I would like to use this chapter to pay tribute to all the medical workers who have braved life and death, fearlessly retrograde, stuck to their posts, and waited for us ordinary people during this epidemic and before, now and in the future!

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It was a small village, and there were only 372 monks from outside, and in the previous smallpox plague, more than 200 people died of high fever and pain, and more than 100 fled into the dense forest not far away, where the king used to hunt, and the people here were infected with smallpox.

As soon as these words came out, the youngest Marbiki couldn't help but exclaim: "All the people, don't you ...... too?"

The monk smiled in embarrassment, and instead of taking off his mask, he rolled up his sleeve so that the doctors could see the mottled red dot on his arm, "Oh," said Mr. Lom, who knew the plague best, at once, "the infection is not long, but you are about to have an attack." ”

"Yes," said the monk, "all, including me, of course." ”

The crowd on the side cast admiring glances at him, like this, at a glance, he knew that the monk walking on the pilgrimage road, even if he was locked up in the epidemic area, he could at least escape into the dense forest like the villagers, as a monk with rich experience in the wilderness, he was much more sure of surviving than ordinary people, but he still stayed, it is not an exaggeration to say that there are still survivors in this village, and he is inseparable from him, this is normal, the monk serves God, he can comfort the people in soul and body at the same time, so that they can summon up the courage to fight the epidemic。

However, thinking that when they came in, he did not smell the rancid smell that even spices could not hide, and that the monk had not only taken care of the sick, but also hidden those who had unfortunately died, and that even though he had tried to protect himself, he had inevitably contracted the plague: "We will do everything possible to cure you." "Swear by the King and God," said Mr. Lom, "and you will be healed." ”

"I am ready to accept the consequences of everything, but if you can, please go and see the poor children," said the monk, "and some of them, though they have been blessed by heaven and scarred, are still very weak. ”

"Because fighting the devil of the plague is an exhausting thing. Sidonham said that he had more experience than anyone else in this regard, because he had always admired the natural healing method advocated by the ancient Greek scholars, that is, in many cases, the body's own resistance was better than most medicines, and the doctor must not interfere with it, but only give adequate nutrition, as if it were given weapons and provisions to soldiers, to help the sick overcome the disease.

Since he had this idea, of course he carried with him many "medicines" - sugar cubes, pepper powder and salt, and the monk immediately gathered the people of the village and put them in water and gave them to drink one by one, most of the survivors were already scarred, although ugly, but like the old woman, they did not have to fear the demon of smallpox afterwards, and the monk looked at them one by one, and found that there were still two or three people who did not come, so he took the doctors to check on them, and it turned out that they also began to have a fever.

The villagers were not afraid, and they gathered the monks and the feverish in a large room, ready to take care of them as the doctors had instructed, and of course, if they met with misfortune, the rest of the work would be done by these people, and the doctors decided to leave two students to guide and supervise them— This is not an overkill, Mr. Lom has met many revenge fools before, the news here is closed, and the villagers rarely accept outside information, they are afraid that as soon as they leave the village, the villagers will burn them.

After repeatedly explaining to the scarred villagers that as long as they were cured of smallpox, they would no longer be harmed by this disease, and that this disease was a complete conspiracy of the devil, and that the more pious and pure the people were, the more vulnerable they were, Mr. Lom reassured himself a little, and looked left and right: "Are there any cowherds among you?"

The people who were able to escape smallpox were all young men, and the monk was not wrong when he said that "children" were not at all, and the oldest of the survivors was no more than twenty years old—as the doctors had speculated, and the people here could barely count beyond twenty (that is, the number of fingers and toes), and they looked at each other shyly and fearfully, before one of the older boys carefully replied, "We have no cowherds, sir." He seemed to be embarrassed by his inability to answer Mr. Lom's question: "Our village is small, so when we need to use cattle, we go to Jula to rent them." ”

"Jura?"

"From here, down the stream, is Tulawa, which is also very small, and their cattle are also in Jula. ”

Jula is a very common name in France, because in the Gallic language, it means high woodland, "Tulava and Jula......" Monsieur Lom pronounced these two names: "Do you know how they are now, are there any patients?"

"Probably," said the big boy, "they burned a witch not long ago." "In these not very barren places, and without the terrible famine, people suddenly remembered to burn witches, most likely because someone suddenly became ill.

"It looks like we still have a long way to go. After asking where Tulava and Jula were, Monsieur Lom opened the map and made sure that the two hamlets would allow them to return to Blois at the appointed time, and made the decision to visit them, which the managers of Blois had decided to seal off the valley when they found the first smallpox patient, but he did not know how.

This was originally the duty of the plague doctor, no one raised any objections, this matter was decided, the monk and the other patients, after having a doctor and medicine, the safety of life also had the greatest protection, and the next thing was to look at themselves.

While Sidonham and Chamburence wondered why Lom asked if there were cowherds, most of the doctors had their own secrets, like the "midwifery machines" of the Chamburlance family Speaking of which, they had never lived with Mr. Lom, and certainly did not ask rashly, and they walked for about two hours until they reached Tulawa, and the situation in Turawa was a little worse than in the previous village, for they did not have a brave and good monk here, and the village was filled with a terrible smell that spices could not suppress, and they walked several places until they finally found a dying survivor, not because of smallpox— Smallpox did not kill him, and his relatives either went to the merciful God before him or fled, and he woke up hungry and cold and thirsty when the fever had subsided, but he could not even drink a sip of water, and if Mr. Plague had not come here, he would have died.

