140: Chapter 50 The Birth of a Divine Medicine

The formation of the Penicillin research team went much smoother than Li Ling had anticipated.

The twenty technicians transferred from the Production Base were all elites materialized by the system, and each of their resumes was perfect—there were microbiology experts, chemical engineers, pharmaceutical process technicians, and quality control specialists. Their professional competence was excellent, requiring almost no pre-job training.

As soon as they saw the Penicillin production technical data provided by the system, their eyes lit up, even more excited than if they had seen gold; some were even trembling with excitement.

The lead engineer was named Wang Qiming, in his forties, tall and thin, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with slightly thinning hair. He spoke slowly and deliberately, but once the topic turned to biotechnology, he would talk incessantly, as if he had become a different person.

"Your Majesty, this data is too complete!" Wang Qiming held a thick stack of technical drawings, his fingers trembling slightly, the paper rustling in his hands. "From strain screening to fermentation processes, from purification methods to quality control, every step is clearly written. This is not just a technical document; this is a complete industrial system! With this, we can fully build a Penicillin factory with an annual output of one hundred tons within half a year!"

Li Ling leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs, and said slowly, "Half a year is too long. Three months. I give you three months, and I must see the first batch of finished products."

Wang Qiming's smile stiffened for a moment: "Your Majesty, three months... I'm afraid that's a bit tight. Fermentation tanks need to be customized, the culture medium formula needs repeated testing, and there are requirements for a sterile environment... These all require time to verify; it cannot be rushed."

"Tell me what you lack." Li Ling interrupted him, leaning forward, "Money, people, equipment—whatever you need, I will provide. The Production Base has ready-made fermentation tanks and purification equipment that can be moved there first. If the technology is insufficient, bring in experts from overseas. Wang Qiming, listen well—in three months, I want to see Penicillin. Not 'try your best,' but 'must.'"

Wang Qiming took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses: "Yes, Your Majesty. This subject will do his best."

"Not 'do your best,' but 'must complete it.'" Li Ling stood up, walked around the large desk to him, and patted his shoulder, "Old Wang, do you know what this means?"

Wang Qiming was stunned for a moment: "This subject... does not quite understand."

"It means that in the future, our soldiers will never have to die from wound infections again." Li Ling's voice was very calm, but every word hit Wang Qiming's heart like a hammer, "It means that when common people contract pneumonia, dysentery, or various bacterial infections, they can all be cured. Those people you have seen or heard of who died because of an infected wound will never die again. This is not a weapon; this is a life-saving thing. Do you understand?"

Wang Qiming's eyes were slightly red, his lips moved, and he nodded forcefully: "This subject understands. This subject will certainly not fail Your Majesty's expectations. Even if I don't sleep for three months, I will produce Penicillin."

"Good." Li Ling patted his shoulder, the force a little heavier, "Go. If there are any difficulties, come directly to me; no need to go through others. I am always here."

After Wang Qiming left, Empress Su Wanqing walked in carrying a bowl of lotus seed soup. She was wearing a lotus-root-colored spring shirt today, her hair pulled into a simple bun with a white jade hairpin, making her look gentle and elegant. Seeing Li Ling standing by the window with a full smile, she asked curiously, "Your Majesty, what is making you so happy?"

Li Ling took the lotus seed soup and took a sip; the temperature was just right, sweet but not cloying, his favorite taste: "Wanqing, I will show you a magic trick."

"What magic trick?"

"Come here." Li Ling took her to the window, pointing to a vacant lot in the distance where construction was underway; the sound of pile drivers could be heard faintly, and workers were as busy as ants, "Do you see that place? A pharmaceutical factory is being built there. Once it's built, our country will have a miracle drug that can cure a hundred diseases."

Empress Su Wanqing blinked, her eyelashes casting fine shadows in the morning light: "What miracle drug?"

"Penicillin." Li Ling said, "It's just a medicine that can cure infections. In the future, if you catch a cold, have a fever, or a wound gets infected, just take a little, and you'll be fine. You won't have to drink those bitter-as-death traditional Chinese medicines, nor will you have to worry about a fever turning into pneumonia."

Empress Su Wanqing looked at him with skepticism: "Is it really that magical?"

"Even more magical than you think." Li Ling laughed, his eyes shining, "Just wait, you'll know in a few months."

The construction of the Penicillin factory proceeded in full swing.

Workers from the Production Base worked overtime to rush the manufacture of fermentation tanks and purification equipment; the sparks of electric welding never ceased day or night, flickering in the darkness like stars. Every day, crates of precision parts were transported from the Production Base to the construction site outside the city, with trucks lining up to enter and exit, kicking up dust along the way. Wang Qiming and his technical team worked day and night to debug equipment and optimize processes, sometimes going days without sleep, their eyes bloodshot, their throats too hoarse to speak. Li Ling personally visited the construction site every three days to understand progress and solve difficulties, sometimes still watching equipment installation at the site at two or three in the morning.

