Liverpool, Georgia, 92 Duke Street, Monro Tavern.

If there's one thing you should do to travel to Liverpool by train from London, it's a tavern and a few good gins and wines that are sure to come out on top in Britain's referendum.

Although the quality of the drinks in London taverns is not necessarily worse than that of Liverpool, when it comes to price, London, which is at the feet of the king and has imperial roots, is certainly not as cheap as Liverpool, which is relatively unregulated.

Although Arthur has no special habit of drinking, drinking has become an excellent way to prevent himself from getting seriously ill in this special time.

Sitting in a seat facing the street, Arthur could smell the pungent smell coming from the street with a slight shrug.

In the Central Health Commission's guidance to local governments on cholera prevention, the need to use lime water, hot lime water, bleach to clean streets, and to paint and smoke congested and dirty areas was highlighted.

Among its recommendations, the committee also euphemistically stated that it would be better if the owner of the house could be asked to repaint all the walls of the house from floor to ceiling with lime.

However, since the government did not have the statutory power to enforce the cleaning of private places, most of the newly established local health committees came up with the idea of distributing brushes, buckets and disinfectants to the poor free of charge so that the masses could paint their own houses.

This zero-dollar method of disinfection promotion soon became an unprecedented success all over Britain, from the luxurious Buckingham Palace, where the king lived, to the leaky shelter of the poor, in the spirit of being cheap and not taking advantage of the bastards.

In just a few weeks, at least a third of Britain's homes have been repainted.

However, not everyone will respond to the government's call, and there are still a significant number of people in Britain today who do not take cholera seriously.

Due to the lack of awareness of this unfamiliar disease, many people believe that cholera is nothing more than a hoax created by the government in collaboration with doctors and businessmen.

Arthur noticed a news item published in the Newcastle Morning Post a while ago.

Cholera has reportedly become a word in Newcastle that has almost the same meaning as sarcasm. If you say to the face of a Newcastle man that he is at risk of cholera, what awaits you is likely to be a punching bag or a woman's saliva.

When a local reporter from Newcastle visited an all-night tavern, an alcoholic with a bottle of wine even claimed: "I'm not worried about this little problem, sir, as you can see, drinking can cure all diseases, and that's how I've been doing it for half my life, and I've never had anything wrong." My only concern is that I don't fall into any stinky gutter when I'm drunk. ”

Although the judgment of drunkards is usually inaccurate, but in the case of cholera alone, Arthur has to admit that this old boy is rarely right.

Arthur originally wanted to try to suggest this to the Board of Health, but because he really didn't have a good reputation in the medical field, and the fact that alcoholism could prevent diseases was really contrary to 19th-century medical knowledge, Arthur could only keep his mouth shut for a while because he was worried that his words would make the doctors rebellious.

However, Arthur's lack of speech does not mean that other half-informed laymen do not speak.

The clergy, who were the first barefoot doctors in Christendom but had been reduced to practicing medicine without a license in modern times, began to use their rhetoric that had been passed down for more than a decade when they discovered that cholera had arrived.

Cholera is not a material disease, but a spiritual moral defect!

This is God's punishment for society to fall into darkness!

The Bishop of Exeter's earlier criticism of London as an imminent hell of sin is being realized!

In these difficult times, we need to be more firm in our beliefs, and insisting on attending church to listen to sermons and reading the Bible will effectively reduce the risk of getting sick.

Normally, when Arthur sees such a headline, he always thinks that the clergy are sick again.

But he had to admit that the clergy had helped to fight cholera.

For example, Bishop Exeter, who criticized the issue of prostitutes in London a while ago, not only did not flee from his diocese after a large-scale epidemic broke out in the local area, but took to the streets to call on the faithful to collect donations for the poor who could not afford to pay for medical treatment, and during this time he insisted on presiding over funerals for patients who died of cholera.

The bishop's charge also stabilized the turmoil in Exeter to some extent, and in the past the middle class of Britain would have fled the city with their families whenever such a pandemic occurred.

This time, however, cholera did not break the social order, with shops still open, factories still operating, and ports still running.

After listening to the sermon, a small shopkeeper even burst into tears and expressed his remorse for his past criminal acts, and from now on he will give up bad habits such as drinking and smoking, and reform his life as a good person.

Not only that, but he also called on all the people of his industry association to stand up bravely in the face of difficulties. These middle-class people derive their wealth from the city, so they should not watch it fall into ruins when the city is in trouble.

At the gentleman's behest, Exeter raised more than £300 in just a few days. It may not sound like much, but for Exeter, which has a population of only a few thousand people, it is definitely a proud achievement.

Although Arthur did not know if it would be wise for the gentleman to quit drinking during cholera, if he could survive the cholera epidemic, Arthur felt that he would definitely be able to make a lot of money in the future, because his good deeds had spread through the newspapers to all corners of Britain in a matter of days.

