Wang Yanhu, the newly appointed governor of Shuntian County, took the train to Zhangjiakou Railway Station.
He passed by the capital and saw that the outskirts of the capital were orderly and cordoned off in villages.
The officials in Shuntian Prefecture have the strongest mobilization ability and the fastest response speed.
They have formed huge nets to sift through the entire territory to find patients suffering from the plague in a timely manner.
As long as the source is controlled and the plague no longer spreads rapidly among the population, the local plague can be controlled.
Governor Wang Yanhu received the imperial edict, and Emperor Su He urged him urgently and even sent a rare Shang Fang sword.
Wang Yanhu holds Shang Fang's sword, and he has the right to kill first and then show off.
He handed over the work of the Hebei Governor's Yamen to other officials and asked them to make arrangements to deal with the plague and immediately block the roads in and out of Shuntian County.
The plague has not yet been introduced into Hebei Province. As long as the roads are blocked in time, it will at most lead to some small-scale plague outbreaks.
Governor Wang Yanhu is no longer worried about the situation in Hebei Province.
He took a special train arranged by the imperial court and took only his master Ren Anran with him to Zhangjiakou Prefecture to deal with the plague there.
Zhangjiakou Prefecture was the first place in the Central Plains where major plague broke out.
Wang Yanhu knew without even thinking that the situation there was critical.
As the governor, he did not have to worry about the affairs of the capital city, which was directly managed by the emperor.
As the train entered the city, Governor Wang Yanhu stood in front of the glass window and watched the busy officials in the capital.
In the streets of the capital, there are iron stoves burning with huge flames.
This is a convenient corpse cremator. Wang Yanhu had previously gone to the imperial court and proposed that one of the methods to deal with the plague was to burn corpses in a timely manner.
The bodies of people who died from the plague were also contagious.
People who come into contact with these corpses have a high chance of contracting the plague.
Wang Yanhu summarized his previous experience and concluded that the most effective way to control the plague was to burn corpses in time to control the people suffering from the plague.
The body must be burned with fire, and landfill is not an option.
Bodies contaminated by the plague will contaminate the water and soil around the tomb, causing the plague to spread again.
Governor Wang Yanhu saw that the officials were all wrapped in rubber raincoats, wearing rubber gloves and rubber boots, and tied up every joint of clothing with ropes, leaving no gaps exposed.
Wearing a thick mask on the face is mainly to prevent liquids from splashing on the patient's body.
These people wrapped the body in sacks filled with lime and carried it into the crematorium.
After a violent burst of fire, the body was burned to ashes.
Their method of disposing of corpses was the safest method found after several small-scale plagues.
They used to wear cotton-padded clothes, which had relatively low protective properties.
After the invention of rubber, rubber raincoats became the main means of protection.
Plagues such as cholera and plague will cause patients to produce a large amount of liquid. Only clothing that can isolate liquids can ensure the safety of personnel.
Master Ren Anran stood beside Governor Wang Yanhu and reminded: "Sir, we are about to arrive at the Beijing Railway Station. Do you want to go to the palace to meet His Majesty?
Please tell me how to control the plague."
When Wang Yanhu heard what the master said, he knew that the master was seeking stability.
But Emperor Su He appointed him at a critical moment because he believed that he could control the plague well.
He also believed in his ability to control the plague.
Wang Yanhu waved his hand and ordered: "Inform the train driver that this train will not stop on the way and will go directly to Zhangjiakou Railway Station.
Your Majesty asked me to control the plague in Shuntian County without delay.
If we delay for even a moment now, it will spread to several more counties, and we don’t know how many people will be infected and die."
Governor Wang Yanhu understood that Emperor Su He had no explicit intention.
He wanted to limit the plague to Sunchon County at all costs.
Every time the plague spreads to a province, the difficulty of governing the Great China Dynasty will rise sharply.
The train runs on the railway tracks day and night, rushing to Zhangjiakou at high speed.
Governor Wang Yanhu slept in his berth. He knew that after arriving in Zhangjiakou, he would not have much time to sleep.
Master Ren Anran woke up Governor Wang Yanhu.
"Sir, we are about to arrive at Zhangjiakou Railway Station."
Governor Wang Yanhu stood up, put on his official uniform, and looked out the glass window.
The train has arrived outside Zhangjiakou City, which has been completely taken over by the army. No one is allowed to enter or exit except for key supplies and personnel.
The train stopped at the train station. After Wang Yanhu put on his mask, he walked out of the train station.
He saw several trains parked at the train station.
There are doctors who come from out of town at the train station. They have nothing to do near the train station. No one arranges for them to treat patients.
Massive amounts of materials were brought by train and piled up here at the train station, and the warehouse was almost full.
Wang Yanhu also saw that a large number of people rushed to the train station and wanted to leave by train.
