The matter of the whaling ship was quickly decided, and the basic configuration was based on Lawrence's plan, and a Furlong cannon was attached to the bow to fire whaling forks. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info is just that this new type of fishing gear is required to be highly confidential, for this reason, in all documents, it can only be called by a code name, and Zheng Sen, who is in charge of this matter, gave this thing a very strange code name: AGM-84.

Although everyone thinks that this code name does not know what it means at all, Zheng Sen said that it is best not to know what it means. Anyway, it's just a trivial matter, so this weird code name has been decided. Even all kinds of strange numbers later became a feature of the Zheng family.

The construction of whaling ships was much simpler, at least not so particular in the choice of wood. So the rest of the week went quite well, but the immigration didn't go so well, and as the weather got warmer, a big problem began to arise, and that was malaria. Since the beginning of May, news of malaria deaths has been coming from various villages. Especially for new immigrants, because their bodies have not fully recovered, and because they are not adapted, there are not a few people who have contracted diseases and died, and it is estimated that nearly 100 people died in the first half of May alone. Of course, this figure is only an extrapolation based on the situation of a few villages closer to North Port. In fact, although the Zheng family is the owner of all immigrants, the construction of grassroots organizations in Taiwan is no different from that on the mainland, and the countryside is basically in a state of anarchic autonomy. So the exact number is almost impossible to obtain.

Malaria is a common mosquito bite infectious disease in the tropics, especially in jungle areas, and it is a very difficult disease to deal with, even in later generations, the disease is not easy to deal with. And in this day and age, there are almost no drugs in the whole world that are truly effective against this disease. In Zheng Sen's memory, he only knew that traditionally, extracts from the bark of the cinchona tree had been used to combat the disease. However, cinchona trees are only found in South America, and it is not clear whether Zheng Sen has been found or not, at least he has not heard the word cinchona in anyone's mouth at present. If you send people to South America to look for it now, it is estimated that when the Manchurian Tartars are called, they may not be able to find it. In short, far water can't quench the thirst of the near. In addition to using the simplest cinchona bark, among the drugs suitable for malaria, Zheng Sen only knows artemisinin.

When he was in the forum, Zheng Sen also participated in the fierce online debate between Chinese and Western medicine, and in this fruitless debate, some people took out artemisinin as an argument that Chinese medicine is very good. But some people claim that artemisinin from the extraction method to the use of the principle of research is typical Western, can only be regarded as a Chinese and Western medicine invented by the Chinese. Later, after Mr. Tu Youyou won the first explosives award in the natural science category in the history of Chitu Country (compared with the explosives award in the social science category, the explosives award in the natural science category seems to be more convincing), artemisinin became popular again. So even Zheng Sen, who is not a medical major, has a deep impression of this thing. Zheng Sen knew that artemisinin was extracted from Artemisia annua (not the kind used to make Artemisia annua). Moreover, the method of extraction is neither common decoction, nor natural and healthy raw juice, nor eating daywormwood as a salad, but leaching with ether, and then repeatedly crystallizing.

"Grandma's, in this era, where can Lao Tzu find ether?" Zheng Sen scolded in his heart while looking at the report on the epidemic. Zheng Sen studied mathematics before crossing over, and was not specialized in chemistry, although he vaguely remembered that in the laboratory, ether could be made with concentrated sulfuric acid plus absolute ethanol plus sodium carbonate solution, but these raw materials were also difficult to obtain in this era. Therefore, if he wants to rely on this to get artemisinin, and the quantity must be used to treat so many patients, Zheng Sen feels that his ability is limited, and if he must produce it in large quantities, I am afraid it is better to invite another Gao Ming.

Of course, the inability to produce in large quantities is not the same as small batches, concentrated sulfuric acid can be obtained by dry distillation of ferrous sulfate (of course, the cost is high), sodium carbonate, that is, soda ash, this nature seems to also exist naturally. As for absolute ethanol, that is, anhydrous alcohol, it can be obtained by repeated distillation to obtain a high concentration of alcohol of about 78 degrees, and then add quicklime, and then distill. Zheng Sen thought about it and thought it would be good to try it, to know that he and Zheng Zhifeng are also in Taiwan now, in case he also contracted this problem, he really needed this thing to save his life. Of course, these chemical experiments do not need Zheng Sen to do it himself, chemical experiments are very dangerous, and if they are not done well, there will be problems. is the so-called son of a daughter, who does not sit in the court. Zheng Sen himself would not do such a dangerous thing.

