Chapter 315

"Has the matter been investigated? Is it possible to blame the Anti-Turkish Alliance?" Prime Minister Gladstone asked eagerly.

In the face of the enemy's slander, the Government of the United Kingdom would not sit back and do nothing. They did not immediately launch a counterattack because it happened suddenly and they were unprepared.

George, the Foreign Minister, shook his head. "We have sent experts to the scene to investigate. Inferring from the time, the Osman Empire is indeed suspected of a man-made plague.

In the face of the facts, we cannot defend the Osman people. Russia and Austria are urging the international joint investigation team to come to a conclusion. It is estimated that we can see the verdict in the London news tomorrow. "

The Government of the United Kingdom did not have the ability to influence the results of the international investigation team. It was impossible to distort the truth in front of the Anti-Turkish Alliance.

The reputation of the "Black Death" was too great. Even if it was only "suspected," it was scary enough.

Now the European countries were still counting on Russia and Austria's effective epidemic prevention work to block the virus in the Near East.

It was obvious which side public opinion would stand on. No one cared whether the Osman government was forced or not. The European world absolutely resisted this kind of violation of human morality.

The cruel reality shattered Gladstone's last fantasy. This time, the Osman government had done them badly. It was inevitable that the Government of London would vent their anger on the Osman people for providing supplies.

Perhaps in a few days, the newspapers would publish: The Government of London contributed money and effort to buy time for the Osman Empire to create the "Black Death."

It did not matter whether the virus created was the "Black Death." Anyway, the Government of London's support for the Osman Empire increased the time for the Government of Sudan to resist, and indeed created the conditions for the artificial virus.

Everyone would only say that without the supplies provided by the British, the war in the Near East would have ended a few months earlier. If Ankara was breached in advance, the Russian Army would be able to stop the Osman government's perverse actions.

Gladstone knew that something had to be done now. Otherwise, the situation was likely to get out of control.

"Immediately organize a medical volunteer team to go to the Near East to control the epidemic, and then purchase a batch of supplies in the name of the government.

Contact the Austrians. The Royal Navy is willing to send a fleet to cooperate with the blockade of the Near East to show the outside world our determination to fight the epidemic. "

After a moment of hesitation, Gladstone added, "Arrest the Osman exiled in the country for the crime of creating the Black Death, regardless of their status."

Since the matter had been confirmed, Gladstone naturally wouldn't be polite to the Ottomans who had tricked them.

This wasn't a relationship between a boss and a lackey, but a relationship between a human and an anti-human. Now that the Black Death was involved, no one dared to let their guard down.

Foreign Affairs Minister George reminded, "Prime Minister, the medical community has yet to confirm if it is the Black Plague. They are still suspicious."

Gladstone waved his hand. "That's not important. It's always a fact that the Ottoman government created a plague.

What we need now is an attitude. I estimate that in a few days, there will be a wave of anti-Turkish sentiment in Europe. Don't drag us down with you.

The Ministry of Finance will settle the accounts as soon as possible. The people who gave the Osman Empire supplies are evil capitalists. They have nothing to do with the government. We have never been in contact with the Osman. "

From now on, the Government of the United Kingdom would be the vanguard in the fight against the epidemic. Colluding with the Osman Empire did not exist.

Providing supplies to the Osman Empire was nonsense. The supplies were clearly exported to Persia. Since the anti-Turkish Alliance blockaded the Near East coastline, the trade between Britain and Turkey was terminated.

Why did the supplies flow to the Osman Empire? It was all sold to the Osman Empire by illegal merchants who were greedy for huge profits.

Who exactly was it?

They would have to ask the Persian government. The supplies flowed from Persia and had no contact with the Government of London.

…

Looking at the wonderful performance of the British, Franz wanted to say, "This is completely overthinking. Everyone is busy controlling the plague now. Who has the time to argue?"

Just based on this non-existent matter, other than adding a little trouble to the Government of the United Kingdom and tarnishing their international image, there was nothing they could do.

If they really wanted to defeat Britain, it was not something that could be achieved by simply spreading rumors and causing trouble.

There was no shortage of smart people in the world. When they calmed down, they would find that the "Britannia conspiracy" was untenable.

There was no other reason. The main reason was that the "plague" was uncontrollable. When it killed people, it did not distinguish between friend and foe.

If the European world was unlucky, Britannia would not be able to escape unscathed.

Although the current international situation was a bit disharmonious for the British, it was only a small problem. It was far from the point where they needed to die together.

If they were to really plunder, it was estimated that the Russians would suffer the least losses. This was the advantage of the Frost Kingdom. The speed at which the virus was bred and spread was slower.

For example, a mouse that was frozen to death while crossing the road.

When the Black Death ravaged the European continent, more than 200,000 people died in the Russian Empire. However, compared to the 25 million people in the European world, one in three Europeans died of illness. This ratio was still insignificant.

If they really wanted to frame the British, Austria would have to be able to reconcile the contradictions between the European countries and come up with enough benefits to make everyone believe that it was the British who did it.

This was much more difficult than asking everyone to lie with their eyes open. Whether it was to eliminate the contradictions between the countries or to come up with enough benefits, it was not something that Franz could do.

Since they could not kill it, they might as well not do it. They just needed to find something for the Government of London to do and make them obediently cooperate to control the epidemic.

As it turned out, it was not without reason that the plague was known as the most lethal of all plagues.

Even though the Government of Vienna adopted the most stringent prevention measures, the plague still came to them. The first to be affected were the Austrian soldiers stationed in the Near East.

From the discovery of the first infected person, within a short week, 300 soldiers were infected, and the number swelled to 2,000 the next week.

