Chapter 310: Water Gu

Zhang Han's arrival not only helped Heifu plan and build Nanchang City, but also brought him two shocking pieces of news.

"Yan and Dai have fallen? So quickly!"

Though he had long expected it, Heifu had not imagined that those two small, lingering kingdoms would be dealt with so swiftly.

Zhang Han said, "The attack on Liaodong was in the second month. Earlier, General Wang Ben had been garrisoned at Yuyang and Youbeiping, so the King appointed him as commander-in-chief. He also reinstated General Li Xin, who had once pursued the Yan Crown Prince Dan to the Yan River, as deputy general. They led thirty thousand troops through Guzhu, over Jieshi, and out of Liaoxi."

Li Xin had once been the King of Qin's most trusted young general, but after his near-success in the first Chu campaign ended in failure, he fell from grace and was dispatched by King Zheng of Qin to Shanggu Commandery as its Commandant — a truly dramatic rise and fall. This time, however, was a rare opportunity for Li Xin, and it was a battle of swift chariot and cavalry raids, his greatest strength — how could he let it pass?

Heifu could almost picture it: General Li Xin, whose hair was said to have half-turned white after the Chu campaign, charging into Yan with the determination to wipe away his past disgrace.

"In the third month, Li Xin advanced to the Liao River. King Xi of Yan personally led the last tens of thousands of Yan men to build ramparts and high fortifications along the Liao River, blocking our army. General Li Xin used a diversionary tactic — first raising many banners on the southern front and feigning an assault on the ramparts to draw King Xi's attention, while the main force secretly crossed the Liao River and struck from behind. He won three battles in three engagements, then pressed the victory to besiege Xiangping (present-day Liaoyang)…"

Once General Wang Ben's main army also arrived, the war was beyond doubt. Under the Qin army's relentless day-and-night assault, Xiangping's walls were breached, and King Xi of Yan was captured.

The eight-hundred-year state of Yan was extinguished.

This campaign won back a sliver of the King of Qin's trust for Li Xin. He was appointed Governor of Yuyang Commandery, overseeing military affairs in the former Yan commanderies. Meanwhile, Wang Ben led the northern expeditionary force to begin the attack on the state of Dai, which was entrenched in Dai Commandery and backed by the Xiongnu…

"This time, General Meng Tian served as deputy general, launching troops from Yanmen Commandery to coordinate with General Wang's attack on Dai. In the fourth month, General Meng set up defensive lines at Shanwu, Pingcheng, and Gaoliu, so the Xiongnu Chanyu dared not come to Dai's aid. After Dai County fell, King Jia of Dai was also captured. By now, he and King Xi of Yan have probably both been escorted to Guanzhong."

So these two campaigns had become redemption battles for Li and Meng. Heifu thought to himself, "It seems the First Emperor still values old loyalties — he didn't permanently cast Li Xin and Meng Tian into the cold palace just because they failed once."

"Or perhaps this is to widely establish meritorious officials, to balance the influence of the Wang father and son in the military?"

Now there was something that made one gasp: of the five kingdoms destroyed, all except Han had been the handiwork of the Wang father and son. The father, Wang Jian, fought the great, hard battles; the son, Wang Ben, was responsible for the finishing, smaller campaigns. As a result, after pacifying the Yue lords of Kuaiji in the third month and returning to Guanzhong, Wang Jian had been formally appointed by the King of Qin as the first Full Marquis in ten years, with the title "Marquis of Wucheng"…

Wang Jian's Full Marquis title used an auspicious name rather than an actual fief name; it was still a nominal enfeoffment, merely granting him the treatment of a ten-thousand-household stipend fief.

"But the two characters 'Wucheng' are extraordinary."

Zhang Han remarked to Heifu with emotion, "It comes from a chapter of the Book of Documents, which records the course of King Wu's campaign against Zhou. King Wu achieved his mandate and attacked King Zhou of Shang; afterward, Taigong Wang was ordered to resist the advancing Fang, and reported with the severed left ears of captives…"

Heifu understood. "The King means that the old general's achievements can be compared to those of Taigong Wang?"

