August 5, 1856, Libreville Free Trade Zone, Gabon.
Libreville, which has a tropical rainforest climate, has been experiencing extreme weather alternating between high temperatures and rainfall since August.
Under such extreme weather, a group of members of the Croatian Foreign Legion who had followed Jerome Patterson not long after arriving here immediately fell into an acclimatized situation.
Many soldiers began to suffer from vomiting and diarrhea, were unable to work, and some even became unable to stand up and walk.
Mirabeau Plenkovic, who was one of the two major commanders of the French Foreign Legion at the time, saw this scene and immediately went to the city of Libreville in person. He wanted to personally report the matter to Jerome Pat. Governor Xun.
Mirabeau Plenkovier rode his horse at a gallop, and soon stopped at the gate of a mansion with a garden in the center of the city.
Yes, this mansion is where Governor Jerome Patterson works and rests.
As early as more than a month ago, this was the residence of the largest local businessman in Libreville. After Jerome Patterson's arrival, the businessman immediately volunteered to donate his mansion to Jerome Patterson for free. Serves as the governor's palace.
Jerome Patterson gained his own foothold, and the businessman also gained Jerome Patterson's friendship.
…
After getting off his horse, Mirabeau Plenkovic handed the horse over to the soldiers guarding the grounds of the Governor's Palace and walked straight inside until he reached the lobby of a four-story building, where he stopped.
After entering the hall, Mirabeau Plenkovi was led by the clerk of the Governor's Palace to Jerome Patterson's office and reported to him the situation of the Croatian Foreign Legion.
After Jerome Patterson heard Mirabeau Plenkovitch’s report, he also frowned and asked Mirabeau Plenkovitch: “How many people have this symptom now? "
"According to our statistics, there are nearly 100 people in the entire military camp who need help from others to get up, and there are nearly 300 people who are unable to perform normal work!" Mirabeau Plenkovic said to Jerome in a heavy tone. .Patterson responded.
"So, nearly one in ten people can't work normally!" Jerome Patterson frowned even more.
"Yes!" Mirabeau Plenkovic said worriedly to Jerome Patterson: "It would be okay if it was just acclimatization. I think the merchants who stay here (referring to Libreville) People say that this time of year is the time when malaria and cholera are most common!
I'm afraid that malaria and cholera will be introduced into the camp and cause immeasurable damage to the camp!"
"I understand! You go back to the military camp first to stabilize the morale of the army. After a while, I will go with the doctor!" Jerome Patterson said to Mirabeau Plenkovic.
"Yes!" Mirabeau Plenkovic immediately saluted Jerome Patterson, then turned and left the governor's office.
"Wait a minute!" Before Mirabeau Plenkovic could leave the office, Jerome Patterson called him again.
Mirabeau Plenkovic turned around and asked Jerome Patterson if he had any other instructions.
"When you go back, you must tell them not to be afraid! The imperial government will not give up on them!" Jerome Patterson warned Mirabeau Plenkovitch again.
Mirabeau Plenkovic also knew the importance of confidence. He quickly replied to Jerome Patterson: "Understood! I will try my best to stabilize the morale of the army!"
"Thank you!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded and watched Mirabeau Plenkovic leave.
Immediately afterwards, Jérôme Patterson put down the screening work of scientific expedition team members that he was doing and shouted outside: "Rastignac, Rastignac!"
No one seemed to respond to him outside the door. After a while, Jerome Patterson muttered in a low voice, "Strange, where did Rastignac go!"
After saying that, Jerome Patterson pushed away his chair, stood up and walked out of the office.
Walking in the corridor of the mansion, he searched for traces of Rastignac. Finally, at a corner at the end of the corridor, he met Rastignac, the Secretary of State of the Governor's Palace. At this time, Rastignac was holding several copies and passing by the Governor.
The sifted documents in the secretary's office headed in the direction of Jerome Patterson, and the destination he wanted to reach was Jerome Patterson's office.
"Rastignac, you came just in time! I was just looking for you!" Jerome Patterson said to Rastignac with a smile.
"Your Majesty the Governor, what are your orders?" Rastignac asked Jérôme Patterson, holding the document in his arms.
"I hope you can go to the hospital in the north of the city and call the director there!" Jerome Patterson ordered Rastignac.
"Chengbei Hospital?" Mr. Rastignac muttered, then nodded and pointed to the documents in his hand and responded to Jerome Patterson: "Please wait a moment, I will send these documents to you.
