Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 347 A World Within a Small Space? Zhang Yunxiu's Scandal Spreads Throughout the Capital!
The sudden bright light was a little dazzling.

Hosokawa Iya was momentarily dazed, then his pupils suddenly dilated.

Inside the microscope, one could see tiny, round particles, clustered together like small grapes, some in pairs, others in groups of four.

Before this, Hosokawa Iya had imagined what he would see, but after actually observing it, he was deeply shocked.

It turns out that in this tiny world, there really is a space where Staphylococcus aureus, like living beings, gather together under the lens.

Hosokawa Iya trembled slightly when he thought about how Staphylococcus aureus was one of the culprits behind so many terminal illnesses.

However, Hosokawa I couldn't help but feel a little confused, because the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in the lens were all static, and there was basically no trace of movement.

She asked with some doubt, "Why doesn't this staphylococcus move? If it doesn't move, how can it make people sick?"

Zhang Yunxiu replied with a smile, "Bacteria need specialized organs of locomotion, such as flagella, to achieve sliding and twisting movements."

Staphylococcus aureus has no motility mechanism; its spread mainly relies on attachment and diffusion.

"This..." Hosokawa Iya seemed to understand only half of it, but still exclaimed with admiration, "Science is truly profound and complex."

Zhang Yunxiu could see the other party's concerns. For someone like Hosokawa Iya who understood science, there was naturally no need for further explanation. However, for envoys from various countries who might not even be familiar with all the Four Books and Five Classics, it would be difficult for them to believe that microorganisms existed in the world if they could not see the dynamics in the microscopic world with their own eyes.

After all, static images easily lead people to think that this is a smokescreen.

Nishiyama was naturally prepared for this question; almost everyone who participated in the experiment for the first time would ask it.

Zhang Yunxiu waved his hand and spoke to Yuan Zongdao.

“Boxiu, bring up all our other little pets.”

So, to everyone's astonishment, a dozen or so colorful petri dishes were carefully brought up.

Following this, under Zhang Yunxiu's guidance, Hosokawa Iya observed the forms of E. coli, yeast, and paramecium through the microscope.

Especially the paramecium, which looks like an inverted sandal, has its cellular structure completely exposed.

Previously, neither fungi nor bacteria had shocked Hosokawa Iya as much as this one in a million.

"Move! Move!"

Hosokawa Iya let out a gasp, almost jumping up from the spot.

"It's alive! It's alive!"

Hosokawa Iya was almost obsessed, constantly shifting between the microscope eyepiece and naked-eye observation. With the naked eye, there was almost no movement in the petri dish. Only by observing desperately could he see some tiny, bright white dots floating around.

But these objects were magnified countless times under a microscope!
Among the crowd, the envoys couldn't help but sigh.

"There really is a living being in that tiny space!"

But immediately someone raised a question.

"Could it be some kind of illusion? How could there be anything in such a small space? If it's beyond human sight, what's the difference between it and a miracle?"

The Korean envoy, Yi In-shin, immediately retorted, "That's not right. If the microscope were rigged, it would only display one image. But judging from the Japanese envoy's reaction, the images in each petri dish are different."

The microscope wasn't moved at all; it was under the watchful eyes of everyone, so how could there be any faking?

You speak so easily here; if you truly don't believe it, why don't you go and see for yourselves?

Li Renxin's words completely silenced these people.

After Hosokawa Iya finished his observation, Zhang Yunxiu did not hesitate to ask several more people in the crowd to come forward and check.

After seeing it, Hosokawa Yusai was as if struck by lightning, and he was only able to leave in a daze, supported by Hosokawa Iya.

After reading it, Li Renxin's face turned unusually rosy, and he kept muttering to himself.

"I know! I know!"

After returning to the queue, he continued to mutter something.

"Our Joseon nation will rise! It will rise!"

The surrounding envoys were somewhat puzzled. It was clearly the Ming Dynasty that was powerful, so how could it be that their Joseon Kingdom was about to rise?
After a cursory glance, the envoys seemed to have been baptized. Some had blank stares, as if their souls had been ripped out, while others trembled and muttered something like "This is blasphemy." Most of them, however, gained a completely new understanding of the strength of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the story doesn't end there.

Zhang Yunxiu smiled and said, "As you all have seen, this microscopic world is incredibly vast. Even our Great Ming Dynasty has yet to fully explore the germs and organisms that exist within it."

However, one thing is clear: those Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were obtained from patients. Through simple controlled experiments, we can understand their respective effects on the human body.

Finally, if we can use some kind of medicine to completely eradicate these germs, wouldn't the disease be cured instantly?

