Chu Family Village has seventy or eighty households, with a total of one or two hundred villagers. It is considered a large village among the surrounding villages, so most of the village heads in this area come from their village.
At this moment, Chu Family Village was completely surrounded from the entrance to the end of the village. All the entrances and exits were blocked by spiked wooden stakes, and there were also guards with knives standing outside, keeping the entire village under tight control.
Seeing this scene, Shen Yuan couldn't help but feel a little strange, so she slowed down the horse.
In Chujia Village.
All the villagers of Chujia Village were driven to the Chujia Ancestral Hall halfway up the mountain.
Several guards with their faces covered by gauze and carrying machetes blocked the entrance to the ancestral hall completely.
"Brother, cough cough cough, why are they locking us up here? We haven't done anything bad lately! Why... cough cough cough... I'm so scared... I want to go home... cough cough cough..."
Before Chu Qiuyue could finish speaking, she coughed uncontrollably.
When she coughed, the other villagers started coughing as well.
If Chu Yuning didn't understand what had happened before, he now understood completely. In Chu Family Village, not only were he and Chu Qiuyue sick, but most of the other villagers were also ill.
A disease that can spread so quickly can only be a plague!
He actually contracted the plague?
How is that possible?
He didn't go anywhere, so how could he have contracted the plague?
Yesterday, the clan chief went to the county town to ask a doctor to treat the villagers because too many people were sick. The doctor arrived yesterday, and this morning the county magistrate surrounded the entire village with his guards. For the magistrate to make such a fuss, someone in the village must have contracted the plague.
Because of the epidemic, the village needs to be sealed off. The idea is that burning everyone in the village alive will stop the plague.
This is a strategy for dealing with epidemics that they learned when studying policy theories.
He used to think that the strategy left by his predecessors was perfect.
But now that he himself had become a villager in the plague-stricken village, Chu Yuning suddenly felt that all the words on the scroll were like cold, sharp blades, piercing his brow with unerring precision.
How can such an inhumane plan be implemented?
Chu Yuning suddenly squeezed out of the crowd and shouted to the guards outside the door, "Cough... I, I'm not sick! I'm not sick! Let me out! Let me out now!"
"The magistrate said that regardless of whether someone is sick or not, everyone in Chu Family Village, regardless of gender, age, or gender, whether they are newborn infants or chicks just hatched from a henhouse, as long as they are alive, must die!"
The guards stood about ten steps away from the villagers of Chu Family Village, forming a circle around them, and coldly watched the villagers standing in the ancestral hall.
Upon hearing the guard's words, the villagers were immediately terrified and tried to run out of the ancestral hall.
But as soon as someone ran out, the guards guarding the ancestral hall all pulled out arrows from their backs and shot one of the runners through the heart, killing him instantly.
Seeing this, the villagers of Chujia Village dared not make any further moves and all shrank back.
When the old patriarch of the Chu family saw his clansmen lying in pools of blood, he was overcome with grief. He pounded his cane with a deafening roar and demanded, "Why did you kill us? Cough cough cough, why?"
"Because you have contracted the plague, the magistrate has decreed that all those who have contracted the plague must die!"
Upon hearing this, the Chu family patriarch shuddered and collapsed to the ground, losing his balance.
The villagers of Chujia Village looked at each other, finding it hard to accept what the guard was saying.
How did they get the plague?
It's been snowing for almost half a month, and they haven't even left the village. How could someone have contracted the plague and spread it to the entire village?
"Waaaaah—!!!"
The child inside the ancestral hall was frightened and began to cry loudly. The baby's voice was so loud that it instantly tugged at everyone's heartstrings.
The Chu family patriarch sat dejectedly on the ground. He was old; a man with half his body buried was gone, and death was nothing to lament. But there were so many children in the village, some seven or eight years old who had just learned to read, some only a month old and still nursing in their mothers' arms. They were so young, and they were going to be burned alive. How could anyone accept this?
"Gentlemen, please pass on a message to the magistrate: please spare these children who are not yet sick!" The old patriarch of the Chu family stood up shakily, leaning on his cane, and bowed repeatedly to the guards outside the door.
"The illness mainly affects people from our clan. The few families living on the mountain have no contact with us. Please, sir, spare their children!"
The guard snapped, "Are you deaf? Our magistrate said everyone in your village is to die!"
"Even the doctor who treated you yesterday has been killed! The magistrate will not let anyone who has come into contact with the plague go unpunished!"
"Stop daydreaming! No one can escape today! If you have someone to blame, blame the people who gave you this plague!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the head guard gave the order.
"Set it on fire! Burn the village down!"
In an instant, countless rockets were launched in succession, attacking the Chu Family Village Ancestral Hall from all directions. Every place the arrow hit set ablaze, and the flames quickly spread, forming a sea of fire that engulfed the entire ancestral hall.
The villagers of Chujia Village panicked and ran around in all directions, crying and shouting for help.
Many children, caught in the crowd, were knocked to the ground before they could even react to what was happening.
Arrows pierced their hearts, stomachs, and limbs, turning them into hedgehogs.
The woman's eyes widened in horror as she tried to rush forward to protect her child, but she was burned by sparks falling from the arrow...
In an instant, the villagers' screams echoed throughout the entire land.
Shen Yuan stood at the village entrance. Although she was far away, she was still moved by the mournful sounds and her whole body trembled.
She couldn't help but step forward and ask, "Sir, what crime has Chu Family Village committed that warrants the burning of the village?"
"Go away, go away! You're not from this village, why are you asking so many questions? Get out of here! Or I'll throw you both into the village too!"
The guards impatiently chased Shen Yuan away.
Shen Yuan looked at the gauze covering the guard's face, but instead of leaving, she moved closer to the guard. "In Chu Family Village, has someone contracted the plague?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
