Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 1013 Heroes Gather in a Small Mountain Village

Lu Jiuyuan, as a rising Confucian master, boasted of his extensive knowledge and experience, having seen many storms and waves.

But based on his experiences over the past two days, Lu Jiuyuan still felt like a frog in a well, floating on the water, unaware of the vastness of the world or the changing seasons.

The ancient saying, "Read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles," is indeed true.

How could one broaden their horizons so much without coming to this beautiful island?

"Artemisia annua can treat malaria. This is actually written in the book 'Elbow-Side Emergency Prescriptions' written by Ge Hong in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. However, it did not work in the experiments conducted by medical colleges."

"My mentor was also puzzled at the time. Later, the emperor gave me a suggestion: to use the methods of investigating things to improve medicine. It was a matter of boldly hypothesizing and carefully verifying."

"My mentor was inspired and realized that there are many kinds of wormwood, which may not be the most common ones. So he found various plants such as Artemisia capillaris, Artemisia argyi, Artemisia serrata, and Artemisia annua and conducted unified experiments. In the end, he discovered that the wormwood mentioned in the prescription was Artemisia annua, which is now known as Artemisia annua. It had about 30% efficacy."

"Later, during the pharmaceutical process, my mentor discovered that boiling the medicine in water would cause the ingredients to weaken, so he chose to dry it in the shade, grind it into powder, and soak it in water to make the medicine, which improved the efficacy by 50%."

"Later, my mentor felt that there must be some component in Artemisia annua that could kill malaria, so he wanted to isolate it. Eventually, he used the essence of strong liquor... oh, in medical school it is called alcohol... to extract the essence of Artemisia annua, and thus made Artemisia annua anti-malaria pill. One pill can achieve about 70% efficacy."

It has now begun to be distributed to sailors on ships, but alcohol is precious and medicinal pills are scarce; unless it's an emergency, they still need to continue being given artemisia decoction.

At dawn, Lu Jiuyuan, who had slept for half the night with "The Barefoot Guide to Measuring the Sky" in his arms, opened his eyes, but the words Song Yunlu had spoken the night before were still echoing in his mind.

To be fair, nothing that happened in the past two days was as impactful as this story.

The reason is simple: this is an age-old problem that medicine has solved through the method of investigating things, and the entire process is clear from beginning to end, making it impossible to fake.

Can a physician achieve this through the study of mind?

Lu Jiuyuan only thought about the question for a moment before shaking his head with a wry smile.

He was a great Confucian scholar of the School of Mind. If he could have done it, he would have done it long ago. Why would he cling to this obviously poorly printed "Barefoot Measuring the Sky Manual"?
The so-called philosophy of mind is that the mind is the principle, and the great principle is inherent in the mind. Without external force, one can obtain the ultimate truth simply by cultivating oneself and one's nature.

Lu Jiuyuan believed that he had not attained the ultimate truth, while others had attained it through the theory of investigating things. Doesn't this show that the theory of investigating things is the ladder to progress?

Take, for example, Xu Gong, who stayed home to rest during her pregnancy. Didn't she also gain profound insights into medicine? If she had made two more discoveries of the same caliber, do you believe that future generations of physicians would have revered her as a model for all ages?

Lu Jiuyuan never imagined that when he lectured in Zhu Xi's hometown of Fujian, the streets were packed with people. At that time, he was sweeping away the Neo-Confucianism with unstoppable momentum. But on this precious island far from the mainland, his doctrines were shattered by a casual wave of the unorthodox school of physiognomy.

In his confusion, Lu Jiuyuan heard a commotion outside. He quickly shook Qian Duanli awake, opened the door, and looked outside.

But Song Yunlu, who had only slept for three hours, was already full of energy and was gesturing wildly in the small square of Yunshan tribe.

Ignoring that Qian Duanli was still yawning, Lu Jiuyuan immediately pulled him over.

“I told you this last time I came, but you didn’t believe me. Livestock and people should be kept separate, and manure pits should be kept separate from food and water.”

"...boil the water before drinking it, and don't eat raw food. Don't complain about how hard it is to chop firewood; it's better than having worms in your stomach."

"...In addition, we need to burn stones into lime and sprinkle it around...to repel mosquitoes, snakes, and rats..."

"...We've tried to clean up all the stinking ponds, because they're all sources of disease."

Unlike last time when he was full of vigilance, this time Ah Bang nodded repeatedly, completely convinced: "If the Great Shaman says so, I will do it immediately."

Song Yunlu smiled and said with her hands behind her back, "I should come again next month. Ah Bang, you are a smart person and you learn Chinese quickly, so please don't let me down."

No sooner had they finished speaking than they heard someone shouting loudly from the outskirts of Yunshan, which seemed to include a few words of Chinese.

The two Han Chinese warriors who had been following Song Yunlu immediately ran towards that direction.

Qian Duanli immediately perked up: "Has someone come to rescue us?"

Lu Jiuyuan shook his head: "No, Mr. Qian, listen carefully, this is not a Jiangnan accent."

"Hahaha! Old Song! I heard you're in trouble, I've come to help you!"

A moment later, a loud voice rang out, and a tall, burly man wearing chainmail and an outer robe led more than ten warriors dressed similarly into the mountain path. Upon seeing Song Yunlu from afar, he waved repeatedly.

Song Yunlu showed no joy, only wiping her face: "He Zizhen! You bastard, stop right now, don't start fighting, this is a situation I worked so hard to achieve!"

