As Tang Mo''s super battleship was being built, piece by piece, within the far reaches of the Empire of Na, a mria outbreak was raging.
In the past, such events would ur every summer, and people were helpless against this deadly disease.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
The assembly of any military force could potentially lead to an epidemic, and mria was one such disease.
Once the size of a city expanded, various diseases would sometimes be prevalent, which was a significant hindrance to urban development.
The advent of Brunas led to a shift in perspective regarding cities for many countries; modern medicine made the existence of megacities possible.
Due to advancements in medical science, Great Tang Group started promoting the cultivation of cowpox, allowing vinators to be immune to smallpox for life.
Therefore, anyone working within the controlled regions of the Great Tang Group had to be vinated with cowpox, thereby ensuring the safety of the city residents.
Soon, this method was proven to be very effective; Dorne, Suthers, and the Leite region all began adopting this method.
As a result, in these countries, densely popted cities gradually broke their shackles and started to approach the terrifying size of Brunas.
Cities with a poption of a hundred thousand were evolving into cities of two hundred thousand; capitals that had several hundred thousand inhabitants were now approaching a million.
All of this went hand in hand; the epidemic prevention methods promoted by Great Tang Group yed a key role, as did the obstetric techniques also promoted by the same group.
Poption increase began with raising the birth rate—it was still a very dangerous affair for women of this era to give birth.
Thus, Great Tang Group began to establish obstetric hospitals to focus on pregnant women, scale up and spread experience, allowing more doctors to master critical techniques.
The old Prime Minister of the Leite Kingdom was one such beneficiary of these advancements — his grandson was born and survived thanks to the obstetric technology of Great Tang Group.
Many of Great Tang Group''s pharmaceuticals became popr in these benefited regions, and hospitals established there were willing to use these drugs.
Because these drugs were proven to be truly effective, they could bring about rapid recovery. Despite being costly, they ensured that those who could afford them would survive.
The world was never all that fair to begin with; the rich getting better healthcare was a harsh reality.
Although Great Tang Group was still trying to keep prices down as much as possible, after several hand changes, the prices still soared.
Not many could get their hands on affordable medicines, and even then, it was only possible in Great Tang Group-controlled areas like Brunas and Jade City.
However, the progress in medicine, at the very least, provided people with hope, a faint hope to conquer diseases and continue living.
This time, the reason why the outbreak of mria in the Empire of Na was so concerning was that the Emperor of Na had also fallen ill.
At the beginning, because he had better sanitation and the care of court physicians, the Emperor did not take his illness seriously.
During the first few days of his illness, he still visited two of his concubines, and then his condition took a turn for the worse and became uncontroble.
As time went on, his health deteriorated further. Soon he was unable to work, and then confined to his bed.
"His Majesty''s condition is not good…" A group of Ministers gathered in the discussion hall of the Imperial Pce were anxious as they discussed the Emperor''s health.
One middle-aged Minister with a grim expression lowered his voice and uttered words that filled those around him with dread, "If there aren''t any better solutions, I think we should start considering what''s toe!"
"What are you saying? That''s treasonous!" A colleague beside him was startled and immediately lowered his voice to rebuke.
The middle-aged Minister sneered and retorted, "Then what''s your brilliant n? We''ve tried everything, bloodletting, prayers from shamans; we even burned three women as offerings to the gods…"
"Damn it, all those doctors should be hanged! They only know how to bleed people!" Someone next to him turned pale as if disgusted.
"What''s the use of talking about this now?" Another Minister spread his hands helplessly, lookingpletely at a loss.
The middle-aged Minister looked at his colleagues and asked, "What''s the word from the Crown Prince?"
"What do you think he could say at this point? Right now, all he needs to do is wait, anything else is superfluous; he just needs to wait for the news," replied the Minister in charge of liaising with the Crown Prince as he shook his head.
The Crown Prince was no fool; at such a time, he didn''t need to do anything—just waiting for a message was enough.
"The throne would be his sooner orter anyway. If his father recovered, he would just wait a few more years; if his father was eager to depart this life, then he would ascend to the throne..."
Several ministers looked at each other, and eventually wrested out a sentence, "But, someone has to step forward to take control of the situation, right?"
"The Prime Minister is not on our side; we must be wary of that corner..." Before the leading middle-aged minister could finish his sentence, a hastily approaching pce guard interrupted him.
"Trouble! Trouble!" The guard burst in, shouting loudly.
"What is it! Speak!" The middle-aged minister frowned in disdain and scolded.