There were three or four others like him, and the village was completely dead, and Marbiki, Chamborence, and Sidonham, as well as the students, had moved the living out of the village, and settled them in an empty house, and began to collect the dead—for they were so few that they could only pray for them, and then gathered together their empty shells and set them on fire.

Monsieur Lom stared at the black smoke that was evident in the clear blue sky, and shook his head, "Are your cattle all in Jura?" he asked, "Then Jura's herd must be considerable." ”

Although it was not known why the doctor cared about the herd, the survivors, who had recovered a little strength under their care, replied honestly: "More than a hundred, sir, are good cows." ”

"It must be a good cowherd who takes care of them. Mr. Lom said, and then he noticed that the other man's expression was a little strange.

"Indeed," said the villager, "Anfuel is a good cowherd, and his brothers and sons." "It sounds like an extremely large family," Lom said in his heart, and at the same time, more than a hundred cows, no doubt made his heart beat with pleasure, and some of his thoughts might be confirmed today. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he almost ignored the villager's question: "Master," the villager asked, "do you want to continue to Jula?"

"Of course," said Mr. Lom, "Jura is less than two thousand feet from you, and I suspect that it is also occupied by the plague. ”

"But I've heard one thing, and I'm not sure, sir. ”

"Say," said Mr. Lom, "I will not blame you. ”

"I've heard that the Anfols are a group of Huguenots. The villager said.

"What Huguenots?" Before Mr. Lom could answer him, a voice sounded behind them, and the king's chief physician looked up to see that it was Chamborence who cast a deep shadow, and he remembered that Chamborence seemed to be the surname of a Huguenot, and his expression suddenly became inexplicable: "...... I don't think there's anything about that," he said, "don't you know the Edict of Nantes? Now the Huguenots are recognized, and they have all the rights of French citizens by decree, as long as they do not violate the laws of the king." He shrugged.

The villager looked at the doctor with suspicion: "You too...... People like them?"

"No," said Mr. Lom, "I am a Cultist." This was not wrong at all, and Sidonham, who arrived later, thought that Paris would never allow a Protestant to exist, let alone become the king's chief physician, and he hesitated for a long time to make a decision after receiving an invitation from Louis XIV, and his friends thought he was crazy, the Saint-Bartholomew massacre was still fresh in people's minds, and the Huguenots in France never ceased to fight against God.

Speaking of which, the four plague doctors are also really interesting, Marbicki and Lom are both God-believers, but Malbicki is a member of the Roman Church, and Lom belongs to the Church of France, Sidonham and Chamborence are both Protestants, but one is a moderate Calvinist in England, and the other is a radical Huguenotist in France.

Glancing at Chamborence with slanted eyes, the Huguenots were rather calm. When Monsieur Lom offered to go to Jura, he looked up at the sky: "I don't suggest," he said, "if it is true, as the gentleman says, that the Anvoul are Huguenots......"

"As I have said, the Edict of Nantes has forgiven their sins and allowed them to retain their faith and power," said Monsieur Lom insistently, "I must go, and if you have your own ideas, you may stay here or go back to Blois." ”

"We are bound to be with you. "Malbiqui said, don't be kidding, the three of them outsiders, well, even if Chamborence is French, but he is a Huguenot, maybe worse than a foreigner, they have returned safely, but they have lost the king's chief physician, do they think that the gallows of His Majesty Louis XIV is empty?

Sidonham shrugged, "Since the King's Chief Physician said so, don't worry. He thought it was because Chamborence was worried about the Huguenots, if they really were.

But then, Chamborence said no more, and when they had done their work, the sun was already setting in the west, "It seems that we are going to spend the night in Jura." Mr. Lom waved his cane optimistically and said.

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They finally saw Jura before nightfall, the village was larger than its neighbors, for by this time the people were almost at rest, and the first thing these plague doctors encountered was the police officer,

After seeing the doctors' outfits, the police officers showed a look of surprise, what they didn't know was that the doctors were also surprised, they thought that Jura had also been shrouded in the epidemic, who knew that at least the original order was still maintained here, but it was not so strange to think that there were more than a hundred cattle here.

There was an epidemic, but it wasn't that severe, and the plague doctors were well received – in this day and age, plague doctors were very respected, because plagues were rampant, and only these doctors, who dared to walk in the city or village, treat the infected with the plague, bury the dead, and they were also responsible for keeping a record of the number of people who died, and they were also the recorders and witnesses of the wills, and sometimes they had to probe the source of the disease - just like they do now.

Monsieur Lom, on the other hand, again inquired about the cowherd, and when he heard that the cowherd and his family were not infected with smallpox, he could not hide his joy, while the man who was questioned seemed to be frightened, and could scarcely take hold of his reward, and the great eju fell to the ground, bounced, spun around, and rolled all the way to the feet of Chamborence.