Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 62 Ming Dynasty Medical Special Research Camp

"It's truly a masterpiece!"

The "magical" phenomenon caused by allicin in the petri dish seemed to open a new door for Emperor Wanli.

Emperors who spend their days reading classical Chinese texts and stories of wise rulers have never seen anything so interesting.

He held the petri dish in his chubby hands, carefully observing the circular boundaries formed by the bacteria inside, his eyes full of curiosity.

Within the palace, the emperor had witnessed countless exquisite crafts, from the creation of utensils and intricate carvings to the lifelike knife work of imperial cuisine.

However, these are clearly natural phenomena, which cannot be deliberately created by craftsmen through human effort.

For a moment, Emperor Wanli felt a surge of emotion and looked at Zhang Yunxiu.

"May I give it a try?"

"nature!"

Zhang Yunxiu waited for Emperor Wanli to speak first.

He turned to look at Yang Ji, who was following him somewhat blankly to the side. This man was probably still wallowing in self-pity about his fate, and he certainly couldn't be counted on.

So Zhang Yunxiu called out into the room.

"Brother Yuan, Brother Liu, Brother Geng, come quickly to pay your respects to Master Zhu."

Anyone else?
Emperor Wanli was stunned for a moment, and then saw three young men dressed in white robes walk out of the laboratory.

The three of them were wearing leather gloves and masks, and their eyes were also red and swollen.

Seeing the children obediently come out, Zhang Yunxiu nodded with satisfaction and gave them a reminder.

"This is Master Zhu, a man of noble status. The three of you must not neglect your manners."

The three men, Yuan Zongdao and Zhang Yunxiu, looked bitter and resentful, but they dared not disobey Zhang Yunxiu's words. They immediately knelt down and bowed.

"Greetings, Master Zhu."

Emperor Wanli hesitated for a moment, feeling that the three men did not seem like ordinary craftsmen, but rather like scholars. He asked them.

Who are those three?

“Laboratory staff,” Zhang Yunxiu explained crisply. “They are the clerks in this laboratory, specifically responsible for conducting drug sensitivity tests on allicin against pathogens. They are responsible for daily care, hands-on practice, recording experimental changes, and writing experimental documents.”

I grouped them with Yang Jishi into the Great Ming Medical Studies Special Research Camp, to assist and supervise each other.

Emperor Wanli was speechless for a moment. Zhang Yunxiu was quite good at naming things. He used strange technical terms, which the emperor found difficult to understand, but he could still roughly understand what they meant.

He noticed the three men's bitter and resentful expressions, immediately guessed what was going on, sighed, and looked at Zhang Yunxiu.

"Where did you trick this money from this time?"

“What are you saying, sir?” Zhang Yunxiu said in a serious tone. “The three of them are students of the Imperial Academy, and they are my classmates. They were overjoyed to hear that you were researching miraculous medicines here, so they came to help.”

The Wanli Emperor sighed, "Did you force them?"

"Heaven and earth bear witness," Zhang Yunxiu emphasized again. "Brother Yuan, Brother Liu, Brother Geng, the three of them are old friends with me and came to help voluntarily, don't you agree?"

As he spoke, he looked at the three people who were bowing their heads and remaining silent.

Yuan Zongdao and the other two shivered. They dared not say no and quickly nodded in agreement.

"Master Zhu, you are right. We did it voluntarily, truly voluntarily!"

The three of them almost cried when they said this, but thankfully they managed to hold back.

Emperor Wanli couldn't help but chuckle. How could Zhang Yunxiu have come up with such a brilliant idea—to have a royal physician and three students from the Imperial Academy help develop garlic here?

He then looked at the three of them and said.

"The three of you will then teach me how to do this experiment."

Yuan Zongdao had long recognized that this person was extraordinary, and immediately volunteered.

“My esteemed guest, I, Yuan Zongdao, have come to assist you in this experiment.”

The Wanli Emperor found the man somewhat pleasing to the eye, silently memorized his name and appearance, and nodded in agreement.

"It's you."

Yuan Zongdao may look worried, but he is actually quite skilled at his work. As a student of the Imperial Academy and one of the "Three Yuans of Gong'an" in history, his learning ability is not to be underestimated.

Of the three, Yuan Zongdao was the fastest learner after Zhang Yunxiu gave a brief explanation and demonstration.

At first, Zhang Yunxiu forced him to do it, but later Yuan Zongdao also became interested and felt that the "experiment" method that Zhang Yunxiu mentioned seemed to have some kind of mystery.

All experimental steps were systematically recorded and analyzed using tables. Yuan Zongdao found it novel and also thought it seemed quite practical.

