The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 570 - 291: Gold Medal Swineherd_3

Arthur waved his hand, "I believe the Royal Navy’s anti-smuggling fleet will definitely step up their efforts, so we don’t need to worry about that. Moreover, our trip to Liverpool isn’t mainly about smuggling; the real issue the Cabinet wants to address is to decrease the number of cases in Liverpool. They strictly tackle smuggling because they believe the cases are brought in through it. However, whether cholera is actually transmitted through the miasma on ships is still up for debate."

Louis replied, "But isn’t it safest to act according to the Cabinet’s rules before we understand the cause of the disease? As long as we strictly follow the Cabinet’s orders, even if something goes wrong later, it won’t be our responsibility."

"True, if we’re only aiming to cover ourselves, that is indeed the safest course. But that’s not what I’m thinking about, Louis. Actually, while you were out investigating during the day, I wasn’t idle either. Do you know what I was looking into?"

At this point, Arthur reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a map covered with small red dots.

Louis and the others crowded over to look, "What’s this?"

Arthur took out his pipe and said, "You came to the Police Intelligence Department later, so you don’t know what we used to do. The predecessor of the Police Intelligence Department was the London Temporary Measurement and Statistical Survey Bureau. Initially, the Home Secretary, Sir Peel, explicitly assigned us the task of measuring and gathering statistics on the narrow streets in the East district, to demonstrate the correlation between narrow streets and crimes such as assaulting police officers, so that later the Home Office could propose to Parliament the expansion and renovation of the streets in the East district."

Nevertheless, due to the Tory Party falling from power and the LPS being reorganized into the Police Intelligence Department, this issue was temporarily shelved. However, the topic might be shelved, but I still learned how to find correlations using maps. Since the cholera outbreak started early in Liverpool, it also provided substantial data for drafting cholera maps. Look at this map, can you deduce anything from it?"

Heine pondered a bit and spoke, "Most outbreaks occur in poor residential areas?"

Great Dumas also analyzed, "The red dots are quite dense, meaning once the disease breaks out, it affects a group. Could this confirm that the miasma theory is correct? Poor residential areas generally have worse environments, so once an area gets polluted by miasma, a large number of cases break out."

Louis scanned the map, furrowing his brows thoughtfully before suddenly pointing to a cluster of red dots around a blank area on the map and asking, "Why is this place unaffected? It’s also a poor district, there’s no reason the surrounding areas got polluted by miasma, but only this place is clean!"

Arthur responded with a smile, "I was also thinking about this issue, which is why I specifically made a trip there this afternoon. It turns out that place is a Potter beer factory, and the people living around there are mostly employees of the factory."

"Are you suggesting that beer can prevent the invasion of cholera?"

"How can that be?"

"That’s unheard of, what’s going on here?"

Arthur nodded, "I talked with the locals about their health status, and they told me that not all the breweries in Liverpool were so lucky, theirs was just an exception. When I asked what makes this brewery different from the others, they told me that the operator of this brewery is quite generous. As long as the employees don’t sell the brewery’s products outside, they can drink to their heart’s content and even take beer home in cups. Thus, the families of these brewery workers never drink water. Like medieval nobles, they only drink beer to quench their thirst and even use beer for cooking."

Upon hearing this, Great Dumas wondered, "If beer can prevent cholera, why then was Sunderland’s first case a sea captain? Sailors treat drinking like a vital part of life!"

Louis pondered, pinching his chin, "Could it be a matter of the type of beer? Maybe only Potter beer works?"

Heine spoke up, "If that’s the case, are you planning to notify the Liverpool Health Committee to distribute beer to the citizens for a few months? Although I don’t know if it will work, the brewery owners in Liverpool will definitely endorse your decision."

Arthur shook his head with a smile, "Heinrich, you hit the nail on the head. In Liverpool, prevention isn’t as much about being right as it is about making money for people. If I claim drinking can cure illness, all the liquor business operators will support me. However, their support alone is far from enough."

"Moreover, I think it might not be about drinking to cure illness; it’s more likely a problem with the water sources. Look at this map, the outbreaks almost invariably spread out from wells. If all these are coincidences, it would be too strange."

Upon hearing this, Heine widened his eyes, "It does seem like that’s the case."

Then, Great Dumas frowned, "Are you planning to seal off all the wells? But that seems no different from isolating merchant ships and is hardly popular."

"No, not just a problem with wells but also with the outdated drainage system," Arthur continued, "Everything here needs a major overhaul. Of course, the premise for the overhaul is that Liverpool can prove to Parliament that cholera is really caused by contaminated water sources."

Hearing this, Louis almost instantly thought of the document he had submitted to Arthur earlier that day, "Arthur, are you suggesting?"

Arthur nodded with a smile, "I’ve already transferred that document through personal connections; they’ll definitely send someone to explain the issues related to port expansion to me. However, I’m actually not planning to cause them trouble. On the contrary, I want to support another major project for them. But the establishment of the project is predicated on them listening to me."

Agares, lying on the windowsill, clicked his tongue in admiration, "You’re indeed the top swineherd from the York countryside, Arthur. You really know how to feed the little pigs! Now, without even asking, they will all come sniffing around the trough on their own."