Chapter 180: Bacterial Warfare

"Rat, rat, old man, come here quickly, hurry up, don't be slow to walk." An old woman urged softly at a big mouse with rat eyes looking around.

She urged an old man, who seemed to be seventy years old, and how fast he could walk in his late seventies. The old woman was a little impatient. If she hadn't been afraid of scaring the mouse away, she would have rushed over and pulled the old man's ear and abused her.

"Here, here." The old man walked over with a crutch, looking at the big mouse that was seven or eight inches long, with light emitted from his originally faint eyes, and said happily: "It's rare to be so big. Woman, whisper, don't scare away. If you catch it, we will have a silver reward."

The pests like rats that make the people cut their teeth can actually be sold for money. This is not only the first time in the history of the Southern Song Dynasty, but also in Chinese history. It is really hard to believe that it is said, but the facts are there, which makes people have to believe. It is not the merchants who bought the rats, but the court. The price of the court purchases an adult rat is to give a monday silver. Of course, the rat must be alive, not dead, and not hurt. If the rat is too hurt and cannot survive, it will not be accepted.

If the court bought other things, such as cows, horses, pigs and dogs, the Southern Song Dynasty court had a high status in the minds of the people at this time, the people would have responded continuously. They didn’t know what kind of nerve the court had violated, but they just wanted to collect mice. The people were really unbelievable. At the beginning of the announcement, there were many spectators, but no one responded or sold mice.

Until one day, a beggar caught a jumping rat and was about to perform eating rats alive, the officer who bought the rats saw it and stopped him from eating rats. The officer told him that if he sold the rats to the court, he would get a silver.

One ounce of silver is not much, but it is a considerable amount for the beggar. He doubted that he gave the rat to the officer with the idea of ​​giving it a try. Unexpectedly, the officer took out a tael of silver to him. The officer said: "A rat is only worth one ounce of silver. You are the first good people to sell rats to the court, so I will reward you with one ounce of silver."

What beggar wanted most was silver, but once the dream came true, he couldn't believe it. He looked at the officer foolishly, hesitated and did not dare to answer, and asked, "Mr. Jun, is this really for me?"

"If you don't give it to you, who else can I give it?" the officer smiled and stuffed the silver into the beggar's hand, saying, "Hold it."

The beggar finally woke up and understood that this was true. He screamed in endless surprise: "I'm rich!" He ran away with the silver.

The officer frowned and reminded him: "Catching mice is very good now, and you won't beg for money. You will not beg for a while. The opportunity is rare. You don't have to beg for it. Hurry up and catch more mice to sell them. It's much better than begging."

Wars are prone to giving birth to beggars. After decades of war in the Song Dynasty, many people were displaced, and many of them became beggars. Li Jun once took measures, and the number of beggars dropped sharply, but it was impossible to eliminate them, because some people just like to be beggars, and they are lazy!

The next day, the officer discovered a very surprising scene. Yesterday, the beggar brought thousands of rats with a bunch of ragged beggars.

"I didn't expect that the beggar would catch lice and catch mice!" The officer sighed in his heart, and accepted it as much as possible and gave it to the silver. The beggar's performance was really amazing. He brought a group of beggars and came to sell mice every day, hundreds or thousands of people, and the officers would give it as much as possible. Not long after, he stopped coming. According to his words, "I earn more money now than I have to be a beggar for ten years. It's enough for me to do business. I'm just going to be a germinate and I'm being a germinate and I'm being looked down upon all day."

Selling rats can turn beggars into rich people and let them own their own industries. This has become a myth. Once it spreads, it’s okay. The people of Lin’an are all rushing to catch mice. Unfortunately, their skills in catching mice are not good, and they caught not too many mice. Fortunately, there are many people in Lin’an and many who participate in the rat selling campaign, and the total number is still considerable.

The old lady immediately retorted, saying, "You are walking so loudly, and you still say to me? Old man, look at it, the mouse is about to get into the cage. Don't move, don't move." She looked nervous, as if she was afraid that the mouse would run away.

After hearing this, the old man stopped immediately and never dared to move again.

The mouse looked around with his rat eyes, and his eyes finally fell on a piece of meat in the cage. The meat was very fragrant. It was obviously a bait for the old lady to lure the mouse. Suddenly, the mouse jumped up and rushed into the cage quickly, holding the meat and was about to run away. At this moment, with a bang, a "box" on the cage fell down, and its last retreat was cut off. The mouse was surprised and rushed around, unable to escape, making an anxious squeak.

"It's done, it's done, the old man is done!" the old woman shouted in surprise and praised: "Old man, the cage you made is really useful. Next time, make a few more, we will catch more mice and earn more money, so that my son and others will not underestimate us, and don't say that it's useless to be old."

The old man agreed with the old lady and said, "You should do more and catch more mice. My son and his son work outside, and the wages are much more than before. It is not a problem to support us, but we can't eat and not do anything, and we can still make a profit if we can." After a pause, he said, "Let's go, ma'am, sell mice." He walked towards the door with a crutch, carrying a rat cage. When he walked, he became much more energetic, as if he was ten years younger.

