Chapter 188 Plague?
"Your Highness, are you saying that there are plague patients among the applicants?" Commander Zhou asked in astonishment.
In all his years in the army, he had never encountered such a situation.
The other generals were also nervous, as if they were facing a powerful enemy.
The second prince said solemnly: "Yes, I got accurate information. There are more than a dozen people in total, and the leader is Suo Youren who is wearing a veil."
"What they have in common is that they are all from Jiaxiang County."
"Now a serious plague has broken out in Jiaxiang County. Because local officials concealed the situation, the epidemic is serious. Liang State took the opportunity to collect some young people infected with the disease to participate in the conscription."
General Cui clenched his fists, making a sound of knuckles rubbing against each other, "They are so vicious!"
Other generals also scolded Liang Chaozong.
"Everyone, be quiet, now is not the time to talk nonsense. The most urgent task is to protect the imperial guards, minimize the losses, and break their conspiracy!" Commander Zhou looked firm.
The second prince agreed, "Commander Zhou is right. Let's find the infected people first and control the situation. I will send someone to the palace to report now, and let the emperor arrange doctors and supplies."
Several generals quickly discussed the preliminary plan.
General Cui and General Zhao led people to search for people from Jiaxiang County among all the applicants.
The second prince wrote down the situation and handed it to Yinbao to deliver it to Emperor Mingxi as soon as possible.
Under the leadership of Commander Zhou, the others settled the applicants and calmed everyone's emotions.
Xia Miaoyuan was also escorted back to the palace.
...
Qianqing Palace.
Emperor Mingxi was shocked when he received the secret letter of the plague conspiracy.
"It's really abominable!" Xia Zhengqi pounded the table with his hand.
The Queen held Xia Miaoyuan tightly in her arms and sat in the warm room, her face full of worry.
"Father, please take care of your health! How should the Imperial Guards camp deal with it now? Please issue an order as soon as possible!" The Prince said loudly.
Xia Zhengqi calmed down and said, "Prince, you should immediately take all the imperial doctors and Doctor Yin to the Imperial Guards camp to diagnose those infected and see if there is a good cure."
"Also, after the diagnosis, you and the imperial doctors should count the required materials and medicines. If there are not enough in the national treasury, ask the Minister of Revenue to allocate funds."
The Prince took the order and did not dare to delay for a moment, and hurried to do the work.
When the Minister of Revenue Zhao Hui heard the words "Funds allocated by the Ministry of Revenue", he shuddered reflexively.
"Your Majesty, is the news accurate? Even if there is a plague, it may not be that serious! Isn't this too much of a fuss?"
Dongfang Yushi also echoed, "Yes, now we don't even know whether the news is true or not."
Seeing Minister Zhao and Dongfang Yushi say this, several other ministers echoed them.
[Humph! The plague in Jiaxiang Town is very scary. I remember from the book that Jiaxiang is a big town with more than 5,000 people, but only 500 people were left due to the plague! ]
[These old pedants, if you are so negligent, I'm afraid the entire imperial army will die. ]
Xia Zhengqi secretly gave his daughter a thumbs up in his heart, fortunately he has a precious daughter.
"Minister Zhao, Dongfang Yushi, do you know the epidemic situation in Jiaxiang Town? What is the current situation?" Xia Zhengqi asked with a cold face.
"I don't know. I haven't heard of the plague in Jiaxiang recently." Dongfang Yushi was a little stunned.
"I don't know either. It's just after the Spring Festival. It's not the season when the plague is prevalent. Besides, Jiaxiang has never had a plague." Minister Zhao's tone was light, as if he was very disdainful of the rumor about the plague in Jiaxiang.
The new Minister of Revenue, Zhao Hui, was very stingy. He would feel very painful for any expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue. He would try every means to shirk it.
As for Dongfang Yushi, he has always been conservative and pedantic in doing things.
"Report..."
Just when the monarch and his ministers were in a stalemate, an urgent voice came in.
A guard ran to the gate of the Palace of Heavenly Purity with sweat all over his forehead.
"Come in!" Xia Zhengqi waved at him.
The guard rushed into the hall in two steps and knelt on the ground. Before he could catch his breath, he said, "Your Majesty, we have just found out the itinerary of the dozen or so infected people."
Xia Zhengqi looked anxious: "Hurry up and tell me!"
"They arrived in the capital last night, the day before the conscription. We speculate that they should have stayed in an inn. It's just that the imperial guards haven't had time to ask them which inn they stayed in
." Xia Zhengqi pursed his lips solemnly, and said, "You continue to investigate. Don't wait for the results of the interrogation from the imperial guards. Continue investigating now. Visit each inn one by one to find out where they live."
The guard bowed and saluted, then immediately left.
Xia Miaoyuan, who was sitting in the warm room, heard all of this. She stamped her feet angrily and muttered, "It's bad!"
[These infected people entered the city and stayed in the inn, which is equivalent to coming into contact with the people of the capital. Now even the people of the capital are in danger. ]
[If a few or a dozen people are infected, and then they infect others, one can infect a large area. Within three days, there will be a large number of infected people in the capital. ]
[Ahhhhhh! Daddy, you should quickly order the disinfection of the capital! ]
[Alas, I don't know if Daddy knows how to disinfect. Sprinkle quicklime on objects on the street to disinfect them. Xia Miaoyuan was so anxious that she could not sit still in the warm room .
She was also troubled by the fact that Emperor Mingxi was discussing matters with more than a dozen ministers in the front hall, so she could not just run over and talk to them.
The warm room was just behind the front hall, and there was only a carved screen between it and Xia Zhengqi's throne. Therefore, Xia Zhengqi could hear his daughter's voice clearly.
He frowned. He did not expect that a dozen infected people who walked around the capital would have such a great power. This was really terrible.
"Jingzhao Yin!" Xia Zhengqi called out loudly.
"Go to the national treasury and get ten tons of quicklime, then sprinkle it on the streets and alleys of the capital for disinfection. Hurry! Go now!"
"If ten tons is not enough, just tell us how much is short. If the national treasury does not have enough, go to the Ministry of Revenue to withdraw money to buy it. Make sure that all the streets and alleys of the capital are sprinkled, including the doorways of every household."
Emperor Mingxi's tone was firm and unquestionable.
[Ahhh! That's great, I didn't expect that daddy would send me a method of disinfection and understand the seriousness of the matter.]
[That's great, that's great, long live daddy!]
Xia Miaoyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The empress was relieved and amused to see that her daughter, a little baby, was so serious.
Lord Liu, the Jingzhao Yin, was stunned after hearing Xia Zhengqi's instructions.
He had been an official for more than ten years, and he had never carried out such a grand epidemic prevention measure. The entire inner city, every household, every street and alley, had to sprinkle quicklime. The
inner city of the capital is quite large, and sprinkling quicklime all over it would require a terrifying amount of manpower and material resources.
Zhao Shangshu, who was standing next to him, saw that he was in a daze, lifted his robe and kicked him quietly.
Jingzhao Yin finally came to his senses and said, "Your Majesty, they are just staying in a certain inn. They won't spread quicklime all over the capital, right?"
"This is really a loss of labor and property!"