Seven Seas Beacon Fire

When Pu Guanshui mentioned this, he couldn't help but recall the scene when he met with His Highness the Crown Prince. Perhaps after Li Che verified that Ryanstein von Waldsenia was not a time traveler, his status in Li Che's mind had dropped considerably, and he had become a foreigner named Jia Xu who could come up with all sorts of tricks.

As for this kind of person, we don't necessarily need to adopt their ideas. The key is to keep them under our control and not give potential opponents the opportunity to exploit them.

Therefore, Li Che treated him quite well, which actually made Rinstein von Waldsenia feel a sense of "a scholar would die for one who understands him" towards the East and Li Che after the fall of the Kingdom of Letania, because in Rinstein von Waldsenia's eyes, Li Che "understood" him!

So this time, when he had the opportunity to serve the "Crown Prince's Consort," Ryanstein von Waldsenia put in his best effort.

"First and foremost, we must make the people of the Union aware of the current situation of the Union Expeditionary Forces. We must make them realize that their sons, husbands, and fathers have been driven to the brink of despair by our army. We can approach this from two angles. The first is the 'Washington Express' being carried out by the Colombian army."

By now, you should all know what this term means. The Colombian army has been using this method to withdraw troops from the front lines, and their transportation difficulties are even more dire than when they previously used transport ships.

Some time ago, our intelligence network in Yingzhou took many photos of Colombian officers and soldiers who had just arrived there. Now, the Colombian officers and soldiers who have retreated to Yingzhou are even more disheveled. Believe me, my friends, any Colombian who sees their troops—a group of people dressed in white shorts, retreating to Yingzhou like beggars—will have doubts about whether the Colombian army can continue to achieve victories…”

Although Pu Guanshui's Chinese pronunciation wasn't particularly standard, his tone was full of confidence. As a Leitanian, Rinstein von Waldsenia naturally harbored resentment towards the Federation. If the Colombians hadn't intervened in this war, the Kingdom of Leitania would have been able to rival the achievements of the Napoleonic Empire at its peak in Europe.

Ursus, which even Napoleon the Great failed to conquer, has fallen to the cannons of Letania. Without the Federation's financial support to Britain and France, many Letanians believe they should be the ones laughing last.

So now that there's an opportunity to really screw over the Federation guys, Pu Guanshui is naturally happy to see it happen.

"The second starting point is based on the current epidemic spreading in Borneo." Pu Guanshui couldn't help but smile slightly as he said this: "Regarding this, I remembered something very interesting that His Highness said when I was discussing this with the Crown Prince before - only those who have wronged you know how wronged you really are."

Although many experts in the medical and biological fields have not yet figured out the origin of this pandemic, from this moment on, the responsibility for this pandemic rests entirely with the United States!

Chapter 210 Drinking and Discussing Taoism with My Second Uncle

Zhu Miaoyun's current assessment of her subordinates is that they are full of talented people.

For example, Rinstein von Waldsenia, or Pu Guanshui, is a typical example of a talented person who can always offer his unique understanding and suggestions full of Germanic wisdom regarding the situation on the front lines.

For example, some of the Colombian army's frontline combat units have launched small-scale counterattacks against the Tang army in organized formations. These attacks are clearly not intended to achieve any real results.

After all, on the current front lines where both sides are locked in a stalemate, can small-scale, isolated company-level or at most battalion-level attacks really be considered major operations? What other national war between two countries is this petty? What, you're talking about the excellent matchmaking system on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield in the Slavic region?

Drag this guy out and send him to the Kursk front to carry out the frontline work!

These small Colombian counterattack units often lost their will to fight quickly after encountering some firepower from the Tang and Song armies, and subsequently surrendered as a whole. After interrogating these Colombian prisoners, the frontline troops discovered that most of them had been forced to attack by their superiors.

Such an attack was obviously unlikely to achieve any results, but it was enough to spread the disease. The Tang army quickly discovered the Colombian army's insidious intentions. In addition to strengthening quarantine and epidemic prevention work, they naturally stopped accepting the surrender of these troops on the battlefield and forced them to return with machine guns or mortars.