One month later, the first fermentation tank was installed and began trial operation. The pale yellow culture medium churned in the tank, the temperature strictly controlled at twenty-five degrees, like nurturing a new life.

Two months later, the first batch of culture medium was put into the fermentation tank, entering the cultivation cycle. Wang Qiming ate and slept in the laboratory, staring at thermometers and pH records, taking samples for testing every two hours, filling three thick notebooks with notes.

Two months and twenty days later, the first batch of Penicillin stock solution was successfully extracted; after preliminary purification and quality testing, the activity met the standards. When Wang Qiming saw the number jump on the detector, he collapsed into his chair, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.

He held the bottle of pale yellow liquid, his hands shaking so much he could barely hold it steady, and carefully placed it on the table in front of Li Ling, his voice trembling: "Your Majesty... this... this is Penicillin."

Li Ling picked up the bottle and held it up to the light. It was pale yellow, clear and transparent, shimmering with a faint light under the lamp, like amber honey. He knew what such a small bottle of things meant in this era. His fingers gently caressed the bottle wall, as if touching a priceless treasure.

"What about the effects?" he asked.

"We have already conducted animal experiments," Wang Qiming said, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible, "We treated several rabbits infected with bacteria, and all were cured. Furthermore, no obvious side effects were observed. One was severely infected, and we initially thought it could not be saved, but three days after injecting Penicillin, it stood up and ate on its own."

"Find someone to try it on."

Wang Qiming was stunned: "Your Majesty, do you mean... clinical trials?"

"Yes." Li Ling nodded, "Find a suitable patient, one with a bacterial infection where antibiotic treatment is ineffective. Let him test the medicine. If the effect is good, we will promote it on a large scale. If there are any problems, we can improve it in time."

Wang Qiming hesitated: "Your Majesty, clinical trials have risks... what if..."

"If a problem arises, I will take responsibility." Li Ling interrupted him, his tone unquestionable, "But I believe in you, and I believe in Penicillin. Go ahead and do it; if something happens, I will bear the consequences."

Three days later, a young soldier with festering wounds all over his body and a persistent high fever was sent to the pharmaceutical factory. He had been accidentally injured during training; his left leg was grazed by shrapnel, and the wound had not healed after becoming infected, festering, rotting, emitting a foul odor, and his high fever would not subside. The military doctors had used all available medicines without effect; sulfonamides, quinine, and various herbal medicines had all been tried, but his condition only worsened, and he was on the verge of death.

Wang Qiming personally injected him with Penicillin. The moment the needle pierced the vein, everyone held their breath.

Less than an hour after the injection, his body temperature began to drop. It fell from forty degrees to thirty-nine, and then from thirty-nine to thirty-eight. Three hours later, the high fever had completely subsided, the sweat on his forehead had dried, and the abnormal flush on his face had mostly faded. By the next morning, the redness and swelling around the wound had largely subsided, the dark purple festering areas began to scab over, and the foul odor of the secretions had also faded significantly.

The soldier woke from his coma, looking somewhat confused at the people gathered around his hospital bed, and asked weakly: "Am... am I still alive?"

Li Ling stood at the head of the bed, leaning over to him with a smile on his face: "Alive. And you will be able to be discharged soon. The wound is healing well, much better than when you first arrived."

The soldier's tears welled up instantly, and he struggled to sit up to salute: "Your Majesty... it was you who saved me..."

"It was not me who saved you." Li Ling held down his shoulder, stopping his movement, "It was Penicillin that saved you. It was those technicians who spent two months of sleepless nights in the laboratory who saved you. If you want to thank someone, thank them."

He straightened up and glanced at Wang Qiming. The latter was standing at the door of the ward, his eyes red, his lips tightly pursed, as if trying desperately to hold something back. The exhaustion on his face was replaced by an indescribable excitement, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothed out.

"It's a success." Li Ling said.

Wang Qiming nodded, tears finally falling, sliding down his cheeks into the corners of his mouth—salty and bitter, but his heart was sweet.

The successful mass production of Penicillin caused a huge sensation in the Tang Country and even the whole world.

After the news spread, patients from all over flocked here, some even walking hundreds of miles just to beg for a dose of Penicillin. A long line formed at the gate of the pharmaceutical factory, extending from the factory gate all the way to the road outside the city, stretching as far as the eye could see. Some people pulled sick relatives on carts, some carried children with persistent high fevers, and some walked with canes, hope in everyone's eyes.

