Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

"Unfortunately, I thought the Prime Minister was well-versed in medicine and even wanted to learn from him... My family has suffered greatly from typhoid fever, and although I have sought knowledge everywhere over the years, I have never found a cure for it..."

Zhang Zhongjing seemed somewhat disappointed to see that Liu Bei only knew the prescription but not its rationale.

"Is there an epidemic in your household, sir? Is this epidemic raging in Nanyang?"

Liu Bei thought to himself, "If I had the ability to teach you medicine, that would be truly amazing..."

But when Zhang Zhongjing told him that his family was suffering from typhoid fever, Liu Bei thought that the plague had spread widely in Nanyang.

“Nanyang is not affected by this epidemic… From ten years ago to the present, Nanyang has been plagued by war, which has led to a major outbreak of epidemics. In recent years, there has been an extreme cold, and many people have contracted cold-related epidemics. The coughs and vomits caused by the cold-related epidemics have led to the spread of the disease among people, and various fevers have also been rampant. My parents and elder brother all died from typhoid fever.”

Zhang Zhongjing said, “Over the years, I have searched far and wide for famous doctors and classified febrile diseases according to the Six Channels and Eight Principles, but I have not been able to find a cure for half of them. Either the medicinal materials are extremely precious and rare and difficult to find, or there are no prescriptions available. I want to complete the prescriptions so that all typhoid fever can be cured and the disaster within the clan can be stopped.”

The overall situation of the Han Dynasty was actually much better than in the original history, but from the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the present, Nanyang has indeed been plagued by war and turmoil, and there has never been any peace.

Zhang Zhongjing was recommended for the civil service examination but failed to become an official, not only because of the war, but also because his parents and elder brother died one after another from typhoid fever.

In those days, the term 'typhoid fever' had a very broad scope; all febrile illnesses were considered typhoid fever.

This comes from the "Suwen" (Plain Questions) – all febrile diseases are of the category of typhoid fever.

Whether it's a cold or fever, or an epidemic or miasma, including enteroviruses and fever rashes, all of these fall under the category of typhoid fever.

In fact, there are many types of febrile diseases, but the symptoms are very similar—basically all of them have symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, phlegm, and headache and neck pain. Even in later generations, they are often diagnosed through blood tests.

Zhang Zhongjing clearly distinguished between different diseases, and the Six Channels and Eight Principles were the diagnostic method he invented.

This is a dialectical diagnosis and treatment method, and a very advanced combination and decomposition dialectical approach.

The Six Channels refer to Taiyang, Shaoyang, Yangming, Taiyin, Shaoyin, and Jueyin. This is not some mystical concept, but rather a classification of diseases into six types, simply using the names of the Six Channels already found in the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic.

The Eight Principles are Yin and Yang, Exterior and Interior, Cold and Heat, Deficiency and Excess. These refer to both the attributes of the disease and the manifestations of its symptoms.

The Six Channels and Eight Principles can be directly compared with the Four Diagnostic Methods and pulse diagnosis. Different combinations correspond to different disease conditions, including different symptoms caused by the same disease in patients with different physical conditions, and can be analyzed according to the symptoms.

It acts like a checklist, enabling more reliable diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Because everyone's physical condition, environment, and complications are different, even the same disease will require different treatments and medications in different people.

For example, if a patient has fever, chills, headache, and a floating pulse, this is an exterior syndrome, belonging to the Taiyang meridian.

However, even within the same Taiyang meridian, there are differences such as whether there is sweating or not, whether the pulse is slow or fast, whether it is external cold and internal heat, and whether the patient's body is strong or not.

Every case is different, so the medication and treatment plan will be different, and the dosage of the medication will also be different—even if it is caused by the same disease.

This principle of meticulous diagnosis and treatment, along with the selection of prescriptions and medications, remains a fundamental concept that has been used in later generations.

A refined dialectical approach requires prescriptions tailored to various situations.

A clear diagnosis may be possible, but a suitable medication may not be available.

Zhang Zhongjing visited famous doctors and studied far and wide in order to find prescriptions. Half of the cases he compiled had no cure.

"In recent years, the climate has been turbulent, wars have been frequent, and typhoid fever has been rampant. There are often a variety of mixed symptoms, and we cannot rely on old prescriptions. If we want to find a cure, we still need people like you with aspirations to come up with good prescriptions yourself."

