My Wife is Unbeatable in the Whole World, Touch Me If You Dare!-Chapter 463 - 323 Medical Reform

It was another afternoon, Li Nuo and Zhao Zhiyi walked out of the academy.

By the Princess's side, there were some experts secretly guarding. As long as Li Nuo went out, she was almost always accompanied by Li Nuo throughout, so there was nothing for him to worry about in terms of safety.

Since it was unnecessary to have Yiren's protection, she simply practiced at home.

Ever since the Yin Yang School made the prophecy that she would be promoted to Grandmaster this year, she had been desperately striving towards this goal.

The Sixth Princess picked him up from the embassy every day and then sent him back.

Li Nuo was inseparable from the Sixth Princess during the day and shared a room with Yiren at night, busy every day, but the days were quite fulfilling.

It was just that being away from home for a month deepened his longing for Jiaren and Anning.

Jiaren was still fine; sometimes he could secretly treat Yiren as Jiaren in his heart, after all, she wouldn't know.

But Anning was irreplaceable.

Although the Sixth Princess was also a princess, she was ultimately not Anning.

Li Nuo dreamt about them every night these days, and sometimes he would even dream about the Phoenix, but he could only look at their portraits for some comfort.

Fortunately, he was prepared and brought along their portraits when he came to Zhao Country.

Passing by that King Mansion, Li Nuo noticed that there was no longer a line of patients at the entrance, so he couldn't help but ask: "Why are there no patients here anymore? Have all the patients near the capital been treated?"

Zhao Zhiyi shook her head and said: "Ever since the princes invited the Medical School to provide free treatments for the people, even healthy people wanted to come and have a look. The line at the King Mansion's gate stretched from morning to night without end. The common people who couldn't get treatment were deeply resentful. Later, some trouble occurred, and the free clinic had to be stopped..."

Li Nuo had not been paying attention to this matter these days and was unaware that many things had happened in just a few days.

First of all, the number of people seeking treatment was too high, and only a small portion could be treated, while most people who couldn't get treated were deeply resentful, leading to several conflicts over queueing.

Secondly, the Medical School doctors were not ordinary doctors; their consultation fees were shockingly high, and they usually treated officials and nobles.

Having them conduct free clinics every day was a huge expenditure, far exceeding that of distributing porridge. Each of the princes had poured their entire fortunes into it for the past half year in their struggle for the throne. This was only superficially a free clinic; while the people did not spend money, the expenditures came from them.

A daily expenditure of several thousand taels of silver was too much for any of the four princes to bear.

On the last day, to save some costs, the Fourth Prince did not invite the doctors from the Medical School, but instead invited a few ordinary doctors.

As a result, one doctor accidentally killed a patient with the acupuncture needle.

It caused a fatality, and he paid a large sum of silver to the patient's family and stopped the free clinic.

The other three princes took this as a lesson and also canceled their free clinics one after another.

Many people who had heard about this and came from far away places didn't get treatment, only to be harassed in vain, making them even more unhappy and filled with complaints, cursing the four princes behind their backs.

What was originally a good deed unexpectedly ended in such a result.

Zhao Zhiyi sighed and said, "Lord Li, do you think there is something wrong with doing good deeds?"

Li Nuo shook his head and said, "There is nothing wrong with doing good deeds, but even if the initial intention is good, using the wrong approach often leads to bad results. From the start, free clinics shouldn't have been set up. Even charging a minimal fee would have kept most of those seeking excitement away, allowing those truly in need to receive treatment..."

Human nature is complex, and good intentions do not necessarily lead to good outcomes.

Li Nuo himself hadn't thought of this at the time.

However, this matter did give Li Nuo an idea for establishing another achievement.

The Fourth Prince had already made some achievements in maintaining order. The next step could be to focus on healthcare.

The people's need for healthcare may come right after food, clothing, and shelter.

But regardless of the country, healthcare was predominantly for the upper class.

The difficulty and costliness of healthcare for the common people is a reality in all countries.

There are many reasons for this, with the scarcity of medical resources being the major one.

There were already few engaged in medicine, and the top-tier doctors were always recruited by the court to serve the Imperial Family.

Ordinary doctors would generally be recruited by officials and nobles, becoming their private physicians, such doctors were present even in the Li Mansion.

And those still unqualified practitioners would also prioritize the wealthy.

The medical halls among the commoners had doctors of mixed abilities, with high consultation fees and expensive medicines, making it unattainable for ordinary people.

