Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 185 Malaria
Cao Cao looked at Bai Tu's memorial with a solemn expression.
First, malaria broke out in Shouchun - allow Cao Cao to gloat a little.
As expected, the was to return home and deal with the chaos in Shouchun.
However, Bai Tu's subsequent reaction made Cao Cao feel uncomfortable...
Cao Cao did not expect Bai Tu to return the seven counties of Yiyang, and nominally... Bai Tu continued to distribute relief grain in the seven counties for disaster relief. No matter whether people from these seven counties were or not, everyone could have a full meal after going there.
But considering that the counties in Runan were not hit that hard, even if Yuan Shu was more brutal and had a worse reputation, there shouldn't be many people who would abandon their homes and jobs to "eat for free".
The establishment of Yiyang County and the appointment of Yiyang prefect were all expected. Although Cao Cao felt distressed when some of Runan was taken away, they were just small pieces.
What really made Cao Cao look a little unnatural was...
"The Nerd General of the Household? Is this the title that the ambitious Bai Gong came up with?" Guo Jia said sarcastically.
"Ahem, it's true that I wasn't vigilant enough before..." Xun Yu said somewhat embarrassedly.
"I'm not targeting you, I'm saying...that guy is a liar!" Guo Jia emphasized.
Guo Jia felt very aggrieved. If he had known that this would happen in Shouchun, why did he bother to use the "general trend"?
For an owner of the "Book of Luck", the greatest luxury is longevity. Anyone with a slightly advanced level of luck almost always needs longevity as compensation.
Five years. After Guo Jia activated the effect, his life span had been shortened by five years. And then... Bai Tu actually turned around and went back?
Fortunately, it was not a one-time payment. After learning the news, Guo Jia also terminated the effect of "the general trend" and stopped the loss in time - "the general trend" can only be effective for the same target at the same time.
"Combined with the letter sent before, it seems that General Bai does not want us to accept Yuan Shu's remaining troops... What do you think?" Cao Cao asked.
Before this, Bai Tu not only denounced Yuan Shu's crimes to the court, but also sent a private message to Cao Cao, hoping that he would "turn back" and give a fair judgment to the participants of the Shouchun Incident!
Afterwards... he conferred the title of "General of the Central Army to Purge the Corrupt Officials" on the general stationed in Yiyang, which made Cao Cao wonder - is it because I accepted what those people said that you, Bai Tu, wanted to "clean up the court"?
Apparently, Cao Cao was not the only one who thought this way.
After all, when he was in control of the imperial court and commanded the other lords, unlike Yuan Shu who had severed ties with the Han Dynasty, the only reason for using military force against Cao Cao was to "clear the imperial court."
Moreover, given Bai Tu's reputation, after Cao Cao accepted Yuan Shu's surrendered generals, if Bai Tu wanted to "clear the court", there might be people who would really believe in him from the bottom of their hearts... and there would be even more people who would believe in him tacitly.
As to whether this "side" only includes Yuan Shu's surrendered generals, or whether Cao Cao is also included, only Bai Tu himself has the final right of interpretation.
Liu Ye then suggested that the evil leader Qiao Rui and others could be executed to eliminate Bai Tu's excuse.
Of course, this is just a hypothesis. After all, Qiao Rui is still on the southern front of Runan where he is deploying troops, and he has not surrendered to Cao Cao yet!
However, at this time, Yang Xiu, who had just been "hired" to work in the Sikong Mansion, said: "How can we cut off the opportunity to expand our own strength and damage our reputation of appointing talented people just because of a word from a foreign minister? If we can't even protect the surrendered generals, how can we make the other surrendered generals feel at ease?
Moreover, even if there is no excuse for Shouchun, can't we use Xuzhou as an excuse? Instead of thinking about how to prevent Bai Gong from attacking us morally, it is better to defeat him in terms of strength. Otherwise, can the lord surpass Bai Gong in terms of benevolence? "
The matter of Xuzhou... "Could" it be that benevolence can prevail over...
Cao Cao felt that he was hit by an arrow in the knee, one on each side!
