I Am Louis XIV

I would like to use this chapter to pay tribute to all the medical workers in this epidemic, before, now and in the future for ordinary people like us - risking life and death, fearless retrograde, sticking to their posts, and fighting for the battle!

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This Mr. Lohm is most famous for his invention of protective clothing, which is also the inventor of the protective clothing that Sidonham reminded Chambrance to prepare.

In 1619, in order to avoid the plague, he invented these layers of protective clothing that could tightly wrap the doctor from head to toe. At that time, he was still a young man, but he had already served in Henry IV. I have been with him for several years. Although it is related to his family, he himself has real talents. After that, he once worked for Louis XIII, and now he has become the chief physician of Louis XIV. But let this It was not Louis' intention that the real old man came to the epidemic area. Originally, Louis only considered that Malpikey and Setonham were both foreigners, and they might encounter some embarrassing situations that they could not handle, but Lom Unlike his students.

Chamborance hated all Catholics, but when he saw this stooped, gray-haired, thin old man, he couldn't help feeling a little pity: "You are accompanied by students, there is no need to go with us, "He said stiffly: "We are in the prime of life, in good health, and have a good resistance to disease."

"It is because of your strong body and quick hands and feet that I can go with you," Mr. Lom said as a matter of course, "Do you want me, an old man, to go deep into the epidemic area alone? Don't say that you are enough, If it is smallpox, gentlemen, then God has given me a chance, for I have the weapons against this devil."

"Stop it," said Malbigki; "I, and Mr. Romm's pupil, have said all that was possible before."

"Then please go and have a good rest," Mr. Lomm said triumphantly. "Tomorrow we will start after breakfast."

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With the king's chief physician present, the breakfast was rich and fresh, and it was hard to tell that the epidemic area was only a few miles away from them, but each doctor who was going to the epidemic area only took a little cheese, sausage and Bread, because once the protective clothing is put on, it cannot be put on again without the help of others, and after taking it off, it may also be affected by the disease.

A detachment of guards from the Château de Blois escorted them to the edge of the infected area, "just over the woods," said the officer, and the road had already been barricaded, and the guards were busy removing the barricades. A man's hand was protruding from the rye grass by the roadside, motionless, and the officer also noticed: "There is no way," he said, "Someone wants to escape."

"Well done," Lom said: "The same will be true afterwards, Mr. Officer, increase the density and frequency of patrols, and don't let anyone leave the valley until we come back!" Pray, gentlemen, and then burn him, the body is dangerous here."

"As you order, sir." The officer said, and then the plague doctors walked into the barricade one after another, and the barricade closed behind them. Rom had three students with him, Sidonham had four, Mal Beekey and Chambrance had only themselves, but the pupils of Romm and Setonham would serve them--so to speak, because they went only a few hundred feet, through a wood, As soon as they saw the first village, the doctors dismounted first, and asked the students to serve themselves and put on protective clothing.

The innermost part of the protective clothing is a leather jacket and leather pants, which are made according to the individual's figure. The leather is soft, but it is not comfortable to wear, because according to the medical theory at that time, animal fat can kill the plague and prevent the sick. Body fluids were stained on the protective clothing, so the outside of the leather jacket and trousers had to be smeared with butter or lard by the students. These fats were specially obtained by the castle steward. They did not have that disgusting hala smell, but that The sticky feeling is enough to make people sick. After putting on the leather jacket and leather pants, you have to put on a layer of heavy robes. The collar can be rolled up to the lower jaw and pressed inside the mask, so as to ensure that no skin is exposed. The lower edge falls directly on the feet, and the feet are A pair of heavy leather boots.

After putting on the robe, it is time to put on the mask. This mask, just like the painting on the book, looks like a ferocious vulture. The surface layer is made of brass, with two pieces inlaid at the eyes Round glass, the kind big enough to fit into a fist, under the eyes, is a long leather beak attached to a copper frame. The long beak protrudes forward at least a foot, and it is stuffed with spices, depending on the doctor. Depending on the emergency, ambergris, melissa, spearmint leaves, camphor, cloves, laudanum, myrrh, rose petals, and styrax are all possible, but today the spices are all borne by Mr. Lohm, Therefore, the best spices are used. Once you put it on, you will have a strong fragrance, which has a very good psychological comfort effect. It seems that the disease will be shy away from it. Of course, the doctors at that time were really like this. thought.

Finally, you have to wear a hat. Unlike the current wide-brimmed hat, this kind of hat is not only made of leather, but also has no decoration. It looks black and daunting.

In this way, after being fully armed, it is difficult for them to distinguish each other under the protection that not even a hair is exposed, and even the voice of speaking becomes indistinct. Fortunately, with their walking sticks, they The canes of Lome have a very strong personal style, Rome's is inlaid with a sterling silver snake head, Sidonham's is a black iron tip, and Malpiki's cane has intricate patterns on it, just like a delicate piece of art. Chambolrance's cane was made of an oak branch he picked up casually from the roadside yesterday, with some bark still remaining on it, and a handkerchief wrapped around the top.

"Oh, Mr. Chamborance," Lom asked in surprise, "you don't have a cane, I can ask my student to give you one."

"No," said Chambrance, "it fits my height and the width of my hand." Indeed, Chambrance was the tallest of them all. "You don't look like a doctor," Rom said in Looking at him from behind the mask for a while, he said, "It's more like a fighter."

