If Yin Chengyu hadn't asked, Xue Shu would have almost forgotten his birthday.

He hasn't celebrated his birthday for a long time.

In the summer of the 14th year of Longfeng, a great epidemic followed the flood in Yutai. Countless people died at that time, and the corpses that no one collected were soaked in the sewage, swollen and smelly. Even the memories of that period seemed to be tainted with the stench of corpses.

He lost his loved ones one after another, and whenever he recalled that dark time, he always felt as if he was trapped in a bottomless quagmire. At the bottom of the quagmire were the corpses of his loved ones and countless wronged souls, who clung to him and pulled him down.

Only Yin Chengyu came from the sky like a god, without a speck of dust on him. He reached out his hand to him and brought him back to the world.

The memory of the steaming longevity noodles made by my mother has gradually become blurred, replaced by Yin Chengyu's increasingly clear face.

The cool and refreshing fragrance of the snow plum dispelled the stench in his memory. He looked at him lazily and said to him with a smile: "On your birthday, I will also give you a gift."

Xue Shu's anticipation was rekindled.

After many years, his loved ones are gone and he is alone. But His Highness still remembers his birthday.

Because of the anticipation in my heart, the days that were just like any other seemed like years.

Xue Shu was in Xichang during the day and could not go to Ciqing Palace, nor could he follow her around all the time as he did outside the capital. He could only catch a glimpse from afar when he walked around the palace to do his errands.

Due to the direct spread of the epidemic, Yin Chengyu has frequently summoned officials to the palace to discuss matters these days.

He was wearing the solemn court robes of a crown prince, with delicate and beautiful eyebrows and eyes, calm, dignified and serious, and an imposing aura.

Xue Shu's gaze followed him from afar, looking him up and down, engraving it in his heart.

I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when I saw that he wasn't wearing the lucky buckle I had given him.

Perhaps it was because His Highness had been more lenient and tolerant towards him in recent days, which made him act more boldly.

At nightfall that day, Xue Shu turned over and over on the couch for a while, then quietly went to Ciqing Palace again.

As expected, Yin Chengyu had not rested yet and was handling government affairs in the Hongren Hall.

Since he didn't need to see outsiders, he only wore a purple suit. The long sleeves were thin and flowing, but the waist was rounded to reveal a seductive curve. The rich purple made his skin look like white jade.

Sitting at the desk, his eyebrows and eyes are cold and he looks dignified.

Xue Shu looked at him intently with bated breath, and was not careful for a moment, so he was discovered by the patrolling guards.

"Who is snooping?!"

Xue Shu's mind suddenly focused, and before the guards came over, he hid in a big tree not far away.

The guard came over and took a look around, but didn't see anyone, so he looked around in confusion.

However, Yin Chengyu, who was busy with his official duties, heard the commotion. After asking, he figured out what was going on and made up an excuse to send the guards away.

After the guards left, Yin Chengyu looked out the window at the empty room and said with suppressed anger, "Why don't you get out now?"

Xue Shu jumped down from the tree and carefully dusted off his body before climbing in through the window.

Yin Chengyu put down his pen, frowned and scolded him: "You have been getting more and more presumptuous recently."

This reprimand was not painful or itchy to Xue Shu. He pretended not to hear it. He stared at Yin Chengyu's waist, where he only wore a dragon-shaped jade. He asked, "Why don't you wear the lucky buckle I gave you?"

That was a gift that he had carefully selected for a long time. It could be worn by His Highness at any time, but it would not be noticed by others and ruin His Highness's plan.

Unexpectedly, he sneaked into the East Palace in the middle of the night just for such a small matter. Yin Chengyu's face became even angrier. "Zheng Duobao has arranged my clothes and accessories. Don't push your luck."

Xue Shu pursed his lips and said nothing, but from the look in his eyes, one could tell that he had no idea he was wrong.

I can’t say I feel quite aggrieved.

Yin Chengyu didn't like him, so he crumpled up the paper in his hand and threw it at him: "If you don't have anything important to do, get out of here. If you dare to break in at night again, I'll send you to Zhaoji for a short stay next time! Gao Yuan and his people are waiting to catch you."

Xue Shu did not get any benefit and was even scolded, so he had to leave reluctantly.

Throughout June, Yin Chengyu was worried about the direct epidemic.

