Invincible urban management

120 [-]. Les Miserables

Although the traversers thought they were psychologically prepared for the worst, the development of the situation was still worse than they imagined.

On the second day after the Battle of Otunba, due to the spread of a large number of sick prisoners, the raging plague began to break out in the barracks.

Perhaps it was because of overeating and eating something unclean at the celebration banquet. The first people in the army were dysentery patients, who hugged their stomachs all day long and complained of pain.Then came cholera and yellow fever, either from diarrhea to dehydration, or high fever to death.Finally, on the fourth day, even the smallpox, malaria, and plague (that is, the Black Death), which so distorted the ancients, began to appear in many people.

In addition, after some soldiers were wounded on the battlefield, unfortunately, the wounds became infected and inflamed, and they got tetanus, and soon became dying——the Hongxiutizgan Kingdom Expeditionary Army, which was regarded as the direct line of troops by the traversers, was wounded. Of course, they will be properly medicated and bandaged.But Confederate soldiers from other tribes, as well as enemy prisoners captured on the battlefield, did not have such good medical treatment.

In just three or four days, the military camp in Otunba Village became a hospital and a crematorium, and hundreds of corpses were carried away and burned every day.

The rapid spread of the infectious disease caught the travelers by surprise for a while.

Although the antibiotic tablets and ointments they carry with the army are very effective, they cannot support too many patients, and they are almost used up.However, procurement activities in modern time and space have encountered unexpected difficulties.

——Because of the time leverage of 24 times, the four days in this time and space are only equivalent to four hours in the modern time and space.To collect enough medicines and medical equipment in such a short period of time and send them to another world, whether it is the logistics efficiency of modern society or Comrade Wang Qiu's transmission ability, is an extremely serious task. test.

What's more terrible is that it is midnight in modern China at this time, pharmacies and pharmaceutical factories have long been closed, and there is no place to buy medicine with money!

If we have to wait until six or seven hours later in modern time and space, that is, the pharmacy opens the next morning, it means that many patients in the Central American world will stay in hospital beds for six or seven days, and a large part of them, Obviously, it couldn't last for so long—for the ancients who lacked therapeutic drugs, the above-mentioned plagues were severe xing diseases, and it usually took only five or six days for a Black Death patient to die.

Fortunately, at this critical moment of crisis, Director Ma's identity and power played a big role-after he returned to modern time and space, he immediately made more than a dozen phone calls and dispatched a large number of secretaries and entourages everywhere. Activities, and personally drove straight to the city government compound, dragged the city's deputy mayor in charge of medical and health from the bed.Then, after making emergency contact with Beijing, Director Ma even mobilized the city's military police and garrisons... So, soon someone broke down the doors of pharmaceutical factories and drugstores, and opened up strategic supplies again From the storage warehouse, boxes of penicillin, streptomycin, anti-inflammatory potions and Yunnan Baiyao were transported out by large trucks like flowing water.

Next, thanks to a sufficient amount of modern medicines, at least in the military camp in Otunba Village, the epidemic was finally brought under control.

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"...Oh, God forbid, I'm still alive?"

Looking at his haggard face in the mirror with his only one eye open, Narvaez felt like a dream for a moment, and couldn't help muttering to himself.

It is true that his current physical condition is not healthy at all, his mind is still dizzy, his whole body is sore and painful, and his skin is still full of swelling, blood and gangrene... But no matter what, Narvaez He is still alive and has not returned to the embrace of the Lord.

So, in the next instant, he turned over and took out a letter from under the pillow, and tore it to pieces with great agility.

——Three days ago, when he found out that he was suffering from the Black Death, Narvaez, out of desperation, took the time to write a will, intending to donate half of his estate to the church for the construction of a gorgeous the monastery...

However, now that I have recovered, I will wait until later to discuss the matter of donating the inheritance!

He raised his hand and threw the confetti into the brazier on the side. He was about to call his personal servant to come and serve him, but then he remembered that this unlucky guy had already died of illness yesterday due to wound infection and erosion, and even his bones were burnt. ash...

In this regard, Navaez could only sigh, struggled to sit up from the bed, and then began to look around the noisy and huge ward.

