My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 237 What can Hua Tuo use to resist

This past winter, the farming tasks that Zhuge Jin assigned to officials in Guangling and Donghai counties were actually very fulfilling.

According to the original plan, Zhuge Jin would first inspect Guangling County's progress in building new polder fields and dredging Sheyang Lake during the winter farming off-season.

Then he also had to ask Mi Zhu whether the development of the trade route from Donglai to the Liaodong Peninsula was progressing smoothly, and whether the escort and port construction work along the way that Taishi Ci was responsible for helping Mi Zhu fall behind.

Finally, we also need to understand how the sales of the latest celadon and other luxury goods produced in Yuzhang are developing on the new sea routes, and whether we can buy more Liaodong war horses by relying solely on these lucrative goods.

However, plans can never keep up with changes. After arriving in Guangling in person, Zhuge Jin heard that Chen Deng was still worried about forcing Hua Tuo to stay, so he did not hesitate to adjust his priorities.

Let’s deal with Hua Tuo first, and the rest of the work can be done by interspersing inspections and listening to reports during the process.

That afternoon, after Zhuge Jin had a preliminary chat with Chen Deng and Mi Zhu and synchronized information, he went to rest.

Then he ordered his men to do some preparatory work, such as finding Aliang's manuscript of "Qu Jue Lun", preparing a copy of each of the experimental samples that should be collected, and getting some experimental equipment.

While Zhuge Jin was planning, he was also thinking about the differences between A Liang's experiments a few months ago and the microbial experiments conducted by French physician Pasteur more than 1,600 years later.

What other experiments can be done with today's equipment but have not been done yet? After sorting them out, they can all be used as bait to persuade Hua Tuo.

After coming up with a plan, Zhuge Jin called over a few technicians who were accompanying him on the inspection.

They were mainly the craftsmen who had helped Zhuge Jin build a new refractory kiln and fire celadon in Yuzhang County. Zhuge Jin was originally here to inspect the results of the celadon trade, so it made sense for him to bring a few craftsmen with him to provide technical support when Mi Zhu had questions about sales.

However, no one expected that, for Hua Tuo's sake, these craftsmen would have to go back to their old ways, build another kiln in Guangling, make some fine-tuning, and get the latest experimental equipment.

……

The next morning, after hastily completing his preparations, Zhuge Jin sent someone to summon Hua Tuo.

When Hua Tuo heard that General Fu Bo was going to summon him, he naturally became cautious.

Even Hua Tuo, an outsider, knew that under the command of the General of Chariots and Cavalry, the status of the county governors was different, and General Fubo was obviously the highest among them.

After Hua Tuo arrived, Zhuge Jin went to the courtyard and came down the stairs to greet him. Hua Tuo immediately stepped forward to greet him and said, "I am a wanderer from the mountains and fields. I greet General Fubo."

Zhuge Jin said kindly, "Sir, you don't have to be so polite. I heard that Brother Yuanlong is seriously ill and it's not you who can cure him. I'm really sorry for your hard work. I have to trouble you to stay in Guangling for a few more months. By the way, who are these two?"

After Zhuge Jin comforted Hua Tuo, he noticed that there were two men in their thirties following him, so he asked politely.

Hua Tuo immediately introduced them: "These two are my disciples Wu Pu and Fan A. They have inherited my pulse diagnosis and acupuncture respectively, but their other medical skills are still incomplete, so they have not yet graduated."

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Jin nodded and smiled at the two of them. The two of them were flattered and quickly bowed down, then were helped up by Zhuge Jin.

Historically, Wu Pu later helped Hua Tuo pass on the Five Animal Exercises, while Fan A inherited Hua Tuo's acupuncture and moxibustion techniques, as well as the prescription "Qi Ye Qing Ni San" for expelling parasites and nourishing the five internal organs.