"My esteemed friend, please work with me."

With Yuan Zongdao's assistance, the process of Emperor Wanli making petri dishes went smoothly.

It's actually quite simple. Just take a clean petri dish, pour in the culture solution, then soak the dough to extract the allicin, and place it in the center of the petri dish.

But these simple steps, when performed by the Wanli Emperor himself, brought him great joy.

While operating the equipment, Yuan Zongdao would also provide detailed explanations to Emperor Wanli, including the experimental knowledge and details taught to him by Zhang Yunxiu.

"During the process, ensure your hands are clean and prevent any foreign matter from getting into the petri dish; otherwise, the entire experiment will be wasted."

"When pathogens are distributed, they can be evenly distributed, making the resulting bacterial community easier to observe."

After all that, even Zhang Yunxiu was a little surprised. Yuan Zongdao was actually a science genius.
"It's done!"

Following Yuan Zongdao's instructions, and with the various raw materials that had been prepared, Emperor Wanli soon obtained his own petri dish.

He held the petri dish in his hands like a precious treasure, as if afraid of breaking it, like a child who had received a favorite toy.

Zhang Yunxiu was not surprised by this reaction; he had been in the same state when he first conducted an experiment in the laboratory in his previous life!
Emperor Wanli's eyes lit up as he asked.

"Shiyuan, can such a miraculous phenomenon also occur in my petri dish?"

Zhang Yunxiu said with a smile, "I couldn't guarantee it before, but now the research on allicin has gradually matured and the effects are significant. I think it will only take one or two days to see results."

In later related experiments, the success rate was generally over 90%, and success was almost guaranteed barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Seeing that the emperor liked it so much, Zhang Yunxiu made another suggestion.

"If the master likes it, the petri dish can be placed here and the lab technicians can look after it. Come and check it in a couple of days, and you will see the results."

"No!" Emperor Wanli shook his head. "I will personally come to protect them!"

For the first time, his slightly childish, chubby face showed such determination.

"I must take this back to my residence for research! This is a miraculous medicine that I have personally verified!"

At the hour of You (5-7 PM), it was still getting dark quickly in late spring. By the time Yang Jishi left the workshop, the city was deserted. Half an hour later, after the evening drum sounded, a curfew would be imposed in the capital, and people would have to close their doors and not walk on the streets.

Fortunately, Zhang Yunxiu still had a conscience and sent a carriage to take Yang Jishi home.

Even so, Yang Jishi was still in a bad mood.

Just as he left the workshop, Zhang Yunxiu had him and the other three arrested and subjected them to a barrage of threats and inducements.

He said a lot, but it was mostly a warning to them not to leak the information.

In fact, Zhang Yunxiu was overthinking it. The other three didn't know, but Yang Jishi was the one who least wanted others to know.

Putting aside the fact that he was involved with the emperor in "strange and ingenious skills," and that his collusion with Zhang Yunxiu would spread, he would be despised in the medical community.

What? You're innocent? Then why didn't you fight back? Have you no backbone at all?!
As the imperial physician, how do you help Zhang Shiyuan bewitch the emperor?
After getting off the carriage, Yang Jishi shivered as he stood in the cold wind. What kind of trouble had he gotten into to offend Zhang Yunxiu, this vindictive and absurd man?
With a sigh, Yang Jishi finally arrived at the street where his house was located.

Upon seeing his own signboard, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

It turns out that Yang Jishi's family ran a clinic, with the front yard for treating patients and the back yard for living quarters.

But it was already late afternoon, and the city would be under curfew in less than half an hour, yet his own clinic was still open.

From afar, Yang Jishi could smell a foul, fishy medicinal odor.

He strode forward, as if he were witnessing a living hell.

Beneath the plaque of "Yang Family Medical Clinic," dozens of patients lay haphazardly, extending all the way into the clinic's main hall.

These patients were all bluish-purple, their heads swollen like monsters. Some groaned in pain, their voices weak and desperate, while others had already fallen into a coma and were ignored.

Inside the clinic, a dozen or so staff members and several doctors were working themselves to the bone.

The medicine stove in the corner was burning almost red-hot, obviously working day and night. There were used medicine dregs and filthy cloths everywhere.

Just as Yang Jishi was about to bypass the patients and go to the hospital to look for someone, a small, dark hand grabbed his collar.

Yang Jishi turned his head and looked, and felt a pang of heartache.

It was a child of only seven or eight years old, whose face was now dark, speaking in a weak voice.

"Doctor, please save my mother."

(End of this chapter)