Chapter 114 We are even after the pandemic.
In October, a major epidemic broke out in Xiling.
The epidemic originated in Shuncheng and Tongmenguan.
Xie Yuan ordered the Six Ministries to devise strategies to combat the plague, allocate grain and rice for relief, and the Imperial Medical Bureau to quickly formulate effective anti-epidemic measures. Several imperial physicians were dispatched to various cities in Xiling to assist local medical officials in treating the epidemic.
When the epidemic first appeared, only a few people coughed incessantly. By the time the government discovered that people in the city were suffering from skin ulcers and sores, the plague had already spread.
Tracing back to the source, this plague originated from the camp commanded by Yue Dun, the Earl of Chengyang.
Xie Yuan issued an urgent edict: "The imperial censors of the fourteen prefectures shall immediately inspect the various prefectures and counties. Any officials of the prefectures, counties, or counties who conceal the epidemic, fail to report it, shirk their responsibilities, embezzle disaster relief funds and grain, or use the epidemic as an excuse to plunder or hoard goods shall be executed without pardon, without the need for a report."
That same month, Xie Yuan issued an imperial edict ordering the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to set up an altar at Shennong Temple, fast and bathe, and personally lead all officials in offering sacrifices to Heaven and praying for blessings. After recovering from his illness, Xie Yuan's health never fully recovered; his illness lingered and showed no signs of complete healing.
After fasting for three days, he looked even more haggard and sickly.
Urgent reports from Xiling arrived one after another.
Improper handling of corpses during wartime can easily trigger plagues.
Within a short span of ten months, the epidemic spread rapidly along trade routes and post stations, and several prefectures and counties adjacent to Xiling fell one after another. The plague came fiercely and spread to the borders of the three northern prefectures.
Xuanpinghou Mansion in Suzhou.
Servants were sprinkling baskets of quicklime on the corners of the walls and ditches inside the mansion, and each courtyard was being fumigated with mugwort and atractylodes.
The plague spread too quickly, so Chen Liangyu mobilized the soldiers of the three prefectures to block the passes and main roads leading from the western prefectures and counties to the three northern prefectures, setting up numerous checkpoints to cut off the route to and from Xiling.
Before the border was sealed off, Chen Liangyu sent his private guards on light cavalry to Xiling to bring Bu Ping'er back to Suzhou from the epidemic area.
On this day, a troop of light cavalry traveled along the Qilian Road and was stopped by the guards at the pass. The people who went to pick up Bu Ping'er wore masks and wrapped their exposed skin with hemp cloth for protection. The carriage that Bu Ping'er was riding in was a bronze carriage temporarily requisitioned from a civilian carriage company, and it was also wrapped tightly with layers of cloth.
"stop!"
The general guarding the pass ordered them to remove their masks.
What are you doing?
The leader removed his mask and showed his token, saying, "I was ordered by the General to go to Xiling to pick up people, and I am returning to Suzhou today to report back."
Upon seeing the eagle and cloud pattern on the token, the gatekeeper respectfully bowed to the leader and said, "The General has ordered that all forces coming from the west be carefully inspected. Please open the carriage; we can let you pass after we have inspected it."
With a pull of the iron ring, the copper bolt was removed, and the heavy sideboard fell down with a thud.
Just then, dozens of fast horses galloped from the ancient road in the northern part of the Qilian Mountains. The woman at the head of the group, dressed in black, rode her horse, her cloak billowing behind her, and her white-maned warhorse left a trail of afterimages.
The soldiers guarding the pass quickly moved to the sides of the ancient road to make way for them.
The jade lion horse raised its hooves high in front of the checkpoint's barricades, let out a long neigh, and landed steadily.
Chen Liangyu gripped the reins tightly, deftly dismounted, and headed straight for the bronze chariot.
The general guarding the pass clasped his hands in a salute and stopped her, "General, we have not yet checked whether anyone in the carriage is infected..."
"It's alright."
Before he could finish speaking, Chen Liangyu ordered the barricades to be moved and lifted the curtain to enter.
The head guard was caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to stop him or not. He frantically clenched his fist in the air, pleading, "General, be careful!"
Bu Ping'er had been in a coma for over a month. She had just opened her eyes from a long sleep, her lips still a sickly pale color. Chen Liangyu suddenly lifted the heavy curtain of the car door, and Bu Ping'er was blinded by the sudden light. She closed her eyes, her eyes stinging.
She frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed.
“Bu Ping’er”.
A familiar voice was calling her.
She tried to move her eyes, and with the slightest movement, a dull ache shot through her. The pain wasn't intense, but it caused her chest to rise and fall slightly, with a weak rhythm.
It seems to be an effort to adapt to this weakened state.
In a daze, she felt as if she were back in that dark dungeon in Chong'an County, waiting for her boiling blood to drain away, waiting for death. Last time, it was Zhao Mingqin who called her; who was it this time?
Who is it?
Who is calling her name?
"Bu Ping'er!" It was that voice again.
A moment later, someone exclaimed joyfully, "He's awake!" This time it was an older male voice.
Bu Ping'er stared blankly at Chen Liangyu's face for a long time before the blurry figure in front of her gradually became clear.
"General..."
Those three words drained her strength; her neck seemed to lose its support and tilted to one side. She tried to speak again, but only breathy sounds came out.
Chen Liangyu's joy was palpable as she said, "It's good that you're awake, it's good that you're awake!"
"Where is this...?"
"We've reached the northern border, now we're heading home."
There were four people in the carriage. To Bu Ping'er's left and right sat two women with delicate features and very similar eyebrows and eyes. They should be her two older sisters, Zhao Panzhi and Zhao Guzhi. The carriage was too low to be convenient for greetings, so Chen Liangyu raised her hand and asked them to sit back down.
The other man, judging from his attire, was a physician from the palace. He introduced himself as Liu. After Bu Ping'er woke up, she hurriedly got off the carriage with the earthenware pot containing the medicine to pour out the decoction, shouting, "Not a moment can be wasted, not a moment can be wasted!"
When Chen Liangyu sent her private guards to Xiling to pick up the person, she specifically instructed them to bring Zhu Ying back as well, but she couldn't see her anywhere, either inside or outside the carriage.
He probably took pity on the epidemic area and stayed.
Chen Liangyu asked one of the women beside Bu Ping'er, "Has Zhao Mingqin met Ping'er?"
Zhao Gu said, "Reporting to the General, I have already met with him. The war in the Southern Border is urgent, and Ming Qin was only allowed to stay for two days before being summoned back by Lord Heng." She carefully protected Bu Ping'er's head to prevent it from being bumped. "My elder sister and I have discussed that once Ping'er wakes up, we will make arrangements to hold the wedding."
Zhao Panzhi said, "Ping'er said that the General has given her a second chance at life and a second life. Please let the General decide this matter."
The last time magpies brought good news in the North was when my eldest brother and sister-in-law got married. It's been a long time since we've had a happy occasion.
Chen Liangyu said, "That's a good thing."
“The commoner girl Dai Mingqin and her daughter Ping'er thank General Xie.”
Chen Liangyu said, "One is in the south and the other in the north," implying something.
Considering this, she thought that perhaps she could take this opportunity to transfer Zhao Mingqin from the southern border, which would be like adding wings to a tiger.
Zhao Guzhi glanced at Chen Liangyu's expression and immediately said, "To be honest, General, Ming Qin has long harbored the intention to defect to the Northern Border. Ping'er's presence in the Northern Border is one reason, but more importantly, Ming Qin's Xuanjia Army is not good at naval warfare and is not valued in the Southern Border. In the Northern Border, it would be an elite force."
Zhao Panzhi said, "Ming Qin instructed us not to mention this matter, so as not to put the General in a difficult position."
"No need for formalities, I will have already considered this matter myself."
When Physician Liu returned, he handed the medicine bowl to Zhao Panzhi and explained that the Earl of Chengyang had temporarily assigned him to the task. When the guards from the northern border arrived at the Xiling camp to fetch the people, many soldiers in the camp had already been infected with the plague. The price of medicinal materials in the epidemic area rose three times a day, and even so, pharmacies were selling out and closing down one after another.
Chen Liangyu asked about Zhu Ying and Ye Weiwan.
Physician Liu said, "Doctor Ying just went south yesterday to buy herbs to treat the epidemic. Physician Ye was tending to the wounded soldiers in the camp, but he happened to disappear that day. The Marquis of Chengyang sent people to search the entire camp, but they couldn't find him."