"Squeak squeak..." Li Jun clamped his lips and imitated the rat's scream. A big mouse locked in the cage blinked and looked at Li Jun in surprise, as if he didn't understand why Li Jun, a living person, would make his familiar cry.

"Your Majesty, be careful, this is poisonous." Chang Fengying walked beside Li Jun like a happy bird, reminding Li Jun.

Chang Fengying is more mature, graceful and graceful, with a beautiful face full of sunshine, in modern terms, a "sunny girl".

Li Jun smiled and said, "Don't worry, it's just fed with horse meat!"

"Your Majesty, don't underestimate it, it's amazing." Chang Fengying was very dissatisfied and retorted Li Jun: "Your Majesty, I didn't tell you that just one mouse can kill ten strong horses. Humph, if you don't believe it, you will know that what they are saying is the truth."

Li Jun glanced at Chang Fengying and saw that she was serious and was definitely not fake. He looked at Chang Yu again. Chang Yu hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, the little girl is disrespectful. Please don't blame her for her young and ignorant girl."

"Young people, speaking straightforwardly is true." Li Jun comforted Chang Yu and said, "Don't apologize at any time. I came here today to see your achievements, not to listen to your apologize. I am really happy that you can achieve such achievements in such a short time. To be honest, I am really happy. You are amazing!"

Chang Yu hurriedly thanked him and said, "Thank you the emperor for your praise. Your Majesty, we experimented a few days ago. A rat of this big made all ten strong horses get rid of horse plague."

"Can it be cured?" Li Jun asked with great concern.

Chang Yu said a little embarrassedly: "Your Majesty, I can only govern people, not horses. I have to ask Lord Hu."

Hu Gou immediately said: "Your Majesty, I am not sure whether I can govern or not. I am still observing it. It will take some time to draw a conclusion. I really dare not draw a conclusion."

Li Jun knew that Hu Gou was a scientist with a rigorous attitude and would not draw conclusions without being sure of it. Speaking from facts is one of the most valuable qualities of a scientist. He encouraged him: "I believe that you will have a conclusion soon. I won't say anything else. I only want to say one thing. We can cure this kind of horse plague, but the Tartars will definitely not."

Just kidding, using rats with horse plague virus to poison Mongol horses. If the Mongols can cure horse plague, wouldn’t all their efforts be wasted? Li Jun didn’t say it, Hu Gou also understood the power of it and said, “I understand.”

Previously, Li Jun originally planned to use the five thousand horses sent by Kublai Khan as the source of the disease to cultivate a horse with horse plague virus and find a way to transport it to the destination. Later, after several considerations, Li Jun overturned his original idea. The reason was very simple, that is, the possibility of success in using horses was not high. First, the transportation of thousands of horses was difficult to deal with, and it was easy to attract the attention of the Mongols and might damage the Mongols.

Secondly, thousands of horses are placed at the destination, which is also very difficult. Suddenly, there are so many more horses, and anyone will be suspicious, not to mention that the Mongolians are not alone. They have grown on horseback since childhood and may not know other livestock, but they know very well about horses. Suddenly, there are so many more horses that it would be wrong if they do not doubt them.

When Li Jun mentioned his idea to Liao Shenggong and the others, Liao Shenggong and the others agreed, and they also believed that the possibility of using horses as the source of the disease was too small.

Poisoning the Mongol horses was of great benefit to the Southern Song Dynasty. No one wanted to give up this idea. Liao Shenggong and the others naturally couldn't think of a solution. It was not that Liao Shenggong and the others were incompetent, but that they did not have enough scientific and technological knowledge and could not think of a better virus vector except for horses.

Finally, Li Jun came up with the idea, which was to use mice to complete this task. Li Jun summoned Hu Gou, Chang Yu, Chang Fengying and others to discuss and asked them if they could cultivate the virus.

Using rats instead of humans and cultivating viruses is a commonly used method in modern medicine. Of course, modern medicine uses white rats. Under the conditions at that time, it was impossible to get white rats, let alone if it was this scale.

The use of rats to carry horse plague virus is naturally a fantasy for Chang Yu and the others. After hearing Li Jun's words, everyone opened their eyes wide and was at a loss. Even Chang Fengying, who has always been known for her "innovation", was so surprised that she had nothing to say.

Fortunately, they knew that Li Jun was very magical, and he was sure to say this, so the three decided to give it a try. It was actually very simple, that is, to select a group of useless horses, such as old and weak horses, and poor breeds, lock them up with the horses sent by Kublai Khan, let the horses be infected with the virus, then slaughter the horses and feed them with their meat to the mice.

In order to poison the five thousand good horses sent by Kublai Khan, in order to kill the Southern Song war horses, it turned out to be a good source of disease. It saved Hu Gou and his friends a lot of trouble in cultivating viruses. Soon, the mice fed with problematic horse meat were infected with horse plague. In the study and understanding of horses, there are probably few nations that can surpass the Mongolians in the world. The viruses brought by Kublai Khan can be said to be the killer of horses, and the horses that were infected with the plague died soon.

