I will not mention the process of Han Laoliu and his family settling in. Anyway, they are 120% satisfied with Zixiaoguan's treatment.
After they were settled, Chen Jingke called the father and son over and inquired in detail about the management of the Yellow River.
Han Xiaogou has never been to the Yellow River, so it’s hard to say anything. Han Laoliu has been there several times and talked about many practical issues.
He had only two suggestions for solving the problem: plant trees and turf upstream, and build gates downstream to release sand.
In fact, to put it bluntly, there are still five words: To control the Yellow River, control sand first. This is the only core of controlling the Yellow River through the ages.
After understanding their ability to control the river, Chen Jingke talked about the methods of controlling the river that he had seen from later generations, such as condensing water to attack sand.
In fact, these principles are not complicated. Han Laoliu understood it as soon as he heard it, and he admired Chen Jingke even more. He is indeed a noble man, he understands everything.
Finally, Chen Jingke told them: "The imperial court is about to re-regulate the Yellow River. Write down the river management strategy you know, and I will give it to the sage to read."
When Han Laoliu heard this, he actually showed it to the emperor. He was so excited that he trembled all over: "Yes, yes, yes, please rest assured, I will write it well."
In the next period of time, I would see one or two good articles on studying things from time to time, which made Chen Jingke very happy.
Most of the people who wrote the articles were mathematics enthusiasts. Arithmetic was also a very important subject in ancient times. The Imperial College had a specialized arithmetic department, so it is not surprising that there are talents in this field.
There are also those in chemistry, but judging from their status, most of them are Taoist priests. Thinking about what Taoist priests have done to make alchemy, it is not incomprehensible.
His place seemed very lively, but in fact it was just a trivial matter, and no one except the gurus enthusiasts paid much attention to it.
The real big news comes from Sun Simiao's side.
The most popular news in the Tang Dynasty in July and August was undoubtedly that the living god Sun Simiao found a way to prevent and cure smallpox, and was therefore named a medical saint.
The news spread quickly, and the city of Chang'an was in an uproar. The streets and alleys were talking about this matter.
Sun Shenxian is indeed a Sun Shenxian, he can even cure smallpox, so what is he if he is not a god?
Naturally, some people don't believe it, but when they see the archway of Zixiao Temple, they can't believe it even if they want to.
Immediately afterwards, news came out that this method only required one treatment to provide lifelong immunity to smallpox. The imperial court had ordered free treatment for everyone in the world.
Now everyone was completely uneasy.
Originally, they all thought that the method of treating smallpox would be troublesome, but it had little to do with them anyway.
Now I suddenly heard that we are providing free treatment to everyone in the world, so it has something to do with them.
When someone eats melon and eats it on themselves, everyone begins to panic, and more and more people question it.
Is the method for treating smallpox real or fake? What does this method look like? Is it dangerous?
Of course, some people question whether this news is false. After all, it treats everyone in the world, so it is unreliable no matter how you look at it.
Putting aside everything else, where did so many medicinal materials come from? Even if there were so many medicinal materials, would the imperial court have the money to treat so many people?
Soon this statement gained the upper hand, and the news of universal treatment was false.
However, at this time, a certain piece of news came out from various government offices:
The imperial court ordered local government offices to complete the population census as soon as possible and report the number of people truthfully so that the imperial court could allocate sufficient smallpox drugs.
If the local government fails to do its job properly and conceals or omits reports, the local people will not be able to receive treatment and smallpox will break out.
Immediately afterwards, a new issue of Mochizuki Tan was released, and the first article was "Broken Flower Seed".
This article did not mention what the prescription for smallpox was, not even a word about it.
It just tells how Sun Simiao was willing to take risks and personally lived with smallpox patients for five months, studying the smallpox virus and finding a rescue method.
And he was the first to experiment with a new method, and later used hundreds of death row inmates to conduct experiments, and finally confirmed that the method was usable.
Several touching stories were also interspersed during the period, and at the end was what Sun Simiao said to Li Shimin: The smallpox was defeated in Longshouyuan.
In short, when everyone reads this article, one thought will come to mind: Sun Shenxian is too great.
But everyone saw another meaning from this article: smallpox was really conquered.
The spread of Mochizuki Tan was far faster than word of mouth among the people, and its authority was also many times higher. Soon most places in the country knew about it.
Not only that, Chen Jingke also mobilized the entire Taoist force to publicize this matter. When he wrote to the heads of various factions, he said bluntly:
Taoism needs a god, a living god, a god who can benefit everyone, so that it can help Taoism reach a higher level.
