The story of Emperor Kangxi and "Tongrentang"

In our country, Chinese medicine is a knowledge that has been passed down for a long time, and the name of Tongrentang Pharmacy is familiar to everyone. As a pharmacy with a long history, it is very researched in Chinese medicine. When it comes to This Tongrentang also had a story with Emperor Kangxi. This story begins when Emperor Kangxi contracted a strange disease.

According to legend, Emperor Kangxi once suffered from a strange disease. The imperial doctor in the palace used all the precious medicinal materials, but the condition did not improve. He stopped taking the medicine in anger.

On this day, Kangxi went out of the palace alone for a night tour in disguise. When he came to a street, he found a small medicine shop. At this time, it was already dead of night, but the lights were brightly lit in the small medicine shop, and the sound of reading could be heard from there. Kangxi thought to himself that the imperial doctors in the palace were just mediocre people with no real abilities. The real talents were among the people. Since ancient times, there was ginseng in the small medicine shop. Why don’t I come here to take a look? So Kangxi stepped forward and knocked on the door.

After entering the house, Kangxi saw a man in his forties reading at night under the candlelight. He guessed that he must be the doctor of this small pharmacy. When the doctor saw a visitor visiting at night, he asked: "What do you think of your late night visit?" Kangxi said: "It is very presumptuous to visit late at night. It's just because I have a strange disease. My whole body is itchy and there are red spots all over my body. I don't know what it is. What's the reason? I've called in many famous doctors, but they haven't cured me. Can you, sir, take a look?" The doctor said, "Okay, please take off your shirt and let me take a look."

Kangxi took off his clothes. After taking off his coat, the doctor only took one look and said: "Don't worry, sir. You are not suffering from any serious illness. It's just that you eat too much delicacies from the mountains and seas. In addition, you eat ginseng for a long time, which makes your anger rise, so you have red spots. It's itchy." Kangxi asked, "Can this disease be cured?"

The doctor said with certainty, "It's not difficult. It can be cured with just some medicine." He picked up a jar on the wooden shelf, spread out a bag, and poured out all the medicine in the jar. It weighed seven or eight kilograms. Kangxi was stunned and said: "Sir, with so much medicine, how much should I take at one time?"

The doctor smiled and said: "This is rhubarb, not for you to eat. You take it home." "Use eight kilograms of rhubarb and boil a hundred kilograms of water, put it into a vat, wait until the water temperature is moderate, then bathe in the vat, as little as three times or as many as five times, and you can be cured." Kangxi thought to himself, there were so many doctors in the palace. No prescriptions or medicines can help. Can his worthless rhubarb cure my disease? Seeing Kangxi's doubtful expression, the doctor smiled and said, "Don't worry, sir. I will never extort your money. You can take this medicine back first." If you can't cure the disease, I won't take any money."

Kangxi said, "Okay, if you can cure my disease, I will be grateful." Kangxi returned to the palace and pressed the doctor's orders. Instructions, bathe in accordance with the law. Sure enough, when he got into the bathtub, he suddenly felt refreshed and comfortable, which was wonderful. After washing it three times in a row, my whole body was no longer itchy. When I looked closely, the red spots on my body had disappeared.

Kangxi was very happy, and on the fourth day he went to the medicine shop incognito. As soon as the doctor saw Kangxi's smile, he knew that his illness was completely cured, so he deliberately said: "Your Excellency, are you here to send money for medicine today?" Kangxi said: "That's right. Sir, how much do you want it to be?"

The doctor laughed loudly: "I'm just kidding. That night when I saw you half-believing me, I deliberately said that I wouldn't charge you any money if you couldn't cure the disease. Now that I'm cured, I still don't charge you any money. I think you are extraordinary, and I just want to I just want to make friends with you. May I ask your surname?" Kangxi smiled slightly: "The student's surname is Huang, and his courtesy name is Tianxing. He is a scholar." After hearing this, the doctor said happily: "My name is Zhao Guitang. , I am also a poor scholar. My father wanted me to be named on the gold medal list and bring glory to my ancestors, but unfortunately my wish did not come true. I failed in the exam many times. Now I have to open a small medicine shop in the capital, practice medicine, and study hard at the same time, hoping to go to high school in the future. "Kangxi said: "Brother Zhao, as the saying goes, there is no one on the list, but there is a way under your feet. With your superb medical skills, I can strongly recommend you to join the palace as an imperial doctor. Isn't this a leap of faith?"

Zhao Guitang smiled and said: "You are wrong. I think that medical practitioners should think about the people all over the world and solve their problems.

Although I can enjoy all the glory and wealth when I enter the palace as an imperial doctor, I can't cure diseases for the common people. It's not what I want, so what's the use of medicine?"

When Kangxi heard this, he couldn't help but said: "Brother Zhao is so virtuous and talented. I'm so impressed. My dear friend, please forgive me, since you have repeatedly failed the exam, why not make up your mind to make a career in medicine?" Zhao Guitang said: "I think so too, but practicing medicine is not easy. I don't have enough capital. It is difficult to have a great development prospect even if you have the ambition to reach the top. Brother, if you make a fortune in the future, support me and help me build a big medicine hall, it will be considered that I did not treat you in vain. "

Upon hearing this, Kangxi said without hesitation: "If we really want to build a medicine hall, what name should we give it? Let's call it Tongrentang. What do you think of this name?"

Zhao Guitang saw that he was taking it seriously and said with a smile: "I was just joking, don't take it seriously. Besides, building a big medicine hall requires a lot of money. Who knows when you will make a fortune? It's a long time coming. "

Kangxi said: "You might as well try it now. "As he spoke, he picked up a pen from the table, wrote a note, stamped it, and then said: "Brother Zhao, tomorrow you go to the Yamen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to find a friend of mine. Maybe you can actually get something done. "After saying that, he said goodbye and left.

The next day, Zhao Guitang couldn't help being curious and went to the Yamen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a note. Not long after handing the note, a eunuch came out and led Zhao Guitang into a big room. The eunuch opened the door, pointed in and said, "Mr. Zhao, are these enough for your medicine?"

Zhao Guitang took a closer look and was shocked. He saw a room full of white money and was stunned. There. At this time, I just heard the eunuch say: "Mr. Zhao, Long Live Lord has a decree. You cured his illness for free. He wants to give you a Tongrentang. You got your wish." " Only then did Zhao Guitang wake up from a dream. It turned out that Brother Huang, whom he didn't mind making friends with, turned out to be the current emperor. He really regretted his absurdity and didn't realize it at all.

Sure enough, within a few days, a large drug store was built and named "Tongrentang". When Zhao Guitang moved into his new home and held the opening ceremony, he never expected that Emperor Kangxi would come to congratulate him in person. Zhao Guitang was so panicked that he didn't know what to do. That's good.

Kangxi said with a smile: "Don't be flustered. I have paid for your medicine. Next time you see a doctor, you will still get nothing." "Since then, there has been a very famous "Tongrentang" pharmacy in Beijing.