King of German Mercenaries

Marin was very sad when he sent away the 700 brothers who fought alongside him before. After all, they fought together for seven or eight months. But before he could recall the past, he was summoned by the emperor urgently.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty!" At the palace in Vienna, Marin met Maximilian I again.

"Baron Marin, I have something difficult to ask you."

"Speaking!"

"Some of the French prisoners had strange symptoms! They started to develop disgusting abscesses..."

"Syphilis..." Marin exclaimed. When he was in Italy, because he got a lot of loot, Marin was excited and forgot about it.

"Syphilis?" The emperor had never heard of this thing, so he was a little puzzled.

"Your Majesty, this is what I heard from the teacher. This vicious disease called 'syphilis' originated in the West Indies, where Columbus discovered it..."

"Columbus? I know, he said he discovered a route westward to India..." Columbus discovered the New World in 1492, three years have passed now, and Maximilian I also knew the news.

"In fact, what Columbus discovered was not India at all, but a region where a savage group was located..."

"Are you sure?" Maximilian I was suspicious. Because, Western Europeans have not been to real India.

"My teacher, who has been to real India!"

"Oh yes? What does real India look like?"

"In the so-called 'India' discovered by Columbus, the people there are yellow-skinned. In the real India, there are mainly two types of people, one is the West Asian white people who are similar to the Arabs, and the other is very dark skinned. race..."

"Where did Columbus go?"

"A wild continent in the west with a low level of civilization. Moreover, this terrible syphilis also came from the West Indies."

"How did it come?"

"My teacher deduced that it was probably some sailor from Columbus, in the West Indies, who had a relationship with a local indigenous woman and contracted this disease. Then, you know, the sailor was a Spaniard and went to Sicily. , and then have a relationship with local prostitutes, and then the client will take them to Naples, which is close to Sicily, and then pass it on to the prostitutes in Naples, so it spreads in Naples..."

"It just so happened that the French invaded Naples, and the French soldiers couldn't help themselves and went to patronize the sick prostitutes. This kind of disease spread within the French army. It is said that this time the French went to tens of thousands of people, and only More than 10,000 people came back intact, but 4,000 more were captured by us..."

"So powerful?" Maximilian I sucked in a breath. How powerful and terrifying is a disease that has destroyed tens of thousands of troops!

"According to the information I found in Italy, the number of people who died of this disease in the French army was only 10,000, but it caused an unparalleled panic and depressed the morale of the French army. Otherwise, Charles VIII would not have He led the army to flee north, and was then taken advantage of by his ministers. You know, even in the process of escaping, the French army suffered a big loss for the Italian coalition."

Maximilian I nodded, he knew this information. The French army, who ran in a hurry, still killed and wounded 2,000 Italians, while the Italians only caused 1,000 casualties to the French army.

"We have to thank this evil disease, otherwise, the French would not be so easy to back down, and they might fight us to the end. You must know what the Italian army is. If the imperial parliament does not support a full-scale war, we simply can't fight a complete French army. ."

"However, this disease is extremely easy to spread, please be careful, Your Majesty."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yes, this disease, as long as there is a relationship, there is a high chance of contagion.

Think about it, Your Majesty, if a person who came back from Italy contracted this disease. Then, he went to Vienna to find a prostitute, who spread the disease to the prostitute. Afterwards, the soldiers in Vienna went to find this prostitute, and they all got infected..."

Before he could finish speaking, Maximilian I was frightened. If Vienna's army was heavily infected with syphilis, the Hungarians could easily take Austria again...

"How does Aiqing respond?"

"There is no other way but to let the soldiers abstain from sex for a period of time. Otherwise, if the army in Vienna is infected with this vicious disease and loses its combat effectiveness, it will not be able to resist the invasion of the Hungarians..."

"I'm afraid the soldiers will rebound..." Maximilian I was worried.

"It's okay, Your Majesty, you just need to tell them the consequences of this vicious disease and announce the tragic situation of the French in Naples, and they will know how to choose. Is life more important or momentary pleasure?"

"Well, what you said makes sense. However, among the 2000 prisoners, dozens of people seem to have contracted this kind of disease. What should I do? If they die, they will not receive the ransom..."

As soon as Maximilian I opened his mouth, he exposed his poor nature. It turned out that he was not worried about the safety of the French, but worried that he would not get the ransom...

"How long have those people been having their seizures?"

"Not long after the beginning..." It seems that it was in the incubation period before and just broke out.

"That's okay, I may have a way to temporarily suppress this evil, but it can't be eradicated. However, it's okay to persist until you get the ransom..."

"That's good, that's good!" Maximilian I's eyes lit up. As long as he can get the ransom, as for the future, he will kill those French people?

So, Marin proposed a very primitive treatment method - external application of mercury and sulfur...

This is just a way to treat skin diseases, among them, mercury is still very toxic. However, if it is only used externally, as long as the dosage is controlled, it is also possible.

Although this method cannot be cured, it can greatly slow down the onset of syphilis and suppress syphilis to a certain extent. Some mild patients may even be cured.

After that, Maximilian I decisively found a hot spring with a strong sulphur smell, and let the dozens of French people go down to soak in order to kill germs. Also, have them put some mercury on their affected area.

In order to prevent the outbreak of syphilis in the Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian I issued an edict, introduced the source of syphilis, used the official name of "syphilis" to define the disease, and strictly prohibited any prostitutes from Italy and France. guests, or they will be executed...

At the same time, those who go to Italy and France are also strictly forbidden to go to prostitutes. For, according to Marin's conjecture, syphilis had inevitably spread in Italy and France. This chronic disease cannot be eradicated unless everyone practices abstinence.

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