Valonga Province, East Africa,
"Hey, Maurice, look quickly, there’s a snake on the tree ahead." An East African soldier shouted.
"Boer, you got bitten! There’s no saving you! Just drag him off and bury him."
"Maurice, you bastard, that’s not how you joke around. I’m just stating a fact." Boer cursed angrily at his comrade.
"Alright, stop arguing. Where’s the snake?" The squad leader asked.
"Squad leader, look below the fork of the tree to the left. My eyesight is top-notch; I spotted the green guy hiding under the leaves at a glance."
Following the direction Boer indicated, the squad leader saw the snake’s form. He attached the bayonet to the gun, then lightly flicked the butt of the gun, causing a green African tree snake to fall to the ground. The startled tree snake quickly disappeared from sight.
"Good thing it’s not a mamba, otherwise it would have been more troubleso to deal with." The squad leader said.
The African tree snake is a rear-fanged venomous snake with low venom yield and inefficiency in venom delivery, so it’s less dangerous. Of course, since it is a venomous snake, the East African soldiers still chose to handle it cautiously.
As for the mamba, it’s a common venomous snake in East Africa, with the black mamba being the most famous, although they typically inhabit grasslands.
The reason East African warriors fear the black mamba is not because of its venom but due to its aggressive nature.
Other African snakes generally do not attack humans unprovoked, but the black mamba will chase and bite. Capturing a black mamba in East Africa requires great skill, as its speed surpasses other snakes. The East African green mamba, from the sa genus, is less extre in temperant.
Regarding venom, in this era, venomous snakes had a high fatality rate. If bitten, survival was left to fate.
East Africa has not remained inactive; they’ve already hired venom research and biology experts in Mombasa to form an institute dedicated to researching antivenoms for African venomous snakes like the black mamba and the puff adder.
...
Heixinggen, Hohenzollern Castle.
"Your Highness, why don’t we directly bring in dical talent from Europe instead of going through the trouble with the East? I’ve heard their dicine is more like dieval witchcraft."
Tom couldn’t understand Ernst’s recent initiative to bring dical talent from the East. It’s not that Tom was opposed, but the project required funds. Since money was involved, one had to be cautious. However, Ernst’s thoughts were often unpredictable, so Tom felt it was better to confirm.
In fact, East Africa had previously acquired dical knowledge worldwide but at little to no cost. This ti, Ernst intended to spend significantly to recruit dical talent and books from the Far East, as well as effective prescriptions.
"Tom, the reasoning is simple. While so might masquerade as traditional Chinese dicine practitioners for deceit in the East, a significant portion has been passed systemically over three thousand years. It has undergone longer scrutiny than Europe’s, and the historical docunts left by Easterners are richer, while most of our parchnts recorded the Bible."
The existence of Eastern dicine certainly isn’t this short-lived. Still, Ernst had his judgnt: the extensive appearance of practical docunts in the Far East occurred during the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Warring States Era, recorded and spread in bamboo slips, especially with the rise of private academies. Nurous intellectuals, including dical talents, wrote and theorized, systematically clarifying experiences from predecessors while innovating boldly. The abundance of bamboo slips ensured the continuous succession and developnt of the dical system in written form rather than orally.
Errors may exist, but more results from experints on that land; if ineffective, they’d have been eliminated long ago.
The decline of Eastern dicine actually started before the Ming Dynasty. By then, dicine had begun to stagnate. When the Western Industrial Revolution reached a certain stage, modern dicine reversed the trend.
In Ernst’s era, chemistry and biology had begun to exert strength, preparing to kick traditional dicine off its throne.
However, Ernst wasn’t confident enough to attempt contemporary European dicine. One would never know if their concoctions were poison or antidote, especially with drugs often touted as "panaceas."
"But Your Highness, how can you guarantee the people we’re bringing from the Far East aren’t frauds? We’re not familiar with Eastern dicine." Tom asked curiously.
"It’s simple. We just need their governnt to provide us conveniences. Let Ambassador Richard negotiate this with their highest leaders. With official endorsents, I believe it will be easier. Ideally, we can engage with their Imperial Hospital and also obtain dical prescriptions and related books from Far East regions like Korea, Japan, and Vietnam."
With official collaboration, a lot of fakers could be screened out.
Ernst’s plans clicked in his mind. His aim was to poach dical formulas from various Far Eastern countries, then apply for patents in the West. Ernst would rather let East Africa benefit than let Japan or South Korea get a piece.
After all, East Africa is an immigrant nation. Theoretically, the achievents of Far East immigrant ancestors are also those of East African ancestors. What’s yours is mine, and mine is still mine. There’s no guilt in this, as everyone knows East African history is short, and East Africa wouldn’t blatantly claim historical naming rights.
Ernst continued, "In this Eastern dical import plan, we must also be careful of those quacks who use opium as a cure-all from infiltrating East Africa."
"Your Highness, the main problem with this task is our unfamiliarity with Eastern dicine," Tom said.
"That’s why we must focus on official channels and have our judgnts. So mistakes don’t matter. Once East African dicine matures in the future, we’ll sift through the collected wealth to find what’s right," Ernst replied.
It’s like a high-stakes ga. If sothing like the premium XX white dicine is found, it’s a huge win; if not, it doesn’t matter, as overall, there’s no loss.
Of course, Ernst would subsequently invest in modern dical research. As for now, he’d pick readily usable traditional dicine.
Hence, East Africa currently can only extensively promote traditional dicine. Ernst chooses to trust Eastern dicine. As for modern dicine in East Africa, the educational system hasn’t developed enough yet, making progress challenging. It might be better to develop in Europe, which has the talent, expertise, and most comprehensive equipnt.
In the early efforts, Ernst vigorously promoted Eastern dicine in East Africa and registered its traditional dical patents. Consequently, many Far Eastern countries privately dubbed East Africa as the "thieving nation," with Japan being particularly affected because East Africa registered many traditional dical achievents unique to Japan. anwhile, Korea claid East African dicine evolved through Korean traditional dicine, sowhat proudly asserting that the origin of East African dicine lies in Korea.
East Africans would certainly disagree, especially the "old Chinese dicine doctors" of East Africa, repeatedly emphasizing that these are the achievents of our Eastern ancestors, granting East Africa inheritance rights.
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