Liu Bei pointed to the temporary residence of the medical school: "Now all the staff of the Great Han Medical School are here. Please join us and take up your post, so that we can learn from the strengths of all schools of thought and verify our knowledge through patient cases. You are a benevolent doctor. We look forward to your successful treatment of these diseases and your achievement that will last for a thousand years."

"If you need anything, whether it's money, food, manpower, medicine, or supplies, you can come to me."

Liu Bei did not say much, nor did he intend to mention later classifications or later views on viruses at this time.

In this era where viruses are invisible, if one uses their limited common sense to "instruct" medical masters, it is not promoting scientific progress, but rather causing trouble and disrupting the current medical system.

Professional matters should be left to professionals. Liu Bei always despised those who gave orders based on a few words and a lack of understanding, and he never thought that the technology of later generations was more 'advanced'.

In different eras, under different environments and with different foundational conditions, each industry will have its own system adapted to the current environment. The word 'advanced' itself is not advanced; what is suitable is the best.

Liu Bei only needed to put the right people in the right places.

The physicians who came to provide support, including Zhang Zhongjing, were all settled by Liu Bei at the Yangpingting Medical Academy. Like the doctors who came to support the academy, they were all appointed as physicians and placed under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's office.

In those days, doctors were not yet called "Langzhong". Langzhong was originally an official under the Shangshutai (Imperial Secretariat) in the Han Dynasty. When they first took office (during their probationary period), they were called Langzhong. After serving for a year (after becoming a full-fledged official), they were called Shangshulang. When they were in charge of an important position, they were called Shilang.

……

After Ju Shou returned to Huangze, he used the thorny branch that he had tied to his back to see Liu Bei to persuade Ju Hu to atone for his sins.

Perhaps Ju Shou thought the same thing: people should always be responsible for their actions.

However, Ju Shou found it difficult to make a decision until Liu Bei gave a clear answer.

Liu Bei's attitude is now very clear: either his entire clan is exterminated and his reputation is ruined, or he will do everything in his power for the country and its people.

Since Liu Bei said he would be punished by Heaven, it was clear that he would be infamous for eternity, probably comparable to Yuan Shao, who was listed in the biographies of treacherous officials.

This time, Ju Hu did not object; he already knew that Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Liao were constantly closing in.

Ju Shou feared Liu Bei, while young men like Ju Hu feared these renowned generals with distinguished military achievements even more.

Of course, more importantly, Ju Yi's troops arrived in Yin'an.

Qu Yi is now a Cavalry Commandant. When Liu Bei was on his expedition to Liaodong, he was tasked with carrying out purges in Hebei.

That is, black gloves.

For example, Qu Yi handled tasks that Liu Bei found difficult to deal with, such as purging the Liu clan of Zhongshan or eliminating powerful clans in Hebei who were secretly opposing Liu Bei but for whom no actual evidence of their crimes could be found.

Qu Yi has already begun his attack on Yin'an.

Shenpei is located in Yin'an.

Both Ju Shou and Ju Hu were aware of what Qu Yi had come to do.

This was not a case of punishing the guilty and denouncing the rebels. Shen Pei was actually completely innocent, or at least there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.

Although it was indeed Shen Pei who persuaded Tao Sheng to declare himself independent, Shen Pei himself did not actually commit any acts of rebellion. Upon seeing that Zhang Yan had not been killed, Shen Pei immediately joined forces with Zhang Yan to attack Tao Sheng.

Now that Tao Sheng, Yin Kai, and others are dead, there is no way to verify their identities.

Compared to Juhu, Shenpei was indeed seen as a rebel by others.

But Liu Bei didn't need any evidence of guilt. As long as he confirmed that Shen Pei was in the wrong, he immediately summoned Qu Yi.

If Juhu had not done as Liu Bei had instructed, concentrating the patients from Wei Commandery in Neihuang and Fanyang counties, Liu Bei would have forced Shen Pei to atone for his sins for the rest of his life.

As for the matter of punishment... ever since Liu Bei witnessed Yang Qiu's manipulation back then, he has completely stopped caring about it.

The law is used to maintain the rule. As for crimes, you can just kill someone and have them sign a confession on the corpse. Under the five punishments, you can get any confession.

