The first assistant of the poor family

Chapter 312 It Was Poisoning (Second)
Hearing what the old man said, Xie Shen couldn't help frowning.

Why doesn't this sound like a disease?
Epidemics are often accompanied by fever and cough, and are usually rapid and fatal.

But just now the old man said that he was vomiting, diarrhea and blood in his stool, coupled with his weakness, it looked more like food poisoning.

But so many people have one symptom, it's definitely not food poisoning
Xie Shen thought for a moment, then woke up suddenly.

The food eaten by the people in Lu'an Mansion may be different, but the drinking water is from the same source.Could it be that there is a problem with Lu'an's drinking water?
Thinking of this, Xie Shen turned around and asked Li Tongzhi beside him, "What does the doctor say about the epidemic?"

Li Tongzhi said slowly: "The doctor said that this plague came very quickly, and it was very different from the previous plagues. The common people's external evils entered their bodies, and their bodies were gradually hollowed out."

Xie Shen was helpless, which meant he didn't say anything.The only useful possibility is to explain that the common people in Lu'an did not fall ill suddenly.

As far as Xie Shen knew, the plagues broke out in a concentrated manner, and there were absolutely no signs.In the case of Lu'an Mansion, the plague can basically be ruled out.

Not the plague, what is that?
Xie Shen felt that the water quality was most likely to be a problem, so he told Li Tong, "Send some people to the main drinking water source in the city to bring back some water."

Although Li Tongzhi didn't understand what the magistrate was going to do, he still gave orders to several government servants in a deep voice.

Xie Shen asked a few more common people who were sick, and the description of the disease was similar to that of the old man.The patients who died didn't catch the plague and died immediately, but dragged on for more than a month.

Xie Shen and Li Tongzhi returned to the Yamen, waiting patiently for news.

After the yamen servant took the water samples back, Xie Shen stepped forward to inspect them one by one.

The water source of Lu'anfu City is mainly the Cang River that passes through the city.

In addition, there are several deep wells in the north of the city, but these wells are for the government lords to drink, and it is impossible for ordinary people to drink.

Although it is impossible to do any chemical composition analysis now, Xie Shen looked around and saw that the water in the wooden barrels sampled from the Cang River was turbid and completely undrinkable.In contrast, the well water for the government office to drink is very clear.

"Do the people in Lu'an Mansion drink such muddy river water on weekdays?"

Although he knew that the water would definitely be boiled before drinking.But it's so turbid, even if it's burned, it won't all settle.

Li Tongzhi shook his head and said, "That's not true. In the past, the water quality of Canghe River was very good, and you could often see swimming fish. But now not only is the water quality turbid, but you can't even see fish."

Xie Shen frowned and asked, "When did it start?"

Li Tongzhi thought for a moment and said, "Probably after the earthquake."

This is strange.If someone was poisoning, throwing the poison into the river would not have any effect, and it would be impossible to cause so many people to be poisoned.

Xie Shen closed his eyes and carefully strung together various clues.

He had the impression that there were a lot of gray-brown earth and rocks leaking out of the ground outside the city. Although it looked inconspicuous, there were a lot of them.

"Come here, go outside the city gate and fetch some of the exposed earth and rocks."

This time, Xie Shen didn't speak like a fake, and ordered directly by himself.

Those yamen servants didn't dare to delay and went to fetch earth and stones immediately.

Not to mention that the Fu Zun asked them to fetch soil, even if they were asked to eat soil, they would not hesitate.

Soon the yamen servant brought the soil sample back, and Xie Shencha had a smile on his face after looking at it.

It was exactly as he thought.

This earth and stone is nothing but bauxite!He was sure because he had seen it in popular science magazines in his previous life and was impressed by the shape of bauxite.

Shanxi chief envoy is rich in underground mineral resources.In addition to coal, the most common is bauxite.

Alumina and aluminum can be smelted out of this mineral, which of course requires high temperatures.With Daming's productivity, it is impossible in the short term.

Xie Shen also remembered that when he came to Shanxi from the capital to take up his post, he found a crater sulfuric acid lake not far from Lu'an Fucheng.

Xie Shen didn't pay much attention at first, but now it seems that the poisoning of the people in Lu'an may have a lot to do with this lake.

The reaction between sulfuric acid and alumina, the main component of bauxite, can produce aluminum ions, which seep into the ground through surface water and gather in the Canghe River.

People who draw water from the Cang River will drink river water that contains a lot of aluminum ions.

Aluminum poisoning is no joke, ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to severe neurasthenia and death.

This exactly matches the symptoms of the common people in Lu'an.

Of course, it may not be just aluminum, other oxidized metals can react like the sulfuric acid in the sulfuric acid lake.

In other words, this may be an incident of heavy metal poisoning, but Li Tongzhi mistakenly regarded it as a plague.

Of course, this cannot be blamed on Li Tongzhi. After all, he is not a traveler, so it is impossible to know about aluminum poisoning, and it is impossible to know that sulfuric acid and aluminum oxide can react.

But Xie Shen is different. Although he studies history, his middle school textbooks only study the reaction of aluminum peroxide and sulfuric acid.In addition, it is common sense that there are many minerals in Shanxi, so connecting these together naturally leads to previous inferences.

Never thought this inference was true!
Since it is heavy metal poisoning, gastric lavage and bowel cleansing are necessary for detoxification.

Among the natural foods that have this effect are fungus and mushrooms, Xie Shen immediately ordered the servants to collect some fungus and mushrooms and send them to the ruined temple for the sick people to eat.

After finishing the order, Li Tongzhi asked secretly: "May I ask why Mr. Xie suddenly asked the servants to collect fungus and mushrooms?"

Xie Shen laughed and said: "This is a good medicine to get rid of the disease."

Now Li Tongzhi was completely dizzy.

The doctor in the city tried countless medicines, but they couldn't get rid of the disease. What about mushrooms and fungus?

Of course, Xie Shen would not talk about chemical reactions with Li Tongzhi, and Li Tongzhi would not understand it.It's better to be so vague in the past.

The "epidemic" was solved, Xie Shen was overjoyed.

We must know that post-earthquake epidemic prevention will be a problem even in future generations, let alone in Ming Dynasty, where the sanitation conditions are not good.

If the epidemic really broke out, Xie Shen would be helpless.

Fortunately, it has now been proved that the people in Lu'an should only be poisoned by heavy metals. As long as the water source is controlled, poisoning incidents will not continue to occur.

Of course, there is a shipping cost issue with this.Diverting water from neighboring counties will certainly increase costs.But nothing is as important as the health of the people, and it is right to spend more money.

For Xie Shen, this is not only the prevention and treatment of the "epidemic", but also the discovery of a cornucopia.

The earthquake exposed a large amount of bauxite on the surface, and the raw material of alumina can be obtained without deep mining (deep mining is not possible with the technological conditions of Ming Dynasty). As long as the problem of high temperature tempering is solved, it seems that aluminum can be smelted.

Of course, this is only an idea, and it will definitely be very difficult to implement it.Xie Shen didn't study chemical engineering either, otherwise he would definitely be able to flex his muscles this time.

(End of this chapter)