Qiao Yumian and others all believed that since this plague was man-made, there might be some shortcuts in the way of conquering it.
"But they probably don't have the antidote..." Shepherd's Purse listened to what Qiao Yumian and the others said, and couldn't help but say, "Otherwise, the Duke of Korea wouldn't be so anxious watching the sick soldiers."
"Yes." Qiao Yumian nodded first, then explained: "Although there is no antidote, if we know the composition of the poison when it was first used, it may be possible to prescribe the right medicine."
Even if the plague caused by poisons has changed after being spread by many people, it is impossible to resolve the plague simply by using antidotes that can suppress those poisons, but finding out the source of the disease will always be helpful.
A Jiangdu doctor with gray hair and beard also said: "That's right. It would be best if we could find the person who made the poison in the first place."
Shepherd's Purse nodded in understanding and subconsciously looked at her master.
Chang Suining said, "I roughly know who it is."
This matter was mentioned in the letter that Xiao Min had someone send to Jiangdu. As for the drug-making matter, the person Xiao Min suspected was a foreign woman who was following Li Xian.
Chang Suining vaguely remembered that the name mentioned in the letter seemed to be... Allan.
It is said that this girl was brought back by Li Xian from the southern border. She was beautiful and stayed in Li Xian's tent almost all day long.
But according to Xiao Min's observation, this person was not a concubine or maid who served others with her beauty, and Li Xian was not obsessed with women. Therefore, Xiao Min always believed that Li Xian chose to keep her by his side probably because Allan had some outstanding qualities.
Xiao Min therefore paid special attention to Allan. In the few times he met her, he could always smell the unique aroma of medicine from her. Later, he accidentally learned that whenever Li Xian was unwell and needed medicine, he rarely went to see a military doctor. Xiao Min came to the conclusion that Allan was probably a female doctor who was proficient in medicine.
Later, when plague broke out in Yuezhou, Xiao Min naturally suspected Allan based on many clues and informed Chang Suining of the incident in a letter.
But simply knowing who makes the drugs is not enough.
Li Xian would never agree to hand over the person no matter what - he was denying the fact that he had caused the plague, so how could he confess his guilt at this time? So the answer was simple and clear - the only way was to use a sack to tie the person up.
But a person who never leaves the barracks, has no interactions with anyone, and is skilled in poison... is obviously not easy to tie up.
Chang Suining looked thoughtful, he had to think of a solution.
While Chang Suining was pondering over this, a female soldier came in from outside to report that nearly a thousand more people suffering from the epidemic had been sent here, including Xiaoao's sister.
The next day, hundreds of people came here on their own to ask Chang Suining for help.
As more and more people come here, the sheds used for accommodation have been expanding. Correspondingly, the number of people needed is also increasing. But these are easy to solve. In addition to the treatment method, the only difficult problem at the moment is the supply of medicinal materials.
Among the medicinal materials needed for the preventive prescription given by Xiao Min, at least four of them were in short supply.
Although these medicines cannot truly cure the disease, after repeated adjustments in dosage by doctors and combined with other medicines, they have now been able to slow down the progression of the disease. Therefore, before a true cure is found, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are life-extending medicines for the people.
Yao Jin had people raise funds to purchase these medicinal herbs from various states in the western part of Jiangnan from the very beginning, but after many days, they got very little. As the person who planned this plague, Li Xian had his men secretly stockpile a large amount of these medicinal herbs early on to meet the needs of the army in the future.
One day, Yao Jin came back from outside and told Chang Suining that it would be difficult to gather enough medicinal materials in the entire Jiangnan West Road within a short period of time.
When it comes to the matter of mobilizing the purchase of supplies, Chang Suining immediately thought of Meng Lie.
Meng Lie and Yuan Xiang went to the northern border together. Before they left, they left some people behind for Chang Suining to dispatch. However, they were in Jiangdu and did not come here with them.
This place is still a thousand miles away from Jiangdu. It would take at least ten days to send a message to tell the matter, prepare for the purchase, and then deliver the herbs here, even if we travel non-stop. And the current herbs can only last for three days at most.
Most of the supplies for these three days were sent by the governor of Mianyang Prefecture.
Why not send a message back to Jiangdu immediately? Before that, try to snatch some from Li Xian's army... no, borrow some openly? The imperial envoys and doctors who were ordered by the emperor to control the plague were still waiting and staying near Yuezhou. Public opinion was very unfavorable to the court. Under such circumstances, it should not be difficult to find a way to force Li Xian to take out some medicinal materials for emergency use by using both soft and hard tactics.
Chang Suining had made up his mind and was about to go to Jiangdu to deliver the message when he heard his men come to report: "There is a group of merchants from Suzhou who claim to know you and have come here to ask to see you."
A businessman from Suzhou? Chang Suining couldn't help asking, "What's your name?"