Although precautions had been taken in advance, the dense population of the prefectures in Zhili, coupled with the fact that refugees from Shanxi had fled everywhere in the morning and mixed in with the local refugees, caused the plague to spread quickly among the refugees and then to ordinary people.

The epidemic spread rapidly, and the provinces were constantly in urgent need of supplies, from soldiers to labor, from silver to medicine. The whole situation was like a bottomless pit, emptying the treasury that was just getting richer.

In order to prevent the direct epidemic from spreading further, regardless of the losses, Yin Chengyu first ordered a large number of troops to seal off the state capital where the epidemic broke out, and then issued a strict order that all people must stay at home and not go out at will. If there are refugees, they will all be forcibly sent to the Shanji Hall. At the same time, several major water and land routes in the state capital were cut off to prevent the movement of people.

The officers and soldiers in the city were divided into several teams. One team was responsible for distributing rice and epidemic prevention medicines door to door every five days; one team was responsible for cleaning the streets and catching rats; and the team with the largest number of people checked the conditions of the people in the city twice a day. If there were any sick people, they would be sent to the leprosy center immediately.

Although this temporarily controlled the spread of the plague in the city, it also caused increasing panic among the people in the various provinces of Zhili.

In the increasingly tense atmosphere, something happened again - some state officials and soldiers filled their pockets and embezzled the disaster relief rice and grain, and did not distribute the grain and medicine to the people. The people were forced to stay at home and could not go out. They were also cut off from food, and they clashed with the officials and soldiers, and some died.

Although the corrupt officers and soldiers were later punished and the incident was settled.

However, there were still officials in the court who were dissatisfied with Yin Chengyu's tough measures. They believed that he was making a big fuss by wasting military forces and emptying the national treasury for an epidemic, and also arousing the wrath of heaven and people.

Among them, officials headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary Shao Tian had the strongest opinions. Several times, the epidemic prevention measures formulated by Yin Chengyu were debated due to the opposition of Shao Tian and others, and thus were delayed in implementation.

Yin Chengyu lost his temper several times, and Chen Ming was very powerful, but it was of no use.

These people have not witnessed the tragic situation that Dayan suffered after being ravaged by the plague in the previous life. In this life, the epidemic in Shanxi is under control quite well. Instead, these pedantic officials believe that the plague is no different from ordinary epidemics and think that he is making a fuss out of nothing.

By late June, the lumps plague also broke out in Wangjing City.

At first, the waiter in the restaurant developed a high fever, and then several people in the restaurant developed nodules. When they went to the hospital for treatment, they passed the disease to the patients and doctors in the hospital...

By the time the news reached Yin Chengyu, more than a dozen people had died in the capital. Even soldiers in the Five Military Commandery had contracted the disease and died, and there was no telling how many more people had not yet developed the disease.

After Yin Chengyu learned the news, he immediately ordered Xue Shu to lead the elite soldiers of the Four Guards Camp to block off Wangjing City, and then began to check for sick people from house to house.

After investigation, it was discovered that an official of the imperial court had also been infected with the plague, but he did not want to go to a leprosy clinic so he kept it a secret and did not report it. He recuperated at home, and as a result, the servants in the mansion also became infected one after another, and several of them had died.

Yin Chengyu was furious when he heard the news. He stopped the grand court meeting and ordered all officials to stay at home and conduct self-examination.

At the same time, an order was issued to dismiss the official who had concealed the truth. However, before the dismissal documents were delivered, a white flag was hung in front of the official's house.

Because of the spread of the lumps and lumps plague, the funeral homes in the capital were overcrowded. White banners were hung high in the city, and coffins were sent out from the city gates every day.

The court officials who had previously questioned Yin Chengyu for making a fuss finally stopped talking when they witnessed the tragic scene of white banners hanging high and paper money flying everywhere.

The severity of the lumpsy disease is unmatched by any previous epidemic.

Many government orders that had previously been obstructed were finally implemented smoothly.

However, the stockpiled medicinal materials had been almost consumed when the epidemic broke out in Shanxi and other places in Zhili. Now that the Wangjing pimple epidemic has spread, rice, grain and medicinal materials are in short supply and have to be transferred from surrounding areas.

To be on the safe side, Yin Chengyu ordered Xue Shu to send a message to Wei Xihe in the south, asking him to purchase medicinal herbs from the south and transport them back to the capital by water as soon as possible.