Arthur flipped through the pages of the various newspapers he had bought from the newsstand this morning, and although the good people and good deeds of Exeter were touching, he could not be happy with more news.

The various special treatments for cholera in medical journals seem to be like fairy fights and powerful fighting methods.

Even if Arthur had not systematically studied medical knowledge and could not express professional opinions, he was questionable how he looked at these various methods.

Neither enemas made with saline, pine resin and aromatics nor emetics mixed with magnesium oxide, rhubarb and castor oil do not seem to work.

However, these methods were not the most puzzling for Arthur, and he found the most puzzling treatment for those who were dying, such as spraying boiling water, nitric acid, or applying cantharid cream and other drugs on the acupuncture points of the body and special parts of the heart and abdomen.

Doctors insist that by stimulating the skin and forming blisters, it can achieve the effects of dredging the meridians, promoting qi and blood, regulating the internal organs, and eliminating toxins, so as to achieve the purpose of internal and external treatment.

However, although it may seem a little appalling, compared to the Bible reading of the clergy, the old British doctor in Britain has at least made Arthur accept it tentatively.

However, among the many papers, Arthur was most concerned with the new treatment proposed by The Lancet, a group of leading doctors from the London Society of Internal Medicine, who emphasized that hot air baths, canned or bottled hot water, are always the best treatment.

They strongly recommend that hospitals with conditions simply steam a hot air bath for patients, and it is best to use some massage techniques to relax muscles and invigorate blood and rub heat after bathing.

They also cite a case of rehabilitation with this therapy, with Dr. Dutton of Birmingham posting an eight-year-old named Bharatt who was dehydrated, moaning and in a critical state of death.

In response, Dutton immediately administered the patient soda with brandy and opium tincture. At the same time, I asked the assistant to put about six gallons of water and three ounces of nitric acid in the tub.

Dutton said: "I had him lifted into the tub and completely submerged his body under the water, with the water level down to his chin. During the bath, I asked my assistant to rub his whole body for 20 minutes. ”

And when Balat had been soaking in the tub for about ten minutes before he could be lifted out, his pulse was already beating hard, and his dry and cold tongue had become moist and warm, although it had not yet reached the normal temperature. Balat himself said he felt much better and wanted to lie down in bed and rest.

And Dr. Dutton, who saved a life, couldn't help but rejoice in his paper: "My little patient now seems to have recovered from that endangered state of collapse." ”

Closing the medical journal in front of him, Arthur took a sullen sip of wine with one hand on his head.

Although he felt that his own ability was not enough to dictate medical work, perhaps because the Chancery's Office felt that since lawyers could do forensic medicine in the courtroom, it was reasonable to send a police officer who studied history to guide medical and health work.

At the very least, the academic gold medal in the history department of the University of London must have a good understanding of how the Black Death was fought in the Middle Ages.

So this time Arthur came to Liverpool, not only to do his anti-smuggling work, but also to supervise the work of the local health committee.

In order to be able to give a relatively reasonable recommendation in the health meeting, he had to choose the ones that were relatively reliable from the crowd of treatments.

In Arthur's view, the job was much more important than his duties at Scotland Yard, and the Criminal Investigation Department had only solved a murder case for weeks on end. And if cholera is not dealt with in time, it can blow up the KPIs of Scotland Yard for decades in minutes.

Just as he pondered how to proceed, the door to the tavern was suddenly pushed open.

Louis Bonaparte looked around with a thin document in his hand, and he quickly found Arthur's place and sat down across from him.

"Arthur, Mr. Mill, they have roughly sorted out the information on the customs declaration. There are many errors and omissions in it, and preliminary statistics should involve at least more than 6,000 pounds in taxes. ”

"Huh?" Arthur didn't reach for the papers, but looked up at Louie: "Found the mistake so quickly?" ”

Louie smiled and nodded, "That's right, it's a lot better than we expected." The investigation went so smoothly, Mr. Mill, and they didn't expect it. ”

Arthur put his arm on the table and muttered slightly, "Six thousand pounds...... Liverpool's annual tariff revenue is about 400,000 yuan, and an error of 1.5 percent is not unacceptable. ”

"No, no, no." Louis waved his hand and said, "Arthur, Mr. Mill said that the six thousand pounds are only a preliminary estimate. If everything is done, it is estimated that it will more than double. ”

Arthur pushed another glass of wine in front of Louis: "Then it will be three times, four and a half percent, which is also a reasonable range." However, if we can find these errors and omissions from the customs declaration, at least it means that the customs office and customs department in Liverpool did not give us a special white list. Do you know what this means? ”

Louis took a puff on his cigarette: "They are willing to cooperate." ”

"That's right." Arthur nodded, "Since they are willing to cooperate, let's play the chips at the table first." ”

When Louis heard this, he took out a document from his arms and put it on the table: "Since you are playing at the poker table, then you should put this document away first, and you should be able to use it when you increase the size in the future." ”

Arthur glanced at the document and said, "This is about the Port Authority's expansion of the port?" ”

Louis nodded slightly: "Liverpool is not like London, we don't have a reliable informant here, so I can only go to the docks and ask around." This morning I dressed up as a French tourist at the pier and had a brief chat with the local shopkeepers.

