Chapter 15: It is a blessing for the Qing Dynasty to have such a prince!

Chapter 15

Dai Jia got what she wanted, but she did not slack off or feel proud. She still came to the Cining Palace every day, her attitude became more submissive, and her work became more efficient. Kangxi often came to pay his respects, but she did not come forward, and took the initiative to retreat. It was obvious that she intended to serve the Empress Dowager wholeheartedly and gave up the idea of competing with other concubines for men.

Although her intentions were not pure, she was sincere to the Grand Empress Dowager. People are all made of flesh and blood. Sincerity is rewarded with sincerity. The Grand Empress Dowager gradually accepted her and showed great concern for her. Occasionally, she would take the initiative to talk to her about Yinyou, ask about his diet and daily life, and send some things that the child needed.

Yinreng was a little jealous at first. But he was open-minded and understood that they were all great-grandsons, so he had no right to ask the Empress Dowager to love only him. In addition, he had more important things to do - Soetu and Doctor Liu were back.

The two of them were gone for several months, traveling all over the country. Although this time was not enough to travel all over the country, they managed to visit several important prefectures and counties with large areas and large populations.

Suo Etu's status was clear, and he had the emperor's permission to work for the prince. The local officials were very cooperative. Often, while they were still in this prefecture, the other prefecture had already found the information under its jurisdiction, and they were just waiting for Suo Etu and Imperial Doctor Liu to arrive so that they could go directly to the village.

There were also some places that the two men did not have time to visit in person, so the prefect informed the county magistrate, and the county magistrate informed the towns and villages. The orders were passed down layer by layer, and the relevant circumstances and events in the villages where cowpox had occurred were recorded one by one, and then handed over to Suo Etu and the other through the post station.

Therefore, when they returned to Beijing, the amount of information they carried was enough to fill a large carriage.

"Doctor Liu, Uncle, you two have worked so hard! Please stand up quickly!"

The two of them had traveled a long and arduous journey. Soetu looked exhausted, but Doctor Liu exuded an irrepressible excitement.

"I'm not tired. Your Highness, I've gained a lot from this visit. Although the information I've obtained is complicated and confusing, based on what I've sorted out, it's been confirmed that the symptoms of smallpox transmitted from cattle to humans are relatively mild. But this mildness is also relative. The lethality is still not small. If you try to deliberately infect people with smallpox to achieve immunity, it's impossible. This is tantamount to murder."

Yinreng chuckled: "Doctor Liu is so happy, he must have made other discoveries."

"Yes, Your Majesty! I have discovered that there is a difference between being infected by contact with a cow when it is still infected with pox and being infected by contact with the scabs when the pox is almost healed. The difference is huge! The symptoms of the latter are much milder, and more than half of the infected people can survive."

Doctor Liu knelt down again and said, "Prince! I want to try it with a cow!"

"Do you want to make the cow sick on purpose, then take good care of it until it recovers, and then take its scabs?"

"yes!"

Yinreng frowned: "What happens after you take it?"

Doctor Liu was stunned. Yes! What happens after taking it? Can it be used on people like this? No! No! Now everything is still his guess. This is too dangerous. A doctor is to save people, he cannot harm people!

"I do have a plan. We can consider using animals first. For example, white mice..." Yinreng almost blurted out the word "white mice", but when the words came to his lips he realized that there were no artificially bred white mice for experiments at that time, so he had to change his words.

"Hmm...little white rabbits. Rabbits reproduce quickly. There are many people raising rabbits among the people. We can buy some from them. If we make significant progress with the rabbits, we can consider people. There are many death row prisoners in the Ministry of Justice and prisons in various places."

Doctor Liu's eyes lit up: Yes! There are rabbits and death row prisoners!

In this day and age, people don't care about the human rights of death row prisoners, so Doctor Liu didn't think there was anything wrong with this. Yinreng paused for a moment and said, "This matter is of great importance and needs the approval of Khan Ama. Uncle, Doctor Liu, if you are not tired, why don't you go with me to the Qianqing Palace now?"

Doctor Liu waved his hands repeatedly: "Not tired, not tired!"

Why bother! He wanted to fly to the emperor and make a request immediately! He didn't want to waste even a second!

Yinreng: "Okay! Let's go!"

Suo Etu: ...I haven't said anything yet! I'm tired!

Seeing Yinreng has walked far away. Suo Etu: Okay, what else can I do except follow him!

Palace of Heavenly Purity.

Yinreng first handed over the information compiled by Doctor Liu, and waited until Kangxi had read it for a while before explaining his purpose. Kangxi was a little surprised, thinking that Yinreng was just acting on impulse, but who knew that he actually discovered something?

"Doctor Liu, are you sure about this?"

Doctor Liu knelt on the ground and said, "I dare not say how confident I am, but I think this matter has great potential. Moreover, this move can further improve my understanding and judgment of smallpox. Even if it is not the so-called cowpox vaccine mentioned by the prince, if I encounter a smallpox patient in the future, the possibility of treatment can be greatly improved."

Kangxi's expression became serious. Whether the vaccine can be successful is still unknown, let's not talk about it for now, but it is also good to be able to improve the cure rate of smallpox. He has had smallpox, and Yinreng has also had smallpox. But he still has so many children and relatives who have never had smallpox. If one day they are unfortunately sick, this experiment may become their chance of survival!