Ju Hu ultimately chose to atone for his sins. Perhaps he succumbed to Ju Shou's yellow thorn stick, or perhaps he came to terms with reality.

Ju Hu went to Yin'an, claiming he would join forces with Shen Pei to deal with Qu Yi, but then he turned around and led Shen Pei into Qu Yi's ambush.

Meanwhile, when Shen Pei and Qu Yi were fighting, Ju Shou burned Yin'an County to the ground, forcing all the people of Yin'an County to flee by fire, and also taking out all the grain and medicines that the Shen family of Yin'an had hoarded.

This method is almost exactly the same as what Liu Bei did in Wu'an.

Subsequently, Ju Shou and Ju Hu retreated to Yin'an, forcing the people of the county to transport grain and medicinal herbs to Fanyang.

The garrison commander of Fanyang was Shen Pei's nephew, Shen Rong. When he saw the Yin'an tribesmen 'transporting grain', he opened the city gates to let Ju Shou and his son enter the city.

After entering Fanyang, Juhu attacked Shenrong, took him hostage, and forced Shenrong to transfer the people of Fanyang County to Neihuang, leaving only the sick in Fanyang.

In reality, patients would naturally move with the supplies, and people would move with the food and supplies. What was left behind in Fanyang were the seriously ill and dying people who were unable to move at all.

This series of operations resulted in all the grain, medicine, and other supplies accumulated by the Shen family being transported to Neihuang County, and most of the people were also concentrated in Neihuang.

After doing all this, Ju Shou took Ju Hu to report back to Liu Bei.

“I have done as the Prime Minister has instructed. I beg the Prime Minister to grant me a way out.”

This time, Ju Shou did not carry the thorns again, but his attitude of apologizing was much more sincere.

“I will expose your crimes to the public, but I will give you a chance. You will lead your troops to join forces with Qu Yi to kill Shen Pei. After that, you, Ju Hu, will be the bandit of Neihuang. You should know what to do in the future... Whether the court can wipe out the bandits of Neihuang depends on whether you are still useful to the Han Dynasty.”

Liu Bei kept his promise and did not kill Ju Hu, but assigned different tasks to the father and son: "Ju Gongyu, you have ruined the reputation of Colonel Zhuge. You must restore Colonel Zhuge's reputation. You must also complete the unfinished task of equalizing the transportation and famine relief for Colonel Zhuge. From now on, you will be a retainer of Zhuge Ziyu. If Ziyu wants to kill you, he only needs to carry out the family law."

Liu Bei had already seen Zhuge Xuan's last letter with Diao Chan.

Zhuge Xuan entrusted his family affairs to Liu Bei, and Liu Bei then made Ju Shou a retainer of Zhuge Jin.

Zhuge Jin is not currently with Liu Bei. After coming of age two years ago, he served as the county magistrate of agriculture in Gaotang, Pingyuan. Even though he had been Liu Bei's scribe, he still started from the bottom as a low-level official after being transferred to a post outside the county.

Those who achieve results will be promoted, while those who fail to achieve results will be useless no matter how strong their connections are. Liu only considers actual results when selecting people.

Like Shi Ren, although he may not seem to have any particularly outstanding abilities, he has real achievements. He persuaded Gongsun Du to surrender, which reduced the losses of the Han Dynasty, and he did indeed make contributions to expanding the territory. As long as he has achievements, that is his ability, regardless of whether he seems to have any talent or not.

Of course, Zhuge Jin also achieved some successes. Last year, the weather was severe, and most other places in Qingzhou experienced reduced production, even Jinan, which had the best foundation, saw a 20% reduction in production. However, agricultural work in Gaotang was not delayed, and the plains became the main source of grain for transporting to Youzhou.

Liu Bei was already preparing to promote Zhuge Jin, and he was just about to be transferred to Wei Commandery to resume production.

For the sake of the survival of the Ju clan, both Ju Shou and Ju Hu accepted Liu Bei's arrangement. As for how to save their lives from Zhuge Jin, that was Ju Shou's own business.

A few days later, Ju Shou personally revealed to the public that Ju Hu had killed Zhuge Xuan.

Ju Hu also fled and hid with his retainers, and plundered the powerful Shen family in Jizhou, becoming the new bandit leader of Neihuang.

Faced with a major epidemic, the imperial court "could not find" Juhu's whereabouts for the time being.

