The next day, as soon as the sky brightened, everyone packed up and got ready to go.
The emperor took out a token symbolizing his presence and handed it to Chen Nian, "Chu Xuan, I leave Xiawan Village to you. I allow you to act at your discretion if there is anything you need. Please come and meet me after I have finished offering sacrifices to the heavens. Please take care of yourself these days."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Nian solemnly took the token, "I will definitely live up to Your Majesty's trust."
The emperor looked at Xia Tian who was standing next to Shen Nian, and instructed again, "Madam Shen, I'll leave Chu Xuan to you. I know you are not an ordinary woman, so I won't say polite words. When you return to the capital, I will definitely reward you handsomely!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty! Please rest assured, I am also a citizen of Dagan. It is my honor to contribute to Your Majesty and the people. I will never hide anything!"
Xia Tian looked dignified and spoke beautifully, which made the emperor's serious face smile.
"Okay, Madam Shen is as capable as any man. Xiawan Village will be handed over to you. I await your good news." The emperor said in a loud voice.
After saying goodbye here, Shen Nian led the horse and Xia Tian got on the carriage she came in. Doctor Xu and another doctor Zhang also got on their carriage.
They took Village Chief Liu and the others and set off first.
Shen Nian rode in the front, followed by a team of a hundred people at the end, and together they marched towards Xiawan Village in a mighty procession.
It will take a whole day to get to Xiawan Village from here, and it will probably take until dark.
The emperor watched Shen Nian and the others leave before he gave the order to set off for Lingxiao Mountain.
We didn't rest much along the way. We only stopped to eat some dry food around noon and then continued on our way.
It was not until the evening that we arrived outside Xiawan Village.
At this time, the county magistrate of Jintai County had not arrived yet, but Mayor Qian of Xinping Town was waiting outside ahead of them.
Mayor Qian saw them arrive and quickly bowed to greet them, "Sir, I am the mayor of Xinping Town. My last name is Qian. May I know your name?"
Village Chief Liu hurried over to introduce Shen Nian and the others to Town Chief Qian, "This is Mr. Shen, and this is Madam Shen. Those two are Imperial Physician Xu and Imperial Physician Zhang."
After Mayor Qian bowed and greeted everyone, he glared at Village Chief Liu and said unhappily, "Liu Dafu, who told you to leave the village without permission? If this spreads to other villages, I will never forgive you."
Village Chief Liu cried, "If you don't care, I can't just watch the villagers die one by one, can I?"
"Who said we don't care? Aren't we looking for ways to treat the disease?" Mayor Qian shouted.
Mayor Qian was not lying. Although Xiawan Village was cordoned off and villagers were not allowed to enter or leave, the town's doctors were indeed gathered to study ways to treat the plague.
There just hasn't been any progress!
Shen Nian didn't say anything, just listened beside him.
Village Chief Liu shrank back at Town Chief Qian's yell, "But we can't wait! People keep dying, and you keep refusing to let doctors in. I'm scared too!"
Mayor Qian's cheeks puffed up with anger.
After Shen Nian had listened for a while, he asked, "Mayor Qian, have you found a cure yet? And what kind of plague is this?"
"Your Excellency, we haven't found a cure yet, but it's certain to be the plague," Mayor Qian said with an unnatural expression.
I have been researching it for a month, but there has been no progress.
It was indeed plague because they asked the refugees who were initially infected.
Because there was nothing to eat, everyone was so hungry that they caught mice to eat, and this symptom appeared as a result.
After the confirmation, they did not dare to enter Xiawan Village for fear of being infected. The doctors were also afraid of death, and there were many people infected in the village, so they did not send anyone into the village.
Shen Nian understood and asked calmly, "Are there any people infected in other villages?"
It would be fine if it was just Xiawan Village, but if the plague broke out in other villages, it would probably be difficult to control for a while.
Mayor Qian's expression turned even uglier as he stammered, "There are several people in two other villages who have experienced similar symptoms, but we're not sure if it's the plague."
After saying that, he quickly added, "However, only a few people in those two villages showed symptoms. I have already isolated them, and the disease has not spread yet."
This was also discovered in recent days.
He isolated those people separately for fear that the whole village would be infected again.
Shen Nian nodded, “Yeah, well done.”
Judging from these arrangements, Mayor Qian has done his best and handled the matter appropriately.
When Mayor Qian heard that Shen Nian did not blame him, he straightened his back and asked, "Master Shen, what arrangements should be made now? This humble official suggests that we rest for a night and then go into the village to check tomorrow morning."
It’s dark now, and I don’t know what’s happening in the village. What if…”
Mayor Qian didn’t finish his words, and looked at Shen Nian with an expression as if he was following orders.
Shen Nian turned to ask the two imperial physicians, "Doctor Xu, Doctor Liu, what do you think?"
He didn't understand this matter, so he listened to the imperial physician.
"Mayor Qian is right. The situation in the village is unclear, so it's not advisable to rush in. Let's wait until daybreak to check."
Doctor Xu thought for a moment and continued, "Also, we don't have any medicinal herbs right now. We need to come up with the prescription and prepare the herbs as soon as possible."
Doctor Zhang agreed, "That's right. Doctor Xu and I will check the symptoms first before we can prescribe the right medicine."
It's hard to draw a conclusion without seeing the patient.
Although Mayor Qian said it was certain it was plague, as doctors, they had to verify it before prescribing a prescription.
Shen Nian nodded, “Then let’s rest tonight and go into the village to check tomorrow morning.”
They have been traveling all day today and are very tired. They need to rest up first and go tomorrow.
While they were talking, Mu Feng, Muchen and other officers and soldiers had already set up the tent.
Mayor Qian did not go back either. He lived in a tent with Village Chief Liu and others, and waited until dawn to enter the village together.
After washing up, Xia Tian took out needles, thread and cotton cloth from the space and sewed a dozen rough masks, ready to wear when entering the village tomorrow.
It was late at night before I lay down to rest.
I was awakened by the sound of horse hooves in the middle of the night. It turned out that the county magistrate of Jintai County had arrived with his men.
Xia Tian was too lazy to get up, so he just went out to take a look and then continued to rest.
After everyone finished their meal at dawn, they prepared to go into the village to check.
Shen Nian asked the magistrate of Jintai County to go in with them to take a look, and asked Mayor Qian and the officers and soldiers he brought with him to guard outside the village first.
Xia Tian took out the masks she had sewn last night and gave one to Shen Nian, the two imperial doctors, the Jintai County Magistrate, and Village Chief Liu. "Come, put on this mask first."
After saying that, he demonstrated and put it on himself first.
Doctor Xu took the mask and praised it, "Mrs. Shen is really ingenious. This is indeed much better than my cloth."
"Thank you for your kind words, Doctor Xu. Let's go." Xia Tian said politely and urged Village Chief Liu to lead the way. Several people went to the village.
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