Kaiyuan 4238, the fourth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty.
The eighth day of December.
The Laba Festival represents that the year is coming to an end and the New Year is coming.
From this day on, people prepare to celebrate the festival.
The last day of New Year's Eve and the New Year's Day on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
These two festivals are the most important festivals of the year.
During the Laba Festival, people in previous years will start preparing New Year's goods from today to welcome the arrival of the New Year.
Now the people of Hanzhong have noticed the smell of gunpowder smoke.
Troops were constantly gathering in Hanzhong and going to various places.
A commoner who opened official warehouses and transported large amounts of grain.
Hanzhong City has stepped up patrols and enforced curfew.
All kinds of abnormal signs filled people's hearts with doubts.
Until "Hanzhong Weekly" published the news of the war, calling on all the people under the Qin Palace to unite as one to resist the brutal Ming army.
All the people under the Qin Palace knew that the Ming army had gathered heavy troops to attack here.
The solemn atmosphere before the war made them unprepared for the festival.
When it prospers, the people suffer. When it dies, the people suffer.
When the world rises and falls, ordinary people are the most seriously injured.
They took control of Hanzhong in Suhe and did not suffer much harm, but they also saw the fate of ordinary dignitaries, local tyrants and gentry.
The people have not forgotten the brutality of the Ming army.
If the Ming army really invades, they will definitely cut off their heads, call them thieves in yellow clothes, and use them to make meritorious deeds.
Different people have completely different attitudes.
Farmers protect their assigned fields.
They sent their husbands and sons to the battlefield, telling them that they must win the war and protect their own land.
The farmers tried their best to help King Qin win this war.
The small citizens in the city collected the fine stuff, but when they saw something was wrong, they were ready to run away.
Smart businessmen look for business opportunities. The more chaotic the situation, the more opportunities they have.
There are also some Ming Zhongliang who are hiding, and they are gearing up to welcome the Ming Dynasty soldiers to enter the city and wipe out the hateful yellow-clothed thieves.
…………………………
Su He was in the back hall of Prince Qin's palace, looking at several small boxes placed by Wang Wenjun in front of him.
"In such a short period of time, you have developed all the medicines I mentioned.
This is so amazing, I thought it would only work with one or two medicines."
"Husband, how could these medicines be developed by us?
In addition to Huoxiang Zhengqi Water, you provided a more detailed prescription. This medicine was prepared by me and the doctors after many experiments."
Wang Wenjun directly denied that it would take a very long time to develop a prescription with outstanding effects, and it would be impossible to achieve it in a short time.
"Husband, the many policies you provided attracted some people with exclusive inheritance and contributed their own unique formula."
Wang Wenjun introduced to Su He the origin of these drugs.
After Su He listened to Wang Wenjun's narration, he felt that his preparations were very correct.
He asked Wang Wenjun to gather many doctors to develop several medicines that impressed Su He.
He knew that researching unfamiliar drugs would take a lot of time and he might not be able to catch up with the war.
Su He thought that many Chinese treasures had been lost in history, and unique prescriptions were one of them.
Every time there is a war, a large amount of precious information disappears.
Especially in the late Ming Dynasty and the late Qing Dynasty, these two turmoils took a very long time and had a huge impact, causing hundreds of millions of casualties.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing army slaughtered the population of a province in Sichuan and put the blame on Zhang Xianzhong.
A large number of people who mastered the technology died with their unique technology before they had time to pass it on.
We have not experienced large-scale wars yet, and Chinese medicine is at its peak, and there should be many prescriptions that have not been lost.
Su He issued an edict, as long as someone presented a useful formula.
Direct rewards include titles and a large amount of silver coins. Those who understand medical skills can also enter the Ministry of Health and become an official.
This formula patent belongs to the donor personally. During the validity period of the patent, he will receive a substantial patent licensing fee every year.
This policy is very attractive to some children from traditional Chinese medicine families whose ancestors were generous but whose descendants failed to live up to their expectations and fell into poverty.
Wang Wenjun picked up a dark black powder and introduced: "Husband, this medicinal powder is very effective in treating trauma.
