Spoiling History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

For everyone in Han Chang'an, almost no one paid attention to the Seven Sons of Jian'an at the first time, and no one made fun of Cao Pi for imitating the braying of a donkey.

There is only one thing that makes them pale:

In the 22nd year of Jian'an, there was a great epidemic!

And it is unprecedented, a pandemic among pandemics!

Among them, Liu Bei's face was the most serious, because he was considered an elder among everyone present. The outbreak times of these epidemics that were casually listed by later generations were all Liu Bei had personally experienced or heard about.

Liu Bei only needed to recall the series of years marked by numbers to match them in his memories.

In the fourth year of Jianning, the ground cracked in Hedong, rain and hail fell, and mountains and rivers burst out. After that, a great epidemic became rampant.

There was a great epidemic in the first month of the second year of Xiping, a great epidemic in the spring of the second year of Guanghe, a great epidemic in the spring of the fifth year of Guanghe...

For Liu Bei, those were unbearable memories, but there was another major epidemic in the 22nd year of Jian'an?

Unconsciously, Liu Bei turned his stiff neck and looked towards Doctor Zhang. After all, it was already the 18th year of Jian'an, and the time of the great epidemic recorded in later history books was only four years later.

Zhang Zhongjing frowned and looked serious. He raised his head to meet Liu Bei's eager eyes, as well as the gazes of Jian Yong, Fa Zheng, Pang Tong and others.

Even Zhang Fei held back his voice and muttered cautiously:

Miracle Doctor Zhang, is there really going to be a big epidemic in four years?

Zhang Zhongjing could only remain silent about this. He was neither a sage nor a miraculous person. He was just a doctor who suffered from typhoid fever and was determined to cure illnesses and save people. How could he know what would happen in the future?

At the critical moment, Kong Ming came to the rescue, shaking his head and saying:

Because of what we are doing now, the things in this world are different from what future generations know. How did Duke Zhong Jinggong know about it?

Liu Bei agreed with this. After all, according to the time known to later generations, he should still be fighting fiercely in Yizhou at this time. Who would have thought that he would be sitting in Chang'an against the Sun Cao Alliance at this time?

With the knowledge of later generations and the combined efforts of everyone, the generals of the Han Dynasty were supported and fought against Sun Cao in Jing.

In this case, Sun and Cao should not confront each other at Ruxukou. Then this big epidemic...

This pandemic still has the potential to break out.

After careful consideration, Zhang Zhongjing spoke carefully and ruthlessly wiped out the trace of luck in Liu Bei's heart.

Doctor Zhang did not need to explain this in detail, Kong Ming sighed and explained:

Records from later generations all show major epidemics. However, from the Jianning year to the present, has the epidemic stopped for one year? It is just that these few times have harmed the people more severely, so they are recorded in the annals of history.

Everyone nodded silently to this, especially when they lived in such troubled times.

Fortunately, in cities and counties with names, epidemic outbreaks will be reported at all levels. In remote villages, the whole village may die at the beginning of the epidemic, and it will not be until merchants passing by a few years later that they know the news of the village's demise.

Things like this are rare. ơɱ

Now that he has said this, Kong Ming sighed and continued:

I have studied with Divine Doctor Zhang and found that almost all previous major epidemics were accompanied by natural disasters.

Then he counted on his fingers and said:

In the year 171, the ground cracked in twelve places east of Hedong. The cracks were ten miles and one hundred and seventy paces long, and more than thirty paces wide. They destroyed countless houses and fertile fields.

In the year 173, the Beihai ground cracked, and the Donglai Beihai Sea overflowed. The seawater was everywhere, and fertile farmland was destroyed.

In 179, there was a great epidemic in spring. In February and April of 178 the year before, the ground cracked. There was a locust plague in winter, and the plague came.

There is no need to say more later, the military advisor has said it all, and everyone present understands it.

Natural disasters cause people to become refugees, and people suffer from epidemics. The refugees carry the epidemic further, and eventually the epidemic arises on its own.

