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Rash belongs to the Lung, extends to the skin and hair follicles, and is excreted via the Taiyang (Greater Yang) channel; pustule belongs to the Spleen, extends to the muscles, and emerges via the Yangming (Yang Brightness) channel. Those suitable for warm tonification are due to severe deficiency-cold of Yin, which is why Yigong San (Heterogeneous Powder) and Baoyuan Tang (Preserve Origin Decoction) can achieve efficacy; those suitable for cooling purgation are due to stagnation-heat in the Yangming, which is why Chengqi Tang (Order the Qi Decoction) and Baihu Tang (White Tiger Decoction) can achieve victory. It is only because the pathogen moves from interior to exterior, stirring up the True Qi, that symptoms seem to involve the Five Zang Organs peripherally, rather than being transmitted between them. In Shanghan (Cold Damage), pathogens enter from the exterior to the interior; in smallpox/pustules, toxins exit from the interior to the exterior. The toxin transfers from the Taiyin (Lesser Yin) to the Yangming. Earth (representing the Spleen and Stomach) is where all things return, so there is no further transmission. With pus formation and scabbing, recovery can be calculated by days. Therefore, a favorable course (Shun Zheng) is one that can naturally emerge; a dangerous course (Xian Zheng) is one that desires to emerge but cannot do so naturally; an adverse course (Ni Zheng) is one that cannot emerge at all. Thus, regarding the beginning and end of pustules, the emphasis on the Yangming channel alone can be understood. The Stomach is the sea of the Twelve Channels, abundant in both Qi and Blood. Externally adjacent to the Taiyang as its defense, it naturally leads toxins out, stirring Clear Yang to ascend upward, ensuring that toxic fire penetrates through the muscles. Only then can internal fire be transformed; the infusion of pus and nourishment of blisters—what is not the merit of Yangming's transformation? Just like Shengma Gegen Tang (Cimicifugae et Puerariae Decoction), ancients considered it usable from start to finish, deeply grasping the principle of encouraging the Yangming. If one blindly adheres to the theory of detoxification, Chengqi Tang entering the stomach will plunder the True Yin, and Baihu Tang swallowing down will eradicate the Primal Yang. Once the Middle Earth weakens, the Root of Post-Heaven existence is shaken. Wise practitioners certainly would not adopt such methods.

This book is kept in every household today, yet few truly comprehend it. Since it claims to "correct deviations," it originally spoke for those who overly favored warm tonification at that time. Although the collection presents both deficiency and excess patterns, deficiency patterns serve as secondary guests, implying that commonly known aspects may be briefly mentioned; excess patterns serve as primary hosts, implying that less familiar aspects need not be described in detail. If one merely reads it aloud without attention, focusing eyes solely on excess-fire, one might mistakenly view pustules as having only excess and no deficiency. Furthermore, each item details treatment verification, concluding with herbs like Dahuang (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma) and Shigao (Gypsum Fibrosum). However, the detailed descriptions of conditions are very clear: no symptom lacks intense fever like fire, extreme restlessness, and a greasy mouth feeling like fat. Intense fever like the sun/fire indicates excessive heat in the Yangming; extreme restlessness indicates extreme heat in the Three Yang channels; dry mouth and throat also indicate a condition requiring immediate use of Chengqi Tang within Shaoyin (Lesser Yin). Jianzhong's treatment method was originally moderate. Moreover, regarding the described pustules, if their color becomes purple and dark within days, or feels hard upon pressing immediately, it can be inferred that the pulse must also be slippery, rapid, full, and large, indicating surplus excess-fire, which can be realized here. Therefore, unless the exterior syndrome reaches extreme vigorous heat, the interior syndrome reaches extreme restlessness, the throat reaches extreme dryness, the pustules reach extreme purple-darkness and hardness, and the pulse reaches extreme slippery-rapid-full-large, it is strictly inadvisable to use herbs like Dahuang and Shigao. Jianzhong was not unrighteous; his work *Suoyan* (Trivial Words) stemmed from a compassionate heart. Unfortunately, the language places too much blame on heat-toxins, and the treatment verifications exaggerate purgative effects. Additionally, he miscellaneously compiled terms like Fufu, Linzuo, Youcan, and Dieqian, generally using cold-cooling and attacking-releasing methods, completely disregarding Qi and Blood, harmonizing Yin and Yang, and facilitating even pus formation. Using deviation to correct deviation, with endless words, causes the ignorant to revere it as the ultimate guide without ability to infer other cases, thus making Jianzhong culpable. I once examined Wu Youke's discussion on treating epidemics involving pustules, specifically using Chengqi Tang as the winning method, stating: "Previous discussions on pustules never mentioned this; they only know stirring boiling water to stop boiling, but fail to think of removing firewood from under the cauldron. Thus, many children in ancient times died unnatural deaths." This argument should be considered the founding ancestor of Jianzhong's views. While downward purging methods should not be entirely discarded, they are only one corner of the whole. Ancients like Wan Mizhai and Nie Jiuwu, in their medical texts, did not lack methods like Sanyi Chengqi Tang (Three-One Order the Qi Decoction), Guizhi Dahuang Tang (Cinnamon Twig and Rhubarb Decoction), or Baidu Hezhong Yin (Detoxify and Harmonize Middle Drink). Taking just a few sentences to encompass the entirety of correcting deviations, while listing prescriptions according to symptoms and varying them flexibly, never fixed the eyes of later generations. If one fails to emulate Mizhai and Jiuwu, one remains a competent TCM practitioner; carving a swan poorly still resembles a duck; if one fails to emulate Youke and Jianzhong, one inevitably kills without limit. When Youke wrote *Wenyi Lun* (Treatise on Epidemic Diseases), it arose from the epidemics of Xin-Si and Ren-Wu years in the late Ming Dynasty. Yu Jiayan's *Yuyi Cao* also stated that during Xin-Si and Ren-Wu, epidemics were rampant, with corpses lining the roads. Physicians everywhere, whether using sweating methods or harmonizing middle methods, mostly used Renshen (Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma) and saved many lives. More importantly, for the most toxic symptom of maculae eruption, adding Renshen to maculae-resolving medicines resulted in many recoveries. From this perspective, although Nanchang is far from Suzhou, symptom treatments should naturally differ. Yet how do we know that those saved by Yu's methods would not be mistreated by Youke's hands? Writing books for posterity is planned for ten thousand generations. Disease changes constantly, yet relying on one's own mind, claiming current effective prescriptions as unchangeable laws, shows only a lack of self-awareness.