Zhuge Jin asked the three to sit down inside and ordered the maid to bring a celadon cup of Lushan Cloud Tea. Hua Tuo took a sip and praised it repeatedly, then said:
"General, although it is difficult to cure Chen Fujun's illness in a hurry, as long as I leave the prescription, you can take it regularly in the future and you will be fine. My disciple Wu Pu is a native of Guangling, and Fan A is from Pengcheng. Now Pengcheng County is occupied by Cao Cao, and he has moved to Xiapi and Donghai.

If the general is worried, you can leave me alone in Guangling to treat him until Mr. Chen is completely cured. If he gets sick again, you can check him out in time. I will teach you all the worm-eliminating recipes without reservation. "

Zhuge Jin said calmly, "Sir, are you in a hurry to travel around? Why can't you stay in Guangling for a while? I also have some medical questions, so I'd like to ask you and discuss with you."

Hua Tuo's eyes suddenly turned into disbelief when he heard this. He knew that Zhuge Jin's status was much more noble than his, but he had lived to be over fifty years old and had never seen anyone who wanted to learn medical skills from him.

Hua Tuo was stunned for a long time and didn't react. He wanted to wait for Zhuge Jin to change his words and confirm whether he had said something wrong.

Seeing that Zhuge Jin was just smiling calmly, Hua Tuo finally lost his temper and took the initiative to confirm: "General, are you talking about... exchanging medical skills?"

Seeing that he didn't believe him, Zhuge Jin stopped keeping him in suspense and took out a few scrolls from his sleeve and motioned to the maid to give them to Hua Tuo.

"This is the 'Qu Jue Lun' written by my brother. Although the technique is derived and summarized from the old dough for fermenting wheat flour and the qu Jue for brewing wine, it is also quite inspiring about the decay of all things and the influence of seasonal weather. You may wish to take a look, it may confirm some of your insights."

Hua Tuo read it skeptically. He also knew that the Zhuge brothers were famous for their ingenuity. There were also rumors about their "immortal skills" and they were worshipped by the ignorant Shanyue tribes in Danyang and Yuzhang.

Hua Tuo originally thought that those so-called "immortal arts" were probably just more powerful medical skills, and the Shanyue barbarians were ignorant and therefore misrepresented them as immortal arts. However, after reading the text of "Qu Jue Lun" for only a few hundred words, Hua Tuo became serious and decided to retract his original judgment.

How could anyone in the world be able to summarize the principles of disease infection and transmission in this way? Infection and decay may all be caused by the proliferation of tiny bacteria and insects that are invisible to the naked eye and cannot be contained?
Are plague-like diseases also caused by some invisible microorganisms that can cause plague and spread and multiply between people through different channels?

Pulmonary diseases may be spread by microscopic insects in the poison? Gastrointestinal diseases may be spread by water contaminated by feces and urine? Cardiovascular diseases may be spread by microscopic insects carried by mosquito bites?

Hua Tuo felt as if he had opened the door to a new world. He was shocked and silent for a long time.

After being stunned for a long time, Hua Tuo sighed and said, "The idea of micro-worms spreading epidemics in Qu Jue Lun is similar to some of the ideas I heard when I met Zhang Ji of Nanyang a few years ago, but Brother Zhang did not bring up the idea of 'micro-worms'.

As for the claim that wound rotting, cold and fever, etc. are also related to micro-worms, I have never heard of it. In this theory, it only uses cooked cheese as an example. But how can the sourness of cheese be compared with the rotting of wounds in the human body? "

Hua Tuo only took a rough look and didn't have time to finish reading it, so he gave his own judgment.

He believed that Zhuge Liang's experiment should be correct, but Zhuge Liang's experimental subjects were only dough, yogurt, wine, and vinegar. How could these things be compared with flesh and blood? This association was too far-fetched.

"Well said! Your inference about medical skills is indeed rigorous. My brother's previous experiments were indeed not for medical skills, so there are still flaws in this aspect. Since you have seen the problem, why don't you stay and use the instruments we can provide to complete the experiment you want to do?

"What you learn from books is always shallow. You have to practice it yourself to know it thoroughly. If you can explore the root cause of wound decay and the principle of plague transmission, wouldn't it be a great merit?"

