Chapter 141 Colleagues
This was an inspiring and successful meeting that unified thoughts and actions.

After Wang Deming gave the two masters another reassurance, the two masters became enthusiastic and motivated, and directly turned Tongrentang upside down.

In addition to the profit-sharing model that Wang Deming knew before, there were a few other surprising points.

The first is that it attaches great importance to talents: Tongrentang does not accept apprentices, and all the employees are recruited from outside, such as from Heniantang and Tongjitang; or they are introduced by relatives; and if one process is not done well, the entire process will be held responsible.

The second is specialization: each worker in Tong Ren Tang only does one process! They mix ingredients, drip wax balls, roll pills, and wrap gold foil, all of which are women of the Le family; they cut medicine, and there are southern and northern knives, and only Tong Ren Tang has the southern knife.

The third is to focus on raw materials and processing: Tong Ren Tang's ancestral teachings are to follow the original and identify the origin of the product. Although the preparation process is complicated, they will not dare to save labor; although the taste is expensive, they will not dare to reduce material resources. They really don't just talk.

We are very particular about medicinal materials. For example, the white peony root must be from Hangzhou, which is as thick as a thumb; the astragalus root must be from Shanxi; the honeysuckle must be from Henan; and the wolfberry must be from Ningxia.

It also has to be in season, because the efficacy will be reduced after the season!
The processing and preparation are very serious. For example, the Patchouli and Perilla leaves in Huoxiang Zhengqi, the Silver Flower in Yinqiao Jiedu Pills, and the Motherwort in Yimu Pills are all placed in a large vat for several months to remove dryness before being made into medicine.
To make tiger bone wine, you don’t just soak the tiger bones directly in the wine; the tiger bones are first fried and boiled into a paste, and after the wine is made with a strength of more than 65 degrees for half a year, the tiger bone paste is added to the wine; that’s not all, the finished tiger bone wine still needs to be made for more than half a year.

The leftover tiger bone wine residue does not need to be thrown away, it can be used to make Zaizao Pills and Nujindan. Zaizao Pills can treat rheumatism, while Nujindan can treat postpartum wind.

To make pills again, you have to make the medicine and put it in a jar or pot for several months to dry it out.

For example, the whole deer pill must be made from the entire deer: deer meat, deer bones, deer penis, deer antlers, etc.
Fourthly, the prescriptions used are truly ancient prescriptions, without any innovation at all: for example, Niuhuang Qingxin Pills are from Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang; Shenxiao Huoluo Pills are from Renzhai Zhizhi; and Tongrentang’s three magic medicines: Niuhuang Angong Pills, Zixuesan, and Zhibao Pills, are from Elbow Hou Beiji Fang and Qianjin Fang.

Finally, the two masters sighed and said two sentences: "To cure the illness of the king and his relatives, to save the poor and the humble, and to protect the body and nourish their lives."

"Repair, preparation and formulation are the result of the combination of preparations, which no one sees, but the intention is known only by God!"

Wang Deming was very familiar with the two sentences. The first sentence was from the preface of Treatise on Febrile Diseases, and the second sentence was from The Theory of Thunder God’s Pao Zhi and Prescriptions of a Thousand Gold Pieces.
After listening to the stories of the two old comrades, Wang Deming had something in his mind that he couldn't help but say: I bought a watch last year!

A traveling doctor, equivalent to the barefoot doctors in the 7s and 80s, relied on preparing and dispensing medicines according to the ancient prescriptions. He started from the time of Emperor Kangxi and built a 300-year family business. If you count his previous life, it would be 400 years!
I bought a watch last year!
Is it that Chinese medicine is not good enough? Is it that people are not good enough!

"Comrade Wang, we two brothers are fine with everything else, but please don't mention money to us!"

Jia Yinsheng and Li Jianxun looked at each other and stated their request: "We two old brothers only have one request."

"You two, please go ahead."

"If we only supply medicine to all the Chinese medicine doctors in Beijing, our Chinese medicine factory will definitely get better and better in the future. Just like Darentang, it actually relies on Kong Bohua, one of the four famous doctors. But... can you please not mess around with scientific transformation of Chinese medicine?"

Wang Deming was stunned for a moment, "Masters, where do you get this from?"