Upon hearing this, more than ten armored Han soldiers laid down their weapons, while the young savages who had already surrounded them with wooden spears gradually retreated under Abang's reprimands.

He Zizhen strode forward, his mouth never stopping: "Old Song, I just arrived in Beigang and heard that a nobleman had been kidnapped by wild men in the mountains. Lin Zongchen is almost going crazy. I immediately thought it was you. So, I brought my men over right away. How about it, aren't you overjoyed? Do you think I'm a chivalrous hero?"

Upon hearing this, Song Yunlu lost her composure and instead bared her teeth: "You scoundrel, I clearly told you before that I was going to come to these tribes to treat the sick and carry out epidemic prevention, why are you doing this again?"

In just a few words, He Zizhen had already arrived, but instead of answering Song Yunlu, he turned to look at Abang, whose face showed a look of fear.

After looking Ah Bang up and down, He Zizhen grinned, revealing two rows of big white teeth: "You know me."

Ah Bang shook his head repeatedly.

Although he didn't know He Zizhen, he recognized the armor and the red and black robe.

On that day, the mountain tribes formed a coalition and swept towards Beigang in a mighty force, hoping to have a good meal, but they were met with a head-on defeat by these invulnerable iron men.

Ah Bang remembered clearly that it was this person wearing strange clothes who rode a four-hoofed iron horse and rampaged through the ranks of the savage alliance. Countless heroes who could traverse mountains and rivers as easily as walking on flat ground were turned into pieces of rotten flesh before they could even withstand a single round.

He Zizhen withdrew his murderous gaze, turned to look at Lu Jiuyuan and Qian Duanli, and said with a half-smile, "Since it wasn't Old Song who was kidnapped, then it must be you two. May I ask your surnames, Mr. Lu and Mr. Qian?"

Faced with such blatant mockery, Lu Jiuyuan's heart skipped a beat again, but he still forced a smile and said, "General He is joking. We are just nobody."

He Zizhen laughed: "Your Mr. Lu is far inferior to the Mr. Lu I know. Don't you realize that Beigang is already in an uproar because of the kidnapping of the two of you? I'm not without eyes and ears, how could I not find out the news?"

Lu Jiuyuan was speechless, then could only laugh and say, "Naturally, I can't compare to Master Lu."

He Zizhen looked Lu Jiuyuan up and down again before tilting his head to look at Qian Duanli: "Master Qian, the Privy Councilor of the Song Kingdom, the Grand Chancellor of the Western Palace, a prime minister of the Song Kingdom has fallen from the sky onto this treasure island. Tsk tsk, how about it, do you want to come with me to Yanjing?"

Qian Duanli felt the urge to cry again.

"He Erlang!" Another angry shout came from the edge of the forest, and the chieftain called Abang looked southeast with a numb expression.

Nearly a hundred warriors in tight-fitting clothes filed out of the mountains and forests, led by an old general with white hair and beard.

"With me, Li Bao, here, do you still think you can kidnap my great Song Dynasty prime minister?"

Following behind Li Bao, Li Gongzuo was carrying a wild man. He gave He Zizhen a dry smile as a greeting.

This savage was the same one Lin San had captured earlier; he confessed everything after being whipped twice. However, it was already night, so no matter how anxious Lin Zongchen was, he could only gather his men and prepare for battle.

Li Bao was shocked upon hearing this news.

If the Chancellor of the Western Palace of the State of Song and the great Confucian scholar were eaten by savages, it would become a laughing stock that would be remembered for all time.

Li Bao dared not delay and immediately led his elite personal guards to act together with Lin Zongchen, arriving at the territory of the Yunshan tribe the next morning.

Ah Bang looked at the group of Han Chinese, and sweat immediately covered his entire face.

The territory of the Yunshan tribe was like a public toilet; people could come and go as they pleased. It was only because of the cover of dense forests and the fact that the Han people were too lazy to organize a force to wipe them out that it was able to be completely destroyed long ago.

It can only be said that the small island tribes were like ants when facing a proper fighting nation.

He Zizhen and Li Bao faced off for a moment, then He Zizhen looked at the embarrassed Li Gongzuo and Lin Zongchen with a smile, and finally couldn't help but laugh out loud again.

"It's not easy to get so many people together." He Zizhen said proudly, holding his sword. "There are ministers, scholars, generals, and wealthy merchants from the Song Dynasty, as well as generals, ship owners, and doctors from our Han Dynasty, and a local tribal chief from Taiwan. It looks like a very respectable gathering."

"There's no better time than now. Since we're discussing important matters, let's do it here, with all of you as witnesses. What do you say?"

After He Zizhen finished speaking, Li Bao nodded and said, "That's what I think too. Not only is the emperor far away, but Beigang is also dozens of miles away, so we don't have to worry about being overheard."

Clutching his chest to calm himself, Qian Duanli finally realized two things.

Firstly, what exactly was Lin Zongchen busy with? Secondly, why did Li Bao abandon the Zhejiang and Jiangsu naval forces to come to Taiwan?

So it's all about making deals with the Han Dynasty?
Leaving aside Qian Duanli, who was in a state of utter confusion, on the other hand, Song Yunlu quickly asked Abang to help clean up the small square so that space could be made for these important figures to hold their meetings.

As the chieftain, Ah Bang was relatively quick-witted. While he was gesturing for the elderly, women, and children to hurry into the deep mountains, he led a few others to slowly tidy up the square.

Yunshan has not been this lively in a long time.

(End of this chapter)