Chapter 782: Black Death |
Prime Minister Gladstone asked urgently, “Has the matter been thoroughly investigated? Is there any possibility of shifting the blame onto the Anti-Ottoman Coalition?”
Facing the enemy’s smear campaign, the British government naturally would not sit idly by. The reason they had not launched an immediate counterattack was that the incident happened too suddenly, leaving them completely unprepared.
Foreign Secretary George shook his head. “We have already sent experts to conduct an on-site investigation. Based on the timeline, there is indeed suspicion that someone within the Ottoman Empire deliberately created the plague.
Given the facts, we cannot defend the Ottomans. Russia and Austria are pressing the international joint investigation team for a conclusion, and it is expected that tomorrow’s newspapers in London will publish a definitive verdict.”
The British government had no power to influence the outcome of the international investigation. It was simply impossible to distort the truth in front of the Anti-Ottoman Coalition.
The notorious reputation of the ‘Black Death’ was overwhelming. Even the mere suspicion of its return was enough to incite widespread fear.
At present, the European nations were counting on Russia and Austria’s effective epidemic prevention measures to contain the virus in the Near East, preventing it from spreading to their own territories.
Public opinion would inevitably side with them, as no one cared whether the Ottoman government had been forced into such actions. The European world was absolutely united in resisting such crimes against humanity.
The brutal reality shattered Gladstone’s last hope. This time, the Ottoman government had dragged them into disaster. The British government’s material support for the Ottomans would inevitably draw the anger of the European public.
Whether the virus that was created was actually the “Black Death” was not important. What mattered was that the British government’s support for the Ottoman Empire had prolonged the Ottoman government’s resistance, which in turn created the conditions for the development of a man-made virus.
People would only say: Without the supplies provided by the British, the Near East War would have ended months earlier. If Ankara had fallen sooner, the Russian army would have been able to prevent the Ottoman government from committing such atrocities.
Gladstone knew that something had to be done immediately, otherwise, the situation could spiral out of control.
“Immediately organize a medical volunteer team and send them to the Near East to contain the epidemic. Also, procure a batch of supplies in the name of the government and send them over.
Have the Foreign Office reach out to the Austrians and let them know that the Royal Navy is willing to deploy a fleet to assist in blockading the Near East, demonstrating our commitment to fighting the epidemic.”
After a brief hesitation, Gladstone added, “Arrest all Ottoman exiles in our country on suspicion of creating the Black Death regardless of their status or rank.”
Now that the facts were clear, Gladstone saw no reason to show leniency to the Ottomans, who had dragged them into this disaster.
This was not a matter of a subordinate and a superior but of humanity versus an inhumane enemy. With the “Black Death” involved, no one dared to take the situation lightly.
Foreign Secretary George reminded him, “Prime Minister, the medical community has yet to confirm whether this is actually the Black Death, it is still under suspicion.”
Gladstone waved his hand dismissively. “That doesn’t matter. The fact remains that the Ottoman government deliberately created an epidemic.
What we need now is a clear stance. In a few days, the whole of Europe will rise in a wave of anti-Ottoman sentiment, and we must ensure we are not caught in it.
The Treasury must settle the accounts quickly. The ones who supplied the Ottomans with resources were evil capitalists and it had nothing to do with the government. We have never had any ties to the Ottomans.”
From now on, the British government would be at the forefront of the fight against the epidemic. Any claims of collusion with the Ottoman Empire were simply nonexistent.
Providing supplies to the Ottomans? Utter nonsense. Those supplies were clearly intended for export to Persia. Ever since the Anti-Ottoman Coalition imposed a naval blockade on the Near Eastern coastline, all Anglo-Ottoman trade had ceased.
If the supplies ended up in the Ottoman Empire, it was only because unscrupulous merchants, driven by greed, sold them for enormous profits.
And who exactly was responsible for this?
That was a question for the Persian government. The supplies had flowed through Persia, and the British government had nothing to do with it.
