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

Chapter 606 Funeral Reform

Why did the imperial court mine copper every year yet still suffer from a copper shortage? It was because the people of the Han Dynasty were too frugal; they all wanted to make money but were unwilling to spend it.

Especially the aristocratic families, whose ability to make money is like a whale sucking up water, but whose ability to spend money is like water wearing away stone. They are reluctant to spend the money they have worked so hard to earn, and they bury it all in the warehouse to keep for emergencies. But the problem is, where are there so many emergencies to deal with?

Over time, this situation led to a situation where the wealth of aristocratic families increased while the amount of money circulating in the market decreased, forcing ordinary people to resort to the most primitive form of barter, which severely hampered economic development.

In addition, the funeral customs of the Han Dynasty were extremely popular. Money that was not spent in life was taken to the tomb after death. Just the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun alone has yielded so much. Since Emperor Gaozu established the dynasty, how many marquises like the Marquis of Haihun have emerged in the four hundred years since the founding of the dynasty? How much copper coins were buried with them?

This number is so large that I dare not even calculate it in detail; the result would absolutely shock your worldview.

It is no exaggeration to say that there are more copper coins underground than on the surface in the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, Guan Xing felt it was necessary to rectify the extravagant burial practices of the Han Dynasty and encourage future dukes and marquises to choose simple burials instead of taking all the good things into the coffin. He thought, "If you take all the money into the coffin, how will your descendants live?"

The actions of the Liu and Wu families presented the best opportunity to rectify funeral customs.

Thinking of this, Guan Xing continued, "Furthermore, I am certain that with the outflow of the enormous wealth from the Haihunhou Tomb, many tomb raiders will definitely target these dukes' tombs in the future. Rather than letting tomb raiders carry out destructive looting, it would be better to let the descendants of dukes and marquises take out the money under the guise of relocating the tombs. This way, at least the damage to the dukes' tombs can be minimized."

"At the same time, this move can also change the extravagant funeral customs of the Han Dynasty. After this incident, I wonder who would dare to bring a large amount of wealth into the tomb? Even if they do, it will be dug up by tomb robbers. Even if the tomb robbers don't dig it up, your descendants will move the tomb if they are short of money. There is only one way to avoid being disturbed: don't put so much gold and silver in the tomb. If there are not so many valuable burial objects in the tomb, the tomb robbers will naturally be too lazy to bother with it, right?"

Zhang Sheng was taken aback and said, "I didn't expect that your visit to the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun had such a profound meaning. The Marquis of Shence was truly farsighted, beyond our reach. But burial is, after all, a tradition left by the Shang and Zhou dynasties, a way for descendants to express their remembrance of their ancestors. Wouldn't it be a bit inappropriate to cancel it directly?"

Guan Xing laughed and said, "There are many ways to express longing. There's no need to be buried alive with the dead. Human sacrifices were still practiced during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. We can't follow suit, can we?"

"Expressing remembrance is not wrong, but everything should not be excessive. The practice of taking a large amount of money into the tomb like the Marquis of Haihun is obviously not advisable. How many marquises does the Han Dynasty have, and how much tax does it pay every year? If everyone did it like the Marquis of Haihun, it wouldn't take many years. Just burying ten marquises at the same time would probably take the entire year's revenue of the national treasury to the ground."

"So I've decided to change the way we perform the ritual. Wait for me."

After saying that, he got up and left. When he came back, he had a stack of paper and a pair of scissors in his hand. He sat down at the table, held the scissors in his left hand and picked up the paper in his right. In the astonished eyes of everyone, he skillfully cut out a piece of paper money. It was round on the outside and square on the inside, just like a five-zhu coin. Then he handed it to Zhang Sheng and said with a smile, "From now on, we'll use this thing for sacrifices. We'll burn it for our ancestors during festivals. Isn't that much easier?"

Zhang Sheng held the paper money and looked it over from side to side, saying, "Burning it for our ancestors? How did you even come up with that? Will this thing even work?"

Guan Xing laughed and said, "Whether it works or not is up to you, Taoist priest. Don't forget that the right to interpret the sacrificial rites belongs to your Taoist school."

The Han Dynasty does not have the tradition of burning paper money because there is no paper available. People write on bamboo slips, so where would they get paper money?

But that was in the past. Now that paper mills have been built one after another, the paper shortage problem no longer exists.