This is a spacious wooden house in Otunba Village. It seemed to be a nobleman's residence originally. The terrain is relatively high, and the interior is relatively dry, with good ventilation and lighting.Therefore, after the outbreak of the epidemic, this house was requisitioned by the traversers as a field hospital, mainly housing the high-status Spanish Allied Forces, that is, Navaez and his trusted officers, so that they could enjoy a clean life. Ambience and crisp white sheets.

As for the general Spanish soldiers, they could only lie in the tent outside, listening to the raindrops dripping on the linoleum, while fighting against the disease.

Even with the "advanced treatment", the environment in the ward is still very bad.Most of the patients, including the guard at the gate, coughed almost non-stop. Some tried to hold back, but this half-throated cough sounded more uncomfortable.

Some were lying in bed with such a fever that they were talking nonsense.Others who had just recovered had to hold on to their weak bodies to take care of the dying patients and feed them gruel.

Indian witch doctors or priests would occasionally visit the ward, and everyone wore cotton masks on their faces.They brought to the Spaniards small white tablets to be taken orally, a viscous ointment to be rubbed on the wounds of the wounded, and a decoction of powder and boiling water.The curative effect of each medicine is amazing, but it is a pity that it does not work for everyone, and even these witch doctors themselves do not know what medicine to prescribe for each patient, so they can only use the same thing for each patient Finally, most people are still slowly improving.

In addition, under the direction of these people, the floor in the ward was limed, and the remaining lime was applied to the walls.And in the central yang of the ward, a pot of boiling vinegar was still being boiled in a small pot and stove, and it kept cooking from morning to night, making the room perpetually filled with a sour smell... Narvaez didn't understand them Why do you want to do this, just intuitively think that this should be a sacrificial ceremony of the indigenous people.

Although so many treatments unheard of by the Spaniards have been used in the military camp, and many people have indeed been saved from the plague, the patients in the ward are still dying.And when they died of illness, there was no clergyman who could give the last prayers to these poor people-for several priests in the army all refused to take the medicine provided by the Chinese, and denounced it as witchcraft.As a result, after getting sick, these clergymen died faster than anyone else, and now they are already stored in urns.

Looking at the long row of empty bunks beside him, and finding that many familiar faces had disappeared forever, Nava Eston looked a little sad.

This sudden and severe plague was an unprecedented catastrophe for Narvaez and his Spanish expedition.

Of the 100 soldiers he brought from the port of Veracruz before, more than 300 died in the Battle of Otumba, and now about 200 died of illness, leaving only [-] barely able to breathe Yes, and it is not yet known whether they can fully recover.

As for the more than 900 Spanish captives who surrendered from Cortez, because they were the first to be infected and became ill, they failed to receive timely treatment, which delayed their illness... As a result, during this terrible outbreak of the plague, All of a sudden, there were only a few people left.

However, being able to survive so many people is already considered pretty good... Narvaez couldn't help but secretly rejoice in spite of his grief.

——Cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, measles, dysentery, malaria, yellow fever, and black death... Even in the most tragic and terrifying nightmare of the past, he never imagined that after so many plagues broke out together, what would happen? What a terrifying situation.

Therefore, when he saw the barracks turned into a plague museum a few days ago, Narvaez thought for a moment that he saw the end of the world coming!According to his estimation, even if the world is not destroyed because of this, at least this army will definitely be wiped out here.

You must know that in the sixteenth century, these infectious diseases were absolutely incurable diseases, and they could only be resisted by personal physique and luck after the onset.If someone is lucky and survives, he can still live; if he is unlucky and does not survive, then basically there is only one dead end.

At that time, not to mention Indian tribal witch doctors who only knew how to dance the Great God, or medieval European barbers who only knew enema and bloodletting (Note), they were relatively reliable ancient Chinese medicine practitioners who faced these terrible fierceness.

——Although traditional Chinese medicine at that time had initially figured out the method of preventing smallpox by inoculating human pox, it was only an early prevention.In case of encountering smallpox patients who are suffering from the disease, apart from letting them resign themselves to their fate, Chinese medicine practitioners also do not have many particularly good treatment options.

Um?Why is it difficult for ancient doctors to treat these fierce plagues?

Please go through a few examples to see what kind of diseases these are!

