***
After Qin Mu summoned thunder from heaven to strike the God of Plague into ashes, heavy rain continued for a whole day, the temperature dropped sharply, and there was a small hailstorm on the second day. A late spring cold snap made Huguang in mid-February seem like it had returned to the cold winter.
The late Ming Dynasty was a period of the Little Ice Age, when abnormal climate often occurred. Such a late spring cold snap was not a strange thing, but because this hailstorm occurred after Qin Mu attracted thunder from the sky to kill the God of Plague, it was inevitably given many unusual meanings by the people.
Even Qin Mu couldn't help but secretly mutter, could it be possible that he could really call the wind and rain and change the world? This weather was too weird, wasn't it
The news that the God of Plague had been chopped to ashes spread quickly, as if it had wings. When the people of Huguang, who were in constant fear of the plague, heard about it, many of them were skeptical at first, but as more and more people spread the story, and the people also unconsciously hoped that it was true, they gradually began to believe it.
This made the military and civilian morale in Huguang much more stable, especially in Xiangyin area. Originally, people didn't even dare to go out. After this incident, the city quickly returned to the situation before the plague. People were no longer afraid and dared to go out to make a living. There were more people on the streets, shops opened, and smiles returned to people's faces.
While people were discussing this matter with excitement, Qin Mu had already ignored the obstruction of Zhuge Min and others, and rushed to the epidemic isolation area near Daning Village with more than a dozen famous doctors recruited from all over the place.
We have done our best to appease people, but that trick can only deceive people temporarily. If the epidemic is not truly controlled and continues to spread, then the thunderbolt from the sky that struck the plague god will become a joke.
The patient isolation area is located by a small lake six or seven miles away from Daning Village. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and close to the lake on one side. Soldiers wearing masks are guarding it outside. No one is allowed to enter or leave without permission.
Chen Youyi, the garrison commander of Xiangyin, and Shangguan Neng, the former attending physician, all came together to welcome Qin Mu.
Chen Youyi is a Hunan man in his forties, with a short beard under his mask and a steady gaze. He always gives a military salute when meeting someone.
Qin Mu said with satisfaction: "General Chen was not afraid of danger this time. He was able to quickly lead his troops to block Daning Village at the beginning of the epidemic. This fearless spirit is worthy of learning for every soldier. I would like to pay the highest respect to General Chen."
"Your Excellency, I am too humble to accept your compliment. My soldiers and I are just fulfilling our military oaths." Chen Youyi paused for a moment before continuing, "Furthermore, to be honest with you, my family is in Xiangyin. If we don't seal off Daning Village in time and let the plague spread, harming my family and neighbors, I will not be able to face the people of Xiangyin."
After hearing Chen Youyi's selfish words, Qin Mu looked up to him. He liked such honest people.
"Please General Chen pass on the message that all soldiers who participated in the blockade of the epidemic area will be rewarded accordingly, and the reward silver will be distributed to each soldier within three days. Don't slack off, and don't be afraid. As long as you strengthen your protection, the plague will not spread to you. I dare to rush to the epidemic area, and I am sure I can control the epidemic."
"Thank you, sir."
Qin Mu then asked Shangguan Neng about the situation in the quarantine area. According to what Shangguan Neng reported, there were a total of 87 patients admitted to the quarantine area, 61 of whom were seriously ill, 49 died, and 12 were still left.
There were 26 mild patients and suspected patients. After taking medicine, the condition of nine of them was under control and did not worsen further. There were 17 people whose condition was getting worse and worse with no effect of medicine.
Qin Mu frowned after hearing this. According to Shangguan Neng, it meant that his medicine was basically useless. The condition of the nine suspected patients with mild fever was under control. It was very likely that these nine people were not infected with plague at all, but just had common colds and fevers.
Because he was unable to cure any of the seriously ill patients, and was also unable to control the conditions of most of the mildly ill patients.
This made Qin Mu think of Wu Youke again. He had asked the Bachelor's House to do their best to find Wu Youke's whereabouts, but so far, no relevant news has been sent back.
“Have all the dead been cremated?”
"Your Excellency, they have all been cremated according to your orders."
“Are there any new infected people in the nearby villages these days?”
"There are four people, but their symptoms are relatively mild. It is not yet confirmed whether they have contracted the disease, so they are isolated on the other side of the lake."
"Well, let's go in and take a look." Qin Mu, with a dozen doctors, led by Shangguan Neng, walked into the isolation area. The isolation area was filled with temporary tents and was covered with lime powder. It looked white at a glance.
