Chapter 1266: Chapter 1233: Prohibited Formula (Happy Birthday to Mo Yan)
Zhao Cheng knew them, the students in the Imperial College, and he basically remembered all of them. Among these eight, three had particularly excellent grades, and the remaining five had grades ranging from superior to average and even below average.
Their backgrounds included northern noble families, southern aristocrats, students from humble origins, and families engaged in commerce. One of them was even an orphan from a humble family, whose family had, in the past, rented land from the Wang Family, making them tenant farmers. As a result, he was often mocked openly by others in the Imperial College, and Zhao Cheng had intervened on two occasions, therefore he knew him.
He did not know the criteria Zhao Hanzhang used to select people, but he still very much enjoyed the teaching job at the Imperial College. After returning from his studies abroad, he might not become the principal, but he was determined to continue teaching, so he nodded and agreed.
Thus, the eight students, along with the previous eight, formed a team of sixteen.
Zhao Hanzhang wrote down their names, intending to meet them in person when they returned from their studies abroad.
To be able to give up the infinite possibilities in Luoyang at this time and follow Zhao Cheng, who was rumored to have resigned in anger, to study abroad showed the character and ambition of those eight students;
And the eight students she personally selected, putting grades aside, all possessed the same drive to seek truth.
The principles of managing a family, governing the people, and ruling a country, even the principles of life and death, she hoped to offer them a broader path, so that in the future, they could pave a smooth road for the people of the world.
Zhao Hanzhang heard footsteps, turned her head, and looked under the platform.
Guo Pu followed her gaze, saw Yuan Li’s official robe, and slightly frowned, "Why is he here?"
Guo Pu did not like Yuan Li, oh, most of the officials in the court did not like Yuan Li.
Zhao Hanzhang: "Mr. Guo, have you ever met Yuan Li?"
"No, but his name is famous." Guo Pu was lazy, most afraid of trouble, and the label on Yuan Li in his eyes was that of the head of the hidden guards, a cruel official, violent, insidious...
So, to avoid trouble, he chose not to meet if he could.
Yuan Li had been back in the capital for some time, but Guo Pu either stayed at the Imperial College or hid in his Observatory, occasionally leaving the palace to find Zhao Hu to play, perfectly avoiding him.
Yuan Li walked up onto the platform, glanced quickly at the unfamiliar face of Guo Pu, and then bowed his head to salute Zhao Hanzhang.
Guo Pu was also looking intently at his face and eyes first. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Zhao Hanzhang without a trace of emotion.
Yuan Li had come to the palace to report to Zhao Hanzhang, and tonight’s palace banquet, he and Zeng Yue were in charge of security—Zeng Yue in the open, himself in the dark.
Because there were outsiders present, Yuan Li did not speak in detail, and Zhao Hanzhang did not ask in detail. After handling the official business, she expressed concern for him, "I see the injury on your face is much better. Doctor Zhang said you wanted to completely remove the scars on your face? Has he found the formula?"
Yuan Li said, "Not yet, he only said they could be lightened. To completely remove it, new formulas must be sought, which they are already researching."
Because Yuan Li was valued by Zhao Hanzhang and personally treated by the Imperial Physician at Zhao’s behest, the physicians were willing to spend so much time researching scar removal. Otherwise, they were not particularly interested in it.
Currently, their most interesting cases were typhoid and trauma treatment.
Trauma treatment was due to the ongoing wars over the past two years, with many new trauma treatment methods and efficiency improvement steps emerging in the military medical teams;
Blood type transfusion was currently the most popular research project in the Department of Surgery.
Other than that, it was typhoid.
Zhao Hanzhang strictly prohibited the inhalation of Five Stone Powder. Once discovered, severe offenders were imprisoned and served labor, minor offenders were fined, and those who privately sold the drug faced heavier penalties.
It was also stipulated that those with an experience of inhaling Five Stone Powder within three months could not participate in the recruitment exam or be selected for official positions.
Officials using Five Stone Powder were dismissed.
The regulations were extremely strict, and in just this half month, twenty-three individuals returning from the south were caught for inhaling Five Stone Powder. Considering it was their first offense, they were released after paying a huge fine.
But they were already being watched by the officials of the Luoyang County Government, with an attitude of rushing in to arrest anyone caught inhaling again.
The fines were also shared with the Luoyang County Government, which, though not directly benefiting the individual officials, made life easier as the county government became wealthier.
Of course, Zhao Hanzhang was not only using thunderous means; she also created a lecturing team from famous contemporary physicians and literate scholars with medical understanding to explain the pros and cons of Five Stone Powder to the public, telling them why she strictly prohibited it.
Initially, she truly believed Five Stone Powder could treat a certain kind of typhoid symptom and was irreplaceable, leading to its popularity at one time.
When she decided to restrict Five Stone Powder and prohibited its use by non-patients, the Imperial Physicians banded together to petition her to revamp the laws, "...thoroughly prohibit the sale of Five Stone Powder, and destroy all formulas held by various families and pharmacies."
Zhao Hanzhang became curious, "I read that Five Stone Powder has the effect of warming yang and warding off cold, and is effective for ailments like rheumatism. Why then must it be entirely destroyed?"
Doctor Zhang, as the representative, explained, "Five Stone Powder does have such effects, but there are many formulas that can achieve this effect, not solely the formula of Five Stone Powder. However, the presence of Five Stone Powder harms the people and the nation, providing only a thin benefit while causing immense harm, hence it should be destroyed and not preserved."
In this world, any knowledgeable doctor knew the dangers of Five Stone Powder, and the call to prohibit it was not raised only upon Zhao Hanzhang’s arrival; her grandfather, as well as Fu Zhi and even Wang Yan, had suggested prohibiting the formula before.
However, Zhao Changyu and Fu Zhi’s energy was limited, and Wang Yan faced numerous constraints, not to mention that his younger brother was addicted to Five Stone Powder and wouldn’t heed advice.
Among all the major noble families, the Wang Family had the most people using Five Stone Powder, making it impossible to prohibit completely.
The current prohibition efforts were being led by Zhao Hanzhang, and among the Zhao Family, as far as the Imperial Physicians were aware, from seventy-year-old elders to underage youths, no one used Five Stone Powder.
Thus they saw this as an opportunity.
This might be the only chance in a hundred years to finally prohibit this formula.
Zhao Hanzhang indeed insisted on this law, but with no reliance on Five Stone Powder, many people genuinely feared they would die from cold the next moment.
While a considerable portion of people consumed Five Stone Powder out of indulgence, it couldn’t be denied that some truly used it for typhoid prevention.
Therefore, to reassure them, the Imperial Physicians were diligently researching treatments for typhoid, and many people sighed, "If only the Medical Saint’s Shang Han Za Bing Lun (Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Miscellaneous Diseases) were still available in the world."
Zhang Zhongjing’s Shang Han Za Bing Lun, due to over a hundred years of war, had long been lost, and Zhao Hanzhang could only publish a request in various newspapers.
It stated that anyone who contributed a genuine copy would be greatly rewarded.
So far, no one had contributed such a medical book.
Therefore, the Imperial Physicians could only trace Zhang Zhongjing’s footsteps and study all available medical texts, and they were very busy. On top of that, they also had to treat Yuan Li’s face...
In fact, Doctor Zhang always had a thought he dared not voice: a dignified man, Yuan Li was not only a General but also a harsh official. So what if there was a scar on his face? It made him look daunting and befitting his status. Why insist on removing it?
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