Chapter 1434 - 1341: Agriculture (Part 3)

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t know how to treat schistosomiasis, the books she read in the library barely mentioned it, but there were plenty of preventive measures.

She relayed the prevention methods she and Fu Tinghan remembered to Doctor Ding, who was willing to go to Guangzhou, and asked him to conduct research while starting with prevention.

With proper prevention, schistosomiasis can be reduced by eighty percent.

The most crucial problem is how to make the people of Guangzhou trust them and follow their preventive measures.

Let alone a wild place like Guangzhou, even in a state of rituals like the Central Plains, it’s impossible for people to follow court regulations without severe penalties.

And severe penalties...

She couldn’t heavily punish a family just because one person drank untreated water, that would not be preventing disease, it would be forcing rebellion.

So she chose Zhao Shen.

As expected, Zhao Shen, worthy of his reputation, quickly took over the Guangzhou Army after succeeding Dai Yuan, training the soldiers while Doctor Ding recruited some apprentices locally to collaborate with local herbalists in researching treatment for schistosomiasis.

Huaxia’s scholars have always believed that nature and everything in it strive for harmony, which is not only the will of all beings but also the will of heaven and earth.

Therefore, there must be an antidote near a poison, and schistosomiasis naturally has a natural predator nearby; they just haven’t discovered it yet.

However, it doesn’t matter; Doctor Ding said he could implement preventive measures while searching. He believes that one day he will find a cure for schistosomiasis.

By then, not only Guangzhou, but also the Jing Chu and Jiangnan regions, will no longer suffer from schistosomiasis.

Full of confidence, Doctor Ding was overwhelmed before he even started. He painstakingly took his apprentices everywhere to promote not drinking untreated water, not bathing in the rivers or streams, paying attention to family members’ feces to quickly detect schistosomiasis and prevent it...

After a year of effort, few were willing to listen to him. He provided ample anti-miasma medicine for the soldiers, but the local market didn’t open at all.

Then the Inspector went out for a stroll, running around all over Guangzhou, staying two days in a city, a night in a village. When he left, people went into a frenzy, no longer needing their persistent persuasion, they boiled water on their own, even carrying boiled and cooled water in bamboo tubes when going out, instead of scooping water directly from rivers and creeks to drink.

They even proactively sought him out for herbal prescriptions for prevention.

Doctor Ding hadn’t made zero progress in a year. Although he couldn’t cure schistosomiasis entirely, he had several prescriptions to kill parasites if caught early.

Coincidentally, the necessary herbs could be found in the mountains of Guangzhou.

However, medication must be administered with caution to avoid inadvertently harming oneself while killing parasites.

Additionally, they would bring their feces to Doctor Ding for identification. Once they confirmed the presence of eggs, they would immediately set fires by their water sources, praying and performing rituals to counter-curse the Demon God.

Doctor Ding was numb, watching their Inspector lead them, wearing brightly colored official robes, wielding a sword, and stepping in the eight trigram formation to perform rituals.

"Governor, does Your Majesty know you are using official robes for rituals?"

In his heart, Doctor Ding shouted: "Your Majesty—I wish to return to the capital!"

Unlike Dai Yuan, who went around establishing authority and subduing the local people, Zhao Shen used his long-pursued mystical skills to win them over.

Without deploying a single soldier.

Even though schistosomiasis prevention showed little effect, Zhao Shen already gained prestige among the local people in Guangzhou, and Zhao Hanzhang, whom he mentioned to deceive people, was elevated to a status that could rival the Demon God.

Zhao Shen took the opportunity to request a batch of good seeds from the Ministry of Agriculture, not the Luoyang Southern No. 2 variety, as that rice seed hadn’t begun to be promoted.

He requested a rice seed that had been cultivated for several years and had seen successful planting in the rainy areas like Jing Chu.

Zhao Hanzhang readily agreed on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Zhao Hanzhang treated Guangzhou kindly, not levying their taxes, meaning that local tax revenues were used for the local financial expenditure.

Zhao Shen was no ordinary aristocratic child; he was born in a chaotic era and began to travel at the age of fourteen, witnessing the hardships of people’s lives.

He had been a Taoist, a Ranger, even a bandit and a beggar.

The salary Zhao Hanzhang gave was not too little. With family support, one person was well-fed, and the entire family needn’t worry, so he wouldn’t embezzle taxes from the local administration.

If the superiors are not corrupt, then the governance would be clear, and there would be more surplus in the administration, thus more return to the people.

By late summer of Zhao Shen’s third year in office, his governance began to yield results, and the local people of Guangzhou grew the finest rice strain—the Lingnan No. 1—amid the mountains and wilds.

This No. 1 rice strain derived from the Jing Chu No. 1, yet its growth was even better in Lingnan than in Jing Chu, possibly because local varieties were mixed in, resulting in a qualitative leap in the end.

Not only were the rice ears longer, the grains more numerous and plumper, but they also had better resistance to floods.

Zhao Shen imposed light corvée and taxes, asking for not much from each tribe.

He knew that such a vast place as Guangzhou couldn’t be governed by dispatching officials to every location; they still had to rely on the locals.

Zhao Hanzhang also repeatedly instructed him to respect local customs and chieftains, managing local affairs through communication with them.

Having been reminded countless times, Zhao Shen couldn’t help but complain in a letter to his father: "Your Majesty shows less of her former domineering manner with the border people, and more tenderness. Those unaware would think she belonged to the southern barbarians rather than the Central Plains people."

Zhao Ming scolded him, "Calling your governed people southern barbarians shows you haven’t yet awakened. Your Majesty treats all equally, seeing everyone regardless of ethnicity as family. She shows tenderness to border people because their natural conditions are worse than the Central Plains, yet they bear the responsibility of defending our country."

Zhao Ming immediately asked Zhao Hanzhang to keep Zhao Shen in Guangzhou for a few more years, not to transfer him just because his three-year term was over.

In his opinion, it took at least five years for an official’s governance to start showing results, and three years were just enough to understand a place.

Upon learning this, Zhao Shen was both angry and aggrieved, writing directly to argue with his father, "This is all your bias against me. Do you doubt my integrity, my ability to govern, my love for the people?"

Zhao Ming responded: "You have never looked at the people you govern as equals. As their governor, you look down on them from above, with condescending compassion. Is this how your grandfather taught me, how I taught you?"

"Your Seventh Ancestor deeply loves your teacher and is generous to him, but why have you always maintained a steely demeanor towards him?" Zhao Ming said, "His love for your teacher is from above. When on the right path, his love is right, but what if he strays?"

"Zhao Shen, don’t follow in your Seventh Ancestor’s footsteps, whether as an official or as a person, always learn from the best, and compare upwards, not downwards."

Upon receiving the letter, Zhao Shen was dumbfounded.

His chief historian, unaware that Zhao Shen was daydreaming, continued to report, "Governor, Jiaozhi sent envoys to us. Shouldn’t we refuse them? Those traitors have the nerve to ask us for good seeds?"