The new crown epidemic in 2020 can be said to be the biggest challenge facing our Chinese nation in recent years, the people of the whole country are fighting the epidemic with one heart, although the epidemic situation is still changing, but with the wisdom of the Chinese people, China has become the safest country in the world.
The fact that the epidemic has made such great progress is inseparable from advanced medical technology, and there are many great medical workers and medical researchers like Zhong Nanshan who are constantly working hard.
Turning over the ancient history of our country, the plague has also been raging in ancient times, the most tragic is the Ming Dynasty Chongzhen Emperor period, the plague directly dragged down the Ming Dynasty, but at that time there was also a "Zhong Nanshan" appeared, laying a solid foundation for China's medical epidemic prevention, who is he? What is the end result? What was the cause of the plague in the Ming Dynasty, so terrible?
Photo: Stills of the folk outbreak of plague
<h1>First, the plague of the Ming Dynasty</h1>
As an ill-fated dynasty, it is really a miracle that the Ming Dynasty can persist for nearly 300 years, because in the Ming Dynasty, there are 75 well-documented plagues of various sizes, that is to say, almost every 4 years, the Ming Dynasty has a plague, regardless of the size of the epidemic, such frequent epidemics make the Ming Dynasty, which is not rich in the first place, even worse, it is no wonder that the Ming Dynasty is not as good as a generation, and the reason why the Ming Dynasty is in the high incidence of the epidemic is mainly for two reasons.
1. Natural causes
The Ming Dynasty has an inescapable natural problem, that is, the "Xiaoice River Period", the Ming Dynasty is just in the Xiaoice River Period, natural reasons have brought about a huge difference in climate, the winter of the Ming Dynasty is getting colder and colder every year, such natural weather allows bacteria to have better living conditions, and the sudden change in temperature difference also makes people's physical fitness worse, resistance becomes weaker, and it is easy to get sick.
Coupled with natural disasters such as drought and flooding, people's living conditions are even poorer, and the sanitary conditions are very poor, which brings conditions for the spread of bacteria and further worsens the spread of the epidemic.
Image: Stills of winter in the Ming Dynasty
2. The plague is rampant
How terrifying were the rats of the Ming Dynasty? In the Shunzhi Emperor's "Records of Gaocheng County" during the shunzhi emperor's period, it is recorded that in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, there were countless rats, flocking to the fields, and even cats coexisting. The "Chronicle of Shuntianfu" also records that in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the inner temple first played the chapter room and stole food, and was not afraid to touch people. The rat suddenly screened.
So many historical records prove that the number of rats rose sharply during the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court at that time had no strength to take care of these rats, so that rats were rampant, but the most terrible thing was not these rats stealing grain, but the wild rats in the vast grassland.
These wild voles have terrible germs in their bodies, and due to the dry weather, there is no food in the wild, and these wild rats with germs are wandering around looking for food.
And how pitiful were the people at that time? Due to natural disasters, they had to leave their hometown, migrate all the way, tired, hungry, at this time to see the field of large wild rats, for the people is like seeing pork, not to mention that in some parts of the country there have been customs of eating voles.
Eating voles was nothing in ancient times, but they had no idea that this would bring themselves to ruin, and the people immediately made their own simple grills, caught wild rats and roasted them, and these people were the first people to be infected with the plague.
These people infected with the plague soon fell ill and died, and because the disease was not found in time and the bodies were not properly disposed of, the epidemic began to spread between people and people, and finally swept through the Ming Dynasty.
Image: Stills of a man infected with the plague
3. Misjudgment
The reason why the plague spread in the Ming Dynasty had a great relationship with the medical level at that time, and the signs of plague in the human body were: high fever, nonsense, coma, and then the limbs, armpits and other places began to swell, accompanied by indigestion.
These diseases were considered by ancient doctors to be extremely serious colds, so for a long time, the plague was treated in the way of treating colds, and naturally the development of the disease could not be curbed.
This plague led to the phenomenon of "empty cities" in many places, every household had the death of people, the worst time of the plague at that time may be infected and die in a day, a person walking on the road suddenly fell to the ground and died, resulting in corpses all over the place, no one paid attention, some simply discarded in the river, which made the epidemic spread everywhere with the water source, all the way to the capital.
Image: Stills of bodies being dumped in a river channel
Second, "The Plague Theory" saves the world
Every plague during the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, there was a person who was silently studying, this person was Wu Yousheng, because the word was also possible, so posterity called him Wu Youke. After studying a number of outbreaks, Wu also shifted the focus to the source of the disease.
Ancient doctors for Zhang Zhongjing's "Typhoid Fever" is extremely respectful, it is no wonder, in ancient times a typhoid fever is enough to kill, and in ancient times, most of the illness is also caused by cold, so the doctors at that time for the plague that is very similar to the cold disease, but also in accordance with the "Typhoid Fever Theory" method to treat, which obviously can not cure the disease, but also delayed the study of the disease.
After Discovering the difference between the symptoms of plague and typhoid fever, Wu youke put forward his own different theories, wrote the "Plague Theory", and he also proposed different ways of treatment and prevention.
Image: Doctor grabs medicine stills
1. The theory of furunculosis
The transformation of the qi of the thing is also the change of the qi of the qi. At that time, the ancients were worried because of this demonic epidemic, believing that it was a punishment from heaven, but Wu Youke thought that this was a kind of "qi", because the spread of the disease in the air led to more and more people getting sick.
According to this study, Wu Youke also created his own original drink, three consumption drinks, and loose profits, so as to better discharge this furuncle and treat the disease.
2. Create your own masks
With this discovery, Wu Youke firmly believed that the biggest way to spread this furuncle was the mouth and nose, so Wu Youke created a simple mask at that time, making a scarf made of cotton cloth with a good air insulation effect to block the mouth and nose, so that the furuncle could be avoided from entering the human body through breathing, effectively blocking the spread of germs.
However, due to the limited scientific understanding at that time, many people believed that Wu Youke's behavior of wearing a mask was like a witch doctor, resulting in a period of time when no one dared to drink the soup medicine developed by Wu Youke. Wu did not give up, insisted on patiently explaining and guiding the people, and finally let some people drink medicine, and controlled the disease, so that his "Plague Theory" could be circulated.
Picture: Stills of a scarf made of cotton covering the mouth and nose
3. Cremating corpses
Then, Wu Youke began to dispose of the corpses left over from the epidemic, and he vigorously opposed the use of coffins to transport these infected corpses out of the city, but concentrated in one place for burning, which was difficult for the people to accept in ancient times.
Wu you can explain to the people again and again that infected corpses will become the source of infection, so that the living will avoid a disaster, and finally convince the imperial court to forcibly burn all the corpses in the streets and alleys, curbing the re-spread of pathogens.
It was with Wu Youke's research and discovery that this plague was controlled, but the Ming Dynasty was completely untenable, allowing Li Zicheng to attack the city and take over the ownership of the capital, and then the Qing army entered the customs so that Wu Youke, who did not want to shave his head, was killed, and a generation of famous doctors ended, I have to say that this is a huge loss of the Qing Dynasty, because after the Qing Dynasty also suffered a lot of plagues, but they did not appear a second Wu Youke.
Article author: Zi Haojun
The whole picture and text was originally produced by Zihao Film and Television Production Studio!