It's September of the sixth year of Ansei (1859), and it's the second year since Naohide took over as Hakodate's chief executive.

His appointment was part of the shogunate's major rectification of the Northland under the leadership of the elder Isao, which was a really big move.

In August of the fifth year of Ansei, the shogunate issued an edict:

The white masters of Hakodwan merged into one, with Naohide Hatamoto, a former Hakodori, as the new Hakodou, the former Hakodou, Hidetoshi Ekawa, as the new Hakodou, and the former Hakodou, Hori Toshihi, as the new Hakodou.

Hakodate payment.

As for the bantou, the first-class service positions in the group were declared by the merged two bureaucracies and appointed at the discretion of Edo.

Even important service appointments have been basically decentralized. It can be seen that the shogunate has become ruthless this time and is determined to have a good fight with Lucia in the north.

But it’s not possible without being ruthless. The huge pressure from inside and outside forced the shogunate to do this. Lucia was defeated miserably in the two battles of the White Lord, which shocked Fuso too much:

First of all, the suppressed Qi Zhaoyi faction showed signs of comeback.

Because of the two "big victories" with foreign countries, the voice of the daimyo, ministers and the people to resist the barbarians became louder again, so the shogunate received requests from various channels to revive the Qi Zhao line.

"The people of Lu are greedy and have repeatedly provoked wars. The old people in Mito live in seclusion and don't come out. What's the point of helping the common people?"

Qi Zhao and others have been working hard to rectify their armaments and resist foreign aggression, and have accumulated a reputation for decades. It is really not something they can simply defeat.

And, what’s even more terrible is that the trade agreement for the founding of the country has just been signed. Although the quality of the trade will not be known until the official opening of trade next year, the consequences of the large-scale invasion of the Westerners are beginning to be revealed-the Westerners brought not only warships

and merchandise, as well as serious exotic diseases!

The diseases brought by the Westerners not only caused great pain to Fusang, but also triggered a general wave of rejection of the foreigners, which brought hope to the Qi Zhao family for their comeback.

Starting in May of the fifth year of Ansei (1858), cholera broke out along the coast of Fuso, and the cause can be traced back to the Mi people who visited Nagasaki.

The steam-sail hybrid battleship Mississippi has visited Fuso many times since the black ship first visited in the seventh year of Jiayong (1854). And its visit in May brought another serious disaster to Fuso.

The departure place of this ship is Songjiang, China. Due to the Changfa Rebellion, local refugees gathered and the people's livelihood was difficult, resulting in a great epidemic. Speaking of which, cholera is also an exotic disease to China. In fact, it originated from Tianzhu

The Ganges River spread with the Westerners who invaded this place.

Originally, the Nagasaki Administrative Office, under the leadership of Oguri Tadjun, had a quarantine system for Westerners. However, Fuso was weak and this good procedure could not be implemented.

But no one knows whether someone had contact with the crew of the Mississippi or whether it was because the Mi people blatantly violated the rules and went to the market to eat and drink. Anyway, cholera eventually broke out in Nagasaki.

Nagasaki was a commercial port after Osaka, Edo and Kyoto, and the movement of people was extremely frequent. Therefore, the disease began to spread subsequently, and Kyushu Island, Kansai, and Osaka were not immune.

What's even more terrible is that the Mississippi came to support the Mi people's special envoy Harris. Despite the obstruction of Nagasaki's envoy Oguri Tadhun, the ship continued to sail to Izu Shimoda Port, thus bringing cholera to Kanto in June.

——One of the consequences of this incident is that in the future, Oguri will be extremely tough on Westerners, especially anti-Japanese.

In July, the month when the shogunate signed a trade agreement with England, cholera broke out in Edo, and even Westerners were not immune. This was one of the reasons why the British and American fleets did not accompany the Lu people when they went north.

Many of the crew members fell ill, and they couldn't care less about their own lives. How could they have the leisure to watch in force?

