Although Greystone and Donald did not understand Scrooge's approach, Scrooge was right too many times, so they also adopted the practice of understanding Scrooge's approach, implementing what they did not understand, and deepening their understanding in the process of implementation. Moreover, now the MacDonald family has too much money to spend, and Scrooge has always been relatively frugal, and when it comes to spending money, he can't even catch up with the Morgan family, which is far less rich than him. Anyway, now MacDonald has money.

However, in August of that year, when the first vanguard of the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France and began training, and the American general Pershing was also arguing with the British and French over the independent command of the American army, the second outbreak of the Spanish flu finally arrived.

……

"Your Excellency, our plans for an offensive may have to be terminated." A staff officer said to the commander of the French army, Marshal Fuxi, "The disease in the army is completely out of control, many units have completely lost their combat effectiveness, and it is simply impossible for us to launch an offensive as planned." ”

"Paul, is the situation so serious?" Marshal Fuxi was taken aback, Marshal Fuxi was not unaware of the flu that began to appear in the army, and someone reported the situation a few days ago, however, in that era, some infectious diseases or something were normal in the army. And these problems are not unsolvable, for example, those antibiotics in the United States or something, the effect is very good. How could this disease have progressed to such a point in just a few days?

"Your Excellency, thirty percent of the soldiers of the First and Third Armies have developed symptoms of high fever, and the situation continues to deteriorate." The staff officer replied.

"Damn influenza!" Marshal Fuxi scolded, "It seems that the plan for the attack must be postponed. Fortunately, it's just a cold, and I think in another two weeks, the situation should improve significantly. ”

Generally speaking, colds, including the flu in general, although they are very contagious, especially in densely populated areas such as the army, can infect more than half of the people at once, but most colds, even without medicine, can be basically cured in one to two weeks, so Marshal Fuxi felt that this was nothing more than postponing the offensive plan, and it was not a particularly big problem.

However, this time the flu was completely beyond Marshal Fuxi's imagination, and two days later, all the troops sent telegrams for help, which outlined an extremely terrible picture:

Influenza infections are starting to die in all units, and the death rate is as high as 6 to 8 percent, and more units are starting to see more patients.

"Your Excellency, the situation is really bad now." Staff Officer Paul said.

"What did our doctors say? And that antibiotic or something is useless? Marshal Fuxi asked, as an experienced commander, he certainly knew how hard such an epidemic would hit the army, which was no less than the loss of a major battle.

"Your Excellency, according to our medical scientists, the influenza virus that caused this pandemic is a completely new variant, and we do not yet know what drugs are very effective in treating it, antibiotics are against bacteria and have no effect on viruses. The Americans claim that they have an agent of Oriental origin that fights the virus, but we do not have a stockpile of this drug......"

"Did our experts come up with any solutions?" Marshal Fuxi asked.

Dr. Swann said that the virus is airborne, so he suggested that we immediately put masks on all soldiers, or simply have them wear gas masks, and that all soldiers who were already infected should be quarantined immediately to avoid further infection." Paul replied.

"Then immediately arrange for the purchase of masks and put all those who are already sick ...... Ah, by the way, Paul, what percent of our front-line combat troops still don't catch a cold? Marshal Fuxi asked.

"From three percent to thirty percent, the situation is different for every unit." Paul replied.

"Is this serious? If the Germans had attacked at this time, it would have been really troublesome. Marshal Fuxi said, "We will make a plan for the other second-line troops to come up first and take over their defense area." Isolate all the people who have been replaced. In addition, the troops who will replace them must be prepared to prevent the epidemic, and all accommodation facilities must be disinfected and masks or gas masks must be worn 24 hours a day......"

……

What Marshal Fuxi was worried about was actually what Marshal Hindenburg was worried about, because there was also a large area of influenza infection in the German army. Now the German army is also doing the same thing as the French army, so naturally it is impossible to attack the French army or something, counting, because of this flu, the entire front has fallen silent all of a sudden, but there is really no war on the Western Front.

