The Ming Dynasty still has a long way to go from the whole people to get pox, and even this is actually an impossible thing, but this has become the basic national policy of the Ming Dynasty.

In so many years of management, although the problem of local corruption cannot be solved, the yamen in various places are conscientiously implementing the decrees of the imperial court, reflecting the cohesion of the country.

Since the Jiangnan gentry group was attacked to prevent the imperial court's ban on silver, the local yamen are now seriously implementing every decree of the imperial court.

Jingshan County, the county seat where wonderful stories once took place, is a remote place where Wang Yue was fortunate to leave poems.

In a small village in the north of the city, the sun shines on a lush green bamboo forest, which reflects the emerald green sheen. Life here is calm and tranquil, but today, an unusual tension hangs over the village.

The cow in the villager's old Huangtou's house was sick, and the matter was quickly reported to the chief through the patriarch, who quickly reported the matter to Liu Daoyuan, the county magistrate.

"Chickenpox? Immediately notify Chen Langzhong of the Jimin Yuan to go to Xiali Village with the county! Liu Daoyuan was learning the news, but his eyes lit up slightly.

Xiali Village has a five-mile road with the county seat.

The old yellow head looked at the sick big cattle, and the old face was full of worry, which was undoubtedly a disaster in this era when the cattle were the main labor force.

"Old yellow head, don't worry! If your cow is really cowpox, the county government will compensate you according to the price, and the court guarantees that you will not suffer! The chief's vision was obviously higher, and he immediately comforted him.

Chen Langzhong followed Liu Daoyuan, the county magistrate, and hurried to Xiali Village, he was a weathered old man with wisdom and firmness in his eyes. The thing he is most proud of is that he went to the School of Chinese Medicine in Beijing for half a year.

After examining the sick cow of the old yellow head family in detail, he nodded solemnly: "Lord Zhixian, this cow is indeed cowpox!" ”

"Okay, explain it, and immediately gather the people around you to get vaccinated with cowpox!" Liu Daoyuan was suddenly overjoyed in his heart, and even gave instructions to the accompanying personnel.

Thanks to the launch of a national newspaper in Baihuayuan, which let him know that the smallpox epidemic was raging overseas, the imperial court attached great importance to the vaccination of cowpox vaccines.

Although promoting vaccinia vaccination is the basic job of their grassroots officials, completing a vaccinia vaccination at this time will definitely add some points to their resumes.

The current Ming Dynasty no longer pays attention to the background, but pays attention to the practical spirit of local officials, which is more fair to the children of their poor families.

"What's the benefit of this cowpox?"

"Naturally, I don't have to worry about smallpox anymore!"

"What's more, if you don't plant cowpox, it will be difficult for the county's road guide to do it!"

……

Although cowpox has been advertised as an effective prevention against smallpox for several years, it is unlikely that everyone is concerned about it, and those with good deeds have explained it.

In fact, in order to promote everyone to vaccinate against cowpox, in addition to not being allowed to go to sea and enter the royal store to work, it is also easy to be induced by calories. For example, those who need to take the exam all require them to be vaccinated against smallpox first.

"I'll take it!"

"I'm willing to take it!"

"I'm willing to take it too!"

……

After knowing the cause and effect, the villagers of Shili and Eight Townships came to vaccinate one after another, and they adopted a positive attitude towards vaccinia.

Villagers lined up to get the pox, everyone with a determined expression on their faces.

Although there was some slight pain in the process of planting the pox, the villagers gritted their teeth and persevered. After the pox, the original nervousness and fear gradually calmed down, and was replaced by peace of mind and trust.

As time passed, the news of the pox spread throughout the northern suburbs, and even people in the city rushed over when they learned that they could be vaccinated against cowpox.

The supply of cowpox cannot be endless, but vaccination is related to everyone's business, school and travel, so the children of the official gentry are more active.

"Okay, this pox is over, everyone is gone!" After being busy for a few days, Chen Langzhong looked at the scalper who had died of illness and said helplessly.