Of course, this also caused the Lu people to bring cholera to Bai Zhu:

They only had a short landing at Hakodate and had no chance to spread the disease. However, after the defeat of the White Lord, more than 400 people were captured. Cholera finally broke out while they were imprisoned.

In a world without Naohide, this cholera had very serious consequences:

In Edo alone, it is recorded that from July 27th to September 23rd of that year, the number of Edo people who were deregistered from temples reached an astonishing 280,000!

"Because of cholera, entire families died, all heirs were extinct, and countless stillbirths occurred!"

Because of the large number of deaths, many coffins were not enough, so wooden barrels became the final choice. In the end, there was no time to make wooden barrels, so they could only be buried with mats. In the end, naked cremation became the result of desperation.

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But even so, the number of deaths still greatly exceeded the limit of Edo's ability to cope. Piles were piled up everywhere in Edo's temple cemetery.

with rotting remains.

Of course, there are different opinions. There is another statistics, which believes that the true number of deaths should be 120,000.

But no matter which statistical result is used, this number is very shocking!

Edo is said to have a population of one million. The former statement is that one out of four people died of illness, while the latter means that more than 10% of the population was lost. It can be called a catastrophe that has never happened in Edo.

This is related to the low level of medical care and the poor living environment of the people at that time.

However, now that Naohideo has intervened, the situation has been greatly alleviated:

Cholera is called "fever disease", "disease", "impersonation disease", "sunray disease", "arhat disease", etc. in Fusang. Folk rumors are related to foxes, wolves and raccoons causing trouble.

Because of its rapid onset and rapid spread, this disease was a serious epidemic that everyone avoided at that time.

However, because Nagasaki adhered to Oguri Tadjun's petition, the root cause of the disease became widely known. Since it was brought by Westerners, cholera has since been called "Oni's Cholera" in Fuso - Oni here refers to the derogatory name for Westerners.

Nanman ghost".

Cholera appeared in Edo in June and broke out in July. It had been greatly alleviated by the time Naohide left Edo in August. Although more than a thousand people died, the situation was much less severe than the major crisis that might have occurred.

The epidemic in Edo was brought under control, and one of the great contributions was attributed to one person - although the shogunate attributed it to Kōkata Kesadai, "Kongfang is so wise, and it is a blessing that the eldest, senior and middle ministers are able to do so", but the shogunate who knew about it all

I know that this is actually the credit of the imperial physician Ito Xuanpu.

Mr. Xuanpu came to Jiayong in the sixth year (1853).

At that time, Tokugawa Ieki, the twelfth-generation general who conquered barbarians, suddenly passed away due to a sudden illness. After that, the chief servant of Laozhong, Abe, severely punished the Ooku medical officer, and by the way, he appointed the first orchid doctor of the shogunate, that is, I

Dongxuanpu.

After this appointment, he not only saved Abe's own life, but also saved the life of the new prince, Noitasada, and now it has saved the entire people of Edo from danger.

The rise of Orchid medicine began after the eighth generation general Ji Zong (1684-1751) vigorously introduced Orchid medicine. After that, Han medicine and Orchid medicine began to fight endlessly. Generally speaking, Han medicine has always had the upper hand - although Orchid medicine has some advantages in treating diseases.

Fang and Han medicine cannot eradicate their opponents, but suppression is still not a problem.

Therefore, although he was appointed as the imperial physician, there were many imperial physicians in Edo City, so Mr. Xuanpu was still the target of suppression.

However, Mr. Xuanpu is very famous. He was originally known as the "Three Major Orchid Medicine Doctors in Edo". In recent years, he is also widely known for promoting vaccination in Edo.

Smallpox, measles and chickenpox were known as the "three diseases of life" in the Edo period and have always been considered to be the three incurable diseases.

But now, smallpox has been basically eradicated, and Ito Xuanpu and Ogata Hongan have made a lot of contributions.

