1850 American Gold Baron

The dry air was filled with a strong smell of shit. Out of caution, Robinson did not dare to touch them directly with his hands.

Just observe them from a distance.

These patients are emaciated and have symptoms of dehydration to varying degrees.

Robinson's dull gaze fell on a mother and daughter, whose symptoms of dehydration were the most severe among the group.

"Doctor, please save her!"

Mother collapsed on the ground. Doctor Robinson's medical skills had already spread throughout the Sacramento gold mining area.

It is said that there are only two people in California who can cure cholera. One is California's new king Liang Yao, and the other is Dr. Robinson, whose medical skills are said to be miraculous.

Liang Yao is now in San Francisco, and in Sacramento, only Dr. Robinson can treat them.

The mother and daughter ruthlessly pulled out the unbearable memory from the depths of Robinson's memory.

He thought of his wife and daughter.

In the 1840s, cholera swept across the eastern United States almost overnight, and countless people died from this horrific epidemic.

Dr. Robinson originally had a happy family, but cholera destroyed everything for him.

His wife and children died in this epidemic one after another. As a doctor, he was helpless to deal with cholera and could only watch his wife and daughter die in front of him.

His original intention of coming to California was not to dig for gold, but to escape, escape from cholera, and escape from the painful memory that he could not look back on.

He hopes that in this new place, he can bid farewell to his past self and start a new life.

Unexpectedly, in less than two years, this disease also invaded California.

Is this God's punishment for human greed? Just like the Black Death in the Middle Ages?

"Sorry, I need to calm down."

Robinson turned around and hid in his residence, letting countless people behind him call his name, treating him as a savior sent by God.

Boston employees kept patients out to prevent them from harassing Robinson.

Robinson is now not only their doctor, but also the leader of their Boston company.

Robinson hid in his bedroom and cried in his arms, venting his emotions to his heart's content.

After calming down, Robinson began to open his medical diary.

There had been cholera outbreaks in the Sacramento area and San Francisco before, but those were sporadic cases. He also cured several cases himself, including Captain Weber.

The only relatively concentrated outbreak of cholera in California was in San Francisco during the Christmas season, but it didn't last long.

This is thanks to Brannan. Although Brannan was a reckless man, he adopted the simplest and crudest method to end the cholera epidemic at Christmas in 1849.

Compared to the eastern region, cholera here seems to come at random.

The peak season of cholera in the eastern region is from June to September, and a large-scale cholera outbreak occurred in California around Christmas. Only half a year later, cholera returned again.

This left Robinson at a loss as to what to do and increasingly clueless.

Robinson carefully analyzed the cases he had treated, including Americans, British, French, and Germans, but no Chinese.

Unlike those fools in the mining area who thought cholera was Chinese cholera, Robinson, as a doctor, was very clear-headed. Epidemics spread regardless of race.

In order to treat his wife, he sought help from several British doctors.

The cholera outbreak occurred earlier in the United Kingdom than in the United States. Robinson believed that British doctors must have a way to cure the disease.

It was just that the British doctors were helpless, but Robinson still learned from the British doctors that cholera affects British, Americans, Africans, Indians and Chinese equally.

Cases of cholera have occurred in these places.

Almost all Chinese people live under the management of Liang Yao. Perhaps Liang Yao knows more about this infectious disease than he does.

Otherwise, it would be unexplainable why all those infected with cholera are white people, but the Chinese under Liang Yao's management have not had a single case of cholera so far.

Robinson hurried to the Sacramento River Pier and bought a ferry ticket to San Francisco.

Cholera broke out not only in the gold fields of Sacramento, but also in Old Town San Francisco due to the poor conditions.

Unfavorable remarks against Chinese immigrants have also been circulating, claiming that the epidemic was deliberately brought to California by the Chinese, deliberately intensifying conflicts between Chinese immigrants and immigrants from other regions.

Obviously, these rumors are aimed at him, Liang Yao.

"It may be a coincidence that this kind of conspiracy talk appeared in only one place, but when this kind of talk appeared in the gold mining area of ​​Sacramento and San Francisco at the same time, I think someone must be behind it."

Liang Yao looked at the intelligence collected by the loyalists from Sacramento and San Francisco. The words "Chinese Cholera" seemed so dazzling to him.

