Powders and pills are nothing new, many pharmacies in the city sell traditional Chinese medicines such as Jin Chuang San, Hu Gu San, Bu Xue Wan, etc. The techniques for processing medicinal materials and traditional Chinese medicine have been documented in specialized works by famous doctors of previous generations.

  Most of the traditional Chinese medicine in this world use paper packaging, which has the disadvantages of being difficult to preserve and prone to dampness. The loose powders, pills and other traditional Chinese medicines promoted by the medical institutions themselves can only be circulated within a small range; apart from the above-mentioned shortcomings, it also has a great relationship with the scale and radiation range of the medical institutions.

  Lin considered that even if a large number of medical officers were provided to the army, the problem of medication was still a headache. Carrying a large amount of medicine and temporarily preparing or decocting medicinal powder or soup was always an extraordinary trouble. In the army, it is at least necessary to equip commonly used proprietary Chinese medicines for marching and fighting. Especially as a standard issue, external wound powder for stopping bleeding and preventing wound infection can be used by soldiers in time when they are injured, which will greatly reduce casualties due to blood loss and wound infection.

  As for the problem of Chinese patent medicine being difficult to preserve and prone to dampness, it's actually quite easy to solve; packaging with small ceramic bottles and cork stoppers is easily achievable. The rouge, face powder and other items that Liu Yu'er and Xiao Man brought back from Dongshi were packaged in delicate ceramic bottles, they just cost a bit more.

  Although porcelain is expensive, once it reaches a certain scale, even if the craftsmanship cannot be improved much, the cost will drop sharply, and ordinary ceramic bowls used by common people are only worth three to five cents.

  Lin Jingzhong also rushed to the prison island to discuss matters, Lin Xiang took Lin Mengde and Lin Jingzhong into custody, and had someone bring Wu Yanqing over to discuss large-scale production of hemostatic drugs and wound-healing drugs.

  Lin Mou briefly explained his idea to Wu Yanqing, who was not very sure but felt it was worth a try. He said, "If this method really works, it will save us a lot of effort..."

  In the hospital, apprentices are responsible for processing medicinal materials and manufacturing powdered medicines. This has been a tradition for many years. For hospitals, using apprentices doesn't cost money, but they haven't considered that there are too few apprentices. They should be important assistants to doctors, but most of the time they do miscellaneous chores, which is a huge waste of scarce resources. Hospitals are also limited by this tradition and cannot expand their production scale due to insufficient manpower.

  Lin Kekou's recipe wasn't much different, and the later Yunnan Baiyao was a type of wound-healing medicinal powder. Although Wu Yanqing's prescription may not be more effective than Yunnan Baiyao, there is no essential difference between them.

  Although ceramic bottles are said to be fragile, small and thick ceramic bottles are also quite sturdy.

  On the island, there were too many wounded prisoners brought in at this time. Jiyun Society had to purchase a large amount of medicinal materials every now and then. Setting up a medicinal material shop at the river mouth could be said to have been prepared for a long time, and now they had accumulated a batch of medicinal materials. Jiangning also had official kilns and private kilns producing porcelain. The preparation of Chinese patent medicine powder was already a relatively mature traditional craft and equipment in this world. Wuyanqing's side had a complete set, and if the price was high, the pharmacies in the city would also sell spare equipment. Jiyun Society just needed to organize a group of skilled and capable people who could start production after some training to produce hemostatic medicine.

  There's a shortage of everything at the river mouth, except for labor.

  Lin Mengde and Lin Jingzhong immediately sent someone to buy two sets of powder preparation equipment from the pharmacy in the city, adding Wu Yanqing's side, there are three sets of equipment. One set was brought to the prison island for imitation, and two sets were used to organize some people to try out small batches of hemostatic drugs first, to meet the needs of the prison island.

  ***********

  After the sky turned dark, Lin Xie returned to He Kou Cao Tang and saw Liu Yue'er sitting in the room with a worried expression. He walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her warm and fragrant body, softly asking: "Your parents and siblings have all arrived, why are you still frowning? Where did you arrange for them to stay? Are we going to get them a better house on this side and assign a servant to help them? As newcomers, it's inevitable that they'll be nervous. You should spend more time with them these few days. Who do you want to send to propose to your parents on our behalf?"

  "You are indeed easy to talk to, but unfortunately they are not," said Liu Yu'er anxiously. "Before we could even finish discussing the relationships between father and daughter, mother and son, brothers and sisters, they opened their mouths asking for 500 taels of silver; otherwise, they wouldn't allow this marriage..."

