Chapter 368: The Queen is Reluctant to Return to the Palace]

There were still many soldiers besieging the city outside. They were not seriously injured by the previous heavenly fire and were left behind by General Xu to guard the city gate.

Now seeing the people in the city breaking open the city gate and rushing out, they were so scared that they quickly retreated!

I heard that there is a plague spreading in the city and corpses are everywhere.

These people are carrying germs. If they are infected, they will die!

"You...you guys don't come over here! Otherwise...don't...don't blame us for shooting arrows!"

"Don't come over here! You all have the plague, and I...I don't want to die!"

Those who had achieved great success in the city, such as Han Juren and Xiucai, hurried forward and said, "Don't panic! A sign of good fortune has appeared in Youzhou City. The plague in Youzhou has been lifted..."

As he spoke, he explained the contents of the yellow silk once more. Finally, he added, "Look, if we had the plague, how could we be so energetic? This is all arranged by Heaven. Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess has used her miraculous magic to heal us all!"

The highest-ranking lieutenant among the soldiers left besieging the city said coldly, "Don't use such nonsense! It is indeed heavenly fire, but it is clearly an evil fire, meant to punish the plague patients in Youzhou City! What auspicious fire? I advise you to retreat quickly, otherwise don't blame me for ordering your execution... Ugh!"

As the deputy general was speaking, he suddenly vomited obscenities and fell to the ground!

Seeing this, the other soldiers rushed over to check: "Lieutenant General Li! What's wrong with you..."

Suddenly, a soldier stepped back in fear and fell to the ground. He pointed at Lieutenant General Li with a trembling hand and said in horror, "Those... those are black spots on Lieutenant General Li's body?"

When everyone heard this, their faces turned pale in an instant!

Although they had never seen what patients infected with the plague looked like, they had heard that patients infected with the plague in the city would have black spots on their bodies!

“Plague…Plague…It’s…It’s…The Plague!”

"The plague has spread outside the city!"

"No wonder so many soldiers have been coughing and having fevers these past few days. Could it be... that they've all... been infected with the plague?"

"Help... Help! I don't want to die!"

"Anyone infected with the plague will surely die! What should I do? I was just standing next to Lieutenant General Li..."

The people pouring out of the city gates were all panicked upon seeing this. "What...what's going on? Weren't they saying the plague had been lifted? Why is it appearing outside the city again...?!"

As the primary interpreter, Han Juren was naturally responsible for patching up the loopholes. He forced himself to calm down and said, "Everyone...everyone, don't panic! The omen is correct! The yellow silk only says that the plague in Youzhou City has been eradicated, not the ones outside. Besides, these soldiers outside the city are stubborn and want to trap us to death, which is not a big deal. They also want to trap the Empress, the Crown Princess, and the Ninth Prince to death! This is what angered the heavens!"

When everyone heard this, it seemed to be true, and they all nodded: "That must be the case!"

"What should we do now? The plague in our city has finally been cured, but we can't let it spread again..."

At this time, Chen Fenghe walked out of the crowd and walked towards Deputy General Li who suddenly fell ill.

She naturally knew that this plague was not caused by God's anger or anything like that.

The plague in the city started because someone was bitten by a rat.

It can be seen that the rats in the city are carrying the virus.

There was only a wall separating the city and the outside world. The city was short of food, and the rats in the city were so hungry that they ran outside the city, which led to the people outside the city being infected with the plague.

Seeing this, Qin Mengyue subconsciously grabbed her: "Feng He..."

Chen Fenghe smiled at her and said, "Mom, it's okay."

Having said that, he continued walking forward.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and when they realized what she was going to do, they couldn't help but become anxious.

"Your Highness the Crown Princess! No way!"

"That's a plague!"

Xiao Yunshuo stood in the crowd, his dark eyes flashed with worry and panic for a moment, but he still forced himself to endure it.

Chen Fenghe casually tore off her sleeves and covered her mouth and nose with them. She continued, "Can someone please go to the city and get me some medicine? This plague is spreading very quickly. Although Youzhou City is safe now, if we ignore it and only care about ourselves, the entire Dayu will suffer... Therefore, I hope you can help me treat the patients outside the city!"

After hearing this, although everyone was still frightened, they nodded and said, "Your Highness, your Highness is right! I'll go get the medicine!"

"Our lives were saved by the Crown Princess. Now, naturally, we should sacrifice our lives for the gentleman... No, it should be to help the queen! I'll go help boil the medicine!"

Soon the medicine was brought out from the city.

