The Eighth Wise King became addicted to eavesdropping on the silly princess' thoughts

On the second day, there were rumbling thunders in the Qin Palace, and the news of making delicious popcorn spread into the palace.

Empress Li heard that Empress Song and Princess Yongqing in Yayan Pavilion had also eaten it.

Feeling dissatisfied, she ordered, "Wanrou, have someone send a message to Princess Qin. I also want to try the delicious food she prepared."

Wanrou hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, your body is the most important thing. You should be more careful with the food you eat."

Concubine Li thought about it and gave up the idea of ​​asking the silly princess to send delicious food into the palace.

Wanrou was right. How could a virtuous concubine like her indulge in food and drink? This precious life was ten thousand times more important than food and drink.

……

King Qin Zhao Defang got up early in the morning and took his uncle Ghost Hand and Siyu, and under the protection of Yun Yi and sixteen shadow guards and six hundred elite Mo Yun cavalry, headed straight for the epidemic area in Yanzhou.

The dozen or so imperial doctors and medical officers who were selected to fight the epidemic in the epidemic area of ​​Yanzhou looked miserable and terrified, but they did not dare to disobey the imperial order!

After crying bitterly with their families and preparing for the separation of life and death, they sat dejectedly in the carriage and followed His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin's team out of the city.

Fighting the epidemic is like putting out a fire. After leaving the city, King Qin Zhao Defang ordered to speed up the emergency march.

The Ghost Hand Poison Doctor and Siyu sat in the carriage, studying and discussing the anti-epidemic method given by their master all the way.

At noon the next day, the King of Qin led his troops to the city of Yanzhou.

As one of the Nine Provinces, Yanzhou has tall city walls and wide city gates, and has a solemn and majestic aura.

But the gates of Yanzhou were tightly shut, and the soldiers were as if they were facing a great enemy. There was a sentry every three steps and a guard every five steps on the city wall. Looking at this situation, not to mention people, even a flying bird could not think of leaving the city.

The King of Qin ordered the troops to stop outside the city and wait, and the commander of the city gate hurriedly sent someone to report to the officials of the provincial government.

When the prefect Cai Kun heard that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin was personally leading a team to fight the epidemic and provide disaster relief, he was so excited that he burst into tears!

"His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin has disregarded his own safety and come to the epidemic area of ​​Yanzhou to fight the epidemic and provide disaster relief. The 200,000 people in Yanzhou City are saved!"

Cai Kun urgently summoned the officials of Yanzhou to go out of the city to welcome His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin.

Not long after, the gate of Yanzhou city opened wide, and a group of officials dressed in scarlet and green robes walked out of the city gate in a line.

Led by the prefect Cai Kun, the Yanzhou officials came to the carriage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin.

"Yanzhou Governor Cai Kun leads Yanzhou officials to meet His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin!"

In front of the carriage of Qin Wang Zhao Defang, a group of officials knelt down.

The King of Qin lifted the curtain and got out of the carriage.

He glanced at the officials kneeling on the ground and said in a gentle and kind voice, "No need to be polite, please stand up! Are you Mr. Cai Kun, the governor of Yanzhou?"

"It's your humble servant. I didn't expect that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin would disregard his own safety and personally visit the disaster area. Your humble servant would like to thank Your Royal Highness on behalf of the people of Yanzhou!" Cai Kun was still a little excited.

King Qin Zhao Defang's expression became serious!

"I was ordered to come to Yanzhou to fight the epidemic, and I have the power to dispatch Yanzhou officials and supplies. If any of you disobey my orders, do things perfunctorily, or act recklessly, don't blame me for being merciless!"

Cai Kun and more than 30 Yanzhou officials hurriedly expressed their opinions: "If the prince has an order, we dare not disobey it!"

After the King of Qin got off the car, he first showed his authority, and then when he saw that all the officials in Yanzhou were obedient, he smiled faintly.

"In this case, I will rely on the cooperation of all the adults.

"Master Cai, is there a cattle farm near Yanzhou City? Is there any quicklime powder in stock? Are there enough medicinal materials and doctors? Are the people in the city still at peace?"

Cai Kun was a little confused! He didn't understand what the cattle farm had to do with the fight against the epidemic?

He replied respectfully, “There is a cattle farm outside the city, with about three or four hundred oxen for farming and forty or fifty dairy cows.

There is a quicklime mine twenty miles south of the city.

Medicinal materials and medical practitioners are in short supply.

The people in the city are a little unstable, especially in the hard-hit area in the west of the city. The death toll today has exceeded a thousand, and people are in panic.

If the blockade continues for a while, there might be trouble.”

Qin Wang Zhao Defang nodded and ordered, "Expropriate the cattle farm!

Quickly send people to the mine in the south of the city to dig lime powder and transport it into the city.

Set up ten large iron pots in the blocked disaster area and boil the herbs I brought with me."

Cai Kun wrote them down one by one.

King Qin turned around and ordered, "Yun Yi, get some masks and gloves and give each of these adults a set."

The officials, who each received a set of anti-epidemic masks and gloves, fiddled with the things like curious babies.

With the help and guidance of His Royal Highness Prince Qin's subordinates, they put on masks and gloves, and looked at each other. The scene was inexplicably funny.

Yun Yi forced the prince to wear a three-layer mask and two layers of long gloves.

The princess said that these protective equipment can greatly reduce the probability of contracting the plague.

The tightly wrapped Qin Prince Zhao Defang glanced at all the officials with his handsome eyes.

"My Lords, please take me to the plague-stricken areas in the city!"

Cai Kun and others were shocked!

"Your Highness, this cannot be done! This smallpox plague is highly contagious, and the mortality and disability rates are also extremely high.

