I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 216 The Four Plague Doctors (Part 2)

   I would like to use this chapter to pay tribute to all the medical workers who are at the risk of life and death, fearless retrogrades, stick to their posts, and wait for the death for our ordinary people during this epidemic and before, now and in the future!

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This is a small village, and there are only 372 foreign monks. In the previous smallpox epidemic, more than 200 people died of high fever and pain, and more than 100 people escaped into The dense forest in the distance, where the king used to hunt, was infected with smallpox.

   As soon as these words came out, the youngest Malbikey couldn't help but exclaimed: "Everyone? Are you also..."

The monk smiled embarrassedly. He didn't take off his mask, but rolled up his sleeves and let the doctors see the mottled red spots on his arms, "Oh," as the one who knew the best about the plague, Lom "The infection doesn't last long, but you're about to have a flare-up," said Mr. immediately.

   "Yes," said the monk, "everyone, including me, of course."

The people on the side cast an admiring look at him, like this, you can see at a glance that the monk walking on the pilgrimage road, even if he is blocked in the epidemic area, he can at least escape into the jungle like a villager. A cultivator with rich experience of survival in the wild is much more sure of surviving than ordinary people, but he still stayed. It is no exaggeration to say that there are still survivors in this village, and they are inseparable from him. This is normal. , the monk serves God, who can soothe the people, both in soul and in body, and give them the courage to fight against the disease.

It's just that after they came in, they didn't smell the rancid smell that even the spices couldn't cover up. The monk not only took care of the sick, but also hid the people who died unfortunately. With such frequent contact, even if he worked hard for himself Protected, but inevitably caught with the disease: "We will do everything possible to save you." Mr. Lom said: "In the name of the king and God, you will be cured."

"I am ready to accept all the results, but if you can, please go and see those poor children," said the friar, "and some of them, though by God's gift, are scarred , but still very weak."

"Because fighting the devil of the plague is a very exhausting thing." Sidonham said, in this regard, he has more experience than anyone else, because he has always admired the natural healing method advocated by ancient Greek scholars , that is to say, in many cases, the body's own resistance is better than most drugs. At this time, doctors must not interfere, as long as they give sufficient nutrition, just like giving soldiers weapons and supplies, they will be able to Help patients beat disease.

Since he had such a concept, he certainly carried a lot of "medicines" with him - sugar cubes, pepper powder and salt. The monks immediately gathered the people in the village and dissolved them in water for them to drink one by one. The survivors are all scarred. Although they are ugly, they are like the old woman. They don't have to fear the smallpox demon. The monks looked at them one by one and found that there were two or three people who could not come. , he took the doctors to check, and it turned out that they also started to have a fever.

Because the people left in the village had already been sick, the villagers were not afraid. They gathered the monks and the feverish people in a large room and prepared to take care of them according to the doctor's instructions. Of course, if they encountered misfortune, Then the next work should be done by these people. The doctors decided to leave two students to guide and supervise them. This is not unnecessary. Mr. Lom has encountered many idiots who retaliate for revenge. The news here is blocked, and the villagers They also seldom receive information from outsiders. They are afraid that as soon as they leave the village, the villagers will burn these people.

I have repeatedly explained to these scarred villagers that as long as you suffer from smallpox and then recover, you will no longer be harmed by this disease, and this disease is completely a conspiracy of the devil, the more devout, the purer people are After becoming more vulnerable to harm, Mr. Lom felt a little more relieved. He looked around: "Are there any cattle herders among you?"

Those who were able to escape from the torture of smallpox were young people, and the monks were right in saying "children", and the oldest survivor was no more than twenty years old - this is what the doctors speculated, and people here can hardly count to twenty. (that is, the number of fingers and toes), they looked at each other shyly and dreadfully before the older boy answered cautiously, "We have no cattle herders, sir," as if to avoid answering Mr. Lom's question It became even more embarrassing: "Our village is very small, so when we need cattle, we go to Jura to rent cattle for farming."

   "Jura?"

   "From here down the stream, is Turava, and Turava is also very small, and their cattle are also in Jura."

Jura is a very common name in France, because in the Gallic language, it means high woods, "Turava and Jura..." Mr. Lom read these two names: "Then you know them How is it now? Are there any patients?"

"Probably," said the big boy, "they burned a witch not long ago." In these less barren places, and there was no terrible famine, people suddenly remembered that they wanted to burn the witch, and most likely it was Because suddenly someone got sick.

"Looks like we have a long way to go." After asking the location of Turava and Jura, Mr. Lom opened the map to check, and determined that these two small villages could allow them to return to Blue within a given time. Watts, he made a decision to take a look. Although the administrator of Blois made the decision to block the river valley when the first smallpox patient was discovered, he did not know exactly how.

This was originally the responsibility of the plague doctor. No one raised any objections. This matter was decided. After the monks and other patients had doctors and medicines, their life safety was also guaranteed. .