In addition to Chen Fenghe, many other people also bravely came out and brought medicine to help.

Xiao Yunshuo also came out.

Seeing this, Chen Fenghe turned around and looked at him, as if wanting to stop him.

Xiao Yunshuo shook his head and told her with his eyes that he was worried about her.

Chen Fenghe did not stop him and walked towards the soldiers.

The besieging soldiers outside the city, who were terrified of the plague, looked at each other in surprise when they saw the people coming out of Youzhou City and the patients infected with the plague. Not only did they not run away, but they even came to help treat them.

"Could it be that... the plague in the city has really been cured?"

"That fire... is it really the Auspicious Fire?"

"Oh! Forget about it! Now that Lieutenant General Li is like this, I'm afraid we can't escape. We can only try our best and trust the people in the city!"

When the soldiers heard this, they all agreed.

Before Chen Fenghe even approached, they had already fallen to their knees, shouting, "Please, Crown Princess, save our lives!"

Chen Fenghe and the others injected streptomycin into Lieutenant General Li and other patients who showed symptoms, fed them medicinal soup, and disinfected them with wood ash and strong alcohol. They built a temporary isolation area and isolated the critically ill patients there...

The soldiers outside the city saw that the people inside were moving quickly and full of energy. Where were the signs of sick people?

Now I completely believe it.

Someone quickly reported the matter to General Xu.

Upon seeing this, General Xu did not dare to go against the will of the army and order the soldiers besieging the city to massacre the people who had saved them, even though the Second and Sixth Princes had sent several secret letters urging him to do so.

And within these short ten days, similar "omens" as those in Youzhou City appeared in various prefectures of Dayu one after another. Those words quickly spread throughout Dayu through nursery rhymes and word of mouth!

Seeing that he could not complete the orders of the Second and Sixth Princes, General Xu had no choice but to go with the flow and use the excuse of auspicious fire from heaven to cure the plague to cover up his failure.

In addition, with the memorial submitted by Lord Xie and others in the court, the crisis in Youzhou City was finally averted.

But some people in Beijing were not so happy.

The second prince and the sixth prince were both a little depressed.

In Concubine Zhao's palace.

"Hmph! I didn't expect the Queen and the Ninth Prince to be so lucky. Even the plague couldn't kill them or trap them to death!" Concubine Zhao was so angry that her heart ached.

She didn't want the Queen and the Ninth Prince to return to the palace at all.

Even though the queen had been demoted to a concubine.

The Second Prince was also a little upset. He didn't want the Crown Princess to die, but he really wanted the Queen and the Ninth Prince to die quickly.

"Who says it isn't? But... I heard that the Queen's appearance was completely destroyed by the plague. Perhaps... the Emperor will change his mind and not summon the Queen... No, it should be said that Concubine Meng has returned to the palace..."

Concubine Zhao sneered and said, "The imperial edict has already been issued. How can the emperor revoke it just because Concubine Meng has ruined her appearance? Wouldn't that be child's play? Moreover, I'm afraid those old men in the court won't let it go... However, fortunately, her appearance is already ruined. Even if she destroys the palace, she can't deceive the emperor. Humph! Just wait and see how I deal with her in the future. Make her come back regretting it!"

Emperor Yucheng was also very unhappy.

He was already very generous in "pardoning" the prince's crime of treason. However, unexpectedly, some "divine signs" appeared across the country, causing court officials such as Xie Taifu, who were seeking fame and reputation, to once again propose to exonerate the prince.

Others argued that the crown prince was innocent and the queen's dethronement was a mistake, and suggested that the queen's position should be restored instead of just being made a concubine.

Doesn't this mean that he, the emperor, was wrong in deposing the queen and ordering her exile?

This is intolerable!

In other words, he did not want to be branded as the one who killed the censor, so he suppressed his anger and did not execute him immediately.

"I'm tired today, let's talk about it later."

After saying this, Emperor Yucheng turned away in displeasure.

At the morning court the next day, someone brought up the old matter again: "Your Majesty, the Empress and the Ninth Prince are now in Youzhou City, and the auspicious signs also occurred in Youzhou City. This shows that the Crown Prince has been wronged. Justice is clear. I beg Your Majesty to rectify the situation and immediately issue an edict to restore the Empress to her position and welcome her back to the palace..."

Emperor Yucheng was so angry that his face turned blue. He was about to order the execution of this tactless person when Lord Zhou, the Minister of Justice, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the governor of Hejian Prefecture has come to the capital to report on the plague in Youzhou. He just arrived late last night. Your Majesty, please listen to Lord Chen's report first, and then make a decision."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Yucheng looked at Lord Zhou with approval and said, "Is that true? Then we'll see for ourselves."

