In Suzhou, Liu Yuan and Zhu Houzhao are paying a private visit incognito, preparing to see how the floods in the south of the Yangtze River are being treated.
This year there are floods in the south of the Yangtze River, severe drought in the north, and floods in the south and drought in the north. Both droughts and floods are the kind that occur once in decades. They last for a long time, are fierce, and cause great harm.
A large number of rice fields in the south of the Yangtze River were submerged, which directly led to a significant reduction in production. As for the north, it was even worse. The long-term drought resulted in almost no harvests in several northern provinces. The most serious area in Henan Province even had no harvest at all.
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In the past, if we encountered such a situation, even if the emperor and his ministers were able to provide disaster relief, something big would probably happen. Not to mention the smoke rising everywhere, starvation and death would definitely be inevitable.
But things are different now. There are many places where grain is produced in the imperial court, and trains are connected, and grain carts are pulled there. Although the people are severely affected by the disaster, they are not without food, and their lives are still manageable.
"It seems that the flood was really severe at that time."
"Look, the waterline has already reached the height of the house."
Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao came to a village. Liu Jin looked carefully at the houses in the village and soon discovered that there were obvious signs of being soaked by the water on these houses. Looking at this height, it was also
We can roughly know the situation of the flood at that time.
"It seems to be very serious indeed."
Zhu Houzhao looked at it and nodded.
Looking around again, although the floods have receded for several months, traces of the aftermath of the floods can be seen everywhere, including the big trees in the village, silt, garbage and various things washed away by the floods.
some type of.
You can also see that many villagers are cleaning up the mud in the fields and preparing for next year's farming. Life still has to go on.
"I don't know what's going on, but every household is getting sick. The son of the old Zhang family in the village even died of the disease."
"Isn't that right? This year is really unlucky. There are floods again, and after the floods there are diseases. How can we ordinary people survive?"
"Didn't Lao Zhang's son be sent to the city for treatment?"
"Oh, you don't know. The medical clinics in the city are full. I don't know how many people from all over the country have become sick. The doctors in the medical clinics are overwhelmed and many people have died."
"real or fake?"
"Is this still false?"
"Just look at our Shuitou Village. There are ten out of ten households, and someone in every household is sick. This must be a major epidemic after the disaster. This time, we don't know how many people will die."
At this time, several villagers were walking outside with hoes and talking. Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao happened to hear them. When they heard this, their expressions suddenly changed.
"A few fellow countrymen!"
Liu Jin quickly called to several villagers and saluted them politely.
"What orders do you two gentlemen have?"
Several villagers looked at Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao, and then at the many guards dressed as servants following them. They knew they had met a noble person, so they quickly responded politely.
"You just said that someone is sick in every household now?"
"And the medical clinics in the city are also overcrowded?"
Liu Jin looked at a few people and asked.
"Going back to Young Master, it is true that people in every household are sick, and the medical clinics in the city are indeed overcrowded, and many people have died."
Uncle Li nodded solemnly.
"What kind of diseases do you have?"
"Is it the plague or something else?"
Liu Jin's face changed slightly, and the thing he was most worried about appeared.
Generally, epidemics will occur after severe droughts and floods. Some particularly severe ones often sweep across a large area and lead to the death of a large number of people.
This is also the reason why in later generations, quicklime was continuously spread for disinfection after the flood, in order to prevent epidemics.
Compared with floods, epidemics are more terrifying. Countless people have been infected invisibly, and it is unknown how many people have died. Especially in ancient times, when treatment and prevention conditions were limited, once an epidemic occurred, it was extremely easy to occur.
There was a large area of ​​no man's land, and everyone in the entire area was wiped out.
In history, the Black Death pandemic in Europe directly killed one-third of the population of Europe at that time. More than 25 million people died under this plague, and every city became a dead city. It was extremely terrifying.
"The doctor in the city said it's not the plague."
"We still don't know exactly what it is. People in the village have different symptoms of the disease. Some have red and swollen skin, congestion, edema, and a large number of red papules."
"Others developed coughing, fever, hives, burning of the lungs, and pain."
"What's even more terrifying is the appearance of a large sarcoma on the body. It was small at first, but soon grew to the size of a fist. It was extremely scary."
Uncle Li shook his head, and then described to Liu Jin the symptoms of the illness in the villagers.
"Where are the patients in the medical clinic in the city?"
Liu Jin frowned while listening. It sounded like he didn't have a clue. It seemed like a different disease, but logically speaking, if it was an epidemic, it must be an epidemic.
"It's almost the same. Some people have extremely severe diarrhea, and even have diarrhea. Some people even have mental disorders. They always say that their heads hurt and there is something in their heads."
