Chapter 391: Humanity’s Deep-Rooted Disease

"The troubled times in Rome are indeed similar to those in China.

Zhang Zhongjing kept his hands on his hands and made a rare comment at the same time.

For the old gentleman, although he didn't care much about it outside of the medical profession, he probably knew the vague historical trend behind him.

The decline of both sides seems to have lasted as long as the troubled times, and now even the excitement of religion and the state of the epidemic are relatively similar.

Although those specific symptoms are not quite consistent with the previous typhoid fever, it was caused by cold. To doctors in the Han Dynasty today, it was typhoid fever.

But at the same time, Zhang Zhongjing was also very envious of the in-depth medical research of later generations.

I also secretly made up my mind that after today's incident, I would seek advice from Mr. Kong Ming and study this medical doctrine together.

Later generations can use it for more than a thousand years. This long time itself is enough to illustrate its value.

As for the dogma that later generations would reform after it was abandoned, Zhang Zhongjing simply did not dare to hope for the time being.

As all the military advisors and lords have lamented, even if there is a heavenly palace for later generations, it will probably be difficult to copy it even if it is a drop in the bucket with all the strength of the country.

The same is true in medicine. Just like a baby learning to walk, it first learns to crawl, then to walk, and then to run.

It is not the behavior of a benevolent person to be anxious for his own success and seek his own interests.

Zhang Zhongjing had just cautiously given his judgment now, but what surprised Liu Bei even more was the ancient Roman system explained by his younger generation:

"Public food rationing?"

This is a completely unfamiliar long word, but if you break it into two parts, the meaning is not difficult for Liu Bei and others to understand.

It is said in the Book of Rites that the world is for the common good.

So can't this long word be understood as the food ration shared by the world?

Liu Bei was probably just surprised when he learned about the system of later generations. After all, after thousands of years, the evolution of the national system was beyond his ability to deduce.

But ancient Rome was at the same time as the Han Dynasty, and judging from the meaning of this written record, even if it suffered from a great epidemic and troubled times, such food rationing was still implemented!

This is a completely different method from that of the Han Dynasty, but it still seems to have been effective for hundreds of years. At this time, Liu Bei was really surprised and curious.

On the one hand, Kong Ming was equally amazed by this generosity of ancient Rome, but on the other hand, he also raised questions:

"The rationing of these foods must be based on status."

After all, if we can feed everyone without restraint, then Arabia will not rise again. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go to ancient Rome and eat the food we brought here?

And if the empire wants to implement such a system, it must have corresponding food collection methods.

Food cannot be produced by the emperor's words. Even in the West, food can only be grown from the soil.

So how did ancient Rome possess such arrogant and stable food reserves and sources became what Kong Ming was curious about.

Kong Ming also carefully took that map out of Chengdu, and carefully placed it in Hanzhong before. It was not until it was determined that Tongguan had conquered the Three Qin Dynasties and pacified it, and that the Qinchuan River in Guanzhong was as stable as Mount Tai, did Kong Ming put the map away. I brought it here and now it is hanging behind me.

Looking back, the first thing Kong Ming saw was the south of the ancient Roman territory, where the climate was hotter than that of Rome.

Now that we know that Jiaozhou has Champa rice that matures every fifty days, and that there is a country as rich and fertile as Tianzhu, then maybe it is not surprising that the south of Rome is rich in food?

Moreover...the benefits brought by this giant lake, which later generations called the Mediterranean, were probably much greater than those of the Great Han River.

It has been measured before that the north and south of this huge lake are about 800 miles apart. It would be very beneficial to transport the baggage by boats.

But even so, everyone is inevitably envious.

This actually made Jian Yongcong more determined:

When everything in Xuande's office comes to an end, he, Jian Yong, will definitely go west.

In the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang went to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures. He, Jian Yong, followed the example of later generations and went to Rome to obtain the essence of Western science and send it to strengthen the Han Dynasty.

For this reason, even if you bury your bones in a foreign land, you won’t hesitate!

As for the rise of religion mentioned in the end, Zhang Fei could only sigh:

"This Roman man and I, the big man, are really brothers from different compatriots."

Pang Tong and other people with exquisite minds are even more alert. Although there are differences in the East and different systems, how similar are the trends of history?

…

Looking at the younger generation's meaningful words about the rise of religion, Sun Simiao was silent for a moment and suddenly became curious:

"The Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty was so unwise, how could he lock the demon Gan Zhongke in prison?"

