Physician of the Song Dynasty: Zhang Kai and Li Qingzhao have a private life-long contract

"What, the doctor is applying for soldiers to form a sugar cane farm?"

When Fan Zheng's memorial appeared in the court, all officials in the court were once again in an uproar.

"The doctors are too arrogant. Although the Xiang soldiers are not as good as the Forbidden Army, they are still soldiers of the Song Dynasty. Do the doctors want to treat the Xiang soldiers as private soldiers? Zeng Bu said angrily.

The reason why the doctor's application for a roundworm farm was approved was because ascariasis was rampant in the Song Dynasty. In order to save the people, they cultivated roundworm as soon as possible, and then asked the soldiers to help.

Thirty thousand Xiang soldiers went to the Hehuang Valley to form a construction corps. They were to farm fields to support the frontline soldiers, and to deter the situation in Qingtang. They were all serving the country.

But why did Fan Zheng demand the establishment of a sugarcane farm? Can sugarcane still be owned by the state?

Zhao Xu frowned and couldn't help but look at Fan Zheng. If Fan Zheng didn't give a reasonable explanation, he might not be able to save Fan Zheng.

Fan Zheng looked around at the ministers and said calmly: "The reason why doctors need to set up a sugar cane farm is that they need a lot of sugar. The success of pagoda sugar has certainly found a good way to treat roundworms, but it also proves that good medicine does not have to be bitter."

“Good medicine doesn’t have to be bitter!”

Baiguan frowned. Since ancient times, it has been a well-known saying that good medicine is bitter in taste and good for diseases. This time, pagoda sugar is widely welcomed by children, and they have heard about it. However, even so, adding sugar to the medicine is mostly for children, and the amount used is not There are not many, and doctors only need to buy it from the private sector.

The reason why the doctors went to great lengths to set up sugar cane farms was just to save costs because of the low labor force of the soldiers. How could the scholar-bureaucrats who believed themselves to be righteous tolerate such obviously self-serving behavior?

"Wei Chen impeached Fan Zheng for pretending to be a public servant for personal gain. The Artemisia Farm has allowed the doctors to take advantage of him, but he didn't expect that he would go even further.

The New Party and the Old Party also reprimanded Fan Zheng.

Fan Zheng shook his head and said: "It is true that the doctors took advantage of the establishment of the sugar cane farm, but the doctors are dedicated to serving the country."

"Heart for the country?"

All the officials in the court immediately sneered.

Fan Zheng explained: "Both mugwort and sugarcane are cash crops. The income per acre is high and requires a lot of manpower. It only takes a small amount of space to feed enough soldiers, and all the icing sugar produced, The doctor accepts the order without worrying about sales, which is enough to save the court a lot of money."

Zhao Xu's heart skipped a beat. This time the Song Dynasty fought against Xixia and Qingtang, the military expenditures were quite large. It would be great if the military expenditures for a group of soldiers could be saved.

"The soldiers are the soldiers of the country, how can they serve the doctor's personal gain?" Zeng Bu said angrily.

All the officials agreed. Although they knew that Xiang soldiers wasted a lot of money and stretched their combat power, they were a lot of parasites, but they couldn't stand seeing Xiang soldiers seeking benefits for the doctors.

Fan Zheng waved his hand and said: "The doctor and the soldiers are not affiliated but a cooperative relationship. The doctor is not responsible for managing the sugar cane farm. All the doctor needs is the final frosting. The doctor can even pay a sum of money in advance to prepare the sugar cane farm. Just use frosting instead!”

"I think this method is feasible! This method does not require any money from the court, and it can solve the problem of redundant troops in the court. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone." Fan Chunchun, the Minister of Household Affairs, took the lead in supporting Fan Zhengdao.

His move was not to protect Fan Zheng, but because of the political tensions in the Song Dynasty. If the cost of the troops could be reduced, the pressure on the Ministry of Revenue would be relieved.

"No money from the court!"

All the officials in the court couldn't help but be envious and jealous. The finances of the court were tight, and it was extremely difficult to apply for funds for many departments. However, Fan Zheng, who was backed by a medical family, was rich and did not need to worry about money at all.

Lu Dafang thought for a moment and asked, "I wonder how many soldiers Fan Taicheng needs."

The purpose of the old party has always been to reduce expenditures. Since Fan Zheng's establishment of a sugar cane farm can save a lot of military expenditures, they are naturally happy to see the results.

The New Party was silent from top to bottom. The New Party advocated open source. The sugar cane farm could save soldiers and military expenses. Planting sugar cane also increased the source of income. They had no way to object.

Fan Zheng looked around and said loudly: "Fan needs 30,000 troops!"

"Another thirty thousand soldiers?"

All the officials were in an uproar when they heard this. The first batch of construction troops sent by the imperial court to the Hehuang Valley was only 30,000 soldiers, but the doctors actually needed 30,000 soldiers to set up a sugar cane farm.