"Indeed, but there is a second layer of meaning."

Zhang Han raised a few fingers. "'Cheng' means accomplishment. Breaking Zhao, breaking Yan, destroying Chu — all were great, hard battles. The King means that the old general's accomplishments in martial merit are already sufficient. Presumably, the old general will now fully retire and never again hold military command…"

"By the fifth month, the King also proclaimed a nationwide drinking celebration. By the look of it, there will be no more military affairs this year."

That was quite good; the common people everywhere could catch their breath a little.

But the King of Qin was not a man of abundant patience; he would wait only until the following year at most…

Heifu then said, "My guess is that for dealing with Qi, the King will still use General Wang Ben."

Now that the five kingdoms had been destroyed, King Jian of Qi and his chancellor Hou Sheng must be utterly panicked. The King of Qin was a man who tolerated no grit in his eye; Qi had absolutely no chance of escaping. If Wang Ben added this merit, he would likely leap from "Inner Marquis," which he received after destroying Yan and Dai, straight to Full Marquis as well!

"One family, two Full Marquises."

Zhang Han shook his head. "Under any other king — King Zhaoxiang of Qin, for instance — this would surely be a calamity. Only under the present King's rule can two marquises in one family become the Wang clan's glory…"

Heifu, however, laughed. "What I want to know is: in the future, will the old general's grandson, Wang Li, inherit his grandfather's title or his father's?"

Zhang Han couldn't help laughing. "You, Heifu — if you hadn't mentioned it, I'd have forgotten. Who was it that once said before the King, 'Thus, a soldier with ambition must desire to become a general and seek a marquisate; one who does not desire to become a general or marquis has short ambition'? Now that the Wang clan has been enfeoffed as marquises, aren't you envious?"

Heifu said with a straight face, "The two generals' achievements are worthy of a marquisate's reward. I've only taken a few remote, petty counties — what does that count for?"

He ended the idle chat about distant events and lifted the wooden tablet to examine the draft plan of Nanchang City drawn by Zhang Han and several craftsmen, looking very satisfied.

"What we must do now is build this city well, making it a thoroughfare settlement that fronts the Three Rivers and embraces the Five Lakes, controlling the Man of Jing and drawing in the Ou and Yue!"

…

As the first spadeful of earth was turned and the first foundation stone laid by the banks of the Gan River, with two thousand Qin soldiers and one thousand convict laborers toiling, construction on Nanchang City began.

The very first thing Heifu had built in the camp was the public latrine — something he had personally arranged at every stop for over half a year.

When Zhang Han teased him, saying he had once been "Colonel of the Latrine" and was now "Commander of the Latrine" or "Magistrate of the Latrine," Heifu took no offense and didn't even curse old Ye Teng, who had first given him those nicknames.

He laughed and said, "The name may not sound good, but this matter is truly useful. Shaorong, since you came to my military camp, have you seen any of the rampant disease that broke out among the troops after Generals Wang and Meng captured Jiangdong and Kuaiji?"

Zhang Han was taken aback. After thinking carefully, he indeed had not seen anyone suffering from abdominal distension and illness. It was said that this strange sickness was ravaging the Qin army in Jiangdong, especially among those stationed around Zhenze (Lake Tai); over half a year, quite a few had died of it.

Heifu was on guard — on guard against that mysterious yet terrifying infectious disease: schistosomiasis…

The climate of Yunmeng Marsh, Zhenze, and Pengli Marsh was a natural breeding ground for schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that would rage until over two thousand years later; as a southerner, he was no stranger to it.

Nan Commandery was relatively fine; the waters of Yunmeng Marsh were fairly clean. Only over in Jiangnan's Dongting and Changsha regions were there more cases of schistosomiasis.

