traditional Chinese medicine has been questioned in recent years, it is undeniable that it is indeed a part of China's 5,000-year-old civilization and a treasure of Chinese civilization. It has protected countless Chinese people for thousands of years.

But up to now, let alone famous Chinese medicine masters and the inheritance of prescriptions, even the basic and high-quality medicinal materials are beyond the reach of ordinary people!
It's a bit sad.

at this time,

At some point, the warehouse staff brought another bag of Chinese medicinal materials from somewhere else.

Zhang Yang took a closer look and found that the black plastic bag still contained astragalus.

However, the slices of Astragalus this time are even larger than the three-year-old high-quality Astragalus, and the color is darker.

He suddenly realized, and before He Ping could speak, he spoke first:

"Is this the rare Astragalus you mentioned? The one that's four years old?"

"Ah."

He Ping nodded and said:

"Mr. Zhang, the four-year-old astragalus has more active ingredients than the three-year-old one, and the effect is better."

"Of course, this kind of astragalus is basically not available on the market now. Both growers and pharmaceutical companies rarely grow four-year-old ones. This one was given to me by a friend."

"So, if you really want to purchase large quantities of rare astragalus that is more than four years old, the best way is to grow it yourself and establish your own Chinese herbal medicine planting base."

Hearing He Ping mention the establishment of his own Chinese medicinal herb planting base again, Zhang Yang nodded but said nothing more.

In fact, after truly feeling the huge difference of three-year-old astragalus, he suddenly agreed with He Ping's previous suggestion.

Qingshan Pharmaceutical has set up its own Chinese medicinal herb planting base.

There is only one requirement, that all of them must be planted and processed according to the quality of top-grade medicinal materials, and the quality must be strictly controlled.

Then it will be directly applied to various Chinese patent medicines of Qingshan Pharmaceutical in the future.

If there is any surplus, it can also be sold retail.

Yes, retail!

Specially targeted at retailing to ordinary bosses.

This thought only flashed through his mind, and he was also very clear that this kind of thing could not be accomplished just by thinking about it.

Let’s talk about it in the simplest way.

To set up your own Chinese medicinal herb planting base, you need land, right?
What's more, given the size of Qingshan Pharmaceutical, if it wants to do something big, it must do it on a large scale. If it is small, it would be better not to do it at all.

Maybe a few hundred acres at least?
Where does the land come from?

Chinese medicinal materials also have strict requirements for climate and origin. Qingshan Pharmaceutical does have some connections in Chengdu, but if it wants to establish a planting base elsewhere outside Chengdu, it has to consider buying land and various aspects.

It’s troublesome just thinking about it.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yang waved his hand:

"Okay, He Ping, please show me other medicinal herbs."

"it is good."

After Zhang Yang interrupted the topic of "establishing a Chinese medicinal materials base" again, He Ping finally understood it.

After that, he did not mention the matter of "Qingshan Pharmaceutical establishing a Chinese medicinal materials planting base" again, and began to take Zhang Yang to visit every Chinese medicinal material used in "Lung Duqing Granule".

The more Zhang Yang read, the more deeply he was impressed. For the first time, he truly felt the huge gap between medicinal herbs.

He even noticed that there was a certain gap between high-quality and low-quality medicinal materials.

This is quality control.

Of course, what Zhang Yang felt most deeply was that ordinary people could not buy the truly good medicinal materials.

Just like what He Ping said just now, let’s not talk about things like the inheritance of traditional Chinese medicine, famous doctors and famous prescriptions, etc. The medicinal materials are inferior, so what kind of efficacy can they have?
"Ah... I never thought that the birthplace of traditional Chinese medicine would have reached such a state."

Zhang Yang was filled with emotion. Two hours later, he ended his trip to Lotus Pharmaceutical and returned to Qingshan Pharmaceutical.

In the next two days, Zhang Yang began to handle the business of Qingshan Pharmaceutical as normal, but he did not let go of the matter of "Qingshan Pharmaceutical establishing a Chinese medicinal material planting base". On the contrary, as time passed, his inner urge became stronger.

Early in the morning, he took out his cell phone.

"Forget it, let's go to the Chinese medicinal materials market first and do some market research!"

(End of this chapter)