As Lu Ziqian passed by Gu Heng, he deliberately lowered his voice: "A breeding pig is not bad either, at least it can make Jiao Jiao give me a litter of piglets."

"It's a pity for Lord Gu. The one inside probably couldn't even give birth to piglets even if she wanted to."

"Hahaha……"

Seeing Gu Heng's ashen face, Lu Ziqian was in a great mood.

Gu Heng stared at the arrogant and conceited young general with a gloomy gaze. This bastard was not worthy of Jiao Jiao at all!

The next morning, the main force set off for Qicheng, the first county they encountered on this trip that was infected with the plague.

Everyone was fully armed and on high alert, knowing how severe the test they were about to face.

"Weren't you tasked with protecting Miss Chen?"

Lu Ziqian looked at the two people who were already waiting at the city gate with a puzzled expression.

One of them clasped his hands in a fist and said, "It was Miss Chen who sent this subordinate."

“Ms. Chen said that the epidemic area needed manpower at that time, and she did not want to waste too much manpower. Keeping Liu Wu alone was enough.”

The Crown Prince couldn't help but sigh, "Miss Chen is truly a sensible and good girl."

Hearing the Crown Prince say this, Lu Ziqian had no choice but to agree.

After several days of trekking, Lu Ziqian led his army to Qicheng.

At this moment, the city gates were tightly closed, and the guards on the city tower questioned the inmates loudly.

Who comes down from the city?

A junior officer beside Lu Ziqian stepped forward angrily and shouted, "Are you blind? Why don't you kneel before the Crown Prince?"

"Open the door quickly, come and greet me."

The guards on the city wall were clearly taken aback, then immediately shouted, "Quickly go and report to Magistrate Zhang and General Chen!"

"Just say that the imperial court has sent someone, and the crown prince is here in person. We are saved."

"Go quickly!"

Soon, two disheveled men appeared on the city wall. One was dressed in official robes, and the other in armor, but both were covered with dark triangular scarves, making it impossible to see their faces.

The first to speak was General Chen Wei, who immediately recognized Lu Ziqian, the leader.

"This humble general pays his respects to General Lu."

"General, the plague is raging in the city, and countless people have already died. You should lead the Crown Prince back to avoid further casualties."

"This humble general and Lord Zhang have decided to defend Qicheng to the death and prevent the plague from spreading further."

"All the people of Qicheng are prepared to sacrifice themselves. Let this damned plague linger and kill us in Qicheng."

As Lu Ziqian listened to Chen Wei's choked and desperate words, his eyes welled up with tears. The 30,000 people of Qicheng could not be sacrificed in vain.

"General Chen, open the city gates."

The crown prince also climbed out of the carriage and said in a commanding tone, "General Chen, open the city gate."

"Since I have been ordered to come and control the plague, I am prepared to make a sacrifice."

General Chen's eyes instantly reddened upon hearing the Crown Prince's words: "Your Highness, you mustn't!"

"Your status is so important, you must not put yourself in danger."

"Open the city gates! If I am unfortunately infected with the plague, then that is my fate!"

Magistrate Zhang also shouted, "Your Highness, this is a plague that no one can control. Your entry will only increase casualties."

The crown prince said with an air of authority, "Open the city gates. This is an order."

When the officials on the city tower saw that their persuasion was ineffective and they dared not disobey the crown prince's orders, they had no choice but to open the city gate.

"Your Highness, please wear this."

At this moment, Su Yujiao suddenly handed over a bird-face mask. The mask was made of cowhide, and the eyes were made of fragments of white crystal. Although it was not as transparent as glass or plastic, she had no choice but to use white crystal as a substitute due to limited resources.

The Crown Prince stared at the strange bird-face mask in Su Yujiao's hand, frowning slightly.

What is this?

Su Yujiao explained, "This is a bird-face mask made by ordinary people. The entire mask is airtight, which can effectively prevent infection."

"Seamless? Wouldn't that suffocate us?"

Su Yujiao pointed to the bird's beak: "There are ventilation holes here."

"The beak part is key to defending against the plague; the beak area is filled with mint, cotton, camphor, and aromatic herbs..."

"We are about to enter the epidemic area, so protection is crucial."

"I urge Your Highness to wear this mask."

As Su Yujiao spoke, she took out several sachets: "You should also wear a few of these sachets."

"This is a special sachet for epidemic prevention prepared by a commoner. It is made from Atractylodes lancea, Platycodon grandiflorus, Asarum heterotropoides, Aconitum carmichaelii, and Aconitum carmichaelii, all ground into a fine powder. Carry it with you to prevent the spread of the plague. Do not take it."

The prince accepted the sachet and mask without hesitation: "Master Su, you've put a lot of thought into this. How many of these masks and sachets did you make?"

“Crystal is expensive and difficult to polish. Due to my limited abilities, I could only make three sets.”

"We don't make many sachets, but we have a lot of medicinal powder. We can give one to each soldier. They need to put it in their own sachets, or they can use a purse if they don't have a sachet."

"I have already written the prescription for the imperial physician. Once we enter the city, as long as there are enough herbs, we can immediately prepare the medicine and distribute it to the people of the city."

"Very good, Physician Su, you have done me a great favor. I will reward you according to your merits when we return to the capital."

"Someone, distribute the medicine powder."

The Crown Prince looked at the other two masks in Su Yujiao's hands but did not make any decisions on his own.

He knew the mask was for self-preservation and was extremely precious; he had no right to distribute it.

However, he had a rough idea of ​​what was going on: Physician Su would keep one for himself, and the other one would definitely go to Gu Heng.

After all, Physician Su and Gu Heng were close friends, so she had no reason to give it to someone else.

Sure enough, Su Yujiao walked up to Gu Heng and handed him a mask and two sachets.

He also instructed, "To be on the safe side, put on your mask first, then put on your face shield."

"Um."

"After entering the city, you must be especially careful. Do not come into contact with patients infected with smallpox, and do not use the teacups or clothes they have used. Be sure to wash your hands frequently."

"The main route of transmission for smallpox is through droplets, such as through breathing, coughing, and sneezing."

Su Yujiao had explained the transmission routes of smallpox many times on the way there, but before entering the city, she still repeatedly reminded everyone of this.

They were afraid the people wouldn't take it seriously, since people in ancient times didn't have a concept of air.

I didn't know that breathing air could transmit the virus; I thought that you could only get infected by coming into contact with a sick person.

As Lu Ziqian rode on his horse, watching 'Physician Su' repeatedly instruct Gu Heng like a woman, he felt contempt and thought of his wife who was praying for him in the capital.

If she were here, she would definitely remind him of this again and again.

The city gates were already open, and Lu Ziqian impatiently shouted, "Are we leaving or not?"

"If you're so afraid of dying, you might as well not go in."

Su Yujiao paused in her speech, then walked over directly, while Lu Ziqian looked down at her.

What, does this little eunuch want to hit someone?

Su Yujiao looked up at him and handed him the last mask: "Put on your face mask first before you put on the face mask."

"What?"

Lu Ziqian thought he had misheard and stared at her in astonishment.

No one expected that she would give the last mask to Lu Ziqian.

Even Lu Ziqian himself was stunned, just sitting on his horse looking down at the little eunuch who handed him the mask.