flstandardbreds Chapter 200 Black Death
Chapter 200 Black Death
Looking at the mouse in Coal Ball's mouth, John hurried forward and patted Coal Ball's beak with his hand. Coal Ball was frightened by the sudden slap and opened its mouth, revealing the body of the mouse inside.
When the mouse felt that it was no longer restrained by the duck's bill, it immediately fell out of the duck's bill. However, just as it was about to escape, a cold light flashed, and the mouse's head and body were separated, and it lost its life in an instant.
The guards outside the door heard the noise of fighting inside the house and immediately rushed in. When they saw that it was just a rat broken into two pieces, they breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was not an assassin, otherwise they would definitely be killed this time.
"Someone, come and clean up this place. Also check if there are any rats or rat holes in the castle. If found, get rid of them immediately." John shouted outside the door. As soon as he finished speaking, a group of servants came in with dustpans and brooms.
"Why are there rats in the castle? We need to make them pay attention to this, to prevent a large-scale plague outbreak." After seeing that the rat's corpse had been taken away by the servants and the blood on the floor had been cleaned up, John sat in the chair and thought boredly.
"Wait... plague!" Suddenly John thought of something serious, and he quickly stood up again after just sitting down.
"It is now the spring of 1449. The king's daughter, Princess Charlotte, is already over two years old. According to the main storyline, Charlotte is 17 years old, and Guts and Griffith are 18 years old. That means Guts is now 3 years old. Isn't that the time when the Black Death broke out in this world?"
Thinking of this, panic instantly spread in John's heart. Maybe John was not afraid of any court conspiracy or Yoda invasion, but he was still a little afraid of this invisible thing that took people's lives. What if his territory was covered by the dark cloud of the Black Death? Let alone developing strength, it was unknown whether he could withstand it.
"It seems I need to prepare early." John thought of this and immediately walked out of the bedroom. After getting on a carriage outside the castle, he headed to the hospital without stopping.
The medical system is one of the most important systems in the Earl's Castle. In addition to the hospital, there are several clinics and a school for training medical workers in the Earl's Castle, and they are regularly instructed by doctors dispatched by the hospital.
After entering the hospital, John ignored the soldiers guarding on both sides and went directly to Vargas' office.
Since Vargas demonstrated his medical talent, John placed him in the newly built Earl's Castle Hospital, and put him in charge of training doctors and nurses, and gave him a sum of money to use at his own discretion.
After receiving the funds, Vargas immediately purchased a large amount of medical equipment through the Simon Chamber of Commerce and Isu merchants, and built his medical room in just one month. He then put the hospital's operations on track and continued to expand. It can be said that without Vargas' hard work, there would be no hospital, doctors, and nurses in the Earl's Castle.
John walked to the door and knocked first. After getting permission from the insider, he pushed the door open and entered. In the office, Vargas was wiping his precious medical equipment. When he saw that it was John, Vargas said enthusiastically while wiping:
"It's Sir John. Are you here to consult me about the precautions for Madam Matilda before giving birth?"
"Ahem, let's not discuss this for now. I have something very important to tell you." John then told Vargas about his concerns about the rat infestation in the territory and the possible outbreak of the Black Death.
"Well...it's true that rats have been appearing more frequently recently. Even some of my test tubes have been damaged by them." Vargas thought about what had happened recently and then gave his own advice:
"I think it's too early to draw conclusions, because based on past experience, the large number of rats now only means that we have enough food here. Moreover, if the plague is suddenly announced to cause public panic, there will be uncontrollable consequences."
"So, now all we can do is wait?" John asked.
"Of course not. Now we can start by cleaning up the rats and mobilizing the residents to eliminate rats in the territory. At least, we can't let them run around and destroy things." Vargas said this and looked at his medical equipment with heartache.
"So if a person gets the plague, how should he be treated?" Seeing this, John asked another question in his mind.
"There are several types of plague, and each type of plague causes different symptoms. Of course, according to the current consensus of the medical community, the best way to treat the disease is bloodletting. As long as you let more blood, the disease will eventually heal. If it doesn't heal, it means you have to keep letting blood." Vargas responded. As soon as he finished speaking, he saw John's expression that said "are you kidding me", so he quickly explained:
"Of course, I am different from those doctors. During my medical studies, I also came into contact with some books that were considered heretical by the church. But I think the logic and knowledge in these books are more reliable than those doctors who perform bloodletting every day."
As he spoke, Vargas opened the cabinet, took out a thick book and began to read it. Then he gestured to John:
"Look here, there are several types of plague, each corresponding to a different type and dosage of medicine, so I think we need to prescribe the right medicine to cure the patient's condition."
After John wrote down the herbs in the book, he said goodbye and returned to the castle. After searching everywhere, he finally found Matilda reading in the library.
"Matilda, come here and look at this. Do you know all these herbs?" John spread out the paper with the names of the herbs recorded earlier and pointed at the words on it and asked Matilda.
Matilda read it several times and then said to John:
“Some of them are ornamental plants I knew before, but for the others I may have to ask my mother.”
"Well, then you should write a letter to your mother-in-law and tell her that I need the plant seeds written on this paper. If possible, tell me how to plant these seeds. The price is negotiable." John said to Matilda hurriedly. Seeing John so anxious, Matilda realized that something big might happen, so she immediately went back to the bedroom to write a letter to her mother.
A few days later, when people woke up, they saw rat-catching notices posted by soldiers in major squares.
In the notice, John clearly stated the harm caused by rats and called on everyone to catch rats together. He said that anyone who could catch rats, regardless of size, could exchange five rats for one copper coin. He also recruited 100 rat catchers to be responsible for the rat removal work in the Earl's Castle, providing them with food and accommodation and weekly wages.
Such a thing immediately caused a sensation among the residents. Although the common people didn't know what the lord wanted from the mice, after all, as long as they caught the mice, they would get money. For a while, those idle people in the Earl's Castle joined the ranks of the mouse catching army.
At the same time, John also used newspapers to educate residents in the territory about how to take personal precautions, such as common methods such as washing hands frequently and drinking boiled water. John even built several boiler rooms in the territory to sell ready-made hot water to residents in nearby residential areas. With fair prices, ease and convenience, the residents were reluctantly accepted these ideas.
Of course, the most important point is to isolate organisms suspected of carrying plague bacteria.
"Clang!"
As the iron door was closed from the outside, John looked through the window at the stunned coal ball inside and said:
"Meiqiu, you are now a close contact. You will be observed for 14 days. We will release you if you are fine. Don't worry, someone will prepare duck food for you on time every day. Just stay in there obediently."
After that, John left, leaving only a few guards and the little black duck staring at each other inside the door.