Chapter 117: Catastrophe, Your Majesty, You Are Cuckolded
Qian Ming and his wife reached out to Beigong You through the wooden fence, "Prince, help me..."
"My Lord, please save us, ahem..."
The couple were wrapped in thick clothes, but they were still shivering, their eyes were bloodshot, their lips were pale, and a few red rashes were faintly visible on their faces. These were the symptoms of smallpox.
Qian Ming, in particular, leaned against the fence gate with his mouth slightly open, and it seemed that even breathing was difficult for him.
"The center of his forehead is black, he's breathing out more than breathing in, I think he's dying." Feng Ming stepped forward to take a look and said to Beigong You.
"My Lord, you saved my mother-in-law and my Kun'er. Now please save us..."
The corners of the woman's mouth were so dry that a layer of skin almost peeled off, but she didn't feel anything at all. She begged desperately, "You are a living Bodhisattva of great compassion, I beg you..."
Qian Ming, leaning against the wooden fence, opened his eyes with difficulty, "I... I don't want to die..."
"Your Highness, please..." The woman kowtowed desperately.
Not long after, the guards who had visited Shiqiao Town came back one after another, all with serious expressions on their faces.
"Your Highness, there are about fifty households in Shiqiao Town, and five or six of them have voluntarily reported it, not to mention the others who are hiding it..."
"If we don't control it in time, I'm afraid the entire Shiqiao Town will fall within half a month."
Beigong You looked at Shiqiao Town, which was shrouded in a haze, with heavy eyes. He pointed to an empty space in the southwest and told Feng Ming, "Go back to the palace immediately and bring the palace soldiers and servants here. I want to build a relocation center for the plague here."
"Build a resettlement center?"
Beigong You nodded, "You should set off now. The relocation center must be completed tomorrow."
Every day of delay is a day of danger.
"Tomorrow?" Feng Ming exclaimed, and said in embarrassment, "Prince, this... this workload is too heavy. I'm afraid the manpower of Prince Ning's Mansion alone is not enough."
Not only was it not enough, they couldn't finish it even if they worked all night.
"If it's not enough, go to Prince An's Mansion and borrow someone."
Feng Ming immediately took the order and set off.
The remaining guards prepared bricks, tiles and mud and began laying the foundation.
The people nearby looked at the busy people and said, "Plastering and building walls, what is King Ning doing?"
"We are all going to die, and he doesn't care about anything, but he wants to build a house here?"
“No one cares about our lives…”
Beigong You frowned, ignored the crying of the crowd, quickly jumped on his horse, and rode into the palace.
The smallpox epidemic here is so serious that we must report it to my father.
But when he arrived at the palace, Emperor Ming was leaning on the dragon throne with a tired look on his face, pinching his brows weakly.
And at the foot of the stairs, a group of imperial doctors were kneeling.
Everyone was in a state of panic, with sad faces, ears pricked up, and they were so nervous that they dared not even breathe.
Sun Changhai reported carefully, "Your Majesty, Prince Ning is here."
"Your son greets His Majesty." Beigong You immediately bowed and observed the situation above calmly, feeling a little uneasy in his heart.
"Get up." Emperor Ming slowly lifted his drooping eyelids.
"Father, I visited Shiqiao Town west of Shengjing today and found that there was an outbreak of smallpox."
As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Changhai immediately held up his whisk and reminded, "Your Highness Prince Ning, those are just some strange diseases, just strange diseases..."
Beigong You suddenly raised his eyes.
So this is what they meant by the strange disease they have been talking about these days.
It seems that my father has long known that smallpox was raging around Shengjing, but he concealed it because he didn't want to cause panic.
However, smallpox was so aggressive that if no prevention was taken, it would soon sweep across the entire Shengjing.
This can't be hidden!
"Smallpox has also been found in the west of the city?" Emperor Ming's eyes suddenly narrowed.
Obviously, he also knew that truth would come to light sooner or later. The more the smallpox epidemic was concealed, the more difficult it would be to control when it broke out.
"Yes, I have ordered people to build a quarantine center. The sick people must be isolated together. Otherwise, if one person spreads to ten people, and ten to a hundred, within half a month, smallpox will ravage the entire Shengjing and will no longer be controlled."
Emperor Ming nodded solemnly.
He knew this very well. A few days ago, he had ordered people to build a resettlement center for the plague in the north of the city, but it was done in secret and his sons were still unaware of it.
Finally, he looked at the doctors kneeling at the steps with worry, and said angrily: "If you still haven't come up with a solution by night, you won't have any more heads!"
The imperial doctors' faces turned pale and they all shrank their necks like quails.
Under such heavy pressure, even breathing became difficult.
After an unknown amount of time, a doctor finally stood up and said, "Your Majesty..."
This short quarter of an hour felt like a year.
As he spoke, not only the other imperial physicians, but even Sun Changhai breathed a sigh of relief.
"I think that Dean Zhang's method is worth a try."
After hearing these words, everyone's hearts, which had relaxed a little, tensed up again.
You know, the method proposed by Zhang Yuanshou was to inoculate smallpox, which had a success rate of only 30%. A few days ago, they recruited a group of death row prisoners from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice to conduct experiments, and as a result, most of them died after being inoculated with smallpox.
How dare they implement this method?
"Your Majesty, no, no..." As soon as the man finished speaking, someone stood up to object.
"Your Majesty, I also think this is inappropriate. Once this method is implemented, the population of Shengjing will surely drop by more than half!"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Shengjing is the capital of our Northern Liang Kingdom. If the capital city suffers such a catastrophe, it will definitely shake the foundation of the country. By then, the people will lose their hearts and the country will be in danger."
"Don't be alarmist! If we don't intervene, once smallpox spreads, Shengjing will become a living hell. That will be a real catastrophe."
Several people started arguing again, which gave Emperor Ming a headache.
He pinched his brows, looked at Beigong You and said, "Is there anything else? If not, go down first."
Beigong You looked at the arguing imperial physicians and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Emperor Ming keenly noticed his expression and asked, "Why, do you have a way to prevent smallpox?"
Beigong You hurriedly shook his head, "I'll take my leave."
Although Lin Miaoyin had injections to prevent smallpox, those injections were left to her by the female doctor Gu Luoxi and were not inexhaustible.
Last time, she injected smallpox vaccine to almost everyone in Prince Ning's Mansion, and it is estimated that it has been almost used up.
What remained was just a drop in the bucket and was far from enough to deal with the smallpox epidemic that was about to sweep across the entire Shengjing City.
He didn't say anything because he didn't want to make his father happy for nothing.
Beigong You came out of the imperial city and happened to meet Feng Ming who was rushing over on Tianrun Street.
"Your Majesty, Prince An has taken his men to Shiqiao Town to start construction. He promised me that the relocation center will be completed by tomorrow evening."
Beigong You nodded.
Although Lao Wu is a bit greedy, he is never careless when it comes to work.
I can rest assured leaving it to him.
"Your Majesty, your body cannot bear the strain now. You have been running all day today, and you must be exhausted. Go back to the mansion and rest."
Feng Ming was talking when he looked up and saw a familiar figure in the shop next to Nanshan Hall. He subconsciously said, "Hey, isn't that the princess? Wait...what is she doing with that man?!"
After he said that, he looked at Beigong You with a look that said "you're cheating on me".
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