The ancients had limited ways to control the epidemic.
The most commonly used and effective way to do this is to seal off the affected areas. This is almost the only way the ancients can control the epidemic, but it is also the most effective way.
In ancient times, the population flow was much smaller than today, and most people were often born in this village and died in this village, and would not go out. Therefore, once a relatively serious epidemic occurs in a certain place, the government directly closes the city gate, sends troops to guard, and kills whoever dares to break out, the epidemic is controlled, and it will basically not spread on a large scale.
So, what about the people in the city? Due to the limitations of the medical level, the ancients were basically helpless. In various TCM medical books, including the Imperial Court's Tai Hospital, they have accumulated some recipes for different epidemics, and Chinese medicine practitioners have taken these formulas to change the food for people infected with epidemics. If there is not enough medicine, the government will cooperate with local celebrities to open some temporary pharmacies and medical bureaus. However, if there is no suitable prescription for trying and going, then you can only stand up until the weather turns hot, and the epidemic will naturally disappear.
In addition to the blockade of the epidemic area, the ancients were not stupid, they also knew how to isolate the patients with infectious diseases separately. In the pre-Qin period, there were already "furuncles" that specialized in isolating people with infectious diseases. By the time of the Han Dynasty, it had become a consensus that plagues should be quarantined in special areas.
As for the plague, the most concerned point of the rulers of successive dynasties is not how many people die, but some people who use the epidemic to stir up trouble, exaggerate tension, incite displaced people, and shake their rule. Therefore, the rulers must choose to completely isolate the epidemic area, because once there is no isolation, some people will try to flee to safety, and a large number of refugees will flee outside, forming a phenomenon of displaced people. Displaced people were plagued by diseases that were circulating everywhere, and diseases were contracted elsewhere, which in turn caused a greater wave of displaced people, which led to turmoil in the rule, and even the destruction of some dynasties.
Of course, epidemics are often, sometimes very serious, and the ancients will learn from them, accumulate experience, and start on the urban public health system in order to prevent the occurrence of epidemics in advance. For example, the establishment of an urban sewer system to discharge sewage, the dispatch of special personnel to clean and transfer garbage and excrement in the city, and the prohibition of people from defecating on the ground.
Especially in the Middle Ages, china's Tang dynasty and Song dynasty established a very sound public health system, and the sewers in the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Bieliang, were very wide, and many outlaws were there to hide from the government, and even had secret prostitutes operating in it. It can be seen that the public health situation in China in the middle ages was significantly better than that in Western Europe in the same period, so although there were plagues in China from time to time, there was never a huge epidemic like the Black Death in Western Europe that almost led to genocide.