On the other side, after crossing the Ru River and reaching the west of the Luo River, Li Qing had a boatload of soldiers who rescued a sick family on a raft. Two days later, soldiers began to show the same symptoms.

Li Qing's mind was immediately filled with a whirlwind of thoughts. He hurriedly ordered his troops to stop on a high mountain to rest and see what was going on.

At this point, they were not far from the mountains south of the capital, only about two hundred li away, which was only half a day's journey.

"General, those infected soldiers have swollen and painful faces, are coughing and wheezing incessantly, and some even have high fevers," the returning man said anxiously.

Li Qing's unease grew; had the thing she had been worried about come true?

"Quickly, send our medic to check on them, but keep your distance. People on that ship must not go to other ships!"

"yes!"

Just as he finished giving his instructions, his scout returned and reported, "General, a plague has broken out in Chenzhou. Refugees are heading towards the capital, while others are going to Yuzhou and other places."

Li Qing clenched his fist. "Just as I thought!" He said to Fu Yun beside him, "Pass down the order: only the water stored on the ship is allowed to be drunk; no one is allowed to drink from outside."

Fu Yun said worriedly, "But General, we won't have enough water on our boat for more than a few days."

Li Qing frowned; this was a problem.

At this moment, another scout came to report, "General, the Prince of Jiangning has sent an envoy to request an audience."

"Hmph, this Prince of Jiangning is really well-informed. I still have two hundred li to go before I reach the capital." Li Qing suddenly realized something. "Well, this man is so cunning."

When an epidemic breaks out, not only medicine becomes a problem, but water also becomes a problem.

"Let him in and see what he has to say." Li Qing's eyes were dark and brooding.

The messenger casually cut to the chase: "General, the prince knows that you have a misunderstanding about him and want to march into Zhongnan Mountain."

“There is no misunderstanding.” Li Qing’s expression was cold.

"Hehe, the prince said that General Li was not harmed by him. It was entirely because His Majesty was afraid of the Li family army and did not want you to return. Now that His Majesty is seriously ill, he has been appointed as the Crown Prince and regent. If the general is willing to surrender, he can hand His Majesty over to you to deal with."

Li Qing laughed loudly, "Your prince has a good plan. I'll deal with him? I'll be the sinner, and he'll get the glory. Once he becomes emperor, he can punish me with another charge."

The envoy paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "General, you are overthinking it. The prince said that if you submit to him, he will appoint you as the Grand General Protector of the Nation, bringing glory to the entire Li family."

Seeing that his expression was still contemptuous, the envoy continued, "General Li and his son love the people like their own children. I just saw that some of your soldiers on your ship have been infected with the plague, and others may have been infected as well. Putting aside whether you have medicine and clean water, if you continue to fight your way up the mountain, you will infect all the people on the mountain. Can you bear to do that?"

Li Qing was shocked and wanted to punch him. "So it really was Chu Yunji's doing? He disregarded the people of the world for that position. There are only a few people left."

The envoy looked quite helpless. "The prince didn't want to either. It just so happened that there was a plague outbreak in Chenzhou, and he just went with the flow."

"Get out!" Li Qing's temples throbbed with anger. "Go back and tell Chu Yunji that my Li family would rather die than surrender to him."

The envoy was furious and stormed off.

After the messenger left, Fu Yun asked, "General, what do we do now?"

Li Qing's face was so dark it could drip water. "Let's set up camp on the mountain first and control the spread of the plague."

A day later, Li Ruo finally caught up with her elder brother's troops and found that the number of soldiers infected with the disease had increased to more than fifty.

"Big brother!" Li Ruo ran over to Li Qing as soon as she saw him. "Are you alright?"

"Aruo! What brings you here?" Li Qing was surprised and angry. "What are you doing here? Go back now, what if you catch the plague too?"

Li Ruo felt that he had become too verbose. "Brother, quickly send someone to our boat to fetch herbs and clean water. I have another prescription here."

The 10,000 barrels of drinking water she had prepared can now come in handy.

Li Qing and his soldiers were dumbfounded.

"Perfect timing, just the right time!" Fu Yun exclaimed in surprise. Just who is Miss Li?

Both the infected and uninfected soldiers drank the medicinal soup.

However, Li Qing ordered his men to block any information about their possession of medicine and water, and he was not in a hurry to attack.

He is waiting.

Li Ruo knew that he was waiting for news from Xie Xiao, so that when the other side thought that their people were entangled in the plague, he could take them by surprise and join forces with Xie Xiao to break through in one fell swoop.

Li Ruo thought the plan was undoubtedly good, but Liao Fusheng was still oblivious to his own mortality.

That night, Guazi, who had gone to Zhongnan Mountain to gather information, returned. Guazi was quite clever; he disguised himself as one of their soldiers and entered the vicinity of Yutai Temple. "I found this," he said.

Li Ruo took a look and her eyes widened in surprise, "Gloves!"

Isn't this one of the gloves she gave to Liao Fusheng?

"He was taken to the Yutai Temple," Li Ruo asked. "What other information have you found out about the Emperor and the Prince of Jiangning?"

Guazi said, "I heard a eunuch say that the emperor's illness is serious and strange, and that he needs a Taoist priest to perform a ritual to exorcise evil spirits. That Taoist priest is a disciple of Master Yuan."

“It’s Liao Fusheng!” Li Ruo remembered that night he said his master’s surname was Yuan.

He was indeed arrested and taken to the capital.

She vaguely sensed something connected, but it was always just a little bit off, or perhaps she dared not think in that direction.

If that's true, then Liao Fusheng is doomed to die on this journey.

"I'm going to save him." It's also about verifying the information.

Guazi disagreed, saying, "Yutai Temple is heavily guarded; you can't get in."

Xu Dafu disagreed, "What if someone is waiting for you? If that big glove falls on the ground, no one will see it, and Guazi might just pick it up?"

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