But before the medicinal materials from the south arrived in Beijing, the oral order from Emperor Longfeng arrived first.

Although Emperor Longfeng was in Nanjing, he did not relax his control over Wangjing.

After the situation in the capital was reported to Nanjing, it was exaggerated by Gao Xian and others and finally reached the ears of Emperor Longfeng.

When Emperor Longfeng heard that the scaly epidemic had spread in the capital, he was furious and immediately ordered Gao Xian to rush back to Wangjing. He first reprimanded the prince for his poor epidemic prevention efforts, and then asked the eunuch Gao Xian to stay in the capital to assist the prince.

It was called assistance, but in reality it was decentralization. It was almost a blatant questioning of Yin Chengyu's ability.

Yin Chengyu knew the character of Emperor Longfeng and did not have too many emotional ups and downs. He now only wanted to control the epidemic in Wangjing City first.

On the contrary, Xue Shu's face turned cold whenever he saw Gao Xian pointing fingers at him.

If Yin Chengyu had not privately warned him not to cause trouble at a critical moment, he would most likely have gone to find trouble with Gao Xian.

But even so, he still couldn't bear to see Yin Chengyu suffer this injustice.

Thinking of Emperor Longfeng who had long since fled to Nanjing Prefecture, he suppressed the anger in his eyes and sent his confidant to deliver a secret letter to Master Ziyuan.

The letter was very short, consisting of only a few sentences: The elixir of rejuvenation can be presented to the emperor.

On July 12, under Yin Chengyu's tough measures, the epidemic in Wangjing City was finally brought under control.

Although white flags were still flying in the city, coffins were no longer sent out every day like before.

Another day, Xue Shu received an urgent letter sent back by Wei Xihe.

The letter said that the required medicinal materials had been transported to the capital by water, and along with the medicinal materials, there were also a dozen doctors who were recruited from the south who were good at treating epidemics. Among them, there was a doctor from Fujian who was said to be proficient in the method of bloodletting and had saved many infected patients with this method. Perhaps he could cure the pimple plague this time.

Calculating the time, the letter was sent by express horse on the second day of July, and the ship carrying the medicinal materials set sail on the same day. In another half month, it should arrive in Beijing.

Xue Shu put away the letter and waited until it was getting dark before reporting to Yin Chengyu.

When they arrived at Ciqing Palace, they found that there was another person in Hongren Hall.

It was actually Yin Ci Guang.

Yin Ciguang was not favored, so naturally he did not accompany Emperor Longfeng to Nanjing.

He came this time because he had been reading ancient medical books for a while and found a method of bloodletting that could cure epidemics. He came to recommend it to Yin Chengyu.

Since he had been weak since childhood and had been ill for a long time, he became a doctor and was quite proficient in medical theory, so he wanted to try the blood-letting method at the plague patient's place.

Yin Chengyu was a little hesitant at first. It was still unknown whether bloodletting would be effective or not. It was too risky to just let Yin Ciguang go.

The leprosy center was full of infected patients. Even doctors in good health had to take risks if they went in, let alone Yin Ci Guang who was always weak.

But after hearing Xue Shu's report, he became hesitant again.

Among the doctors Wei Xihe found, there was one who knew the method of bloodletting, and maybe this method could really be effective.

But it would take at least half a month for the fleet to reach Beijing from the south. The later the delay, the more serious the epidemic would be.

After considering it for a long time, he finally agreed to Yin Ciguang's request.

"You are weak and prone to illness. I have ordered the imperial physician to accompany you. You can teach the imperial physician this bloodletting method and let them do it." Yin Chengyu looked at Yin Ciguang with gratitude: "Whether it is useful or not, I thank you on behalf of the people."

Yin Ci Guang did not refuse in vain. He lowered his head and said softly, "It is my honor to serve His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

With the prince's words, it was worth the days he had spent searching through medical books in search of a solution.

The prince was born noble, and with the Yu family as his backing, he had countless followers.

If he wants to get on this big ship, he has to make himself more useful than others.

This epidemic is the best opportunity, and he made the right move.

The author has something to say:

Gou Gou: Why don’t you wear the auspicious buckle I gave you?

Your Highness: I wear it, but I won’t show it to you:)