Zhu Ying looked at the data in the memorial, his face already beginning to look gloomy.

The data here is very confusing. It does not refer to just one memorial, but all the memorials added together.

The number reported in most memorials is not very high, and occasionally the number of only one or two memorials appears to be even lower.

However, Zhu Ying had gained a good understanding of the situation in Daming County through constant review of memorials during these days and was already very familiar with most of the conditions in Daming County.

When he didn't understand something, he would directly ask the eunuch Guo Zhong, who was in charge of writing.

If Guo Zhong didn't know, he would go and look for it himself and then come back to report to Guo Zhong.

Among these memorials, there was one that said that a small county had a population of nearly two thousand people who died from the plague.

It does seem like there are not many, and the death toll in a county town due to the plague seems normal.

But Zhu Ying happened to have learned before that the population of this county town was very small, only about four thousand households.

In other words, when the memorial was submitted, half of the families in the county had someone die in the plague.

The transmission of memorials was naturally done through post stations, and although the delivery of memorials like this could not reach the express speed of 600 miles, it was at least 300 miles a day.

This means that what Zhu Ying saw happened ten days ago.

Before this, the imperial court had arranged officials to deal with the plague in Henan, and Zhu Ying also sent almost all the doctors in the Qunying Chamber of Commerce who knew how to treat the plague.

In addition, many rules were established regarding epidemic prevention measures. These rules were issued by the court and were naturally widely spread.

In ancient times, due to the low population mobility, even if the plague spread very quickly, there would still be a lot of time for reaction.

Unlike later generations, due to the speed of travel, it spread more quickly.

In the current Ming Dynasty, under the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang, people were generally restricted to local areas and were not allowed to move around freely. Even if they had to travel far away for something, they had to get approval from the government and obtain a pass before they could pass through the checkpoints.

There is no doubt that such measures have effectively limited the spread of the plague.

Therefore, from the outbreak of the plague to the present, this matter has not caused much disturbance in the court.

Common plagues occur almost every year, and the sanitary environment in ancient times also made it easy for them to be caused.

There's nothing surprising.

Although Zhu Ying wanted to do more to contain the plague, under the circumstances in ancient times, he could only do his best.

But this time, things seem to be completely different.

"That's not right. In history, there was no large-scale plague in the early Ming Dynasty. Why is it happening now?"

“Could it be the butterfly effect?”

"No, the plague has nothing to do with the butterfly effect. Or maybe I am not well-educated and have not seen any relevant records in the classics."

Zhu Ying pondered in his heart, although he did not graduate from the history major, men are still very interested in history.

Especially the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, I am not clear about the details, but I definitely have some impression of some major things, and I also have a general idea of ​​the scope.

After thinking for a long time, Zhu Ying took out a piece of white paper and began to record and organize the pictures.

This looks more intuitive and makes it easier to investigate the actual situation of the plague.

According to the time of the memorial and the scale of the plague, Zhu Ying simply marked these cities, similar to a map.

It started on which day, with how many people involved, and then on which day the plague began to appear in the next city.

They were listed one by one in this way, and soon more than 30 counties were marked.

After more than half an hour, Zhu Ying looked at the completely marked area in front of him and felt his scalp tingling.

The number of plagues is almost rising in a straight line, and the speed of spread is very fast.

The slowest transmission process takes only about twelve days, and the shortest takes only three days.

This is in theory, but in reality it is definitely faster.

Because when people first get sick, they will never go to see a doctor directly, but will wait for a day or two.

This is especially true in today's Ming Dynasty.

Most people do not have a wealthy family background, so when they encounter some minor illnesses, they basically rely on their bodies to endure it. They will only go to see a doctor when they really can't bear it anymore.

"Guo Zhong, come here quickly."

The next moment, Zhu Ying shouted loudly.

The door was suddenly pushed open and Guo Zhong appeared immediately.

"Go check quickly to find out what kind of plague is happening in Henan Province."

"I obey your order."