However, they soon discovered a new situation: more small units of the Colombian army were sneaking over at night. They were not there to launch a surprise attack, but to surrender after abandoning their weapons. When they found these units, they were already very close. The Song army units initially mowed down these Colombian units, but the Tang army, under Wu Yushan's instructions, accepted their surrender.

This is not to say that the Tang army has become overly sentimental, but rather that the Tang troops crossing the sea are mostly from the garrison troops. These troops, bearing the strong imprint of the Datong faction, have strict military discipline. Since the superiors did not say that these Colombian troops, like the previous 16th Infantry Division, would not accept prisoners, they could not kill indiscriminately.

However, these Colombian soldiers, who might be carrying the virus, have clearly become a thorny issue. In this situation, Pu Guanshui put forward a very constructive suggestion: to build several large, enclosed prisoner-of-war camps behind the front lines.

Incinerators were set up in these prisoner-of-war camps to burn all the soldiers' clothes. Then, shower rooms were set up for the Colombian soldiers to be disinfected and cleaned. After the Colombian soldiers had undergone quarantine and prevention, they could be used as bargaining chips in the next round of negotiations, or as laborers.

The suggestion itself wasn't problematic; it was just that for our Crown Prince and Princess Yongning, it was a Letanian's idea to come up with such a thing...

Zhu Miaoyun initially thought it was just a bizarre, coincidental joke, but Pu Guanshui's subsequent suggestions quickly revealed a "Germanic national characteristic." He fully considered what to do if the virus carried by these Colombian army throwing troops was difficult to control. These prisoner-of-war camps had taken this into account when they were planned. In addition to bathing, the shower rooms could also be filled with chemical gases. He claimed that this method of epidemic prevention and disinfection was "absolutely efficient."

After understanding all of this guy's suggestions, Li Che said that this person must be firmly controlled in the hands of the Tang Dynasty. It wouldn't cost much to support a German officer like him, but if this kid were to work elsewhere, he might very well unleash a demon.

Let's just treat him as a Jia Xu from Letania. It's better for him to stay with us than to run off to Eastern Wu or Shu Han.

Of course, from Li Che's perspective, the "talented" people under Zhu Miaoyun's command were basically similar to the "Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix" in terms of their abilities. That guy from Letania could at least be considered a quirky talent, but as for the others... well, they were only good at making the princess happy.

In Li Che's eyes, it was basically a childish game played by a group of "excellent" bureaucrats, like Sir Humphrey and Secretary Bernard, around Princess Yongning, who was "as pure as ever" in politics, like Jim Hack.

That's right, it's just playing house. Although Zhu Miaoyun's propaganda campaign may be the most professional in the world, it doesn't change the essence of it. After all, everything about this political clique surrounding Princess Yongning actually stems from the princess's "I'm willing".

-------------------------------------

"Nephew, the princess you're raising is up to something big lately."

As soon as Li Che returned to the capital, he encountered his second uncle, who was idle in the city. It seemed that after losing the opportunity to lead troops to the island, his second uncle was really bored. It was said that his second uncle returned to the capital to discuss with his father or grandfather about launching an offensive against Ryukyu. However, it was clear that although Ryukyu was not large, neither his grandfather nor his father wanted to open another battlefield at this time.

After running into a wall over there, my second uncle probably wanted to come here and work together with me, just like we did back in Yuanshan.

Li Che was naturally on the same side as his father in this regard. He didn't think that taking over Ryukyu would be easy. The navy didn't have absolute control over the ocean yet. Having an advantage in capital ships didn't mean that your light ships had an advantage. Even if you could guarantee safety during the day with amphibious landing operations, the Colombians could still send out a large number of destroyers and cruisers to ruin your plans at night.

Not to mention the heavy casualties suffered by the Colombians in a series of battles from Iwo Jima to Okinawa in another world, which made Li Che not underestimate these inconspicuous islands. The battles that broke out on these islands might be even more brutal than the battles on Borneo.

