"The Black Death was the plague, so it's not surprising."
Liu Jin looked at the telegram and began to think.
In the past two years in Europe, due to the Little Ice Age, there was a severe drought like the Ming Dynasty last year, and grain production dropped sharply. This year, there was heavy rainfall again, and grain production also dropped sharply.
This has been the case for two consecutive years. There has been a great famine in Europe. Once there is a disaster, it will inevitably be accompanied by other corresponding disasters.
Plague is one of the most common.
During the severe drought in Ming Dynasty last year, there was a major outbreak of plague. This is a good example.
Europe was just a year late, and finally got rid of the plague.
Famine and floods are the most likely causes of plague spread.
The first is famine. Rats have nothing to eat, so they will continue to gather in cities and towns where humans live, thereby infecting humans with plague.
Secondly, under famine, the human body is malnourished for a long time, and the body's resistance is very weak, making it easy to get sick and infected with various diseases.
Finally, a severe drought is followed by continuous heavy rainfall, which can easily wash out all kinds of dirt, leading to the spread and raging of diseases.
Once there is a flood disaster in future generations, the first thing to do after the flood is to conduct large-scale disinfection. The purpose is to eliminate all kinds of plagues and diseases that may spread.
At first, Liu Jin was surprised that there was drought, famine, and heavy rainfall in Europe, but there was no plague. Isn't this a little too troubled?
Now it seems that it is actually the same everywhere in the world. All kinds of disasters are interlocked in cycles, and they are staged one after another. This is also a major feature of the Little Ice Age.
"Well, we need to prevent the European plague from spreading to our Ming Dynasty."
"From now on, we must strictly restrict the exchange of goods and people in Europe, especially the slave trade, to prevent the plague from infecting us Ming people."
"If we go through this again, our Ming Dynasty will suffer heavy losses again."
Thinking of this matter, Liu Jin also hurriedly entered the palace, preparing to report the matter to Emperor Hongzhi.
...
Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, lowland region of Europe.
At this time, the lowlands were still under the rule of the powerful Spanish Empire and were part of the vast lands of Charles V.
The Port of Rotterdam is now one of the most famous ports in Western Europe. With the prosperity of trade and the governance of the King of the Spanish Empire, its size and population have grown massively in the past two decades.
However, at this time, the Port of Rotterdam seemed to have turned into a dead city, and people were rushing to escape.
Powerful people are fleeing to rural areas far away from cities and densely populated areas; people without money are trying their best to escape to other places.
The reason why everyone is desperate to escape here is because the horrific Black Death in the Middle Ages has appeared again in Rotterdam, making everyone change their minds after hearing about it.
In Europe almost two centuries ago, this terrible plague took away almost one-third of the European population and caused tens of millions of deaths.
At that time, almost the entire Europe was in the haze of the Black Death, and could not get out of it for a long time.
Unexpectedly, after many years, the Black Death would reappear, which made people here extremely frightened and fled here one after another.
Many corpses can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys of Rotterdam. These corpses are often glowing black. This is the origin of the name of the Black Death.
Plague can cause necrosis of the skin and turn it black.
The corpse was discarded very casually on the street. Everyone who passed by had a pale expression, and then hurriedly left as if desperate.
Facing the horrific Black Death, Europeans were really too afraid of this kind of thing.
"Collect all the corpses and transport them outside the city to be burned and buried!"
Some city administrators are organizing people to burn and bury these corpses. Europeans have summarized some experience in dealing with the Black Death.
And last year, the people of Ming Dynasty experienced the plague, which also set a good example for Europeans.
But unlike people in the Ming Dynasty who can eat and sleep at home peacefully, ordinary people in Europe cannot say that they are idle at home.
Because at this moment, Europe is experiencing a great famine. Even the Netherlands, ruled by the powerful Spanish Empire, is not immune and is also experiencing famine.
But thanks to the trade relations with the Ming Empire and the large number of overseas colonies, Spain's situation is much better than that of England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Italy.
Although we are experiencing famine, we still have enough money to buy food from outside.
But it is impossible to say that like the Ming Empire, they directly distributed a large amount of food to the people and asked them to stay at home. This is why everyone wants to flee here.
Only by escaping can we stay away from the Black Death and at the same time be able to obtain food to survive.
