Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

In the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area, Liu Lishun soon received news that a new type of hospital would be built there for vaccination and epidemic prevention.

He was somewhat puzzled by this and asked Zhang Yixian:

"What's this for?"

"Does this mean that a lot of people from Hubei and Hunan are coming here, and we need to strengthen epidemic prevention measures?"

As a eunuch from Suzhou and Songjiang, Zhang Yixian had many sources of information within the palace. He replied:
"It's smallpox vaccine from the Imperial Medical Academy, and it needs to undergo three phases of trials in various locations."

"Besides the capital, there are also Tianjin, Liaoyang, Suzhou and Songjiang, and other places."

"Once you've chosen a good location, it would be best to hire some more people."

"If you're short of money, I'll help you solve it."

Liu Lishun was delighted, because the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area was undergoing massive construction, and no amount of money could last forever.

He was naturally delighted that the Imperial Medical Academy was now increasing its investment.

Especially considering that imperial physicians are treating patients in the new district, wouldn't the sick people from Jiangnan rush over?

He said to Zhang Yixian:

"The Academy of Medical Sciences will also establish a research institute in the new district to study diseases in the Jiangnan area."

"The Imperial Medical Academy is coming to open a hospital; I think we can put them together."

"We could also build a pharmaceutical industrial park to specifically develop the pharmaceutical industry."

Zhang Yixian was delighted and said:
"If everyone were like you, things would be much easier."

"His Majesty attaches great importance to epidemic prevention; this is a long-term task."

"We must study prevention and control for all large-scale infectious diseases."

This requires a large investment and takes a long time.

Liu Lishun pondered deeply, considering the difficulties of building other industrial parks, and proposed:

"In that case, it would be best to set up a school to provide talent for the hospital."

"When I was building other industrial parks, I felt a deep lack of talent, so I plan to set up a school in the new district."

"The imperial court plans to establish schools in Nanjing. Could some of them be allocated to the new district?"

Zhang Yixian hadn't thought about this, but he felt it wouldn't be difficult. He pondered:

"His Majesty intends to establish a school in Nanjing. Just as there are schools in Beijing, there should be one in Nanjing as well."

"However, apart from the Imperial Academy and the Martial Arts Academy, no other schools have been established in Nanjing yet."

"Now that the royal family has established an education fund, you can apply for it."

"Like the naval academy in Tianjin, it was one of the nine major universities in the capital."

Liu Lishun knew that there were schools in Tianjin affiliated with the capital, which is why he had this idea. He said to Zhang Yixian:
“The shipbuilding and steelmaking industries in the new district need talent. Currently, we mainly use engineering battalions. I plan to build an engineering school.”

"If the Academy of Medical Sciences wants to set up a research institute here, I think we could build a medical school here, just like in the capital."

“With schools, epidemic prevention will be much easier, and we can delegate the task to them.”

"If it is convenient, Your Majesty, please inscribe this message."

Zhang Yixian was delighted to hear this, knowing that the Emperor valued education and appreciated the inscription. He smiled and said:
"If you prepare this, His Majesty will be very happy when he hears about it."

"It would be best to hire some capable and renowned doctors for the school and hospital, especially those who are skilled in treating smallpox and malaria."

"His Majesty intends to deal with smallpox first, and then deal with malaria."

Both of these diseases are common, and even wealthy families cannot escape them.

Liu Lishun was very concerned because his deputy, Qi Biaojia, had contracted malaria, and said happily:

"If these two diseases could truly be cured, that would be a great merit."

"Has the Imperial Medical Academy made some breakthrough that has made the Emperor so determined?"

Zhang Yixian said with a smile:

"A breakthrough has been made in smallpox vaccination; converting human smallpox to cowpox can reduce the mortality rate of smallpox inoculation."

"This time, we're just promoting varicella vaccination and seeing how effective it is."

Upon hearing this, Liu Lishun became very interested.

As a densely populated area, the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area has always attached great importance to epidemic prevention and control.

If he can eradicate smallpox in the new district during his term, it will be a great achievement.

He became even more concerned about malaria, and he was heartbroken that Qi Biaojia was unable to perform his duties due to malaria.

He asked Zhang Yixian:

"If smallpox can be prevented through inoculation, can malaria also be prevented?"

"And for those who are already infected, how should they be treated?"

Zhang Yixian also knew about Qi Biaojia's situation and said:
"A vaccine for malaria has not yet been developed, but progress has been made in how to treat it."

“Ge Hong’s ‘Emergency Prescriptions for the Elbow’ says: Take a handful of Artemisia annua, soak it in two liters of water, squeeze out the juice, and drink it all.”

"This prescription was ineffective when decocted before. It was only after His Majesty reminded us that the Imperial Hospital knew it couldn't be decocted with hot water."

"The 'qinghao' mentioned by the ancients may also be the 'huanghuahao'. Before Li Shizhen's 'Compendium of Materia Medica', these two herbs were often referred to as 'qinghao'."