The factory's production lines operated around the clock, producing day and night. Wang Qiming expanded recruitment by more than two hundred workers, divided into three shifts, with production lines running twenty-four hours a day. Li Ling ordered that Penicillin be supplied primarily to wounded soldiers and seriously ill civilians, with the price set at cost; it was strictly forbidden for anyone to hoard goods or profiteer. Those unscrupulous merchants who attempted to hoard stock and raise prices were dealt with one by one as they were discovered—fined for minor offenses and imprisoned for major ones, without mercy.

"Your Majesty, the Meijian Country consulate has sent someone to ask if they can purchase some Penicillin samples." The adjutant reported, "They are willing to pay a high price, ten thousand US dollars per dose."

"Not for sale." Li Ling didn't even look up, busy reading the monthly report of the Penicillin production line, "Tell them this is a strategic material of the Tang Country and is not for export for the time being."

"The British consulate has also sent people, saying they are willing to exchange it for warship technology..."

"Also not for sale." Li Ling's voice was resolute, "Penicillin is a life-saving thing, not something to be used for business. Wait until our production capacity expands, then we can consider exporting. For now, prioritize our own people. Tell those consulate people, if they want Penicillin, they can have it when our production increases, and we can discuss it at normal trade prices. Right now, no matter what technology they offer, it won't work."

"Yes."

After the adjutant left, Empress Su Wanqing pushed the door open and entered, carrying a bowl of hot soup. She saw Li Ling reading the report on the Penicillin production line, his face wearing an uncontrollable smile, like the sunshine of spring.

"Your Majesty, you have been smiling these past few days." She placed the soup on the table and sat in the chair next to him.

"Of course I'm smiling." Li Ling picked up the bowl and took a sip, "Wanqing, do you know? This Penicillin thing is even more impressive than an aircraft carrier."

"What is an aircraft carrier?"

"Uh... it's just a kind of super big ship." Li Ling said vaguely, gesturing to show its size, "But that's not important. The important thing is that Penicillin can save lives. An aircraft carrier can only fight wars, but Penicillin can save lives. Which one do you think is more important?"

Empress Su Wanqing thought for a moment and said seriously: "Both are important. An aircraft carrier protects the country, and Penicillin protects lives. Without a country, human lives are like grass; without life, what meaning does a country have?"

Li Ling was stunned for a moment, then laughed out loud: "You're right! Both are important! I want to build aircraft carriers, and I want to produce Penicillin! I will grasp both, and both must be firm!"

Although Empress Su Wanqing didn't quite understand what he meant by "grasping both," seeing Li Ling laughing so happily, she also started to laugh. Outside the window came the chirping of birds in spring, crisp and melodious, like a cheerful musical movement.

The night was deep. Li Ling sat alone in the Imperial Study, with an unfinished letter spread out before him. The letter was to Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, and the content was about cooperation on Penicillin—he intended, after production capacity stabilized, to export Penicillin to the German Empire at a reasonable price in exchange for industrial equipment and technical talent.

He put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and stared blankly at the ceiling. The light was dim and yellow, casting his shadow on the wall, stretching it very, very long.

"System." He thought to himself.

"Hmm?"

"Tell me, if Penicillin can be promoted worldwide, how many people can it save?"

"Calculating based on the current global population size and the incidence of bacterial infections, a conservative estimate is that it can save tens of millions of lives every year. This does not even count the indirect social benefits—fewer laborers lost to illness, fewer families bankrupted by disease, and fewer children dying prematurely."

Li Ling was silent for a long time, then said: "System, thank you."

[Host, you have already said that many times.]

"But I still want to say it one more time." Li Ling smiled, "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have made it to today. I might have been killed by bandits during the bandit suppression in the first volume, or blown up by artillery shells during the naval battle in the second volume. Let alone producing Penicillin."

[Host, although you are usually very cunning, capable of throwing tantrums and doing whatever it takes, when it comes to serious matters, you have never been vague. On this point, the system highly appreciates you.]

"It's rare to hear you praise me." Li Ling chuckled and scratched his head, "However, since you've praised me, let me ask another question—now that I have the Penicillin technology, can you give me something else? For example... vaccines?"

[Host, greed is an original sin.]

"I call this ambition!"

[Let's talk tomorrow. The system needs to go maintain data.]

"Going to find that singing and dancing system again?"

[Host, your imagination is too rich.]

The system's voice gradually faded away, and silence returned to the Imperial Study. Li Ling sat in his chair, watching the stars filling the sky outside the window, a faint smile on his lips. Starlight shone in through the window lattice, spreading a layer of silver-white on the green brick floor.

Penicillin, a miracle drug is born. There are more possibilities in the future.

He picked up his pen and continued writing that letter to Kaiser Wilhelm II. The nib glided across the paper, making a rustling sound, like a silent march, playing the prelude to a brand new era. The night outside the window was deep and quiet, but a glimmer of light had already appeared on the eastern horizon.

A new day was about to begin.