After all, Sun Simiao probably remembered the story of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. He was incompetent in governing the country and neglected the government affairs, which allowed his relatives to gain power and cause Wang Mang's rebellion. He strangled his own children to death and eventually exterminated his own heirs.

Moreover, in his later years, such a foolish king was fond of offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods and seeking immortals. The Taiping Jing that Gan Zhongke pulled out also made reference to the Confucian prophecy theory, and he was quite capable in this regard.

At least the gods of heaven and so on that he pulled out are now believed by the people. It shows his ability, but he died at the hands of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty?

Li Shimin just smiled at this and said meaningfully:

"This Gan Zhongke falsely claims that destiny is to coerce the emperor."

"Those who lose their moral integrity and indulge in pleasure, like the Cheng Emperor, actually know better what destiny is."

Li Shimin didn't want to talk more about this, so he just smiled and changed the subject:

"I wonder what the relationship between the Byzantine Empire in the West and ancient Rome is at this time?"

At the same time, I also decided in my heart that after the opening of the sea is successful, I will send people who are good at writing secretaries to the West to sort out the history of their generation.

When the time comes, I will give it to my descendants. I wonder if it will surprise them?

Li Shimin didn't believe what the younger generation said casually about distributing food to everyone, and he believed that there must be some restrictions.

However, he was more curious about the things in the West because of this.

What made Li Shimin laugh in particular was the evaluation of Sima Yi:

"Fantasy literature...hahahaha."

[In this period, facing the epidemic, something of almost the same nature was quietly rising at the same time.

In the East, this kind of thing created the image of Wei and Jin madmen, and it became a trend among nobles and celebrities, and it circulated in this land for a thousand years.

Its name is still seen in the history books, leaving a mark that cannot be ignored. Its name is Wushisan.

In the West, this kind of thing is given a supreme name: Wanying Detoxification Medicine.

And its main ingredient is also familiar to people who have read history textbooks today: opium.

It is no longer possible to know where Wushisan started. It is more likely to come from folk alchemists in the Han Dynasty. Some people even speculate that the earliest source is Taiping Dao.

Because Wu Shi San is named after its main ingredients, which are five kinds of minerals, the name is quite easy to understand and does not seem to be the style of the alchemists raised by the nobles.

Its popularity is also due to epidemics. At first, it was because the typhoid fever in the late Han Dynasty would make the patient feel cold all over.

The medicinal properties of Wu Shi San are all hot and dry, and its accompanying effect of short-term poisoning is to confuse people's minds. This feeling of confusing the mind makes those celebrities very addicted.

Do you remember the celebrity we talked about before?

It is the one who asked loudly: Why are you all in my crotch?

This is the most typical symptom of excessive inhalation of Wu Shi San.

Inhaling Wu Shi San will make the body hot, so for the celebrities of Wei and Jin Dynasties, being naked after inhaling Wu Shi San is a celebrity style.

Long-term inhalation will make the symptoms of chronic poisoning in the body gradually worse, and the increasingly fragile skin cannot adapt to rough clothes at all, so "being frank" has also become a celebrity style in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

And this addictive drug also runs through the entire chaotic period of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, causing countless sins.

The history of opium in the West is even longer. At least according to the history of Westerners themselves, there are traces of poppy cultivation around 4,200 BC.

The Euphrates River Basin, one of the birthplaces of Western civilization, also has traces of poppy cultivation dating back 5,400 years. At that time, ancient humans called poppies "happy plants".

3,700 years ago, Assyrian doctors believed that poppies could cure all diseases. At that time, Assyrians would mix plant beverages to drink, and there were 115 kinds of beverages with poppies.

Because of its "curing all diseases" property, poppies were regarded as miracles in the ancient West. Ancient Greek gold coins were painted with poppies, and ancient Rome also engraved poppy patterns on tombstones, which shows the ancient Westerners' admiration for poppies.

The ancients at that time firmly believed that poppies could cure all diseases. For example, there was a record in the "Ebers Papyrus" of ancient Egypt 3,500 years ago that people at that time used poppies for external application to treat external injuries and fed them to babies to prevent them from crying at night.

Because of its hallucinogenic properties, opium poppy was quickly associated with religion and covered with a sacred coat.

Around 120 AD, the King of Pontus in Central Asia prepared the earliest version of the "panacea", which was said to make people immune to all poisons.