"The Imperial Medical Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences conducted careful research and found that extracting juice from Artemisia annua resulted in better treatment effects."

"However, its effect is not enough. According to His Majesty, the artemisinin content is not high enough, and we need to find a way to extract it."

"The pharmaceutical research institute in the new district could also study this and see what methods can be used to extract it more effectively."

Liu Lishun was very pleased to hear this and immediately planned to make the arrangements.

If Qi Biaojia's malaria is cured, he can help him with more work.

However, Zhang Yixian was more worried about Liu Lishun contracting malaria and reminded him:

"His Majesty said that malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are transmitted by mosquitoes."

"You must be careful not to get malaria too."

Liu Lishun was surprised and wondered if this statement was correct.

However, considering that the emperor's predictions had all come true, he decided to believe them for the time being.

It was just that keeping mosquitoes away was really too difficult, which made him frown.

Zhang Yixian, recalling the health and epidemic prevention policies of the capital, said:
"Mosquitoes mostly breed in sewage. In recent years, Beijing has been repairing its sewers and paving the ground to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in stinking ditches."

"If the new district has the money, it can also do these things."

"We can't just repair the road surface; we also need to look at what's underneath."

Upon hearing this, Liu Lishun realized that he had indeed overlooked this point.

He used to think that as long as the city he built didn't have floods, it would be fine; now it seems that even surface sewage is unacceptable.

He plans to emulate the cities of Beijing and Ganzhou by building better sewers.

Zhang Yixian then thought of something else and said:

"His Majesty once listed flies, mosquitoes, rats, and bedbugs as the four pests and ordered them to be eliminated from the palace."

“Your new district is newly established, and you can also eliminate the four pests.”

"And then there's the Oncomelania snail. His Majesty said that schistosomiasis is spread by it, and the palace forbids the consumption of these aquatic products that are prone to parasites."

He told Liu Lishun about some of the regulations implemented in the palace.

Liu Lishun carefully noted it down, planning to carry out a campaign to eliminate the four pests in the new district, and to include snails.

He handed the matter over to Qi Biaojia, putting the deputy district head, who was infected with malaria, in charge of health and epidemic prevention.

Qi Biaojia suffered greatly from malaria and deeply abhorred the epidemic.

Under his strict orders, the sanitation campaign in the new district was launched in full swing, becoming a model for cities in southern China.

As a result, more and more people are flocking to the new district to enjoy a cleaner and more hygienic urban life.
-
After arranging this matter, Liu Lishun went to the dock to see off Sun Yuanhua and his party.

After resting here for more than a month, they have fully recovered their energy.

Arrangements have been made in the capital, awaiting their return. Sun Yuanhua was extremely grateful for Liu Lishun's care during this time and specially kept several talented individuals to help Liu Lishun establish an engineering school.

They also left several students to work in the foreign trade industrial park, responsible for attracting Westerners.

After seeing him off, Liu Lishun went to inspect the foreign trade industrial park, which is also a key development area this year, focusing on foreign trade.

He still remembered that the supply and marketing group was going to issue foreign trade vouchers. If this matter was accomplished, the new district and the imperial court would have a lot more money.

He asked Shen Tingyang, who was accompanying him on the inspection:
What do you think of this industrial park?

"Can we attract foreign businesses?"

Shen Tingyang hesitated for a moment, then asked:

What does a foreign trade industrial park do?

"Please forgive me for not understanding."

Liu Lishun frowned and said:
"Of course, a foreign trade industrial park is for foreign trade. What's so hard to understand?"

Shen Tingyang said:

"The range of foreign trade is vast. Does this industrial park produce everything?"

“If foreign businesses don’t have the goods they need, they won’t come here specifically.”

Liu Lishun frowned and said:
What are essential goods?

"Silk, tea, or porcelain?"

“These things are rarely produced in the new district.”

Shen Tingyang said:

"So the students thought that if the foreign trade industrial park wanted to attract foreign businesses, it had to find products that were not available elsewhere."

“The products currently being produced in the new district are not particularly distinctive, so we need to find assistance from other places.”

“Porcelain from Jingdezhen, for example, can be introduced into the foreign trade park.”

Offering his suggestion, Shen Tingyang roughly drew a line and said:
"This is the Yangtze River, and ships can navigate this area."

"The students thought that they could send people to investigate and bring together the specialties from the Yangtze River region to the new district."

"Jingdezhen is located near the Changjiang River, which flows into Poyang Lake and connects with the Yangtze River."

"The new district should take the initiative to open up this air route and attract porcelain manufacturers from Jingdezhen to come here."

This proposal greatly appealed to Liu Lishun, who recalled that in the emperor's plan, the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area was not only the core of the Taihu Lake Basin but also the leading area of ​​the Yangtze River Basin.

When the new district was first established last year, his focus was on the Taihu Lake area. Now that the Taihu Lake basin has recognized the new district's status, the next step is to expand to the Yangtze River basin.