This epidemic is more ferocious than ever before. Chen Liangyu sent someone to fetch Bu Ping'er back to Suzhou, but a doctor was needed to accompany her. It was uncertain what might happen if they were delayed any longer. So, the Earl of Chengyang simply pointed to Physician Liu, who was still brewing medicine.
"The plague is also called the epidemic poison. This epidemic poison is also strange. It goes wherever there is a war. The last major epidemic in Linxia and Li'an was also caused by this disease. When you are first infected, you will have a fever and cough. Then your skin will start to ulcerate and develop sores. The rotten flesh is pink and tender like a peach blossom. After the scabs are formed, white flakes of skin will fall off. Therefore, this plague has a name, called Peach Blossom Snow, or Peach Blossom Plague."
Chen Liangyu asked, "Has Physician Liu been to Linxia?"
"I have been there, I went with Doctor Ying. Doctor Ying went to Li'an to practice medicine, while I went to Linxia. It's quite a coincidence that I also met Physician Ye in Linxia. I didn't expect that she would come to the Imperial Medical Bureau later."
Chen Liangyu asked, "Was Physician Ye also present during the great plague in Linxia?"
Physician Liu said, "She was there. At that time, she and her husband were providing free medical services and medicine in the city. The Linxia government was recruiting doctors from the common people, and Jiuhua Mountain Villa was well-known among the people. The governor kept them in Linxia to fight the epidemic. After Physician Ye entered the Imperial Medical Bureau, she never saw her husband again. After I arrived in Xiling, I did see Physician Ye's husband again, but Physician Ye acted as if she couldn't see him. These two are so young, I don't know what they're having a falling out over."
Chen Liangyu's mind was not on the secrets of the women's quarters. She asked Physician Liu, "Since the epidemics in Linxia and Li'an can be cured, the epidemic in Xiling should be no problem, right?"
Physician Liu sighed deeply and shook his head in response, his face full of worry.
Chen Liangyu asked, "What?"
"I dare not say that, for it would cost me my head. Whether this plague can be cured depends on the governors and prefects of the several prefectures in Xiling, as well as the Earl of Chengyang, and whether they are ruthless enough."
Chen Liangyu immediately guessed how the epidemic in Linxia and Li'an had been quelled in just a few months.
People don't want to wait to die.
The rising medicinal mist mixed with the heavy stench of corpses, and the quicklime scattered by the soldiers with their mouths and noses covered, formed a pale defensive line.
Run! Run fast! You have to get out of here to survive!
The yurt refugees, shrouded in the shadow of plague and death, staged several riots.
It wasn't until the imperial physician's carriage stopped outside the yurt that people were willing to believe there was still hope for survival.
The riots were temporarily quelled.
Those who were taken away for treatment later, but whose illnesses were too serious to be cured, were taken to the wilderness, doused with kerosene, and burned.
Plague, fire...
Zhu Ying was unwilling to see those who were not yet dead being dragged away on carts to be burned, but she was powerless to stop it. The officials of the Li'an Prefecture said that she was obstructing the treatment of the epidemic, and used a disciplinary rod to press her to the ground so that she could not move.
She bit her teeth until they bled.
Fortunately, a royal physician happened to pass by and saw her. He found the imperial edict written by the eldest princess that she was carrying, which saved her from being beaten to death. However, she was also expelled from the country by the Li'an government.
"Are you truly eradicating the plague, or are you simply disregarding human life?!"
The young imperial physician who happened to be passing by and saved her quickly pulled her away and advised her, "Doctor Ying, you are a physician, you should be able to see that those patients are already terminally ill and will not survive."
"They haven't even breathed their last yet!" Zhu Ying grabbed the imperial physician's robe. "You're a physician too. You're an imperial physician; they'd listen to you. Why don't you try to dissuade them?"
The young imperial physician said, "I am here by imperial decree to treat the epidemic. I only know how to prescribe medicine and decoct herbs; I cannot manage anything else. If the plague cannot be controlled, the emperor will blame me, and I will find it difficult to stay in the Imperial Medical Bureau. In severe cases, I will lose my head."
She studied medicine from a young age. A doctor should practice medicine to help the sick and save lives.
Even if a physician lacks the magnanimity to save all living beings, he should still have a shred of compassion for the weak. Now she had witnessed and heard with her own eyes how a physician, worried about the emperor's wrath, could disregard so many lives.
Human life is full of sorrow, and the world is so cold and indifferent.