Seeing the young and energetic Yang Xiu talking freely, many people felt uncomfortable and wanted to cover their faces...
Well, generally speaking, what Yang Xiu said made sense and his analysis was incisive, but why did Cao Cao feel so uncomfortable?
Yang Xiu was the son of Yang Biao, the legitimate son of the old general who had been stripped of his official position, imprisoned and beaten by Cao Cao on the pretext of his marriage to the Yuan family.
Because of the shock of Yang Biao's imprisonment among the literati, Cao Cao decided to hire Yang Xiu to repair his relationship with the old aristocratic families of the Han Dynasty.
Moreover, Yang Xiu was not an incompetent person. Cao Cao did respect him at this time and appointed him as the "chief clerk" - that is, his secretary. Considering Yang Xiu's age, this was already very rare.
"Hehe, what Dezu said is not wrong. If we are led by Lord Bai, what should we do if he wants to kill the surrendered generals of the Yuan family today, and asks us to kill General Yuan Rang and General Miaocai tomorrow?" Xun Yu changed the subject and cited the examples of the two generals of the Xiahou family.
"That's right, my lord, you must not use your own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths." Yang Xiu summarized solemnly .
From what we know about Yang Xiu, he was not trying to provoke Cao Cao on purpose, he was just "making sense".
But Xun Yu didn't want to talk anymore.
Cao Cao: ...
"Ancestor De, I heard that your mother has been forcing you to get married recently?" Cao Cao suddenly asked.
"It's just a small matter, not worth talking about here." Yang Xiu said embarrassedly.
Yang Xiu was only seventeen or eighteen years old, which was considered a late marriage in the Han Dynasty, but among the sons of noble families, he was not too old.
After that, Cao Cao never mentioned the matter again, which made Yang Xiu very puzzled.
However, in terms of decision-making, Cao Cao and Yang Xiu did agree - they could not give up the opportunity to strengthen themselves just because they were afraid of Bai Tu's excuse for attack.
…
On the other hand, when Bai Tu led his army back to Shouchun, he found that the city had been under complete martial law. The sick people, whether they were residents in the city or farmers in the countryside, were concentrated as much as possible around the west gate of the city wall.
Tents are of course indispensable in the army. Although there is already a hint of autumn in the air, it is not enough to make the patients feel cold.
This was also the result of Zhang Zhongjing's command of the military and civilians in Shouchun. Old Zhang was not only a famous "miracle doctor" in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, but compared with another miracle doctor Hua Tuo, Zhang Zhongjing was better at treating epidemics.
"Zhang Ji of Nieyang pays homage to Mr. Bai." When Zhang Zhongjing saw Bai Tu, he was still quite respectful.
After all, the highest position Zhang Zhongjing held was only a prefect, which was not comparable to the General of Chariots and Cavalry. More importantly... Zhang Zhongjing admired Bai Tu's benevolence more.
Of course, it was a greeting, but it was just a bow...
"Don't be so polite, Doctor Zhang! Fortunately, you are here, otherwise the people of Shouchun would have to suffer from natural disasters after man-made disasters!" Bai Tu said with emotion.
Shouchun was indeed unlucky this year. The drought was about to end because Yuan Shu had moved away, and a small rain had already fallen, but a plague came again.
"I don't dare to be called a miracle doctor. It's just my duty as a doctor," Zhang Zhongjing said modestly.
However, Mr. Zhang’s character is also unquestionable - if he were an ordinary person, who would dare to go where there is a plague?
Not to mention ancient times, even in modern times when preventive measures are so complete, the medical workers and rescue workers who dare to go to the epidemic areas are all top-notch and beyond reproach.
Bai Tu also asked Mr. Zhang about the plague...
"First I felt cold, then had a fever, and finally my body temperature dropped... It was definitely malaria." Bai Tu muttered to himself. It was called "malaria" during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
"Does Mr. Bai also know medicine?" Zhang Zhongjing asked curiously.
What Bai Tu asked before was indeed very targeted, and Zhang Zhongjing could see that he was not trying to be mysterious.
