As the news of the end of the war spread, the whole world rejoiced.

After all, when the war is over, it means that your family can come back from the front line, instead of continuing to risk your life to fight. Not to mention that many things need to be restricted during the war, such as daily necessities, if it is only for a short time, maybe those civilians have no opinion, but after four consecutive years...

I'm afraid there will be opinions on whoever it is, and the stronger opinion is undoubtedly on the side of the Allies...

It's just that...

In a world of jubilation, the Chinese side seems to be a little complicated.

The war is over, and the Chinese people are naturally very happy, because it means that the expeditionary force can finally return from Europe, and they don't have to continue to shed blood for those hellish whites, and similarly, when the war is over, the government's spending will be reduced, in other words, the government will not need to levy new taxes―――――― although Yan Shao and the people have donated almost 1.7 billion Chinese yuan, but in fact...

According to some commentators, 1.7 billion may seem like a lot, but in reality it may not be enough. This can be seen from the British point of view, a world war that lasted for four years, Britain actually went from the United States before the war to 400 million pounds owed him, to the United States 800 million pounds, twelve divided by four, that is, three, 300 million a year...

This does not take into account other normal expenses, after all, Britain cannot always owe money, and has never paid for it, so it is not impossible to spend four or five billion dollars a year.

In the past, the reason why the Chinese government was under less financial pressure was partly because the expeditionary force was only 6 or 700,000. What's more, the British side has also provided almost 400 million Chinese dollars in aid, plus the Chinese government itself subsidizes a little bit, and the pressure is there. But it's certainly not as big as the UK.

And now, Britain and the United States and other countries have cut off their aid, even if they will still provide ammunition and other logistics for the expeditionary force, but the finances of the national government have suddenly become huge―――――― not to mention that in addition to the expeditionary forces in Europe, there are more than 100,000 troops in the Middle East, even if the Turks are soft persimmons, it is impossible to defeat the other party without firing a shot...

Add to that the huge expenses required for the westward expansion strategy. As well as the cost of resettlement and construction of migrants...

1.7 billion may seem like a lot, but it may only take one to two years for the government to spend it cleanly...

And wait until the money is well spent. There is no doubt that the government will definitely raise taxes...

Although the support for the government was very high at this time, the Chinese people understood the government's position and supported the government's westward expansion strategy. Even if the government does raise taxes. I believe that there will not be too many Chinese people who oppose it, but if ―――――― can not raise taxes, it is naturally better not to increase taxes...

Now that the war is over, there is no need for tax increases.

On the other hand, with the end of the war, Britain, France and other countries seem to be able to solve the problem of Soviet Russia with all their might. If they really let them get rid of Soviet Russia, at that time, I am afraid that the pressure on China will become very great...

The war has come to this point. Perhaps Germany still has the ability to fight, but there is no hope of fighting―――――― of course. From the beginning of the war until the present, Germany itself has not been invaded by war, and its battle line has always been firmly established in the territory of the Allies, including northern France.

But in reality?

After the United States entered the war, Germany's fate was already determined.

Even if they continued to fight, it would be impossible to defeat the Entente. What's more, in addition to the United States, in this world, the Entente countries also have such a strong helper as China...

So, since you can't win, don't plan to do it. Anyway, although the situation in Germany is bad now, it is not without the strength of the war, and the Germans naively think that even if they sign an armistice with the Allies, they will at least get some spoils of war in the end, instead of ―――――― rather than a simple defeated treaty...

Of course, the harsh reality, but a profound lesson for these naïve Germans ...

But this is not important, on the other hand, there is another reason why the war ended so quickly, and that reason is a large-scale influenza epidemic that began to spread around the world in early 1918...

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In August 1918, Germany had not yet surrendered, and the world was still burning with war.

On the Western Front in Europe, the Allied and Allied armies were still facing off, while on the Eastern Front, German armies had already begun to attack Russia itself. And with the Entente landing in the north, and at the same time Denikin and Kolchak echoing in the south and east, the nascent Soviet Russian regime can be regarded as precarious, and this is not counting the Cai Yi, who is moving north along the railway line...

However, just when these countries were fighting each other for their own interests, in Plymouth Harbour, England, a large number of British people were waiting for them, even if the sun was scorching on their heads, but these people's faces were still full of solemn expressions...

As long as someone observes carefully, it can be seen that at this moment, in addition to the police, the most people in the port are medical personnel, compared with the others, there are many less...