Guo Zhong looked quite old and usually walked very softly, but when he sensed the anxious tone of His Royal Highness Chang Sun, he deliberately slowed down for a moment before turning around, and then he broke into a run at a very fast speed.

This speed is totally inconsistent with his age.

Watching Guo Zhong leave, Zhu Ying murmured in his heart: "I hope it's not the plague!"

Perhaps few people know that it is now, right now.

When the Ming Dynasty was just established, Europe was suffering from the Black Death plague.

Europe, which already had an extremely sparse population, had lost one-third of its population to the plague at this time.

The Black Death is the plague.

The plague during this period was almost invincible.

Once you are infected, it is almost certain to die.

For now, the Black Death in Europe has just come to an end.

The situation in the Ming Dynasty made Zhu Ying extremely worried.

This is not a joke.

If you knew how the Black Death in Europe came to an end, you wouldn't think so.

This is completely different from the concept of war.

The Black Death in Europe did not disappear, but all those who were infected died.

All people in the area infected with the Black Death will be isolated and allowed to disappear naturally over time.

As a result, approximately 25 million people in Europe have died directly from the Black Death.

"That shouldn't be the case. How could the plague spread in the early Ming Dynasty? It clearly only started to appear in the late Ming Dynasty, close to 300 years ago."

Zhu Ying seemed a little anxious while waiting.

There were many factors that led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty, but the plague can be said to be the last straw that broke the camel's back.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the global climate experienced a small ice age, which dealt a severe blow to agriculture and caused a large number of farmlands to fail to produce any harvest.

Some people made a living by digging out food stored in rat holes. Later, some people started to eat rats. At that time, many people did not cook rats before eating them. Half-cooked rats were considered good.

They were so hungry that they even ate a lot of raw food.

Rats originally live in a dirty and messy environment, and the variety of germs they carry is beyond imagination.

The plague broke out.

At the same time, drought and epidemics have caused a large number of people to become refugees, and the mobile population has made the epidemic even more difficult to control.

The plague followed the refugees and spread throughout the Ming Dynasty.

In the 14th year of Chongzhen, the plague spread to Damingfu in Beijing. In addition, there was no rain in Damingfu that year, which eventually led to 30% of the people dying of disease and starvation.

When Li Zicheng's peasant uprising army arrived in Beijing, the city that was waiting for them had been riddled with holes due to the plague. Of the three major army camps that originally guarded the capital, only about 50,000 people survived the plague.

On average, each soldier of these defeated troops had to defend three battlements.

They all survived the plague by chance, and their physical fitness has greatly improved compared to before.

The soldiers guarding the capital at that time sat on the ground weakly, unable to even whip their soldiers, and had no will to fight.

There was no ability to resist Li Zicheng's peasant uprising army.

Li Zicheng successfully captured Beijing and changed the country's name to Dashun. However, Li Zicheng hastily withdrew from Beijing the day after he proclaimed himself emperor.

Li Zicheng was able to capture Beijing largely because of the plague, and the reason why Li Zicheng withdrew from Beijing was equally simple, that is, his rebel army also contracted the plague and was unable to withstand the Qing cavalry.

The Qing army had close contact with Li Zicheng's army, so why didn't they get the plague? Later, people looked up historical records and found that only the cavalry escaped the great plague in Europe.

Therefore, historians believe that the fleas that spread the plague may not like the smell of horses, and the Qing army was mainly composed of cavalry, so they naturally would not be infected with the plague.

“Perhaps, we can mobilize a large number of horses to go and prevent the epidemic.”

Zhu Ying suddenly had an idea.

Of course, the plague was not controlled by horses, but the passage of a large number of horses could protect the lives of epidemic prevention personnel to a large extent.

If it really is the plague, then maybe we can give it a try in this situation.

This is the only solution.

At this moment, Zhu Ying had actually figured out why the plague in the early Ming Dynasty was not very famous.

It is very likely that when the plague broke out, most of the sick people in the city died instantly.

However, for the entire Ming Dynasty, although the number of people is not small, it is not as terrifying as Europe today.

