I studied in modern times

Chapter 890 The dead are more useful than the living

In the blink of an eye, it was autumn, the White Dew had passed, and the autumn wind began to blow across the city of Bianjing.

In just two or three days, the temperature in Bianjing City dropped by seven or eight degrees.

Zhao Xu also changed his daily clothes from light and breathable summer clothes to thicker autumn clothes.

The color of the clothes changed from white to brown.

Today is a routine physical examination day.

Therefore, Empress Dowager Xiang ordered to suspend court for one day and stay in Baoci Palace to watch over Qian Yi's physical examination.

After a series of physical examinations - measuring height, weighing weight, auscultating heartbeat, pulse, etc., and recording the relevant data one by one in a special booklet.

Qian Yi took the records of his height, weight, breathing rate, pulse, and meals consumed during previous physical examinations and compared them.

"How?" asked Queen Mother Xiang nervously.

After a careful comparison, Qian Yi bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the emperor's health is better than last time."

"Not only has my height increased by an inch, but my weight has also increased by two kilograms..."

"What's particularly gratifying is that Guan's breathing rate, heart rate, and pulse rate have reached the upper-middle level among the men of the same age in Bianjing counted by the Institute of Pharmacy!"

"It can be seen that the official's old illness should be of no serious consequence!"

After hearing this, Empress Dowager Xiang was immediately delighted.

Zhao Xu also clenched his fist with great joy, thinking: "Finally, my three years of daily exercise and my efforts to promote the development of medicine in Song Dynasty at all costs have paid off!"

For the sake of his own life, after Zhao Xu ascended the throne, he ordered Qian Yi to follow the medical record system of modern medicine and create a file for his own health, medication, etc.

Later, in order to win over the people, this system was extended to all ministers above the rank of Taizhi in Beijing.

This policy has worked amazingly well.

The health of many ministers has improved.

Cui Taifu is the most obvious example.

Originally, according to Zhao Xu's previous life, he should have been seriously ill and difficult to treat by now.

But after arriving in Beijing, with the careful care of the imperial physicians at the Imperial Medical Bureau and the limited legal studies, he was able to have plenty of time to rest.

So he is still full of energy till now.

In addition to regular physical examinations and keeping records of physical conditions.

The biggest thing Zhao Xu did was to use the two existing welfare institutions, Futianyuan and Shuyaosuo, and open a large number of Shuyaosuo in Bianjing City based on the trainee military doctors who returned from the Southern Expedition.

These medicine houses provided the most basic medical supplies to the lower-class people in Bianliang.

A large number of cheap prepared medicines are being introduced to the market.

Although, Zhao Xu's original intention was to worry that the plague would spread in the capital and affect his own life.

However, this still brought great benefits to the people of Bianjing.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhao Xu has a particularly good reputation among the people.

Those trainee military doctors who regularly provide free medical services at Futianyuan, those imperial physicians who see patients in the pharmacy, and all kinds of cold and wind medicine pills that cost as little as a dozen coins and no more than a hundred coins a pack can be afforded even by the lowest-income people in Bianliang.

Although these prepared medicines are mainly ready-made medicines for treating colds.

The efficacy of the treatment also varies.

The advantage is that it is cheap and easy to obtain!

For example, this summer, an epidemic of colds broke out in the city of Bianjing.

But, in the end, the number of deaths was no more than a few hundred.

Most of the victims were the elderly and weak, and almost no young and middle-aged people died!

This is simply a miracle!
In the past, whenever an epidemic like this broke out, there were always thousands or tens of thousands of deaths.
Of course, it can be done.

In addition to medicine, perhaps more importantly, the Street Department led by Jia Zhongmin has made remarkable achievements in public health in Bianjing City!
The Street Office relied on collecting various property fees and sanitation fees from merchants and owners of luxury homes in Bianjing, and then employed thousands of elderly people and women.

They were given two strings of cash and a lunch every month, and were asked to clean the streets, remove feces and various household garbage.

