usatvline Chapter 26 Liu Shijun
Chapter 26 Liu Shijun
Liu Bei accepted the seal of office, turned around and looked at the crowd below, his gaze sharp as a blade.
"Yan Gang, obey my command!"
Yan Gang stepped forward, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed: "Your subordinate is here!"
"You shall lead your eight hundred county soldiers to immediately seal off the four gates of Yangle City. Without my written order, no one shall enter or leave!"
"The city will be divided into wards and districts, with each neighborhood separated by fences. Visiting other residents or gathering in groups is strictly prohibited. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"
Liu Bei's voice was calm and resolute, which reassured everyone.
"This subordinate obeys!"
Liu Bei thought for a moment and then said, "If any refugees from the Central Plains come, they should not be allowed into the city, nor should they be driven away. They should be settled together outside the west gate!"
"Zou Dan, listen to my command!"
"Your subordinate is here!"
"You shall lead the soldiers and militia of the fortified area to immediately clean up all the streets, alleys, ditches, and latrines of the entire city. All filth and rotting corpses shall be transported to a place three miles outside the city and buried deep underground, leaving nothing behind!"
"Every day at Chenshi (7-9 AM) and Shenshi (3-5 PM), the entire city's streets, alleys, and houses shall be fumigated with Atractylodes lancea, Artemisia argyi, and cypress branches, without interruption!"
"This subordinate obeys!"
"Shan Jing, obey my command!"
"Your subordinate is here!"
"You shall immediately take stock of the grain and cloth reserves of the prefecture and ensure the food supply for the people in the city."
"At the same time, mobilize all medical workers in the prefecture to collect all existing medicinal materials, including ephedra, apricot kernel, gypsum, anemarrhena, atractylodes, and licorice, and register them all; no one may keep any for themselves!"
"Furthermore, arrange for a temporary shelter to be set up outside the western part of the city to receive and treat refugees from the Central Plains!"
Throughout history, when the Central Plains were in turmoil, people would flee to the border regions in order to protect themselves, and this year is likely to be no exception.
"Yes, sir!"
"Xu Rong and Tian Yu, listen to my command!"
Xu Rong and Tian Yu, who had been waiting outside the hall, immediately stepped inside and knelt on one knee: "Your subordinates are here!"
"Xu Rong, you will lead two hundred Yang Le garrison troops to oversee the city's lockdown and patrols."
"Anyone who spreads rumors, loots supplies, harbors sick individuals, or illegally enters checkpoints will be executed without exception!"
"Tian Yu, you will accompany me to set up a ward outside the west city, overseeing all matters related to patient admission, medicinal herb processing, and prescription dispensing!"
"Yes, sir!"
The five orders were issued in a clear and logical manner, linking each other together. The previously panicked and helpless crowd instantly found their anchor.
Although some people have doubts about the methods of "fumigating filth" and "separate isolation".
Seeing Liu Bei's confident expression and with the prefect's full entrustment, no one dared to say anything more and they all accepted the order and left.
Subsequently, Liu Bei ordered his officials to gather civil servants from various counties and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners from villages to learn together how to govern and manage.
He also ordered the magistrates of each county to strictly implement the instructions from the prefecture, and to send out corresponding personnel to supervise and report.
But the doubts, in the end, still arose.
The next day, an old official from the prefecture came to Hou Chong with a distressed expression and said, "Your Excellency, since ancient times, epidemic prevention has always relied on worshipping mountains and rivers and shamans exorcising evil spirits. I have never heard of any method such as dividing the area into separate wards or boiling clothes in boiling water!"
"Liu, the clerk, is acting against the will of Heaven, which may anger the gods and make the plague even more severe!"
Although Hou Chong suppressed it, the news quickly spread throughout Yangle City.
Many people were already fearful and uneasy, and this incitement made them even more inclined to stay home and pray.
Some people refused to cooperate with cleaning up filth and isolation and control measures, and some even secretly hid infected family members in their homes, fearing that they would be dragged away and "sent to their deaths."
When Xu Rong brought two shamans who were spreading rumors to see Liu Bei, Tian Yu was in a state of great anxiety.
"My lord, the people don't believe in our methods. Many households are hiding sick people, and some are even sneaking through checkpoints. If this continues, our epidemic prevention measures simply cannot be implemented!"
