Chapter 322 Liverpool’s Chip Problem

Liverpool, Georgian Quarter, 92 Duke Street, Monro Tavern.

If you ask what the most important thing to do when you take the train from London to Liverpool is, then ordering a few glasses of fine gin and wine in a pub will definitely rank first in the British referendum.

Although the quality of drinks in London pubs may not be worse than those in Liverpool, in terms of price, London, which is at the feet of the king and the root of the imperial city, is definitely not as cheap as Liverpool, where the supervision is relatively relaxed.

Although Arthur has no special habit of drinking, drinking has become a great way to prevent himself from contracting a serious illness in this special period.

Sitting in a seat facing the street, Arthur can smell the pungent smell from the street with a slight sniff.

In the guidance on the prevention of cholera issued by the Central Health Committee to local governments, it is emphasized that lime water, hot lime water, and bleach should be used to clean the streets, and crowded and dirty areas should be painted and fumigated.

In the relevant suggestions, the committee also euphemistically stated that it would be better if the owner of the house could be required to repaint all the walls from the ground to the ceiling with lime.

However, since the government did not have the legal power to require private places to be cleaned, most of the newly established local health committees came up with the idea of ​​distributing brushes, buckets and disinfecting materials to the poor for free so that the people could paint their houses themselves.

This zero-dollar purchase disinfection promotion method soon achieved unprecedented success in all parts of Britain. In the spirit of not taking advantage of bargains, from the luxurious Buckingham Palace where the king lived to the leaky shelters of the poor.

In just a few weeks, at least one-third of the houses in Britain were painted and looked brand new.

However, not everyone responded to the government's call. Today, there are still quite a few people in Britain who do not take cholera seriously.

Due to the lack of knowledge about this unfamiliar disease, many people believe that cholera is just a scam created by the government in collusion with doctors and businessmen.

Arthur noticed a piece of news published in the Newcastle Morning Post a while ago.

According to reports, cholera has almost become a word with the same meaning as irony in Newcastle. If you tell a Newcastle resident that he is at risk of contracting cholera, you will probably be hit by a fist as big as a sandbag, or spit from women.

When a local Newcastle reporter went to an all-night pub for an interview, a drunk holding a bottle of wine even claimed: "I am not worried about this minor problem, sir. As you can see, drinking can cure all diseases. I have lived like this for half my life and have never had any problems. The only thing I worry about is that I must not fall into a stinking ditch after getting drunk."

Although the judgments of drunkards are usually inaccurate, Arthur has to admit that this old guy was rarely right when it comes to cholera.

Arthur originally wanted to try to suggest this to the Health Committee, but because he really didn't have a good reputation in the medical community, and the fact that alcoholism can prevent and treat diseases was really contrary to the medical common sense of the 19th century, Arthur, who was worried that his words would make doctors rebellious, could only shut up temporarily.

However, Arthur's silence does not mean that other half-knowledgeable laymen will not speak.

As the earliest barefoot doctors in the entire Christian world, the priests who had fallen into the dilemma of practicing medicine without a license in modern times began to use their rhetoric that had been passed down for more than a dozen centuries after discovering the arrival of cholera.

Cholera is not a physical disease, but a spiritual moral defect!

This is God's punishment for the society's descent into darkness!

The language of the Bishop of Exeter criticizing London for being a sinful hell is coming true!

In this difficult period, we must be more firm in our faith. Going to church to listen to sermons and reading the Bible will effectively reduce the probability of illness.

Generally speaking, when Arthur sees such news headlines, he always thinks that the priests are sick again.

But he has to admit that the priests have provided some help in preventing and controlling cholera.

For example, the Bishop of Exeter, who had just criticized the problem of prostitutes in London a while ago, did not flee from his parish after a large-scale epidemic broke out in the local area. Instead, he took to the streets to call on believers to raise funds for the poor who could not afford medical treatment. During this period, he also insisted on presiding over the funeral of patients who died of cholera.

The bishop's leading charge also stabilized the turbulent situation in Exeter to a certain extent. In the past, whenever such a large-scale epidemic occurred, the middle class in Britain would definitely flee the city with their families.

But this time, cholera did not defeat the social order. Shops were still open, factories were still producing, and ports were still running.

After listening to the sermon, a small shop owner even shed tears and expressed regret for his past sins. From now on, he will give up bad habits such as alcoholism and smoking, and turn over a new leaf to be a good person.

Not only that, he also called on all the people in his industry association to stand up bravely in the face of difficulties. They, the middle class, get wealth from the city, so they should not watch it fall into ruins when the city is in trouble.

Under the call of this gentleman, Exeter raised more than 300 pounds of charity in just a few days. Although this does not sound like much, for Exeter, which has a population of only a few thousand people, this is definitely a proud achievement.

Although Arthur didn't know whether it would be wise for this gentleman to give up drinking during cholera, if he could survive this cholera epidemic, Arthur felt that he would definitely be able to make a lot of money in the future, because he was a good person and good deeds. Within days it had spread through newspapers to every corner of Britain.