After a long time of turmoil, the seventh son of Jian'an died indirectly at the hands of Cao Cao? Zhang Fei couldn't help but ask.

After all, if Cao's army did not attack south, it would be difficult for the epidemic to break out in such a big way.

If Cao's army had not dispatched troops, it would have been difficult for the epidemic to be brought back to Yecheng, and in the end it would have been impossible to end.

Ignoring his third brother, Liu Bei looked at the military advisor and nodded slowly. He understood the meaning.

If the epidemic is not prevented and treated, there is no need to wait until four years later. Every subsequent war may lead to a major epidemic.

From this point of view, the selection of military doctors needs to be put on the agenda sooner, and Liu Bei has concerns in his mind.

Pang Tong and Fazheng also understood at the same time, but Fazheng immediately had a terrifying thought in his mind:

This Cao Cao was good at killing miracle doctors before and ignored the prevention and control of epidemics. Isn't it okay...

Immediately Fazheng shook his head, Cao Cao's subordinates were also Han'er, and now that Sun and Cao have joined forces, there is nothing they can do to their lord. Why use this underhanded trick of killing a thousand enemies and damaging yourself by eight hundred?

[When talking about the great epidemic during this period, many people often talk about typhoid fever.

It should be noted that typhoid fever in the Han Dynasty is completely different from the typhoid fever we know now.

Limited by their knowledge, the ancients often regarded disease triggers as pathogens. Cold is not cold, but a general term for all diseases caused by external evils.

Even after more than a thousand years, we in modern times have no way of knowing what kind of plague broke out in the Han Dynasty. It is more likely that it was a compound plague that was a mixture of multiple diseases.

Because it is easy to find out when you open the history books that the explosive population growth and lack of public health in the Eastern Han Dynasty were probably the biggest causes of early epidemic outbreaks.

It was okay in the Western Han Dynasty. According to the literature records at that time, the population of Chang'an, the capital, reached its peak of nearly 500,000, but it did not last long and was still within the carrying capacity of the capital.

By the Eastern Han Dynasty, on the basis of inheriting the foundation of the previous dynasty, foreign enemies were eliminated, civil rule was cultivated internally, and the population began to grow rapidly.

According to the records of the Later Han Dynasty, in the fifth year of Yonghe (140), Luoyang had 280,000 households and a population of one million; Chang'an had 50,000 households and a population of 300,000.

The first thing that a huge population needs to face is the problem of garbage disposal.

Domestic sewage is relatively easy to treat, because both cities are close to large rivers and the surrounding water systems are developed. It will not be a problem to dig more ditches in the city and pay attention to dredging.

What was more troublesome was the disposal of solid waste. For the people at that time, it was nothing more than throwing away, burying and escaping.

The most commonly used method is burial. This method is still used even in modern times, but we have a special sanitation department to classify the garbage and apply different treatment methods according to different types of garbage.

For the ancients, it was just a matter of burying everything, digging a deep pit, dumping the garbage from the neighbors directly, adding a layer of sealing soil when it was almost level with the ground, and then digging a new garbage pit in a different place.

The consequence of this is the pollution of groundwater. According to our modern archaeologists, Han Chang'an is located on the first terrace of the Weihe River. The main components of the ground are the silt, clay, and gravel layers alluvial by the Weihe River. Such geological conditions are rich in water. , but the same permeability is also very good, allowing garbage and sewage to quickly penetrate into the groundwater, eventually increasing the seepage cycle and causing the groundwater to continue to deteriorate.

By the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, this method of garbage disposal had made the environment in Chang'an of the Han Dynasty so bad that it was unbearable, and was directly criticized in the history books:

The capital has a large number of people, and over time, the bottom is blocked and the narrow areas are blocked. The filth and evil gather and cannot be discharged, so the water is abundant and salty.

Faced with this land that was already tasteful, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian simply abandoned the old site and built a new Daxing City on the south slope of Longshouyuan, southeast of Chang'an City in the Han Dynasty. He dug several ditches into the city to solve the water problem, and also formulated a plan. Strict rules prohibiting littering.

This was later the city of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty. 】