Moreover, an underdeveloped healthcare system contributes significantly to this phenomenon.

There were already few engaged in medicine, and with the upper class monopolizing them, even in the capital, the medical halls were pitifully few, let alone the local prefectures. In some remote areas, people had no access to doctors and could only rely on luck when they fell ill.

There was still much that could be done in the realm of healthcare.

Returning to the embassy, Li Nuo shared his thoughts with Zhao Zhiyi, and they immediately agreed with each other.

Yiren practiced swordsmanship in the open space, while Zhao Zhiyi sat on a stone bench in the yard, asking Li Nuo: "Where should we start?"

Li Nuo thought for a moment and said: "The reform of healthcare is a long-term matter. It may take decades or even centuries of accumulation to completely change the status quo, so we should start from the capital and advance step by step..."

The scarcity of medical resources was undoubtedly a pressing issue that needed to be addressed.

The feasible solution was for the court to take the lead in establishing medical colleges across the country to train more medical practitioners, ensuring that citizens in every region had access to basic medical services.

However, this would require a significant amount of time and a huge investment, without any immediate returns.

Essentially, this was not something that could generate immediate returns, but rather something that would require subsidies and continuous investment from the state.

Although Zhao Zhiyi greatly agreed with Li Nuo's idea, the first step was already difficult to achieve. Even starting with the capital, the necessary funds were an unimaginable figure, which the National Treasury could not possibly allocate to them.

If each prince wanted to achieve something, they had to raise the money themselves.

His elder brother already couldn't come up with much silver.

Moreover, as Li Nuo said, this was not something that could be accomplished overnight; the timeframe was far from adequate.

Li Nuo soon learned about the difficulties from the Sixth Princess.

One major difficulty was the lack of funds. In the princes' struggle for the throne, the various departments of the court would not show any obvious bias unless the Emperor explicitly granted responsibility, like when he previously decreed the establishment of the Anti-theft Bureau, leading to full cooperation from all departments.

Under the name of the Fourth Prince alone, the Ministry of Revenue would not allocate funds.

Until the Emperor made a decision, they could not show any obvious preference towards a particular prince.

After thinking for a moment, Li Nuo suddenly looked at Zhao Zhiyi and asked: "What if it was under your name, Sixth Princess?"

Zhao Zhiyi momentarily froze, unsure, and said: "Me?"

Li Nuo nodded and said: "You are not involved in the throne struggle, you are simply suggesting to the court an improvement for the people's well-being. Isn't that feasible?"

Zhao Zhiyi was momentarily stunned and said: "It's feasible, but…"

Li Nuo said: "You are the Fourth Prince's biological sister. Although the achievements won't be credited to him, everyone knows you represent him. By then, if you get the Fourth Prince to contribute, people will take notice..."

Zhao Zhiyi nodded and said: "Even if it's not for my elder brother, it's necessary to do this for the benefit of Zhao Country's people. If the Princess Mansion steps in, we don't even need the approval of the three provinces..."

Zhao Country's court structure was different from that of Daxia.

Daxia's highest institution was the three provinces. Only when it passed the three provinces could it be handed over to the Six Departments and other government offices for implementation.

But Zhao Country's three provinces delegated a significant part of their authority to the Six Departments.

If the amount involved wasn't big, the Ministry of Revenue could directly allocate funds.

The Minister of Revenue had even invited Li Nuo to his house for dinner a few days ago, but Li Nuo had been too busy to make it...

The funding issue shouldn't be a major problem.

The next difficulty would be the manpower.

To establish a medical college, teachers would be needed, and the best teachers would be those from the High Realm in the Medical School, but such top-tier doctors had very valuable time with astronomical consultation fees, costing a few hundred to thousands of taels in minutes, which the Fourth Prince couldn't afford.

Even the Low Realm doctors charged no small fees.

The Ministry of Revenue could allocate funds to build the academy but would definitely not provide funds for astronomical salaries.

Although Li Nuo could give lectures, he was only one person, already overwhelmed with the academy, really unable to manage additional tasks...

Just as Li Nuo was troubled over this, two figures walked in from outside.

The Minister of Revenue walked into the yard, first saluted Zhao Zhiyi, then smiled at Li Nuo and said: "Brother Li, I have invited you several times, and you didn't come. This time I came personally, you must honor me with your presence, right?"

Then he looked at an old man with a white beard beside him and said: "This is Doctor Sun from the Medicine King Valley. He heard that you cured my mother's illness and insisted on seeing you, saying he wants to discuss the Medical Path with you..."