"It is said that his surname is Dai."
The last name is Dai... Chang Suining thought about it, but had no impression.
Instead, Yao Jin said in surprise: "It sounds like the Dai Family Pharmacy—"
"Pharmacy?" Chang Suining looked at Yaojin, and heard Yaojin say, "Your Excellency may not know that the Dai family business in Suzhou has a strong foundation in the Jiangnan area. Its main business is the medicinal materials business. In the past two years, the family business has expanded more than doubled and has become the top drug dealer in the eastern part of Jiangnan."
Suzhou belongs to the East Road of Jiangnan and is adjacent to the West Road of Jiangnan.
When Chang Suining heard this, he thought about it and went to see him immediately.
Yao Jin followed Chang Suining out, thinking in his heart - could it be that the Dai family business had heard the news and came all the way to sell their products?
The conditions where Chang Suining was staying were simple, and it was hot and humid in the summer. In order to prevent and control the plague, the room was kept open-air and ventilated most of the time. So they did not invite the visitors to talk in the shed, but Chang Suining went to meet them.
A group of people came by carriages, and there were many people standing in front of several carriages. Leading the group was a couple in brocade clothes who were about forty years old.
Seeing Chang Suining coming, the couple hurried forward to greet him.
"Mrs. Chang!"
The woman called out, then knelt down with her husband and kowtowed to Chang Suining.
After the couple stood up, Chang Suining saw their faces clearly and vaguely recognized them.
At this time, a servant came over pushing a young man sitting on a four-wheeled chair.
The woman urged: "Da Lang, quickly pay your respects to your benefactor!"
The young man in blue sitting on the chair had a handsome face and a thin body, but his eyes and eyebrows were full of life. He raised his hand straight and saluted Chang Suining: "Dai Zifa greets the benefactor!"
He then said sincerely: "Zifa is unable to move and cannot pay his respects to you, benefactor. Please forgive me."
His surname is Dai and his given name is Zifa. He is the eldest son of the Dai family in Suzhou. Five years ago, when he went to Beijing with his parents to do business, his legs were broken by someone and he has been unable to walk since then.
Before this, in order to convict Ming Jin, Chang Suining had found many victims who had been harmed by Ming Jin's evil deeds. Among them, in addition to Lu Chong, there was also the Dai couple.
At that time, Chang Suining only vaguely remembered that they were doing business in the Jiangnan area, but he had never carefully investigated what kind of business they were doing, and he never expected to meet here today.
The woman was also very moved, and looked at Chang Suining with gratitude and admiration in her eyes: "I never thought that in just two or three years, when I see you again, Madam Chang, I will have to call you Chang Jieshi."
Suzhou is not far from Jiangdu. Naturally, they had always heard about Chang Suining's affairs, but they had never visited him to disturb him.
In fact, when Jiangdu was rebuilt, they also asked an old friend in Jiangdu to donate a sum of silver, but they did not mention the old things. Naturally, Chang Suining could not connect the person who donated the silver with the couple who had a brief intersection in the past.
When I saw them again at this time, I felt that the Dai couple looked much better than before.
Although two or three years have passed, the Dai couple's gratitude towards Chang Suining is still written on their faces.
After their eldest son's legs were crippled by Ming Jin, he became depressed and attempted suicide many times. As parents, they suffered no less than their child.
It was not until they brought the news of Ming Jin's execution back to Suzhou that the eldest son gradually recovered.
Dai Zifa had a talent for business. After he regained his life, he started to help his family run the business again. In the past two years, Dai's business has expanded, and he accounted for half of the credit.
After expressing their thanks and reminiscing about the past, when talking about the plague, Dai Zifa naturally mentioned the supply of medicinal materials.
Chang Suining didn't know the details, so he asked Yaojin, who was in charge of the matter, to talk to the young master in detail, while he went to the side to talk with the Dai couple.
Yao Jin had already quickly calculated in his mind, thinking that the young master Dai might take the opportunity to raise the price of the medicine.
Although they seem to be here to thank their benefactor, it is not uncommon for them to use this opportunity to take advantage of their acquaintance while claiming that their friendship is as deep as the sea.
Yao Jin followed Princess Xuan'an in managing various businesses and was very familiar with this aspect.
But Yao Jin was also very patient. He did not mention the price at first. He first discussed the time and route of delivery of the herbs, then decided on the required quantity with the other party, and finally talked about the price of the herbs.
Dai Zifa shook his head and smiled: "The Dai family doesn't take a penny."
Yaojin also smiled. The Dai family does not take a penny, but only wants to give some hard-earned money to the herbalists and the people under them, right? She has heard many such rhetoric that sounds respectable but actually requires a high price.
Yao Jin then continued to negotiate the price, which surprised Dai Zi. After he realized what was going on, he laughed and said, "This lady really misunderstood..."