The flu first broke out in the military, but it was not in the military that really brought more terrible consequences. Although the army is densely populated, it is easy to have a pandemic, but on the other hand, the army is more organized, so the effect of various measures is also better.

But this is not the case at all among the people, the organization of ordinary people cannot be compared with the army, and the resources they can get are less, so as the flu spreads among the people, the whole of Europe is in a panic.

In the second round of the epidemic, the mortality rate of the flu rose from about 0.4 percent to about 6 percent, which, combined with its terrible contagious ability, led to a significant increase in the number of deaths from the disease. Due to the lack of specific medicines, hospitals have once again become the hardest hit areas of infection. Cross-infection between patients is so severe that many people are afraid to approach the hospital at all. Even doctors are falling ill – even though they are wearing masks, many of them have contracted the dreaded flu from their prolonged contact with patients.

……

"Okay, the pandemic has appeared, and now I'll leave the rest to you." Scrooge said to Greystone and Donald, "Oh, and besides, I guess this flu will soon land in the United States." Therefore, we must also take precautions in advance. I declare a few disciplines that I hope you all follow. First of all, until the flu epidemic passes, the two of you are to go out as little as possible and are not allowed to go to any public places. The whole duck castle should be carefully disinfected thoroughly, and you should drink antiviral oral liquid every day. Also, the little ones, make an excuse for them to come back to Duckburg for the next few months and not go to school or do anything else. External contact should be reduced, such as meetings, and less attendance should be made if there is less attendance. If you must attend, it is best to wear a gas mask. This time the popularity is definitely not trivial. I don't want anything to happen to our family. ”

"Dad, we all know it." Greystone looked at Scrooge with awe.

"Alright, go about your business."

……

Paris, France, Salvation Hospital, Paris Branch.

There was a long queue in front of the fever clinic at Salvation Hospital, and this line even went all the way to the street outside the hospital. Generally speaking, at this time, people are reluctant and afraid to crowd together and queue up. However, because it was mentioned on the radio that Salvation Hospital now has the latest antiviral oral liquid, an artifact drug that may have a therapeutic effect on the flu, many patients, accompanied by their family members, dragged their heavy bodies and came here to line up. The family members of the patients all wore thick masks, and some even wore several layers of masks. Recently, the price of masks has skyrocketed like crazy, and in just over a week, the price of masks has increased more than tenfold, and now, an ordinary cotton yarn mask can be opened at a price of three to five francs, which is simply crazy. In addition to masks, the price of alcohol has also increased significantly. Because it is said that soaking the mask with alcohol can better protect against the terrible virus. So, now if you take the risk and walk next to this line, you're bound to smell a lot of alcohol.

In addition to the sick and family members who have to take risks for their loved ones, there is also another group of people in the queue, and that is those who take money to replace others in the queue. These people are generally poor and have to take such risks in order to earn some money. Most of them can't afford to buy authentic masks that are now more expensive, so they can only replace them with homemade masks, and they naturally can't afford to play with the constant use of alcohol-soaked masks. However, for the sake of money, you have to take some risks.

In fact, those who can come to the queue to buy medicine are still from better families, because the price of this antiviral oral liquid is also very expensive. Each of them cost more than two francs. However, Americans really have a conscience and do not deliberately raise the price, because before that, as a special drug for various encephalitis, the price of this antiviral oral liquid has never been cheaper. Today, despite the huge increase in demand, MacDonald still basically maintains the original price. According to MacDonald, the cost of some of the raw materials required for this drug is very high, and the preparation process is very complex, coupled with the high development costs, so today's price is really a very conscientious price, in fact, it is not very profitable at all.

Of course, few people really know whether this is true or not. Because the antiviral oral liquid has not been patented, naturally the formula has not been disclosed. MacDonald mentioned in his publicity that this drug uses a lot of Chinese herbal ingredients, but there are thousands of Chinese herbal medicines, and the price is extremely different, so no one really knows what the real cost of this thing is. However, MacDonald did not take the opportunity to raise prices, which definitely shows that MacDonald Medicine is a conscientious enterprise.