"Investigate, we must investigate thoroughly, especially those dishonest gold mining companies in Sacramento, keep an eye on them.

Whether it is the Loyalty Association or the Legion, once someone is found to be revolting for this reason, there is no need to be soft or ask for instructions, they can just shoot and kill them."

Several senior officials of the Loyalty Association and captains of the legion followed the order and left.

When Brannan was still there, Liang Yao and these white gold mining companies were still able to work together to resist Brannan's tyrannical rule in California.

Now that the common enemy is gone, it is expected that a small number of white people will have a rift with him. After all, in essence, he and these gold mining companies are also competing with each other.

Faced with these provocations, he must respond forcefully.

All the land in the Sacramento area belongs to him, and those gold mining companies have signed land lease contracts with him. According to the provisions of the contract, he has the right to take back the land at any time. This is his trump card.

When necessary, he doesn't mind killing gold mining companies that oppose him.

Even if he doesn't take back the land, he can still choke them with food supplies and gold mining supplies.

There is no essential difference between Liang Yao and Brannan. If there is any difference, it is that his control over California is much deeper than Brannan's, and he has penetrated into every aspect of Californians' lives.

He renovated the roads, opened up the routes, provided clothes and food, and even the public toilets for defecation were built with his money.

Brannan wanted to make money in California, but Liang Yao not only wanted to make money in California for a long time, he wanted more than Brannan.

It can be said that California has now reached the point where Californians would not be able to live a normal life without Liang Yao.

The Astor family's prospecting team, the disobedient white gold mining company, cholera, and more troubles are coming one after another.

"Liang Yao, I need your help. You can keep Chinese people away from cholera. You must know a lot about this epidemic."

Robinson, who has always been concerned about his image, now had messy hair and his clothes were covered in dust and mud. He stood in front of Liang Yao, hoping that Liang Yao could help.

"He is from California. We are all from California." Liang Yao stood up and said to Robinson, "Dr. Robinson, you haven't had dinner yet. Wash your hands and have dinner with me."

"I recalled my early experience fighting cholera in Boston. The peak period of cholera is from June to September, but in California, cholera outbreaks are irregular. Do you know the reason?"

After washing his hands and sitting down in the restaurant, Robinson cut off a piece of meat with a silver knife and stuffed it into his mouth. He didn't eat from noon to evening. He was really hungry.

The meat has a strong bloody smell, and it is not domesticated livestock, but fresh moose meat. Liang Yao can always get something from the Indians that the white people cannot.

"It's the climate. The eastern United States is hot and humid from June to September, which is more conducive to the spread of cholera. The climate in California is closer to that of southern France and Italy. Although the summer is hot, it is dry, and the winter temperature is low, but it is rainy and humid.

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That’s why cholera appears to be irregular in California. If you want to cure cholera in California, you can’t start from this aspect.”

"I don't have the ability." Robinson shook his head, "The person who can cure cholera in the entire California area is not me, but you.

Although you said you are not a doctor and have never studied medicine, you are the person who knows the most about cholera that I have ever seen. There was also an outbreak of cholera in your hometown, and you defeated it?"

Robinson had to admit that Liang Yao knew much more about cholera than his colleagues.

"Of course, don't you call cholera Chinese cholera? Chinese immigrants know more about Chinese cholera, which is also something that is being cleaned up."

Liang Yao is not just being angry. Cholera originated from India’s magical holy river, the Ganges Delta.

This kind of epidemic has a short incubation period. In the early years, due to the limited level of transportation technology, it only appeared in India.

It was not until the arrival of the British that cholera spread to all parts of the world with the British fleet.

Cholera in the United States originated from Europe.

If we had to put the first place name in front of cholera, we would call it "Indian cholera", just like the Spanish flu was actually the American flu.

In the war of conquest of India, the number of British soldiers who died of cholera was as high as 3,000, which was much higher than the number of British soldiers who died directly on the battlefield.

In the early years, cholera also broke out in Guangzhou, and its source was sailors from the British East India Company's fleet.

While mankind has enjoyed the convenience brought by technological progress and globalization, it has also had to bear the costs brought by globalization, and infectious diseases are one of them.