Shen Wenxuan fooled his second brother by saying that this required talent, that is, he had to feel a strange energy in his body.
After Shen Wenlai returned, he meditated for a whole night but didn't feel any strange energy. He just thought he didn't have that talent, and he was depressed for a long time because of this.
We stayed here for three days in a row. Except for some victims with particularly serious illnesses who died, everyone else recovered.
After burning all the dead victims, everyone left the place.
*
On the other side, tens of thousands of disaster victims have already arrived at the Huaijiang River.
The Huai River at this time is no longer as majestic as before. The originally roaring river with no end in sight has become a slowly flowing stream.
The Huaijiang City that originally stood in the upper reaches of the Huaijiang River no longer exists due to an earthquake and has been replaced by another more magnificent city. Emperor Dongchen's palace was built here. The palace was built against the mountain, which saved the construction of a city wall. The three tall and magnificent city walls stretched as far as the eye could see, and were guarded by soldiers everywhere.
"Master! Let us in!"
"Please, military lords, give me something to eat!"
"We have been fleeing all the way here and we really have no food left."
…
When the victims saw the city, they rushed forward to ask for help, hoping that the officials inside would let them in and arrange a way for them to survive.
But the soldiers' duty is to guard the city, so how could they let these people in?
"Back off! This is the Emperor's palace, not a place for you unruly people to make noises!"
The soldiers raised their weapons in an attempt to stop the victims, but the starving victims would not give up. They relied on their numbers to rush in. It was not until the archers on the city wall raised their bows and arrows and shot dead several people who were leading the riot that the victims retreated in fear, out of the range of the arrows.
"Doesn't the emperor care about his people?"
"Open the granaries and release the food! We need to eat!"
"Yes! Open the warehouse and release the grain!"
…
Seeing that they could not force their way through, the victims began to protest, trying to redress their grievances in this way. The shouts rose up into the sky.
Seeing that the victims were very emotional, the soldiers were afraid that they would lose control if the situation lasted for a long time, so they had no choice but to go in and report to their superiors.
Soon the matter was reported to Emperor Dongchen by the officials below, and Emperor Dongchen immediately ordered to provide porridge to the people.
As long as he still wants to be the emperor, he cannot ignore the large number of victims before him.
Porridge stalls were quickly built, and six porridge stalls were set up outside the city. Porridge was distributed once a day. Although people could not eat enough, they would not starve to death.
With the food as a comfort, the victims stopped making trouble for the time being. Although they were dissatisfied, they were happy to have something to eat. No one dared to make trouble anymore, fearing that if they continued to make trouble, they would not even be able to eat the thin porridge, and they would really starve to death.
They thought they would be saved once they reached the emperor's feet, and everyone was waiting for the emperor to send someone to settle them. However, not long after, some people fell ill one after another, and some even began to die.
The victims who fell one after another all had bellies as big as baskets, and their exposed skin was covered with red spots.
It was normal for some people to die in such a chaotic situation. At first, other victims thought they had skin diseases and no one cared. Some of them even died there and their bodies were not moved.
The soldiers would not even care about the lives of the victims. If a few of them died among tens of thousands of victims, it would be like a leaf falling into the water, and it would not even make a sound.
Until later, when more and more people died, not only the victims, but even the people who distributed porridge noticed that something was wrong and reported the matter to their immediate superiors.
The officials in charge of the porridge distribution had some guesses about this situation. In previous years, the arrival of a large number of disaster victims was likely to be accompanied by various infectious diseases. This situation could be serious or minor. The officials did not dare to make a decision on their own and immediately reported the matter.
After learning about the situation, Emperor Dongchen sent two imperial doctors to check on the victims. The response he received was plague. He was shocked. After all, the victims were outside the city. If the plague spread, he would not be able to escape. He immediately summoned the imperial doctors to meet him.
"Doctor Hu and Doctor Li, you two will treat the plague. Then, pass on my order to have the victims relocated twenty miles from the city. From now on, the porridge distribution will be moved there as well!"
"yes!"
After kneeling down to pay their respects, the two of them were busy controlling the epidemic.
As time went by, the epidemic was soon brought under control and the victims gradually recovered.
The recovered victims were also settled in the lower reaches of the Huai River, where many tents were built for them to live in.
But the livelihoods of so many people have become a problem, and we can’t always rely on giving out porridge.
Emperor Dongchen and other officials held an emergency meeting but were at a loss as they were completely stuck with the lack of supplies. They could only hope that the disaster would pass quickly. If it remained like this, they would have no choice but to give up on them, after all, they still had an army and officials to support.
The first group of victims who arrived were relatively lucky, at least they received medical treatment.
However, as more and more victims arrived, the number of people who fell ill also increased day by day, and for a time the plague spread uncontrollably.
Even some of the soldiers guarding the place were infected with the plague.
With such a large team, the number of sick people is increasing every day.
The supply of medicinal materials in the Imperial Medical Bureau was also decreasing at a visible rate, but even so, it was a drop in the bucket. The medicinal materials would eventually run out, and they could not all be wasted on these people.
In order to prevent the plague from spreading further, Emperor Dongchen immediately gave an order to secretly put medicine in the porridge given to the victims. When the medicine took effect and the victims and sick soldiers fainted, all nearly 80,000 victims and soldiers were burned to death.
Suddenly, flames shot up outside the city, illuminating the sky like daylight. Thick smoke billowed across the sky. Amidst the flames, figures struggled in agony, their wails echoing through the heavens...
Some groups of disaster victims who arrived a little later saw the flames rising into the sky from afar and heard the painful cries of the crowd. They didn't know what happened, so they stopped moving forward and sent a few people to secretly check.
The few people who went to check came back with faces full of horror and unable to speak. It took them a long time to tell the situation.
After hearing the news, the victims no longer dared to move forward, fearing that they would also be caught and burned to death. They could only look for other ways to survive with despair on their faces.
Soon, the news of Emperor Dongchen’s inhumane atrocities spread to other victims, and no one dared to approach the city anymore.
***
During this period, Qi Yanxuan and his team rescued several waves of victims infected with the plague.
As he rescued more and more people, his team grew larger and larger. The long team stretched as far as the eye could see. Qi Yanxuan just led his team forward. As long as these people who were rescued did not make trouble, they would follow him if they could.
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