So when his second uncle invited him for drinks, he kept changing the subject. This feigned ignorance naturally displeased his second uncle, who then steered the conversation toward Zhu Miaoyun after a few drinks.

Even now, Princess Yongning's identity remains quite sensitive and delicate.

“Yunyun just wanted to do something for the country.” Li Che made no attempt to hide the close relationship between himself and Zhu Miaoyun. “She’s just a little girl, doing things like playing house. But since you’re here today, I happen to have some questions for you.”

"what is the problem?"

"Second Uncle, in terms of personal ability, how does our ancestor Li Dingguo compare to Prince Yue Fei?"

Although two men can seamlessly transition from any topic to historical and political issues when eating, drinking and chatting, Li Che's transition was indeed a bit too abrupt. Li Renxu could sense that his nephew had something in mind, but perhaps due to the influence of alcohol, he couldn't understand why his nephew had steered the conversation to Prince Li Jin and Yue Fei when he had only just mentioned Princess Yongning.

"Although Lord Yue's character has always been admired, in terms of achievements, he cannot compare to our ancestor, Prince Li Jin." Li Renxu replied earnestly, "After all, our ancestor truly followed Emperor Longwu in expelling the Tartars and restoring China. Our ancestor deserves credit for the reconstruction of China. Lord Yue might have also been able to restore the Central Plains, but after the Fengbo Pavilion incident..."

"Second Uncle, you've misunderstood. I'm not comparing achievements, but abilities," Li Che said. "Or to put it another way, how do you think the team under Emperor Longwu compares to the team under Emperor Gaozong of Song? In terms of ability alone, it's hard to say which team was better, isn't it?"

Li Renxu nodded with a slightly doubtful look. "If you put aside achievements and only talk about ability, it's hard to say whether it's Guan Yu or Qin Qiong. Emperor Longwu had three kings of different surnames under his command, and Emperor Gaozong of Song had four generals who revived the dynasty. Even if some of these four had some embellishments, the merits of Yue Fei and Han Shizhong have been recognized by everyone since ancient times."

If you insist on comparing the abilities of these two groups of people over hundreds of years, who can compare them?

"Second Uncle, I think that in terms of ability, the officials under Emperor Longwu and those under Emperor Gaozong of Song were roughly equal, but the achievements they ultimately made were worlds apart..."

"That's nonsense! What can you do when you're stuck with an emperor like Zhao Gou and a bastard like Qin Hui?" Li Renxu tapped a plate in front of the two of them with his chopsticks, pointing at the roast duck on the plate with a hint of dissatisfaction: "Even if you replaced Zhao Gou with a duck, I think Prince Yue could still storm Huanglongfu."

"Yes, but let's set aside the differences between Emperor Longwu and Emperor Gaozong of Song. Ultimately, the achievements of these historically renowned generals largely depended on the strength of the dynasty itself," Li Che countered. "Whether it was the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties or the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, there were many experienced and capable ministers and generals. However, the most well-known and accomplished ministers and generals almost all came from the most powerful unified dynasties in history..."

Li Renxu wasn't stupid. After his nephew had gone around in circles and said so much, how could he not understand what Li Che was trying to say?

"I know what you mean, but anyone with eyes can see the war is about to end. If I don't seize this last opportunity..."

"My second uncle is only in his early thirties. Does he think he won't live for another 20 years?"

"20 years?" Li Renxu raised his eyes and stared at Li Che: "What do you mean?"

"It's nothing special. I just feel that this world war has only gone on for a halftime in a farce. Second Uncle, do you think the participating parties in this war are satisfied with the outcome?"

Li Renxu remained silent, while Li Che continued to speak eloquently: "The Gauls will not be satisfied, because they want to completely dismantle the whole of Germany;

The Letanians would not be satisfied, because their army was still in Gaul when the war ended;

The Victorians would not be satisfied, because the decline of the Victorian Empire after the war was already well known;

We will not be satisfied, because in this war we lost Old Port and Yingzhou. What we have won back this year is rightfully ours.