Of course, we can't let others work in vain. Chen Jingke promised that each sect can send Taoist priests who know medical skills to Beijing to learn treatment methods.
At that time, they can vaccinate believers against smallpox in their own sphere of influence.
Faced with this condition, the Taoist sects had no idea of resistance. Everyone knew how important the method of treating smallpox was for preaching and consolidating the sphere of influence.
It can be said that what Zixiaoguan and Sun Simiao wanted in this wave was fame, but what each faction gained was real benefits, and the two sides hit it off immediately.
So all Taoist sects worked together to spread the word, "My leader, the Living God Sun Simiao, has found a cure for smallpox."
Unlike before, which only focused on lobbying high-level officials, the reformed Taoism also attaches great importance to the people. In the past two years, a lot of effort has been invested in promoting Taoism among the people.
It is not an exaggeration to say that there are Taoists wherever people gather.
When the entire Taoist movement mobilizes to promote one thing, its influence is greater than that of the state machinery.
The target of Wangyuetan is the scholar group living in the city, while Taoism targets the grassroots people, and the two sides form a perfect cooperation.
Sun Simiao's momentum was unrivaled.
Sun Simiao himself was very helpless about this and said: "You've gone too far in bragging. Besides, you told me about the smallpox vaccine. I just went to verify it. It's you who made the first contribution."
Chen Jingke smiled and said: "I told you that others don't believe it, and even if they do, they may not dare to get vaccinated. Only you, old man, will everyone believe it and be willing to get vaccinated."
"In order to eliminate smallpox and save more lives, you, old man, should work harder and take up this reputation."
Sun Simiao said: "I'm afraid everyone in the world wants to bear this kind of burden."
Then he said: "The new medical skills belong to your family, but I am here to enjoy the reputation. I feel really uneasy."
Chen Jingke comforted him: "There is no one else in my family except me in this world. I can deal with these things as I say."
"And what I told you was only a direction and framework. You turned them into medical skills that can cure diseases and save lives, so it is only natural that you enjoy this honor."
"Besides, how many times have you struggled with this matter? We can't struggle with it every time we get something, right?"
"They say that the older you get, the smaller your heart becomes. You are not a living god, nor are you exempt from vulgarity."
Sun Simiao was dumbfounded, shook his head and said, "Okay, I'm being pretentious again."
Next, the two began to discuss how to vaccinate the entire population.
Sun Simiao said: "Creating cowpox is easy, but the difficulty is how to vaccinate tens of millions of people. In fact, it is best to publish the method directly and let doctors from all over the country vaccinate themselves."
Chen Jingke shook his head and said seriously: "This method must be carried out by the imperial court, and it must not be done by others, even if it is a little slower."
Sun Simiao immediately understood what he meant, and his eyelids twitched a few times before he said: "Indeed, smallpox is highly poisonous. Any problem in any link will lead to serious consequences, and the imperial court must act in a unified manner."
He was originally a little dissatisfied that Li Shimin deliberately concealed the truth about the smallpox vaccine and slowed down the speed of vaccination. Now after Chen Jingke reminded him, he immediately understood the complexity.
It's very simple. To put it bluntly, cowpox is cattle infected with smallpox. Although it is less toxic, it is still smallpox.
The most worrying thing is that some people are committing fraud, falsely reporting vaccination numbers in order to meet deadlines, or directly maliciously spreading the human smallpox virus to cause a pandemic.
With the unified action of the imperial court, although the speed of vaccination is slow, safety can be guaranteed. When it comes to universal vaccination, the most important thing is safety.
However, in fact, Li Shimin has not considered the issue of safety at all. It is not that he does not care, but that universal vaccination is unprecedented, and it is normal for him to not understand it.
There is only one reason why he concealed the vaccine, profit.
If the truth about the vaccine is directly announced, everyone will only be grateful to Sun Simiao, not the imperial court.
If the vaccination is unified by the imperial court, this matter will be completed under the leadership of the imperial court. The people will think well of the imperial court, thus achieving the effect of winning over the people's hearts.
It is also a powerful deterrent weapon externally, forcing countries to sign alliances under the city walls.
For someone like him who has been playing politics all his life, there are too many articles about what the smallpox vaccine can do.
It can only be said that his behavior happened to ensure the safety of vaccination, and it can be regarded as a mistake.
On the other hand, Li Shimin was also very happy when he looked at the public sentiment and social conditions collected from various places.
"Look, look, once the smallpox vaccine comes out, all the ghosts and ghosts will cease."
Changsun Wuji smiled and said: "It is said that the nobles have begun to retreat in an all-round way. They no longer run around as before, and the census work is progressing more smoothly."