"I've... read some of it. Mr. Zhang, just call me the hard drive. What do you think about the malaria in Shouchun?" Bai Tu said modestly. He had indeed read some of it before he came back.
Zhang Zhongjing looked a little embarrassed after hearing this, and then said: "If several people are sick, I still have a prescription, but...there have been many human disasters before, and we failed to discover them in time. Now the disease is spreading, it is difficult to deal with, difficult to deal with."
Without hiding it from Bai Tu, Zhang Zhongjing told him his prescriptions. One was Shuqi Powder for treating malaria, and the other was Biejia Jianwan for treating its sequelae.
The latter is just a tonic, and if it's gone, then it's gone. Bai Tu really can't find so many turtles to make turtle glue...
However, as a therapeutic drug, the former is an urgent need!
But the medication is a bit... uncomfortable. The main ingredients of Shuqi Powder are Shuqi, dragon bone and mica. The first two are plants, mica is a mineral, and Shuqi... as the name suggests, it is a plant from Bashu. Dragon bone is also known as "Triangle Overlord Whip", a succulent that is produced in Lingnan.
Lao Zhang is indeed a miracle doctor in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Even if he encounters a plague, he will not be helpless. It’s just... going to Yizhou and Jiaozhou to buy Shu lacquer and dragon bones now?
It may take more than a year to get a share of the whole city!
As for the inventory of each pharmacy? Folk medicine in the Eastern Han Dynasty was not well developed, there were few prescriptions, and Shuqi was also unpopular, so how could it be collected at once?
Moreover, Zhang Zhongjing did not brag about Bai Tu, and the chance of treatment was not very high.
When it comes to ancient malaria, quinine cream was the more effective treatment, and it was easy to use - just peel the bark of the cinchona tree and chew it!
But the problem is... don’t think that thing can be found in Yunnan and Taiwan in later generations. They were all transplanted from South America. If you expect to find it in South America... you might as well go to Yizhou or Jiaozhou!
Ten, twenty or thirty years later, Bai Tu might have a chance to get the cinchona tree.
However, Bai Tu is not without a solution, it’s just... the operation is difficult!
Artemisinin, the substance that Ms. Tu has been researching for decades and eventually won the Nobel Prize for, is the nemesis of malaria.
Moreover, Ms. Tu's inspiration for studying artemisinin originally came from "Emergency Prescriptions for the Elbow", which means that in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were already examples of using artemisinin to treat malaria. It was a pity that it was not widespread, and... there was a big problem.
The reason why this book, which revealed the prescription for the nemesis of malaria more than a thousand years ago, failed to eradicate malaria and required Ms. Tu to conduct decades of research using modern technology is precisely because of one most critical problem - the concentration of the ancient prescription is too low and the effect is very poor.
The method in "Emergency Prescriptions for the Elbow" is to squeeze the Artemisia annua raw in water and then drink it ton by ton...
It is indeed effective for people with good luck and good physical fitness, otherwise it would not have been passed down to later generations. However, the cure rate depends on fate.
The raw material for artemisinin is easy to find - Artemisia annua.
The "qinghao" in the Eastern Han Dynasty is the "huanghao" in later generations.
But extraction is a big problem. First of all, the simplest steaming method is definitely not feasible, because artemisinin decomposes when heated, and boiling it is worse than squeezing it raw.
This is why artemisinin is obviously better than quinine and has fewer side effects, but under primitive technology, cinchona is more effective than artemisia...
People in later generations may use ether, gasoline, and silicone... However, Bai Tu does not have any of these cold extraction techniques, and it would probably be too late for Pang Tong to learn them on the spot. After all, many of them require the later technological support planned by Bai Tu!
But now there is no time to lose. Bai Tu plans to find an excuse to collect a large amount of Artemisia annua, and then contact Pang Tong immediately. If there is a solution, that would be the best. If not, raw squeezed Artemisia annua will also do.
I think the malarial parasites of the Eastern Han Dynasty should not be as resistant to drugs as those of later generations. At least they are more reliable than the Shuqi powder that we cannot rely on...