At that moment, the eunuch was asked to call in Lord Chen.

Lord Chen first explained in detail that the plague in Hejian Prefecture had been lifted, and then he said, "Your Majesty, I had originally intended to escort Concubine Meng and the Ninth Prince back to the capital in accordance with the imperial decree. However, Concubine Meng said that her face had been completely disfigured by the plague, and she was afraid to return and disturb Your Majesty, so she refused to accompany me. Concubine Meng gave me a handwritten letter and asked me to take it to the palace to present it to Your Majesty personally."

Emperor Yucheng felt a little better when he heard that Qin Mengyue did not come back with him.

He asked the eunuch to present the letter for inspection.

The contents of the letter were similar to what Lord Chen had said: her appearance was utterly ruined, and she dared not even dream of returning to the palace to regain her status as a concubine. She begged the Emperor to revoke the imperial decree appointing her as the Dream Concubine, and to allow her to remain an ordinary village woman in her exile. As for the Ninth Prince, he was still young and lacked the Crown Prince's ability to govern the country. She begged the Emperor to allow her to keep him by her side. If the Emperor did not allow, she would have no choice but to commit suicide, lest her ugly appearance disturb the Emperor upon his return.

After seeing this, Emperor Yucheng's gloomy expression brightened considerably.

He pondered for a moment, handed the secret letter to the eunuch and asked him to read it aloud.

When the ministers in the court heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other.

This... The Queen's letter must have mentioned a lot of matters concerning the boudoir. How could it be read in the court?

The eunuch did not dare to question it and read it out in public.

Fortunately, there was no gossip.

After the eunuch finished reading, Emperor Yucheng said with a heavy voice, "I'm sure you all have heard. The Empress's appearance has been ruined by this terrible illness. If I force her to return to the capital, she will commit suicide to apologize to the world. Do you all wish to see the Empress forced to death by me and your families?"

After Emperor Yu Cheng finished speaking, the image of Qin Mengyue when she was young appeared in his cold eyes.

Thinking of her saying that her appearance was ruined, my heart couldn't help but feel a little painful.

However, this feeling quickly passed.

When he issued the decree, he really wanted to bring her back.

But times have changed.

He could restore her status and make her the Dream Concubine. After returning to the palace, it was possible that he could restore her position as queen in the future.

But the premise is that he gave it.

Now, the entire court is using your so-called "divine signs" to force him to submit. Clearly... the Crown Prince is already dead, yet they're still opposing him. How can he not be angry?

If he compromised this time, welcomed the queen back to the palace and restored her position as queen, it would be a disguised acknowledgement of the prince's innocence and justice. He, the emperor, would become a stepping stone for the late emperor to pass the throne to the prince.

He is an incompetent emperor who obtained the throne for nothing!

This matter has been a thorn in his side for many years.

So, when the queen's face was disfigured and she asked not to return to the palace, he was happy to go along with it and agreed.

After hearing what Emperor Yucheng said, the ministers in the court didn't know what to say for a moment.

If they continued to make desperate appeals, and if the queen really committed suicide as the letter said, they would be charged with forcing the queen to death!

Seeing the opportunity, the Second Prince and the Sixth Prince quickly seized it and said that since the Queen was like this, they must not force her too much and that it would be better to take a long-term view. Naturally, they were unwilling to let the Queen and the Ninth Prince return to the palace, both openly and secretly.

The emperor's mood calmed down a lot. He said, "Pass the decree down. The queen is determined. I really can't bear to force her. I will grant her a thousand taels of silver and a thousand pieces of silk and satin to send to Youzhou!"

Youzhou.

After the plague was over, Chen Fenghe and Qin Mengyue took Xiao Yunhao, Shen Yichuan, and Shen Qingxing back to Shili Village.

Qin Mengyue was restless and asked worriedly, "Feng He, are you sure that after the emperor reads that letter, he will revoke the imperial decree to bring me back to the palace? If he embarrasses us again by charging me with disobeying the emperor's order..."

The contents of the letter were naturally all suggested by Shen Fenghe.

Chen Fenghe smiled and said, "Mother, you should relax. After what happened in Youzhou City, the whole world knows that the Crown Prince was wrongly accused, and that you, the Queen, were also wrongly deposed. I'm afraid the Emperor has already changed his mind and is unwilling to take you back to the palace."