I will make Qin Shi Huang immortal in the Great Qin Dynasty.

Time flies. Three years have passed since the flood in Kuaiji, and it is now the forty-first year of the Qin Dynasty.

Four years have passed since that young man in white appeared before Ying Zheng's imperial carriage, seemingly descending from the sky.

In the past three years, the changes in Daqin have been like pressing the accelerator button.

The promotion of high-yield grain varieties has covered the entire Qin region.

Corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes have now taken root in every piece of arable land.

Whether on the plains of the Central Plains or on the hillsides of the border regions.

You can see the lush green rice seedlings stretching their leaves in the sunlight.

People no longer have to worry about not having enough to eat during the lean season.

Those children who were once emaciated and starving during the famine years are now plump and tall.

When they chased and played at the village entrance, their steps were much lighter than before, and their laughter was much louder.

Not only were people well-fed, but livestock also received good feed.

The corn stalks and sweet potato vines were dried and stored.

In winter, it was used to feed cattle and sheep, and those livestock did not lose weight at all during the winter.

On the contrary, they were plump and strong, and when it came time to plow the fields in the spring, they pulled the plow with great vigor.

Chickens, ducks, and geese roam freely in the yard, pecking at the grains and vegetable leaves that fall during threshing, and they grow very quickly.

Every few days, you can collect a basket of chicken and duck eggs.

People's meals are no longer just plain vegetable porridge.

Occasionally, you might see a plate of scrambled eggs, a bowl of stewed chicken, or a few pieces of cured meat.

Although it wasn't exactly a feast, it was a world of difference compared to the hard times of a few years ago.

The school was also built.

In the Qin Dynasty, schools were located throughout the country. Larger counties had government-run academies, while smaller villages had village schools.

The children carry cloth bags to school in the morning.

The bag contained a dry biscuit and a sharpened charcoal pencil.

Sitting in the classroom covered with straw mats, I followed the teacher to read aloud the words and phrases I had learned from the textbooks compiled by Qin Tian, ​​using Qin language pinyin.

Although it was simple, the simplicity did not diminish the longing in the children's eyes.

Those children who used to run wild in the fields.

Do you know how to write your own name now?

How do we keep accounts for the purchase of seeds and the sale of grain at home?

They learned to read, and they had many more paths to follow, not just the one where they faced the loess soil and turned their backs to the sky.

As for corvée labor, it has essentially become a dead letter.

The construction of the imperial mausoleum and the expansion of the palace were halted.

Those massive projects that required a great deal of manpower were significantly reduced or delayed.

The imperial court reassigned the released able-bodied men to various regions.

Let them return to their hometowns to farm, reclaim wasteland, and build their homes.

Instead of being conscripted year after year to move stones and dig earth on distant construction sites, as before.

People no longer have to leave their homes to serve in the military.

No longer do they have to endure the suffering of not being able to return home for years.

Those fields that were once abandoned because of the conscription of laborers.

Now, the land has been reclaimed and cultivated, and lush green crops have sprouted up.

With improved living standards and renewed hope for the future, ordinary people have few other forms of entertainment.

So every household started having children.

There's enough food anyway; having one more child means one more meal and one more bit of strength.

When they grow up, they can help with farm work and be a helper for the family.

In the yards of those young couples, it's common to see three or four children running around, and it's not unusual to have five, six, seven, or even eight.

Every few days, you could hear news of someone having a healthy baby boy.

The midwife's legs were almost constantly moving.

Running around to the east village today, running around to the west village tomorrow, never having a moment's rest all year round.

When you go to the market, you can see women everywhere carrying one in their arms, one on their back, and two others by their side.

Strolling through the market, stopping frequently, and haggling with smiles.

Having more children is usually a joyous occasion.

But problems arose as a result.

Although the medical conditions in the Qin Dynasty have improved considerably over the years due to technological advancements, they are still quite advanced.

However, it is still in a rather early stage.

Especially when it comes to childbirth.

Ordinary people still rely on the experience passed down from generation to generation.

Boil a pot of water, lay out a clean cloth, and let the new mother lie on the kang (heated brick bed).

The midwife was outside shouting, "Push! Push!"

Everything depends on the mother's own physical strength and luck.

Many babies born in malpositioned positions cannot be delivered and die from exhaustion.

Undelivered placenta and persistent severe bleeding are common causes of death.

Situations where newborns choke on amniotic fluid at birth, have their umbilical cord wrapped around their neck, or experience asphyxia due to prolonged labor.

There will always be one or two out of ten.

Grandmothers and grandmothers who had been waiting at their maternal homes for ten months waited outside the delivery room with tears in their eyes.

What awaited them in the end was a basin of blood and a small corpse.

A woman who has endured ten months of pregnancy with great difficulty.

She just barely escaped death and gave birth to her child.

She would have to watch helplessly as the child in her arms died.

That despair was deeper and heavier than when the flood submerged their homes.

Many new mothers experience this on the third or fifth day after childbirth.

Looking at the empty swaddling clothes and the tiny cradle that hadn't even had a chance to drink milk, she cried her eyes out.

The midwife's hands were red and swollen from being soaked in blood.

The old scissors used during the delivery were boiled in boiling water several times.

Sometimes, the risk of infection is still unavoidable.

Some women who have given birth vaginally may die within three or four days due to placental remnants or tearing of the birth canal.

The arrival of a new life should be the happiest day for the whole family.

However, due to those rudimentary conditions and unforeseen accidents, it was impossible to survive.

Each time, it turned into a funeral.

Qin Tian noticed this when he went to a village near Xianyang to check on the growth of the grain seeds.

He saw an old man squatting against the wall at the entrance of the village.

She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders heaving as she sobbed.

A villager nearby whispered to him that the old man's daughter had given birth that morning.

The baby was born after a difficult labor, but the mother died.

The baby wasn't even a month old yet, and hadn't even been named.

After listening, Qin Tian squatted down in front of the old man and remained silent for a long time.

He felt he couldn't ignore the old man's sorrow as he pounded his thighs but couldn't make a sound.

That night, after returning to his residence, he sat under the lamp for a long time.

My mind was rummaging through the knowledge about maternal and infant health from later generations.

He thought of forceps.

That was a very basic obstetric instrument in later generations.

It has a simple structure and a clear principle.

However, it can safely deliver the baby out of the birth canal when the fetus is in an incorrect position or when labor is too long.

It greatly reduces the mortality rate of mothers and newborns.

A good pair of forceps can save the lives of both mother and child.

It doesn't require a high level of technical expertise; as long as it's properly cleaned and operated skillfully, it can be widely adopted among the general public.

Qin Tian drew up the blueprints overnight, and the next day he went to the workshop of the Ministry of Industry and found several of the best craftsmen.