Thousands of civilians fled to Shaanxi, Xuanfu and other places.

The officers and soldiers did not dare to confront them head-on, and allowed the civilians to break through their defenses and flee elsewhere.

"We must intercept them. If we allow these infected people to flee elsewhere, the consequences will be disastrous." Yin Chengyu's face was gloomy, and his eyes were full of anger. "Xue Shu will lead his men to intercept them in the direction of Shaanxi, and I will go to Datong Prefecture myself."

Time was running out, so Xue Shu immediately led his men to rush to Shaanxi after receiving the order. At the same time, Yin Chengyu left Taiyuan Prefecture and rushed to Datong Prefecture.

After riding for nearly three hours, Yin Chengyu arrived at Datong Prefecture and found that the atmosphere in Datong was very different from that in other prefectures.

The people of other prefectures had personally experienced Zhou Weishan's atrocities, and at first they hardly dared to go out on the streets in broad daylight, and most of them hid. But now, in Datong Prefecture, all the people took to the streets. They walked slowly in the same direction, with fear, uneasiness, and undisguised anger on their faces.

"That direction is Weixian, which is located at the junction of Datong and Xuanfu." Yin Chengyu reined in his horse, looked at it from a distance, and without entering the city, he headed straight for Weixian.

Wei County is located at the northernmost part of Datong Prefecture, bordering Xuanfu, which belongs to Northern Zhili.

Shanxi was blocked by high mountains in the east, and going south required passing through many checkpoints such as Taiyuan Prefecture. As a result, most of the disaster victims fled to Shaanxi in the southwest and Xuanfu in the north.

When Yin Chengyu and his men arrived, they saw heavy military deployment on the border of Wei County.

However, the panicked and angry people were not afraid of these soldiers and some of them had already started to attack the defense line. Most of these soldiers were from Shanxi and faced with the angry people, they hesitated and gradually showed signs of defeat.

The common people gathered together and charged forward, but the soldiers were cautious and could only retreat.

Yin Chengyu rode forward, and when Jiang Xiaowen, the general of Datong, saw him, he quickly wiped the sweat off his face and came forward to greet him.

"Your Highness, this place is dangerous. Please go to the county government office and sit for a while."

He bent his body slightly, and kept wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeves, but his eyes kept glancing at the angry people behind him, looking worried and anxious but helpless.

Yin Chengyu was in a very bad mood to begin with. Seeing a senior official who was in charge of tens of thousands of troops on the border in such a miserable state, his expression became completely gloomy. "I'm going to the county government. What will you do with these people?"

Jiang Xiaowen said hesitantly: "These people are just making a fuss. After a while, they will naturally disperse..."

Yin Chengyu sneered: "Will they disperse after a while? Do you know how many of these people are infected with the plague? If they gather like this every day, will the soldiers on duty get sick, not to mention the people? If the soldiers on duty get sick, will the disease spread among the army? When the soldiers on duty die of the plague on the border of Great Yan, who will resist when the foreign enemies invade?"

Jiang Xiaowen obviously hadn't thought of this. He was stunned for a moment, stammering and unable to answer.

He was originally just a deputy general, because the original general was a close confidant of the patrol officer Zhou Weishan, and was implicated when Zhou Weishan was imprisoned. As a result, he, the deputy general, finally stood out and took over the vacancy.

But they didn't expect that before they could feel proud of themselves, they would encounter a riot by disaster victims.

Jiang Xiaowen wiped his sweat repeatedly, but could only say: "It is my fault for not considering it carefully. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

The situation was critical, but the general was unfit for duty. Yin Chengyu had no choice but to take charge himself.

He rode his horse to the rear of the defense line, looked at the soldiers with hesitant expressions, and called the standard-bearer.

"Pass the order down. Put up shields and prepare archers. Anyone who forcibly breaks through the defense line will be killed without mercy!"

The flag bearer was shocked by the coldness in his words, but did not dare to disobey. He waved his flags crosswise and sent out a flag signal.

The defending soldiers received the order and quickly redeployed. The infantry raised their shields, and the archers behind them drew their bows and arrows. The arrows flashed with cold light and pointed at the people in front.

The enraged civilians were startled by the sudden change in formation, and then saw the dense and cold arrows emerging from the gaps in the shields. They retreated in panic subconsciously.

After a brief panic and silence, someone shouted: "The prince is going to massacre the city! Kill people!"

The refugees, who had been briefly silent because of the shock of the arrows, were ignited with anger again in extreme panic.

They began trying to move forward again, their movements even more violently than before.

Yin Chengyu looked at the conflict ahead, his face more cold than ever before, and ordered without hesitation: "Shoot! Change guns!"

The suspended arrows were shot out, and the victims at the front fell one after another.

Behind the shield, the archers retreated, and the soldiers with spears in the back stepped forward, with the spear tips passing through the gaps in the shield, still pointing forward.

The fall of their comrades calmed the people whose minds were filled with anger, and fear took over again.

Finally, they stopped charging forward fearlessly and instead stayed where they were, confronting each other.

When Yin Chengyu saw this scene, his cold eyes softened slightly.

By this time, the sky was already darkening, and the light was fading. The countless people gathered together, looking up, their faces showing anger or fear, but their eyes also revealed numbness and hopelessness.

However, the epidemic control in Shanxi was clearly effective at the beginning and should not have come to this.

Yin Chengyu closed his eyes and told the flag bearer, "Say it as I say."

