Chapter 349: Poison Epidemic Outbreak
"Your Majesty! Absolutely not."
Prime Minister Weng Zhongru slumped to his knees and urgently advised, "The Lancang River is the mother river of Nanzhao, nourishing countless people on both sides! If you poison the river, the people of Nanzhao... will bear the brunt of the consequences, and countless lives will be lost, Your Majesty."
"Womanly kindness!"
Nong Zhixiong kicked over the imperial desk in front of him.
"This is a national war! It's a matter of life and death. Those who achieve great things don't care about trivial matters! As long as we can destroy the Yan army, what does the death of a few untouchables matter?! This order cannot be questioned! Anyone who violates it will be executed!"
The hall was dead silent, with only the sound of the ministers gasping for air.
No one dared to speak out against it anymore. His Majesty's brutality and madness had already been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
After the court was dismissed, Nong Zhixiang returned to the bedroom, where Concubine Li had been waiting for a long time.
"How is it?" Lipin asked in a low voice, her eyes full of nervousness.
Nong Zhixiong nodded and whispered back, "Yes. Have you contacted the spy?"
The spies he was asking about were the people from Dayan lurking in Nanzhao.
Lipin shook her head, her face full of apology and anxiety.
"Not yet."
She was originally a maid in the Nanzhao Palace who cleaned the remote cold palace.
Because of her natural beauty, she was coveted by many eunuchs and guards.
One night, she was nearly raped by a group of guards and was rescued by Su Muyang.
So, she recognized Su Muyang as her master and did whatever he asked her to do.
Even after she found out that Su Muyang was from Dayan and was lurking in the Nanzhao Palace to kill their king, she still helped him.
But she was just a little palace maid, and even though she was now a concubine, her power was still limited.
It was not an easy task for her to contact Dayan's spies.
Su Muyang sneaked into the Nanzhao Palace alone, with no one he could trust around him.
The only person who can help him now is the woman he rescued along the way.
He also knew that this woman only had two confidants that she could rely on, so he did not blame her for her inefficiency.
Now he pretends to be "Nong Zhixiong", but he dares not use Nong Zhixiong's original confidants for fear of exposing his identity.
Therefore, he had not yet contacted Dayan's spies, and was restricted in what he did.
Even to convey the message to Yan Shixu, he could only do so through a legitimate declaration of war.
Now that the Nanzhao Flying Eagle Cavalry is heading north to Jingzhou, we must quickly inform Yan Shixu of the news so that he can set up an ambush in advance.
As for poisoning the Lancang River...
He deliberately said it in the court just to spread this "crazy" order.
By then, it will arouse public outrage.
There are still some conscientious Nanzhao officials who will certainly try their best to stop it, and may even... directly destroy the "Pool of Ten Thousand Poisons".
At that time, Dayan's spies would take advantage of the situation and wait for an opportunity to completely cut off the source of the poison, or even burn down the Poisonous Miasma Mountain.
Wait until all the poisonous substances in the Poisonous Miasma Mountain are burned out and the poisonous gas dissipates.
Then Dayan's iron hoof will be able to step into Nanzhao with dignity.
However, before burning down the poisonous miasma mountain, the people around Zhennan Pass had to be evacuated in advance.
After all, Zhennan Pass is not far from the Poisonous Miasma Mountain, and the people are likely to inhale the poisonous gas and die from poisoning.
Su Muyang was lost in thought, thinking of a solution, when he looked up he saw Lipin's self-blaming expression.
He whispered comfortingly, "It's okay. My identity has now been reported to Dayan, and he will make arrangements. Those spies will come looking for me soon. We just need to wait patiently."
Lipin guessed that the 'he' Su Muyang was referring to was Emperor Dayan.
It seems that her master has a very good relationship with Emperor Dayan.
Since the master said to wait, she would wait with peace of mind.
Lipin murmured "hmm" in a low voice, and then her voice suddenly rose.
She started to say 'hmmmm ahhh' in an extremely charming voice.
"Your Majesty, I hate it~~~"
"Please be gentle, it really hurts~~~"
“~~~~~~”
The sound was heard outside the palace, causing the palace maids and eunuchs guarding outside to blush.
This Lipin has a really good life.
Who wouldn’t envy a palace maid who used to sweep the cold palace and suddenly became a phoenix?
Inside the palace, Su Muyang glanced straight past Concubine Li, who was still moaning softly, and walked to the secret compartment. He took out the antidotes for "Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Miasma" and "Thousand Insect Plague", holding them tightly in his hands, thinking to himself:
Lao Xu, you must send someone here quickly!
Otherwise, if the thousand-insect plague breaks out, many people will die.
And this dragon throne, it makes me feel like I'm going to roll over and over again!"
…
Su Muyang was right. It took 500,000 soldiers from Dayan to leave Zhennan Pass.
The wind in southern Xinjiang seemed to have taken on an ominous smell overnight.
The galloping horses of eight hundred miles shattered the silence of dawn.
When the postman rolled off his horse, his lips were cracked and purple, and his voice was hoarse like a broken gong.
"Report! An acute epidemic has broken out in Xianshi County and Luanshan County of Luozhou, which border Yunzhou! Patients are experiencing high fevers, vomiting blood, and skin ulcers. The dead are lying on the ground... The epidemic is spreading rapidly."
Soon after, Yongzhou and Yanzhou, which border Yunzhou, and even Liuzhou, which is further inland, also started to sound the alarm.
News of the epidemic flew to the capital like snowflakes, and also arrived at the desk in the empty barracks at Zhennan Pass.
After reading it, Wen Zhiyan sent someone to deliver the epidemic report to Zhaotong Customs for the emperor to review.
The places where the epidemic broke out were the cities that Nong Zhigao had "inspected" along the way when he retreated.
He quietly planted the seeds of the epidemic in those places, which now quickly turned into a frenzy that devoured lives.
Even though the anti-epidemic department had made sufficient preparations in advance and people in various parts of the south had taken anti-epidemic medicines in advance, some young children and elderly people were still unable to resist the plague and died quickly.
The epidemic is too terrible, and the speed of resisting the epidemic will never be faster than the speed of its spread.
The cities in southern Xinjiang were instantly shrouded in the shadow of death.
Panic, like the plague itself, spread rapidly among the crowd.
The once bustling streets have become deserted, and people are almost all hiding at home, not daring to go out.
After the epidemic broke out in the southern provinces, an "epidemic prevention and treatment team" headed by Wu Junnian, the imperial physician, and composed of doctors from medical clinics across the country, rushed to the epidemic area overnight.
Except for Nangong Ziyun, all the imperial doctors who were originally developing epidemic prevention drugs in Zhennan Pass were assigned to various epidemic areas to provide assistance, including Nangong Mu.
The powerful material allocation of the "National Defense and Fund Raising Bureau" is running at full capacity, and the epidemic prevention medicinal materials stockpiled in various hubs - mugwort, atractylodes, lime, strong liquor, etc. are being continuously sent to the epidemic area.
At the same time, the Anti-epidemic Division coordinated with local governments to strictly order all epidemic cities to be closed immediately, divide the epidemic areas, and isolate patients.
Temples and government warehouses were requisitioned to set up "leper quarters" for centralized treatment.
Lime was poured on the streets of the city every day, and the clothes and bodies of the sick were burned.
A "plague shelter" was set up outside the city to accommodate people who were not infected but needed observation, and the government provided them with medicine and rice.
All business travelers must be observed in the "plague shelter" for ten days and can only pass through after being cleared.
News between cities was transmitted by carrier pigeons to reduce human contact.
…
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