  "Five hundred taels of silver are not a lot, but you are priceless to me," Lin Mou said.

  "'You're not even taking this seriously,' said Liu Yu'er, her face flushing with embarrassment. She lowered her head for a moment, then continued in a resentful tone, 'They've already sold me twice, how can they possibly sell me a third time? They always say we should be filial, but with parents and siblings like these, how are we supposed to show our filial piety?'"

  Lin Mou stroked Liu Yue'er's cheek, and with such parents and siblings, the one who suffered the most was herself.

  At that time, the Liu family married her off to Xiao Chongxi, the seriously ill son of the Xiao family, and the Liu family was greedy for the betrothal gifts given by the Xiao family, without considering that the Xiao family's son was a dying person. Later, Liang Zuoren sent Liu Yu'er to the Gu family as a maid, also because the Liu family was greedy for the three taels of silver that Liang Zuoren paid every month. Now they come and ask for 500 taels of silver, which is truly insatiable greed.

  "I really wish I could never see them again, never recognize them..." Liu Yu'er sighed and said.

  "This is also simple," Lin Xie said with a smile, "but you are not allowed to blame me for being ruthless in the future."

  "Ah," Yuè ér looked at Lín Fù in surprise and said, "They are my parents and siblings after all, don't do anything rash."

  "They are also my Tai Shan and Tai Yue," Lin Mou grasped Liu Yu'er's hand, smiling, "How could I be so reckless? I'll send someone to take them to a place where they can enjoy their lives, and not bother you."

  Lin Bing immediately brought Lin Mengde over and told him about Liu Yu'er's parents.

  Lin Mengde also couldn't help but laugh and cry, saying: "It's really true that money has blinded their eyes. Having such relatives is not better than having five hundred taels of silver by ten or a hundred times? What to do, let's just drag things out for now?" This kind of relative is harmful and useless to Lin Xie, if it were really like this, he wouldn't even suggest that Lin Xie take Liu Yue'er as his concubine. Anyway, Liu Yue'er being in Lin Xie's house, whether she had a title or not, wasn't very important.

  "You go and do it, give them the silver, and first deceive the marriage certificate into your hands," Lin said. "At night, find a few people to cover their faces, and throw them onto the north shore. Remember to take back the silver. Just tell outsiders that they were sent to enjoy good fortune in the city. At this time, no one will starve on the north shore. Order the people on the north shore not to recognize each other."

  Lin Meng thought that the north shore wouldn't starve people to death, but bones were scarce and it was better to be hungry for a few more days. Since Lin Xuan could make such a "ruthless" decision, he naturally had no opinion and went out to arrange things.

  The man was unmarried and took a concubine, the ceremony was simple, usually just using a small sedan chair to bring her in from the side door. The so-called betrothal gifts were mostly naked money transactions. Lin Mengde was considered an elder, he took silver to discuss the engagement with Liu Yue'er's family, Lin set up a table of wine and invited Liu Yue'er's parents and siblings over, this marriage was considered settled.

  Liu Yu'er still didn't know what method Lin Xuan would use, although she was also indifferent to her parents and siblings. However, the meal made her uneasy and unhappy. Her parents and siblings were delighted with the meal, but seeing how easily Lin Xuan handed over the silver, they slightly regretted not asking for more. Five hundred taels of silver in Dongyang could buy 70-80 mu of good land, enough to ensure a family's food and clothing without worry, but who would be born thinking that silver was too little?

  Four people left the thatched cottage, not minding that Lin didn't see them off, and didn't notice that the light outside was much darker than when they came. Just as they were wondering why there was no one around, several people quickly caught up from behind, covering their mouths and noses, blindfolding them with cloth strips, binding them up, stuffing a cloth ball into their mouths, and then putting them all in large sacks that covered both head and feet.

  At this time, Lin Mengde walked out of the dark and didn't say a word. He made a gesture to let people take down their nameplates and throw them into the riverbank where the refugees were gathered; at the same time, he replaced all the people from Jiyun Society who were squatting on the north shore with new faces.

  Lin Mengde thought to himself: If it weren't for the relationship with Lin Xian, they would now be refugees near Chao Tian Station. Since they are greedy and dissatisfied, he will make them return to their original state, which is also a way to deal with them fairly.

