A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 69 Sixth Rank Qin Wangfu Literature

Li Yi came to visit,
Unexpectedly, it happened that Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling were also here today.

Li Shimin watched Li Yi being brought in and immediately stood up and waved at him. "Haha, if you mention the devil, he'll appear. I was just telling Keming that we'd go to Yusuchuan to see you and your Wuji Primary School. I'd like to see what kind of school it is that could make Wuyi refuse His Majesty's offer of an official position twice in a row."

"Li Yi meets His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin,"

Li Shimin stepped forward and took Li Yi's hand affectionately. "I didn't pay much attention to the elixirs you gave me last time at Keming's house in Fanchuan. But unexpectedly, they saved my life in Binzhou and saved the Tang Dynasty once again."

"I don't dare to take it seriously."

Li Shimin took Li Yi to the couch at the head of the hall in Du Ruhui's house and personally poured him a cup of tea.

"Your master's malaria medicine is truly effective. The imperial physician His Majesty sent to the army used Changshan herb to treat malaria, but it left me with vomiting, headaches, and paralysis. But your malaria medicine says to take it four times over three days, but I only took it two days, and I was already able to ride into battle and defeat the Xue bandits."

"You know your master's recipe? If we could mass-produce those small white pills, it would be much easier to treat malaria. Malaria is especially prevalent in the military, especially during battles across the country. It's also contagious. Mild symptoms include alternating chills and fever, limb aches, headaches, and fatigue. Severe cases can lead to coma and even death."

"I asked the imperial physician, and he said that malaria kills over 100,000 people every year. Although there are many remedies for malaria throughout history, none of them are very effective."

Li Shimin became more and more excited as he spoke. He had personally experienced the severity of this disease. Malaria was just uncomfortable, but the imperial physician's statement that tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people died from this disease every year scared him.

Malaria can sometimes even paralyze the combat effectiveness of an army.

Second only to the more severe plague.

Li Yi had been asked by many people for the prescription for treating malaria, including Sun Fujia, and later Li Yuan sent someone to ask, Crown Prince Li Jiancheng also asked, and Du Ruhui also wrote to ask.

"If only my master were still alive." Li Yi sighed, "I don't have this prescription. I only know that when my master was traveling around the world, he verified the forty-three malaria prescriptions included in Ge Hong's book "Emergency Prescriptions for the Elbow", but none of them worked very well."

"One of the recipes involves taking a handful of Artemisia annua, adding two liters of water, mashing the juice and drinking it. Ancient records show that this recipe is quite effective in treating malaria, but my master, following the recipe, had little effect. Later, my master discovered that there are actually two types of Artemisia annua: yellow and green. Artemisia annua is green with egg yolk and has a pungent, smelly odor. It was from this Artemisia annua that my master extracted artemisinin and eventually made an antimalarial tablet."

Li Shimin listened very carefully, "Xuanling, quickly write down Wuyi's words."

Li Yi shook his head and said, "My master put a lot of thought into it and failed countless times. He succeeded once by chance, but never succeeded again."

He was not lying to them. Although artemisinin was extracted from Artemisia annua, the current conditions did not allow it to be extracted. No matter how much research the Tang Dynasty did, it would be useless.

Hearing this, Li Shimin couldn't help but feel disappointed, but he still had some hope. "Since your master was able to make artemisinin from Artemisia annua, then if you identify this direction and keep trying, you will eventually succeed, right? Even if it is difficult, as long as you succeed, it will be worth it."

"It's difficult. My master said that he couldn't be sure whether the success was really due to the effect of the extract from Artemisia annua.

Your Highness, my master did teach me a few other malaria treatment prescriptions. They aren't as effective as the Artemisia annua tablets I used before, but they're also prescriptions my master spent a lot of time researching and writing, and they're quite effective."

