Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1146 Looking for Vaccine Partners
"I heard that the Chinese brought a miraculous drug that can immunize people against smallpox. It's that terrible disease. People's faces are covered with pockmarks and they can die easily. If smallpox can be avoided for life, wouldn't it be a great disease?" You don’t need to be afraid anymore? Many newborns in our city of London are infected with smallpox every year, and none of them can live to be three years old.”

"However, each dose of medicine costs 10 pounds, so the price is too expensive. I have seen their samples, and a dose is only as small as a finger, which is comparable to silver itself!"

"I don't know whether the merchants from China are willing to lower the price. If they are willing to lower the price, we may consider buying this batch of goods. We even need this medicine ourselves, so we can do business in places where smallpox is rampant in the future without using it." Fearing for my life."

Businessmen in the city of London immediately smelled the business opportunities, and talked about the smallpox vaccine that they thought was miraculous at banquets or private meetings.

Because Li Jinde and others placed smallpox vaccine samples in the most conspicuous places in tea shops, porcelain shops, silk shops and other shops, the mysterious smallpox vaccine quickly spread in London due to its high price, and some businessmen soon came to investigate this kind of thing Whether there are suitable business opportunities.Some businessmen even think that if the millions of people in Britain are all vaccinated, then this market is a potential market of tens of millions of pounds, not to mention that the new population every year also needs to be vaccinated, and they can profit from it in the long run.

"This iron needle is going to be pierced into the human skin, and then inject the medicine in the glass tube into the human body?" Businessmen in the city of London approached Li Jinde and asked him about the vaccine, which was as expensive as silver.

Li Jinde specially invited the doctors on board to demonstrate the injection process of the smallpox vaccine to these potential customers.The process of the needle piercing the skin made them feel creepy for those who lacked physiological knowledge, and they were terrified of this injection method from the bottom of their hearts.This fear is an innate defense against danger.

In just over ten days, dozens of British businessmen approached Li Jinde and asked him in detail about the use and safety of the vaccine.

Knowing that the wonder drug needs to be injected into the body with a needle and can be fatal, they hesitate to buy the vaccine in large quantities.After all, people are short-sighted. Generally, they only go to the doctor in a hurry when they are really sick.If a person does not suffer from smallpox, he may believe that he will not suffer from it in the future, and there is no need to risk his life to be vaccinated now,

"If the vaccine can really prevent disease for life, it may be profitable to risk your life to inject this drug. But regardless of whether it is useful now, the most important thing is that if the first batch of people who use this drug If one of them dies, everyone is in danger, and no one is willing to inject. And this drug has a shelf life, right? It will take a while to ship from China. If no one accepts the injection, this batch of expensive The goods are about to be destroyed in our hands." Among the merchants who came, nine out of ten expressed their fear of death, and one person felt that the price of 10 pounds a piece was too expensive, only nobles and merchants able to afford it.

These British businessmen weighed the gains and losses in their hearts, and finally thought that the price was expensive and the risk was high, so they did not dare to buy the vaccine.

Ordinary London citizens and farmers could not afford a £10 vaccine, and at the same time rumors began to spread that they might die from it, making the vaccine that everyone was interested in unsalable.

Li Jinde saw the British businessmen who came to inquire and leave one by one, so he could only sigh: "It is most beneficial for the government to force this kind of thing that is slightly risky but beneficial to the people, but if the king who is lobbying the other side forces the people to The price of vaccination is not as expensive as the law, and they have to find a way to bribe their king. When they really understand the benefits of this drug, they may ask us to sell it to them at a high price."

"There's no way around this. Even people in our fleet are unwilling to be vaccinated. If it wasn't for the military leader who thought that smallpox was rampant on the Western side before departure, he would have forced every member of our fleet who hadn't had smallpox to be vaccinated Get vaccinated, maybe there are still people who haven't been vaccinated." A Chinese businessman said.

"The capital has only just begun to use vaccines to replace the traditional smallpox vaccination... Westerners are not as skilled in this area as we are in the East. They don't even have a method of vaccination against smallpox. No wonder the harm of smallpox is more serious here. No wonder the military master asked us to bring vaccines to sell..." Li Jinde sighed.

Just when Li Jinde and his party were sighing, a short middle-aged British businessman found Li Jinde, who was dressed in the gorgeous costumes of British nobles.

"You can call me Sir Henry. I am the governor of the Levant Company. The Levant Company is like the East India Company, but we have a monopoly on the trade between Britain and the Ottoman Empire. Since my father's generation , and export a large amount of wool to the Ottoman Empire every year.” The short businessman crossed his legs and said with some pride, “I am still a director of the East India Company. The company invested and became the governor of the East India Company. However, the East India Company was bought by you Chinese people, and the business in the East has been completely monopolized by you, and becoming the governor of the East India Company is useless.”

"Is your name Sir Henry? What is the purpose of your visit this time?" Li Jinde saw this man's complacent look, and he seemed to be one of the top businessmen in Britain.

After a detailed discussion with Sir Greenville, he already knew that the most powerful gentry and nobles in Britain at this time were still the squires and nobles. As long as the king reorganized the parliament, the squires and nobles would still occupy the most seats—although many squires and nobles began to occupy the largest number of seats because of the enclosure movement. With the color of capitalism.

Secondly, the merchant class has the most seats in the parliament. Many merchants even have the status of aristocrats because of bribing the royal family and ministers.The top British merchants are those with monopoly privileges such as the East India Company, the Levant Company, the Russian Company, and the Virginia Company.They obtained huge profits in foreign trade through monopoly privileges, and then penetrated into the political field because of their economic strength.

"I heard that you have a miraculous drug that can prevent people from suffering from smallpox, so I want to come and have a look and see what kind of miraculous drug the vaccine is talking about in the business circles of the city of London." Merchant Henry said.

(End of this chapter)