Shangguan Neng and the doctor brought by Qin Mu began to discuss the treatment of the epidemic as they walked.
"In the Shaoyin chapter of Treatise on Febrile Diseases, the symptoms described include both cold and heat. If the cold water qi directly hits Shaoyin, it is a cold symptom; if it comes from the three yangs, it is a heat symptom. If this theory is followed, why do people use Huanglian Ejiao Decoction and Dachengqi Decoction after two or three days of Yin disease? The severe cold qi that invades the human body, if it sneaks into the yin at the time, is a cold symptom of Shaoyin cold. The light cold qi that invades the human body, hides in the fat membrane of the three burners, cannot make people sick immediately, but blocks the circulation of qi transformation, secretly generates internal heat, and later because the kidneys are damaged, the heat transformed by the hidden qi can take advantage of the weakness and enter the kidneys."
"Yes, that makes sense. Heat is generated in the kidney due to deficiency, and it attracts the heat generated by the latent qi. The latent qi is the same as the qi, and it is also easy to enter the kidney. Here, the deficiency heat and the excess heat help each other and hurt the kidney yin, causing the kidney qi to be unable to rise to the heart, and often causing irritability. This Shaoyin disease makes sense for irritability in the heart."
"The Neijing says: "If you are injured by cold in winter, you will definitely get a fever in spring." This means that the latent qi turns into heat and becomes a disease. However, the disease may not necessarily enter the Shaoyin. The Neijing also says: "If you do not store your essence in winter, you will definitely get a fever in spring." This is mostly a disease caused by latent qi turning into heat and entering the Shaoyin. Therefore, this disease is more difficult to identify than the disease caused by latent qi entering other organs, and it is not easy to treat. Therefore, in addition to the fact that being injured by cold in winter will definitely cause a fever in spring, I have specially reiterated it for the sake of distinction..."
Qin Mu was not familiar with medicine, and he was not sure whether the saying "If you do not store your essence in winter, you will get a fever in spring" made sense, but as a later person, he knew very well how the plague spread;
So he said bluntly: "Please listen to me, I can tell you clearly that there are many kinds of plagues, and the plague that broke out from the Wanli period to the sixth year of Chongzhen is called plague;
When the Mongols invaded the west, they often massacred cities, killing countless people. Rotting corpses piled up like mountains. Rats ate the rotting corpses and contracted the plague, which they then spread to humans.
At that time, nearly half of the population of Europe was infected with the plague and died. The Europeans called this plague the Black Death. The plague in our Ming Dynasty was probably brought over by the Portuguese on board ships. "
Shangguan Neng and the others were all stunned after hearing what Qin Mu said. One of them, a doctor named Mo Fei, asked in disbelief, "The governor said that rats spread the plague to humans. How could rats spread the plague to humans?"
Qin Mu thought for a while and said, "Have you noticed that during the day, when the light from the sky shines into the room, you can see a lot of tiny floating objects in the light beam, and many pathogens are as tiny as these floating dust particles. They are usually invisible to the naked eye, but they really exist; mice infected with the plague carry similar tiny pathogens, and once people come into contact with them, they may be infected with the plague.
Another thing is that fleas can bite infected rats and then bite humans, spreading the plague to humans. After knowing its transmission route, it is not difficult to prevent the plague, as long as these transmission routes are blocked;
As for how to treat it, I don't know. I only know that after the plague bacteria enter the human body, they will mainly cause lesions in the blood and lungs.
Blood flows throughout the body through blood vessels, which we call the blood circulation system, while the lungs are the respiratory system. Diseases mainly occur in these two systems of the human body.
You can start with these two systems of the human body, maybe it will be effective. Well, this is all I know, I hope it will be helpful to you."
More than a dozen doctors looked at each other. Although Qin Mu's words were simple, it would still take some time for them to digest them.
But in general, although the doctors at that time were not as knowledgeable as those in later generations, their medical ethics were absolutely incomparable to those unscrupulous doctors in later generations.
These dozen or so doctors are all well-known doctors in Huguang. None of them was forced to come to the epidemic area this time. As soon as the people sent by Qin Mu arrived and explained their purpose, these doctors packed up their medicine boxes and came here on their own initiative.
Therefore, regardless of whether they were good at treating the plague or not, Qin Mu respected their character very much. He decided that after the plague, he would teach them some surgical treatment knowledge, and let them take the lead in training a group of surgeons for him to prepare for future wars.
*(To be continued...)
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