It is used in conjunction with penicillin to allow rapid recovery from severe trauma.
Except it doesn’t have the same life-saving effect as Yunnan Baiyao.
For the treatment of trauma, it is more effective than the Yunnan Baiyao you mentioned.
This medicine has no name. Based on the color of the medicine, I named it black medicine."
After Wang Wenjun finished the introduction, he picked up another ointment.
"Husband, this is Salvia miltiorrhiza ointment. It has a strong effect on physical weakness, heat stroke and other symptoms.
It can replenish the body's vitality and help people recover as quickly as possible after being injured."
Su He looked at Wang Wenjun and took out more than a dozen medicines in succession.
These are medicines for special diseases, which can be selected by Wang Wenjun, and their effects are very powerful.
There are several medicines in particular that are specifically designed to treat snake venom and insect bites.
The emergence of these drugs has filled the dilemma of military doctors who have no cure for many diseases.
Sickness can be cured and death is inevitable, which have completely different effects on soldiers.
After Wang Wenjun finished speaking, he said with emotion: "Husband, your policy is really excellent.
I got to know these people. Many of them have lost their family-traditional medical skills.
These prescriptions are all unique and are not recorded in classics at all.
Without this policy, these prescriptions would be easily lost in one or two generations.
There are many rare prescriptions in history that have been lost like this.”
When Su He heard what Wang Wenjun said, he came up with an idea that would benefit the present generation and benefit the future.
"Wenjun, you should know "Compendium of Materia Medica", which is a medical book written by the famous doctor Li Shizhen.
There are many classics here, but there are also some folk remedies that may not suit everyone.
I think we should use the excellent platform of Hanzhong Hospital to compile a comprehensive pharmacopoeia.
Record each disease in detail and how it should be treated.
This can point the way for future doctors and allow more classic prescriptions to be passed down.
A comprehensive pharmacopoeia is too complex and requires a lot of time and manpower.
I suggest that you first compile a book on the treatment points for common diseases and let the township health clinics promote it to see if it is effective."
Su He believes that the greatest effect of this pharmacopoeia is to facilitate the training of rural doctors.
Rural doctors do not need to know too much. As long as they can read and understand the properties of medicines, and can prescribe medicines according to prescriptions, they are qualified rural doctors.
This is mainly to alleviate the problem that there are basically no doctors in rural areas.
The average life span of ordinary people now is only over 30 years old, which is too low.
Thirty years old is the prime of life, but he died of some common diseases.
This is very detrimental to the development of society.
Cultivating a large number of rural doctors can at least increase the average life expectancy in rural areas to forty or fifty years.
It can also reduce many rural infant deaths.
Wang Wenjun's eyes lit up and he said in surprise: "Husband, this is really a good idea. If this book is written, it can save many people's lives."
Boom, boom, boom.
There was a knock on the door, and the female guard opened the door at Su He's signal.
Qu Qingyi walked in, stood next to Su He and said respectfully: "His Royal Highness King Qin, Director Niu of the Institute of Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences sent someone to deliver the news that the extraction of artemisinin has been completed and has been verified to be able to treat malaria."
When Su He heard the news, he became energetic.
Once artemisinin is developed, there will be no obstacles to its expansion into the southwest region.
He immediately rushed to the Institute of Chemistry, Academy of Sciences.
…………………………
Niu Ben, director of the Institute of Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences, saw Su He arriving.
He held a small glass bottle and said in surprise: "Teacher, under your guidance, our Institute of Chemistry finally extracted artemisinin.
And after detailed experiments, it can cure the disease you said is called malaria.
The effect is very good, just like the special medicine you said."
Su He looked at the small bottle of medicine in front of him. This was a special medicine for treating malaria.
He received a letter from Qu Tian and realized that non-combat attrition in the southwest was too serious.
It allowed the southwest region to bring back thousands of soldiers who had been bitten by mosquitoes.
Let Qutian and others use glass bottles to fill a lot of sewage around the camp. There are mosquito larvae here, and they carry malaria parasites.
At the same time, let the troops in the southwest strengthen mosquito prevention and control.