The two brothers looked at each other again and smiled bitterly: "For example, using buffalo horns instead of rhino horns, we two brothers don't understand, they say the chemical composition is the same."

"Then there is the ginseng root, which was originally used to induce vomiting. It is said that the chemical composition is the same as ginseng, so it should also be used directly as medicine."

“Wild ginseng, forest ginseng, and red ginseng all have the same ingredients and are used in the same way.”

Wang Deming's eyes widened in shock, and he asked in disbelief, "Masters, has Tongrentang started to do this?"

If Tong Ren Tang does this, let’s not talk about whether it can kill people, but it is really questionable whether it can cure diseases.

Jia Yinsheng shook his head: "Not yet, but I heard that Le Songsheng, oh, now the general manager of Tong Ren Tang, responded to the call to use traditional Chinese medicine in Western medicine, and has hired someone to set up a chemical research institute; and it has also been praised by the leader Peng in Beijing." "He said he would take Le Songsheng to the Soviet Union to investigate and study."

After listening to the doubts of the two masters, Wang Deming thought of an outstanding female academician in his previous life, Tu Youyou. Didn’t she win the Nobel Prize for her research on artemisinin?

Out of curiosity, he even looked up Chinese medical literature and found the record of treating malaria in the "Emergency Prescriptions for the Elbow" that "one handful of Artemisia annua, soak it in two liters of water, squeeze out the juice, and drink it all."

"Masters, let me share my opinion. Please help me make some decisions." Wang Deming thought for a moment and expressed his thoughts: "Traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese medicine are treasures passed down by our ancestors. We must inherit them with a pragmatic attitude."

"But, in promoting this area, should we also try to do some scientific research with a pragmatic attitude?"

"For example, the artemisia annua used to treat malaria needs to be soaked in two liters of water and squeezed to extract the juice. Can we use Western chemical methods to make some improvements in extraction? For example, coptis root and isatis root?"

"This..." Jia Yinsheng and Li Jianxun looked embarrassed and looked at each other.

"Masters, after all, Western medicine is very popular now, and many people reject herbal medicine. If we can extract commonly used medicines and make them into tablets, wouldn't that also promote Chinese medicine?"

"Huh!" The two masters finally felt relieved after hearing this, and said with a smile: "This is of course a good thing. We are not old-fashioned people. Besides, Tong Ren Tang originally made traditional Chinese patent medicines: pills, powders, ointments, and pills."

"It's just that we two brothers can't stand the one-size-fits-all approach, using the excuse of Western science to arbitrarily change the prescription. Let's just say that the rhino horn must be Siamese horn, followed by Yunnan horn, because it has a cool nature; but we must not use wide horn (African horn), which is cheap but hot in nature."

“There are so many things to say?”

"It's not"

"Let me tell you again. The ancient method of making the Purple Snow Pill is to put one hundred taels of red gold in a silver pot and cook it together. That's how it works. If you skip this step, it won't work."

"Haha, it's profound and extensive. Masters, we must promote our country's traditional Chinese medicine in the future!"

"Masters, I see that Tong Ren Tang doesn't have any doctors on duty. So are there any descendants of the Le family who understand Chinese medicine?"

"It's long gone!" Masters Jia and Li were talking passionately. "Just think about it. He was originally a traveling doctor. His medical skills were average. He was just a medicine seller.

"But now, several people from the second branch of the Le family have returned from studying in France. They studied Western medicine, are working as doctors in Tianjin, and have married French wives."

Wang Deming suddenly remembered a TV series he had watched in his previous life, "The Mansion Gate", and asked curiously, "Masters, why is Tongrentang now managed by Le Songsheng from the fourth branch of the Le family? Isn't it said that Le Jingyu is very powerful? Why isn't he in charge?"

The two old men looked at each other and answered in confusion: "No?" "We know that Le Jingyu opened a Hongjitang in Jinan, which is his own, but he has never managed Tongrentang;"

"Tong Ren Tang is jointly managed by four families, and Le Shunmu was the one who managed the third family at that time."

"Yes, yes, the current deputy manager, Le Yiqing, is also from the second house."

"Moreover, the four branches of the Le family seem to be the descendants of the third branch who are not making progress."

(End of this chapter)