This recipe is called Chaihu Jieliao Drink, which is a Xiao Chaihu Decoction (Bupleurum, Scutellaria, Ginseng, Licorice, Pinellia, Ginger, and Jujube) with the addition of Dichroa, Areca, Plum, and Peach Kernel.

My master taught me the rhyme: "Bupleurum and Malaria Treatment Golden Mirror Recipe, Black Plum, Betel Nut, Peach Kernel Capsule. "Small Chaihu Decoction uses all the herbs, harmonizing the exterior and interior to treat malaria."

"Xuanling, write it down quickly," Li Shimin shouted quickly.

Fang Xuanling held a roll of paper in his left hand and a pen in his right hand, and started writing directly without having to spread out the paper on the table.

"To use, add ginger and jujube, boil in water, and let the residue sit overnight. Take it warm one or two hours before the onset of the disease the next day. If you feel nauseous, use sugar mixed with black plum flesh to suppress it."

Li Shimin took the notes from Fang Xuanling, looked at them for a while, and frowned, "Does your prescription also include Changshan?"

"Changshan is indeed effective in treating malaria, but it does cause vomiting.
Changshan cuts off pain, Coptis chinensis stops dysentery, Angelica sinensis regulates menstruation, and Ephedra relieves asthma, all of which have miraculous effects.

Changshan and Shuqi are effective in eliminating phlegm and stopping malaria, but Changshan is poisonous and will cause vomiting if used raw. Therefore, when used as medicine, it needs to be steamed and fried with wine to relieve the phlegm. A small amount will not cause vomiting.

Li Shimin called the imperial physician a quack, "That fellow's beard is completely white, how could he not know that Changshan can't be used raw?"

"My master discovered this through constant research."

Li Shimin picked up the pen and personally added the words that needed to be steamed and fried with wine after what Fang Xuanling had written, and wrote them in bold and heavy characters.

Before the advent of antimalarial drugs like artemisinin and cinchona, the Chinese herbal medicine Changshan was the first choice for treating malaria. The medicine used on Li Shimin before was also a Changshan formula, but the formula and the medicine were different, and the effect was not as good.

Li Shimin took the jute paper and said with great admiration: "If the trial effect is really good, Wuyi, you have made another great contribution.

Come to my Qin Palace. I recommend you to His Majesty as the Chief Secretary of the Qin Palace. Don't think it's just a small official of the eighth rank. Just accept it for now. I will take it step by step. I will never let you down."

Dianqian, formerly known as Qianshuai.

During the Southern Dynasties, it was customary to send young princes to govern local areas. The emperor would specially appoint his confidants to serve as the Dianqian of the royal palace. Although the rank was low, the actual power was above that of the Changshi. Later, the power became more and more important. Even if an adult prince or someone else was appointed as a governor, he was controlled by the Dianqian. People at that time said that the various states only had Dianqian generals, but no governors.

However, nowadays, the Dianqian no longer has such privileges and is only a minor official in the palace who is in charge of promoting books and teachings. Li Yi refused both the ninth-rank official of the Crown Prince and the ninth-rank official of the Secretariat.
Now, after thinking about it, he shook his head and refused this eighth-rank official in the Qin Palace.

Li Yi refused the emperor's imperial decree and the prince's wooing, but now he immediately accepted the position as an official in the Prince of Qin's Palace. Emperor Li may not care, but Crown Prince Li Jiancheng will probably not let him go easily.

Slow down, he is still too young to withstand the cruel blows from the prince.

Seeing Li Yi's refusal,
Li Shimin was silent for a moment, "Come here, I ask His Majesty to appoint you as the literary officer of the Qin Palace."

"hiss!"

Fang and Du took a breath at the same time.

The Prince's Palace Literary, this is from the sixth rank. Li Shimin's current Qin Wang Palace Literary Yao Silian, is a descendant of a famous family and a famous scholar of the time. He served as the Legal Officer of the Hengyang Prince's Palace in the Southern Chen Dynasty and the Chief Clerk of the Kuaiji Prince. In the Sui Dynasty, he served as the Military Officer and the Secretary of the Han Prince's Palace. Later, he served as the Reader of the Dai Prince.