Allicin and penicillin are examples of this!

He went through a long and complicated process to instill a concept in the minds of the envoys, making them understand the existence of these microorganisms so that they could comprehend the effects of penicillin.

Otherwise, are we really going to find a sow and demonstrate to everyone how to treat a sow?
No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhang Yunxiu took out the petri dish from before and displayed it to everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what we see in this petri dish is the same Staphylococcus aureus we saw earlier. We'll know whether our penicillin is effective once we try it."

The envoys looked at each other, their eyes no longer filled with doubt, but with anticipation and curiosity.

The Wanli Emperor watched these people's changes with great interest. He had been through the same thing before, and seeing their reactions now gave him a very comfortable feeling.

Without saying a word, Wanli stepped forward, took the petri dish, and said...

"Come, come, let me demonstrate for you."

As he spoke, Emperor Wanli's short, chubby hands became surprisingly nimble as he used a dropper to draw up some penicillin and carefully dripped it into a petri dish.

Everyone stared intently at the petri dish, as if trying to discern any changes within it.

Emperor Wanli smiled and said, "Gentlemen, your reactions are not that quick. Please wait another quarter of an hour before you can see any changes."

Compared to allicin, penicillin is obviously more potent, and in certain situations, it can be thousands of times more effective.

The reaction speed is naturally faster for Staphylococcus aureus cultured in the laboratory.

For the next period of time, the emperor and his ministers stared at each other, and many envoys even stared intently at the petri dishes under the microscope, as if they were afraid that the Ming people might do something wrong.

Hosokawa Iya appeared even more nervous, gripping the hem of her skirt tightly.

Emperor Wanli and Zhang Yunxiu, however, seemed carefree, even sitting to the side playing tic-tac-toe.

Zhang Juzheng, however, sat upright and gave instructions to Yu Youding beside him.

"Instruct the Imperial Diarist to record today's events in detail, without any omissions. The conversations between His Majesty, Zhang Shiyuan, and the envoys must also be recorded without missing a single word."

Yu Youding was still in shock when he suddenly seemed to wake up from a dream and couldn't help but ask.

"Prime Minister, these matters concerning the daily records of the emperor were not always handled by a single individual."

The daily records could not record everything in detail; most of them were important dialogues between the emperor and his ministers, or major ceremonies.

Today's events do seem rather childish. Is it really a good idea to record them? Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said, "Today is very different. I have a premonition that today is not only of great significance to our Great Ming Dynasty, but will also be praised by future generations and all ages."

Yu Youding paused for a moment, but still nodded and said.

"I understand."

These two quarters of an hour pass quickly, especially for people in ancient times, for whom passing the time was a daily routine.

When the time for the announcement arrived, the Wanli Emperor, looking rather languid, waved his hand and addressed Hosokawa Iya.

“Envoy Hosokawa, now that you’ve started, you can finish it. Only by looking at the changes under the microscope can we know whether our penicillin is effective.”

Hosokawa Iya trembled slightly and quickly stood up to bow.

"Thank you for the imperial decree, Your Majesty the Great Ming Emperor."

"Be flat."

Emperor Wanli seemed a bit tired, yawning. In his usual manner, he would definitely handle this matter personally.

However, he was already tired of these microbial experiments, and he had seen all the phenomena countless times. If it weren't for the need to demonstrate them to the envoys, he really couldn't say he could have stayed here any longer.

Having received the order, Hosokawa Iya cautiously stepped forward, glancing at Zhang Yunxiu along the way, which made Zhang Yunxiu feel uneasy.

Even though Zhang Yunxiu didn't respond, Hosokawa Iya seemed encouraged, and his eyes became firm.

She repeated the previous steps, operating the microscope once again.

Then, she closed her left eye and carefully placed her right eye on the eyepiece.

The clicking sound rang out, and as the focus was adjusted, Hosokawa Iya saw the image inside the microscope once again.

This time, the scene was simply suffocating for her.

Compared to the previous images, these Staphylococcus aureus bacteria were almost completely different, as if they had suffered a huge disaster in this microscopic world.

The staphylococcal colony had loosened, with countless individual cocci scattered outside.

Some cocci exhibit an "irregular, blurred" edge.

Some of them had even expanded violently, and in the blank space of the image, there were many fragments produced by the expansion and rupture of the cocci, which looked like the remains of Staphylococcus aureus.

Hosokawa Iya clearly remembered how plump and beautiful these Staphylococcus aureus bacteria had been before, but in the last two quarters of an hour, such a drastic change had occurred!