Meanwhile, the publicly available information is that Cavalry Commandant Qu Yi demanded food supplies from Shen Pei to ensure the food supply in the epidemic area. Shen Pei refused to provide them and then launched an attack on Qu Yi.

This would be considered rebellious behavior.

While they were attacking Quyi, the bandit Juhu from Neihuang attacked Shenpei's clan and plundered Yin'an.

Shen Pei hastily retreated, but was pursued relentlessly by Qu Yi. Shen Pei led his clansmen back to intercept them, but Qu Yi found their position and, with his crossbowmen, shot Shen Pei to death in the midst of the army.

After Shen Pei's death, the Shen family still had a considerable number of soldiers, but they were attacked by Ju Hu and Qu Yi in turn.

Once the most powerful clan in Wei Commandery, they are now both attacked by bandits and rejected by the imperial court.

In early May, Shen Pei's nephew, Shen Rong, led the remaining clansmen to surrender.

Because Shen Rong cooperated in isolating the patients, the Shen family was not exterminated, but the entire clan was demoted to hard laborers and forced to carry out construction work on the spot, building medical clinics and houses to accommodate the patients.

Two large-scale pharmacies were also built at Yangping Pavilion and on the official road between Neihuang and Fanyang counties.

Every day, hundreds of doctors sit in the pharmacy, diagnosing patients and dispensing medicine.

Hebei has finally fully entered the stage of epidemic control and reconstruction.

……

People are diverse.

Especially when facing disasters.

Some people take advantage of the national crisis to seek personal gain, some rise to the challenge to avert disaster, some commit heinous crimes and are forced to atone for their sins, but others remain kind-hearted and do good deeds.

Even wealthy families have kind-hearted people.

Sima Lang was genuinely doing good deeds. Although he also gained a reputation for benevolence, he did make contributions to the Han Dynasty and saved many people as a result.

Zhang Zhongjing also came from a powerful family. His act of going to high-risk areas as a benevolent doctor was also a form of charity.

Zhang Zhongjing never charged consultation fees when making house calls. He would only ask patients to find more medicine at home, and if there was any left over, he would send it to the pharmacy.

With him setting an example, other doctors followed suit, none of them charging money, only asking patients' families to try their best to find medicine.

Although some of them came for official positions, everyone would agree with this way of getting a government job.

The term "郎中" gradually became synonymous with "doctor," and "坐堂医" (sitting doctor) became a respectful title for renowned doctors.

In an environment with countless patients, the doctors quickly verified each other's findings and compiled many useful prescriptions.

Many patients have indeed been cured, although the success rate is not high, but it is still much better than having no cure at all.

Some wealthy families, after receiving treatment, also took the initiative to contribute money, food, and manpower to purchase or collect medicines and distribute them to people in their hometowns according to the doctor's prescriptions—they also knew that if their neighbors contracted the disease, it would be difficult for them to avoid it as well.

Meanwhile, due to the disruption of transportation caused by the epidemic, Youzhou did not receive enough food, and a large-scale famine broke out during the lean season.

This famine was foreseen, and although it was like adding insult to injury, it did not lead to major chaos. Qian Zhao did a very good job in Youzhou.

Despite the extreme conditions of extreme cold and famine, Youzhou, which could not receive enough supplies, did not experience any rebellion or peasant uprising. Few people know about the efforts Qian Zhao made to achieve this.

A skilled warrior achieves victory without ostentatious feats. Just like Qian Zhao's strategy against the Xianbei, although it may not seem as impressive as Zhang Fei's burning of eight hundred miles, what actually made the Xianbei unable to fight against the Han Dynasty was the business Qian Zhao did.

However, the Xianbei trade could not provide enough supplies for Youzhou, and the people of Youzhou had no choice but to migrate south to survive.

In order to prevent the refugees from turning into bandits, Qian Zhao mobilized his troops, each leading the refugees separately and actively organizing them to move south to Ji Province. This ensured that You Province remained under control even under these circumstances.

Meanwhile, in northern Jizhou, the Zhen clan, a powerful family in Zhongshan, also made a benevolent decision.

During this most difficult time, the Zhen family distributed all of their stored grain, numbering over 100,000 bushels, free of charge.

Countless refugees from Youzhou were thus saved. (End of Chapter)