Even the Federation wouldn't be satisfied, because in their eyes they could have gotten more...

The result was unsatisfactory to everyone. My second uncle wondered if, even if we reached a ceasefire agreement with the Federation and all countries sat down together to sign a ceasefire treaty, would this war really be over?

This won't be the end; it's at most a 20-year truce. Twenty years from now, my second uncle won't even be 60. With today's medical technology, that's not considered old age, and he might not even be as old as my grandfather is now. Is my second uncle worried that he won't be able to go to the battlefield and wield the command baton then?

"Will I still have the opportunity to lead troops 20 years from now?"

Li Che chuckled: "Second Uncle, do you think my father would be afraid of you commanding troops?"

Li Renxu slowly shook his head, probably agreeing with Li Che's words. He silently downed another large glass of wine and said, "I should be able to understand these things myself, but I've been very troubled lately. But to be honest, seeing what Princess Yongning is doing is quite entertaining. That Letanian guy is quite interesting, but unfortunately, he won't be of much use in the short term."

"It won't be of much use in the short term, but consider it as laying the groundwork for the future. It's not easy to wage a propaganda war against the Federation. Directly criticizing Colombians in the Federation won't have much effect and will easily attract attention, since the Federation is essentially a religious country."

The best way to inspire people is to start with religion. After all, it's not easy to find a 'great Confucian scholar' in our country who can debate religious issues with the Federation and win. So we decided to start with practical issues.

"Start with practical problems?" Li Renxu raised an eyebrow. "It seems you and Princess Yongning have staked everything on the possibility that this epidemic will spread rapidly?"

“Yes.” Li Che nodded. “However, our judgment is not a gamble, but a scientific one. This particular flu is extremely contagious. It is destined to break through most of the epidemic prevention measures of our time, and it is only a matter of time before it spreads to the whole world.” Li Che said, “The virus itself exists objectively. As long as we can package the virus as God’s punishment of the Federation in the media, then our propaganda war against the Federation will be much more effective.”

Chapter 211 A Trump Card Comparable to a Nuclear Bomb

"Are you so sure this virus will ultimately have such a huge impact?"

Even before he left, Li Renxu still harbored great doubts. Li Che's second uncle was not the kind of aristocratic son who was detached from the hardships of life. Perhaps due to the tradition of military service throughout the generations, the Prince of Jin's mansion had always been quite down-to-earth. Back in the northern frontier, a plague broke out. At that time, Li Renxu was about the same age as Li Che today. He had just joined the army and led troops under Li Zongdi to seal off towns. He had seen what a large-scale infectious disease raged like.

Although the people suffering from the plague in the affected towns were indeed very miserable because there were no effective treatments, and there were many cases of entire families being wiped out by the disease, the greatest danger of infectious diseases is still the transmission itself. Once the troops strictly isolated the infected areas and cut off the transmission routes, the epidemic was naturally brought under control.

what?

You asked how the outbreak was brought under control in the infected area?

Once the people whose immune systems can't handle the disease die off, the problem is naturally solved. It sounds cold-blooded, but it's the simplest and most effective method. In fact, many highly lethal infectious diseases, such as Ebola, are difficult to spread on a large scale, no matter how contagious they are. The main reason is that the disease hasn't had time to find the next source of infection before the host is killed. Once the people are all dead, the infectious disease naturally disappears.

Anyone who has played Plague Inc. knows that if you really want to spread the virus around the world, you need to precisely and comprehensively allocate points to the virus. Even in a game where you control a cyber virus, it's not easy to complete the game, let alone a real-world virus.

It is illogical to assume that a virus with strong transmissibility will inevitably spread globally. Li Renxu has a basic understanding of infectious diseases because he experienced the plague in the past, which is why he is curious about why his nephew is so certain about this.

Li Che is indeed unable to provide concrete evidence to prove his point of view. He can't very well say that he came from another time and that he knew this era would have a super infectious disease comparable to the Black Death.