This was the result of the timely isolation of the epidemic and the spread of rat poison near the barracks. Otherwise, the number of infected people would not be this small.

War Minister Fislav said, "This plague is very contagious, and the number of infected people is not that high.

The Russian Army, who first discovered the epidemic, is different. The number of infected people is as high as 35,000, and this is only the confirmed number. The actual number should be more.

The explosive power and lethality of the plague are also very amazing. It usually takes less than a week from the onset to the death. Even if you resist it, it is only a temporary survival, and there may still be a relapse.

The symptoms are not much different from ordinary plague, nausea, vomiting, and fever.

The epidemic has just appeared on our side, and it is not possible to determine the mortality rate for the time being. However, the Russian Army statistics that the mortality rate of infected people is as high as 13.2%!

At present, there is no particularly good treatment. The use of the best antibiotics can only reduce the mortality rate and cannot guarantee the efficacy.

The Ministry of War has ordered the troops to disperse into battalions as a unit to reduce the infection rate as much as possible. "

The 13.2% mortality rate made Franz's heart sink.

Even though this was the result of not receiving effective treatment, this mortality rate was still too high.

After all, the Russian Army soldiers were young and strong, and their resistance was the strongest. If it were the old, weak, sick, or disabled, the mortality rate would probably be even higher.

After some thought, Franz said slowly, "Report this mortality rate, and we can do some artistic manipulation to appropriately exaggerate the lethality of the plague to other age groups.

Send a note to the European countries, telling them that we have confirmed that the source of the Black Death is rats.

In order to prevent the spread of the Black Death, we plan to spread rat poison on a large scale in the Near East. We need at least 400,000 tons of rat poison. "

If such a high mortality rate was not the "Black Death", they had to insist that it was the "Black Death".

Only by scaring everyone would the European countries go all out to produce rat poison and contribute money and manpower to the epidemic prevention work.

…

In St. Petersburg, as the biggest victim of the plague, Alexander III wanted to cry but no tears came out.

If he had known that there would be a plague in the Near East, he would have given the order in advance … Oh, there was no way to leave.

There was no doubt that in order to avoid responsibility, the upper echelons of the Russian Army had a tacit understanding to hide the number of early infections. When the plague was first discovered in the official documents, there were only 28 Russian Army soldiers infected.

Hiding the number of infected was only a temporary measure. Therefore, it was added later on. Weren't the Austrians shouting "Black Death"? In order to reduce responsibility, the upper echelons of the Russian Army naturally followed suit.

Since it was the Black Death, it was normal for it to spread quickly and have a high mortality rate. It was definitely not caused by anyone's negligence.

When the modified data reached the hands of Alexander III, the severity of the problem was greatly increased.

The time it took for the epidemic to be discovered was cut in half.

In just over 20 days, the number of Russian Army deaths due to the plague exceeded 3,000, and the number of infected exceeded 50,000.

Anyone who saw such data would tremble in fear. What was worse was that due to the migration of the people, the epidemic was likely to be brought into the country.

Now Alexander III could only hope that Siberia was cold enough to freeze the virus to death. Otherwise, it would be terrible if it spread to the western part of the Empire.

"What did the Austrians say? We are helping them settle the immigrants. The Government of Vienna can't just not say anything, right?"

Foreign Minister Oskar Jimenez replied, "The Government of Vienna informed us of the progress of the virus research. They have found a way to reduce the mortality rate of the infected.

The antibiotics developed by the Austrian Royal Academy of Sciences can suppress the virus to a certain extent.

They are currently rushing to produce it. The Government of Vienna promised to provide us with 20,000 doses in the next month. "

Alexander III frowned and said discontentedly, "Only this much, how is it enough?

Can't the Austrians provide a little more? If it really doesn't work, we can buy it ourselves! "

Oskar Jimenez explained, "Your Majesty, there is currently no way to produce this drug industrially. It can only be produced artificially in the laboratory.

The production is very small, and the supply has always been insufficient to meet the demand. The price is higher than the same amount of gold. 20,000 doses is already a lot.

In fact, there are laboratories in our country that have obtained patent authorization. Unfortunately, the production technology is too difficult, and we can only produce more than 1,000 doses per month. "

The technical difficulty of producing penicillin in the laboratory was not high. As long as the product appeared on the market, the technology would soon be deciphered.

In order to maximize the benefits, Franz opened the patent authorization a few years ago and established a monopoly alliance.

Those who obtained authorization were all big shots from various countries. After obtaining the technology, they also joined the side of protecting the patent.

Based on the principle that things were rare, everyone tacitly exaggerated the technical difficulty and deliberately limited the production capacity.

Of course, the Russian Empire was not necessarily limiting the production capacity. After all, this thing was easy to say. If it was really produced in the laboratory, not everyone could do it.

Generally speaking, this work was undertaken by science and engineering students with strong hands-on ability. The Russian Empire itself was seriously short of talents in this area.

The Government of Vienna promised to provide 20,000 doses. Naturally, not all of them were artificially produced. Otherwise, all the produced products would be given to the Russians, and they would have no use for it.

The inability to carry out industrial production was a thing of the past. After so many years, science and technology had made great progress.

Austria could already achieve mechanized production, but the products produced were flawed. Not only was the rate of defective products high, but the efficacy would also be reduced.

In order to ensure the price of the drug, the news of industrial production was naturally kept strictly confidential.

Even if someone found out that the drug was not effective enough, they would only think that the production staff was careless and made a mistake.

Even if people in the industry did not know the news, outsiders would not know. After listening to this explanation, Alexander III was moved.

…