Chapter 243 Virus Outbreak
Just when Duoduo and Ajige were rejoicing that there was no large army attacking the camp from behind, some light cavalrymen were secretly regretting why those Ming people were so anxious to break the bottles in their hands?
These are all good things, very valuable. It would be great if we could grab them all! Unfortunately, there were only a few bottles, and most of the people's bottles were smashed in front of them before they were captured. The light cavalry were very angry and hacked these dead men to death with their swords. Only a few were not killed, and their bottles were taken away by the Jianlu light cavalry.
At daybreak, Ajige and Duoduo finally breathed a sigh of relief when they found no follow-up attacking troops. They then returned to their respective tents to rest. Ajige and Duoduo each held a bottle with a cork on the mouth of the bottle. Ajige was very curious to know what was in the bottle.
So he pulled the cork out and smelled it, but there was no smell. So he poured the wine into a bottle and drank a few glasses from the carafe. He also ordered some mutton to be roasted.
Duoduo had no interest in the glass bottle; it was nothing more than a Han Chinese toy. It was worth a few silver coins at most, and if he wanted more, he could go back and steal more. He simply wondered, these Ming troops had gone to such great lengths, why didn't they just take advantage of the opportunity to storm our camp? We had barely left Yulinwei, and yet the Ming army was able to launch a surprise attack on us. What on earth was going on?
Just as he was deep in thought, a personal guard outside the tent came in with a report: "Your Highness! The Prince of Pingxi has something important to discuss with you. He is waiting for you in the tent! Do you wish to see him?"
"Let him wait! I'll be there soon!" said Duoduo.
Duoduo arrived at the tent with full airs. Wu Sangui greeted him and said, "I just received a secret letter telling us not to march on Xi'an. We should wait until Zhao Xiaofei and Li Zicheng have fought to the death before advancing."
"What a joke! You believed a secret letter? We don't have that much food and supplies to watch the show!" Duoduo said.
"But the letter also mentioned that someone would attack the camp soon, and told us not to touch those bottles if we saw them, because there was a deadly poison inside! The poison would break out in the army like a plague!" Wu Sangui said.
"What? Plague!" Duoduo stood up immediately after hearing this. Last night, they were ambushed by the Ming people and almost succeeded, and they even stole many bottles. This was very similar to what he was thinking. Could it be that there were really people among the Ming people who were secretly reporting to the Qing Dynasty?
"This is a letter!" Wu Sangui immediately asked someone to hand the letter to Duoduo.
Duoduo took the letter, read it, and countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Could there really be poison in that bottle? The light cavalry had reported to him that those Ming people had smashed the bottle in front of them. Could it be that they were trying to release the poison?
At this time, Duoduo shouted: "Call the military doctor!"
After a long time, the military doctor finally entered the tent. Duoduo asked angrily, "Why did you take so long?"
The military doctor replied tremblingly, "Your Highness, spare me! I was so busy just now that I'm late!"
"Busy? What are you busy with?" Duoduo asked coldly.
The military doctor trembled as he replied, "Your Highness, this morning I discovered that many soldiers had high fevers and were vomiting, and many were also suffering from vomiting and diarrhea. I was busy treating these soldiers, so I arrived late. I hope Your Highness will punish me!"
"What? How many people are there?" asked Duoduo.
"Probably several hundred people! And the number is still rising! I heard that Prince Ying is also ill! And his illness is the most serious!" said the military doctor. The Prince Ying the military doctor was referring to was Ajige.
"What? Why didn't you tell me earlier? Is there any treatment?" Duoduo said.
"I'm making medicine for them! But we don't know the effect yet!" said the military doctor.
"Let's go and take a look!" Duoduo was very worried about his older brother. They were brothers from the same mother, but Ajige was very curious about Han Chinese things and might open the bottle.
Duoduo didn't care about Wu Sangui anymore and went straight to his elder brother's tent.
When he came to the bed, he found Ajige's eyes were closed and his face was pale. He walked closer and touched Ajige's hair and found it was very hot.
Duoduo called the military doctor and asked, "How is my brother's condition?"
The military doctor was trembling and unable to speak. Duoduo shouted anxiously, "Hurry up and tell me! Otherwise, I will kill you!"
"Yes! Your Highness, Prince Ying is probably suffering from severe typhoid fever! We have just given him medicine and are just waiting for the effect!" The military doctor said tremblingly.
"You are all veteran military doctors with many years of experience. Is it possible to cure my elder brother's illness?" Duoduo asked the military doctor with his eyes wide open.
"I am incompetent! If the Prince of England does not wake up tomorrow, I'm afraid it will all depend on God's will!" said the military doctor.
Hearing this, Duoduo really wanted to kill all these military doctors, but he knew he couldn't. There were still so many soldiers in the barracks who needed their treatment. He held back his anger and said, "Take good care of my eldest brother! Otherwise, I will make you live a life worse than death!"
"Yes! I will do my best!" said the military doctor, kneeling down.
Duoduo came out from his elder brother's place and found Wu Sangui still there. He asked, "Is there anything else?"
"General, please tell me what our army should do next? Should we consider retreating in this situation?" Wu Sangui said.
"Retreat? How is that possible! We have spent all the food and money just to unify the world! The army has already fought here, can you just retreat like that?" Duoduo said.
"However, in the current situation, if we allow the epidemic to break out, our entire army may not be able to fight before we even reach Xi'an! Then we will be in danger of being wiped out!" Wu Sangui said.
"This must be the work of that bastard Zhao Xiaofei! He only knows how to use these despicable means! If you have the guts, fight me with real swords and guns! I promise not to kill him! Pass on my order! The army will set out to attack Xi'an immediately! Let's take Xi'an first!" Duoduo said.
"This..." Wu Sangui wanted to make a suggestion, but seeing Duoduo's eyes, he knew that he could not persuade him. He had no choice but to obey.
For Duoduo, fighting a war is like running a business. You've invested money, and you can't go without making a profit! You've sent soldiers, food, and money. You've left Zhili and moved on to Shanxi. And then, after only a few battles, you're going back to Zhili or the capital? Are you treating these hundreds of thousands of people like a tourist?
How could he explain to his second brother Dorgon if he didn't occupy the Shanxi and Shaanxi regions? How could the Qing Dynasty unify the country? Even if he couldn't unify the country, occupying the area north of the Yangtze River would be enough! Retreating like this would be a loss! So Duoduo planned to quickly march to Xi'an, take the city first, and then wait for an opportunity to deal with Zhao Xiaofei, perhaps even negotiate. Dividing the Yangtze River with the Ming Dynasty would be like the Liao and Northern Song dynasties, and the Jin and Southern Song dynasties in history.
Wu Sangui returned to his tent. Jiang Xiang approached and asked, "Your Majesty! What did Prince Yu say?"
"He wants to march into Xi'an ahead of time and stop sitting on the sidelines and watching the tigers fight!" Wu Sangui said.
"But what should we do? There is an epidemic in the army now!" Jiang Xiang said.
"There is a way! Use the method that Zhao Xiaofei often used in the capital! Isolate the sick soldiers!" Wu Sangui said.
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