In any case, time will tell. He also understood the concerns behind his second uncle's question before he left. Even if he bet right, it would be a mixed blessing. He could use this propaganda weapon to attack the Federation, but the whole world would have to face the troubles brought by this super infectious disease.

The previous plague outbreak was contained in time because the military effectively controlled the towns around the origin of the virus at the beginning of the outbreak. However, if this epidemic spreads from the Colombian military troops withdrawing from Borneo to Taiwan, and then from Taiwan to the rest of the world, it will be almost impossible to control the disease by cutting off the source of infection.

However, neither Li Che nor Zhu Miaoyun could ignore the Iberian flu that appeared in the later stages of World War I in this era. This sword of Damocles hanging over their heads has always been a common shadow in their hearts. Therefore, Li Che began to think about how to deal with the "Iberian flu" a few years ago, and Zhu Miaoyun also began to think about how to deal with the "Iberian flu" not long after she transmigrated to this world.

Li Che's first thought was penicillin. While penicillin doesn't directly have any effect on influenza, in this era where the vast majority of bacteria in the world have little resistance to it, if it could be developed, it would have an almost immediate and effective effect on various complications caused by infectious diseases.

Unfortunately, Li Che was neither a medical nor a biology student. His understanding of penicillin actually originated from a QQ group chat in another world. When the group of idiots were discussing what they could do with their professions if they went back to the War of Resistance Against Japan, someone suggested that they could cultivate penicillin using the traditional methods shown in the TV series "Ren Yi" (仁医).

After all, this thing could have saved countless lives during wartime. As a precious medicine that was almost equivalent to gold at the time, it was practically a second life.

However, he also remembered that during that discussion, after someone raised this point, someone immediately said that it was far more difficult than imagined. That guy said, "When our country was founded, we also compiled a book called 'Homemade Penicillin Production Method.' Do you know what was written at the very beginning? The original culture strains should be purchased from the county-level supply and marketing cooperative with a letter of introduction from the county or township level! It's a qualified strain that has been separated from laboratory and industrial cultivation. If you plan to obtain the Penicillium strain from the wild and then prepare penicillin according to the homemade process, you're in big trouble!"

As more group members joined the discussion, some pointed out that the events depicted in the TV series "Dr. Jin" were based on real historical events. After Pearl Harbor during World War II, the Colombian military imposed a naval blockade on Little Life. Little Life's domestic pharmaceutical industry relied heavily on imports for many raw materials, so Little Life did indeed produce penicillin using a similar, makeshift method as depicted in the TV series.

What the TV series didn't mention was that the actual results were quite remarkable. The survival rate of those who didn't use the homemade penicillin was several times higher than those who did. At the time, the local government claimed that the small workshops were operating illegally and not strictly adhering to the process, which led to the outcome.

Not really.

Even if you strictly follow the process, penicillin made by rudimentary methods is often still unusable. Li Che vaguely remembered that there seemed to be something wrong with the rudimentary penicillin, and if it was not resolved, it would not be effective.

As for what exactly it was, he couldn't quite remember now. After all, in the past, Li Che could regularly "study abroad in the modern world." When he really needed it, his consciousness would transmigrate to Yunyun in another world, and he could just take out his phone and search online. So he didn't bother to remember these things. But now that he didn't have the chance to study abroad and had to pick it up again, he was a bit dumbfounded.

In fact, what Li Che forgot were the two main types of impurities in penicillin allergic reactions. One type is the toxic and harmful products of Penicillium's own metabolism, such as penicillin thiazole and penicillinic acid. The other type is other mycotoxins produced by other molds that look very similar to Penicillium, such as patulin.

The former is still difficult to eradicate completely, while the latter can be largely eliminated using purebred strains.

However, the two major categories of impurities cannot be completely removed when using traditional methods to produce penicillin!