"Okay! I agree to this! But not in the capital!"

This is natural. If the virus leaks, the capital will be in danger! Especially since the capital is full of dignitaries and royal relatives.

Yinreng said: "We can choose a sparsely populated village somewhere else. We can fence off the area within five miles outside the village and send heavy troops to guard it. The village will be divided into two areas. The inner area will house the patients and infected cows and rabbits. The outer area will be used as the living area for the doctors.

"There is a bathhouse between the inner and outer areas. When you come out of the inner area, you must change your clothes and wash your whole body thoroughly, not even a hair can be left out. The whole village has to be specially treated."

He turned to Doctor Liu and said, "Just follow the usual epidemic plan, and it can be even stricter. Use quicklime and boiling water. Oh, I heard that some wounded soldiers in the army used wine to clean their wounds?"

Doctor Liu nodded: "It is true."

"It can be seen that wine also has a certain effect in preventing infection. Zhuangzi can also wash his whole body with wine. What do you think, Khan Ama?"

"Very good!" Kangxi was somewhat surprised that Yinreng was so young, yet he could be so meticulous. He smiled and asked, "Anything else?"

Facing Kangxi's eyes, Yinreng knew that his words were meant to test him. After thinking for a while, he said, "The people who are responsible for contacting the manor must also be careful not to bring smallpox out of the manor. So it's best not to go back and forth too frequently. If it's not an emergency, you can let the guards pass on the message from the outside.

"It is best not to send things out again after they are brought into the manor. All kinds of used materials and waste can be burned on the spot. The ashes from the burnt materials must also be properly buried and cannot be thrown away casually. Especially not near water sources."

Kangxi's smile grew wider and his eyes became brighter.

"The other is the death row prisoners who were put on trial for drugs. I have read some laws and regulations, and have also heard many stories from the palace maids. I know that even the death row prisoners are not necessarily the most heinous. Khan, I think it is better to give them some mercy.

"If there are people who are willing to try the drug, we will give them a chance to overturn the verdict. If they are wronged, we can clear their names. If they have indeed committed a crime, but there are hidden reasons and their situation is sympathetic, although the law cannot be changed, we can give their families some silver as compensation. As for those who have irrefutable evidence and no hidden reasons, or who are extremely evil and refuse to repent, we will leave them alone."

Yinreng's idea was very simple: human rights are given to humans, and certain animals do not deserve them.

Kangxi was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. He had not expected this. When he first heard Yinreng's hesitant tone, he was afraid that he was too soft-hearted. But he had thought so carefully. The whole response was well-planned, meticulous and orderly. He was kind to the death row prisoners, but not too soft-hearted.

He hugged Yinreng and said, "It is a blessing for the Qing Dynasty to have such a prince!"

Suo Etu and Imperial Physician Liu agreed.

Yinreng was caught off guard and embraced: ...

Finally, Kangxi made the final decision: "Let's do as the prince says! I will order the Ministry of Justice to supervise the case!"

The smallpox virus research experiment was thus decided. After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Yinreng let Imperial Physician Liu go, leaving Suo Etu behind.

"Uncle! Imperial Doctor Liu is an excellent doctor, but he may not be good at other things. So you have to worry about it. From now on, Imperial Doctor Liu will be in charge of the farm, and you will be responsible for everything outside the farm. Please make sure that everything is based on Imperial Doctor Liu's research. The supplies on the farm must be sufficient. In addition, you have to check the rabbits and death row prisoners used for drug testing."

Yinreng took a box from Xiaozhuzi and handed it to Suo'etu: "Don't save money. Talk to me when you've used it up."

Suo Etu was shocked when he opened the box. On top were several gold and silver ingots, and underneath were a dozen large silver bills. "Prince, this... since the Emperor has approved this matter, the Ministry of Revenue will allocate funds. Why should you spend money?"

Yinreng waved his hand and said, "Although I am not in the court, I know that the treasury is not full due to the suppression of the Three Feudatories and the earthquake in the capital in the past two years. The Ministry of Revenue has to check every payment for a long time before it is willing to take it out. Other things may wait, but this matter cannot be delayed. I hope to find the results as soon as possible.

"It's all for the Qing Dynasty. Since it's a move that benefits the country and the people, why should we care who paid for it? I know that if I report it to Khan Ama, and Khan Ama personally tells the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Revenue won't dare to shirk, and the action will naturally be much faster. But they are holding on to the money tightly, not for themselves.

"There is one more thing. Nowadays, everyone is terrified of smallpox. If this matter is brought to the court, many people will definitely oppose it. It would be good if we can find results, but what if we can't? If the Ministry of Revenue gives the money here, other places will be short of money. Can others agree?"

Suo Etu understood his meaning immediately. If he did not compete with those people for the Ministry of Revenue's money, there would be fewer voices of opposition.

Suo Etu hesitated to speak: "Your Highness, do you understand that if this happens, you will have to bear the responsibility..."

Before he could finish his words, Yinreng raised his hand to stop him: "I know. Uncle will do it."

Soetu opened his mouth, but finally stopped trying to persuade and agreed respectfully.