Chapter Ninety-Three: And the white clouds on his back

At the end of summer, the weather in Yilan is rainy and humid, and although this climate is conducive to the growth of rice, it is not so comfortable for people.

As if dyed by this weather, whether it is immigrants or natives, they are holding back the fire in their hearts.

Three years ago, the migrants appeared on the banks of the Yilan River, and the Kamalam natives were terrified by the ships they traveled, and they kept a respectful attitude towards them because they occupied land that the natives did not need. Later, the immigrants clashed with the Atayal people several times, and the Atayal people, who had always been brave, were helpless in front of the iron-clad and tightly organized immigration guards, and the immigrants' bed crossbows and artillery made these Atayal people panic and had to retreat into the mountains. The natives of the plains warned each other not to come into conflict with these immigrants as much as possible. However, more and more immigrants have moved over, initially two or three hundred people per month, and this year it is two or three thousand people per month, and the immigrants living in Yilan have built six forts centered on Yilan City, with a total of more than 40,000 people settled here. The wasteland they opened up was also becoming more and more extensive, and it was getting closer and closer to the core area where the natives lived, and the natives retreated step by step, and now there was no way to retreat.

In the entire Yilan River Basin, there are a total of 36 tribes, that is, the 36 societies mentioned in Chen Ren's letter to Zhao and Ju that year. Normally, these 36 societies had little contact with each other, but in the face of the threat of immigration, they had to come together.

"We've lost half of our hunting grounds, we've hunted less than a third of the deer we had at most, and we're starting to go hungry!" The patriarch of one of the tribes said fiercely: "They must be driven out, these robbers must be driven out, they are even more hateful than the Atayal!" ”

The tribe was so close to the immigrant's fort that it was so angry.

"They didn't cut off the heads of your people as ornaments, as the Atayal did." The patriarch of another tribe who had a gap with him said coldly, his tribe was far away from the immigrants, and there was no such urgent pain.

"The Atayal people are just killing people, but they want to take our land!"

"Even the Atayal are no match for them, so how do you deal with those samurai wrapped in steel? How do you resist the shots? The other patriarch immediately retorted.

"And we accepted their gifts and gave them all the land we didn't want." This is a patriarch who prefers to work with immigrants. Although the immigrants were so wrong, the things they brought to the natives, whether it was silk and porcelain that the natives did not have, or the salt-grained rice that the natives could produce themselves, were all excellent.

Soon, as in the case of previous meetings with the patriarchs, the Kamalan tribes were locked in a quarrel with each other.

"Aunt Tu, you are the oldest among us, and you have passed through more hurricanes than we have passed through the spring rains. Tell me, what should we do? ”

As the talks were about to break down, Kamasya, who had gathered all the patriarchs, spoke loudly.

The person who was called Aunt Ah Tu was the patriarch of a small community in the Thirty-six Society, and since the beginning of the meeting, she frowned and said nothing. Kamasia knew that she was old and wise, so he asked her to speak.

"I've seen tung blossoms bloom fifty times (Note 1), and I'm not worried about outsiders." Aunt Ah Tu said slowly: "The ghosts and gods are going to sin on us, and the plague will come upon us, and seven people in our tribe have died, and as far as I know, most of the tribes here have also suffered from the plague!" ”

These words calmed down all the patriarchs, and they all understood what it meant to have a plague in this hot and humid Yilan.

It is possible that the entire tribe will be destroyed, and it is imminent.

"Aunt Tutu, are you sure?" Kamashya also took a breath of cold air: "Is it really the plague? ”

Most of their patriarchs are also witch doctors, and they know some herbs. But if it is a plague, it is not something that they can deal with.

"I'm sure." Aunt Atu's wrinkled face was full of sadness.

"Go back, go back!" Immediately, the patriarch got up and left, and Kamasia couldn't stop him, and everyone knew how terrible the plague was, and they all considered how to avoid it.

"Five people from our tribe have also died in the past few days, and their symptoms are ...... Indeed, like the plague, Aunt Atu, do you have any way? Kamashya asked.

"There is no way, we can only pray for the blessing of our ancestors and ghosts." Aunt Ah Tu shook her head.

Although this plague came suddenly, it was not unexpected, immigrants from the land first arrived in Liuqiu, and they were originally prone to abuse, although according to Zhao and Ju's recipe, Qiu Shuang used Artemisia wine to save the lives of most people, after all, there were still some people who died. The natives were also infected in the trade with the immigrants, although they were more adaptable, but they did not have immunity, and the witch doctors in the tribe could only pray to the ghosts, so once the attack was out of control. At the time of the meeting of the patriarchs of the 36th Society, there were only a few people of each ethnic group, and at most more than a dozen people had died of illness, and in less than 10 days, hundreds of people had fallen ill.