Tang Jian echoed: "It is indeed true. According to the reports of the inventory teams in various places, it is expected that the real population data will be obtained by the end of the year."
"You don't know if you don't investigate. This investigation is really shocking. So far, more than 7 million people have been identified as hidden people. It is speculated that the number of people who have not been identified is not less than this number."
Li Shimin's face suddenly became ugly. These people were tax revenue and soldiers, but they had become the property of powerful nobles. Naturally, he was not happy.
"Very good, my promise will not change. After the census is completed, all officials who participated will be given official status, and those with official status will be promoted to three levels in a row."
The imperial court mobilized more than 5,000 officials to conduct a population census. Li Shimin's order was equivalent to directly adding more than 5,000 officials to the Tang Dynasty.
You must know that the total number of officials in the Tang Dynasty is only more than 14,000, and this number has increased by one-third.
There is no need to worry about redundant officials or official salaries.
Not to mention that the number of officials in the Tang Dynasty was seriously insufficient. An additional five thousand people would not be able to fill these holes.
Just say that the extra 10 million people also need officials to manage them. These officials can just come in handy, and there is no need to worry about the phenomenon of military officials like the Song Dynasty.
By the way, the phenomenon of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty was not caused by the imperial examination.
The imperial examination is held once every three years, and 300 people are selected each time. Counting all the Enke and others, if it is held every two years, the average increase is only more than 100 people every year. How can there be redundant officials?
What really caused the evil consequences of redundant officials was the favor system. The seventh-grade county magistrate could grant three relatives to serve as officials every year, which was three per year.
It is even more exaggerated for officials of third rank and above and prime ministers, who can favor ten of their relatives as officials every year.
Being a county magistrate for ten years can help thirty relatives and relatives, and being a third-rank official or above for ten years is like a chicken or a dog ascending to heaven.
Although officials born in Enyin could only serve as minor officials and could not enter the ministry, minor officials were still officials and had to receive a salary from the court.
As a result, there was a phenomenon of more officials and fewer positions, and a serious redundancy of officials.
In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the rules and canceled the qualifications of low-level officials to be relatives of Enyin. The prime minister could only Enyin to one person per year.
Therefore, the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty was more rigorous than that of the Song Dynasty, and more scholars were selected, but there was no redundancy of officials.
Back to business.
There is another reason why Li Shimin converted the more than 5,000 people who participated in the census into official status, and that is because their backgrounds were relatively low.
They are basically local rich families, children from poor families, and some are even poor people who can read. When these people enter the officialdom, they will impact the powerful gentry bureaucracy.
It can be said that Li Shimin has already figured out everything.
Then he asked Kong Yingda: "Kong Jijiu, how is the academic and political construction going?"
Kong Yingda was obviously very happy and said with a smile: "The resistance to the construction of schools in various places has been greatly reduced. Many places that have not made progress have finally been relaxed."
As the prince of the country, he is the first person responsible for the academic and political system. It can be said that he has worked hard and hard, and he has become much older.
But he was very happy with it.
Confucius taught without distinction. As his descendant, he implemented the academic and political system, which is considered to be in line with his ancestors.
Moreover, the teaching material used in the academic and political system is the Hongwenguan version of the Nine Classics, and he is one of the most important compilers.
While promoting the academic and political system, it also took back the right to interpret the knowledge of our ancestors, killing two birds with one stone.
It is no exaggeration to say that he was very happy.
Li Shimin nodded and asked: "How is your training going, sir? When can school start?"
Kong Yingda said: "About one-third of states and counties can start schools on time in August, and the rest will have to wait until early next year."
"It's not all because the local officials are not cooperating. It's more because the teacher's equipment is not in place. Academic administration is a major matter of the country, and it is better to be deficient than to overdo it."
Li Shimin said with great satisfaction: "Yes, education is related to the rise and fall of the country. It is better to take things slow than to rush."
After saying that, he asked Ren Feng to fetch two thick piles of books, pointed to one of them and said, "Look through these books to see if they can be used as elementary school books."
Kong Yingda took it over and looked at it. He immediately knew the source of these books and said:
"This is the elementary school book used by Zixiaoguan. I have actually read it. It is indeed superior. Especially the innovation in mathematics has amazed me."
At this point, he changed the topic and said: "However, I think that only arithmetic is useful, and other books are dispensable. Especially Pinyin, I really don't see much use."
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
My writing has been a bit messy recently. I reorganized the outline yesterday, so I didn’t have time to type.
This chapter is to make up for yesterday, and there is another chapter for today in the middle of the night. You can get up early tomorrow and read it.