Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 77 The Emperor's Ruthlessness
Beizhili.

The plague raged wildly for a whole month, and wherever it went, the people suffered terribly.

Along the official road leading to the capital, corpses lay scattered everywhere, their faces ulcerated, their skin clinging tightly to their bones, shriveled beyond recognition.

The refugees along the way dared not walk on the official road, for if they did, they would inevitably be hit by speeding carriages or driven away by patrolling soldiers.

Outside Yongding Gate in the outer city of Beijing, tens of thousands of refugees had gathered in dense crowds. They were in groups, either leaning against the city wall or squatting in the weeds, their faces haggard, their bodies hunched, and their groans and cries could be heard incessantly.

Zhang Niangzi was in her early twenties, but her appearance was as withered as that of a seventy-year-old woman, and she was holding her six-month-old daughter in her arms.

With a worried expression, she carefully applied the last half bowl of talisman water to her daughter's festering cheeks.

"Nini! Wake up! Don't scare your mother!"

No matter what, the child in her arms remained motionless, and his face had turned bluish-purple.

Zhang Niangzi was so anxious she was about to cry. No one in the family had come along the way except for her and her daughter. Her husband and parents-in-law gave the last of their copper coins and dry food to the two of them, repeatedly urging them to make a living in the capital.

But now.
"Elder, my child is dying. Could you please find some medicine for me? I'll do anything you ask!"

Pushing through the dense crowd, Zhang Niangzi found an old man whose face was wrapped in rags and whose face was also festering, and said urgently.

The village elder, Zhang Sishu, leaned against the city wall. He raised his tired eyelids and looked at the unconscious girl.

"Come, let me take a look." Zhang Sishu reached out and took the girl, examined her carefully, checked her breath, and then handed her to Zhang Niangzi. He then sighed and said.

"Zhang Yan's wife, it's not that I'm unwilling to help you, but it seems the child is beyond saving. You should..."

Upon hearing this, Madam Zhang suddenly knelt down, tightly embracing the girl in her arms, and repeatedly kowtowed.

"Elder! I know you've helped us a lot along the way, and I'll do anything for you, but Nini is my lifeblood. I can't live without her."

Seeing Zhang Niangzi weeping bitterly, Zhang Sishu felt a pang of heartache. He looked up at the dozens of people gathered around him and said in a hoarse voice.

"From Puzhou to this capital, less than one in ten of the villages survived. Lanying, you are healthy and did not contract this plague. To put it bluntly, even if we enter the capital now, you will not have the money to treat the child."

I feel sorry for the child too, but one must look forward. You have hands and feet, and you're healthier than most of us. Go to the capital and kowtow to the merchants in Puzhou, ask for a workshop to weave cloth and make a living. That way, you can survive in the future.”

Remembering that only Zhang Niangzi was left in her home, Zhang Sishu addressed her by her given name, his words truly coming from the bottom of his heart.

"No way! No way!"

Zhang Lanying slammed her head heavily against the muddy ground, leaving several bloody scratches from the stones.

"Hi~"

Zhang Sishu sighed deeply, took out half a yellow talisman from his pocket, and handed it to Zhang Lanying.

"If all else fails, I have half a talisman here. Try it on the doll again."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lanying, who was kneeling on the ground, immediately stopped crying. She glanced at the talisman and shook her head.

"Elder, I think these talismans are definitely a scam. You shouldn't buy any more. There are no gods in this world; you have to rely on herbs to survive."

After saying that, she ran off on her own, and it's unknown where she went to find medicine.

Zhang Sishu watched Zhang Lanying's departing figure and sighed heavily.

Just then, another disturbance broke out among the crowd of refugees outside Yongding Gate.

"Master Wang has arrived! Master Wang has arrived! Master Wang is merciful and will give us talisman water without charging a single penny!"

As the call to action was made, the crowd in the distance gradually dispersed, and row after row of refugees knelt down in worship.

"The three souls and seven spirits return to the Big Dipper, while the five plagues and evil spirits enter the urn!"

A middle-aged man with a long beard, dressed in a Taoist robe, rolled his eyes and trembled as he shook a conch shell in his hand atop a sedan chair carried by four Taoist boys. Then, Wang Banxian sprinkled talismanic water on the kneeling refugees while muttering something.

"The Big Dipper hangs upside down, the Plague Star directly attacks the Purple Star, encountering inauspicious stars; treacherous officials will appear in the world. A calamity star descends upon the earth."

Whenever the refugees were splashed with this talismanic water, they would all kneel down and chant related phrases.

"May the plague god be brought to justice!"

Two young Taoist boys stood up two paper figures, which were crudely drawn, but their features were still clearly visible.

One person was dressed in a scarlet court robe and wore a black gauze hat, while the other person looked younger and wore a Taoist robe with a treacherous expression on his face.

"break!"

As the fortune teller Wang wielded his peach wood sword, the paper figure was instantly cleaved in two and thrown into the fire, burning to ashes.

"Good~"

The refugees were immediately excited and cheered, as if this would drive away their illness.

After all the formalities were completed, the fortune teller Wang raised his triangular eyes and spoke.

"Donations from pilgrims and believers"

Although the talismans are free, you'll have to pay some silver if you want a talisman with the qualities of a half-immortal. If you want a cure-all medicine, the half-immortal can also provide pills, which will naturally cost more silver.

Even so, refugees flocked to buy it, throwing all their last penny into the offering plate.

The Taoist boys distributed talismans, and each time they gave one to a person, the person had to recite a phrase.

"The country has treacherous officials and their new policies have angered the local deities and plague gods, causing rampant corruption and unbridled behavior among the court's纨绔 (sons of wealthy and powerful families)."

The better you say such things, the happier Wang Bansian will be, and he might even reward you with a piece of dry food.

As a result, the surrounding refugees flocked to it.

Not far away, a man with pustules on his face looked at Zhang Sishu and asked him a question.

"Elder, should we go?"

Zhang Sishu's eyes flickered, and he hesitated again and again. He looked at the tightly closed door, then at the frantically kneeling refugees, and sighed deeply.

He touched his chest, where there was a crumpled newspaper, which Zhang Sishu usually used to keep warm and would occasionally glance at.

At this moment, when he took out the newspaper again, the four characters "Wanli Xinbao" appeared and disappeared intermittently.

Zhang Sishu's dirty fingers traced the words on the paper, such as "Renmin Medical Clinic," "Modern Medicine," "Allicin," and "Precautions for the Prevention and Control of Epidemics."

Upon seeing this, the man next to him immediately covered his face with the newspaper and said urgently with wide eyes.

"Elder, if that fortune teller sees this, it will be terrible! We will never have any more talismans again."

The fortune teller Wang explicitly forbade his followers from reading the "Wanli Xinbao" newspaper, claiming it was fabricated by demons and evil spirits to bewitch people.

"Talismans? Haven't we used enough?"

Zhang Sishu wore a self-deprecating expression and looked in one direction from the capital as he spoke.

"Let's not go looking for any of those talismans; let's save our energy for the capital."

Just then, another shout rang out from the crowd of refugees, this time even more outrageous.

"When the emperor is tyrannical, the plague god takes people away."

(End of this chapter)