He ordered the Sichuan Governor's Office to provide every soldier with a mosquito net.
The army also cleaned ditches around the camp to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds.
Malaria has a certain incubation period, and these seemingly healthy soldiers may have been infected with Plasmodium after being bitten by mosquitoes.
The soldiers who are sick now have no way of walking back to Hanzhong from the southwest.
Some soldiers in this group developed malaria symptoms halfway through.
After they came to Hanzhong, Hanzhong Hospital cooperated with the Institute of Chemistry, and added advanced instruments such as microscopes.
Doctors in Hanzhong have figured out the culprit of malaria.
Several brave critically ill soldiers requested an autopsy on their bodies after their deaths, and Niu Ben and others found the malaria parasite.
They compared it with the Plasmodium found in sewage and found that it was the same parasite.
There has been great progress in the extraction of artemisinin, and these sick soldiers were just in time to test the effect of artemisinin.
After proving the effectiveness of artemisinin, Niu Ben immediately informed Su He.
"Teacher, our Institute of Chemistry has developed technology for the industrial extraction of artemisinin.
We transfer these patents to pharmaceutical companies, which are responsible for producing artemisinin.
We are working with doctors from Hanzhong Hospital to figure out the dosage and usage of artemisinin for malaria treatment."
Niu Ben is very happy. He is engaged in chemical research that he likes and can save many soldiers.
Registering a patent on artemisinin can also bring huge amounts of money to all researchers at the Institute of Chemistry.
They only need to concentrate on scientific research, and they will not lack titles, fame and money.
Su He told Qian Mingyi beside him: "Mingyi, you must personally urge the pharmaceutical factory to list artemisinin, penicillin, and allicin as the most important drugs, and ensure that they are manufactured in good quality and quantity.
There are also some medicines that will be handed over to you today.
You urge pharmaceutical factories to establish industrial production as soon as possible."
Qian Mingyi immediately responded: "Your Highness, King Qin, please rest assured that penicillin and allicin are already being produced in large quantities by pharmaceutical factories.
For artemisinin and other drugs, pharmaceutical factories have also prepared enough workers and raw materials.
We will immediately design the production line and try our best to get these drugs into the mass production stage."
Su He nodded with satisfaction and ordered: "Put the medicine into production as soon as possible, produce a part of artemisinin, and send it to Sichuan and other places immediately.
The malaria outbreak there is so severe that it must be contained with drugs."
Qian Mingyi took out his notebook and wrote down Su He's instructions. He would urge the pharmaceutical factory to produce these drugs as soon as possible.
Su He inspected the Academy of Sciences for a while and told Niu Ben to continue studying various chemical reactions and triggering drugs such as mercury fulminate.
He left the Academy of Sciences and went to the arsenal to inspect the production of firearms.
Can rifled guns, rifled cannons and their ammunition be supplied to the army's consumption?
Whether the logistics support can keep up is an important factor in whether this war can be won.
They rode a carriage and walked on the south bank of the Han River.
Along the Han River, there is a row of drainage trucks and their factories.
In order to provide sufficient power, some waterwheels are driven as fast as the center of the river.
These waterwheels drive the transmission shaft to rotate, drive large and small machines, and produce a variety of products.
As the convoy approached the arsenal, a noise suddenly occurred in front of it.
"The Han River belongs to everyone, how can you build dams to store water privately?
Your arsenal needs water, but our steel factory doesn't use water.
Without the steel produced by our steel plant, can your arsenal still produce weapons?"
"His Royal Highness the King of Qin issued a strict order to ensure the production of weapons.
We produce weapons in five shifts, and the flow rate of the Han River changes all the time, and sometimes it even stops flowing.
It is necessary to build a dam to store water to ensure the operation of the machine. You guys should get out of the way quickly.
You dare to interfere with the start of our arsenal, and if you go to the Secretariat to cause trouble, you, the general manager, will be kicked out."
"Qi Minggui, you have a good teacher, and I don't have anyone to support me.
You go and ask about me, Su Erbao, I was also the number one person in Sujia Village back then."