His expression was very serious: "The Dai family came here to repay a favor, and what the benefactor did was a respectable act of righteousness. The Dai family has the opportunity to do this little bit of help, which is already a great honor."
Yao Jin was silent for a moment, then smiled awkwardly.
Very good... The only bad thing is that it makes her seem too narrow-minded.
Then, looking at the young master Dai in front of him, Yaojin's eyes showed more sincerity and emotion - the Dai family's business is getting bigger and bigger, so the money deserves to be made by others.
But Yao Jin still refused. The one responsible for the supply of medicinal materials here was the Grand Princess's Mansion. She just didn't want to suffer a loss, but the Grand Princess's Mansion never encroached on the interests of merchants.
However, Young Master Dai was determined to do his part, and the two of them argued back and forth for a long time, just like the host and the guests pushing and pulling each other over the New Year gifts during the New Year. In the end, the host, Yao Jin, lost - well, since the other party sincerely wanted to help, she had no reason to stop him.
After the Dai family left, Yao Jin told Chang Suining the result of the dispute.
Chang Suining was moved and also deeply moved.
This is probably the joy of making good friends.
At this moment, the sun was about to set. Chang Suining looked towards the northwest and saw the sky full of brilliant and gorgeous sunset glow.
I wonder if the good karma she sent to the North has arrived?
Meng Lie and his men are going to stock up on military supplies along the way, so their journey will presumably be slow, but the news must have already reached the northern border.
There has been no urgent news from the north in recent days. The battle at Yumen Pass must have been smooth and peaceful.
At this moment in the northwest, the boundless desert is like a long river. A round sun is slowly sliding into the river, like a huge picture of a long river and a setting sun, which is shaken open and dropped by the immortals in the sky and suspended between heaven and earth.
A group of cavalry appeared in the painting, raising dust under the setting sun, breaking the silence and making the world look more majestic.
Just as Chang Suining expected, the crisis at Yumen Pass had settled.
With Cui Jing's previous deployment, it was almost inevitable that the Beidi cavalry of less than 20,000 would be defeated and return. However, this time they did not even achieve "a great defeat" -
The northern border is vast and has a special combat environment, so battles with foreign races have always been mainly based on expulsion.
But this time, when the nearly 20,000 Northern Di cavalry retreated, they were pursued relentlessly by Xuan Ce's army.
Those Northern Di cavalry were forced to flee in different directions in an attempt to distract Xuan Ce's army, but Cui Jing still personally led his troops to pursue and kill them, and issued a military order that the invaders would never be given a chance to escape alive.
The battle of expulsion at Yumen Pass only took a few days for the two sides to engage in direct combat. However, the pursuit lasted for more than half a month, and Cui Jing and his men were only able to withdraw their troops and return home recently.
In this battle, not only was the Northern Di defeated, but nearly 20,000 Northern Di troops were completely wiped out.
The lieutenant generals of Xuan Ce's army saw the fighting style of General Cui Jing this time and felt that it was different from usual. The murderous aura displayed in this battle was a hundred times stronger than in previous battles.
But most of them could understand the intention - this was the first battle after the Northern Di invaded the border, and they would kill all the invaders without leaving a single piece of armor, which would surely deter the Northern Di army that was ready to move, and thus win more time for Dasheng to prepare for war.
Deputy General Yu had also thought of this real consideration, but he still felt that the commander-in-chief seemed different from usual in this battle.
He tried to ask indirectly, and the commander-in-chief said: "Xuan Ce's army and the Northern Di have an indelible hatred. 】
Deputy General Yu was puzzled for a moment, but soon realized that he was talking about the great battle more than ten years ago?
But in that battle, it was Dasheng who won a great victory, and it was Beidi who was beaten badly... How come the winners held a grudge even more?
Moreover, the Grand Commander had always led troops to fight, and his personal emotions were rarely mixed in... What kind of grudge was this? Deputy General Yu did not bother to investigate further. Of course, even if he investigated further, he would not be able to find out anything.
At this time, seeing Yumen Pass in front of them, the leading young general slowly dismounted and said, "Send a letter to the capital, this battle has been won."
"yes!"
Deputy General Yu responded, and after walking for a while, he rode his horse to catch up with his own Grand Commander and asked quietly, "Grand Commander, do you also want to send a letter to Jiangdu immediately?"
Cui Jing got off his horse and slowed down again. He said, "No hurry. I haven't had time to write a letter yet."
Deputy General Yu said "Ah" in confusion, and then he said "Oh" in sudden realization - the Grand Commander was going to write the letter himself.
After realizing what was happening, Vice General Yu sighed in his heart. When the news of such a beautiful victory was sent back to the capital, it was just a simple "victory in this battle"... But when it came to Envoy Chang, he had to write a letter in person. (End of this chapter)
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