Pengli Marsh, however, was a different matter. From Heifu's observations, some local Yue and Chu people were already showing signs of infection. Especially since the start of summer, he had several times seen fishermen and farmers working barefoot in the paddies whose abdomens were swollen, gurgling when they moved, constantly craving water, their skin rough and dark as if bloated, growing more sallow and emaciated by the day…

These were the classic symptoms of schistosomiasis. Heifu's expression changed at the sight, and he immediately designated the ditches and waters where they moved as forbidden zones, barring his men from setting foot there.

The locals also knew this was an illness, but they did not know its cause and could only call it "gu" — "gu" meaning worms in the belly — which, by a lucky accident, was exactly right.

This disease was extremely rare in the north, so the army's medical officers were also baffled by it.

Perhaps it was because the schistosomes had not yet spread widely and were concentrated only in places like Poyang and Taihu.

Heifu knew that the transmission vector was the oncomelania snail, but with his limited manpower, exterminating the snails was out of the question. He could only start by preventing secondary contamination of water sources from feces, to stop a larger-scale outbreak from breeding.

Thus, he built public latrines everywhere and strictly forbade anyone from relieving themselves wherever they pleased during the city's construction; all waste was piled together in one place for composting.

Furthermore, since the surrounding forest resources were abundant anyway, Heifu organized five hundred men specifically to chop firewood. This both cleared open land for cultivation and allowed them to boil large quantities of water daily for the soldiers to drink.

By being this careful, Heifu and his men safely made it through the summer. Among the two thousand city-building soldiers, only a few dozen showed similar symptoms, and all were properly isolated.

Fortunately, Heifu himself and his capable subordinates all remained free of the disease. However, many of Zhao Tuo's tower-ship marines did fall ill, but they were all isolated on Heifu's orders, and Zhao Tuo himself remained safe.

Although public latrines and drinking boiled water reduced the chance of infection, Heifu was at a complete loss as to how to cure it. Schistosomiasis was a "chronic disease," but the deaths it caused were still horrifying.

This was also the reason why, in this era, "the south is low and pestilent, and men die young." It was not because of the heat, nor even the so-called "miasma," but because rampant pestilent worms greatly lowered the average lifespan of southerners.

For now, all Heifu could do for the soldiers who had contracted the disease was to fulfill his human duties and leave the rest to fate.

"So, how did Zhao Tuo live past a hundred in the south?"

Heifu felt this was truly an unsolved mystery.

At the same time, he began to consider: "If the First Emperor later sends a great army south to conquer the Hundred Yue, this disease will be a huge problem. With soldiers plus settlers — hundreds of thousands pouring in — it will be very difficult to manage them as properly as we have these two thousand."

Thinking this, Heifu decided to write up his findings here in a document to be submitted to Jiujiang Commandery and Nan Commandery, then forwarded to Xianyang, requesting that medical officers be dispatched to study this disease. He also planned to suggest that Kuaiji Commandery adopt his measures to reduce the spread of the illness.

In the document, he adopted the locals' accidentally correct term and called this disease "water gu," possibly because "there are gu worms in the water that enter the human body and devour its five organs."

Heifu could hardly explain how he had discovered the transmission principle of schistosomiasis; he could only say he had stumbled upon it — that in places where public latrines were built and boiled water was drunk, this disease raged less fiercely.

"Although this illness hasn't dealt the Qin army a serious blow yet, and there's still no good way to treat it, this still counts as preparing for a rainy day."

After sealing the letter and handing it to Ji Ying, Heifu continued his mental fan-fiction: "I wonder, once he realizes the harm this disease can cause, will Qin Shi Huang wave his hand grandly and issue a great call to arms, like Chairman Mao's 'We must eliminate schistosomiasis'?"

PS: The earliest case of schistosomiasis in China was Xin Zhui from the Han tomb at Mawangdui, the wife of Li Cang, Chancellor to the King of Changsha. Quite a few schistosome eggs were found in her liver. In this novel's setting, Li Cang is Li Xian's son. If even a noblewoman living a life of ease and luxury could contract the disease, how much more so the common soldiers. One can suddenly understand why Sima Qian said that in Jiangnan, "men die young."

(End of chapter)