Su He listened carefully for a while and found that Qi Minggui, the general manager of the arsenal, and Su Erbao, the general manager of the Coal and Steel Company, were arguing.
"Qian Mingyi, call the two of them over and let the other workers go back to production.
What are you doing here? If you have the energy, produce more products."
Qian Mingyi quickly brought Qi Minggui and Su Erbao to Su He's carriage.
"What's going on with you? As the heads of arsenals and steel plants, you two don't organize factory production, so why are you still quarreling here?"
Su Erbao said aggrievedly: "His Royal Highness King Qin, it's really not my fault. The arsenal is really bullying people too much.
I also want to smelt more steel so that the front line will not be short of weapons due to lack of steel.
The arsenal sent people to build a dam upstream of our factory to store water, causing the water flow near our factory to be too slow.
There is no way to drive machinery, so we can only rely on manpower to keep the factory running.
The machine efficiency is insufficient, which greatly affects the operation of the factory, so I am here to find an explanation."
Qi Minggui spread his hands and said helplessly: "Your Highness, King Qin, it is winter now, and the precipitation this year is less than usual.
It was originally the dry season, but precipitation decreased again.
The Han River now has less water flow, in order to ensure the normal production of the arsenal.
We can only build dams to store water and let the water trucks run at full capacity."
Su He understood what happened to these two people, and he had no way to solve it.
Affected by the weather, the flow rate of the Han River is weakened, resulting in lower factory efficiency.
This is the natural shortcoming of hydraulic machinery, which is limited by location and environment.
It rained less in autumn and winter this year. He received a report from the secret guard that there was also very little rainfall in the upper reaches of the Han River.
Based on past experience, next year will be another drought year.
Tian Jiapeng and others have calculated that the flow rate of the Han River is even lower than it is now.
This is also consistent with his memory. In recent years, the phenomenon of small glaciers has intensified, and droughts have occurred in various parts of the north year after year.
Su He looked at the industrial area with many factories and knew that he had to make preparations in advance.
There is no way for these factories to be moved to Sichuan.
Sichuan's outstanding areas have already established a basic industrial system.
If these factories are moved there, they will be duplicating construction and will not improve much industrial strength.
Many rivers in Sichuan have too fast currents, making them unsuitable for building factories.
Hanzhong is his ruling area and de facto capital.
Hanzhong must also retain strong industrial strength so that other places can imitate and promote the industrial system.
When Su He saw this situation, he knew that the research and development of steam engines was now on the agenda.
A usable steam engine must be developed before the dry season next year.
The emergence of boring machines can process rifled guns and rifled cannons, and the processing of steam engine cylinders has become easy.
Su He knew the principles of steam engines and the simple structure of steam engines, so it was not difficult to build a steam engine.
"You two should not beg your neighbor and build a dam privately to let the factories downstream do what you want.
The power of the Han River is insufficient, and there is no way to solve it now. We can only arrange workers in advance to speed up production during the peak flow period."
There is no good way for Suhe River to control the flow of Han River.
These factories can only be allowed to adjust their production capacity in a timely manner according to changes in water flow.
It is simply unrealistic to find a place to build another factory.
For example, an arsenal requires the cooperation of a huge upstream and downstream industrial chain.
After leaving Hanzhong Industrial Zone, all raw materials and semi-finished components are transported elsewhere.
The cost of manufacturing a rifled gun has skyrocketed, but the production efficiency has become extremely low.
Su He inspected the arsenal and the nearby steel plant.
These two factories are the most important core factories.
After Su He visited these two factories, he became more confident about this war.
The workers in the factory are highly motivated, and the workers in the company directly operated by the Qin Prince's Palace are treated very well.
The worker's salary is comparable to that of a petty official, and he has the opportunity to be promoted.
Factory work is easier than heavy farming work.
Suhe set limits on the minimum wage for workers and the maximum time and intensity of labor through the "Laws of the King of Qin".
The labor intensity in these factories is very high, but it will not reach the level during the British Industrial Revolution where every worker would die of exhaustion in less than five years of work.
The Suhe uprising overthrew the Ming Dynasty and the gentry. He wanted the people to live a good life, not to exploit them in another way.
