There is a very appropriate metaphor for the plague.
When you wake up in the morning and see a snowflake falling through the window, the world outside is often filled with snow.
For the people of Taiyuan Prefecture, their lives have completely changed in just a few days.
There are no vendors selling enthusiastically, no salesmen carrying loads, and no newsboys holding newspapers.
Many shops on both sides of the street were closed. Only shops selling daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil, and salt, and pharmacies, had long queues outside.
All those queuing up are wearing masks, and there are two arms’ distance between people. No one dares to jump in line.
The reason is very simple. The government officials and town guards standing in front of the store are scanning the team with sharp eyes.
"Give in, give in!"
The shouts came from across the street. Two medical staff wearing white uniforms and hospital armbands walked out of the residential area carrying a stretcher and walked quickly towards the hospital's open trolley.
A dying young man lay on the stretcher. His hands and feet were covered with lumps and black spots, his eyes were red, and there was pink foam remaining at the corners of his mouth.
"Ho ho——"
The man was unconscious and raised his arms in vain to ask for help from the crowd on the other side of the street. However, the next second, he coughed violently, spurted a lot of blood foam from his mouth, and huddled up.
After a while, the eyelids trembled up and down and closed completely.
The two medical staff paused and pressed the man's neck with thick gloves. After confirming that there was no response, they decisively took out a large waterproof oil paper bag from the open-top truck.
And use a hemp rope to pass through the dead man's neck and lower thighs. Without touching the man, connect the hemp rope with him and put him into an oil-paper bag. And tie the mouth of the oil-paper bag.
He moves skillfully, as if the butcher is loading meat for customers.
"Dalang!"
An elderly couple chased them out of the residential area. Their voices were extremely sad, and they threw themselves at the oil paper bag on the ground, "Da Lang, how can we live if you die? Please take us away too! Da Lang!"
But before he touched the oil-paper bag, he was held up by a yamen servant with a fire stick.
The medical staff and government servants on the side persuaded the elderly couple to leave, and asked them to get on another flatbed carriage and drive to the isolation ward outside the city.
After the vehicle left, a government official approached and said loudly: "Have you seen it? The deceased just ignored the epidemic prevention regulations four days ago and secretly had a drinking party with several friends.
And two days later, I learned that one of the friends at the party was diagnosed with plague, but still concealed it.
The final result was that not only did he get sick and die, but his parents, brothers and sisters who were at home with him also became close contacts and were all at risk of contracting the plague!
You can deceive the yamen, yamen servants, and officials for a while, but you can't deceive the plague!
If you report any situation in a timely manner, you are responsible for yourself, your relatives, friends, and neighbors!”
The hoarse shouting that was repeated countless times echoed in the streets.
"Cough——"
In the queue, someone couldn't help covering his mouth and coughing softly.
The people queuing up in front and behind him all changed their expressions and immediately gave way, clearing a circle.
"I'm not, I didn't!"
The coughing man hurriedly explained, but still couldn't stop the government officials from pulling him out of the team and dragging him to the cart. He took off his mask and checked whether there was any blood droplets on it.
Similar situations are occurring in various urban areas in Taiyuan Prefecture.
In the temporary laboratory set up in the prefect's mansion, He Fanshuang, who hurried to Taiyuan, saw Li Ang with red eyes.
"These are the soil samples from various places that were collected by the Dongjun Tower of the Academy, and they are all brought to you."
He Fanshuang carefully looked at the bloodshot eyes in Li Ang's eyes, frowned and asked, "How long have you not slept?"
"It's okay. I just slept in the early morning. Now I can sleep for three hours a day."
Li Ang yawned, without explaining that he was actually relying on Mo Si to hold on.
The process of refining streptomycin was still not going smoothly, so Li Ang had to ask the academy to send some soil samples collected from special locations (such as the Shiwan Barren Mountains and the Endless Sea Island) through the Nearby Insect, in an attempt to find usable Streptomyces.<
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"It's three hours, but sleeping and waking up, half asleep and half awake, two hours of actual rest in a day may not be enough."
Qiu Feng, who was wearing a white coat and goggles, exposed Li Ang's lie angrily and reached out to take the heavy iron box handed over by He Fanshuang.
Suffer to death."
"I can't persuade him. The next time I use Jiuchong to call, just let Cui Qiao, who is still in Chang'an, answer the call. He will still listen."
He Fanshuang shook his head, "How is the situation in the city?"
"...To be honest, it's terrible."
Li Ang was silent for a moment and said: "The plague occurs too quickly and violently. Whether it is bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, or septicemic plague, patients will die soon after showing symptoms.
I asked newspapers and periodicals in the city to publish information about the plague every day to popularize the dangers of the plague, its transmission methods, and prevention methods.
In addition to the dead people carried out from residential areas and suspected patients taken out every day,
The people of Taiyuan finally understood the horror of the plague, unlike at first, when they thought it was just an ordinary, small-scale disease similar to autumn malaria.
However, it is one thing for people to understand the dangers of a disease, and another thing to take chances."
Li Ang smiled bitterly and said to He Fanshuang: "I have divided the isolation ward into several levels, corresponding to severe patients, mild patients, suspected patients, epidemic prevention patients, and non-plague patients.
Each ward corresponds to different levels of medical conditions.
If everything goes according to my plan, the chain of human-to-human transmission can be cut off immediately.
But as far as the people are concerned, they only know that if a person is taken away for isolation, there is a high probability that he will not be able to come back. Separation in life means farewell in death.
So much so that in order to prevent themselves or their family members from being taken away and quarantined, they came up with various ways to resist the Yamen.
For example, children are allowed to act as sentinels in the streets and alleys. Whenever a government official who visits door-to-door appears, they will whistle to notify the neighbors.
Let people hide their coughing patients in closets, water tanks, or under bed boards.
Taking the neighborhood as a unit, we deceive the government officials and prevent them from taking away the patients, and at the same time, they do not allow themselves to be taken away for isolation."
"..."
He Fanshuang commented: "hiding one's ears and stealing the bell."
"It's human nature."
Li Ang shook his head and said: "If a patient at home dies, some people will hide or abandon the body.
For example, throwing the body on the road, on the roof, in the ditch, or hiding it in the haystack.
They feel that this way they don’t have to go to the isolation ward.
They would even smash the faces of the corpses with rocks so that the government officials could not identify the plague victims, making it impossible to trace the families of the deceased."
This chapter has been completed!