Song Yi

Chapter 114
The magistrate of Zhuang County cheerfully said: "We have to wait for the county's thank-you banquet to discuss anything. We won't talk about business today! The county will have a drink with you! ——Come here, set up a banquet!"

Master Hou also said cheerfully: "Mr. Du, you have helped the county magistrate continue the incense, and you have worked hard. The magistrate has repeatedly said that I want to thank you! It is not only money, but also intends to promote you..."

Du Wenhao hurriedly interrupted him: "I'm sorry, my lord! Listen to me, this matter is very important...!"

At this moment, Zhuang Zhixian's face was full of joy, and he waved his hands again and again: "It doesn't matter whether it is big or small, drinking is the most important thing! The county is happy today!"

Master Hou also smiled and said: "Yes, let's talk about it at the wine table, what big event in this small county town can bring the sky down! Hehe"

"That's right! It's a big deal! - It's about your lord's black hat!"

The smiles of Zhuang Zhixian and Master Hou froze immediately, they glanced at each other, Zhuang Zhixian stared at Du Wenhao: "What is so important?"

"One of the six or seven emergency patients sent from Liujiawan thirty miles away has died. According to reports, dozens of people in Liujiawan have died of this disease! Moreover, the villages and towns near Liujiawan have already died. It has been found in the past few days that this kind of death cases all died within one or two days after contracting the disease, indicating that it is highly contagious! This disease is very severe and may spread rapidly to infect the whole county. If no decisive measures are taken, there will be serious consequences. Thousands of people died day and night!"

Zhuang Zhixian was stunned for a moment: "What...why is the disease so severe?"

"Plague!"

Zhuang Zhixian's legs went limp, and he almost collapsed on the ground. Master Hou hurriedly supported him, then turned to Du Wenhao and said, "You, are you right?"

"Judging from the few cases sent here, the contagion is very strong. The people who sent them all had similar symptoms. The symptoms of the patients are all in line with the characteristics of plague. It should not be wrong!"

The county magistrate asked: "Since so many people died in Liujiawan and nearby villages and towns, why didn't the local people report it?"

Master Hou coughed lightly, and said, "Dong Weng, there is no such famous doctor as Dr. Du in the villages and towns below, and they don't know it's an epidemic. Besides, you know that Lizheng and others in the villages and towns always report good news but not bad ones. The matter was out of control, so I reported it." Master Hou thought for a while, then turned to ask Du Wenhao: "How did Mr. Du know that the plague outbreak in Liujiawan and nearby villages and towns has killed many people?"

"I also heard from the person who escorted me, but I haven't been proved yet."

Zhuang Zhixian breathed a sigh of relief: "That's it, how can you jump to conclusions about something that hasn't been proven yet?

Du Wenhao said urgently: "The plague is coming very violently. Judging from these few cases, it is likely that it can be transmitted through the air. If it is confirmed before taking measures, I am afraid that the plague has swept the entire county! In the future, the responsibility will be investigated. How do you explain it? Even if you can explain the responsibility, how can you, as a county parent official, be worthy of the tens of thousands of people who died?"

Zhuang Zhixian was dumbfounded, and stammered: "No..., it's not that serious, is it?"

Master Hou frowned thickly, moved his head closer, and opened the big folding fan with a bang, habitually covering half of their faces, and said in a low voice:

"Dong Weng, if it is really plague, Mr. Du's words are not alarmist. In the eighth year of Qingli, there was a catastrophe in Hebei, and the plague broke out in the next year. Seventy-eight out of ten died in cities and villages! Dozens of people!"

Zhuangzhi County is a complete nerd and lacks the ability to deal with emergencies. When he heard that it might be a plague, he panicked a long time ago. When he heard that he might be dismissed if he failed to prevent it, he couldn't help shivering: "This..., this is terrible. What should I do? Or, hurry up and report to Fucheng?"

"You can't report it without verification. Falsely reporting the epidemic and causing panic and riots is not a small crime."

"Then..., what should I do then?"

"Listen to Mr. Du's opinion first."

"Okay!" Zhuang Zhixian coughed and asked, "Mr. Du, since this is the case, what should we do?"

"Immediately impose martial law throughout the city and prohibit everyone from moving around, so as to reduce contact with infection as much as possible. Establish an isolation zone outside the city, strictly check all people entering and leaving, and those who find symptoms of plague such as high fever, cough, and chest pain will be isolated and treated immediately. At the same time, dispatched The investigative medical team went to Liujiawan to verify the situation."

The magistrate of Zhuang lost his mind again and looked at Master Hou.

Master Hou thought for a while, and said: "Strict investigation at the four gates is possible. Of course, it is necessary to send personnel to investigate. However, the whole city is under martial law... I am afraid that there will be difficulties. There is no garrison in the city, and the nearest garrison is fifty miles away. There are no more than 50 people in the three classes of yamen servants plus the strong people. They are unable to bear the heavy responsibility of martial law in the whole city. Besides, martial law in the whole city will inevitably cause people to speculate and panic. Once a civil uprising occurs, I am afraid..."

"However, this plague is preliminarily judged to be a droplet infection. If there is no martial law, it will spread quickly throughout the city as people move around! The panic caused by the death of every household in the city is probably much more severe than the panic caused by speculation. ?”

Master Hou put away his folding fan, and said in a deep voice, "Mr. Du, can you be sure that it must be plague?"

Du Wenhao was stunned for a moment. Indeed, he only judged based on the six or seven cases of Wuweitang and Jishitang and the situation of the escorts, but there are two problems that cannot be determined.