Arthur flipped through the various newspapers he bought from the newsstand this morning page by page. The good people and good deeds in Exeter were certainly touching, but more news made him unhappy.

The various special treatments for cholera in medical journals look like a battle between gods and mighty powers.

Even though Arthur had not systematically studied medical knowledge and could not express professional opinions, he felt that the reliability of these various methods was questionable.

Neither an enema of saline, rosin, and aromatics nor an emetic of magnesium oxide, rhubarb, and castor oil seemed to work.

However, these methods are not what puzzles Arthur the most. What he finds most puzzling is the use of medicines such as dripping boiling water, nitric acid, or applying cantharides ointment on acupuncture points of the body and special parts such as the heart and abdomen on dying patients. Blistering Therapy.

Doctors insist that irritating the skin to form blisters can achieve the effects of dredging meridians, promoting qi and blood circulation, regulating internal organs, and eliminating toxins, thereby achieving the purpose of external treatment of internal diseases.

However, although it seems a bit appalling, compared with the priests' reading of the Bible, the old British doctors in Britain can at least make Arthur initially accept it.

However, among the papers, Arthur was most concerned about a new treatment proposed by The Lancet. This group of authoritative doctors from the London College of Physicians emphasized: hot air baths, canned or bottled hot water, will always be Desirable therapy.

They strongly recommend that hospitals that have the conditions simply give patients a hot steam bath. After the bath, it is best to use some massage techniques that relax the muscles, activate blood circulation, and cause friction to cause heat.

And they also cited a case of recovery using this therapy. Dr. Dutton of Birmingham published an article claiming that an eight-year-old child named Barratt was already dehydrated, moaning continuously, and was in a critical state that could die at any time.

In response, Dutton immediately gave the patient a soda water spiked with brandy and laudanum. At the same time, an assistant placed about six gallons of water and three ounces of nitric acid in the tub.

Dutton said: "I asked someone to lift him into the bathtub and let his body be completely immersed in the water, with the water level reaching his chin. While bathing, I asked my assistant to rub his whole body for 20 minutes. "

And when Barat soaked in the bathtub for about ten minutes, before he was taken out, his pulse was already beating very hard, and although his dry and cold tongue had not yet reached normal temperature, it had become moist and warm. . Bharat himself said he felt much better and wanted to lie down in bed and rest.

Dr. Dutton, who saved a life, could not help but express joyfully in his paper: "My little patient now seems to have recovered from that endangered state of collapse."

Closing the medical magazine in front of him, Arthur put one hand on his head and took a sullen sip of wine.

Although he felt that his ability was not enough to dictate medical work, perhaps it was because the Chancery Chamber felt that since lawyers could do forensic work in court, it was reasonable to send a police officer who studied history to guide medical and health work.

At the very least, someone with an academic gold medal in the history department of the University of London must have a good understanding of how the Black Death was prevented and treated in the Middle Ages.

So this time Arthur came to Liverpool not only to do his anti-smuggling work, but also to supervise the work of the local health committee.

In order to be able to give relatively reasonable advice in health meetings, he must select relatively reliable ones from a variety of treatments.

From Arthur's point of view, this job was much more important than his responsibilities at Scotland Yard. The Criminal Investigation Department could only solve one murder case for several weeks. And if cholera is not dealt with in time, Scotland Yard's decades-old KPIs can be blown out of the water in minutes.

Just as he was thinking about how to carry out his work, the door of the tavern was suddenly pushed open.

Louis Bonaparte held a thin document in his hand and looked around. He quickly found Arthur's position, walked over to him and sat down opposite him.

"Arthur, Mr. Mill and the others have roughly sorted out the information on the customs declaration. There are many errors and omissions in it. Preliminary statistics should involve at least more than six thousand pounds in taxes."

"Huh?" Arthur did not reach for the document, but looked up at Louis: "You found the mistake so quickly?"

Louis smiled and nodded: "Yes, it's much better than we expected. Mr. Mill and the others didn't expect that the investigation would go so smoothly."

Upon hearing this, Arthur put his arms on the table and muttered slightly: "Six thousand pounds... Liverpool's annual customs revenue is about 400,000, and a 1.5% error is not unacceptable."

"No, no, no." Louis waved his hand and said, "Arthur, Mr. Mill said, this six thousand pounds is just a preliminary estimate. If everything is settled, it will be more than doubled."

Arthur pushed another glass of wine in front of Louis: "Then triple it, 4.5%, which is reasonable. But being able to find these errors and omissions from the customs declaration at least shows that Liverpool Customs The Customs and Excise Department did not give us a special white list. Do you know what this means?”

Louis took a sip from his cigarette and said, "They are willing to cooperate."

"That's right." Arthur nodded: "Since they are willing to cooperate, let's play with the chips on the card table first."

When Louis heard this, he took out another document from his arms and put it on the table: "Since it is on the card table, you should put this document away first. It should be used when you increase your bets in the future."