She heard her own voice: "Please, at least give them a quick death..."
The young imperial physician shook his head and left.
No official in any prefecture or county was willing to bear the blame for massacring civilians. Those listed in the government's refugee registers who were taken away to be burned were already dead.
"The person isn't dead yet, so they can't be burned!"
Zhu Ying dreamt of the great plague that struck Li'an, and suddenly woke up, but her body was unable to move, as if she had been held firmly to the ground by a rod of authority.
She woke up in a cave, her limbs bound to a simple wooden bed deep inside. Her face was wrapped in gauze, leaving only her eyes visible, and herbs were wrapped under the gauze. The wooden bed was makeshift and shaky, wobbling violently with every movement.
The cave smelled strongly of realgar powder. It was probably there to repel snakes, insects, and rodents.
Zhu Ying struggled, but her hands and feet were tightly bound.
The man seemed to have made several cuts on her face; the herbal juice seeped into the wounds, causing a burning pain.
It was daytime, and sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the rocks overhead, causing water droplets to drip from the tips of the stalactites on the cave ceiling.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock."
In the silence, each sound grew clearer than the last.
When she opened her mouth, she felt even more desperate. Her voice was terribly hoarse, and she couldn't make a loud sound. She had been given a drug that made her mute.
The cave is too big. Even if she could shout, it would only echo against the four walls. If it attracted wolves hunting in the mountains, with her hands and feet bound, she would probably only be disemboweled and fed to the wolves.
What extinguished her only hope was that she had left the camp to travel south to buy medicinal herbs, and that the soldiers who had accompanied her were probably drugged and tied up in some cave. Traveling south from Shuncheng to buy medicine would take at least a month, and the camp wouldn't send troops to search for her anytime soon.
With no one around to help and rescue seemingly a long way off, the situation appeared hopeless.
I feel very dizzy.
Zhu Ying knew that what had knocked her unconscious wasn't a sleeping pill, but rather an anesthetic. The effects were wearing off. Judging from the degree of dizziness she felt upon waking, Zhu Ying mentally muttered to herself: "The medical skills are lacking; they overdid it with the anesthetic."
I can't figure out if that person wanted her to die or wanted her to die slowly.
Just then, a rustling sound came from the cave entrance.
Zhu Ying was facing the cave entrance, and she had to bend her neck into an incredible arc to see Ye Weiwan push aside the weeds and vines that were covering the entrance, carrying a lunchbox to the wooden bed. She first fed Zhu Ying a few sips of water, and then placed the thin porridge and food by her bedside.
When Ye Weiwan bent down, Zhu Ying noticed that there seemed to be gauze bandages under her clothes.
Zhu Ying asked in a hoarse voice with great difficulty, "Where are the others?"
She was asking several of the soldiers who were with her.
Ye Weiwan silently removed the gauze from her face and scraped off the herbs applied to it. Zhu Ying opened her mouth, and as she did so, she felt a tightness in her cheek, as if she had been pricked by needles, a dense, throbbing pain.
Could it be that a patch was sewn onto his face?
If anyone else were standing next to her right now, Zhu Ying would think this idea was incredibly stupid, but the person in front of her was Ye Weiwan. She was really capable of doing it.
"Are you... out of your mind?"
That's completely unnecessary. It's not like she just lost her mind.
Ye Weiwan remained silent, continuing with her own business. Two crystal-clear butterflies flew from her fingertips and landed on the side of Zhu Ying's face where she felt pain.
It felt cool, and the pain lessened slightly.
After finishing her own business, Ye Weiwan sat quietly on the edge of the bed for a moment, muttering to herself, "The plague is alive, it is alive." Her expression suddenly became very excited, and she pressed on Zhu Ying's shoulders, shaking the wooden bed so hard it almost fell apart. "I'm not wrong, it's Master who's wrong! The plague, it's alive."
"You will believe me, you will definitely believe me! You've given me your name and your home, how could you not believe me?"
Zhu Ying stared in horror at the face before her, a face that looked exactly like hers before, magnified infinitely, and squeezed out through gritted teeth, "I should... be in my mother's womb..."
I'll strangle you!
She felt a sharp pain in her throat when she strained, and couldn't finish her sentence.
When Ye Weiwan heard her say "in her mother's belly," her eyes instantly reddened.
She turned her face away and wiped her face with the back of her hand.
