Chapter 59: Li Tai's True Motive

The Tang Dynasty was an era that produced many renowned physicians, with medicine as a whole evolving toward a more systematic approach, alongside numerous exceptional individual doctors.

However, regarding the social status of healers in the Tang Dynasty, one can glean some understanding from Han Yu's *Discourse on Teachers*. While medical practitioners possessed the ability to save lives and heal the wounded, their actual status was not particularly high, placing them alongside common artisans whom Confucian gentlemen still regarded with disdain.

It was not until Fan Zhongyan, the moral paragon of the Northern宋 Dynasty, put forward the sentiment, "If one cannot become a virtuous prime minister, one should become a virtuous physician," to endorse the medical profession, that practicing medicine became an acceptable alternative pursuit for ancient scholars, correspondingly elevating the status of healers.

Therefore, when Sun Simiao heard Li Tai's words at this moment, he naturally felt a strong sense of resonance. In fact, any genuine physician would be astounded by the scenario Li Tai painted, and would instinctively yearn to rally under the banner of someone who valued the medical Dao so deeply.

As for Liu Shenwei, a glance at his glowing eyes made it clear that he had been completely conquered by Li Tai's grand vision.

Sun Simiao asked, "Prince of Yue, you have asked me to establish a training system for the medical profession. Is it because you already have a detailed and comprehensive plan? If so, might this old Daoist be permitted to know how the Prince intends to implement your blueprint?"

"As expected of the Old Immortal, your powers of observation are truly meticulous," Li Tai exclaimed, unable to suppress a sigh of admiration upon hearing Sun Simiao's words.

Li Tai continued, "First of all, our own strength alone is far from sufficient! Therefore, the initial step requires us to make the imperial court recognize the value of healers, and the most direct manifestation of this is on the battlefield. As long as healers can save even one more life on the battlefield, the court will place that much more importance upon them!"

"Rescuing the wounded on the battlefield... Ah, how easily said than done!" Sun Simiao sighed upon hearing Li Tai's words, though he then added, "Is this the reason why you, the Prince of Yue, supported Shenwei in going to the front lines for rescue work?"

"Indeed!" Li Tai nodded. "I am well aware of the value of healers, but healers themselves must make their worth visible to the court. Only then will the court be willing to spend funds on their cultivation, and at the very least, not obstruct them administratively."

Sun Simiao countered, "Wars do not occur constantly. Even with the clashes between the Great Tang and the Tujue, the reality is that warfare is ultimately fleeting. What arrangement should we healers have when those times pass? Surely we cannot remain stationed in military camps forever!"

"Those healers who have been tempered on the battlefield will undergo further study and training to reach a second tier—where they at least understand how to diagnose ailments and prescribe remedies, allowing them to quickly match corresponding formulas to treat similar symptoms," Li Tai explained.

"Prince of Yue," Sun Simiao said with a hint of urgency, "every human being is unique. In the medical field, even symptoms that appear similar do not necessarily stem from the same underlying pathology! This is tantamount to letting incompetent doctors harm people!"

"I understand that this may lead to many deaths, and I know that the medical Dao places the utmost importance on conditioning, as no two individuals are exactly alike. However, compared to the vast populace who can do nothing but wait for death when faced with illness, if ordinary mediocre doctors can manage to dispense medicines according to established formulas, the common people will have a significantly greater chance of survival. Even if the probability of survival is merely fifty percent, it is still a boundless accumulation of merit!"

Looking at Sun Simiao, Li Tai did not yield in the slightest at that moment; one could even say this was a clash of fundamental philosophies.

Sun Simiao was a divine physician—a miraculous healer capable of curing a patient entirely upon a single glance. Yet how many such divine physicians could exist across the entire realm, nay, throughout history? To demand that a doctor be capable of completely curing patients as the standard for graduation, requiring at the very least twenty years of foundational study to become an excellent physician, like Sun Simiao himself—how could such meticulously cultivated doctors possibly treat the common masses on a large scale? It was utterly unrealistic.

Thus, in Li Tai's view, as long as ordinary doctors did not misuse medicinal herbs to cause fatalities and understood how to dispense medicine according to proven formulas, that was quite sufficient.

Facing Li Tai's words, Sun Simiao looked somewhat bewildered and asked, "Are you not afraid that these mediocre doctors will kill people?"