The oppressive atmosphere on the dock can be felt even by children, and the silence of these people makes the people on the dock involuntarily avoid them.

I don't know how long it was, but someone in the crowd suddenly shouted. "They've arrived, they've arrived!"

Hearing this, the crowd suddenly stirred, and about a minute later, I saw that at the end of the horizon, a freighter was heading towards the dock at a fast speed...

However, although the ship has arrived, the people at the dock have not only breathed a sigh of relief, but even showed an expression of facing a great enemy, and some medical staff have begun to wear masks and other tools before the ship has docked...

After the ship docked at the dock with some difficulty, a large number of medical personnel quickly boarded the freighter. Just wait until they board the freighter. Although they had already been mentally prepared in their hearts, they were still stunned by the scene in front of them...

On the deck of the freighter, dozens of crew members were lying on the deck weakly. Only a handful of people seem to be healthy. And at the end of the overtime, a layer of white cloth is covering something. Although the medical staff who boarded the ship did not see it very clearly, their past experience gave them an idea of what was covered under the white cloth...

"Move the patient off the boat first..."Seeing that the people who were on the boat seemed to be stunned, one of the doctors at the head commanded.

With him opening his mouth, everyone else seemed to reflect it, and one by one they hurriedly rushed up, and soon. A large number of patients were carried onto stretchers by medical staff and then off the freighter one by one. As for the relatively healthy crew members, they were temporarily isolated by the medical staff...

This is a freighter departing from Sierra Leone, West Africa. The destination, of course, is the United Kingdom. It was supposed to be a relatively ordinary journey, but who knew that something like this would happen on the way...

According to post-mortem statistics, about 75% of the ship's crew was infected before it reached its destination. Another 7% of crew members died. This means that in the half month that the ship left Sierra Leone, at least 82% of the crew members were infected, and only 18% were not infected, and only 18% were still healthy...

And at the same time that this ship was docked, there were many other ships above the sea that something similar happened...

This terrible virus, although it does not yet have a unified name, has spread all over the world.

It should be clarified. This terrible virus actually appeared as early as March and April, and this is the first wave of the virus. The first recorded wave of influenza occurred on March 4, 1918, at a military camp in Kansas, USA. But the symptoms at that time were only headache, high fever, muscle aches and loss of appetite, and the actual mortality rate was not very high.

Then in April, in the midst of World War I, there was also a flu outbreak in France, and in March, in China, in May, Spain, and in June, the United Kingdom also had illnesses, but none of them were severe.

One of the more special is China, in fact, the first wave of these viruses is not particularly strict, the real fatal is the second wave, that is, the subsequent wave. However, at this time, China is much stronger than China in history, especially medical treatment, etc., Western hospitals are not uncommon in China, and traditional Chinese medicine clinics are even more common...

In fact, even without the Yan Shao factor, the mortality rate in China is not particularly high in history.

Historically, India has had the highest mortality rate (why does it feel like a given?). Between 1918 and 1919, India lost 12.5 million deaths, almost to the horror of about 4,000 per 100,000 people.

In Taiwan, under Japanese rule, there were more than 44,000 people, or 1,200 per 100,000 people. As for mainland Japan and other regions, it is 400 per 100,000 people.

In North America, the United States and Canada both have a range of 500 per 100,000 people, especially in the United States. The second wave of influenza is different from the influenza in the past, and the mortality rate is particularly high in the young adult group aged 20~35 years, and its symptoms are not only high fever and headache, but also blue face and coughing up blood; Influenza often causes complications and deaths, with pneumonia being the most common. Many cities have restricted citizens from going to public places, and movie theaters, dance halls, sports venues, etc. have been closed for more than a year. October of the same year was the darkest month in American history, when 200,000 Americans died, and the average life expectancy in the United States in 1918 was 12 years less than usual.

Mexico is even worse than the United States, with more than 3 million deaths and 2,300 per 100,000 people. In South America, Chile has 1,100 and Brazil has 600. As for Europe, the largest number is Italy, with 1,100 (why does it still feel like a matter of course?). In fact, it is France, about 830 people, and more than 600 people in England, and in other countries, it is mostly 4 or 500 people...

Africa is relatively difficult to count, but there are more than 2,200 in South Africa and 3,500 in Madagascar...

As for China...