However, based on the current memorials, Zhu Ying made a rough estimate and found that the number of people involved was about 200,000.

The current death toll is estimated to be tens of thousands.

This is just the beginning.

If the current situation is not dealt with, the losses of millions in the future may be unstoppable.

Compared with the 25 million people in Europe, it is nothing.

But since Zhu Yingjue knew about this matter, he could not just watch it spread.

Although it is a bit sad, there is no good treatment for the plague in the current Ming Dynasty.

At present, those who have contracted this infectious disease are basically not far from death. The only means to contain it are disinfection and isolation.

That's all.

Some people may wonder, didn’t the ancient authorities isolate people infected with the plague?

Besides, once a person is infected with the plague, they will die within three days. How could the plague spread so quickly?

One thing to understand clearly.

The spread of plague is not from person to person.

It is spread by rats.

The plague initially caused the death of rats, and people were as afraid of them as they were of tigers when they saw dead rats.

People started dying within a few days, countless people died day and night.

What’s even more terrifying is that three seemingly normal people were walking on the road, and suddenly two people appeared on the road.

The speed of the infection and the number of deaths are terrifying.

Not long after, Guo Zhong returned: "Your Highness, it is plague."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ying immediately stood up and headed towards the Huagai Palace without hesitation.

He must explain this matter directly to the old man without any delay.

…

The plague in Henan did not affect the bustle of the streets in the capital.

Moreover, even at present, the court and the people have not paid much attention to the plague in Henan.

Inside Prince Yan’s Palace.

Xu Miaojin was dressed up and waiting here.

Zhu Gaochi had just returned from the palace and had told everyone that his eldest brother would come over around noon to join them in playing.

As for the Qixi Festival, it is lively during the day and even more lively at night.

Xu Miaojin seemed very excited after learning the news.

From time to time, she would ask her maid to check if there were any flaws in her makeup or clothes.

Women in ancient times were actually simpler and more straightforward than those in later generations.

This involves the influence of the growth environment.

For Xu Miaojin, the number of people she knows at this age can be described as very few.

There are even fewer people I am familiar with.

Under such circumstances, it is easy to understand Xu Miaojin's thoughts about Zhu Ying.

Which girl doesn’t have love in her heart?

This is also the reason why stories of heroes saving beauties were always talked about in ancient times.

"Aunt, how about having a cup of tea first, and then we can play a game of Go. It will probably take at least another hour or two for my brother to finish his work, maybe even later."

Zhu Gaochi said somewhat helplessly.

His aunt now gave him the feeling that his elder brother would come over in just one or two sticks of incense.

Maybe even less than two hours. If the Emperor has something to tell me, we can come back after dinner.

Gobang was taught to the two children by Zhu Ying. This game, which was simpler and easier to learn than Go, soon became popular in the imperial academy.

Zhu Gaochi also learned this from this.

To some extent, the Imperial Academy can be regarded as a weather vane for the top nobles of the Ming Dynasty. After all, those who study here also include the descendants of some princes and dukes.

We are all young, and Go is indeed too profound, but we all have Go in our homes.

Changing to a simpler model will naturally make it more popular and spread.

Given Xu Miaojin's excited mood, she certainly had no intention of playing Gobang, but Zhu Gaochi's next words immediately made Xu Miaojin change her mind.

"Aunt, I heard from Yunxun that it was my eldest brother who invented Gobang."

When he heard that it was Zhu Ying, Xu Miaojin suddenly became excited and started playing chess with Zhu Gaochi.

The look he gave the chess pieces seemed to carry a hint of tenderness.

But Xu Miaojin didn't know at the moment that because of the plague reported in the memorial, Zhu Ying was destined to cancel his visit on the Chinese Valentine's Day.

At this moment, in the Huagai Hall of the Ming Imperial Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang was discussing important political matters with the ministers and scholars.

Liu He whispered in Zhu Yuanzhang's ear: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Changsun wants to see you. This old servant has something very important to tell you."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at the ministers who were discussing the matter and said, "Let the eldest grandson come in directly."