Zheng Sen also happened to have such a vote at hand that could be used to do this, that is, some orphans among the homeless. Some of the displaced people recruited by Zheng Cai are orphans, and according to the plan, these people will be cultivated as future members of the Zheng family. Moreover, some of them who have read some books and know words are even more valued, and they are transferred by Zheng Sen to be trained as the future technical backbone team of the family. These people can be used to do this kind of thing under Zheng Sen's guidance. In addition, Zheng Sen also vaguely remembers that artemisinin can be dissolved in many organic solvents, that is, maybe ethanol, that is, alcohol, can also soak artemisinin out. It's really not good, soak some artemisia wine, maybe it can be used reluctantly.

Of course, this doesn't really do much to deal with the current epidemic. Because in this era when it is difficult to eat, ethanol is also a luxury. In addition to the fact that the efficacy may not be reliable, there is also the problem of high cost. So there must be other ways to deal with the pandemic.

"If you can't rely on drugs to solve the disease-causing malaria parasite, then try to eliminate the environment in which it lives." Zheng Sen remembered the story of the later generations of the Taizu of the Red Rabbit Kingdom who eliminated schistosomiasis. At that time, the Taizu of the Red Rabbit Kingdom relied on mobilizing the masses to eliminate the intermediate snail that parastosomes of schistosomiasis had eradicated schistosomiasis on the land of China for many years in one fell swoop. The transmission of malaria is extremely dependent on mosquitoes and on the environment of the jungle. So, to drastically reduce malaria, you have to get rid of mosquitoes, and to get rid of mosquitoes, you have to destroy the jungle. At least in the immediate vicinity of migrant settlements, the number of mosquitoes must be reduced.

Mosquitoes need relatively still waters to thrive, and filling in some non-essential waterholes, covering wells, and putting frogs and loaches in paddy fields can all reduce the number of mosquito larvae. In addition, it is important to use mosquito nets or light wormwood to repel mosquitoes at night. Moreover, supervising the various villages to carry out such work is also a training to strengthen the organization.

"Maybe I should gather those orphans first, learn mosquito control techniques for a period of time, and then send them to various villages, which is also an opportunity to train them, and by the way, I can also build a team for myself. Moreover, because these people are still children, even if my father can see that I am preparing my own team, and this team is still all children, he will not care very much. And with such a set of teams, many things are much easier. ”

Thinking like this, Zheng Sen couldn't help but stand up and walk around the room twice before sitting down at his desk again and starting to make the whole plan.

……

The next morning, Zheng Sen appeared in front of Zheng Zhifeng with dark circles under his eyes.

"Eldest nephew, I haven't seen you this night, why did it become like this?" Zheng Zhifeng was taken aback.

"Nothing." Zheng Sen shook his head and said, "After knowing about malaria, I didn't sleep all night last night, checked some things, and came up with a plan. Although it may not be effective in treating the disease, it may be able to control the spread of the disease. Now take it and show it to the third uncle. ”

"I thought something was going on." Zheng Zhifeng said, "This kind of swing is always inevitable." You're soft-hearted. When my eldest brother and I got the first batch of immigrants to come over, some of them died because of this. Those who have been uprooted from their homes since ancient times, when they arrive in a new place, they are not accustomed to the water and soil, how can they not get sick? When you are sick, how can there be no one who does not die? Don't worry, you can't die too many people, you will die for a while, you will die, and if you get used to it, you won't die so many people. ”

Zheng Zhifeng's calm attitude made Zheng Sen very unaccustomed, although Zheng Sen has been in this era for several years, although Zheng Sen before the crossing also thought that he was not a person with the tendency of the Holy Mother, but this kind of numbness to death still made Zheng Sen feel unaccustomed.

"It's better not to die, or not to die, after all, they are all human beings, and my father rescued them to Taiwan in order to let them live in Taiwan, not to bury them in Taiwan." Zheng Sen said, "If you can save a person, you are a person." And in order to bring them to Taiwan, we also spent a lot of money. If they die like this, won't we lose all that money? If those people survive, they will be able to pay us rent, give us military service, and serve us as sailors, and when they die, they will be able to do nothing. ”

"Although what you said makes sense, there is not much that can be done about this disease." Zheng Zhifeng sighed and said, "No matter how many doctors can't do it. Alas, if you want to take care of this matter, you can take care of it, and it can be regarded as accumulating virtue and doing good. Well, I'll take a look at this...... It's so thick...... Asen, forget it, you still tell me, what do you want? ”

"Well, uncle, I want those orphans who will be prepared for us Zheng family writers in the future. I want you to give them to me for the time being. I'm going to gather them together in North Harbor now to train them and learn some rules and skills, and then let them go around the various settlements and help deal with the epidemic. Zheng Sen said.