Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

Zhang Cheng picked up his wine cup, sighed, and said, "Brother, there's something I need to tell you. Yesterday I went to the prefectural government office, and the prefect issued another grain requisition task. Our Tangyin County has been assigned 30,000 dan (a unit of weight), and I'm worried about how to deal with it."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhen gently put down his wine cup. After looking at Zhang Cheng for a while, he said, "Then how does Lord Zhang intend to handle this matter?"

Zhang Cheng sensed Li Zhen's displeasure in his words. He said, "These days, the world is so chaotic that ordinary people have no way to survive. I want to collect grain from those wealthy households, but the poor people can't even feed themselves, let alone hand over grain. The reason I'm talking to you today is to borrow your village soldiers when I collect grain. You know that those wealthy households all keep servants, and I'm afraid our county yamen's constables can't control them."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhen immediately nodded in agreement and also promised to help Zhang Cheng solve part of the grain problem.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cheng was overjoyed and repeatedly raised his glass to Li Zhen to express his feelings.

At this moment, in Zhang Cheng's mind, Li Zhen became a virtuous person and someone worth befriending.

As night deepened, a candle illuminated the entire room in the back hall.

Looking at the lady whose face had regained color, Zhang Cheng felt as if several years had passed in the past day.

"Xiuyun, you finally pulled through. You have no idea how worried I was about your safety during the day. Luckily, Chief Li sent some miraculous medicine, otherwise you would probably be dead by now."

The lady rolled her eyes at Zhang Cheng: "Are you hoping I die so you can openly marry that little vixen?"

"Xiuyun, I'm really worried about you."

To be honest, Zhang Cheng was more worried about his own life. Given his father-in-law's character, he would probably make him die with his wife.

The lady picked up a towel from beside her and wiped the sweat from her forehead, saying softly, "I'm thirsty, quickly pour me a glass of sugar water."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cheng stopped the maid outside the house and personally made a large cup of sweet soup for his wife, the temperature of which was just right.

Seeing Zhang Cheng's performance, the lady's eyes were filled with happiness.

After she finished drinking the sugar water, she asked, "Husband, I vaguely remember feeling cold all over, like I had fallen into an ice cellar. Who saved me?"

So Zhang Cheng told her everything that had happened during the day. When she heard Doctor Guo say that he was beyond saving, the lady said angrily, "They are all a bunch of quacks, and they still have the nerve to call themselves miracle doctors."

Then she added, "Chief Li Zhen is the most reliable. I just don't know what kind of magic medicine he used to cure my typhoid fever so quickly. You know, every year some people die from colds here. If someone had this magic medicine, they would be rich."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cheng quickly took out the remaining pills from his pocket, carefully opened them, and placed them in front of his wife. The two began to ponder them carefully.

After pondering for a long time without any results, the two sighed. How could ordinary mortals like themselves possibly fathom the secrets of such a divine medicine?

The lady solemnly instructed Zhang Cheng: "We must cultivate a good relationship with this Li Zhen. Although we are now under the Jin Kingdom, the Song Kingdom may not be able to recover the northern lands anytime soon. Moreover, the Li Zhen family is a prominent family in Jiangling Prefecture, which will definitely be of great help to your future career, sir."

Madam Zhang is a person who clearly distinguishes between love and hate, and she will definitely repay Li Zhen for saving her life many times over.

------

After leaving the county government office, Doctor Guo led his entourage back home. He searched through almost all of his treasured medical books, but he couldn't find any record of Li Zhen taking out medicine, or even anything similar.

The renowned physician Guo muttered to himself, "Strange indeed. I've perused the medical books collected by my Guo family over three generations, yet I can't find any record of my master's elixir. Could it truly be a divine medicine from heaven? Then wouldn't my master be...?"

This Dr. Guo was originally a royal physician in Bianjing (Kaifeng). Because of his straightforward personality, he offended a nobleman in the palace and was punished by being dismissed from his post in the Imperial Medical Academy. He then returned to his hometown to resume his old profession.

In fact, the lifelong dream of this divine physician Guo was not to go to the palace to treat those princes and ministers. His dream was to write a book on the pharmacology of the Guo family in order to popularize pharmacology and medical theory. This is why he was so keen on collecting various medical books.

Doctor Guo put down the medical book in his hand and said to his apprentice, "Prepare a generous gift tomorrow morning. I'm going to Tangyin City again to ask my master for the miraculous medicine to study carefully. Once I understand this miraculous medicine, my Guo family will be the number one medical family in the world."

The apprentice kindly advised, "Master, it seems that Chief Li has not agreed to accept you as his apprentice. What if he kicks you out?"

Doctor Guo said nonchalantly, "What is face? Can it feed me or make me rich? As long as I can learn Master Li Zhen's medical skills, I will be a saint worshipped by the world."

The apprentice was also shocked by Doctor Guo's shamelessness. Alas, shamelessness knows no bounds!

Back then, Doctor Guo was a top figure in the Imperial Medical Academy. Who would have thought that he would now have to become an apprentice to a mere young upstart? If word got out, what would become of the Guo family's reputation?

Regardless of what his apprentice was thinking, Doctor Guo looked up at the sky and said, "My apprentice, what gift do you think I should bring when I visit my master tomorrow?"

The apprentice knew he couldn't dissuade Doctor Guo. Look, he was already thinking about what gift to bring. Didn't he realize that he was also the renowned Doctor Guo, yet he wanted to become an apprentice to a boy younger than himself just for a small prescription? Wasn't he ashamed?

------

Because he had drunk quite a bit of alcohol at the county government office the day before, Li Zhen still felt dizzy when he woke up the next day. He had no interest in morning exercise and just sat on a high ground in the mountain stronghold watching the soldiers in the stronghold drill.

The soldiers followed Yue Ying in practicing the use of long spears, their uniform movements were quite impressive, and the fact that countless soldiers were wearing brand-new camouflage uniforms and camouflage hats gave the entire formation an indescribable aura.

Looking at the troops below, Li Zhen thought that he needed to find a way to get some firearms when he returned to the modern world. Only in this way could their combat effectiveness be significantly improved. Because of their small numbers, Li Family Village simply could not withstand the onslaught of a regular army. After all, in this era, the number of soldiers was a major weakness.

Just as Li Zhen was in a daze, his eyes were suddenly covered by a pair of soft, delicate little hands.

"Guess who I am?"

Li Zhen laughed and said, "In this mountain stronghold, who else would dare to play tricks on me like this? It must be my little Yingluo."

Zhao Yinglu pouted and said, "Hmph, I'm ignoring you. How am I small?"