Patulin, like penicillin, is a metabolic product of molds that parasitize the surface of fruits. Their names are similar, and their properties are also quite similar. Penicillin is antibacterial, but patulin is even more antibacterial; penicillin is water-soluble, and so is patulin.

The biggest difference between these two is that penicillin is an antibiotic, while patulin is a toxin with no medical value whatsoever; it's purely a toxin. It's extremely toxic, and its structure is incredibly stable, making it very difficult to break down and remove.

For a considerable period of time, researchers tried to find the medicinal value of this stuff, but eventually had to give up. It is truly a substance that has no interest in anything except poisoning you to death. Even in the 21st century, this stuff is still, and only is, a toxin.

The ultimate solution to patulin poisoning lies in a bacterial culture system. The mold that produces patulin only looks like Penicillium, but it is not. Therefore, by obtaining a high-purity Penicillium strain through a bacterial culture system, the patulin will naturally disappear.

In contrast, while penicillin thiazole and penicillic acid are troublesome—because they are themselves metabolites of Penicillium and have chemical properties highly similar to penicillin, making them difficult to completely eliminate even today—the effects of these two substances can be greatly reduced through cultivation and industrial production. Furthermore, skin tests can be used to determine whether a patient is allergic to penicillin.

Unfortunately, Li Che didn't remember any of these things. He could only tell the relevant researchers to remove the impurities from the penicillin, but the problem was that he couldn't remember exactly which impurities were. This required continuous experimentation in the laboratory. No one knew when they could develop a penicillin production technology that was suitable for pharmaceutical use and could be mass-produced industrially.

Based on the historical time it took to develop penicillin, even an optimistic estimate would be that it would take several years to overcome all the procedures. Li Che didn't know whether the great flu would have already dissipated by the time penicillin was available, or how many people would have died from it.

Compared to Li Che, Zhu Miaoyun did not intend to put all her eggs in one basket with penicillin. Our princess sent people to collect information on all the drugs on the market that could be used for influenza and related complications.

This experience was probably gained while volunteering in Gaza. In that place, which is often under Israeli blockade and lacks medical care and medicine, doctors are often forced to treat patients without effective drugs. Therefore, adopting a series of comprehensive treatments is a kind of choice made out of necessity.

Of course, anyone would know that collecting medicines in this way would inevitably result in a huge and varied list of medicines. In particular, after Zhu Miaoyun saw the preliminary list of medicines, she saw countless "secret medicines" and "ancestral recipes," most of which were offered up by many pharmaceutical merchants after they learned about the news.

Regarding these various so-called secret recipes, Zhu Miaoyun simply said, "Take them all for double-blind testing," and then most of the guys who offered up their recipes ran away.

"You should have known that casting such a wide net would result in all sorts of monsters and demons emerging."

Li Che was not surprised at all after learning the news. Medicine is not divided into traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. In fact, there is only traditional medicine and modern medicine. What is the difference between the use of radioactive elements as medicines in Europe in the mid-20th century and witch doctors and bloodletting therapy in the Middle Ages?

"Don't look at me with that naive view!" Zhu Miaoyun seemed completely unfazed, her lips curving up like the Dragon King in a short drama: "I'm just sending a signal to the outside world that science is different from finding gold. Gold won't come looking for you, but people will. What's the most important thing for researchers these days?"

Li Che immediately understood the key point, and then he looked at Zhu Miaoyun with a look of surprise, as if to say, "Damn, how did my cat suddenly grow a brain?"

"Any results?"

Zhu Miaoyun proudly raised her chin: "I told you long ago not to underestimate this princess. Come on, I'll take you to see the talent I just discovered a while ago. Although I can't give you penicillin right now, it's definitely your 'nuclear weapon' to keep under wraps."

"What on earth is it?"

"I'll keep you in suspense for a moment... Do you know what kind of business this talented person I discovered came from?"

"what?"

"They make dyes."

Chapter 212 A dye shop that doesn't make explosives isn't a good pharmaceutical factory.

Liu Ming, male, 35 years old, is an age at which he would easily be laid off from the job market in the 21st century.