The area inhabited by the natives was originally a low-lying swamp with a lot of mosquitoes, and the spread was even more rapid.

Although Aunt Ah Tu has seen fifty times in the New Year, her body is still quite strong, and when the clansmen have fallen, she has never been ill, and she is even more worried when she sees the young and strong people in the clan when they are cold and hot, like the appearance of evil ghosts. Although he prayed to the ghost ancestors every day, he was unable to receive any revelation from the ghost ancestors.

All the neighboring tribes were already showing symptoms, people were dying every day, and the plague was still spreading, and Aunt Ah Tu had never seen such a terrible plague in her memory.

When she was at a loss, Qiu Shuang carried the box on her back, her whole body was covered in a white cloth coat, and strode out of the Yilan City Gate. He was followed by ten guards and five natives dressed in the same way as him.

"Feng Qing, you are going to take such a risk?" Chen Ren sent him to the door, and couldn't help but call him again at this time.

When Qiu Shuang was eighteen years old, Zhao and Ju gave him the word "Fengqing", so Chen Ren called it by the word. He turned his head, through the cotton mask, and spoke with a little buzz: "Shibin, I have already said three times, the officials handed over Yilan to the management of the two of us, how can the two of us not treat it cautiously and break the hatred of the natives, just in one move, if I can't shrink because of the difficult future, how can I be worthy of the officials!" Death and resurrection, nothing more! ”

Chen Ren was silent, and sighed for a while: "When you even killed a chicken, you had to cry for a long time, I always only said that you were soft-hearted, but I never thought that you would be so decisive......"

"Rest assured, I'm not completely sure." Qiu Shuang laughed and patted the box on his back: "Da Lang told me a long time ago that this malaria is transmitted by mosquito bites, and if you want to eliminate malaria, you must first kill mosquitoes." I also have Artemisia Wine and Yushu Divine Paste (Note 2), as long as I am not terminally ill, I can be sure that the medicine will cure the disease! ”

Chen Ren sighed in his heart again, and could only smile on his face: "Since this is the case, then I wish you success and go early and return early!" ”

"In our city's dock fort, we must also pay attention to epidemic prevention, and let mosquitoes have a chance to take advantage of it!" Qiu Shuang admonished, waved his hand, turned over on his horse, and left Yilan City.

"The official once said that when treating these natives, I should be kind, so that abuse is rampant among the natives, it is a good opportunity for me to be benevolent, even if there are some risks, I have to get things done. Shibin is so worried, although it is for my own good, he inevitably looks down on me. Riding on a horse and glancing back at Yilan City, Qiu Shuang secretly thought in his heart: "This is the case, I have to do something to come out, so that Shibin and the others will be surprised." ”

The natives discussed how to deal with the immigrants, but they didn't know that the immigrants had already prepared, Chen Ren bought some natives, and even some tribal patriarchs were pro-Yilan, so every meeting would end because of quarrels. This time, there was a plague in the Turen tribe, which was known to Chen Ren in a very short time, and it was not his forte to deal with the plague, but Qiu Shuang was really passed on by Zhao and Ju. After learning the symptoms of the plague from the details of the earth, Qiu Shuang immediately determined that this was malaria, although in this era, malaria is almost a matter of fate, but for Qiu Shuang, curing this is a good trick, and there are ready-made medicines and therapies, so he made up his mind to go through this experience.

The first person he went to was Aunt Atu's tribe. Although this aunt's tribe is only a small tribe, because of her old age and high morality, she has quite a lot of prestige among the tribes that lead her, and if she can solve the malaria of her tribe, she will be attractive to the rest of the tribes.

When Aunt Ah Tu heard that the warrior said that there were Song people outside who asked to see her, her first reaction was to disappear.

The immigrants who came to Yilan included the Song people and the Jin people, but the natives called them Song people. The warrior had originally received a gift, but when he left, he was a little hesitant, and he quickly came back after a while, with surprise on his face: "Patriarch, the Song people said that he can drive away the plague ghosts for us!" ”

These words made Aunt Ah Tu stand up suddenly, she walked around the room, thinking that these Song people did have some skills that she couldn't understand, and hurriedly said, "How many of them are there?" ”

"Sixteen, ten of them are armed."