The first is cholera, the cause is usually unhygienic diet, that is, eating unclean things or drinking unclean water, which leads to extremely severe vomiting, diarrhea, excretion every few minutes, and can only sit all day long On the toilet, and then make the patient dehydrated and unconscious.

If it is in a modern hospital, if you want to add water to a critically ill patient who is on the verge of dehydration, the best way is naturally to give an injection and infusion.However, with the pathetic level of craftsmanship before the industrial revolution, basically no one in the East or the West could make a decent hollow needle, and naturally there was no way to infuse fluids to replenish water. Therefore, a considerable number of cholera patients with weak constitutions, After the outbreak of the epidemic, it often does not last for three days, and the circulation fails, and the legs die.

Then there is smallpox, which is even more terrifying. It can be transmitted through droplets, making it difficult for many people to guard against it.The smallpox virus has no symptoms after it first infects people. It usually starts on the 12th day. The first stage after the onset is a high fever. Many patients die after failing this stage.

Even if you survive the high fever, you will still be covered with cell disease, fester, and even have a high chance of causing sepsis, which will cause the patient to die within a month. In the era when antibiotics have not been invented, a small Wound infection can also kill people!

Even if smallpox patients can be cured in the end, they will all have permanent spots on their bodies, and their faces will become pockmarked and bumpy—for example, the famous Emperor Kangxi has this very ugly pockmarked face—and Some people will permanently lose their sight and become blind.

Next is yellow fever, a disease that occurs mainly in tropical areas and is transmitted by mosquitoes like malaria, but it is more deadly than malaria and more difficult to treat-the patient first has a high fever above 40 degrees, severe pain and With jaundice all over the body, many people died before they could survive the first level.

Then, the virus will invade the internal organs from the blood, causing a wide range of tissue lesions, causing the patient to vomit blood, have blood in the stool or even internal bleeding, and the internal organs will fail severely.Even if the patients survived by chance, the yellow fever virus can cause permanent damage to their organs, especially the liver.The result is that people who have had yellow fever appear debilitated and often do not live to very long years.

Finally, there was the plague, also known as the Black Death or hemorrhagic fever, the plague that terrified Europeans and was spread by fleas on rats.Patients usually have a fever to the point of insanity, and then large black plaques appear all over their bodies, causing unbearable pain.In the end, the patient's skin would fester and fall off quickly, oozing out an astonishing amount of blood and pus... usually within two days, they would die, and there were very few people who managed to recover by chance.

According to Narvaez's consistent cognition, any one of the above-mentioned plagues in any place is enough to turn a prosperous city into a desolate ruin in a few months, and turn an invincible army All of the mighty troops in the world were sent to the grave in an instant...not to mention that so many kinds of plagues broke out at the same time!In this situation, it is already a great luck for one person to survive!

With the development of immunology and antibiotics, many severe infectious diseases that have plagued mankind for thousands of years have been conquered one after another in the [-]th century.In a modern society with advanced medical science, AIDS is generally the only infectious disease that can really frighten people (cancer is not an infectious disease).

But in ancient times when medicine was backward, almost every kind of severe infectious disease could bring the ancients no less fear than AIDS does to modern people!

When the Black Death broke out in Europe in the 14th century, the whole city was literally littered with corpses overnight, and dead people were everywhere.In just two or three years, almost one-third of the population of Europe died, and many famous cities have since become ghost towns.Even healthy citizens fled to the countryside one after another, isolated themselves, and waited for the plague to dissipate-this is just a black death!

Therefore, after experiencing such a super compound plague comparable to the last judgment, there are still so many people in my team who can persevere, especially since I did not die because of it, Narvaez on the hospital bed Already feeling ecstatic.

However, when he struggled to call a Spanish soldier on duty, intending to thank the few Chinese, and to test whether he could purchase some special medicines to stock up and bring them back to Europe for sale later, he got an offer. unexpected answer.

"...Reporting sir, those noble Seris nobles have been carrying medicines to treat diseases and save lives in the surrounding villages and towns for the past few days!"

The young soldier said with admiration, "...Although they are pagans, they look like a group of saints..."

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Note: Medieval European doctors, especially surgeons who performed operations, were often employed by barbers.A cylindrical sign of red, blue and white is often placed at the entrance of modern barbershops, which originated in Europe in the Middle Ages, where blue and red represent veins and arteries respectively.