The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 545 Finding Something for the Taoist Sect

The fastest way to restore the population is not simply to have more children; once they are born, you also have to raise them.

However, the medical conditions in the Han Dynasty were too poor. In addition, most girls were forced to marry at the age of fourteen or fifteen and began to give birth before their bodies were fully developed. As a result, most women could not survive the ordeal of childbirth, and giving birth to a child often resulted in the death of both mother and child.

Otherwise, why are widows who can have children so valuable, and why do they never have to worry about getting married once they've had a child?

Does this mean everything is fine once the child is born safely?

No.

A successful birth does not guarantee a successful upbringing. Babies are too fragile; a slight headache or fever can cause them to die. Parents who have five or six children are considered lucky if one or two of them grow up to adulthood. If you don't believe me, just ask around. From royalty to commoners, which family doesn't have several children who died young?

In other words, less than fifty out of a hundred fetuses will be born successfully, and of those fifty, less than twenty will survive to adulthood at the age of eighteen. Such a survival rate would be unimaginable in later generations.

Zhuge Liang was naturally aware of this, and quickly asked, "Do you have a way to reduce the mortality rate of fetuses and increase their survival rate?"

Instead of answering, Guan Xing asked, "Strategist, do you know what the probability of a baby being born successfully in later generations is?"

Zhuge Liang asked curiously, "How much?"

Guan Xing smiled and calmly said, "Ninety-nine percent of the time, except for cases where the mother is unwell, has a special disease, or is too old to give birth, the baby can be born smoothly."

Zhuge Liang's eyes widened suddenly, and he asked incredulously, "How did you do that? Can we do it?"

This probability was terrifying for Zhuge Liang; it meant that as long as she conceived, she could be born and grow up smoothly. Was that even possible?

Guan Xing laughed and said, "In later generations, even hearts can be transplanted, so what is childbirth? But don't count on me, I'm not a doctor, I really don't know anything about this."

Zhuge Liang laughed and said, "Give me a suggestion, and I will gather renowned doctors to solve the rest. I don't expect to increase the birth rate to 90%, 60% or 70% will be fine."

Guan Xing pondered, "Well, the simplest way to save the mother and baby is to have the midwife wash and disinfect her hands during delivery to avoid bacterial infection."

Zhuge Liang asked in astonishment, "Is washing your hands all you need to do? Is it really that simple? And what's this about bacterial infection?"

Guan Xing explained: "Bacterial infection, well, there are microorganisms that are everywhere in the world but are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. We call these microorganisms bacteria. Once bacteria come into contact with a wound, they will devour the flesh and blood, causing the wound to become infected and inflamed. If you accidentally eat them, they can parasitize the body and kill the host."

"You know Chen Deng, right? He likes to eat raw fish slices, which means he eats fish raw. As a result, he also ingested parasites that are invisible to the naked eye. You should also know that Hua Tuo once induced Chen Deng to vomit, but he vomited out several liters of worms, right?"

Seeing Zhuge Liang nod, Guan Xing continued, "These are microorganisms that parasitize human wounds and feed on flesh and blood. Few women can survive if they encounter these things after childbirth and experience bleeding. Therefore, the most important thing for women during childbirth is to prevent bacterial infection, and high temperatures can effectively kill bacteria."

"I remember a scientist in the West, in the Qin Dynasty, said that washing hands frequently during childbirth could increase the success rate by more than 50%. At first, he was ridiculed by everyone, but in the end, those who ridiculed him were all proven wrong."

"Furthermore, later research has shown that the best age for women to give birth is between 23 and 30. Women over 23 have fully developed their bodies, and the risk of childbirth is greatly reduced. However, the situation in the Han Dynasty is different. It is almost impossible for women to give birth after the age of 23. Therefore, my suggestion is to set the age for women to give birth at 18. It is best not to have children before the age of 18, as the risk is too great."

"Secondly, we need to provide professional training for midwives, so that they pay attention to hygiene during childbirth. We also need to have the mother's family members sterilize the clothes, bedding, and other commonly used items worn by the mother during labor by boiling water or exposing them to strong sunlight. If we do these two things, the birth rate can be increased to at least 60%. As for other methods such as cesarean section, they will not be considered for the time being."

"Hiss..." Zhuge Liang grimaced in distress. These two points sounded simple, but they were too difficult to do.

First of all, it is unlikely that a girl will give birth after the age of eighteen. Ordinary people are not willing to raise girls because of poverty. They would rather marry off girls at the age of ten. Giving birth at the age of thirteen or fourteen is common in rural areas. Nowadays, it is estimated that few people would be willing to raise their daughters until they are seventeen or eighteen years old before they are married off.

Secondly, it is impractical to sterilize the daily necessities of new mothers at high temperatures. Many families are so poor that they don't even have blankets, and new mothers give birth in piles of straw, so there is no way to sterilize them at high temperatures.

Zhuge Liang said, "These two methods can only be implemented in the city for the time being. It will take time to promote them to every corner of the Han Dynasty."

"Also, although the birth rate has increased, the survival rate is still high. The infant mortality rate is very high, and how to help them grow to adulthood is a major issue that needs to be considered."

Guan Xing said, “There’s no good way to deal with this. The only thing to do is to seek medical treatment as soon as you get sick. But remote mountain villages don’t have the facilities to treat patients. People die before they can find a doctor. In response to this, I suggest that we gather famous doctors from all over the country to compile a ‘Barefoot Doctor’s Handbook’ and then make a large number of copies and distribute it to the people so that they can learn some basic medical knowledge and treat themselves when they encounter minor illnesses. At the same time, we should send out a large number of barefoot doctors to travel around and treat patients.”

Zhuge Liang said, “Compiling the ‘Barefoot Doctor’s Manual’ is a good idea. Let Cheng Li take charge when he returns. But barefoot doctors are a bit unrealistic. Not many people are willing to do such a good thing of helping others, unless the court pays them a salary. But the court has no money and cannot support such a large group of people.”

Guan Xing laughed and said, "Then let the Taoists do it. Zhang Sheng owes me a favor because he took my Longhu Mountain. It will definitely be no problem to hand this over to him. Also, we need to find something for the Taoists to do, so that they can spread their teachings properly and not just lie at home all day, leaving their religious territory to outsiders like Buddhism."

Taoism is the native religion of the Han Dynasty, and it is a very all-encompassing religion. There is nothing that Taoism cannot do, including astronomy, geography, divination, military strategy, feng shui and medicine. However, Taoism's style of doing things is too arbitrary. Who can stand the missionary philosophy of "believe or not, get lost"?

Therefore, we must find something for these Taoist priests to do, so that they can contribute to the court and not just stay at home sleeping all day.

Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up with excitement, and he said, "These are indeed a group of free and good laborers. I'll have His Majesty invite Ge Xuan over later so he can have a good chat with these reclusive masters of the Daoist sect. As for the Buddhist sect, you mentioned that Emperor Wu of Liang built Buddhist temples on a large scale, which led to the people's suffering. This shows that the Buddhist sect is far more greedy than the Daoist sect. You must have mature experience in how to use and manage them."

Guan Xing carefully considered his words before telling Zhuge Liang about the harm caused by Buddhism and the story of the three Wu and one Zong persecutions of Buddhism. He also talked about the management policies of religion in later generations. After finishing, he returned to the main topic and talked about the problems and methods that the court needed to solve. The two talked for a whole day until it got dark before Guan Xing dragged his tired body back to his tent to rest.

rest?

You haven't paid your grain tax and you still want to rest?

Back in the tent, Guan Xing was once again subjected to his wife's exploitation, and only after the ordeal was over did he finally fall into a deep sleep.