…
Watching the British put on such a brilliant performance, Franz almost wanted to say: You’re overthinking this. Right now, everyone is busy controlling the plague, who has time for pointless bickering?
These baseless accusations would do little more than cause some minor trouble for the British government and slightly tarnish its international reputation. Beyond that, they were powerless.
If one truly wished to bring down Britain, mere rumors and slander would never be enough.
The world was never short of intelligent people, and anyone thinking rationally would see that the so-called British conspiracy simply did not hold up.
The real reason was simple: the plague was uncontrollable. When it claimed lives, it made no distinction between friend and foe, rich and poor.
If the rest of Europe suffered, Britain would not be spared either.
The current international situation, while somewhat unfavorable for the British, was only a minor inconvenience and not serious enough to warrant mutual destruction.
If the plague truly spiraled out of control, the Russians would likely suffer the least. One advantage of living in a land of ice and snow was that the cold slowed both the growth and spread of the virus.
For reference, just think of a little mouse freezing to death halfway across the street.
When the Black Death ravaged continental Europe in the past, the Russian Empire lost 200,000 lives. However, compared to the 25 million deaths across the rest of Europe, where one in every three people perished, the Russian losses were insignificant.
If someone truly wanted to frame the British, Austria would have to mediate the conflicts among European nations and offer enough benefits to convince everyone that Britain was responsible.
That was far more difficult than simply getting people to lie with their eyes open. Resolving inter-European conflicts and providing sufficient incentives were both beyond Franz’s capabilities.
Since Britain could not be crushed outright, it was better to avoid taking direct action. Instead, the best approach was to keep the British government preoccupied and force them to cooperate in controlling the epidemic.
The devastating reputation of the plague was well-earned.
Even though the Austrian government had implemented the strictest containment measures, the epidemic still found its way in. The first to be affected were Austrian soldiers stationed in the Near East.
From the moment the first infected soldier was discovered, the number of cases surged to 300 within just one week. By the following week, that number had grown to 2,000.
This happened despite immediate quarantine measures and the widespread use of rat poison around the military camps. Without these precautions, the number of infected would have been far higher.
Minister of War Artur Maximilian von Bylandt-Rheidt said, “This plague is highly contagious, though our number of infections is still relatively low.
The Russian army, which was the first to detect the outbreak, has already reported 35,000 infections. That is just the confirmed cases, and the actual number is likely even higher.
The plague spreads rapidly and has an alarming fatality rate. Most infected individuals die within a week of showing symptoms. Even those who survive the initial illness are not completely safe, as relapses are possible.
The symptoms are not much different from an ordinary epidemic, mainly nausea, vomiting, and fever.
Since the outbreak has only just begun on our side, we have not yet determined the mortality rate. However, Russian military reports indicate that 13.2% of their infected soldiers have died.
Currently, there is no particularly effective treatment. Even the best antibiotics can only lower the fatality rate, and there is no guarantee of success.
The Ministry of War has already ordered all units to disperse and station themselves at the battalion level to reduce the risk of infection as much as possible.”
The 13.2% fatality rate immediately weighed heavily on Franz’s mind.
Even though this statistic reflected cases that had not received effective treatment, it was still alarmingly high.
One had to remember that Russian soldiers were young and strong, with the highest levels of resistance. If the disease spread among the elderly, weak, and sickly, the death rate would likely be even more devastating.
After a brief moment of thought, Franz spoke slowly, “Publicize this mortality rate, and do not hesitate to embellish it. Exaggerate the lethality of the plague, especially for vulnerable age groups.
Send formal notices to European countries informing them that we have identified rats as the primary carriers of the Black Death.
To contain its spread, we plan to launch a large-scale rat extermination campaign in the Near East and will require at least 400,000 tons of rodent poison.”
There was no doubt that even if this disease was not officially recognized as the Black Death, they would insist that it was.