When Li Yuan attacked Chang'an, all the officials in the Dai Wang Mansion fled, and only Yao Silian stayed by his side. When the Tang army poured in, Yao Silian stopped the soldiers with a few words. Li Yuan called him a loyal and brave man, and specially granted him the title of Li Shimin's literary officer.

Li Yi is far behind Yao Yi.

Later, Li Shimin had another literary figure, Zhu Liang, the father of Zhu Suiliang, who was now the Yellow Gate Minister under Xue Ju.

"How could Li Yi dare to write for the King of Qin?"

Li Yi once again refused Li Shimin's invitation. His reasons were that he had just returned to secular life and was young and ignorant of the world. He was also worried about the newly opened Wuji Academy, etc.

"If this Chaihu Jiemala Drink proves to be effective, Your Highness can reward me with some money, hahahaha."

Li Shimin couldn't help but shook his head and laughed.

It's a bit disappointing to be rejected several times in a row.

"Li Yi encountered a problem and came to visit Mr. Du today to seek help."

"Oh, just tell me what trouble you have and I will help you solve it." Li Shimin said generously.

"This matter is very strange," Li Yi told the story of the disappearance of the villagers in Luojiabao, and also told his guess that someone might have come for the production recipe of his workshop.

Li Shimin thought for a moment and said, "It's really possible. Don't worry about it. I will send someone to investigate immediately."

"I heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gave you a seven-ring gold-plated belt. Why haven't I seen you wearing it?" Li Shimin asked with a smile as he looked at the copper-plated belt around Li Yi's waist.

"I dare not refuse the Crown Prince's gift, but Li Yi is teaching in the countryside, how can he wear a gold belt?"

This answer satisfied Li Shimin.

"Since you already have the golden sash given by the crown prince, I will not give you anything else. I will give you something else."

Li Shimin picked up his pen and wrote on the paper: "Give me thirty ingots of gold." "Sanshui, go back to the palace and get thirty ingots of gold."

Hou Sanshui took the paper and asked in a low voice, "Big or small?"

Gold is precious and is not a common currency. It is mainly used to pay tribute to the imperial court and reward officials. The main difference between gold ingots and gold bars is that one is in the form of a block and the other is in the form of a bar.

There are two types of gold ingots: large gold ingots and general gold ingots. The large ones are waisted in shape, also called pig waist gold, with weights of fifty taels, twenty-five taels, twelve and a half taels, and ten taels. They are mainly used to store treasury gold.

Generally, gold ingots are straight, with large ingots weighing three taels, medium ingots weighing one tael, and small ingots weighing half a tael. This type of gold ingot is mostly used for rewards and is easy to use.

"Big swords, thirty of them." Li Shimin said generously.

Li Yi's heart was pounding when he heard this. He felt so happy. Ninety taels of gold was the most valuable currency. However, he still stood up and said, "Your Highness, Li Yi dare not accept such a generous reward. It is too much."

Fang Xuanling laughed beside him and said, "Wu Yi, are you going to accept the eighty taels?"

Du Ruhui also laughed out loud.

"That prescription was left by my master. I will present it to the court. If it can cure more patients, it will benefit the country and the people." Li Yi laughed.

"Rewards are due. I've heard that if meritorious service is not rewarded, and guilt is not punished, even the Tang and Yu dynasties could not transform the world. Han Feizi also said long ago that merit must be rewarded, faults must be punished, mistakes must be punished, and achievements must be rewarded." Li Shimin waved his hand. "Don't be embarrassed. This is all you deserve. If the prescription is effective, there will be another generous reward."

Hou Sanshui looked at Li Yi with some envy and jealousy, then took Li Shimin's handwritten letter and went back to the Prince of Qin's Mansion to get the gold.

(End of this chapter)