Chapter 294: Chapter 249: Master and Disciple
Everything was ready.
Li Ang looked around the room at the raw materials and equipment, took a deep breath, and raised his palm to release his Telekinesis.
Potassium Antimony Tartrate, also known as Antimony Potassium Tartrate, is an effective emetic and anti-parasitic drug. It can disrupt the body structure of Blood-sucking Worms, causing them to lose their ability to adhere to muscle tissue. They detach from the blood vessel walls, are swept away by the blood flow to the liver, and are then destroyed by the human immune system. Moreover, Potassium Antimony Tartrate can affect the parasite’s energy supply and reproductive system. It has a potent killing effect on Blood-sucking Worms and filariasis worms.
First, antimony...
In Yu Country, antimony is also referred to as Antimony; it had previously been used to adulterate copper for casting coins. This batch of antimony from Tan State had a high purity. After calcination, antimony white could be obtained, which is diantimony trioxide.
Next, the wine stone...
The wine stone precipitated from wine contains about fifty to eighty-five percent Potassium Tartrate. After decomposition by hydrochloric acid and recrystallization, it results in Potassium Tartrate of higher purity.
Mixing them...
Potassium Tartrate was combined with diantimony trioxide in a two-to-one weight ratio. This mixture was placed into a round-bottom flask with distilled water and equipped with a Condenser. Using a talisman and Telekinesis, Li Ang simulated a constant-temperature magnetic stirrer, heating it in a water bath with the temperature controlled near boiling.
Once the diantimony trioxide had dissolved, he filtered it while hot. The resulting filtrate was evaporated to concentrate, cooled to crystallize, and then left to settle.
Afterward, it was washed with a small amount of high-concentration ethanol and dried at eighty degrees Celsius, finally yielding white crystals.
...
Li Ang looked at the highly pure Potassium Antimony Tartrate, but his eyes held little joy.
He silently picked up the drug, diluted it with a five percent glucose injection, stepped out of the secret room, and went to the outdoor shed to inject a small amount of Potassium Antimony Tartrate into a cow suffering from a Blood-sucking Worm infection.
Then he took out some Mind Silk and pierced it into the cow’s body to monitor its condition.
He had told Qiu Feng and others that he was developing a drug and not to disturb him unless it was extremely important. Thus, the courtyard was very quiet, save for the labored breathing of the sick cow.
After an unknown period, the Mind Silk finally provided feedback.
Inside the cow, one after another, Blood-sucking Worms convulsed and shrank, detached from the inner walls of the blood vessels, and were flushed to the liver, where they were surrounded and killed by inflamed tissue.
The Blood-sucking Worms, against which countless Pharmacists and prescriptions had been powerless, had no resistance to the specific drug Potassium Antimony Tartrate. They were eliminated one by one, like leaves swept away by an autumn wind.
Still, there was scarcely a hint of happiness on Li Ang’s face.
He stood up, walked through the courtyard, pushed open the gates, and gazed up at the overcast sky.
He had succeeded, but the cost was far too great.
Taihu Lake, anciently known as Zhenze, was also called Li Ze.
It was now early spring. The lake waters rippled green, and willow trees along the shore sprouted new buds, swaying in the wind. The spring air was mild, the grass lush, and the atmosphere filled with the fragrant scent of plants and trees.
"Everyone must wear socks and gloves before entering the water! Did you hear me?"
"Be very careful! Blood-sucking Worms can enter through any opening, even in dew on blades of grass. Even if you feel hot, do not take off your gloves!"
"For the canals, every old canal must be covered; new ones must be dug! Don’t think that digging someone else’s canal doesn’t concern you. After spring plowing starts, the canal systems will connect. If the nail snails are not thoroughly exterminated in one place, a large surrounding area of farmland will suffer!"
Along the riverbanks, countless mobilized common people wielded shovels and hoes, digging canals with great effort.
If they could not kill the nail snails and Blood-sucking Worms on a large scale before spring planting, all the states, counties, and towns along the shores of Taihu Lake would be assaulted by a new round of the Water Poison epidemic.
CLATTER, CLATTER—
A carriage passed by on the lakeside road.
