Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 029: Primitive Capital Accumulation (IV)
"I, Wu Youxing, pay my respects to the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and all the gentlemen."
In February 1605, Wu Youxing, a young doctor who was practicing medicine in Southern Zhili, was quickly sent to Beijing by the Jinyiwei from Jiangnan mobilized by Cao Huachun. He was immediately received by Zhu Changluo, Zhu Youdong and his son, as well as eight of Zhu Youdong's teachers.
This is of course the work of Zhu Youdong.
For more than half a month after the Lantern Festival, Zhu Youdong basically lived and studied in Ciqing Palace as usual. In his newly formed team, the most tired one was Wei Zhongxian - Old Wei lived and ate in Honghe Village for more than half a month, and built houses strictly according to the drawings Zhu Youdong gave him.
During this half month, the relationship between Zhu Youdong and his eight teachers has further improved, and the eight teachers have gone from being amazed at the talent shown by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to being numb. Then they basically believe in their hearts: This must be the wise ruler of the Ming Dynasty in the future.
Therefore, today when Zhu Youdong urgently invited eight teachers to gather at Ciqing Palace, saying that there were important issues concerning the livelihood of the people of the Ming Dynasty that needed to be discussed, the eight teachers arrived quickly without any hesitation.
"Dong'er, is this the Divine Doctor Wu that you told me, uh, you told me about? Isn't he a little too young?"
"Uh... Hehe, father, whether one's medical skills are good or not has little to do with age." - Alas, as a doctor before I traveled through time, I only knew that the most powerful doctor in the late Ming Dynasty was this one. But I really didn't expect that this Wu Youxing, the famous father of Chinese infectious diseases, Mr. Wu Youke (Youke is Wu Youxing's courtesy name), is only 23 years old and has been practicing medicine for a short time!
"Really? Well, Dong'er, why did you call me and the eight gentlemen here so hastily? What's the matter?"
"Ahem, uh, Mr. Wu, I asked you to come here this time because I have something to ask of you."
"Hmph, Your Highness, although I am not an official, I am also a good citizen of the Ming Dynasty. If the Jinyiwei force me to come to Beijing and ask for an invitation, I have nothing to say."
Well, that's good. We in the medical field should have such individuality.
"Haha, Mr. Wu, the Jinyiwei also acted according to my wishes. This matter is really of great importance and concerns the lives of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty. I pushed my subordinates too hard, and they acted too hastily. In any case, the fault is mine. I apologize to Mr. Wu here."
Seeing the four-year-old child bowing to him earnestly, Wu Youxing's anger also subsided. "I don't deserve the respect of the Crown Prince. I just heard the conversation between the two princes. It seems that it was the Crown Prince's idea to call me to the capital. I wonder what the Crown Prince needs me to do?"
"Well, Mr. Wu is a good doctor, do you know about smallpox?"
"Of course I know. When smallpox strikes, the main symptoms are headache, fever, palpitations, shortness of breath, and fatigue. After that, most patients die within three to five days due to high fever and bleeding. If they can survive for ten days, especially after the pox breaks out and scabs form, they are basically fine. This disease is extremely severe. Once it strikes, nine out of ten people will die. It spreads very quickly, and it is easy for an entire village, a township, or even a county to be infected."
"Mr. Wu can cure this disease?"
"To our shame, this disease cannot be cured by ordinary people. If you get this disease, you basically leave it to fate. You will either die within three to five days, or you will survive. Even if you recover, your face will be covered with pockmarks due to the scabs of the pox, but your life will always be saved."
"What if I have a way to prevent all the people of my Ming Dynasty from getting this disease?"
“Ah~~~!!!”
The one who exclaimed was not Wu Youxing, but Shen Li who was sitting high beside him at the beginning.
"Your Highness, do you have a way to treat this disease?"
"Mr. Shen may have heard wrongly. What I just said was that all the people who are not sick will no longer get the disease. For those who are already sick, just like Mr. Wu said just now, just leave it to fate."
"really!"
"Ouch, Elder Shen hurt me."
"Ah? Sin, sin, this old minister has lost his composure."
After apologizing to Zhu Youdong, Shen Li turned to Zhu Changluo and said, "Your Highness, do you know how many people have died of smallpox in the Ming Dynasty in the past ten years?"
"I really don't know this."
"I don't have the exact figures, but smallpox breaks out every year. Since I joined the cabinet, I have seen more than 3,000 people die of smallpox in the past ten years. The lowest number is more than 3,000 in one year, and the highest number is 380,000 ! This is only the number that has been clearly recorded and reported by the official. There should be many more that are not included in the statistics. In short, roughly calculating the more than ten years I have been in the cabinet, the number of people who died of smallpox in the Ming Dynasty is at least no less than one million!"
"Ah?!" Zhu Changluo stood up in surprise. "Master Shen, I remember that the current number of households in our Ming Dynasty is only over 50 million. In the past ten years, the smallpox alone has reduced the number of households by one million. Even if there are newborns every year to increase the population of our Ming Dynasty, it can't withstand such a toss."
"So I lost my temper just now, please forgive me, Your Highnesses."
"Not guilty, not guilty. After hearing what Elder Shen said, I can't keep calm. Zhu Youdong, what you just said involves a very big matter. Give your father a clear and definite answer immediately. Don't mess around with such a big matter."
"It concerns the peace of the world, how dare I mess around? Well, Mr. Wu, as far as you know, those who have had smallpox and survived it, have they never had ?"
Wu Youxing closed his eyes and thought deeply for a while before opening them and saying, "Yes, I haven't been practicing medicine for long, but I have seen with my own eyes and heard from my predecessors that anyone who has contracted smallpox but survived will never get sick again for the rest of their lives."
"So, with smallpox, either you don't get it, or if you do get it, you only get it once, right?"
"Uh... what His Royal Highness said should be correct based on my personal experience. I have never seen or heard of anyone who has had smallpox twice."
"Hahaha, that's right. Mr. Wu, I heard that in Jiangnan, some people have used vaccination to prevent smallpox?"
"Your Highness is truly well-informed. Your Highness, my Lords, it is indeed as your Highness said. Since the Jiajing period, many famous doctors in Jiangnan have realized that smallpox is generally only contracted once in a lifetime. Therefore, since then, doctors have dried the liquid from the scabs of smallpox patients into powder, diluted it with human milk or wine, and then inoculated it on people who have not contracted smallpox, hoping that these people will never contract smallpox again."
"How's the effect?"
"Well, not so good. As far as I know, among ten people who are vaccinated, about one will have a mild fever, rash, and pox, and then be fine. Of the other nine, five will have no reaction at all, three will get sick and die, and one will get sick and survive."
What Zhu Youdong and Wu Youxing just mentioned is the "human pox method". It was still in its early stages during the Jiajing and Wanli years of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, doctors simply diluted the virus from smallpox patients and then vaccinated healthy people. This was of course extremely unscientific and very dangerous.
This method was further improved in the Qing Dynasty in the historical plane, and the risk rate was further reduced. But it was not absolutely safe after all. Moreover, in many cases, it did not cause an effective response from the human immune system, which meant that it was a waste of time and did not produce immunity to smallpox.
"Mr. Wu, what if I have a new vaccination method that can prevent the person who gets the vaccination from getting sick for the rest of his life?"