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In Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, trucks are driving on the streets, and several grassroots workers are sitting in the driver's seat of the trucks. Almost every building you drive by. The truck paused for a moment, and then the workers could be seen shouting loudly from below, using a loudspeaker rolled up in tin sheets.

"In order to protect against the circulating virus, the government is distributing relevant items. Residents are asked to stay at home and not come out, and wait for the staff to go upstairs to distribute their things..."

After shouting two or three times in a row, it seemed to be about the same, and the staff gasped for breath, and then took a kettle from the hand of his companion. After shouting for a day, they could be said to be almost hoarse.

But it can't be helped, who's called work like this. Even if they shout hoarsely, they have to do their job well.

Now that the residents upstairs have been prompted, it is natural that the distribution work should proceed. Soon all the people in the car got down, and then except for the driver who stayed on the truck to look at things, the other four staff members were holding cardboard boxes and starting from the first floor. Door-to-door knocking...

In his previous life, the common people were completely uninterested in current affairs. Even the difference between Chinese and Japanese people is not even known. In this era, due to China's rapid development, even the people's interest in the world has become stronger, and it is natural that the Chinese people will not be unaware of the outbreak of this large-scale influenza virus that has affected almost the whole world.

It's just that...

As mentioned earlier, although the virus began to spread in China in March, the first wave of the virus was not very deadly. Even the government's concern for this is very insufficient. By the time the government reacted, the virus had become more deadly―――――― of course. Of course, it is impossible for this kind of lethal course to reach the same level as the Ebola of later generations, but for people of this era, it is already very strict to have such a high lethal course...

Fortunately, China in this era is different from the one in the previous life, the country has completed substantial unification, and the local warlords no longer exist. At the same time, the increase in national strength has also made the average life expectancy of Chinese people soar from more than 30 years during the Xinhai Revolution to 55 years old.

There will be such a big change, of course, not only because of the improvement of medical conditions, but more importantly, with the unification and stability of the country, the probability of Chinese people dying is greatly reduced, and compared with the past when they could be starved to death at every turn, or die of other reasons, today's China can be described by the words "stability and prosperity"...

And this is one of the reasons why the Chinese people are extremely supportive of the national government...

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Because of the existence of a strong government, although it was a little sluggish earlier, after reacting, the national government acted extremely quickly, even more quickly than in Europe and the United States―――――― of course, this also has a lot to do with the relatively efficient system and relatively young structure of the national government.

No matter how much others criticize the system of the national government, the fact is that when it encounters unexpected situations, the national government responds very quickly, and it is also extremely decisive in making many decisions...

At such an age――――――, it is almost impossible to set up many hospitals to meet the needs of the people with private capital alone, so the government, like other parties, has a deep shadow in this.

It's just that although it is a national hospital, there is no difference between a hospital and a private hospital in other aspects, and there is no need to talk about free medical care. After all, even in later generations, only a few developed countries can do this kind of thing, let alone in such an era.

Especially now that the financial support of the national government is very large, and it is running a deficit almost every year, let alone free medical care. But even so, with a relatively low price, it still brings many benefits to ordinary people―――――― hospitals in this era are relatively conscientious.

With the support of the state, the actions of these hospitals have become even stronger. Despite the large number of patients due to the influenza virus, the hospital has vacated a large number of wards, and even with the help of the government, some simple rooms have been placed in some vacant lots around the hospital for patients to live in...

At this time, there was no antibiotic, that is, the so-called penicillin, so even the hospital did not have a particularly good way to deal with this kind of influenza, so it could only use some more traditional methods, etc., but even so, the good environment still effectively alleviated the symptoms of many patients, so that the mortality rate was greatly reduced...

However, it is certainly not enough to cure, and sufficient preventive measures are also needed, which requires the cooperation of the grassroots level.

Therefore, when the hospital sent a large number of patients to the ward for treatment, the grassroots government also began to drive cars, donkey carts, horse-drawn carriages or other vehicles to take out some of the things in the stock of the surrounding hospitals and distribute them for free...

In fact, this kind of thing is not a great thing, after all, with the current financial conditions of the government, it is impossible to provide too expensive things―――――― don't look at the national government just got 1.7 billion, but don't forget that there are almost 500 million people in this era, even if everyone invests a dollar, it is almost 500 million yuan, if it is more...

These 1.7 billion, Cai Ye and they don't have to count on it...

And from the point of view of a ruler, which is more important, flu prevention or Siberia......... It's hard for others to say, but Yan Shao will definitely choose the latter... (To be continued......)