The train station has been cordoned off by the military and no one is allowed to leave.
Some people among the people were holding their necks and screaming in pain.
Wang Yanhu, with his simple medical knowledge, could tell that this was an early stage patient.
He did not expect that the officials here in Zhangjiakou completely allowed the plague to develop.
They didn't even do the most basic thing of isolating patients.
People who came from afar to support here were not received by officials.
Wang Yanhu was so angry that he first went to the local garrison government office, borrowed a team of soldiers from the military, and immediately rushed to the prefect government office with the soldiers.
He saw a large number of officials in the prefect's Yamen, doing nothing.
All the chief officials of various yamen disappeared.
After getting to know Wang Yanhu, he knew the situation of the prefect's Yamen.
The new Zhangjiakou magistrate Lin Yongguang has not yet taken office, and the previous magistrate has been taken away by the imperial envoy.
Some of the chief officials of various yamen wanted to be transferred away from here, while others simply broke the rules and ignored everything.
Wang Yanhu's first priority now is to rectify the prefect's yamen.
Without the cooperation of local officials, it would be impossible to control the plague.
He didn't have time to play with power, so he directly took out the imperial edict and Shang Fang Baojian, and sent people to notify the officials of each yamen, requiring the chief officials of each yamen to arrive within an hour.
Any official who fails to wait until the expiry date will be immediately dismissed.
The arrival of Governor Wang Yanhu directly caused a turmoil in the stagnant officialdom of Zhangjiakou.
After receiving the news, the officials immediately rushed to the prefect's Yamen.
Wang Yanhu saw that it only took less than half an hour for all the officials to rush to the prefect's Yamen.
Facing these mediocre officials, he said angrily: "There is a great epidemic in the government. What are you doing now?"
Niu Baoshan, director of the Medical Department, rolled his eyes and immediately replied: "Sir Governor, we are mobilizing manpower to control the scale of the plague."
When other yamen chiefs saw what Niu Baoshan said, they immediately echoed: "Master Governor, we are all controlling the plague. Without the efforts of us people, the plague would have spread long ago."
Wang Yanhu looked at these tough-talking officials. They really did what they said. Why did the situation in Zhangjiakou Prefecture reach this level?
He pointed to the director of the medical bureau who spoke first and asked: "Director Niu Baoshan Niu, your medical bureau directly manages local doctors and has the responsibility to control local plagues.
You just said that you are controlling the scale of the plague, so let me ask you how many people in your house are suffering from the plague now.
Which places are more serious and what is the most urgent thing now?"
When Director Niu Baoshan heard the Governor's questions, he stuttered a few times but didn't answer any of the questions.
When Wang Yanhu saw this situation, he said angrily: "You, as the supervisor, know nothing about such an important situation.
How dare you say that you are going to understand the situation of the plague and control its scale? I think you are going to drink flower wine.
Niu Baoshan was immediately dismissed from his position and handed over to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for review.
Among the officials of the Medical Bureau, whoever can answer the question just asked, I will immediately promote him to the position of director."
Wang Yanhu was a governor who rose from the lowest level. He knew that in the government, the most capable people may not be promoted.
The officials who are most able to please those who suit their liking are the officials who will be promoted the fastest.
In this current situation, we must promote the most capable people.
After hearing the governor's promise from the seventh-rank official Ma Xiaokun, he looked at the nervous colleagues around him, thought for a long time, and finally stood up with gritted teeth.
"Your Majesty the Governor, your subordinate Ma Xiaokun understands the current situation.
The most serious place for plague was the rural area in the north of Zhangjiakou.
It has close exchanges with the Mongolian grasslands and was the area where the plague was first introduced.
The situation in the east urban area of the city is the most serious.
Dongcheng District is mainly a place where traffickers and lackeys live. The environment is dirty and messy, and there are many mosquitoes, rats, and ants.
The officials in the city were not interested in this place, which resulted in the plague getting out of control.
Our most urgent task now is to separate the sick from the healthy, tell the people what the government will do, and restore order in the city."
When Governor Wang Yanhu saw Ma Xiaokun speaking, he smiled. With this leader, he would be able to achieve a breakthrough.
"Ma Xiaokun, right? You are currently acting as the director of the Medical Bureau. If you perform well in controlling the plague this time, you will not need to act temporarily and will officially become the director."
Through this method, Wang Yanhu dismissed these mediocre officials who did not do anything and promoted a group of officials who had the courage to perform.
These newly promoted officials will work harder than other officials in order to keep their positions.
After Wang Yanhu took control of various government offices, he asked them to immediately organize manpower to control the plague according to the plan formulated by the imperial court.
The most urgent thing now is to restore order in the city, receive the doctors waiting at the train station, and let them build a hospital to treat sick patients.