Aunt Ah Tu turned around two more times, and there were only sixteen people, and only ten of them were armed, so they posed no threat to their tribe. For the sake of prudence, she pondered for a while and then said, "Let the leader come in, ten people with weapons are not allowed to come in!" ”

Qiu Shuang only smiled when he heard these words outside the village, and he said to the head of the guard: "You stay here, and I will translate with the natives." ”

"Mr. Qiu, when I came, Mr. Chen had an explanation, I don't have to protect you thoroughly, you are in danger lightly, but you make it difficult for me to wait for a good life!" When the guard captain heard this, he was anxious: "If the natives have bad intentions, what should they do?" ”

"Don't worry, I've got a solution." Qiu Shuang said: "Besides, as far as more than ten of us are concerned, if the natives have bad intentions, you will be sent to death if you go in, it is better to stay here, and there will be an echo if there is something." ”

Hearing him say this, the captain of the guard could not stop him, so he had to enter the Turen village with an interpreter.

When she saw Qiu Shuang for the first time, Aunt Ah Tu was startled, and her whole body was tightly wrapped, but she didn't know what the reason was.

"Ask the patriarch to take me to the patient." Don't be polite with this native patriarch, Qiu Shuang said straightforwardly. The Turen interpreter told his words to Aunt Ah Tu in the native language, and Aunt Ah Tu was stunned, and when she wanted to come to this Song people to help, she wanted to propose an exchange condition, but she didn't expect him to see the patient without saying a word.

But this is also exactly what she wants, she glanced at the samurai, and the samurai in the clan understood, and took a large number of people to "escort" Qiu Shuang and his party. The native interpreter was full of panic, and kept muttering, presumably complaining that Qiu Shuang should not be a hero or something like that, Qiu Shuang just smiled faintly, as if he hadn't heard it.

In order to facilitate care, all the sick people are grouped together and right next to a pond. Qiu Shuang frowned when he saw the pond, which was stagnant and a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

"A total of twenty-eight ......" Counting the patients, Qiu Shuang frowned again, the situation was more serious than he imagined, and the yellow artemisia wine he brought might not be enough for these people.

To cure malaria, it is not possible to rely only on the medicine and wine in his hands, and it is also necessary to change the way of life of these natives. But in order for the natives to listen to him, they must be shown his methods, and they must first be cured.

It took him an hour to check the patient's pulse and heartbeat one by one, and all the white clothes on his body were soaked with sweat. He turned around and saw that the nativeess and the warriors of the tribe were staring at him, so he sighed and said, "Some people are mildly ill and I can cure them, and some people are seriously ill and I am already late." ”

"Even if I go to the cure, the ghosts and ancestors will bless my people." Aunt Ah Tu said lightly.

"Huh." Hearing what the interpreter said, Qiu Shuang shook his head, and he didn't bother to argue with the native patriarch. He took out a bottle of Artemisia annua wine and a glass measuring cup from the box, poured out most of the cup according to the scale on the measuring cup, and poured it into a slightly less ill native.

After irrigating three people in a row, Qiu Shuang said: "Move these three people away from the pond, don't you have herbs for smoking mosquitoes and burning them in their residence." Let's go out of the village first, and if these three people get better, then we will cure the rest, lest they all be cured, and you say that your ghosts and ancestors have blessed them. ”

When these words came out, although Aunt Ah Tu lived to be fifty years old, she couldn't help but blush. As a patriarch and witch doctor, she understood better than ordinary clansmen what was going on with the ghost god and the ancestral heroic spirit, and when she saw Qiu Shuang turn around to go out, a warrior quietly asked her if she wanted to stop her, she shook her head and sighed.

It took three days to pour medicinal wine into these three people, and he set up a tent in front of the Turen Village to stay in these three days. Two days later, the symptoms of the three people's sudden cold and heat had completely disappeared, and out of caution, Qiu Shuang still fed them medicinal wine on the third day.

Seeing that this terrible plague was really cured in the hands of the Song people, Aunt Ah Tu was both happy and worried, happy that there was no longer any danger of exterminating the clan, and worried that she didn't know what conditions the Song people would put forward before they were willing to completely cure the remaining clansmen. She had also thought about snatching all the medicinal liquor from Qiu Shuang, but she shuddered at the thought of the retribution she might encounter if she did so.

"Tell her that my master has sent me to treat these patients, and ask her to tell the rest of the tribes that anyone with this disease can be sent to their tribe, and I will treat her here." Seeing her strange expression, Qiu Shuang just smiled and explained to the natives. (Note 3)

Note 1: The Kamalan people start the year with the blooming of the tung blossoms in March and April every year.

Note 2: That is, the predecessor of Wanjin Oil (Cool Oil), which contains camphor, peppermint, cinnamon, eucalyptus oil and other ingredients, most of which are available in the Great Song Dynasty at this time.

Note 3: It is true in the history of Yilan's development to go deep into the indigenous tribes to heal the indigenous people, so as to resolve the hostility between the indigenous people and the immigrants. Compared with the European colonizers' delivery of sick blankets in the Americas, it is really impressive.