Although Sidonham and Chambrance were very curious about why Lom asked if there were cattle herders, most doctors have their own secrets, like the "midwifery machine" of the Chambrance family. Speaking of which, They and Mr. Lom have never lived together, and of course they will not ask recklessly. After walking for about two hours, they arrived at Turava. The situation in Turava is a little worse than the previous village, because they There are no brave and good monks here, the village is filled with a terrible smell that even spices can't suppress, and they traveled several places before they finally found a dying survivor, not because of smallpox - smallpox failed to take him his life, his relatives either went to see the merciful God before him, or fled, and he woke up after the fever subsided, hungry, cold, and thirsty, but could not drink a sip of water, had it not been for Mr. Plague. By this point, he must be dead.

There were three or four people like him. Apart from these, the village was completely dead. Malbiqui, Chambord, Sidonham, and the students, after removing the living from the village, Settled in an empty house, they began to gather the dead--because they were too few in number, and after praying for them, gathered their empty shells together and set them on fire.

Mr. Lom stared at the black smoke that was particularly evident in the clear blue sky, and shook his head, "Are all your cattle in Rura?" He asked, "Then Rura's herd must be quite impressive."

  Although I don't know why this doctor cares about the cattle, but under their care, the survivor who regained some strength still answered honestly: "More than a hundred, sir, they are all good cattle."

   "The one who looks after them must be a good cow," Mr. Lom said, and then he noticed that the other party's expression was a little strange.

"Indeed," said the villager, "Anfor is a good cattle herd, and his brothers and sons." , no doubt made his heart jump with joy, and some of his thoughts may have been confirmed just today. He was so lost in thought that he almost ignored the villager's question: "Sir," the villager asked, "Do you still want to go to Rula?"

   "Of course," said Mr. Lom, "Jura is less than two thousand feet away from you, and I suspect that the plague has taken over there as well."

   "But I've heard one thing I'm not sure about, sir."

   "Go ahead," said Mr. Lom, "I don't blame you."

   "I heard that the Anfors are a group of Huguenots," said the villager.

"What Huguenots?" Before Mr. Lom could answer him, a voice came from behind them, and when the king's chief physician looked up, he saw that it was Chambrolls who cast a deep shadow, and he thought of Chambords. It also seemed to be the surname of a Huguenot, and his expression suddenly became inexplicable: "...I don't think there is anything in that," he said: "Don't you know the Edict of Nantes? Huguenots are now recognized. , as long as they do not violate the laws of the king, they have by decree all the rights of French citizens." He shrugged.

   The villager looked at the doctor suspiciously: "You are... the same person as them?"

"No," said Mr. Lomm, "I'm a Protestant." This was true, and Sidonham, who came later, thought that Paris would never allow Protestants, let alone Said to be the king's chief physician, he hesitated for a long time after receiving the invitation of Louis XIV, and his friends thought he was crazy, the massacre of St. Bartholomew is still fresh in the memory, and The struggle between Huguenots and Protestants in France has never stopped.

Speaking of which, these four plague doctors are also really interesting. Malbiqui and Lom are both Christians, but Malbiqui is a Christian of the Roman Church, while Lom belongs to the French Church, Sidonham and Chamblance Both are Protestants, but one is a moderate Calvinist in England, and one is a radical Huguenot in France, oh, correct me, there are probably no non-radical Huguenots, and they planned to An innocent British scholar pulled into their conspiracy.

   slanted his eyes and glanced at Chambrance, the Huguenot actually behaved quite calmly. When Mr. Lom proposed to go to Jura, he looked up at the sky: "I don't recommend it very much," he said: "If it is true as this gentleman said, the Anfor family is Huguenots... "

"As I said, the Edict of Nantes has forgiven their sins and allowed them to retain their beliefs and powers," said Mr. Lomm very insistently: "I must go, if you have your own ideas, you Either stay here, or go back to Blois."

"We must be with you." Malbiqui said, no kidding, they three outsiders, well, even if Chambord is French, but he is a Huguenot, maybe more than foreigners People are even worse. They returned safely, but lost the king's chief physician. Do you think that the gallows of His Majesty Louis XIV are empty?

Sidonham shrugged: "Since the king's chief physician said so, don't worry." He thought that this was because Chambrance was worried about the Huguenots, if they really were .

But then, Chamberlain said nothing more. After they finished their work, the sun was already leaning to the west. "Looks like we are going to spend the night in Jura." Mr. Lom waved his cane optimistically and said. .

  ———

   They finally saw Jura before night fell. The village was a little bigger than its neighbors, because at this moment the people were almost at rest. The first thing these plague doctors met were the policemen,

After seeing the attire of the doctors, the police officers showed a surprised look. What they didn't know was that the doctors were also surprised. They thought that Jura had also been enveloped by the epidemic. There is some order, but considering that there are more than 100 cows here, it is not so strange to think about it.

There is indeed an epidemic here, but it is not that serious, and the plague doctors are well received - in this era, plague doctors are very respected, because plagues are often rampant at this time, and only these doctors dare to walk in the city or In the villages, they treated the people infected with the plague, buried the dead, they also took on the responsibility of recording the number of deaths, they also served as the recorders and witnesses of the wills, and sometimes they also explored the source of the epidemic - just as they are now. do that.

And Mr. Lom once again asked about the cattle herder. When he heard that the cattle herder and his family here were not infected with smallpox, he couldn't help showing an unconcealed look of joy. As if frightened, and barely able to hold his reward, the big Aegis fell to the ground, bounced, turned around, and rolled all the way to the feet of Chambord.

   (end of this chapter)