Although he is not afraid to work hard to get all his compatriots to be inoculated with cowpox, the production of cowpox is limited, and many cattle die after just a few days.

"I haven't picked it up yet!"

"Who isn't? I avoided it the other day! ”

"I can only catch up early next time, I heard that I am really not afraid of smallpox if I have cowpox!"

……

The people in the northern suburbs who had not yet been vaccinated against cowpox saw that the cattle were indeed sick and died, although many people regretted their previous practice, but they also helplessly dispersed.

A similar situation occurs across the country, where when cattle infected with cowpox are found, the government arranges a nearby vaccinia campaign.

Once it is discovered that some local officials treat this kind of thing negatively, the imperial court will even directly remove the black gauze hat from the head of the responsible official.

It's just that all parts of the country are limited by the production of cowpox, if the cattle can always supply cowpox, it is okay, once the cattle die, then this vaccinating cowpox activity can only be temporarily stopped.

"Smallpox has spread to Ningbo again!"

"Huh...... I've been vaccinated against vaccinia! ”

"Farewell, I'm going to retreat at home for three months!"

……

Although the smallpox epidemic will inevitably enter the outer cities, the Ming Dynasty did not panic, and even seemed very optimistic about the epidemic.

Because Daming has a relatively high vaccination rate, especially for jobs that are in contact with overseas or have strong circulation, vaccination against cowpox is mandatory, so smallpox does not cause much harm in Daming.

It was only found in a small area in many places, but under the effective measures of the local government, it did not cause too much epidemic infectious diseases to the Ming Dynasty.

When the time came to February, the imperial court also issued the "Smallpox Forecast Guide", and a product called masks also appeared on the market.

The smallpox epidemic seems to have come, but it seems that it has never appeared, and it is always quickly controlled by local governments and the epidemic spreads to the interior.

After the great geographical discovery, not only did the Ming have more contact with the American continent, but the European fleet had also begun to bypass the Cape of Good Hope and set foot in the Indian Ocean.

Although the Ming Dynasty was not affected by the smallpox epidemic, the situation elsewhere was getting worse.

On the one hand, the smallpox epidemic was introduced to the South Seas through the maritime trade route, which then affected the Ming Dynasty, and on the other hand, the epidemic spread rapidly in India.

Bordered by the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west, India is a traditional agricultural country, but it has a special geographical advantage that makes it easy to get involved in maritime trade.

India is now the Radi dynasty, the fifth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, whose founder was Bahrul. Rodi.

In the second year of Jingtai, Bahrul Rodi seized Delhi and established the Radi dynasty when Sultan Alam Shah was unable to control the situation.

This dynastic jurisdiction included Sindh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, etc., and the present sultan was Hikandar Lodi. Although the stability and prestige of the Delhi Sultanate were restored to some extent, the regime was not stable.

Now this sudden smallpox epidemic is undoubtedly a huge test for the young regime of the Rodi Dynasty.

In fact, the greatest wealth of a country is its population, and once there is a large-scale reduction in population, it will not only reduce its own national strength, but also be likely to be invaded by foreign enemies.

In an ancient village in India, life was once as calm as water, but the sudden smallpox epidemic was like a nightmare, pushing the village into the abyss.

"What's going on with these red rashes?"

"It's so itchy, my body is so uncomfortable!"

"It's okay, just stay up for a few days and you'll be fine!"

……

At first, the villagers only noticed unusual red spots on the faces of a few young people, accompanied by a slight fever, but staying up is now a common practice in the fight against the disease.

People didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was an ordinary rash. But soon, the situation took a turn for the worse, and the rashes on these faces spread rapidly, accompanied by a high fever and severe pain.

When the health of several young people deteriorated dramatically, the villagers began to realize that this was not an ordinary disease, and panic quickly spread through the village.

"What is this?"

"They must be doing something sinful against the gods out there!"

"That's right, it must be to offend the gods, and the gods are guilty of them!"