The Ministry of Household Affairs, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Punishment will all conduct inspections of factories.
The pervasive newspaper reporters will also keep an eye on the situation in the factory.
Workers also join the ancestral temple, and there will be blessings to unite the workers and reflect their situation.
In arsenals and steel plants, the machines are very efficient.
With the improvement of the patent system, craftsmen can improve machines and obtain benefits that they could not obtain in previous lifetimes.
This completely stimulates the creativity of craftsmen.
There are many craftsmen who don't even know the words, so they rely on their work experience.
Many practical machines were manufactured and the efficiency of the factory was improved.
Qi Minggui told Su He that the efficiency of these machines had not reached its peak due to the slow operation of the water wheel.
When the Hanshui flow rate is stronger, the machine operates more efficiently.
Su He has realized that power is the biggest lock limiting the current industrial development of Hanzhong.
…………………………
Su He came to the Logistics Department of the Dudu Mansion.
Jiang Zhiyu has led his subordinates to establish a complete military logistics system.
Su He held a rough-made smoothbore musket in his hand.
Its barrels are not drilled out with drills, but rolled from iron plates.
"Jiang Zhiyu, guess how much this musket is worth."
Jiang Zhiyu carefully watched the musket in King Qin's hand.
"Your Highness King Qin, the workmanship of this musket in your hand is a bit rough.
It has an engine structure, and there is a bayonet on the gun. It looks like the musket we equipped before.
It's just that the quality of the barrel is too low, it's rolled by craftsmen, and it's still made of pig iron.
Looking at the luster and color of the pig iron, it appears that the phosphorus content exceeds the standard, making the pig iron very brittle.
If its charge is similar to our previous muskets, it will be very easy to explode.
Our factory here no longer has such inferior products.
Your Highness the King of Qin, this musket should be a musket produced by the Ming Dynasty.
The ex-factory price of smoothbore guns in our arsenal is five taels of silver coins, and the ex-factory price of rifled guns is eight taels of silver coins.
This price has left enough profit margins for the arsenal.
This gun is not as good as our musket in every aspect. I can only pay three taels of silver coins at most, but any more will be taken advantage of."
Su He smiled and said: "Three taels of silver coins, you underestimate it. This musket is a musket made in the Ming Dynasty.
For such a musket, the Ming Dynasty paid sixteen taels of silver."
Jiang Zhiyu said in shock: "This musket is worth sixteen taels of silver."
Su He threw the musket aside like rubbish.
"The industrial system is different. The Ming Dynasty is still dominated by handicraft industry.
This is because Chongzhen was replaced by Xu Guangqi and his team, and the corruption was not that serious.
The Ming Dynasty had no way to obtain cheap steel and used handmade muskets.
Their cost is very high, each musket costs more than ten taels of silver.
Just relying on the difference in the price of firearms between our two sides, we will win this war."
When Su He saw this musket, he determined that this war would be won.
The war is all about comprehensive national strength. The Ming Dynasty was weak in some aspects, but they made up for their shortcomings in some aspects.
The continuous accumulation of such weights will affect the balance of victory.
"Minister Jiang, you are in charge of the army's logistics, how are you preparing now?
The key to victory in this battle lies with your logistics department."
The last unit in Hanzhong, the Guards led by Li Dazhuang, set off.
The countdown to their war with the Ming Dynasty has begun.
Jiang Zhiyu heard King Qin say that their logistics department affects the outcome of the war.
He felt that the burden on his shoulders was heavier, and he was even more proud that his department was valued so much by King Qin.
"Your Highness King Qin, we have established contacts with major factories and grain storage bureau granaries.
The entire logistics system is divided into internal and external lines.
The transportation speed on the inner line is faster. We use our cement roads extending in all directions to quickly transport materials to the front line through four-wheeled carriages.
The outer line mainly recruits civilian laborers to transport supplies via horse-drawn carriages and wheelbarrows.
Every transport team is protected by troops."
While Jiang Zhiyu was speaking, he unfolded the logistics transportation map and introduced to King Qin in detail the entire logistics system planned by their logistics department.