Uncle Li continued.
"This is too scary."
Zhu Houzhao's expression changed when he heard this. He originally wanted to come to Jiangnan to see beauties, but now an epidemic area has been established here. It's horrifying to hear such things.
"Let's go back to the city!"
Liu Jin immediately knew that the matter was serious, and hurriedly took Zhu Houzhao back.
"Your Highness, you need to return to Nanjing immediately and then return to the capital. This is an epidemic area. For your safety, you cannot stay here any longer."
On the way, Liu Yuan also gave Zhu Houzhao suggestions.
In the vast world, no one's life is as important as Zhu Houzhao's. No matter what happens, sending this ancestor back to the capital first can save a lot of worry.
"Hmm~"
Zhu Houzhao nodded slightly. It seemed that there was really a big epidemic, and he knew the severity. Now was not the time to be petty and playful.
"When someone comes, please immediately send a message to Wang Shouren, the chief envoy of South Zhili, and ask him to immediately mobilize doctors from various places to come to Suzhou, Yangzhou and other places to prepare a large amount of quicklime, gauze, medicinal materials and other supplies."
"Immediately send a message to the capital, report the matter to the emperor and the princes of the court, and request the emperor and the court to immediately allocate relief materials and manpower to Jiangnan."
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"Send electricity to Daming Medical College and Daming Royal Medical College, and immediately send a large number of professors and doctors to Jiangnan."
Immediately, Liu Jin began to issue orders one after another and acted quickly.
Then they separated from Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao returned to Nanjing and took a train back to the capital, while Liu Jin walked to Suzhou City.
As soon as possible, he came to various major medical clinics in Suzhou to inspect.
As the villagers said, the entire medical clinic in Suzhou is now overcrowded, and the large number of patients has even filled the streets outside.
Liu Jin carefully checked their symptoms and found that they were indeed different. Many people were obviously very thin, but they had big bellies and looked extremely deformed.
There are also a large number of people who are constantly suffering from symptoms such as coughing, diarrhea, chest pain, fever, etc. Because there are so many people infected, these patients can be seen everywhere in Suzhou.
Obviously, the epidemic has become extremely serious.
"Your Majesty Chen De pays homage to Mr. Liu!"
When Chen De, the prefect of Suzhou, learned that Liu Jin had arrived in Suzhou and was inspecting the city, he hurriedly came to see Liu Jin.
"Master Chen, see for yourself."
Liu Jin glanced at Chen De, pointed to the crowded patients on the street outside the medical center and said.
Chen De naturally knew that there was an epidemic in Suzhou for a long time, but he never paid much attention to it. After all, it seems that it is not very important now. There are not a large number of deaths, but the number of patients suddenly increased a lot.
That's all.
"Mr. Liu, this happens every time after a flood. It's not unusual."
After thinking about it, Chen De quickly said: "Mr. Liu, for the sake of your safety, I think we should go somewhere else now."
"Go somewhere else?"
"Where to go?"
"You are a parent official in Suzhou. There is an epidemic in Suzhou. You failed to report it in time, and then you wanted to stay away from here. How did you become a parent official?"
Liu Jin looked at him intently.
"The imperial court has repeatedly ordered that after a major disaster, disinfection and epidemic prevention should be paid attention to, and a large amount of quicklime should be poured to prevent the epidemic. Have you, the prefect of Suzhou, followed the imperial court's requirements?"
"Your Majesty, your Majesty, you can find someone to ask casually. They spread a large amount of quicklime everywhere."
Chen De immediately became anxious. Now that Liu Jin had encountered this matter, he would really investigate it. Regardless of whether what he did was up to standard, he would not be able to keep his hat by then.
"Whether there is or not, I will find out later."
"Now hurry up and gather quicklime, mobilize doctors from various places, and prepare medicinal materials to fight the epidemic."
Liu Jin glanced at him indifferently. Now is not the time to hold him accountable. He is still needed to coordinate the entire Suzhou's fight against the epidemic.
"Yes, I will go and do it immediately!"
When Chen De heard this, he quickly wiped the sweat on his forehead, and then hurried to follow Liu Jin's instructions.
"Looking at it like this, this should be the most common schistosomiasis in the Jiangnan area. This disease usually occurs, but it becomes particularly serious after floods."
"Fortunately, it's just schistosomiasis. If it were plague, it would be really serious."
Liu Jin carefully recalled some related diseases and quickly concluded that what happened in Suzhou and Yangzhou should be schistosomiasis. This disease is widely distributed in the Yangtze River Basin and several southern provinces. It is extremely harmful and highly contagious.