Chapter 8, Two Aces

In fact, in the previous life, the United States Military Academy graduated two batches of cadets simultaneously in the years 1917 and 1918, due to the reason of the Great War advancing the schedule.

Penicillin is actually a type of antibiotic, referring to a class of antibiotics derived from the molecules contained in the culture fluid of Penicillium fungi. It contains penam, which can destroy the cell walls of bacteria and exert a bactericidal effect during the reproductive phase of bacterial cells. It is the first antibiotic capable of treating human diseases

It can be said that Wang Geng, regardless of his past or present life, possesses an extraordinary memory ability. Throughout history, among all genius-level outstanding students, the first notable trait is their memory capacity, followed by their logical reasoning skills. After the souls and bodies of the two Wang Gengs from past and present merge, the effect produced is greater than the sum of its parts.

Well, how can we, as special forces from the military district, get by without cigarettes? Wang Geng, suddenly hit by a craving for smoke, paced back and forth in the room. He intended to go out to buy some cigarettes but discovered that he had no money on him. His wallet and identification were neither under the pillow nor in the pockets of his clothes. Could it be that he lost them when he jumped into the water from the Brooklyn Bridge?

Sending a letter directly through the United States Postal Service to President Wilson? Most of these letters would be lost among the tens of thousands received daily by the presidential office, which is not advisable; time is more precious than anything else

Unable to think of a solution for the moment, this person had no choice but to wait for Kelly to return before asking. Sitting back at the desk, he held a CROSS brand pencil, turning it in his hand while recalling the details of the invention process of the powerful antibiotic penicillin.

On September 3, 1928, Fleming, who had just returned from a vacation, entered the laboratory. His former assistant, Prise, came to visit. During their conversation, Prise asked Fleming what he had been working on recently. As Fleming casually picked up the first culture medium from the top shelf to explain, he noticed a pale area at the edge of the medium, which had become clear due to bacterial lysis. This led to his discovery of penicillin

Based on the United States' reserve of scientific talent and the foundation of its medical industry, it is estimated that within three to six months, they could successfully produce the first batch of penicillin. The key lies in finding suitable partners and agents.

Penicillin is well-known to everyone, but how to cultivate and extract it is another matter. Even though Wang Geng has always prided himself on being a triple threat—a special forces operative, a graduate of the Army Command College, and the National Defense University—he is not from a medical background. Despite having a wide range of interests and an astonishingly strong memory, he has not acquired the level of knowledge necessary to discover and purify penicillin on his own.

This individual gradually came to the realization that the ideal of unifying the nation through the Beiyang government and defeating the old Russians and the little devils would likely still depend on conventional weapons such as airplanes, tanks, and artillery to achieve it, merely aiming to take fewer detours and striving to establish a complete military industrial system.

This fellow could only furrow his brow while biting the pencil tip, desperately trying to recall the vast amount of materials and articles he had read in his previous life. He certainly remembered the process of penicillin being discovered in 1928; Fleming was awarded a professorship due to his achievements in discovering lysozyme and other contributions. As a result, in his excitement, he went on vacation without cleaning the glassware used for the culture medium.

This individual hastily wrote down the details related to penicillin on another sheet of paper, and similarly sealed it in an envelope. This is a matter of great importance concerning the safety of all humanity, a formidable weapon. The selection of patent applications, research institutions, and development and production partners must be approached with utmost caution, and it is imperative to finalize everything before returning to one's home country

Given the current situation in China, the only feasible plan is to adopt a strategy of leveraging external resources. Talent, equipment, and instruments should first be cultivated and strengthened in the United States, and when the time is ripe, they can be brought back to produce domestically. Wang Geng gradually realized that, based on the scientific and technological conditions of the year 1917, it is utterly unrealistic for China, with its weak foundation, to develop weaponry or pharmaceuticals that are world-leading.

Well, I just don't believe we can't deal with the little devils and the old Russians! Wang Geng thought to himself, gritting his teeth

The war-hungry maniac MacArthur from a past life would eventually become the youngest superintendent of West Point, but that would not occur until after the end of World War I in 1919. Meanwhile, the future commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, Pershing, would this month be promoted from captain to brigadier general for leading troops in suppressing Mexican guerrillas, yet the influence of a division-level commander on the president at this moment can be considered negligible.