Fan Chun couldn't help but feel happy.

The original Artemisia Farm only used 3,000 soldiers, which already caused a sensation in the government and the public. Now Qingtang has sent 30,000 soldiers to form a construction corps, and the doctors want another 30,000 soldiers. The original 400,000 soldiers of the Song Dynasty were actually short. In that time, there was a loss of as much as 60,000.

In other words, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will suddenly reduce the expenditure of 60,000 soldiers. This is great news for the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

This time, even Su Song glanced at Fan Zheng in surprise. According to the discussion between Fan Zheng and the Medical Party, only 10,000 soldiers were needed to set up a sugarcane farm to meet the needs of the doctors.

"Fan Zheng directly tripled the number of soldiers in his chamber, could it be to bargain with the court!" Su Song guessed, but did not say anything clearly at the moment.

"No! Thirty thousand soldiers are too many!" Sure enough, Zeng Bu directly denied it.

The large number of Xiang soldiers setting up farms and setting up construction corps will certainly save a lot of military expenses, which makes the court, which has always advocated the use of civility and military force, full of concerns.

To Su Dun's surprise, Fan Zheng did not bargain, but directly said clearly: "If it is just the sugar frost that the doctors need, only 10,000 soldiers are needed to plant sugar cane! The remaining 20,000 soldiers are needed to plant sugar cane. The icing sugar produced from sugar cane is used by military commanders."

"Ordnance Inspector?"

Everyone couldn't help but frown, and then they remembered that Fan Zheng not only held the position of Imperial Physician, but also had the position of Ordnance Supervisor.

"What does the weapons supervisor need sugar for?" Zeng Bu frowned and asked, how could the weapons supervisor use sugar, and the amount used was even more than that of a doctor.

Fan Zheng was silent for a moment and said: "This is the secret skill of the weapons supervisor. It is of great importance. Please forgive me for not being able to say it clearly in court. I can only report it privately to the official and the three ministers."

When Zeng Bu heard this, he became furious and said, "As a privy envoy, don't I have the right to know?"

Fan Zheng said calmly: "Master Zeng is the Privy Councilor, but the Ordnance Supervisor is under the Ministry of War. The two are not subordinate to each other. Moreover, the fewer people who know this secret, the better. Please forgive me, Master Zeng!"

All the officials were in an uproar. No one expected that Fan Zheng would be so stubborn. In the name of the secret skills of weapons inspection, he would not let them know. Even the Privy Councilor Zeng Bu was embarrassed in front of him.

Fan Zheng snorted in his heart. Zeng Bu was the privy envoy and the de facto military boss. Logically speaking, there was no need to hide the weapons inspector's secret skills from him. However, Fan Zheng investigated and learned that the reason why he was hated by Wang Shen in the first place was because Zeng Bu was doing evil things secretly, and Fan Zheng took the opportunity to lose Zeng Bu's face.

Hearing this, Zeng Bu sneered and said, "I hope the secret skills of weapons monitoring you mentioned are true."

Fan Zhengyi said without fear: "Lord Zeng, don't worry, when the secret technique of weapons inspection is completed, it will definitely be handed over to the Privy Council for verification."

Zeng Bu snorted coldly, turned around and left immediately, and all the officials in the court also left one after another. Only Zhao Xu and the three ministers of the court were left in Chui Gong Hall.

"Fan Taicheng, I can make it clear what you said about the secret weapon monitoring skills. If this is just an excuse for you to seek personal gain for the medical family, don't blame me for impeaching you for deceiving the emperor." Zhang Dun threatened.

He and Zeng Bu were both members of the new party. Fan Zheng was in public and asked Zeng Bu not to come to power, which naturally made him particularly unhappy.

At this moment, Zhao Xu and others also looked at it one after another.

Fan Zheng said solemnly: "The Thunderbolt is the trump card of the Song Dynasty. Its main ingredients are gunpowder and iron cans. However, these two technologies are not secrets in the hands of Liao Xia. If nothing else, Liao Xia already has its own The thunder from the sky."

Zhao Xu's heart suddenly sank, because Fan Zheng was not an alarmist. Liaoxia's iron smelting industry was developed, and there were a large number of Han people in its territory, so the gunpowder formula was not a secret.

"If the Song Dynasty continues to be self-proclaimed, the Song Dynasty will be harmed by the Thunder Thunder. For this reason, the weapons supervisor is studying the more powerful Thunder Thunder. After the craftsmen improved the formula, they found that if frosting is added to the Thunder Thunder, the power will be doubled. !" Fan Zheng said proudly.

Mononitrate, disulfide, and three charcoal, plus some sugar, are the classic sayings of later generations. Now that Fan Zheng has used soldiers to set up a sugar cane farm, he will naturally increase the power of gunpowder for the Song Dynasty.