No one can disturb my retirement life in the Red Mansion

"My health has caused trouble for Queen Mother and Marquis Wu. It's my fault!" Liu Bei smiled apologetically and thought, "Of course Queen Mother's health should be the most important."

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang looked at each other. What could Liu Bei do? He could only agree. The other party had already said so much. What else could he say? Besides, the reason why they asked Jiangdong for help was mainly because Liu Qi was seriously ill. Out of concern for Liu Biao and his remaining troops, Dongwu sent Zhang Zhongjing. Otherwise, just because of Liu Bei, Jiangdong could refuse by saying that the Queen Mother was seriously ill and Zhang could not leave the country.

Now, Liu Qi is dead. Liu Bei is in better health now, so it is not good to hold him hostage anymore. The main reason is that he clearly said that it was Queen Mother who used Zhang Zhongjing first. Even if it is a first come first served, he is still right.

Liu Bei was helpless and understood why Zhuge Liang did not cooperate. He had seen that he could not stop him. So he did not bother. Mainly, he also saw that Zhang Zhongjing was very impatient to stay in Jingzhou.

Zhuge Liang had told him before that when Zhang Zhongjing arrived in Jingzhou, he should set up the Jingzhou branch of the National Medical Hall. He should not just keep the staff but not pay attention to them. By then, it would be easy to say that their Jingzhou National Medical Hall would not be able to do without Master Zhang. By the way, they could also train a group of young doctors according to the method of Dongwu. If they could also produce a few miracle doctors in Jingzhou, they could be on par with Dongwu.

Liu Bei was tempted, but after discussing it with his other staff, nothing happened. In fact, it was not Liu Bei and his staff's fault. Before Zhuge Liang came, they had no base, but they had power, which was also very smart. After Zhuge Liang's defeat, in Liu Bei's mind, the difference between Zhuge Liang and them was not that big.

So Zhuge Liang was defeated. Moreover, Liu Bei was not stupid. If he felt it was really necessary, he would support Zhuge Liang even if his staff disagreed. But he did not support him this time, not because he really did not trust Zhuge Liang, but because of a very realistic problem: he had no money!
They had just settled down in Jingzhou, so their first priority was to develop the local economy. Otherwise, how could they recruit soldiers and collect food and fodder?
They are not the first to run a national medical hall, so the people come to pay tribute to the one in Nanxu, not to theirs. At most, they recruit doctors from the surrounding areas to take the exam and get the qualification of doctors. How much economic benefit can this bring to Jingzhou? If it does not bring economic benefits and requires initial investment, it will be a pure loss. They have just occupied Jingzhou and there is really a lot of work to be done. With that money, wouldn’t it be better to encourage farming? Wouldn’t it be more meaningful to improve people’s lives?

You have to know that Sun Quan was the head of three generations, with the accumulation of his father and brother, and Wu Guotai, who first provided money for the National Medical Hall, used her own private money to run it. Even if Liu Bei's wives had private money, they were lucky to have left something behind after running around with Liu Bei over the years. It is estimated that there are only a few particularly meaningful things. It is not that they are not virtuous, but they really do not have the ability. So some things really cannot be done just because you want to. This really depends on accumulation.

And they are very sure, like Ou Mengmeng, that the territory of Wu will not change in the next fifty years. So, they can do whatever they want in peace. At this time, does Liu Bei dare to say so?
There was no point in saying anything now. Besides, they had also seen that even if Zhang Zhongjing was detained here, Jiangdong's National Medical Hall would not fall. And it was also clear that Jiangdong was obviously standardized and institutionalized. The presence or absence of Zhang Zhongjing did not have much impact on Jiangdong. They only affected Wu Guotai. And the biggest problem was that they really could not let Wu Guotai die.

"How about asking the National Medical Hall to send someone over?" Zhou Yu nodded. He was determined to stop while he was ahead. They were all friendly forces, so he had to save face. "In fact, the doctors in Nanxu are all pretty good now."

"That's not necessary." Liu Bei waved his hand. He only believed in Zhang Zhongjing now. What's the point of saying all this if you get the person away?

"General Zhou, may I ask you a question, regarding papermaking..." Zhuge Liang looked at Liu Bei's expression and quickly changed the subject.

There is no need to talk about Zhang Zhongjing anymore, it is meaningless. He is still more concerned about the papermaking in Dongwu. He likes Wu Guotai. But he has to say that he does not really believe that papermaking was really invented by Wu Guotai.

It's not because Wu Guotai is a woman, his wife is also a woman, he dare not look down on her. But Wu Guotai was really nothing to say about her decades ago. Now that Madam Wu has passed away, how could she, an old woman who is like a concubine but not a concubine, be called Guotai if she is not the biological sister of the late Madam Wu?

Before, the Eastern Wu liked to bring up the former Madam Wu. All the legends about Madam Wu Tai all said that they were great sages and virtuous. This further highlighted Sun Quan's filial piety to his mother. So now that Madam Wu Tai was gone, they brought up Madam Wu Guotai. How could Zhuge Liang believe it?

He believed her when she said she donated money to orphans, and she couldn't bear to see orphans without writing tools, so she made paper herself. Zhuge Liang also studied all the way, and he didn't have paper. They all wrote on bamboo slips, washing and writing, writing and washing, until the bamboo slips turned black and the ropes were broken.

And the mountains of Dongwu are covered with bamboo all year round. Is that enough for them to write about it till the end of time? So, this reason is really far-fetched.

So, he only asked about "papermaking" and didn't say "Queen Tai made paper". After seeing the letter, he felt that Sun Quan was talking nonsense. Was this kind of paper really for children to learn calligraphy? Or, could an old lady make this? Even if he tried to make it, he didn't have the confidence to do it.

"It's the thing that was found during Queen Mother's illness. It's used to dissipate medicinal properties." Zhou Yu glanced at Zhuge Liang and said lightly.

In order to get Zhang Zhongjing back, he had to get Liu Bei's consent. Otherwise, if Liu Bei got into trouble, it would be hard for Dongwu to say. It would also affect Zhang Zhongjing's reputation. But when it came to papermaking, Zhou Yu didn't want to talk about it.

He didn't believe that Zhuge Liang didn't know about the pressure from various noble families on Sun Quan. Zhuge Liang was born into a Shandong noble family. Although the Zhuge family was not as famous as the Wang family in Langya County, it was also a well-known family.

Otherwise, there would be no "dragon, tiger, and dog". Although there is no such saying at this time, the Zhuge family's educational ability can be seen from this.

Educational ability is also a symbol of family strength. Reading ten thousand books is not only about personal diligence, but also about how precious books are. If a family has ten thousand books, it is a proof of wealth and heritage.

At this time, Zhuge Liang's position was the real opposite. He represented not only the aristocratic class, but also Liu Bei's group.

The better the Eastern Wu is, the greater the pressure on Liu Bei's group. He will not support them in making paper and printing books. (End of this chapter)