Zhuge Jin's words of persuasion were just right, helping Hua Tuo to draw the picture more clearly, allowing him to see his life goals more clearly.

Hua Tuo finally fell into deep thought, and he had to admit that the temptation was too great.

Zhuge Jin did not forget to remind him of some technical details: "In fact, according to the doubts you just raised, I thought of an indirect proof method - to prove whether blood and flesh will rot under the erosion of micro-worms, we can blanch beef, mutton and pork meat, wash them, put them in a thin-necked transparent bottle and boil them, leave them for a few days, and see if they will become sour and rot.

For comparison, we can also use an ordinary light-transmitting container without a narrow neck, boil a bottle of meat, and then open it and place it in a seemingly clean and ventilated place for some time to observe the rot of the meat and soup.

My brother's original experiment only proved that 'adding new koji to the boiling material will give the later koji an absolute advantage', and this control experiment can also prove that 'once the original micro-worms in the boiling material are killed, the micro-worms will not regenerate naturally if no more koji is added', which is very similar to the principle of wound decay."

There is no doubt that what Zhuge Jin casually mentioned was the "Pasteur gooseneck flask experiment" that was worn out in junior high school biology textbooks in later generations. This is also one of the few Pasteur experiments that Zhuge Liang could not do due to insufficient experimental conditions.

After all, Zhuge Liang couldn’t make a gooseneck flask, and there was no glass in that era.

If you use celadon for this kind of experiment, celadon is opaque, so you can't observe the changes in the meat and soup inside. If you open the lid to observe, the experiment will be in vain, because bacteria in the air will fall in and interfere with the experimental results.

Zhuge Jin was still not sure whether he could make transparent and homogeneous glass. But he had a celadon workshop and understood the application of refractory bricks and new blast technology, which could increase the kiln temperature. It was still possible to make translucent, brown or variegated glass, or "translucent colored glaze".

It is nothing more than calcining sand at high temperature and then figuring out various additives. When modern glass is fired, many formulas are added, in fact, to remove color and impurities. Even without these additives, it is still possible to burn glass with uglier colors. The ancients could do it.

This kind of glass may not be of much significance for making luxury goods and selling them for money, but it can be of some help in improving the conditions of scientific experiments and creating transparent vessels that are easy to observe.

Now that the conditions have been set up to this extent, we might as well take advantage of this tiny technological advancement.

If it really doesn't work, you can even use crystals from the natural crystal mines in Donghai County. Find some with low purity and poor crystallization effect, melt them with high heat, and then blow them back into shape to form a narrow-necked flask.

However, glass, as an amorphous substance, can be softened and shaped at about 800 degrees Celsius, while quartz glass needs 1,000 degrees Celsius. Natural crystal is a crystal with a fixed melting point, which is not easy to soften in advance and is much more difficult to melt.

But it doesn’t matter, as long as you choose crystal ore with low purity and relatively unobvious crystal properties.

If it really doesn't soften, then add lead to calcine. The lead glass will turn red and soften at 500 or 600 degrees. Adding lead impurities can greatly reduce the melting point of glass and crystal. As a high school science gold medal lecturer in his previous life, Zhuge Jin knew this common sense of chemistry.

Hua Tuo was indeed shocked by Zhuge Jin's wild ideas: "But...how can we carry out the experiment you mentioned? Is there such an instrument in the world?"

Zhuge Jin smiled calmly: "As long as you are willing to stay in Guangling and give me guidance, I will send people to make these instruments. But you need to stay for a few more months and tell others that Chen Fujun is seriously ill and cannot leave for the time being."

Hua Tuo frowned. He was willing to stay for a few more months, but if he used the excuse that Chen Deng was seriously ill and difficult to cure, wouldn't that destroy his reputation as a doctor? He had clearly cured Chen Deng's symptoms in one go, but he just couldn't cure it for the time being.

Unfortunately, thinking of the experimental conditions and research support provided by Zhuge Jin, Hua Tuo couldn't help but said: "In this case, I will stay in Guangling and see what the general can do."

(End of this chapter)