Liu Bei looked at the two trembling shamans below the steps with a cold expression, but did not immediately lash out.
He turned to Tian Yu and said, "It's alright. People are panicking, so it's understandable that they don't believe it."
"First, follow the prescription I gave you and set up a medicine distribution point at the west gate. Administer the medicine to patients with mild symptoms first. Once it is effective, the people will naturally believe it."
He had already written down all the core prescriptions from Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases" that were used to treat the high fever, cough, asthma, and hemoptysis of this epidemic.
For mild cases: use "Ma Xing Shi Gan Tang" to clear lung heat, relieve cough and asthma.
For patients with severe, persistent high fever: use "Baihu Tang" to clear heat, generate fluids, purge fire, and detoxify.
For those with weak constitutions, a decoction of licorice and dried ginger can be used to warm the yang and strengthen the body.
The medicinal materials used in these prescriptions are all common medicinal materials that could be found in Youzhou at the end of the Han Dynasty. They are by no means any magical prescriptions or secret medicines, but they are exactly the right medicine for this typhoid epidemic.
In fact, Zhang Zhongjing had already eliminated the rare and precious medicinal materials.
In addition, he also wrote down Hua Tuo's Tusu wine recipe: soak rhubarb, atractylodes macrocephala, cinnamon twigs, Sichuan pepper, aconite and other herbs in the wine.
People are advised to drink a small amount every morning to ward off disease, strengthen the spleen and stomach, and boost immunity.
Liu Bei then established an ironclad rule: all people in the city must boil their drinking water three times before drinking it.
The patient's clothes and bedding must be boiled in boiling water and then exposed to the sun.
People who have been in contact with patients must wash their hands with boiling water and must not touch healthy people directly.
They should have used strong liquor, but ordinary people don't have the means to wash their hands with strong liquor every day.
During the first three days after the medicine distribution point was set up, very few people came to ask for medicine.
On the fourth day, a patient with mild symptoms who had fled from Linyu County was found to be coughing, wheezing, and having a high fever, and was on the verge of death.
With a "nothing to lose" mentality, I drank the medicine, and three days later, the high fever subsided, and my cough and wheezing also stopped a lot.
This news, like a stone thrown into stagnant water, instantly caused an uproar in Yangle City.
The people finally believed that Liu Yuanshi's prescription could really cure diseases!
It's not some kind of witchcraft or evil magic; it's a real skill that can save lives!
In no time, long queues formed in front of the medicine distribution point in the west of the city. People cooperated with the control measures, actively reported sick people in their homes, cleaned up filth in their houses, fumigated their houses with Atractylodes lancea and Artemisia argyi, and brewed Tusu wine according to the prescription.
The two sorcerers who were caught spreading rumors and misleading the public were beheaded at the city gate by Liu Bei's order.
They also posted notices stating that "the plague can be cured, but rumors must be punished," and no one dared to spread rumors or cause trouble anymore.
Meanwhile, Liu Bei set up a special infirmary downwind of the city.
The ward is divided into a mild case area, a severe case area, and an isolation area, which are hundreds of feet apart and not connected to each other.
Patients admitted to the hospital were assigned to rooms according to the severity of their symptoms, with no more than five people in each room, and were cared for by specialized medical staff.
All medical staff and servants entering the ward must cover their head, face, and hands with linen, and must boil their clothes in boiling water every day before entering and leaving. They are absolutely not allowed to bring anything from the ward into the city.
This method of isolation became the core of epidemic prevention in later generations.
This is also the essence of Zhang Zhongjing's repeated emphasis in "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" on "avoiding epidemic pathogens and not being in the same place as patients".
Liu Bei spent almost every day in the ward, personally examining the patients' symptoms, adjusting the dosage of prescriptions, and comforting their emotions.
Tian Yu repeatedly advised him that the ward was dangerous and that it would be a great loss if he contracted the disease.
He simply shook his head: "As the person in charge, if I myself dare not enter the wards, how can I expect medical staff and the general public to trust me?"
His kindness and righteousness gradually moved everyone.
This has also made more and more people grateful for his kindness!
He shall be respectfully addressed as: Lord Liu!