Listening to the old man's story, Xie Shen couldn't help frowning. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

How doesn't that sound like a plague......

Epidemics are often accompanied by fever and cough, and they are usually rapid and life-threatening.

But just now, the old man said that he was vomiting, diarrhea, blood in his stool, and weakness, no matter how you look at it, it looks more like food poisoning.

However, so many people are a symptom, and it is definitely not food poisoning......

Xie Shen pondered for a moment, and suddenly woke up.

The food eaten by the people of Lu'an Province may be different, but the drinking water is the same source. Could it be that there is a problem with Lu'an's drinking water?

Thinking of this, Xie Shen turned around and asked Li Tongzhi beside him, "What does Lang Zhong say about the epidemic?" ”

Li Tongzhi said slowly: "Lang Zhong said that this epidemic is urgent, and it is very different from the previous plague. The people have been gradually hollowed out of their bodies......"

Xie Shenzhi was helpless, which meant that he didn't say anything. The only useful possibility is to show that the people of Lu'an did not fall ill all of a sudden.

As far as Xie Shen knew, the plagues were all concentrated outbreaks, and there were absolutely no signs. The situation like Lu'an Mansion can basically be ruled out as a plague.

Not a plague, what is it?

Xie Shen felt that there was the greatest possibility of a problem with the water quality, so he rushed to Li Tong and said, "Send some people to the main drinking water source of the people in the city to fetch some water." ”

Although Li Tongzhi didn't understand what the prefect wanted to do, he still gave a deep command to a few officials.

Xie Shen asked a few more infected people, and the description of the illness was similar to that of the old man. Those who died did not die of the epidemic immediately, but dragged on for more than a month.

Xie Shen and Li Tongzhi returned to the yamen and waited patiently for news.

After the officials took the water samples back, Xie Shen stepped forward to inspect them one by one.

The water source of Lu'an Fucheng is mainly the Canghe River that runs through the city.

In addition, there are several deep wells in the north of the city, but these wells are for the government lords to drink, and it is impossible for ordinary people to drink them.

Although it is impossible to do any chemical composition analysis now, Xie Shen looked at it and saw that the water in the wooden barrels sampled from Canghe was turbid and completely undrinkable. On the other hand, the water from the wells for the government to drink is very clear.

"Do the people of Lu'an Mansion drink such murky river water on weekdays?"

Although he knew that the water would definitely be boiled before drinking. But it's so turbid, even if it is burned, it won't all precipitate.

Li Tongzhi shook his head and said, "This is not true. In the past, the water quality of the Canghe River was excellent, and fish could often be seen. But now not only is the water turbid, but even the fish are gone. ”

Xie Shen frowned and asked, "When did it start?" ”

Li Tongzhi pondered for a moment and said, "Probably after the earthquake." ”

This is strange. If someone were poisoning, throwing the poison into the river would not have had an effect, and it would not have been possible to poison so many people.

Xie Shen closed his eyes and carefully strung together the various clues.

He remembered that there were a lot of gray-brown earth and rocks leaking out of the surface outside the city, which looked inconspicuous but extremely numerous.

"Come, go outside the city gate and fetch some of the exposed earth and stones."

This time, Xie Shen didn't have the mouth of a dummy, and he directly commanded.

The officials did not dare to delay and immediately went to fetch earth and stones.

Not to mention that the Fuzun asked them to take the soil, even if they were asked to eat the soil, they would not hesitate.

Soon the official brought back the soil sample, and a smile appeared on Xie Shencha's face after looking at it.

Sure enough, it was the same as he thought.

This earth and stone is nothing else, it is bauxite! The reason why he was sure was because he had seen it in popular science magazines in his previous life and was deeply impressed by the shape of bauxite.

Shanxi is rich in underground mineral resources. In addition to coal, the most is bauxite.

This mineral can be used to smelt alumina and aluminum, which of course requires high temperatures. With the productivity of the Ming Dynasty is unlikely in the short term.

Xie Shen also remembered that when he came to Shanxi from Beijing to take up his post, he found that there was a volcanic crater sulfuric acid lake not far from Lu'an Fucheng.

At first, Xie Shen didn't pay much attention to it, but now it seems that the poisoning of the people of Lu'an may have a lot to do with this lake.

The reaction of sulfuric acid and alumina, the main component in bauxite, can produce aluminum ions, which seep into the ground through surface water and then converge in the Canghe River.

People will drink water from the Canghe River, which contains a lot of aluminum ions.

Aluminum poisoning is no joke, ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to neurasthenia and painful death.

This is exactly the same as the symptoms of the people of Lu'an.

Of course, it may not only be aluminum, but other oxide metals can react with the sulfuric acid in the sulfuric acid lake.

In other words, this may be a heavy metal poisoning incident, but it was mistakenly regarded as a plague by Li Tongzhi.

Of course, this can't be blamed on Li Tongzhi, he is not a traveler after all, it is impossible to know about aluminum poisoning, and it is impossible to know that sulfuric acid and alumina can react.

But Xie Shen is different, although he studied history, he learned about the reaction of alumina and sulfuric acid in his middle school textbooks. In addition, it is already common knowledge that minerals are everywhere in Shanxi, and there is naturally a previous inference when these are strung together.

I didn't think this was true!

Since it is heavy metal poisoning, it is necessary to do gastric lavage and intestinal cleansing if it is necessary to detoxify.

There are fungus and mushrooms that have this effect in natural food, and Xie Shen immediately instructed the officials to collect some fungus and mushrooms and send them to the broken temple for the sick people to eat.

After the order, Li Tongzhi asked in a whisper: "Dare to ask why Lord Xie suddenly asked the officials to collect fungus and mushrooms?" ”

Xie Shen laughed and said, "This is a good medicine to get rid of the epidemic." ”

At this time, Li Tongzhi was completely dizzy.

Langzhong in the city has tried countless kinds of medicines but can't get rid of the epidemic, but just mushroom fungus can do it?

Of course, Xie Shen wouldn't talk to Li Tongzhishen about any chemical reactions, and Li Tongzhi wouldn't understand it if he did. It's better to be so vague than to be so vague.

The "epidemic" was solved, and Xie Shen was overjoyed.

You must know that post-earthquake epidemic prevention is a problem even in later generations, not to mention the Ming Dynasty, which is not good in terms of sanitary conditions.

If it was really a major outbreak of the epidemic, Xie Shen was helpless.

Fortunately, it has now been proved that the people of Lu'an should only be poisoned by heavy metals, and as long as the water source is controlled, poisoning incidents will not continue to occur.

Of course, there is a problem with shipping costs. Diverting water from neighbouring counties will certainly increase the cost. But nothing is as important as the people's health, and it is also appropriate to spend more money.

For Xie Shen, this is not only the prevention and control of "epidemics", but also the discovery of a cornucopia.

The earthquake caused a large amount of bauxite to be exposed to the surface, and there was no need for deep mining (and deep mining could not be done with the scientific and technological conditions of the Ming Dynasty). You can get the raw material of alumina, and as long as the problem of high-temperature exercise is solved, it seems that aluminum can be smelted.

Of course, this is only an assumption, and it will definitely be very difficult to implement. Xie Shen didn't study chemical engineering, otherwise he would definitely be able to show his strength this time.

......

...... (To be continued.) )