"I am afraid! If I could, as a member of the imperial house of the Great Tang, I would most wish for every common person in the realm to live out their natural span. But in this world, to say nothing of figures like the Old Immortal, how many virtuous physicians like Section Chief Liu are truly able to master observation, auscultation, interrogation, pulse-taking, the harmony of the Five Elements, and the properties of myriad herbs? Have they exceeded a thousand? Even if they have completely mastered it, how many years did it take? Such healers can never be popularized among ordinary folk."

Looking intently at Sun Simiao, Li Tai said very earnestly, "Therefore, to prevent incompetent doctors from doing harm while enabling them to heal, the task of top-tier physicians is to formulate medicinal prescriptions. These prescriptions must achieve universality, allowing as many common people as possible to accept them without adverse reactions. At the same time, they must suppress, alleviate, and treat targeted illnesses. Most importantly, the prescribed ingredients must be inexpensive, ideally forageable right at the common people's doorsteps, thereby lowering the cost of medication.

"The highest-grade physicians research the mildest and most effective formulas, and these formulas are then handed over to ordinary mediocre doctors who can dispense them safely, at least ensuring they do not cause deaths from poisoning. Then, if they truly encounter stubborn or complex ailments that the formulas cannot resolve, the patients are referred upward to higher-level medical establishments, all the way to Chang'an, forming an unbroken chain of medical rescue."

At this point, Li Tai continued, "As for the doctors qualified to issue these prescriptions, aside from their own medical proficiency, there are strict requirements regarding their personal moral character. Because every single prescription issued by these doctors will determine the life or death of countless common folk."

Hearing such words from Li Tai, Divine Physician Liu's gaze toward him began to glean with fervent light.

As for Sun Simiao, hearing in Li Tai's description something that converged with his own lifelong dream, he could not help but ask, "Your Highness, what do you think these formulas should be called?"

Realizing that Sun Simiao was willing to join the medical system he had designed, a smile touched the corners of Li Tai's lips as he replied, "I do not understand medicine. Since these are medicinal formulas and medical texts compiled by the Old Immortal yourself, you should name them as you see fit. I have only one requirement: if these formulas cause large-scale adverse reactions in practical application, they shall be expunged, and the physician who issued them shall never again be permitted to serve as a prescription doctor."

Sun Simiao nodded. This was the red line drawn by Li Tai, and Sun Simiao wholeheartedly agreed with it. After all, under this system, every single one of these formulas concerned the lives of the common people. If a problem truly arose with a prescription, the physician himself could hardly shirk the blame; let alone society denying him a second chance, he would likely suffer profound self-reproach.

Sun Simiao said, "I understand the Prince's meaning. Since these formulas are developed to rescue the suffering masses and are truly worth more than a thousand pieces of gold, how about we compile them into volumes and title them *Essential Formulas Worth a Thousand Gold*?"

*"Essential Formulas Worth a Thousand Gold*—what a splendid name!" Li Tai bowed slightly to Sun Simiao and said, "Old Immortal, I shall entrust the entirety of the medical domain to you. If possible, please remain in Chang'an for these coming months to explore, discuss, and refine the details of this system. The broader plan cannot proceed to its next phase until the medical battalion led by Shenwei proves itself on the battlefield!"

"Please rest assured, Your Highness!" Liu Shenwei bowed to Li Tai and declared, "To have the fortune of bearing the heavy burden of the medical Dao and becoming a crucial link in its rise, even if swords and blades were held to my throat, Shenwei would never do anything to disgrace the medical profession!"

Liu Shenwei's expression made him look as though his entire being was ablaze; he wished he could immediately sacrifice himself for the Dao!

"Warfare is the business of the Tang soldiers; you are merely a healer. If blades are held to your throat, drop to your knees and beg for mercy—that is an order!" Li Tai patted Liu Shenwei's arm and said earnestly, "Return alive!"

"Understood!" Upon hearing Li Tai's words, Liu Shenwei felt an indescribable urge to brave boiling water and step into blazing fire for him.

Leaving Sun Simiao's quarters, Li Tai looked up at the sky, feeling once more how extraordinarily difficult it was to accomplish anything meaningful.

His medical system was, of course, modeled after the barefoot doctor system conceived by great revolutionaries of later eras. In reality, this was a remarkably magnificent system—though compared to industrialized modern medical systems, it was naturally a tear shed by the times. Yet when placed purely within a feudal era, there was truly no more suitable, inexpensive, and effective medical framework.

