Greece’s Roman Road

Chapter 16: Costerbloom

Constantine observed the grass in his hands and remembered the scene of his meeting with Stanley before.

At that time, Stanley complained that Europeans in southern Africa were not adapted to the local climate, and people often got sick, such as malaria, dysentery and other diseases are very common.

When it was Constantine, he also thought that although cinchona bark can treat malaria, the side effects are very serious. Unfortunately, artemisinin was only invented after World War II.

Thinking of this, I took a look at the green grass in my hand again, I was ecstatic, I finally understood the source of the familiarity, isn't this Artemisia annua?

In the previous life, Huaxia won a Nobel Prize for the invention of artemisinin. At that time, the media public opinion was in a climax, and the significance of artemisinin was reported in turn.

At that time, out of curiosity, I personally searched for some pictures of Artemisia annua on the Internet to watch. When talking with Stanley, I remembered Artemisia annua, so I felt familiar when I saw Artemisia annua here.

Constantine kicked a carp, stood up from the blanket, walked quickly to Nina, and asked eagerly, "Where did you get this grass?"

As he spoke, he handed the half-branch of Artemisia annua in his hand to Nina.

Nina didn't understand the situation for a while, and asked in confusion, "What grass?"

Constantine shook the half-branch of Artemisia annua in his hand and said, "It's the grass in my hand, where did you get it from?"

Although the doubtful Nina was full of doubts, she only saw Constantine's firm attitude, so she took Constantine to a small river not far from the rest camp, pointed to the beach and said, "That's it."

Constantine quickly walked closer to check, and sure enough, the large green weeds on the beach were not Artemisia annua?

Constantine was overjoyed, this was an unexpected prey!

In his previous life, Constantine also deliberately checked the information on artemisinin. He remembered that a single medicine can directly treat malaria. The prescription recorded by Ge Hong more than 1,000 years ago: a grasp of artemisinin, soaked in two liters of water, Squeeze the juice and take it.

To put it bluntly, this is the thing to treat malaria, just soak it in water, squeeze out the juice and take it.

Malaria is a disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite, which can be transmitted by mosquitoes.

This disease spread very widely before the advent of the special drug quinine.

For example, in ancient China, books describe the land of Lingnan as "the land of miasma".

"Jiangnan is poor and wet, and her husband died early." This is a phrase describing Jiangnan.

Needless to say, the reason for this claim is almost certainly due to the role of malaria.

The disease once protected the African interior from European invasion and became a stumbling block for European colonists.

The landmark meeting for Europeans to carve up Africa was the Berlin Conference in 1884, which officially opened the horn for the European colonial powers to carve up Africa.

For example, Germany got German East Africa (Tanzania) and Namibia after this meeting, and sent officials to the colonies to maintain its rule.

Seeing this, people will be very puzzled, why is it so late?

You must know that the era of great voyages began around 1500. After that, the Portuguese and Spaniards occupied colonies all over the world. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Britain and France occupied large tracts of colonies such as India and North America.

So why did European talents start to carve up Africa in 1884? After all, is there any other place in the world that is as close to Europe as Africa?

For example, the Americas, whether in South America or North America, have a large number of descendants of Europeans, but in southern Africa there are very few descendants of Europeans, and only South Africa and Namibia have a small number of white Europeans living.

The answer is malaria.

A popular remedy for malaria is quinine, which is extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree.

At first, some missionaries saw that the indigenous people used cinchona bark to treat pendulum (malaria), and they also imitated them to eat cinchona bark, which was later confirmed to be effective.

It is precisely because of the emergence of quinine that it became possible for Europe to divide Africa.

It's just that the cinchona tree has strict requirements on the growth environment and can only be grown in subtropical regions. In terms of materials, it is definitely not as convenient as the widely distributed Artemisia annua.

Of course, Constantine still has a long way to go if he wants to make money by selling it as a drug.

Not to mention, if Constantine shouted loudly that Artemisia annua could cure malaria, everyone would definitely not be stingy with praise, and they would sincerely praise the good news that Constantine's discovery brought to patients.

As for making money, just think about it. After that, it has nothing to do with Constantine.

Countries like Britain, France, Germany and the United States really don't care much about the patent rights of a little Greek prince.

In the face of huge profits, there is nothing wrong with infringing on someone else's patent.

Accidentally discovered a medicinal material, which made Constantine less interested in hunting afterward.

The guests invited by Constantine had their own harvests in the subsequent hunting activities. Seeing that the host, Constantine, had changed his enthusiasm in the morning and lacked interest, naturally he would not reluctantly end the hunting activities in a hurry.

 

Costebro, who hurried back home from the hunting activities in the Tatoi Palace, walked into the living room full of exhaustion, took off his tight hunting clothes, and sat relaxed on the sofa.

Perhaps the servant forgot to light the candle, Costerbloom, who was sitting on the sofa, thought that the light in the room was dim.

"How about it?"

The sudden voice surprised Costerbloom, squinting his eyes to adjust to the darkness in the living room, and after a while, he arrived at the position facing the garden in the living room. On a chair, a middle-aged man was lying. It was his father, the founder of Alpha Bank, Jon.

"Oh, today's hunting was okay, did I hit a deer?" Costerbloom thought his father was asking about his hunting performance.

"I'm talking about which prince, how is it, is it worth the effort to make friends?" Father asked.

If you want to be a successful banker, how can you succeed if you can't make friends widely?

Not only to make friends, but also to make friends with vast energy.

Thinking of his father's teachings in the past, Costerbloom recalled the performance of Prince Constantine during the day.

"He's a very shrewd person, just a little whimsical," Costebro said when he thought of the African plan.

"But I still listened to your wishes, father, and expressed kindness," Costebro replied.

"Did he make any request today?"

"No"

"Do you think his African plan has any chance of success?" Costerbloom felt his father questioning himself.

"An unrealistic idea," Costeblu replied.

"I heard that the prince has mobilized the Royal Guard, do you understand?" Jon asked.

After meeting with Stanley, Constantine just informed the Guards that there would be a task for them in the near future to prepare them.

"If you want to inherit the family business in the future, you'd better be better informed." Jon frowned and looked at Costerbloom.

"What do you think the prince mobilized the guards, but the king didn't stop it?" Jon continued to ask.

Costerblue was already sweating on his forehead. He racked his brains and didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of his father, but he really couldn't think of a reasonable reason.

"I don't know if you are really stupid or lacking experience, hey." Jon was a little disappointed when he saw his son's questioning and ignorance.

"His Majesty the King didn't stop it, that shows his attitude, he supports it," Jon said earnestly and guided.

"Yes, the king supports it," said Costerbloom.

Then I think that His Majesty the King has been in power for about 20 years, and his political ability is not bad.

If he supports it, it means that Constantine's plan is indeed possible.

Looking at Costebro who suddenly realized, Jon nodded.

"Tomorrow, you will go to the Tatoi Palace to contact Constantine and get him a check for £500,000, saying that the Costerblo family supports his African plan."

Hearing the huge figure of £500,000, Costerbloom was taken aback and looked at his father in disbelief.

"Well, then we spend 500,000 pounds, what's the requirement?", Kestelbrough said.

"You don't need to say anything. Prince Constantine naturally understands. Even if he doesn't understand, His Majesty the King will understand. That's enough."

After saying these words, Jon seems to have lost interest in continuing the conversation, and the room has returned to silence.

Only Costerbloom was still carefully pondering what his father had just said.

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