One spring, when Bian Que was collecting medicine at Pengshan (Taihang Mountain), a villager came running breathlessly and appealing, "Pounce" and knelt in front of Bian Que and said, "Go down the mountain to save the villagers."
Bian Que slapped his face like a palm, and in a daze, he hurriedly picked up the villagers and asked, "What happened under the mountain?" There was a plague at the bottom of the mountain, and the villagers lay down halfway down, and two-thirds of the livestock and poultry died.
The villagers panicked and went on to say, "I don't know where a god came from, saying that the villagers cut down trees and collided with the mountain god, and the mountain god was angry, and the god han asked every household to kill chickens and slaughter sheep to go to the mountain temple to incense and send money, otherwise the village would be destroyed."
Bian Que asked, "Do the people in the village believe this?" The visitor said, "The village is on the edge of the mountain, and the gods of the mountain have been believed for generations, and they have seen so many people and so many livestock dead, how dare they not believe it?"
Bian Que could no longer ask any more questions, and instructed his disciples to pack up the medicine box and the medicinal materials for curing the plague and hurry down the mountain. Entering the village, I felt that there was an evil atmosphere, and every household was crying, as if entering hell, Bian Que rushed to the home of the villager who reported the letter up the mountain, and let him quickly notify him from house to door to come here for treatment.
But after waiting for half a day, no one came to the door for medical treatment, and the villagers were so angry that they stomped their feet. At this point, so many people have died, how can they still only believe in witches and do not believe in medicine! Bian Que pondered, only door-to-door inspection. Beckoning the apprentice to pick up the medicine box, under the guidance of the villagers who went up the mountain to report the letter, they began to knock on the door door to door, but the door was closed and no one answered.
Bian Que pondered, the condition has deteriorated to such a point, why don't the villagers open the door for medical treatment? At this time, the villagers who went up the mountain to report the letter learned the truth. After the wizard learned the news that the villagers went up the mountain to find Bian Que's treatment, he immediately made up rumors, saying that the mountain god had given him a dream, that Bian Que had offended the mountain god, and whoever looked for Bian Que to see a doctor would have his whole family die.
It seems that when you meet an opponent, you don't want to do a good job, you can't fight the wizard, and you can only watch the villagers suffer. Bian Que then made a clever move, and the plan came from the heart. Doesn't it mean that livestock and poultry also died two-thirds, and that the plague was either human-to-human, human-to-animal, or animal-to-animal.
He immediately summoned the three disciples and the villagers to report to each of them with a cloth towel, folded into three layers, soaked in water, and covered his nose and mouth, no matter what the situation, could not be taken away. When they were ready, take them in search of a few infected dead poultry.
The villagers took them to a ravine in the west of the village, where dead poultry and children under the age of one were thrown here, which is a local folklore.
Because of the plague, coupled with the hot weather and the smell of the ditch, he immediately ordered everyone to cover their mouths and take good protection. One of the disciples accidentally stepped on a neatly wrapped cotton package, as if it had just been thrown here, and the package was opened with a foot pull, and there was a child covered in bruises.
Bian Que immediately leaned down, ordered the disciple to open the medicine box, took out the surgical tools, cut open the stomach, found that the child's spleen and kidneys had turned black and smelly, and the lungs and gallbladder had blood, and then pried open the child's eye curtain and mouth to examine the eyeball and tongue moss, and then checked the anus and said that this was a kind of "yin poison typhoid fever." Before death, chest tightness coughed up blood, fever and headache, abdominal swelling and vomiting, and diarrhea continued, resulting in major injuries to the spleen and stomach and death.
When the villagers who reported the letter heard this, they were very surprised that the people who had died of illness in the village were indeed this disease, and quickly asked, "How do you know?" Bian Que did not have time to explain anything, while washing his hands with the water flowing down the mountain, he instructed his disciples and villagers to quickly bury the dead bodies here, and then scatter white lime to disinfect.