Arthur glanced at the document and said, "Is this about the port authority's expansion of the port?"

Louis nodded slightly: "Liverpool is not like London. We don't have reliable informants here, so I can only go to the pier to ask around. This morning I pretended to be a French tourist at the pier and had a brief chat with the local shopkeepers. .

They mentioned a very interesting thing to me. The upper class in Liverpool are very fond of buying real estate, whether they are wealthy businessmen or administrators of government agencies. Oh, maybe I can't say that, after all, administrators and wealthy businessmen are almost equal here. According to those shopkeepers, about 30% of the real estate in Liverpool is held by these guys.

Moreover, these talkative guys also swore to tell me that the most powerful institution in Liverpool is neither the Municipal Council nor the Port Authority and Customs Department, but a private business organization called the Liverpool Association.

The Liverpool Society is an organization with a history of two centuries. How can I describe its power in Liverpool? It is said that seven mayors of Liverpool were born in the Liverpool Association. At its peak, 90% of the members of the Liverpool City Council were members of the Liverpool Association. To this day, it still controls more than 70% of the city council seats. "

Arthur twirled the wine glass, his red eyes staring at the clear purple-red wine: "Like buying land, members of the Liverpool Association..."

He suddenly leaned back in his chair: "Members of Congress don't buy so much real estate just for the sake of looking good. Let me guess, they must also like to speculate in land, right? And they are quite successful in doing so. Real estate If you don’t buy it, it will be in the planned area for port expansion.”

A mysterious smile appeared on Louis' face: "Arthur, you are really imaginative."

Arthur picked up the glass and sipped the wine: "How much did the four new ports in Liverpool cost?"

Louis replied: "On average, each one is about 30,000 pounds. The construction cost of each port is about 6,000 pounds to 8,000 pounds. The remaining more than 20,000 pounds are used to acquire land to build new warehouses and supporting facilities. ”

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."

Louis smiled and asked: "What's wrong?"

Arthur swung the glass and replied: "It's nothing, I just think the wine from Liverpool tastes a bit harsh on the throat. The brandy from London already feels quite heavy to me, but compared with the wine from Liverpool, it is simply too light." "

Upon hearing this, Louis also raised his glass and took a sip: "Well... although the wine tastes a bit strong, the water of the Mersey River is cleaner than the water of the Thames River!"

Arthur raised his eyebrows, put down his glass and nodded slightly: "That makes sense. I asked why the Liverpool Port Authority asked the Parliament's Public Works Committee for money three times. It turned out to be because the water quality was different, so the cost of building the port was different. I have to keep adding more. When I rented a house to a friend of mine, he thought the price I paid was too high and said that my house was made of gold. Now it seems that he has never been to Liverpool. The house I built was originally here.”

Louis also joked: "Arthur, you must have never read "Marco Polo's Travels". What's so strange about a house made of gold? Marco Polo said that in the easternmost part of the continent, even the streets are paved with gold. Oh. , by the way, the small island in the east is made of silver. "

When Arthur heard this, the wine that reached his mouth was almost sucked into his nose.

He quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth to hide his embarrassment: "I'll note down the port matters first. But this aspect is not within the scope of my supervision, and we don't need to get into trouble with them for the time being. At least from the customs declaration form It seems like they still show some sincerity.”

Louis replied: "I also think that we have crossed the line by interfering with this matter. There is no need to talk about it unless it is absolutely necessary. And it is not just Liverpool who does this. There are many people who make a fortune from this. If we rashly If the matter is revealed, it will definitely cause a scandal."

Arthur adjusted his mood, smoothed his hair and asked, "Are there any new discoveries besides this?"

Louis recalled for a moment, and then added: "Apart from the Port Authority, the Dock Committee should also be unclean. I briefly checked their directory. This place has been controlled by several families for a long time, and it provides public services for the Dock Committee. The service company is quite single, and the supply company for most of the purchase lists is a company called Grindrod. If we continue to investigate, there is definitely something wrong with it. "

When Arthur heard this, he had a basic understanding of the local ecology of Liverpool. He raised his hand and interrupted: "We just have an idea of ​​​​this matter. Let's give them a note first, but these things It can't be played on the table. I need something light but not enough to bring the whole Liverpool turf up."

After hearing this, Louis put on his hat and nodded: "Okay, then I'll go find out more."

Arthur warned: "Be careful to dress up well, and remember to carry a gun when traveling. When you are not wearing a police uniform, you are really just an ordinary foreign tourist. If you are suffocated by someone with a stick somewhere, you will be stunned for a moment. I really don’t know how to get you out for a while.”

Louis put one hand on his chest and bowed slightly, saying: "Of course, don't worry, sir."

Arthur watched him go out the door and was about to study the medical journal at hand.

Suddenly, the door of the tavern was pushed open again.

A man walked into the tavern and looked around for a while. Suddenly he saw the clothes on Arthur, and then he came to Arthur with a smile and asked: "Excuse me, is this Mr. Arthur Hastings?"