First, whether it is pneumonic plague or not is now only speculated based on symptoms, and there is no testing method, so it is impossible to judge;

Second, whether many people died overnight in Liujiawan, currently only the uncle of the child can prove it.

Therefore, let Du Wenhao himself say with certainty that the disease is plague, but he dare not say so due to insufficient evidence.

Du Wenhao said: "How about this, please ask the Yamen to dispatch war horses, and the medical officer of the Yamen and I will go to Liujiawan to investigate immediately!"

Master Hou said: "Your Excellency is about to tell you about this at the banquet. Your Excellency intends to promote you as the county medical officer. This is just right."

"Ah?" Du Wenhao looked at Zhuangzhi County with some surprise.

Zhuangzhi county nodded and said: "Exactly, according to the law, the county's medical officers should match five people. A few days ago, Dr. Wu retired from his old age and returned to his hometown. There is a vacancy. Dr. Du, your medical skills are like a god, and you have cured the county's yang... um, This county is very satisfied with this little ailment, and intends to promote you to fill this vacancy as a medical officer of this county, just in case of this incident, you can go to investigate in a justifiable way, I don't know what you want?"

Du Wenhao hurriedly bowed and said, "Thank you for your promotion, sir!"

The emperors of the Song Dynasty paid unprecedented attention to medicine. In addition to promulgating medical laws and publishing medical techniques, they also vigorously strengthened the construction of medical institutions, setting up medical administration, medical education institutions, and medicinal materials management institutions.

Medical officers are officials of medical administration and medical institutions.Divided into central and local levels.In the imperial court is the Hanlin Medical Officer Bureau, which is responsible for enshrining imperial medicine, diagnosing and treating diseases for the imperial relatives and courtiers in the inner court. Once a large-scale epidemic occurs in the army and the people, a team of imperial medical officers will be sent to treat them.

Prefectural and county yamen also set up medical bureaus correspondingly, with fixed medical officers, who belonged to the sequence of imperial officials and received imperial salaries. The local medical officers had one doctor of medicine and one teaching assistant.

Medical officers are generally recruited only after passing the medical examination, but they can also be appointed directly by the sponsor of the local chief executive.

The main function of the local medical bureau is to be responsible for the management of local medical affairs. At the same time, another important function is to monitor the epidemic situation in various places.The medical officer of the Medical Official Bureau can also serve as a pharmacy doctor to diagnose diseases for the common people.

Master Hou cupped his hands and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Du! Ah no, it should be Doctor Du."

Turning around, he said to Zhuang County Magistrate: "My lord, there should be no delay in the prevention and control of the epidemic. Immediately start the arrangement. I will order the county captain Pang to set up guard posts at the four gates, check the merchants entering and leaving the city, and set up a quarantine area outside the city. Immediately notify Dr. Qiu and Assistant Professor Tang of the Medical Bureau , Let them summon medical officers and Du medical officers to team up to Liujiawan to investigate the epidemic.

At the same time, they dispatched [-] Li urgently to report to Fucheng that there may be a plague in Liujiawan, and they are sending medical officers to verify it.This is both good and bad. "

Zhuang Zhixian nodded again and again: "Okay! You can do it right away!"

Du Wenhao admired Master Hou for being decisive and seasoned in dealing with officials.

Master Hou first brought Du Wenhao to the medical bureau, where there were only two medical officers napping, one named Hong Guoliang and the other named Wang Xiang.Dr. Qiu, the director of the Medical Bureau, and Assistant Professor Tang, the deputy director, were nowhere to be seen. After asking, they found out that the two old men had gone to a teahouse to drink tea.

After Master Hou made an introduction, he asked Wang Xiang to call the two leaders quickly, and then went to find Captain Pang himself.

After waiting for more than half an hour, Du Wenhao was in a hurry in the medical office, and then Dr. Qiu and Assistant Professor Tang came back slowly.

After the medical officer Wang Xiang made an introduction, Du Wenhao hurriedly stepped forward and cupped his hands: "Du Wenhao has met the doctor, two adults who are teaching assistants!"

Dr. Qiu was fat and fat. He walked slowly behind the desk, sat down in the grand master's chair, rolled his thick eyelids and looked at Du Wenhao up and down: "Are you the new medical officer Du Wenhao?"

"Exactly."

"Well, I heard that Xu Sihai sued you the last time he beat the drum and called for grievances, saying that you were a mediocre doctor who committed homicide. It's up to you."

Du Wenhao was very upset to hear his words, but he didn't have time to say these things at this time, so he cupped his hands and said, "My lord, the epidemic is urgent, let's leave immediately!"

"Epidemic? By the way, just now they came to say that you found a plague in Liujiawan?"

"Exactly."

Dr. Qiu dragged out his voice and said in an official tone:
"Plague is not something you talk about casually. The world has been peaceful these years, and there has been no major disaster in this county. Where did the plague come from? Do you know what is plague? Huh, let me tell you, "Su Wen" says , the emperor said: I have heard that the five epidemics are all contagious, no matter how big or small, the symptoms are similar.

It is also said: The plague was so great that Minshan died violently.It is also said that the evidence of plague is also. "Six Yuanzheng Ji Da Lun" said: His disease is warm and febrile, and it is as salty as it is far and near.He also said: His disease is febrile.It is said that warm disease is not as good as cold disease, and it is covered by warm disease and cold disease..."

Du Wenhao finally couldn't bear it any longer and interrupted him: "Needless to say, Du knows all this!"

(End of this chapter)