The changes visible under the microscope were evident in the subtle shifts in Hosokawa Iya's expression.

It was too much trouble to make everyone see the microscope, so Zhang Yunxiu simply had Yuan Zongdao pull out the courseware he usually used for his lectures in Xishan.

Four or five large hand-drawn illustrations were presented to the audience. The ink-wash style paintings were vivid and lifelike, depicting the reaction process between Staphylococcus aureus and penicillin.

The envoys sat below like children, staring blankly at Zhang Yunxiu.

But then Zhang Yunxiu began to speak eloquently.

"Please look at this picture. It shows the initial stage of penicillin's effect on Staphylococcus aureus. The clusters are gradually loosening, and the edges of the bacteria are becoming irregular."

"Looking at this intermediate stage, the cell wall gradually loses strength, the osmotic pressure inside the bacteria increases, causing the cells to swell and the grape-like clusters to completely disintegrate."

"And in this later stage, the bacteria begin to lyse, producing fragmented remains."

Zhang Yunxiu shook his head.

"This is the effect of penicillin; if it can eliminate bacteria, how can it not eliminate lesions?"

His voice echoed throughout the laboratory.

Looking at the envoys who were trying so hard to understand but still only had a vague grasp of the meaning, Yu Youding couldn't help but feel a deep sense of emotion.

The civil officials were usually driven crazy by Zhang Yunxiu, but now that they saw him starting to torment others, they actually felt a strange sense of relief.

Yu Youding looked at Zhang Juzheng beside him and noticed that the other man looked very serious, so he couldn't help but ask him curiously.

"Is the Prime Minister also interested in this scientific approach?"

Zhang Juzheng said leisurely, "I don't want to learn it, but I really have no choice."

Yu Youding also sighed. The world is changing too fast. Even people who pride themselves on their vast knowledge are a bit flustered when they see so many new and interesting things in Xishan.

As he pondered this, he noticed Zhang Juzheng's gaze wandering, drifting towards the Japanese woman, Hosokawa Iya.

Zhang Juzheng's gaze was very focused, as if he wanted to see through the Japanese woman.

Yu Youding immediately shuddered.

Yuanfu, he wouldn't...
However, he was well-versed in the ways of officialdom and wisely avoided eye contact, pretending not to see anything.

The news spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital in just one day.

"Today's News! A Miracle Occurs Again in Xishan! Tiny Germ Shocks Foreign Countries!"

"Breaking News! An envoy from a vassal state has expressed interest in studying at Xishan!"

"Breaking News! Zhang Shiyuan's Three Lifetimes of Love with Japanese Woman Hosokawa Iya!"

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the events that occurred in Xishan the next day spread throughout the entire capital.

Of course, the reports on the Nishiyama Experiment obviously skipped many details, focusing instead on showcasing the wonders of Nishiyama's science and the astonishment of the envoys from those vassal states.

As time went on, the demand for newspapers among the people of the capital increased, and it wasn't just the "Wanli Xinbao" or the "Jingji Daily" that appeared; there were even various unknown small and medium-sized newspapers.

The people of the capital were delighted with the reactions of the envoys from the vassal states, especially the arrogant Annamite envoy. Within a single day, many jokes and anecdotes about Nguyen Van Trung arose among the common people.

Unbeknownst to many, the rapid spread of information has brought about a dramatic change in the public opinion landscape of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, compared to these things, most ordinary people preferred to pay attention to the top figure of the Ming Dynasty—Zhang Yunxiu, the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The scene where Zhang Yunxiu teaches Hosokawa Iya in Nishiyama was written extensively, and even unscrupulous tabloids used it as a reference to create a story about the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

They said that in their past lives, one of them was the spiritual stone that Nuwa used to mend the sky, and the other was some kind of immortal herb that was protected and irrigated by her. This time, Hosokawa Iya came to the Ming Dynasty to find Zhang Yunxiu to repay his kindness.

Numerous rumors spread like wildfire, stirring up the gossip-loving hearts of countless people in the Ming Dynasty.

However, when the news reached Renmin Medical Clinic, the result was quite different.

"Your Highness."

Looking at Princess Yongning Zhu Yaoying, who was holding a newspaper and whose body was stiff, Liu Wan'er couldn't help but feel extremely worried.

She said, trying to comfort her.

“Zhang Zhangwei is a man of great appearance and outstanding character. How could he possibly be interested in that vulgar Japanese woman?”

These are all rumors circulating among the people; they might even be intentionally spread by those Japanese. You absolutely mustn't do anything rash!

(End of this chapter)