……

When the villagers gathered, they immediately began to discuss, and everyone's face was full of worry, and they began to seriously explore the root cause of the young people's illness.

It was only in their fixed minds that they soon unanimously concluded that they had done illegal things outside, and thus were "punished" by the gods.

"They are all sinful souls, and only holy water can wash away their sins!" The village priest, an elderly man, claimed that only holy water could drive away the sickness of the young men.

At the call of the priest, the villagers flocked to the temple in the hope of being sheltered by the holy water.

Historically, not only did these young people need prayer, but they also needed holy water to lift their potentially polluted souls.

They prayed devoutly, pouring holy water on each of them, and then the priest himself brought the requested holy water to several young sick people and made them drink the unknown liquid.

However, the pandemic has not eased, but has intensified.

With the spread of smallpox, more and more villagers have been infected, and large areas of rashes have appeared on their bodies, and even death cases have begun to appear.

"Someone is dead again!"

"Holy water doesn't work at all!"

"It's so uncomfortable, who's going to save me!"

……

When the holy water proved to have no effect, and even the priest himself died of smallpox, an atmosphere of grief and despair pervaded the village, and every house was shut up, but the villagers continued to groan in pain.

Unlike the effective methods of the Ming Dynasty, the Indian villages can only wait for the Grim Reaper to come.

Gone is the village that once filled with laughter and silence and sorrow, and villagers are killed by smallpox every day.

Although the mortality rate of smallpox epidemic is 30%, under the current medical conditions, their mortality rate is actually higher, even more than 50%.

Although some people contracted the disease and did not die, their faces were already tormented by the disease, so some women chose an extreme way, or chose to stay away from their hometown.

Eventually, the village was completely devastated by the smallpox epidemic, and not even the last person remained.

It would have been nice if it were just one village, but the smallpox epidemic has swept across India, killing people and abandoning more and more farmland.

Although the Rhodi dynasty was very active in facing the smallpox epidemic, no matter how much holy water they found, the epidemic was not only not contained, but slowly spread throughout India.

Although the population of India is far from comparable to that of later generations, it is one of the few millions, but the number of deaths is in the tens of thousands every day.

In the nearly a year since the outbreak of the epidemic, the population of the Rodi Dynasty has actually dropped significantly, and the number of people known to have been infected with smallpox alone has exceeded half of the total population.

In Delhi, the king has recorded: the day is dead, don't ask the number, the sun is bleak and sad, the threesome, less than ten steps, and the two people suddenly cross the road.

It's just that this pandemic is not the end, but just the beginning.

However, in the face of this smallpox epidemic, which had no medicine to treat, a large number of nobles chose to flee their homeland, while most chose to flee in the direction of entering the Arabian Sea.

India is closer to the countries on the Arabian Peninsula than it is to the South Seas, and for a long time they were connected to the Middle Sea through the Arabian Peninsula.

Whether it was the choice of refuge for the Indian aristocracy or the Indian maritime trade routes, the smallpox epidemic was destined to reach the African continent and spread to Europe through the Arabian Peninsula.

However, those who are familiar with history know that there was no way to prevent smallpox in Europe during this period, and once they were infected with the smallpox virus, they had to wait for death honestly.

However, the Rhodi dynasty in India could not resist the smallpox epidemic, so what could the Europeans do? Do you really have to rely on their Catholicism?

The history of mankind seems to be inimmune to natural disasters.

Since Zhu Youzhu ascended the throne, through droughts, floods, typhoons and locust plagues, the Ming Dynasty has to endure a natural disaster almost every year.

If the smallpox epidemic is counted as one, then the main theme of Hongzhi's eight years is destined to belong to smallpox.

However, unlike in the past, the previous disasters were almost all borne by the Ming Dynasty alone, but this disaster of smallpox epidemic will belong to people all over the world.

Smallpox outbreaks in the Indian, South and East China Seas are only getting worse, while smallpox outbreaks in Europe are already on the way. (End of chapter)