Isn't that right? Sidonham said in his heart that he was still the leader of a group of thugs, but he still didn't say it. Although he knew that this person was only afraid of harming the King of France, he was inexplicably willing to believe This guy, maybe because of what he said, he said, he's also a doctor.

When the students of Lom and Setonham were all dressed up, they walked towards the village one by one.

It is almost noon now, and three meals a day is the fashion in Paris, and some nobles will secretly enjoy it like this, but in the village, two meals a day is the normal situation-get up in the morning and go to work first, and work three times a day. Four hours later, there was a meal near noon to ensure that people would have the strength to continue working. The meal at around four or five o'clock in the evening was to deal with the gurgling belly and also for the work in the morning As a reserve, so now, you should be able to see the smoke rising from the house or the shed, but just looking at it like this, the plague doctors headed by Lom couldn't help sinking, because they only saw ten A few columns of smoke, again, came from the better houses, that is to say, most of the houses, and almost all the huts, whose owners had either gone to see God or had escaped.

Lom took a look, and walked towards the neatest and tallest house, saying that it was neat and tall, but they didn't need to bend down to enter the door—except for Chambrance.

A student went up and knocked on the door first. After a long time, a weak voice asked, "Who is it?"

"Doctor," said Mr. Lomm. This surprised the other three, who had expected the king's chief physician to utter a long list of awkward titles.

"If I say all the titles," Lom said, "it's going to get a little more complicated, and aren't we doctors?"

"Oh," said Setonham, "you're quite right."

Even so, the people in the house still waited for a long time before finally opening the door for them. This house is nothing special, just like all peasant houses. The big bed—that is, a few wooden boards pieced together. On the right is a livestock pen, which contains a few goats, chickens and ducks. Maybe they met strangers, and they kept barking.

Lom glanced around briefly, then exited the house, only an old woman opened the door for them, she was trembling with fright when she saw so many people coming in at once.

"Anyone else?" Lom's student asked.

"They all went to work."

"Aren't they infected with the disease?"

The old woman fell silent at once, and Rom let out a sharp sneer. He raised his cane and pointed, and his student immediately blocked the old woman's path with his cane, and then lifted her turban, under which there was a circular scar covering the whole face, "My God," she shouted Arriving, trying to put the scarf back on.

"This is a damn witch." Mr. Lom said, "And a despicable thief." He felt that something was wrong when he saw it. The old woman was dressed in rags, and she didn't seem like someone who could live in this kind of house. This phenomenon is very common in villages after the plague has passed. Some survivors will confidently take the last bit of assets of those unfortunate people for themselves-those round scars indicate that this old woman was once infected. She had smallpox, but luckily survived, so she lived in the epidemic area with peace of mind.

"The proof of the Holy Mother!" The old woman immediately yelled miserably: "My lords, I'm not a thief. This was originally a house without people, and Mr. Monk allowed me to live here!"

"What about the livestock?"

"That's what the priest pays me," she said, and hastily, as if worried that the grown-ups wouldn't believe her, she pointed to an ordinary house and called out: "If you don't believe me, then ask Monsieur Monk."

"Of course we're going to ask," said Mr Lome.

The old woman was led by them to the house. The house looked ordinary, and it was not much different from other houses in the village. There was only a cross hanging on the wooden door. When they knocked on the door, there was a A man with a similar attire came out, but his waist was tied with a rope, which is the kind commonly seen among monks. If you look closely, his mask and robes are quite crude. There is no wide-brimmed hat, only a pull Pulled up a deep hood.

As soon as the monk saw the old woman, he immediately understood that the old woman was indeed hired by him, because after the outbreak of smallpox in this village, most of the people fell down, and some people escaped. Before the doctor arrived, this monk, who passed by here occasionally, took on the duties of a doctor.

"I'm not very good at medicine," the monk said frankly, "I can only pray for them, perform sacraments, and bury them."

"Enough is enough, Monsieur Friar," said Lom. "Doctors can only save their bodies, but you are saving their souls."

"That's exactly what I should do," said the monk. "I thought you wouldn't come so soon."

"It can only be said to be a coincidence." Mr. Lome said: "How many days have you been here?"

"It's been more than a month," said the monk.

"Then please tell me about the situation here."

So Mr. Monk briefly talked about what he saw and heard here. Because the village is located in a remote place, even the agricultural officials rarely stay here permanently. There is no church or chapel here. Of course There are no priests. People here are used to having small bumps on their bodies—maybe it’s because of mosquitoes, maybe it’s because of the juice of plants, or maybe it’s because they sleep on the ground that is too wet. It is common for children to have fever and die young. So they didn't notice any abnormality at all-it was the beginning of the epidemic.

When the monk passed by here, he just lived temporarily in this house used by the villagers as a chapel. Fortunately, he did not have too much contact with the villagers and contracted the disease. Afterwards, he helplessly spread his hands: "Obviously, there may be other places as well." Those who ran out, when I was about to leave, the road was blocked." After all, this was once the ancestral land of the French royal family, and the castle of Blois has always been guarded by an army, and the reactions of the governors and generals here are also similar. pretty fast. When the monk found that he could no longer leave, he returned to the village, found some medicinal herbs as much as he could, and made a medicinal soup for the villagers to drink, but he was indeed not good at medicine as he said, and people continued to die. First the frail old men and children, then the women, and finally the strong men.