He immediately decided:
"Come, come with me to see Governor Cao."

"Have him issue an official document in the name of the Taihu Inspector General to contact the Yangtze River Inspector General's Office."

"The shipping routes of the Yangtze River and Taihu Lake should be integrated into one."

We should encourage Cao Wenheng to do this, so as to strengthen the position of Suzhou-Songjiang New Area in the Yangtze River Basin.
-
Cao Wenheng was very cooperative with Liu Lishun, but he was more concerned about the Taihu Lake Basin.

After writing the suggestions as requested by Liu Lishun, he said to Liu Lishun:

"Fuli, don't just think about the outside world. There are still many good things around Taihu Lake!"

Of the six famous teas in the world, only Songluo tea comes from Huizhou; the others are all from Jiangnan.

"With so many famous teas, how can you say there are no local specialties?"

Liu Lishun didn't really pay much attention to this, because most of these famous teas were produced in western Zhejiang.

Now that Cao Wenheng had reminded him, he immediately said:

“Your Excellency is absolutely right. I will make arrangements immediately to recruit tea merchants from these places.”

"If tea futures were traded in the new district, that would be a wonderful thing."

Speaking of this, Cao Wenheng also said with some excitement:

"This futures exchange is truly a wonderful thing."

"Salt from Lianghuai and raw silk from Huzhou are all traded here."

"The stamp duty alone amounts to tens of thousands of taels of silver."

I was amazed and found it unbelievable.

It's important to know that the stamp duty rate is only one-thousandth.

The stamp duty of tens of thousands of taels of silver represents trade worth tens of millions of taels of silver.

If it weren't for the futures exchange, he would have had no idea that there were so many wealthy people in Jiangnan.

Liu Lishun also sighed a few times, hoping to use Cao Wenheng's power to include more products in the futures exchange for trading.

Because of the foreign trade industrial park, he discovered that in addition to becoming an industrial city, the new district could also become a commercial center.

Of course, what he most wanted was to produce it himself.

Therefore, after reviewing the trading data for raw silk and cotton fabric on the futures exchange, he approached Zhang Yixian and said:

"Eunuch Zhang, do you have any ideas about the Suzhou textile business?"

"We can't keep selling looms without making clothes."

Zhang Yixian said somewhat dejectedly:

"What else can we do? The Emperor hasn't made any arrangements."

"The tax collection is now all handled by you; our family can only supervise."

Liu Lishun's face darkened; he hadn't expected this eunuch to want to collect taxes.

They were secretly relieved that the emperor had some restraint over them, only granting them the power of supervision.

He said patiently:

"The Emperor has arranged important matters, but you should also take the initiative."

"Is the Suzhou Textile Bureau wealthy now?"

"Why not follow Beijing's example and hold a fashion festival in the new district?"

Upon hearing this suggestion, Zhang Yixian began to ponder it.

He knew how popular the Beijing Fashion Festival was; a few days ago, some merchants who cooperated with Suzhou textile manufacturers went to Beijing to participate in the festival.

The Beijing style, which originated in the capital, has now become a popular fashion trend in Jiangnan, along with the Suzhou style.

With Suzhou's fashion as a foundation, the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area is indeed qualified to host a fashion festival.
"With Suzhou style popular all over the world, a fashion festival can be held."

"Wouldn't that steal the limelight from the capital and displease the Emperor?"

Liu Lishun hadn't even considered this worry. He said:

“Su-style clothing has also been showcased at fashion festivals in Beijing and has not been treated differently.”

"Moreover, your father-in-law has connections in the capital, and can bring the popular clothing, especially the official robes, from the capital to Suzhou and Songjiang."

"The emperor will be pleased, and the style of the capital will spread to the south."

Zhang Yixian thought about it and agreed. The Beijing style was developed from the palace style, and many of the garments were originally from the imperial court. After the current emperor relaxed the restrictions, they became popular among the common people.

Given the current emperor's temperament, he would probably be even happier to know that the palace style is popular among the people of Jiangnan, as he has always touted himself as someone who shares joy with the people.

At Liu Lishun's suggestion, Zhang Yixian immediately decided to hold a similar clothing festival in the new district.

Under Liu Lishun's leadership, the clothing festival used many silk fabrics, a specialty of the Jiangnan region, as well as cotton cloth from Songjiang, to promote the development of the clothing industry in the new district.

In particular, to live up to the name of an industrial city, he also showcased a variety of workers' clothing and held a foot race that female workers had previously participated in.

We should take practical actions to support female workers in unbinding their feet, and to promote the beauty of more rounded feet.

As a result, many shoes and socks were exhibited at the fashion festival.

The variety of styles of shoes and socks made those who could only bind their feet and wear embroidered shoes envious.

Merchants in the new district who manufacture socks and shoes also promote the beauty of natural feet in the newspapers.

Zhu Youjian's idea of ​​encouraging foot binding through shoe merchants was finally put into practice. (End of Chapter)