Wang Yanhu also contacted the local garrison and cooperated with the government officials to control the plague.
Anyone who disobeys orders, no matter what their status, will be suppressed with the most brutal means.
Wang Yanhu was extremely capable and quickly restored the nearly paralyzed prefect's Yamen to its previous vitality.
The city followed Shuntian Prefecture's approach and began to seal off various places. Officials went door to door to screen out sick people.
The government mobilized the people in the city and began to eliminate rats from house to house.
Old officials in the officialdom are afraid of things and taking responsibility, but more young officials dare to take responsibility as long as they have big enough interests.
The Zhangjiakou magistrate's office resumed operations, and relevant orders could be conveyed to lower-level officials.
Taking counties and towns as units, we began to isolate places and control local plagues.
Rural areas are self-sufficient in materials, and counties can withstand the pressure of blockades for a short period of time.
Wang Yanhu only slept three or four hours a day. After several days of hard work, the entire officialdom of Zhangjiakou was mobilized, and various places began to carry out self-rescue.
After he put on protective clothing and prepared himself, he took people to the isolation hospital to learn about the treatment of plague patients.
The isolation hospital is built with military tents and is located in the wasteland north of Zhangjiakou.
All the patients in the city are sent here for treatment.
All patients were paid for by the imperial court and treated for free.
I am afraid that some patients are worried about not being able to pay for medical expenses, so they go everywhere to avoid being searched by the government.
This will allow the plague to lurk in the dark and develop slowly, which is not conducive to plague control.
Patients who die at home are incinerated on the spot using mobile incineration vehicles.
Wang Yanhu was not far from the hospital when he smelled a strong burnt smell.
This involves burning a large number of corpses, producing an unpleasant smell.
Wang Yanhu came to the hospital and saw a doctor directing other doctors to treat patients.
This is Wu Youke, the right minister of the medical department and the president of Da Hua Royal Hospital.
Wang Yanhu and Dean Wu have always been sympathetic to each other. They are both top talents in managing the plague in Dahua, and they have many common topics.
He stepped forward and asked: "Shilang Wu, how are the plague patients? Is the mortality rate high?"
Wang Yanhu knew that the mortality rate of the plague was extremely high, but he still had one thought in his mind: he hoped that doctors could find a drug to treat the plague.
When Dean Wu Youke heard Governor Wang Yanhu's inquiry, he sighed, shook his head and said, "Governor Wang, the mortality rate of the plague is too high.
We use penicillin, allicin and various drugs to control the patient's condition.
I tried all the ancient and modern prescriptions, and I also tried to formulate my own prescriptions for treatment.
The medicine has a certain effect, but it is far from what I want.
If the patient can survive the high fever and the disease will no longer progress, the patient will survive.
After high fever, the skin bleeds, the disease progresses rapidly, and the mortality rate is almost 100%.
The overall mortality rate of the plague is over 55%.
If there is no interventional treatment in the early stages of the disease, the mortality rate is nearly 100%.
In many cases, five or six members of a family died."
When Dean Wu Youke mentioned this situation, he couldn't help but sigh.
The plague has the highest death rate among all major plagues.
After Dean Wu Youke finished speaking, he praised: "Your strategy of burning the patient's corpse has achieved excellent results.
The growth rate of plague patients currently admitted to isolation hospitals has slowed down.
This shows that the spread of plague has been effectively controlled by us."
"This is good news, and it is also the direction of my efforts." Wang Yanhu asked with concern, "Wu Shilang, how are the doctors in the hospital? Are there many infected doctors?
You are a reassurance. As long as you can continue to work, we will all feel at ease.
If you get treatment in advance, you have at least a better chance of saving your life."
Dean Wu Youke said sadly: "Doctors who pay attention to protection rarely contract the plague.
However, some special circumstances may cause doctors to come into contact with patients without protection.
Even with timely disinfection, some people still contracted the plague.
His Majesty has mobilized doctors from surrounding provinces to come to support, and now the number of doctors is relatively sufficient."
When Wang Yanhu heard the news, it was fortunate among the misfortunes that the doctor community did not collapse.
After he understood the situation in the hospital, he did not enter the hospital and knew the situation inside without even thinking about it.
From time to time, corpses were taken out of the hospital and thrown into the crematorium next to the hospital.
The people responsible for transporting the corpses of sick patients are the ones at the highest risk of contracting the epidemic.
They are all low-class people who choose to take risks to work for the high salary of ten silver coins a trip.
Wang Yanhu directed the entire government to mobilize, and with the assistance of the local garrison, the spread of plague in many places was controlled.
He watched the reports coming from various places.
In most places, there are very few patients. Finding these patients in time and eliminating rats at the same time can effectively control the development of plague.
However, relying solely on local strength, it would still take a year and a half to completely control the plague.