After waiting for three days, no more acne occurred on either No. 2 or No. 3. The three imperial doctors breathed a sigh of relief and put the acne scabs collected from their bodies into bottles, then wrote labels and sealed them.
The two of them still stayed in this house to recuperate, while Manbao and the others went to change their clothes and then went into the palace to see the emperor.
They brought with them the notes they had taken during these days.
The emperor didn't know much about medical skills, so he specially invited several ministers to listen together, especially Mr. Tang, who had a background in criminal cases and knew more about medical skills.
Xiao Yuanzheng, as a representative, explained the test data during this period in detail.
The emperor turned over the pulse case on the table and handed it to Gu Zhong, asking him to show it to the adults below.
Wei Zhixian looked at the start time and asked: "In other words, it has only been fifteen days since the vaccination."
"Yes," Xiao Yuanzheng said: "But in fact, the time for them to develop acne is only five to nine days, which is also the onset time of smallpox patients, but on average, the time for acne to occur is slightly lower than the overall time for acne.
"
Manbao added: "The number of people we tested is too small, so the data may not be very accurate."
The emperor and several ministers understood the implication of her words, which was that she wanted more people to experiment.
The emperor knocked on the table, "In other words, vaccination is indeed effective, and people who have been infected with smallpox will not be infected with smallpox again."
Wei Zhi thought about the risk and then poured a bucket of ice water on him, "Your Majesty, one of the three people died. This ratio is still too high. So many people may not die in a war. This kind of pox method still requires
Let’s think about it again.”
Man Bao immediately said: "Yes, human pox is still not safe enough, so I want to go to the Western Regions to find a cure for cowpox. I heard that cowpox is much safer than human pox. I beg your majesty to help."
Man Bao bowed deeply.
The emperor waved his hand and said: "We'll discuss this matter later. There's no rush. It's only the end of February. By the way, this No. 3 seems to be much safer. Let's try again with the acne on his body?"
Man Bao and Xiao Yuanzheng looked at each other and said, "Yes, I think so too. If we compare it with No. 2, we will know whether the less toxic the acne scab is, the safer it is. We will also know in the future."
How to select suitable acne pulp for planting.”
Xiao Yuanzheng answered: "It's just that there are no prisoners sentenced to death in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, and there are not many prisoners sentenced to hanging, so..."
The emperor looked at Mr. Old Tang and the Minister of Punishment, and said: "It is better to ask other felons. If there are any who dare to obey the order, their punishment will be reduced."
Mr. Old Tang frowned and disagreed with such a reward rule. He said: "Your Majesty, the criminals who will be sentenced to serious crimes are definitely extremely evil people. If they are released, it will be a great harm to the people and unfair to the victims."
Therefore, he has always opposed the proposal that the emperor should grant amnesty to the world if he does good deeds.
Wei Zhi also thought so and also objected.
The emperor said: "If you want someone's life to be used as an experiment, you can't not give them any benefits. Who would be willing to do it?"
"Then we can't let them go because of this. If they go out and cause harm to their neighbors, who will those who are suffering be able to reason with? The law is the law and cannot be changed too much."
The emperor was a little angry, "If the vaccination method can really be tested, it will be a great success. Should this method be abandoned because of this?"
Seeing that they were about to quarrel, Man Bao said quickly: "Your Majesty, there must be brave men under heavy profits, but heavy gifts do not necessarily mean letting them go, you can give them other benefits."
She said: "I think the food in the prison is very unpalatable, so I can tell them that if they apply for conscription, they will be provided with three meals for ten to twenty years, with each meal including fish, meat and eggs; if they are exiled, they will be given three meals a day for ten or twenty years; if they are exiled, they will have three meals a day."
Thousands of miles to a thousand miles, give me some more money; by the way, why don't you give me the money before, then it's up to them whether they want to spend it to atone for their sins or to use it to eat and drink."
The emperor immediately said: "Yes, this method is good."
Mr. Old Tang and Wei Zhi stopped talking. They both looked at the Minister of Punishment. The Minister of Punishment touched his chin and said, "It's not impossible, but how much is the right amount?"
As he spoke, he glanced at Liu Shangshu and said: "Our Ministry of Punishment's budget for this year is already small. If we promise it at a heavy profit, we will have to allocate funds from the Ministry of Household Affairs."
Liu Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue did not expect that the fire would come to him. Wasn't he just here to listen?
Hearing what the Minister of Punishment said, he couldn't help but said: "The treasury can't lay golden eggs on its own. Last year was already difficult. This year, all ministries need money, and the holes owed last year have to be plugged. How can there be any extra money?"
?”
The Minister of Punishment said: "If even the Ministry of Husbandry can't come up with money, then we, the Ministry of Punishment, can't come up with it."
Mr. Old Tang then helped the Minister of Punishment, "You must come up with some, otherwise we will really let people go? When they commit crimes again, the Punishment Ministry will arrest them again, and it will cost a lot of money."
Officials from the Ministry of Punishments are also paid for business trips, and that is included in their salary. They also need to be paid by the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Liu Shangshu glanced at the three people from Taiyuan Hospital and hummed: "A hundred taels at most, no more."
So stingy!
It's just that Man Bao and the other three still calculated in their minds how many prisoners this hundred taels would be enough to treat. One person was not considered sick, and he had to eat well and drink well for a month. Not to mention meat every meal, but one meal every other day.
It costs about 500 taels, which is about 50 taels a year. Even if we only count the food for ten years, it would still be 50 taels. Then wouldn’t they be able to hire two prisoners?
No, no, this is definitely not enough.
She and Doctor Zheng Lu of Xiao Yuan calculated privately that the next second trial would require at least twelve patients, three age groups, four people in each age group, and one type of acne scab would need to be planted on two patients of the same age group at the same time.
Only in this way can the experimental data be compared with those of different people.
In fact, it is still too few. If there were enough people, it should be expanded ten times.
However, they felt that even the Ministry of Punishment Prison might not be able to find so many repeat criminals willing to do this experiment.
But it seemed a bit difficult to ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to provide six hundred taels, so Man Bao said: "One hundred taels is too little, at least one thousand taels."
Liu Shangshu couldn't help but choked when he saw that she had doubled the price tenfold. Although everyone in the court always asked for high prices and paid them back on the spot, they would not ask for more than ten times as soon as they started.
Man Bao made a calculation for him. The prisoners must be willing to do experiments for them. At least they must provide for their meals for ten years, right?
So the two of them talked about the current prices.
The emperor and the ministers just watched the two of them going back and forth. They had already mentioned that today's vegetables cost six cents a pound. The man said, "That's because it's the beginning of spring and vegetables are scarce. Look at summer and autumn.