Chapter 278 - 274 Setback
Zhao Hanzhang never considered reporting this matter to the court, let alone informing Zhao Zhongyu.
She decided to establish the Ministry of Imperial Stables and the Medical Institute, so she did so directly.
She took a tour around the county government, and then pointed to two rooms, saying, "Clean up here, from now on these will be the offices for the Ministry of Imperial Stables and the Medical Institute."
Without thinking, the government official responded and started tidying up, while Chang Ning squinted his eyes and said, "Ministry of Imperial Stables and Medical Institute?"
Zhao Hanzhang replied, "The Ministry of Imperial Stables manages cattle, horses, and other livestock, while the Medical Institute, as the name implies, naturally oversees medicine."
Chang Ning: "...County Lord, the management of cattle, horses, and livestock is under the Household Department, as for medicine, isn’t it also under the Household Department?"
"You see, even you’re not sure," Zhao Hanzhang said. "Although the Household Department oversees them, it only provides rough supervision, without encouragement duties or cultivation benefits. It’s better to establish an independent department to oversee them."
Zhao Hanzhang said, "I’ve planned it all out. The Ministry of Imperial Stables should encourage the people to breed horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and ducks, provide corresponding technical support, and if necessary, some medicine to prevent livestock epidemics."
"Otherwise, relying solely on our county government to open horse and cattle farms to cultivate them is too slow," Zhao Hanzhang intended to fully leverage the power of the people.
With a two-pronged approach, her cattle farm must open, but the people can also develop theirs.
Chang Ning paused a moment and then asked, "And what about the Medical Institute?"
He said, "Seeking medical advice and medicine has always been a personal matter. If the County Lord forcibly recruits physicians from pharmacies, it might cause discontent."
Zhao Hanzhang widened her eyes, "...Who said I want to conscript physicians from pharmacies?"
Chang Ning also widened his eyes, "If you don’t conscript pharmacy physicians, where will your Medical Institute’s medicine come from, where will the physicians come from?"
Zhao Hanzhang: "I’ll buy them, I’ll hire them. Do I look like someone lacking money?"
Chang Ning sneered, "Then see if you can hire them."
Zhao Hanzhang: "I’ll offer a high salary!"
Chang Ning gave her a meaningful glance and turned to leave.
The next day, Zhao Hanzhang had a notice posted.
Many people came to apply for the Ministry of Imperial Stables, all claiming to have long experience with livestock, some specializing in cattle, sheep, or chickens.
Zhao Hanzhang didn’t quite understand this, so she invited Wei Matou early on to supervise, as these would be his subordinates in the future, naturally he should be involved in the selection.
Wei Matou took on the task without hesitation.
However, there was no movement on the Medical Institute side. Despite offering a considerable monthly salary, at least much more than external practicing physicians, strangely, no one applied.
Not even an apprentice came.
Zhao Hanzhang sat there dazedly, when Fu Tinghan unknowingly sat beside her and said, "Medicine is different from livestock, they highly value inheritance. I inquired, generally, when physicians recruit apprentices, they keep them by their side for over a decade, akin to father and son relationships."
"And the relationship between physicians and pharmacies is either their own family business or they’re trained there from a young age, essentially signing with the pharmacy for life. Leaving not only requires a hefty breach fee but also significantly tarnishes their reputation, so it’s very hard for you to recruit physicians this way."
Zhao Hanzhang: "...I just wanted to establish the Ministry of Imperial Stables and along the way develop public health and medical services."
"I know," Fu Tinghan smiled and said, "Perhaps you can seek physicians elsewhere or directly conscript them."
Zhao Hanzhang looked at Fu Tinghan in surprise, "Conscript?"
Fu Tinghan nodded, "You were just staring at the shopkeeper outside who’s here to watch the commotion, weren’t you thinking about this?"
Zhao Hanzhang coughed lightly, her eyes wandered, "You noticed?"
Fu Tinghan nodded, but curiously asked, "What are you concerned about?"
Zhao Hanzhang: "Don’t you think it’s not good? Conscripting means stripping away their freedom of choice."
Fu Tinghan said, "Labor service, military service, which one isn’t conscripted? Now the refugees wander, they don’t have to serve, but are they free?"
He said, "They are freer than anyone else."
"Not even you, who truly steer Xiping County, are free. Do you think they are concerned about freedom?"
Zhao Hanzhang: "They may not have a clear thought in their minds, but they will certainly be dissatisfied."
Fu Tinghan chuckled, "I thought you’d say that for the greater good, you can sacrifice some."
Zhao Hanzhang chuckled and said, "If necessary, I might choose that, but for this matter, it doesn’t reach that degree."
If unable to recruit locally, she would find people elsewhere.
With so many people outside now, she didn’t believe she couldn’t find a few physicians.
Fu Tinghan smiled at her, took a few sheets filled with writing from his sleeve, and handed them to her.
Zhao Hanzhang took them, seeing the dense figures, and couldn’t help but laugh, "Although I consider myself good at math, those math problems of yours I still..."
As Zhao Hanzhang saw the listed items, she paused and began to read carefully.
"If you really can’t establish the Medical Institute independently, then cooperate with them." Fu Tinghan said, "I made a development plan for the Medical Institute. I believe when they see these numbers, they’ll be very interested."
Zhao Hanzhang: "...This costs a lot of money, you really gave me quite a problem."
Fu Tinghan: "You’re... not quite good at persuading people? Painting a vision isn’t difficult for you, right?"
As she mentally painted a picture, thinking about how to persuade the people later, Zhao Hanzhang immediately said, "How can you say it’s painting a vision? What I say is all true."
Fu Tinghan nodded, "It’s just uncertain when it will be realized."
It seemed he understood Zhao Hanzhang’s character thoroughly.
Wanting to pretend a bit in front of someone she liked, Zhao Hanzhang immediately dropped the act, giggling, "Life is so tough, you have to give everyone a bit more hope."
She waved the papers in her hand, saying, "Thank you, I’ll go attend to it now."
Zhao Hanzhang sent invitations to all the pharmacies and physicians in the county, inviting them to the county government to discuss major matters.
The pharmacy owners and physicians went with a bit of trepidation, fearing Zhao Hanzhang would conscript them.
This kind of move was indeed possible.
However, during peacetime, Zhao Hanzhang wouldn’t do something so harmful to public sentiment, so she invited them for cooperation.
Zhao Hanzhang had a blackboard brought over, directly writing the approximate population of Xiping County on it, saying, "Currently, there are this many people in Xiping County, and each year everyone is bound to fall ill once or twice to varying degrees. Yet out of so many people, only one-tenth or one-twentieth can afford to see a doctor when sick..."
What Zhao Hanzhang intended for the Medical Institute was actually just to have physicians train more doctors and teach the county’s residents some basic medical and health knowledge.
With her current financial power and capability, she could only distribute some preventive medicine during the epidemic seasons each year.
Her main aim was for the physicians to train more doctors for her, especially military doctors.