The collectors dressed in black and wearing masks silently carried the corpses onto the carriage. These corpses looked extremely terrifying.
There were huge lumps under the armpits and inner thighs, and a large number of dark spots appeared on the skin of the body, some of which were even completely covered, so that the caretakers had to be careful for fear of infecting themselves.
The reason why they are willing to do this is because the administrator gives them food as a reward, but for their own safety.
They also wrapped themselves tightly and wore black robes and pointy-nosed masks, dressed like the God of Death, because they believed that such clothing could protect them from the Black Death.
The number of people who have died in the Netherlands is not particularly high yet, but a large number of people have been infected by the Black Death.
On every street corner, you can see a large number of poor people, sitting helplessly in every corner. They were the first to be infected with the Black Death.
Long-term famine has caused them to become malnourished, their physical fitness has dropped significantly, and their resistance to various diseases is very low.
At the same time, the Netherlands is a lowland area. This year's heavy rainfall has also caused a lot of stagnant water here, and various bacteria and viruses have grown here. A large amount of dirt from the middle and upper reaches has also washed here, leading to the Black Death in the Netherlands.
The disease spread rampantly.
The city is like a doomsday, and people are rushing to escape. Those who cannot escape are waiting to die silently here. There are too many, too many people infected with the Black Death.
There are huge lumps under each arm, and the arms cannot be lowered, which looks extremely weird. There are also lumps on the inner thighs, making it difficult to walk. Black patches appear on the body, which makes people look like they are seeing something from hell.
Like a devil, even his own relatives will stay away as soon as possible.
Inside the royal palace in the capital of the Spanish Empire.
The young emperor Charles V was extremely troubled. Two consecutive years of disasters had caused his vast empire to experience famine, which caused many turmoils.
The poor people in some cities launched an uprising, but they were ruthlessly suppressed by Charles V. However, the uprisings continued one after another, and the people who could not survive seemed like wildfire, and they felt that they could not be extinguished no matter what.
This forced Charles V to spend a large amount of money from the treasury to buy grain from the Ming Dynasty, and then use the grain to relieve the victims in order to tide over the current difficulties.
For the young Charles V, he was obviously very reluctant to petition because it was difficult to collect taxes and save money. He also had his own ambitions and spent precious money on the poor. This made
He felt it was very wasteful.
Unlike the emperors of the East, European monarchs and nobles had a sense of responsibility and regarded governing the people as their mission.
For them, ordinary civilians are just the source of their tax revenue and contributors to their own wealth, and they are definitely not used to consume their own wealth.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
"It's not good, it's not good!"
At this time, a minister came in a hurry with a panicked look on his face.
"What's up?"
Charles V asked a little irritably.
Ever since he became the Emperor of the Spanish Empire, he seems to have been worried about a lot of things and it has never stopped.
"Your Majesty, the Black Death has broken out in the Netherlands, Sicily, Bavaria, Nuremberg and other places in the Holy Roman Empire!"
The visitor said hurriedly.
"What?"
"The Black Death?"
When Charles V heard this, he stood up.
Europeans have an instinctive fear about the Black Death, because this terrible plague and disease has taken away too many lives, and it can even be said that it has rewritten the history of Europe.
Unexpectedly, this disease has appeared again, and it has appeared in many places at once.
"Yes, Your Majesty, according to the information we have now, the Black Death has not only appeared in Spain, but also in the Holy Roman Empire. It has also appeared in France, England, Italy and other places."
"I'm afraid this time, the Black Death will spread again in Europe."
The minister nodded solemnly and said extremely worriedly.
"It seems that the Black Death also appeared in the Ming Empire last year, right?"
Charles V quickly regained his composure, then thought about it and asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty, the Black Death pandemic also occurred in the Ming Empire last year, but the Ming people called it the plague."
"The people of the Ming Dynasty adopted strict control measures and finally controlled the plague."
The minister quickly replied.
"Immediately order all localities to adopt strict containment measures and implement the strictest isolation and control of infected people to prevent the spread of the Black Death."
"Order people to sort out the relevant methods of fighting the plague in the Ming Dynasty, and directly imitate the people of the Ming Dynasty."
After hearing this, Charles V decisively issued the order. If the Ming Dynasty people set an example, you can just copy it yourself. The Black Death is very terrifying. If it cannot be controlled, there is no telling how many people will die.
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