“My master doesn’t believe me. He treats me like a child. He only ever treats me like a child. I’m his wife! Why won’t he love me? Why won’t he want our child? I’ve already let him go. I left Liangxi City and went to Yongdu, but he came after me again. How despicable! Do you know why I went to Yongdu? Because you were there. I didn’t know who else to look for, so I wanted to go to you.”
"But I stole your name, I became Ye Weiwan, I lived in this world in your place, and you became my shadow. Do you blame me?"
Will Mother blame me?
"Will Mother blame me for taking your name, seizing your property, and even killing your father?"
"You...killed Father?"
"It's me."
It was the door she locked that caused her father, who had abandoned her in the wilderness, to perish in a fire.
Zhu Ying's mind went completely blank.
She struggled desperately, trying to free her hands and feet from the restraints, but the ropes only tightened.
Ye Weiwan remained unmoved no matter how much she struggled.
She picked up a dead worm from the ground and said, "The plague is like a worm that burrows into a person's body and breeds more worms. As the worms multiply, they devour flesh and blood, and the person can't take it and dies... But why do some people survive? Don't you want to know why some people who are infected with the plague can survive?"
Zhu Ying's wrists were chafed and bleeding. "Don't... make another mistake!"
"If the insect is small and weak, the person will not die. I thought of this in Linxia."
"what are you up to?"
"Don't you already know what I'm going to do?"
"The plague in Xiling, was it you?"
Ye Weiwan said, "It's me. Not only Xiling, but also Linxia and Li'an. The court wants to wage war, and war means death. Where there are deaths, there will be plague. What wrong have I done?"
Zhu Ying's voice seemed to be about to tear apart, but she could only manage a low, whispered question: "Why...why won't you...be a good person?"
"Good people? Who are the good people? Is the current emperor a good person? How many people died in the war between Linxia and Li'an because of his usurpation of the throne? Is Chen Liangyu a good person? Of the 170,000 prisoners of war from Dongyin, who were conscripted by the Marquis of Xuanping to dig canals, are half of them still alive? The people in the imperial palace are all villains, each claiming to be for the common people, but who has ever truly cared about their lives? Which battle the court has fought hasn't killed more people than a plague? Why don't you criticize them, instead of blaming me? I am the one who is trying to save the common people, I am helping them! Those who survive the plague will not be reinfected, but if people actively seek out a weaker virus..."
Zhu Ying said, enunciating each word clearly, "No one would intentionally seek to contract the plague."
"Then only those who survive the plague will live."
"You... are guilty."
Ye Weiwan said, "Just this once, and the Peach Blossom Plague will never happen again. The sin is in the present, but the merit will last for generations, isn't that right?"
To Ye Weiwan, Zhu Ying's struggles were even more feeble than the wriggling of insects. She untied the strips of cloth binding Zhu Ying's hands and feet, patted the corner of her clothes, and turned to leave through the hole filled with weeds and vines.
Zhu Ying struggled and rolled off the wooden bed, her limbs too weak to stand. The water and food Ye Weiwan brought were both contaminated.
Sure enough, realgar powder was sprinkled around the wooden bed.
Ye Weiwan instructed someone at the cave entrance: "Don't let her out of this cave, and don't go near her."
A voice replied, "Yes, Physician Ye."
There are guards outside the cave.
Even though her hands and feet weren't bound, she couldn't get out. Zhu Ying checked her sleeve pockets and collar, but the self-defense powder she had prepared was gone. Now she was truly helpless.
They really put a patch on her face.
Several patches. Sewed together with needle and thread.
Once she regained some strength, Zhu Ying cleaned up the soup and food left by the bedside. There must have been some sleeping potion in it, though not much.
Even if I don't eat the food she brings, I'm too hungry to walk.
It makes no difference whether you eat it or not.
Ye Weiwan reappeared in the cave two days later. This time she brought a pair of scissors and removed the stitches from Zhu Ying's face. Taking advantage of her inattention, Zhu Ying pulled open her clothes.
Ye Weiwan had gauze wrapped around her chest.
"really."
Ye Weiwan calmly straightened her clothes. "Whether you believe it or not, I don't hate you. I only hate that old bastard. Your face was ruined because of me, so I'll cut off a piece of flesh to repay you. We're even now."
"You're insane!"
Author's note: Thank you for reading this far!
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