The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Zhang Han's arrival not only helped Heifu plan and build Nanchang City, but also brought him two shocking news.

"Yan and Dai perished? So soon!"

Although he had expected it, Heifu did not expect that these two small kingdoms that were lingering on would be dealt with so quickly.

Zhang Han said: "The attack on Liaodong was in February. Earlier, General Wang Ben was stationed in Yuyang and Youbeiping. The king ordered him to be the commander-in-chief, and appointed General Li Xin, who had pursued Yan Taizi Dan to Yanshui, as a deputy general. He led an army of 30,000 through Guzhu, Jieshi, and out of Liaoxi."

Li Xin was once the most trusted young general of the King of Qin, but he was unable to recover because of the failure of the first attack on Chu. He was sent to Shanggu County by King Qin Zheng as a county lieutenant. It was really a great ups and downs. This time, it was a rare opportunity for Li Xin. He fought the chariot and cavalry raid war that he was best at. How could he miss it?

Hei Fu could almost imagine the scene of General Li Xin, whose hair was half white after the war against Chu, rushing to attack Yan with the determination to avenge the previous humiliation.

"In March, Li Xin advanced to Liaoshui. King Xi of Yan personally led the last tens of thousands of Yan people to build a trench at Liaoshui, fortifying the walls and high fortifications to block our army. General Li Xin's strategy of attacking from the east and attacking from the west was to first put up many flags on the south line, feign attack on the trench, attract King Xi of Yan, and secretly cross the Liaoshui with the main force to attack from behind. After three battles and three victories, he took advantage of the victory to besiege Xiangping (now Liaoyang)..."

When Wang Ben's army arrived, there was no suspense in this war. Under the day and night attack of the Qin army, Xiangping City was broken and King Xi of Yan was captured.

The Yan State, which had existed for 800 years, was destroyed.

This war made Li Xin regain a trace of trust from the King of Qin. He was appointed as the governor of Yuyang County and presided over the military affairs of the counties in the former Yan area. Wang Ben led the northern expeditionary army and began to attack the Dai Kingdom, which was entrenched in Dai County and backed by the Xiongnu...

"This time, General Meng Tian was sent from Yanmen County to assist General Wang in attacking Dai. In April, General Meng set up defense lines in Shanwu, Pingcheng, and Gaoliu, and the Xiongnu Chanyu did not dare to rescue Dai. After Dai County was broken, Dai Wang Jia was also captured. Now, I am afraid that he was taken to Guanzhong with Yan Wang Xi."

So these two wars became the whitewashing battles of Li and Meng. Hei Fu thought secretly: "It seems that Qin Shihuang still cherishes the old feelings. He did not completely banish Li Xin and Meng Tian because of their failure once."

"Or, is this to promote meritorious officials and balance the influence of Wang Jian and his son in the army?"

Now there is a breathtaking thing. The destruction of the five countries, except for Han, was the work of Wang Jian and his son. Dad Wang Jian fought big and hard battles, and his son Wang Ben was responsible for the small battles at the end. As a result, after Wang Jian pacified the King of Yue in Kuaiji in March and returned to Guanzhong, he was officially appointed by the King of Qin as the first Marquis in ten years, named "Marquis Wucheng"...

Wang Jian's Marquis Che was a good name, not the actual name of the town. It was still a nominal title, and he enjoyed the treatment of a fief of 10,000 households.

"But these two words 'Wu Cheng' are very important."

Zhang Han said to Hei Fu with emotion: "This is an article in the Book of History, which records the process of King Wu's attack on King Zhou. King Wu succeeded in conquering King Zhou of Shang, and then Tai Gong Wang ordered Yu Fang to come and told him that he had beheaded the captives..."

Hei Fu understood: "Your Majesty means that General Wang's achievements are comparable to those of Tai Gong Wang?"

"Yes, but there is a second meaning."

Zhang Han stretched out a few fingers: "Cheng means success. Defeating Zhao, Yan, and Chu were all big and hard battles. Your Majesty means that General Wang's achievements in martial arts are enough. I think General Wang will retire completely and will never hold military power again..."

"In May, Your Majesty also announced that the whole country will have a big feast. Judging from this, there will be no more wars today."

This is pretty good, and the people everywhere can also take a break.

But the King of Qin is not a patient man, he can only wait until next year at most...

Hei Fu said: "According to my guess, the King will still use General Wang Ben to deal with Qi."

Now that the five countries have been destroyed, King Jian of Qi and Prime Minister Hou Sheng of Qi must be panicking now. The King of Qin is a man who does not tolerate any sand in his eyes, and Qi will definitely not be spared. If this credit is added, Wang Ben will probably jump from the "Marquis of Guannei" after destroying Yan and Dai to the Marquis of Che!

"Two marquises from one family."

Zhang Han shook his head: "If it were any other king, such as King Zhao of Qin, this would definitely be a disaster. Only under the rule of this king, two marquises from one family can become the glory of the Wang family..."

Hei Fu laughed and said: "What I want to know is, whose title will Wang Li, the grandson of General Wang, inherit in the future?"

Zhang Han couldn't help laughing: "Hei Fu, if you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten who said in front of the king, 'So soldiers with ambitions must want to be generals and seek marquises, and those who don't want to be generals or marquises have short ambitions'. Now that the Wang family has been granted a marquisate, aren't you jealous?"