This brought about a radical change in the sanitary conditions in the city of Bianjing.

There are no more piles of animal manure on the streets, and there are no more mosquitoes, flies, or foul odors in the canals of the neighborhoods.

In addition, it may also be because after the drought in the eighth year of Yuanfeng, Miao Shou led the three yamen imperial guards to dig a large number of wells in the city of Bianjing. The well-drilling team led by Miao Shou dug thousands of wells in two years.

Although, most of the wells were used by these guys as a means of livelihood and turned into long-term business.

This made the idle men in the streets add "the three yamen eat water" after the saying "the three shifts eat fragrance, the herdsmen eat feces".

But modern practice has proved that clean drinking water is vital to the health of residents!
In addition to these measures.

For the sake of his own life, Zhao Xu issued an order in the second half of last year, requiring the Imperial Medical Bureau to conduct regular physical examinations on the children of officials above the rank of imperial official in Beijing.

Of course, it was impossible for these people to undergo such detailed physical examinations as Zhao Xu and the ministers.

It is just a simple measurement of body and weight, and checking of basic conditions such as breathing, heartbeat, pulse, etc.

Moreover, they are all just treated as data.

But this still saved countless children's lives.

In the Middle Ages, early detection and early treatment of diseases were better than any panacea.

This is also one of the reasons why many middle and low-level ministers are extremely supportive of Zhao Xu.

Since the implementation of this policy, the mortality rate among children of officials in Beijing has dropped significantly.

In ancient times, the way to win people's hearts was simply to take off their clothes and give them food.

Zhao Xu directly sent people to conduct regular physical examinations for officials' children.

what is this?
God’s grace is so great!
This means that everyone owes Zhao Xu a favor for saving his son/grandson - the emperor sends doctors to diagnose and cure diseases before they occur.

As a result, there were a large number of officials in the city of Bianliang who had never even seen Zhao Xu.

But he was grateful and loyal to Zhao Xu.

Because, in their hearts, Zhao Xu had already done them a favor.

And it’s a great favor!
Although, Zhao Xu's original intention was just to collect statistical data, his starting point was to protect his own life.

However, these policies have invisibly accumulated for him countless reputations and won the hearts of countless people and officials.

This is also the reason why the emperor can no longer hold court in the Qingshou Palace.

From top to bottom, there are countless people who don't want or desire the old lady from the Qingshou Palace to come out and cause trouble.

They only wanted Zhao Xu to take power as soon as possible!
Because, in the hearts of these people, there is such a logic - the emperor has not yet taken power, but we have already received such favors!

If the emperor takes power, wouldn't good days for everyone be here soon?
Zhao Xu asked Qian Yi for a copy of the physical examination and read it carefully.

The more I watch, the happier I become.

Because, according to Qian Yi's physical examination, his breathing, heartbeat, pulse, height, and weight are now the same as those of healthy people of the same age. In fact, some data are even better than many of his peers!
In the previous life, the shadow of premature death due to a childhood illness seemed to be fading away.

If you keep going, your lifespan in this lifetime should be the same as Ren Miao's, or even exceed Ren Miao's, and you should live to be sixty!
If I can live past sixty...

Zhao Xu couldn't help but feel his heart pounding and began to fantasize.

no way!
Sixty years old is just the starting point for a longevity champion like Wen Yanbo.

But for the Zhao family, it is an unreachable ceiling!

Even an emperor on horseback like Emperor Taizu died before he reached the age of sixty.

Since Taizong, the health of the Zhao officials has been getting worse and worse.

In his previous life, Zhao Xu died young.

Therefore, no one attaches more importance to health preservation and wellness than Zhao Xu.

He is willing to spend any amount of money for his own health.

Putting down the medical report in his hand, Zhao Xu said to Qian Yi: "Qian Aiqing, you have served me for three years!"

"For the past three years, you have taken care of everything yourself, and I remember it all!"

"Now, I am in good health, and you have made an indelible contribution to this!"