After researching Hu Gou, Chang Yu, Chang Fengying and others believed that the possibility of success was extremely high, so they immediately reported this to Li Jun. To use rats as the carrier of the virus, the first thing to solve is the source of the rats. Liao Shenggong's idea was to send troops to arrest them. Du Dayong also believed that sending troops was more appropriate because it could allow the army to receive alternative training, which would benefit them.

Wen Tianxiang believes that sending troops should be cautious. Catching mice is important. As the war is approaching, it is good to allow the army to receive more training as much as possible, even for a while.

Finally, Li Tingzhi came up with an idea. He said that the court could mobilize the people to catch rats. With the participation of the people, it would be impossible to catch 100,000, or even more mice.

"Isn't that what I did when I destroyed the 'Four Viciouss'?" After hearing Li Tingzhi's words, Li Jun made a super-time and space analogy in his heart.

The rats are hated by the people. If the court moves to the front, the people will definitely join in it, and the number of them will be caught is extremely considerable. If it goes further, the court can issue tasks to hand over a certain number of rats in each household. If it cannot be handed over, it will be punished. In this way, as much as possible.

However, Li Jun is not a person who likes to disturb the people. He dislikes the most about doing things like corvee for the people at any time. In the end, Li Jun decided: the court bought it from the people at the price of one cent of silver and one rat.

The court spent money to buy mice and bought them has not happened in history. It is shocking and it is certainly no problem to make people surprised enough. Li Tingzhi and the others were stunned for a long time before they came to their senses. Li Tingzhi immediately concluded with the keen insight of politicians: "There are two benefits of doing this: one is that it does not add burden to the people, but also generates income for them, and the enthusiasm of the people to participate will greatly increase. The second is that people are now in a tight situation. If they are assigned to corvee, it will affect other aspects of progress. If they spend money, it will be different. Other forces can be mobilized, such as those who have nothing to do, and those who have nothing to do will also join them."

Li Tingzhi's summary was nothing to say, and the matter was finalized and implemented immediately. Of course, in order to keep it confidential, the notice said that rats are pests, and the court should eliminate them in large quantities, so that mice will not be allowed to harm the world any more.

The acquisition of mice is really strange, but even if the Mongolians know about this kind of thing that is closely related to modern medicine, they don’t know what Li Jun’s intention is, and they won’t pay too much attention.

When Li Jun's plan was successful and Mongolian horses died in large numbers, Kublai Khan realized the whole story and said regretfully, "I originally sent five thousand problematic horses to poison the war horses of the Southern Dynasties. Unexpectedly, they achieved the Southern Dynasties, allowing them to obtain enough horse plague without any effort. Our horses suffered a great disaster. I shot myself in the foot."

"You are right. You can only cure people, not horses." Li Jun agreed with Chang Yu's words and said, "You must understand that my intention to participate in the father and daughter is to prevent this horse plague from being transmitted to people as much as possible. The court mainly targets horses, not people. I don't want the people to die or suffer more than they have to."

Chang Yu and Chang Fengying are both good doctors. Li Jun asked them to participate to determine whether this horse plague has the possibility of spreading among the people. If this horse plague can spread among the people, it is tantamount to diseases such as avian influenza in modern society, which may bring disastrous consequences: countless casualties and injuries to the people!

"The emperor is kind and kind!" Liao Shenggong, Du Dayong, Hu Gou, and Chang Yu all the accompanying people praised Li Jun's kindness in unison.

Chang Fengying blinked her beautiful phoenix eyes and said in the tone of fans worshipping idols: "Your Majesty, you are really amazing. You think about the people in everything. With an emperor like you in the Song Dynasty, the people are really blessed to be cultivated in eight lifetimes!"

"Yes, yes, Miss Chang is right!" Liao Shenggong and the others agreed.

Li Jun shook his hand and flattered them again, saying, "Don't say good things. It is the responsibility of those who plan for the country to seek welfare. Emperor Taizong of Tang said, "Water can carry a boat, but can also overturn the boat." Those who plan for the country do not seek profit for the people, will definitely overturn the people in the end."

He paused and said, "How much time will it take to confirm?"

Hu Gou thought for a while and said, "Go back to the emperor and you can confirm it within one month."

"That's good. After you confirm, you can feed mice in large quantities." Li Jun's eyes flashed with a divine light and said, "Kublai was uneasy and gave us a group of horses with plague. I will give him 100,000 rats, so that he could not buy regret medicine even if he wanted to regret!" Looking at Liao Shenggong, he asked, "Are the mice enough?"

"Prince, please rest assured. There are already 110,000 rats now. If not enough, you can still buy them again." Liao Shenggong said excitedly: "This unique attack method is not in the Seven Books, and Ren Kublai Khan would never have imagined that no matter how smart Ren Kublai Khan was ten times more smart. After this battle, the Thirty-Six Strategies will have another 'rat strategy'." The Seven Books refer to the Seven Books of Martial Arts.

"The bacterial war in modern society and the virus war are varied, which makes people unable to defend themselves. If you say it, I wonder how many thirty-six strategies will be changed into?" Li Jun secretly laughed in his heart and asked, "How are you doing?"
Chapter completed!