After this prescription was introduced to ancient Rome, it was personally improved by the famous tyrant Nero, which greatly increased the proportion of opium in the prescription, and soon became the royal elixir of the ancient Roman emperor, known as Diyega.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the famous doctor Galen later used poppy juice to prepare a more effective panacea antidote and gave it to the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the hope of curing the plague.

This opium product was also used on Commodus, the last emperor of the Antonine Dynasty, with unknown effects.

Later, some well-known monarchs in European history, such as Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, etc., were loyal customers of the opium product Diyega.

Needless to say, among the common people, people have the habit of taking opium products. The chaotic times and epidemics made the people face the same problems as the people in the late Han Dynasty.

As a result, opium products with hallucinogenic effects were active in the West until the 17th century.

It was not until then that doctors clearly pointed out the two-way effect of opium products: when treating patients, they would inevitably become addicted to them and eventually become toxic.

And this addiction later became a powerful weapon in colonial aggression. The large amount of opium dumped could quickly seize the wealth of the colonies, and it could also make the people in the colonies quickly addicted and lose their ability to resist. This is the Opium War that brought heavy pain to modern China.

And to this day, opium products are still active among the people in the West, but Wushisan has long disappeared in the long river of history.

What may surprise everyone is that the climate also contributed a lot to the elimination of this early addictive drug in ancient times. 】

The people in Ganlu Hall felt this most deeply.

After all, in addition to curing diseases and saving lives and studying medical skills, the current doctor Sun often does one thing, which is to publicize the harm of Wushisan.

That is why there are still some people among the Tang Dynasty princes and nobles who take Wu Shi San, but they basically don't publicize it.

But judging from the younger generation's opinion, what Doctor Sun said is not only correct, but the publicity of its harm is probably relatively small?

However, the younger generation is a bit secretive about its harm, which makes everyone in Ganlu Hall a little confused for a while:

It is said that this thing can cause endless harm, but how can it cause endless harm, and how can something similar to it leave huge pain to a country?

Li Shimin turned his attention to Sun Yaowang, and the rest of the people couldn't help but focus their attention on Sun Simiao.

After all, judging from how much later generations praise medicine and praise Zhang Zhongjing, we can probably tell:

This Sun Simiao is likely to be regarded as a "pioneer" in a certain sense in today's Tang Dynasty.

Sun Simiao took a long breath and had some thoughts in his mind:

"How poisonous Wushi Powder is, we will know in two months."

Then the gathered gazes gradually dispersed, and at the same time, Sun Simiao quietly approached Li Shimin.

"How many apes do you want?"

The meaning is not difficult to guess, because Li Shimin also understood when Guangmu talked about Dr. Galen's achievements before:

Apes are quite human-like, so if a drug is being trialled, apes can taste it first.

Li Shimin agreed with a wave of his hand, and said how could the number be enough? I'll give you at least forty or fifty, and Sun Simiao could only thank you dumbfounded.

At this moment, Li Shimin felt a little proud of himself. Now Zhenguan's style is pretty good.

Because Zhenguan's governance was quite effective, there are not many death row prisoners in the imperial prison today.

Coupled with the needs of Doctor Sun's autopsy, these death row prisoners need to be taken out for execution from time to time, and then the corpses are sent to the new Imperial Medical Office with clever names.

As a result, the number of death row inmates in the prison has been almost exhausted.

Otherwise, there is no need for apes, just test the medicine directly on the death row prisoners.

Having solved Sun Simiao's matter for the time being, Li Shimin is now a little surprised.

Later generations compared Wu Shi San with the opium product made from poppy - although I don't know why it was called opium.

But at least this attitude shows that the two are similar in nature.

Li Shimin had seen arty "celebrities" who took Wu Shi Powder, and their various illnesses were frightening.

This is why Li Shimin simply cannot imagine that the entire West has been taking this substance for five thousand years, and it has continued into what future generations call future generations...

Wait, Li Shimin knocked on his head and couldn't help but feel alert.

He was still wondering about the harmful effects of this opium, but considering that later generations in the West had known that this opium product was harmful, but it still continued to exist, we can already see its power.

So the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty let out a soft "hiss", and couldn't help but become more curious about the results of Dr. Sun's experiment.

Taking a small amount of Wushi Powder can produce fever and prevent cold illnesses. If you take Wushi Powder regularly and have severe illness, you can be said to have the style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

So what will be the final result of taking Wu Shi San in large amounts on a regular basis? This so-called addiction?

There was something wrong when modifying the ending. Refreshing can fix it.