Guan Xing continued, "Paper can not only be used to cut money, but also to make paper horses, paper figures, and paper pavilions, completely replacing physical burial objects. At the same time, it can also effectively prevent theft. Paper burial objects turn to ashes when burned, so how can you steal them, right?"

Zhang Sheng: "..."

Damn Guan Anguo, you just looted the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun, and now you've changed the funerary system so that future generations have no tombs to loot?

If you're full and don't let others eat, what's the difference between that and smashing the pot right after you've finished eating?

However, using paper money instead of physical burial goods is a good idea. At least in the future, when dukes and marquises are buried, they won't have to spend so much money and resources building such large tombs.

Look at the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun. It's so big that I almost got lost when I went in. How many laborers were mobilized for such a tomb back then?

If we switch to burning paper money instead, it will be different. There will be no need to build such a luxurious mausoleum. At least we won't need to build so many messy warehouses. We only need to build a main burial chamber. The manpower saved in this way can be used to build so many irrigation canals and bridges.

Thinking of this, Zhang Sheng immediately said, "No problem, let's start with the Changsha King's Mausoleum. I will prepare more paper money and burn it for the past Changsha Kings of the Liu and Wu families when we move the Changsha King's Mausoleum. At the same time, we will promote it vigorously and encourage other dukes, marquises and common people to follow suit."

Guan Xing raised his glass and said, "That's exactly what I meant. Cheers!"

Everyone raised their glasses and drank until they were completely drunk over the hot pot, and then...

Like Liu Chan, Guan Xing, and others who had drunk beer for the first time, Zhang Sheng suffered from alcohol poisoning. The next day, he was almost dehydrated and had no choice but to seek emergency treatment from Dr. Cheng.

Liu Shan, Guan Xing, Zhang Bao, and others actually developed a resistance to the drink, and only had diarrhea two or three times before it subsided.

When the news spread, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, and others were shocked. Cheng Li, in particular, was overjoyed, as if he had discovered a priceless treasure. He immediately sought out everyone to inquire about the situation and took detailed notes in his notebook. This was a major discovery in medical history and had to be recorded and studied carefully.

That noon, Guan Xing, who had slept until the sun was high in the sky, yawned as he stepped out of his room. After stretching and doing a couple of chest-expanding exercises, he saw Cheng Li approaching with a middle-aged scholar in his early forties. Guan Xing greeted him from afar, "Dr. Cheng, Dr. Dong, what brings you two here today?"

The middle-aged scholar behind Cheng Li was none other than Dong Feng, the last of the three legendary physicians of the Jian'an era.

Last time, when Liu Shan and Guan Xing were poisoned by beer, Zhang Fei rode his horse at full speed to Mount Lu, kidnapped Dong Feng, who was living in seclusion at the foot of Mount Lu, and brought him to Jiangling. When he returned, Liu Shan and Guan Xing had recovered from their illnesses, which angered Dong Feng so much that he cursed Zhang Fei.

Then...

Since we're already here, we can't just go back right away. We should at least stay in Jiangling for a while.

Moreover, Jiangling also has Cheng Li, a like-minded friend. Although Cheng Li has entered officialdom, his medical skills have not declined. The two renowned doctors naturally have a lot in common.

Cheng Li and Dong Feng came forward and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Marquis Shence. We have come here today to ask you why you were poisoned the first time you drank beer, but were fine after drinking it again. Where did you derive this resistance theory?"

"This..." Guan Xing was stumped by the question, and after thinking for a long time, he said, "How about we go inside and talk?"

While the two men were inside, Guan Xing quickly thought of a plan. After settling down, he made up an excuse to keep them occupied for a while, and then quickly changed the subject, saying, "Old Cheng, I remember the Prime Minister entrusted you with the task of washing hands during childbirth, right? How is it? Has the success rate of babies being born recently improved?"

After Liu Bei ascended the throne, the most important thing was to restore the population. Guan Xing suggested that midwives should wash their hands frequently and maintain good hygiene during childbirth to minimize the risk of bacterial infection.

But none of the emperor and his ministers in the Han Dynasty had ever experienced this before, and Guan Xing himself could not guarantee whether it would be effective, after all, he was not an obstetrician. So Zhuge Liang handed the matter over to Cheng Li to experiment with. After so much time, there should be results, right?