Hei Fu said seriously: "The merits of the two generals deserve the reward of being a marquis. I just conquered a few small counties on the border. What's that?"

He ended the chat about what happened in the distance, lifted up the sketch of Nanchang City drawn by Zhang Han and several craftsmen on the wooden slip, and looked at it, and was very satisfied.

"What we have to do now is to build this city and make it a thoroughfare that embraces three rivers and five lakes, controls the barbarians and attracts the Ouyue people!"

...

Along the bank of the Gan River, the first soil was dug and the first foundation stone was buried. With the labor of two thousand Qin soldiers and one thousand officials, the construction of Nanchang City began.

The first thing Heifu asked people to build in the camp was the public toilet. This was also something he had to arrange personally wherever he went for more than half a year.

When Zhang Han mocked that he used to be a "public toilet lieutenant" and now became a "public toilet Sima" and "public toilet county magistrate", Heifu didn't take it seriously and didn't even scold the old man Ye Teng who gave him the nickname first.

He smiled and said, "Although the name is not nice, this thing is really useful. Shao Rong, when you came to my military camp, did you see the rampant diseases among the garrison after Generals Wang and Meng captured Jiangdong and Kuaiji?"

Zhang Han was stunned. After thinking carefully, he did not find anyone with abdominal distension. It is said that this strange disease is rampant in the Qin army in Jiangdong, especially those stationed in Zhenze (Taihu Lake). In the past six months, many people have died of the disease.

Heifu is on guard against this mysterious but terrifying infectious disease: schistosomiasis...

The climate of Yunmengze, Zhenze, and Pengli Lake is a natural breeding ground for schistosomiasis. This parasite has been rampant for more than two thousand years. As a southerner, it is not unfamiliar.

Nanjun is not bad. The water in Yunmengze is relatively clean, but there are more schistosomiasis in Dongting and Changsha in the south of the Yangtze River.

Pengli Lake was a big deal. According to Heifu's observation, some local Yue people and Chu people had already shown signs of infection. Especially since the beginning of summer, he had seen fishermen and farmers working barefoot in paddy fields with swollen abdomens, shaking and making noises, and often wanting to drink water. Their skin was rough and black, as if swollen, and they were getting more and more pale and thin...

These were the typical symptoms of schistosomiasis. Heifu was terrified when he saw them, and immediately designated the ditch waters where they were active as a restricted area, not allowing his men to set foot in them.

The locals also knew that they were sick, but they didn't know the cause of the disease. They could only call it "gu", which means worms in the stomach. It turned out that they were right by accident.

This disease is very rare in the north, so the medical officers in the army were also confused about it.

Perhaps it was because schistosomiasis had not yet spread widely, and was only concentrated in Poyang, Taihu Lake and other places.

Heifu knew that the medium of transmission was snails, but with his limited manpower, he could not think of eliminating snails. He could only prevent feces from causing secondary pollution to water sources and breeding larger-scale infections.

So he built public toilets and strictly prohibited everyone from using the toilets anywhere during the city construction period. The waste was concentrated and piled up together for composting.

In addition, since the nearby forest resources were abundant, Heifu organized 500 people to chop wood, which could not only open up open space for reclamation, but also boil a lot of water for the soldiers every day.

In this way, Heifu and his men spent the summer safely. Among the 2,000 soldiers who built the city, only dozens of them showed similar symptoms, and they were all properly isolated.

Fortunately, Heifu himself and his capable subordinates did not get sick. Instead, many of Zhao Tuo's shipmen were infected, but they were all isolated according to Heifu's orders, and Zhao Tuo himself was safe.

Although using public toilets and drinking boiled water can reduce the chance of contracting the disease, Heifu is at a loss as to how to cure it. Schistosomiasis is a "chronic disease", but the death it causes is also terrifying.

This is also the reason why "the south is hot and men die young" these days. It is not because of the hot weather, or even the so-called "miasma", but because the plague is rampant, which greatly reduces the average life expectancy of southerners.

Now all Heifu can do for the soldiers who are infected is to do their best and leave it to fate.

"So, how did Zhao Tuo live to more than 100 in the south?"

Heifu feels that this is really an unsolved mystery.

He also began to think: "If Qin Shihuang sends a large army to conquer Baiyue in the future, this disease will be a big problem. With hundreds of thousands of soldiers and immigrants pouring in, it will be difficult to properly manage it like with two thousand people."

Thinking of this, Heifu decided to write down his findings here in a document and submit it to Jiujiang County and Nan County, and then forward it to Xianyang, and request to send a medical officer to study this disease. At the same time, he suggested that Kuaiji County follow his measures to reduce the spread of the disease.

In the document, he inherited the local people's accidental statement and called this disease "water Gu", which may be caused by "Gu worms in the water, entering the human body and eating its five internal organs".

Heifu found it difficult to explain how he discovered the transmission principle of schistosomiasis. He could only say that he discovered it by chance. The disease is less rampant in places where public toilets are built and boiled water is drunk.

"Although this disease has not caused a serious blow to the Qin army and there is no good treatment, it is still a precaution."

After sealing the letter and handing it to Ji Ying, Hei Fu continued to imagine: "I wonder if Qin Shihuang, after realizing the harm of this disease, would make a great call like *** to 'eliminate schistosomiasis'?"