Only by spreading fear could they push European nations to ramp up the production of rat poison and fully invest their resources in the fight against the epidemic.
…
Saint Petersburg
As the biggest victim of this plague, Alexander III was now on the verge of tears.
Had he known in advance that an outbreak would occur in the Near East, he would have ordered… Well, it didn’t matter. Leaving was not an option. The empire still needed to make money by obtaining guilders.
Without a doubt, in an attempt to avoid responsibility, the Russian military leadership deliberately concealed the early infection numbers. According to official records, when the outbreak was first detected, only 28 Russian soldiers were reported as infected.
Of course, this cover-up was only a temporary measure. Later, as the situation worsened, they had no choice but to adjust the numbers. Since the Austrians were already calling it the Black Death, the Russian military command decided to follow suit.
If it was the Black Death, then a high infection rate and a high mortality rate were only natural. That way, no one could blame them for negligence.
By the time the doctored statistics reached Alexander III, the severity of the crisis had escalated dramatically.
The reported timeline of the outbreak had been cut in half to make it seem like the situation had developed much more rapidly.
In just over twenty days, the official numbers showed that over 3,000 Russian soldiers had died from the plague, while more than 50,000 had been infected.
Anyone who saw such figures would be terrified.
What was even more alarming was that, due to the movement of displaced civilians, the disease was very likely spreading into Russia itself.
At this point, Alexander III could only hope that Siberia was cold enough to freeze the virus to death.
If the plague reached the western regions of the empire, the consequences would be catastrophic.
“What do the Austrians have to say about this? We are resettling their migrants for them, surely the Austrian government must give us some kind of response?”
Foreign Minister Nikolay Girs replied, “The Austrian government has informed us about the progress of their virus research. They have already found a way to reduce the fatality rate among infected individuals.
The Austrian Royal Academy of Sciences has developed an antibiotic that can suppress the virus to some extent.
They are now ramping up production, and the Austrian government has promised to provide us with 20,000 doses within the next month.”
Alexander III frowned, clearly dissatisfied. “Only that much? How is that supposed to be enough? Can’t the Austrians provide more? If necessary, we are even willing to pay for it!”
Nikolay Girs explained, “Your Majesty, this drug cannot yet be mass-produced industrially. It can only be manually synthesized in laboratories.
The output is extremely low and has always been in short supply. In fact, its price is even higher than gold of the same weight.
Getting 20,000 doses is already a significant amount.
In reality, our own laboratories have also received the patent authorization, but unfortunately, the production process is too complex. We can only produce a little over 1,000 doses per month.”
The technology for producing penicillin in laboratories was not particularly difficult, but once the product entered the market, it was only a matter of time before others figured out how to replicate it.
To maximize profits, Franz had initiated patent licensing several years earlier, establishing a monopoly alliance in the process.
Only influential figures from various countries were granted licenses, and after acquiring the technology, they became part of the group protecting the patent.
Following the principle of scarcity increasing value, everyone tacitly exaggerated the technical difficulty and deliberately limited production capacity.
Of course, the Russian Empire might not have been intentionally restricting production. While the process sounded simple in theory, actually producing qualified products in a laboratory was not something just anyone could accomplish.
Generally, this task fell to engineering and science students with strong hands-on skills, a type of talent the Russian Empire severely lacked.
The Austrian government’s promise to provide 20,000 doses did not mean all of them were manually produced. If that were the case, giving everything to Russia would have meant Austria had none left for itself.
The inability to industrialize production was a thing of the past. Over the years, scientific advancements have significantly improved.
Austria had already achieved mechanized production, though the products had flaws—a high defect rate and reduced efficacy.
To maintain the high price of the drug, the fact that it was being mass-produced was strictly kept secret.
Even if someone noticed the reduced potency, they would assume it was due to human error in the production process.
Since even industry insiders were unaware of this information, outsiders had no chance of knowing. Upon hearing this explanation, Alexander III was deeply moved.
***
https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)