Bian Que and another disciple rushed back to the village with the medicine box on their backs, and sat in the courtyard to seriously consider the prescription for "yin poison typhoid fever". In less than half an hour, he wrote down the prescription on the wooden jane, and instructed the disciples around him to dispense the medicine according to the prescription, crush and add honey pills, and send them to the patients in the village, the sooner the better. After the pills are prepared, they are divided into multiple packages, each pack of ten pieces, wrapped in cloth, thrown at each household by the partition wall, and then instructed the villagers to shout along the street to let the villagers quickly take the medicine.
Intimidated by the wizards, most of the pills thrown in were thrown back into the street. Bian Que was sweating profusely, how to relieve the villagers' fears, let them believe in medicine or witchcraft, and take medicine as soon as possible?
Suddenly, a faint ringing bell came from the distance, and Bian Que involuntarily hurried away in the direction of the ringing bell. Walking out of the village, I found that there was a mountain temple in the mountain pass north of the village, with people coming and going, and green smoke. It turned out that the villagers of several nearby villages were worshipping incense here.
On the altar, a witch god dressed in a witch robe with long hair and waist-length hair shook a ring bell in one hand and wielded a peach wood sword in his hand, and made a strange cry of madness while jumping. At the offering table of the statue of the mountain god, there is a stone basin for incense and fire money.
Bian Que looked at the wandering people and unconsciously shed tears of pain: Bian Que looked at the wizard who was jumping around, and his anger rushed up. The witches and wizards with black hearts, the villagers were not easy to earn money, and when they got sick, they were even poorer, not only did they not save them, but they also pretended to be gods and ghosts here to cheat money and harm living beings, which was really disgusting!
Looking at it, Bian Que was awakened by a shout of selling burnt cakes, and as soon as his eyes lit up, he immediately ordered his disciples to hurry back to the village and instructed a disciple to go to the neighborhood to buy oil and buy noodles, and the oil was sesame oil, and the whiter the noodles, the better. Another disciple quickly dispensed the pharmaceutical powder according to the prescription he had just prescribed, and the finer the better.
Ask the villagers if they will bake the cake, and the villager says they will, and immediately find a secluded place to prepare the pancake. Everything was properly arranged, and Bian Que immediately had a spirit. One of the disciples was puzzled, so he rushed to Bian Que's side and quietly asked, "What is the biscuit?"
Bian Que said with a smile: "White flour cakes are rare in mountain villages, only hospitality, improve life can eat, if the medicine to cure the plague is stirred into the noodles, burned into a baked cake, sesame oil is very fragrant, can cover up the medicinal taste, so that the white baked cake, but also can cure the plague."
According to Bian Que's instructions, several disciples and villagers who reported the letter milled flour pancakes for three consecutive days, and the villagers sent the cakes from house to house. In the plague environment, the villagers do not want to think more, such a delicious white flour cake, usually rare to taste a bite, now sent do not eat white do not eat, anyway, eat once to earn a time, do not know when to die! The pie was delivered smoothly and the food was enjoyable!
Three days passed, and the people who ate the cake felt how well they were sick, and they went to the door to thank the villagers who reported the letter. Where did you say that your burnt bread came from, and how did it have such great divine power? The villagers told the villagers the reason for the incident. The villagers were shocked to hear the news, and they all gathered around Bian Que, prostrating their heads to thank Grace, and the three layers inside and three layers outside made Bian Que surprised and happy.
Suddenly, one of the strong men who prostrated himself stood up and shouted, "Folks, go to the wizard to settle the account, he cheated money and killed people, it is so hateful." Bian Que was shocked, immediately stopped the behavior of the villagers, and earnestly told everyone that in the past, let it pass, as long as everyone believes in medicine or not in the future. When the wizard heard about it, he also grabbed his bag and ran away.
■ Text/Adapted from "Where Does Chinese Medicine Come From", originally titled "Medical Emperor Bian Que" (Cao Dongyi, Zhang Zhiwen, published by Hebei Science and Technology Publishing House)
■ Editor / Chu Yu
■ Except for the cover of the book, all pictures are provided
■ All rights reserved, without permission is not allowed to reprint