He looked at Empress Dowager Xiang and said, "Mother, I want Qian Qing to change his literary talent... What do you think?"

Empress Dowager Xiang would not refuse, she smiled and nodded: "Sixth brother is right!"

"It is indeed time to reward Imperial Doctor Qian!"

Qian Yi listened and was extremely excited.

He immediately bowed his head and said, "I thank the emperor and the queen for their grace!"

In the Song Dynasty, the highest reward for ministers other than civil officials was a special decree allowing them to change their literary qualifications.

Not to mention, Qian Yi was just an imperial physician who was a former performing arts official.

Zhao Xu looked at Qian Yi and said, "According to the tradition, if the officials of the East Class want to change their literary qualifications, they should be demoted according to the rules... Are you willing?"

Qian Yi was unwilling and bowed his head repeatedly.

When Zhao Xu saw this, he ordered someone to go to the Secretariat to convey his imperial edict, and ordered the Secretariat Sheren on duty to draft an edict to transfer Qian Yi from the Eastern Class to the various departments and to describe the official ranks of the civil officials.

Qian Yi thanked him profusely and bowed his head repeatedly.

Zhao Xu looked at it and sighed in his heart.

"If we want to make the art officials follow the right path... we have a long way to go!"

but……

It's not that there are no loopholes to exploit.

"It just so happens that Lu Huiqing will enter the palace tomorrow... I can tell him to open a loophole for the promotion of the art officers in Xihe and invent a few special assignments for the art officers!"

As long as a hole is opened, there will be a gap.

Then, through these gaps, we can slowly open up the upward channel for the art officers.

"Besides, I can also write some articles for the imperial examination next year..."

"The will Sima Guang left before his death may have a miraculous effect!"

Zhao Xu blinked and thought of Sima Guang.

When Sima Guang was dying, he dictated his will, which was written down by Fan Zuyu and finally submitted to Zhao Xu.

The content of his will is naturally consistent with what he has always advocated.

He mainly put forward his views and opinions on the government, the world, and policies.

But, none of this matters.

Because Sima Guang's theories and views are all based on the small peasant economy.

Moreover, none of them may be correct!

It may not even be realistic!
It's just his personal political ideals and ambitions.

Can……

Sima Guang's will contained many things that Zhao Xu could borrow.

For example, regarding the reform of the imperial examination system, Sima Guang believed that the current imperial examination system was totally incorrect!

Testing only on the meaning of classics caused big problems in the country's talent selection.

Therefore, he suggested that we should "recruit talents without any restrictions".

So, how can we achieve the goal of "recruiting talents regardless of their background"?

The answer is to bypass the current imperial examination system and establish a new examination system!

Alternatively, under the current imperial examination system, add a few more examination methods to select talents.

In general, it is actually the same as the "Ten Subjects System for Selecting Scholars" proposed by Sima Guang back then.

The ten-subject system for selecting officials was a standard reflection of the old party's ideology.

But the problem is that Sima Guang is dead now!

The dead cannot speak, object or protest.

How to interpret and understand his words depends entirely on the needs of the living people.

It was entirely possible for Zhao Xu to carry out imperial examination reform under the banner of Sima Guang.

For example...

In the imperial examination, there was a subject called "Gewu" which was specifically used to recruit candidates who passed the Gewu examination.

If someone objects, they will bring up Sima Guang - So, do you want to oppose Sima Wengong's posthumous letter?

Of course, if we were to open a separate subject called Gewu in the imperial examination next year, we might face the dilemma of having few people sign up to take the exam.

However, what if we raise the status and initial official rank of Jinshi graduates from the Ming Dynasty mathematics and Ming Dynasty law subjects?

For example, what if the top three Jinshi candidates in the Ming Dynasty mathematics and Ming Dynasty law subjects are regarded as successful Jinshi candidates?

Then, when the initial assignment is made, the Ministry of Personnel will arrange the corresponding economic/criminal assignment.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xu laughed.

"Knew it!"

"Dead people are more useful than living people!"

(End of this chapter)