Inside the carriage, an elder named Situ Zhi looked out through the curtains and let out a light chuckle.
"Heh heh. This momentum truly seems as if it’s striving against heaven and earth, humanity destined to triumph over nature..."
His gaze swept over the sweat-drenched common people on the shore, and a strange smile appeared on his face. "Yu Shi, do you know why I chose to spread the epidemic in Yu Country?"
"Hmm?"
The white-haired youth sitting opposite in the carriage thought this was another test from his teacher and, after considering his words carefully, slowly replied, "To crush Yu Country?"
"No, crushing Yu Country is Zhao Ming’s goal, not ours," Situ Zhi said. "Think again."
"To..."
The youth named Yu Shi, following his teacher’s gaze toward the Yu Country’s citizens outside the window, hesitated and answered, "Observe people’s reactions under the epidemic?"
"Very close," Situ Zhi smiled and said. "We spread the epidemic not to kill as many people as possible, but to observe the power of humanity. You are an abandoned infant with Western Country blood that I picked up. In our homeland, the Extreme West, there once was a great empire named the Romulus Empire. The Romulus Empire’s territories and population were no less than Yu Country’s. Its scholars, much like those of the Academic Palace, revered the path of reason. Five hundred years ago, the Romulus Empire suffered an unprecedented epidemic—patients experienced severe diarrhea, vomiting, sore throats, fever, thirst, festering hands and feet, skin oozing pus, and rashes on their bodies peeling off like fish scales. From royal Nobles down to slave commoners, nearly ten million people died. The entire empire suffered a massive blow. Order teetered on the brink of collapse, and the flame of civilization was nearly extinguished.
"However, just when everyone thought the Romulus Empire would sink into decline and extinction, the disease receded. The survivors who rose from the piles of dead were no longer susceptible to the disease, and the population subsequently rebounded. They cleaned the city corners and built more complete public structures. Cultivation and construction within the empire’s domain became more developed than before. Roads passed through every region, and each city opened to trade. People reclaimed wastelands, built estates, and cut down forests dense with brambles, replacing them with farmland. The empire’s civilization flourished even more than in the past. The death of slave owners liberated a large number of slaves. Debts from the past were erased, and commerce redeveloped, thriving. Academies lowered their thresholds and admitted more students. The Nobles, fearing the forces of the Netherworld, dared not act recklessly. The corrupt and degenerate customs of the upper classes subsided. Even the seemingly endless wars had to be halted due to manpower shortages. A terrifying epidemic brought rebirth to the empire.
"In the Eastern parts, everything was similar. The nascent Kingdoms, having cleared away the past’s detrimental practices, were able to re-establish order and rapidly gain powerful national strength. Take the Han Empire, for example. In just a few decades, it went from Han Gaozu being surrounded by the Xiongnu on White Mountain to Emperor Wu of Han attacking the Xiongnu, forcing them to migrate far to the Northern Desert. After the fall of the Western Han and Emperor Guangwu’s reunification of the lands, the empire’s population rose once more, and its national power quickly recovered. This continued until the Late Eastern Han Dynasty. The empire’s corruption rendered it powerless to suppress the Yellow Turban Uprising. It resorted to desperate measures, allowing each state to recruit its own soldiers, which ultimately led to the downfall of the Eastern Han."
He stroked his beard and laughed. "A great empire’s destruction is often not due to foreign invasion but because the empire itself falls into prolonged rigidity before that. The Nobles are aloof. Wealthy families massively annex land. The rich own vast stretches of territory while the poor lack even a speck of land to call their own. Literati aspiring to change the status quo are forced into the political arena, losing their drive for advancement amidst cutthroat competition. Interests from all sides entangle every corner of the empire like a spider’s web. Everyone knows the status quo is wrong, yet no one has the power to change it. The only lesson humanity can learn from history is that humanity never learns from history. Unlike some in Zhao Ming, I do not hate Yu Country. On the contrary, I am quite fond of this vast empire that somewhat resembles the Romulus Empire. If it weren’t for the constraints of my identity, I would actually like to personally visit the Academic Palace and engage in discussions with the Doctors there. And I spread this epidemic not to obliterate them, but rather like... a benevolent reminder, an alarm bell."