Starting ten years ago, Ogata was in Osaka and Bitchu, and Ito was in Edo and Hizen. Together with the joint efforts of orchid doctors from various places, the vaccination method was finally popularized, and the vaccination method was finally adopted in the third year of Ansei (1856).

) was publicly recognized by the shogunate - in a world without Naohide, this point would have been postponed to 1858.

With good medical skills and a great reputation, and with the constant care of Mr. Abe, Mr. Xuanpu gradually established himself among the imperial doctors.

Especially after the vaccination was officially recognized, Gongfang Jiajing was very curious and wanted to try it. In the end, Mr. Xuanpu succeeded in vaccination. This increased Mr. Xuanpu's prestige in Edo City, but it also caused him to be ignored again.

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This is because the vaccination method at this time still has certain risks.

The Han doctors among the imperial doctors used this to criticize Yi Dong. No matter how Mr. Xuan Pu argued, "the medical skills are superb and he is sure", but the reason of "ignoring the risks and pursuing flattery" was too strong, and in the end he was strictly banned.

Feel free to enter the Edo inner city.

If Lao Zhong Abe hadn't come back to protect him at that time, Mr. Xuan Pu might have been imprisoned.

It can be considered that good deeds are rewarded. Not long after, Abe Raito was able to survive. In June of the fourth year of Ansei (1857), Abe, the master of the winning side, suddenly became seriously ill. At that time, all the doctors came over after hearing the news.

Mr. Xuanpu has a wonderful way of rejuvenating.

As a result, Abe's servant escaped the fate of being "frustrated and unwilling to heal himself".

It's not a complete escape, at least the "disheartened" is true - the illness is cured, but in the name of being "too weak to manage", Abe resigned from his service position and quickly transferred Bingo Fukuyama to

The position of feudal lord was given to his adopted son Shoji, and he was separated from the shogunate which had exhausted him both physically and mentally.

However, before Abe resigned, he reported to Chief Lao Naka Hota Masumu

The book washes away the grievances of Ito Xuanpu.

At this point, Mr. Xuanpu returned to Edo Castle and became the royal physician of the public family.

It is difficult for a powerful person to keep a low profile.

The famous Zhou Xingxing of later generations once said, "An outstanding man like you is like a firefly in the dark, so bright and outstanding."

Another year later, at the beginning of July of the fifth year of Anzheng (1858), Mr. Xuanpu stood out again.

At that time, Gongfang Jiading was suddenly critically ill, which caused serious anxiety to the new "eldest boss" of the shogunate, Mr. Isao.

After he personally inquired, he found that the treatment plan of an imperial doctor had not been taken seriously. Mr. Xuanpu was usually shunned by everyone, and his father-in-law, Yan Jiading, who trusted him, often fell into coma due to serious illness. Therefore, no one supported Mr. Xuanpu's opinion.

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Jing Yi still had the courage to sweep the head of the department, so he immediately promoted Mr. Xuanpu to be the chief physician.

The prince was about to die of illness, and the imperial doctors, who were afraid of being punished, no longer dared to exclude dissidents, so the appointment was successfully approved.

In fact, the level of imperial doctors in Edo Castle was just like this:

Speaking of which, most imperial doctors are hereditary!

If our ancestors were good doctors, will their descendants also be good doctors? Even if they are influenced by what they have heard and seen, and the conditions are good, the same rice can support all kinds of people. Even if individual talents and hobbies are not taken into account, hard work is always acquired, right? Medical officers are hereditary.

It was commonplace in the Edo period, but it would be a big joke in later generations.

Therefore, as soon as the real good doctor Mr. Xuanpu took action, Jiading's condition was stabilized!

Gongfang Xiangjiading's health has never been very good, but this time his condition worsened. Mr. Xuanpu thought that it was because he contracted a new disease, and the combination of old and new diseases made it so serious.
To be continued...