  ***************

  Lin Xie was with Liu Yu'er at this time. Lin Meng saw that things were settled and didn't rush to report back to Lin Xie, but instead went to attend to other matters first.

  The river mouth suddenly had 3,000 to 4,000 more refugees, and the number is still increasing. It's unknown when the situation in Hongze Pu will stabilize. Two porridge stations have been set up here, providing half a catty of rice per person per day for thin porridge, barely enough to keep people from starving, but long-term settlement is still a big problem.

  Lin Mengde has been in charge of the settlement of refugees and migrants for several days, and it's really busy, but fortunately, there are some clues, thanks to Lin Xuan's previous work at the river mouth, laying a solid foundation.

  The roads and streets were basically built, with the later maintenance, excavation of drainage ditches, planting of trees, and construction of shops, houses, warehouses, and markets along the streets. All these required a large number of laborers. To accommodate the labor force, Ji Yun She planned to immediately expand the riverbank wharf and the waterfront wharf. The spinning and weaving workshops previously prepared for the settlement of migrant workers' families were also about to be completed. Although the number of people that could be accommodated was limited, things had taken shape, and it would be easier to follow suit. Continuing to expand the spinning and weaving workshops and build other workshops and factories could also accommodate a large number of laborers.

  At present, the first thing to do is to sort out the refugees who have expertise and skills, and make rational use of human resources.

  Generally speaking, the settlement of refugees requires a large amount of arable land. Jiangdong Prefecture has been prosperous for hundreds of years and has undergone sufficient development, so it is naturally impossible to accommodate more external refugees. The influx of refugees not only triggered a large number of public security problems but also caused a serious surplus of labor in the local area, causing wages to plummet, making ordinary tenants and laborers in the local area hostile to external refugees.

  Lin Xiangru knew that using work to replace relief could effectively solve the problem of short-term stranded refugees and migrants, and large-scale family handicrafts and workshop handicrafts, or even larger-scale industrial workshops, could accommodate more surplus labor than pure farming.

  Lin Mengde, Lin Jingzhong and others arranged the refugees according to Lin's two ideas. After the initial chaos, everything became organized in five or six days. The river mouth was crowded with so many people, but everything seemed to be in order. Even Lin Mengde himself couldn't imagine it would go so smoothly at first, although he worked very hard and was also very excited.

  From small to large, Lin Meng has seen many people in his life, but he has never seen anyone who can compare with Lin Xie's ability to navigate the world and make use of opportunities. He often wonders if Lin Xie is truly content with leading the people of Changshan Island to survive in these chaotic times.

  The capable should know the way of hiding, the situation is chaotic, but it has not yet deteriorated to an irreparable place. As the saying goes, "the times create heroes", if the times do not give birth to them, heroes cannot emerge. Don't look at Liu An's current glory in Huizhou and Dongyang, where he claims to have 200,000 troops in just a few days. However, since ancient times, most of the earliest jumping grasshoppers are destined to be someone else's burial clothes. When the times are favorable, Lin Mengde believes that Lin Xie will also take action accordingly. From today's events, it can be seen that Lin Xie is not bound by the hypocritical set of "loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and filial piety".

  Lin Mengde made up his mind not to think about this issue anymore, and that it was most important to lay a solid foundation step by step. He found Lin Jingzhong and Qian Xiaowu to discuss the details of opening a medicine workshop at the river mouth.

  Because there were nearly three hundred wounded prisoners on Prison Island who needed medicine every day, Lin Mengde and Lin Jingzhong prioritized handling the pharmacy's affairs.

  Apart from the surrounding houses, there were not many newly built houses at the river mouth, but it was still possible to squeeze out one house to be used as a pharmacy; two sets of old equipment were purchased from the pharmaceutical stores in the city and put into use first, the key problem was still the lack of manpower. Wu Yanqing couldn't get away from Prison Island, so he recommended his son, Wu Jiye, also a famous doctor in Jiangning City, to come to the pharmacy to work, and then transferred an apprentice who had already gained experience from Prison Island to be an assistant, and hired twenty literate young people from the refugees in Shanglin to enter the pharmacy as apprentices. In just two or three days, the appearance of the pharmacy was set up according to Lin's requirements.

  ****************

  P.S: I'll be spending National Day with some commoners and little rascals in a foreign land.

  This holiday is really painful, little Zhengtai hasn't walked two steps, and he's already shouting: Daddy, hold me!

  Pitiful brothers, give all your red tickets to me.