"The first Imperial Concubine, with her people, broke into His Majesty''s sleeping chamber! We, we couldn''t stop her!" The pce guard reported with his head bowed.
"Useless! Stand aside!" The middle-aged minister shoved the guard away, and took to his feet towards the outside.
"Hurry! Hurry! To the sleeping chamber! Quick!" The surrounding ministers also hurriedly followed, and a group of them quickly made their way to the Emperor''s sleeping chamber.
"Mo Kangsen! His Majesty is unwell, and you barge in with your men at this time, are you trying to rebel?" The middle-aged minister saw the opponent blocking the way at the entrance of the Emperor''s bedroom and questioned loudly.
Mo Kangsen, with his plump andrge ears, stood there sneering, "Hmph, rebel? Joyce! If anyone is rebelling, it would be you, wouldn''t it?"
"Whatever you say now is useless! Leave immediately! Otherwise, I will not be polite." Realizing that the guards around him seemed to have been reced by those brought by Mo Kangsen, Joyce knew that thetter was really after the hot potato that was the Emperor.
Now that the Emperor was seriously ill and could die at any time, taking control of the Emperor was not necessarily a good thing. This was also why he didn''t actually deploy heavy troops to guard the sleeping chamber—he hadn''t decided whether or not he wanted the Emperor to die by his hand.
"If I hadn''te... you would probably have killed His Majesty! Joyce! Take your men and scram!" Mo Kangsen scratched his fleshy head and suddenly raised his voice, taking on a righteous appearance.
"You! Don''t be smug! Mo Kangsen! His Majesty is fine with me. If anything happens to him in your hands, I would like to see, see how you exin it to everyone in the Empire of Na!" Joyce knew about the Emperor''s illness, so he started to backpedal.
Just now, the doctor who had bled the Emperor had secretly told him that the Emperor might breathe hisst tonight.
Joyce, almost certain that the Emperor was beyond help, eventually decided to let the Emperor die in Mo Kangsen''s hands.
"You just wait!" With a snort, not daring to recklessly wield weapons outside the Emperor''s sleeping chamber, Joyce left with the other ministers following him.
Turning around, he pushed open the door and then instructed someone to quickly close it. As soon as Mo Kangsen entered the room, he spoke to a male doctor who was fiddling with a medicine box, "I have put my life in your hands, you''d better be telling the truth."
"Of course, His Majesty''s physical condition is very poor, but these problems are all caused by the bloodletting from Joyce''s people." The doctor smiled with a reassuring and convincing demeanor.
As he took out the medication, he continued, "His Majesty merely has mria, this disease is not fatal."
Mo Kangsen felt the need to remind the other, "Before you came to me, mria was basically an incurable disease in the Empire of Na! Some people recovered from this disease, but they were the minority, most people would die..."
In the Empire of Na, mria was truly a deadly infectious disease, iming the lives of many people each year.
"With the medication from Great Tang Group, it is no longer fatal... Mr. Mo Kangsen, you will soon witness a miracle." Holding the medicine and water, the doctor approached the Emperor''s bedside and signaled the first Imperial Concubine—Mo Kangsen''s daughter—to help the Emperor sit up.
"I must be crazy, to watch someone give the Emperor some unclear substance to ingest... Could you tell me what this really is? So I can rx a bit..." Mo Kangsen murmured timidly, suspecting he must be insane to undertake such a wild endeavor.
Logically, an Emperor on his deathbed was definitely a hot potato, especially when the Crown Prince was already firmly established in his position.
A subsequent investigation would cause him immense pain, and if the Crown Prince truly wanted a scapegoat, Mo Kangsen felt he would certainly be the unlucky one.
"Hmm, it''s nothing, just a substance extracted from the bark of a tree, you can think of it as a kind of herbal medicine." After administering the medicine to the Emperor, the doctor replied.
"You actually gave a tree bark to an Emperor to eat?" Mo Kangsen felt as if his whole world had just turned upside down in an instant.
"Ha... ignorant fellow, you haven''t seen things extracted from moldy substances yet..." The doctor disdainfully mocked Mo Kangsen, this top noble of the Empire of Na.
In his eyes, nobility were just rich fools. Only the great Mr. Tang and those prophetic medical school professors deserved his respect.
Undeterred, Mo Kangsen scratched his head and continued to ask, "I hope you seed... What is this medicine called?"
In his opinion, such a doctor brimming with confidence, who maybe could indeed perform miraculous healings, was not to be offended... who knows when he himself would need such a service...
"Quinine," the doctor answeredconically.