They mentioned to me one of the interesting things that Liverpool's upper class loved to buy property, whether it was a wealthy businessman or an executive in a government agency. Oh, maybe I can't say that, after all, the administrators and the wealthy businessmen are almost equal in this place. According to the shopkeepers, about 30 per cent of Liverpool's real estate is owned by those guys.

And the talkative guys swore to me that the most powerful body in Liverpool was neither the City Council nor the Port Authority and Customs Department, but a civil business organisation called the Liverpool Association.

The Liverpool Association is a two-century-old organisation, how would I describe its power in Liverpool? It is said that the Liverpool Association has produced seven Liverpool mayors, and at its peak, ninety per cent of the members of Liverpool's City Council were members of the Liverpool Association. To this day, it still holds more than 70 percent of the seats on city councillors. ”

Arthur turned his glass, his reddened eyes staring at the clear fuchsia liquor: "Like to buy land, Liverpool Association MPs ......"

He suddenly leaned back in his chair: "Parliamentarians don't buy so much real estate just to put it in good shape." Let me guess, they must still be very fond of land speculation, right? And the speculation was quite successful. If you don't buy real estate, you can buy it in the planned area for the expansion of the port. ”

A mysterious smile appeared on Louie's face: "Arthur, you are really imaginative. ”

Arthur took a sip of his glass: "How much did the four new ports in Liverpool cost?" ”

Louis replied: "On average, it is about thirty thousand pounds each. The construction cost of each port is around £6,000 to £8,000, and the remaining more than £20,000 is used to acquire land for new warehouses and supporting facilities. ”

"Tut-tut......"

Louis smiled and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Arthur shook his glass and replied, "It's nothing, I just think Liverpool's wine is a bit spicy to drink." Originally, the brandy in London felt quite heavy to me, and compared to the wine in Liverpool, it was simply light. ”

Louis also raised his glass and took a sip when he heard this: "Hmm...... Although the wine is a little heavier, the water of the Mersey River is clearer than the water of the Thames! ”

Arthur raised his eyebrows, put down his wine glass and nodded slightly, "That makes sense." I asked why the Port Authority of Liverpool asked the Public Works Committee of the Parliament three times for money, because the water quality is different, so the cost of building the port has to be constantly increased. When I rented a house for a friend of mine, he thought it was too expensive and said that my house was made of gold. Now it seems that he must have never been to Liverpool, and the house made of gold used to be here. ”

Louis also joked: "Arthur, you must not have seen "Marco Polo's Travels", what is so strange about the house made of gold, Marco Polo said that in the easternmost part of the continent, even the streets are paved with gold. Oh, by the way, the island on the east side of the east is made of silver. ”

When Arthur heard this, the wine that came to his lips was almost sucked into his nose.

He hurriedly took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth to hide his embarrassment: "I'll write down the matter of the port first." However, this aspect is not within the scope of my supervision, and we don't need to get into trouble with them for the time being. At least judging from the customs declaration, they still showed some sincerity. ”

Louis replied: "I also think that we are crossing the line in this matter, and there is no need to talk about this unless we have to." And it should not be only Liverpool who is doing this, there are many people who have made a fortune by this, if we rashly poke things out, we will definitely cause a commotion. ”

Arthur adjusted his mood, brushed his hair and asked, "Is there anything new to discover besides this?" ”

Louis recalled, and then added: "Except for the Port Authority, the Docks Committee is probably not clean. I briefly looked at their list, the place had long been held by a few families, and the company that provided services to the public business of the Dock Board was quite single, and most of the companies on the purchase list were supplied by a company called Grindelrod. If you continue to investigate, there is definitely a problem here. ”

When Arthur heard this, he also had a basic understanding of the local ecology of Liverpool, and he raised his hand to interrupt: "We just need to know this in our hearts." I'll give them a note here, but these things can't be played on the table. I needed something slight, but not so small as to lift up the whole Liverpool turf. ”

Louis put on his hat and nodded when he heard this, "Okay, then I'll inquire again." ”

Arthur opened his mouth and advised: "Pay attention to dress up in disguise, and remember to carry a gun when you travel." When you're not wearing a police uniform, you're really just an ordinary foreign tourist. If you're suffocated with a stick somewhere, I don't really know how to get you out for a while. ”

Louis pressed one hand on his chest and bowed slightly, "Of course, don't worry, sir." ”

Arthur watched him out the door, intending to study the medical journal at hand.

Suddenly, the door of the tavern was pushed open again.

A man walked into the tavern and looked left and right for a while, and suddenly saw Arthur's clothes, and then came to Arthur with a smile and asked, "Excuse me, is it Mr. Arthur Hastings?" ”

(End of chapter)