I’ll be there after my office!”
"I can get these documents myself!" Jérôme Patterson took away the documents from Rastignac's hand, waved his hand and said to Rastignac: "Go quickly!"
"Yes!" Upon seeing this, Rastignac immediately trotted away.
Jerome Patterson, who was holding the documents in his arms, lowered his head and looked through the documents Rastignac handed him, then turned around and slowly returned to the office.
After Jerome Patterson returned to the chair of the Governor's Office, all the documents were basically read through by Jerome Patterson.
In addition to the population ratio of Libreville (blacks, Arabs, whites), the documents also include Libreville’s fiscal revenue and expenditure, religious categories, etc. These were collected by the secretarial office in a month.
All information.
Through the documents, Jérôme Patterson clearly saw the development prospects of Libreville. In addition to exporting timber and selling slaves (France has officially abolished slavery, but privately still makes efforts to sell foreign goods), there are only
It seems that there are two remaining ways to establish rubber plantations and expand the land leasing industry.
Needless to say, the establishment of rubber plantations increases fiscal revenue, and the purpose of expanding the territory is to better tax the tribes in the inland areas to meet the expenses at hand.
Of course, what Jerome Patterson doesn't know now is that in addition to being rich in timber resources, the land under his feet also has a large amount of manganese iron ore and a small amount of gold mines. Most of these manganese ores and gold mines are
There are areas waiting for him to mine in the interior.
At this time, Jerome Bonaparte looked at the pitiful number of francs on the financial statements, and then thought about the nearly 5,000 extra mouths under his hands. He suddenly felt a headache, so he muttered something in a low voice:
"We still have to expand our power as soon as possible!"
After saying that, Jerome Patterson pulled out the list of scientific expedition members that was hidden under the document and continued to check.
About 10 minutes later, Rastignac and a doctor wearing a white coat and a cotton mask on his mouth appeared in front of Jerome Patterson.
Upon seeing this, Jerome Patterson quickly put down his work, stood up and shook hands with the doctor: "Dean Auster, you are finally here!"
"Your Majesty the Governor, what happened?" Dean Auster asked Jerome Patterson with a puzzled look on his face.
Jerome Patterson told Dean Auster what Mirabeau Plenkovitch had just told him.
"Captain Plenkovic is very considerate! If it's just a problem with the climate, it's easier to deal with! You just need to lie down and rest quietly, because you're afraid of malaria! At this time, malaria and
During the high-incidence period of cholera, something will happen if you are not careful!" Dean Auster said slowly.
"Now, what should we do?" Jerome Patterson asked Dean Auster.
Dean Auster thought for a moment and then replied to Jerome Patterson: "Let's do this! Transport those who cannot take care of themselves to the hospital and let our nurses take care of them!
Those who can take care of themselves are quarantined alone in the military camp!
Screening a group of people to take care of their lives!
This can reduce these people’s contact with the outside world, even if they are infected!
It won’t spread to others quickly!”
"Hasn't our hospital just been built? Are there really so many beds for them to use?" Jerome Patterson asked again.
"Currently, the hospital has nearly 200 beds and more than 10 nurses! As long as there is no large-scale outbreak of malaria and cholera, it can be said to be more than enough to take care of them!" President Auster replied to Jerome Patterson with confidence.
: “And it won’t be long before a group of medical facilities and trainee nurses arrive!
So there is no need to worry about these issues!”
"That's good!" Jerome Patterson finally relaxed a little.
"But, Your Excellency the Governor! I want to remind you!" Dean Auster said to Jerome Patterson with a serious face.
"Please say it!" Jerome Patterson also answered Auster with a solemn face.
"When I visited the streets of Libreville before, I discovered a serious problem!" Dean Auster said to Jerome Patterson: "When people here drink water, they generally don't like to boil it.
Boiling water later!”
Jérôme Patterson would immediately recall that during the Crimean Peninsula, the French army had been repeatedly issuing orders to drink boiled water (in most cases, coffee), saying that this would prevent and cure cholera.
At first, no one strictly followed this order, and many people even opposed it.
It was not until a small outbreak of cholera broke out in Britain that the frightened French army made this policy strictly strict.
It was precisely because of this order that the scale of the cholera outbreak in France during the Crimean War was much smaller than that of Britain and the Ottomans, and the number of people treated was far more than that of Britain.