Utilizing the official channels of West Point? During his two years at West Point, the original figure Wang Geng can indeed be considered a prominent character, as West Point primarily recruits recent high school graduates. Of course, there are age restrictions, which range from 17 to 22 years old, and height must be between 1.69 meters and 1.98 meters

Wang Geng searched through the original owner's memories but could not find a suitable channel or candidate within West Point to convey this proposal. Although Wang Geng had always been an active advocate for the United States to enter the war as soon as possible, his identity as a foreign student of Asian descent made it easy for others to view his opinions with suspicion. Moreover, how could the pride and self-esteem of the President of the United States possibly regard the suggestions of a West Point cadet with yellow skin?

One of the key points in producing penicillin is to directly inform experts that the penicillin generated by this penicillium is the best antibiotic of this era. The second key point is to tell them that high-yield strains need to be comprehensively collected and cultivated from the soil, and that corn is the optimal medium for large-scale production. It seems that the yield is related to certain potassium or sodium salts

It is essential to bypass diplomats, the military, or interest groups, and submit one's proposal to Wilson's desk through an unexpected channel. Of course, if there is an opportunity to meet this compassionate yet iron-fisted president, it would be even better

Upon thinking of this, Wang Geng smiled silently. Naturally, the task of selecting and breeding high-yield strains should be left to medical professionals. Common strains of Penicillium are actually ubiquitous in daily life; the greenish mold that grows on decaying fruits, vegetables, and even bread is certainly indicative of the presence of Penicillium.

When all weapons can be produced independently, and all raw materials for books can be developed and refined on their own, coupled with a somewhat unreliable foresight into history, along with schemes and intrigues

What troubles Wang Geng is that in his previous life, he was a second-year graduate student in the Department of Military Strategy at the National Defense University, having come to the United States as part of a military exchange delegation. He never imagined in his previous life that there was such a thing as time travel, let alone that he would return to 1917 to rediscover penicillin

Walking over to open the wardrobe, I found that the clothes I wore yesterday while diving to save someone had been carefully washed, dried, and neatly ironed by the hospital staff, hanging in the wardrobe. Upon further reflection, I discovered that the original owner, Wang Geng, had not smoked or drunk alcohol during his time as a student.

Wang Geng racked his brains, unable to recall how penicillin was purified at the moment, but he managed to retrieve from the depths of his memory an obscure article about how to cultivate it. The selection and cultivation of penicillium strains are crucial. The yield of penicillin produced by natural penicillium is very low. The key is to find high-yield penicillium strains from different soils for cultivation, so that penicillin can be produced on a large scale for practical application

Wang Geng contemplated that penicillin would not be discovered until 1928 by the British bacteriologist Alexander Fleming. Subsequently, it was not until around 1941 that Howard Florey, a pathologist from the University of Oxford, and Ernst Boris Chain, a German biochemist, together achieved the separation and purification of penicillin and discovered its efficacy against infectious diseases. The fact that Fleming, Florey, and Chain jointly received the Nobel Prize in 1945 is a later development.

Wang Gengzuo was a government-sponsored student who graduated from Tsinghua School in 1911 and was sent to the United States. Before entering West Point, he had already graduated from the Department of Literature at Princeton University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, allowing him to directly advance to the second year at West Point. He was originally scheduled to graduate next year, but due to the war, West Point accelerated the graduation of both the third and fourth-year students this year.

The diplomat represents his own government in lobbying the President of the United States, but the effectiveness is bound to be significantly diminished. The eyes of the entire world are fixed upon each other, and any good or bad suggestion, in the face of domestic and international forces opposing U.S. involvement in the war, will surely be seen as having ulterior motives, aimed at dragging the United States into the conflict. Therefore, this letter of suggestion must not be submitted to Wilson through official or formal channels.

After Wang Geng completed this letter of suggestion to President Wilson of the United States, he found himself in a dilemma. Clearly, it could not be delivered through the diplomatic channel of Gu Weijun, the Chinese envoy to the United States. At that moment, any diplomatic envoy from any country operating in Washington would certainly be representing their own government.

The U.S. military and defense contractors are indeed active proponents of urging the United States to enter the war, but ultimately, it is Congress that makes the final decision. The President is the one who can submit a request to Congress for military engagement. Besides Wilson himself, the opinions of his cabinet also hold considerable influence over him; however, the military's influence within the cabinet has always been minimal.

Wang Geng was momentarily at a loss, so he simply found an envelope to put the proposal in and set it aside. Seeing that Nurse Kelly and the newspapers he needed to collect were both silent, he instinctively got up to reach for a cigarette in his pocket, only to be taken aback; dressed in a hospital gown, his pockets were completely empty