The impact of this system extended far beyond simply treating the common people's illnesses. To Li Tai, the barefoot doctor system served as a foundational mechanism capable of taking deep root at the grassroots level. Utilizing their ability to heal the sick, doctors could readily command immense prestige among the common populace.

When coupled with the backing of the entire medical network, this prestige could transform into a protective force for the impoverished masses.

Li Tai massaged his temples, pondering his strategic deployments. His true objective was something he dared not utter to Sun Simiao, nor to anyone else in this era; hidden beneath the facade of the rise of the medical Dao, he was executing a covert maneuver in broad daylight.

"If I wish to strengthen the government's grip on the grassroots, and alter a situation where imperial commands barely reach the county level and fail to penetrate further into villages or individual households, I must plant the Tang's own indigenous power at the foundational level. I must give the grassroots the qualification to contend with aristocratic clans and powerful families. When I finally complete my deployment and purge the grassroots influence of those aristocratic clans, it will create a resonance between the top and bottom, thoroughly ending the era of imperial power failing to reach rural districts. And the barefoot doctors, I believe, will become a critically important link in my future plans."

Taking a deep breath, Li Tai felt a chill in the air; night had fallen unawares.

He understood that until his strategic layouts and objectives were fully realized, his plans could not afford the slightest exposure; otherwise, the aristocratic clans and wealthy families would likely tear him to pieces.

He had little interest in the internal political struggles of the Tang Dynasty, as such wrangling was not his forte; participating in it would mean attacking the enemy's strengths with his own weaknesses.

The areas in which he was definitively superior to the people of this era boiled down to two points: first, his horizon of vision extended far beyond theirs; second, he had studied historical materialism and Marxist dialectics, giving him an angle of observation entirely distinct from the contemporaries of this era.

People of this age focused on individuals, whereas his perspective was rooted in class. Consequently, the countermeasures devised by people of this era were fundamentally aimed at individuals, or at most escalated to cliques, whereas his targets were systemic classes.

Thus, his deployments were laid out like a gentle spring breeze penetrating the finest details, requiring time to incubate and develop. Though this strength might not appear formidable at the outset, once it took root, sprouted, and broke through the soil, it would gather into an overwhelming torrent, crushing anyone attempting to curb its momentum along the way.

Li Tai thought silently to himself, "Ah, what can I do? Who asked my history of the Tang to be so mediocre? If I had mastered Tang history, I could simply act as a historical investor, lie back, and reap the rewards—wouldn't that be wonderful? But since my Tang history is lacking, I can only lead the dynasty myself, accumulating the capital to stir the winds and clouds!"

Therefore, let time flow a little longer; weaving a strategy out of time itself was the only truly unbreakable method.

The next day, Liu Shenwei went to the medical academy and selected five hundred healers for the medical battalion.

Voluntary participation was strictly adhered to as a principle, for Liu Shenwei knew that forcing anyone onto the battlefield who was not willing would only breed unnecessary complications.

The vast majority of these chosen ones were orphans whom Li Tai had previously selected from refugees and admitted into the medical academy. To these orphans, their only bonds in this world were their peers and teachers like Liu Shenwei. It was Li Tai's agricultural academy that had given them a new home and a second chance at life.

Most of them were between thirteen and sixteen years old, still retaining their youthful innocence, and their grasp of battlefield medical techniques amounted to no more than these past few months of intensive training. To them, the agricultural academy and the medical battalion were their everything, so they would instinctively obey commands. Moreover, long-term education had instilled in them a willingness to sacrifice for the Great Tang.

As for the student-doctors who still had families, however, they harbored various reservations due to familial interference. The medical battalion was a new branch of the military; unlike ordinary soldiers, whose battle merits were calculated simply and directly by the number of enemies killed, they did not know whether the medical battalion even counted as part of the official military establishment. On this point, neither Liu Shenwei nor even Li Tai could give a definitive answer.

Naturally, commoner parents felt hesitant about sending their children to the battlefield—even if it was to act as doctors. After all, stepping onto the battlefield meant risking one's life, while what rewards could ultimately be secured remained doubtful.

Joining the ranks as ordinary foot soldiers was different; the prefectural militia system of the Zhenguan era had not yet collapsed, and as long as one achieved military merit, land could be allotted—that was tangible and real!

Even so, Liu Shenwei managed to recruit a few individuals from the music academy to supplement the medical ranks, finally making up the total of five hundred men, and went to report to Li Jing.