The flag bearer struck the bronze bell as ordered, and loudly relayed his words to everyone: "His Royal Highness has said that the massacre of the city is a rumor. The epidemic in Taiyuan Prefecture has been brought under control, and the rest of the prefectures in Shanxi will follow Taiyuan Prefecture's example. Those infected with the epidemic can be treated at the leprosy center, and those who are not sick will be affected by famine and epidemics. Those who have no food can be given rice and porridge, and the elderly, weak and sick can be treated by doctors and given medicine. As long as you follow the government's notice and stay at home when there is nothing to do, His Royal Highness will never abandon any of the people."

The flag bearer shouted and repeated Yin Chengyu's words over and over again.

Seeing the refugees in front of him go from silence to whispering, Yin Chengyu said, "Everyone should return home now. Starting tomorrow, notices will be posted at the city gates, and officers and soldiers will read out all the disaster relief regulations. As long as everyone follows the rules, everyone will be able to receive rice, food, and medicine."

The gathered victims rioted for a while, then gradually began to disperse.

Seeing that the number of people gathered was decreasing, some of them, probably friends or relatives who were injured, stayed by the side hesitantly, but did not dare to help.

Yin Chengyu then said to Jiang Xiaowen, who was trembling beside him, "Send someone to check on the civilians who were shot and injured. Collect the bodies of the dead and bury them. If they have relatives, give them compensation. Send the injured to Shanji Hall for treatment."

Seeing that he had not been punished, Jiang Xiaowen breathed a sigh of relief, responded hastily, and almost fled.

After the last group of civilians had dispersed, Yin Chengyu rearranged the border defense and then went to the Weixian County Government for a temporary rest.

Jiang Xiaowen ordered his men to resettle the injured victims and came to report with a nervous look on his face.

As there was a shortage of manpower at the moment, Yin Chengyu didn't punish him for the time being, but he couldn't show any good face to him either, so he said coldly: "Tell me the details again."

Jiang Xiaowen trembled as he told the situation.

It turned out that rumors of a massacre had already spread when Yin Chengyu dispatched troops to blockade the Shanxi border.

However, Jiang Xiaowen did not take it seriously at the time. Until the rumors intensified in the last two days, before Jiang Xiaowen could react, these people gathered together at night, broke through the defense line and fled to other places.

"Dividing the troops into several groups, and letting the infected patients serve as the front line?"

Yin Chengyu frowned, his eyes gleaming with a sharp light: "It sounds like they came prepared. Someone must have instigated this riot."

If it was just an ordinary conflict, it would be a confrontation between two parties like today. But last night's riot was led by infected patients, and the soldiers were afraid to act rashly, which is called a gap in the defense line.

With such a plan, there must be someone behind it.

Yin Chengyu pondered for a long time, then called Cui Cilai, the head of Xichang, and said, "Send someone to check if anyone among the people has been deliberately spreading rumors and stirring up emotions. Also arrange a group of people to go to Xuanfu and other places to track down the fleeing victims. Also send a personal order to Xuanfu and other places, asking the officials of various prefectures to intensify the investigation and not let these victims enter the city."

Cui Ci was Xue Shu's confidant. Now Xue Shu had led his men to Shaanxi to intercept them, and it was unknown when he would be able to return. Yin Chengyu had no choice but to summon Cui Ci temporarily.

After arranging all the matters one by one, Yin Chengyu returned to Datong City early the next morning and personally took charge of the disaster relief affairs.

Three days later, Xue Shu led his men to Datong Prefecture.

To go from Datong to Shaanxi, one must pass through Baodezhou. Xue Shu received the order and rode as fast as he could to Baodezhou. He stopped all the refugees at the entrance to Shaanxi and also arrested two suspects who had been inciting the emotions of the disaster victims.

He first sent these disaster victims to Taiyuan Prefecture for resettlement, and then escorted the suspects to Datong Prefecture.

When Xue Shu went to meet Yin Chengyu, he happened to run into Cui Ci who was reporting back.

Cui Ci was a close confidant whom he had promoted. When he saw him, he told him about the investigation.

After listening to this, Xue Shu nodded slightly and said, "You can leave first. I will report this matter to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Afterwards, he handed the two suspects over to Cui Ci and went to look for Yin Chengyu.

Yin Chengyu was in his study checking letters sent from all over the place.

After several days of tracking and interception, some of the refugees from Shanxi who had fled were intercepted and brought back. However, Zhili was not as vast and sparsely populated as Shanxi and Shaanxi, and the refugees who had fled to Xuanfu had already fled to other prefectures in Zhili after seeing that they could not enter the city, like fish in water, without a trace.

Now, three days have passed, and only a few hundred people have been sent back. It is difficult to trace the whereabouts of the rest, and I am afraid they have fled to various places in Zhili.

Yin Chengyu felt a headache when he thought about how many infected patients there were among the missing people.

He had hardly had a good rest in the past three days, and seeing bad news one after another, he felt exhausted.

He was worried that even if he were to be reborn, he would still be powerless to reverse this catastrophe.

It even indirectly led to the early outbreak of this epidemic.

When Xue Shu entered the room, he saw him rubbing his nose, his face full of fatigue and haggardness.

Yin Chengyu calmed down when he heard him come in, but his voice was still tired: "How is the situation?"

"They have all been stopped, and the two instigators have been captured." Xue Shu looked at his expression and asked, "How long has it been since your highness had a good rest?"

Yin Chengyu has fair skin, and whenever he doesn't get enough rest, the dark circles under his eyes become particularly noticeable.

"I can't sleep."

Probably because he heard that all the people from Shaanxi had returned, Yin Chengyu's tense expression relaxed a little. He leaned back in his armchair, raised his hand to cover his eyes and eyebrows, and said, "I have a headache. Can you massage it for me?"

Xue Shu walked behind him, loosened his hair crown, inserted his ten fingers into his hair, and gently massaged it.

The author has something to say:

Gou Gou: Your Highness can’t sleep when I’m not around.

Your Highness:?