Your Majesty, you must not take risks!

You can stay in the government office and direct the anti-epidemic efforts."

However, King Qin Zhao Defang's face darkened!

"I am the one in charge of dispatching and directing the anti-epidemic efforts. How can I not go to the hardest-hit areas in person to learn about the epidemic situation?

Don't worry about my safety, just lead the way!"

The officials in Yanzhou secretly groaned in their hearts!

Which official would not stay away from places where the epidemic is raging? How could they go to the front-line hard-hit areas to experience and understand the epidemic firsthand?

It is precious that His Royal Highness the King of Qin took the lead in taking risks because of his noble status. Who would dare to hide behind?

The streets of Yanzhou City were empty, with no one to be seen except patrolling soldiers and yamen runners. This desolate and cold silence without any human voices was like entering a ghost town.

The officials surrounded His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin and came to the west of the city where the epidemic was raging.

The houses here are low and compact, and the streets are narrow. It can be seen that this is where poor people live.

From afar, one could see teams of fully armed soldiers blocking the entrances of the streets and alleys blocked by fences.

From the houses behind the fences, miserable wails came one after another.

Those soldiers holding swords and guns, some with expressionless faces, some with sad faces, but they all blocked the intersection with weapons in hand and refused to retreat.

Cai Kun explained the situation with a serious expression, "Your Highness! There are more than 60,000 civilians here, and more than 40,000 have been infected."

The King of Qin nodded and told the Yanzhou officials: "Just wait here!"

The officials breathed a sigh of relief, because going any further would have put them in danger.

Qin Wang Zhao Defang said to the people beside him, "Master, Siyu, Yunyi, bring the imperial physician and medical officer, and follow me in to take a look!"

Cai Kun was terrified!

He quickly spoke up to stop her: "Your Majesty, you can't do that! You absolutely can't do that!

Let the imperial physicians and medical officers go in to understand the epidemic situation and help diagnose and save lives. Your Majesty is a precious child, you must not go in!"

The eyes of Qin Wang Zhao Defang were firm behind his mask! "As the chief commander in the fight against the epidemic, how can I not understand the specific situation of the epidemic?"

Having said that, he walked towards the fence.

The soldiers made way for him and looked at the tall, pine-like, fearless back of His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, their eyes blurred with tears of excitement!

His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin is indeed the Eighth Sage King who loves his people like his own children! In order to save tens of thousands of untouchables inside, he even disregarded his own safety!

Cai Kun gritted his teeth and followed His Royal Highness Prince Qin into the fence.

Two more officials made up their minds and followed him in.

The remaining twenty or so Yanzhou officials looked at each other, lowered their heads in shame, and waited silently in the same place.

The epidemic area was filled with sewage and the air was filled with the smell of decay and corruption, as well as an indescribable stench.

Everywhere I look are miserable faces and eyes that are either numb or sad.

The patients' groans and cries of pain are the main theme here, and dozens of doctors with numb faces are busy with their work.

The happiest creatures in the epidemic area are probably the flies and mosquitoes that flutter around. The dirtier and smellier the place is, the more it is their stage for joy.

This wide area was a temporary place for treating seriously ill patients. From time to time, patients who had died were carried out and thrown onto a broken cart amid the heartbreaking cries of their family members.

What awaited them was a cremation pit a thousand steps away! Puffs of black smoke wrapped in the stench of roasted human flesh filled the sky and drifted in all directions with the wind.

A word flashed through Siyu's mind, "Hell on earth"!

It was the first time that Siyu saw the situation in the disaster area ravaged by the epidemic, and her heart was shocked and ached like a hammer.

She walked over to a little girl who was crying silently, and looked at the woman lying on the straw mat with her face flushed and her eyes closed.

: "Is she your mother? How many days has she been ill?"

The little girl raised her tearful eyes and looked at Si Yu, "It's my mother. She fell ill yesterday and has a high fever that won't go away!"

Siyu squatted down, looked into the little girl's tearful eyes and asked, "Is there anyone else in your family?"

The sobbing little girl burst into tears with a loud "wow"!

: "Grandma and Dad both died of illness! Only... Mom and I are left."

Si Yu's nose felt sour. She reached out and hugged the crying girl to comfort her, "Don't cry! We are here to save your mother and those infected with the plague."

Upon hearing this, the little girl hugged Siyu's neck tightly, crying and begging: "Sister! You must save my mother!... Feng'er only has this one relative!"

Siyu couldn't hold back her tears and shed them. "Okay! I'll help you save your mother. Your mother will be able to drink the medicine in a little while."

The Ghost Hand Poison Doctor also leaned over and carefully checked the condition of the patients, one by one, lying on straw mats and wooden boards, amid the painful groans and wails of the patients, and the sad sobs of their family members beside them.

Cai Kun, who had never set foot in this epidemic-stricken area, and the two Yanzhou officials who followed in were all shocked and looked sad!

Qin Wang Zhao Defang watched Master Ghost Hand come back after walking around the venue, and asked in a deep voice, "Master, how is the infected patient doing?"

The Ghost Hand Poison Doctor shook his head and said, "The situation is very serious. Give them the medicine immediately after it is cooked! Whether these seriously infected people can survive depends on their physical constitution and luck.

Master also said that our most urgent task is to control the development of the epidemic, so that fewer people in Yanzhou City are infected, and work hard to save those who are infected with mild symptoms! "

The King of Qin nodded, "Okay! Follow her plan and method. You and Siyu will lead the doctors and physicians to carry out the execution."

The Ghost Hand Poison Doctor nodded solemnly and agreed.

He then said, "Order the clothes of the dead to be thrown into the cattle farm. Then we can go inside to check for those who are mildly infected and those who have not yet been infected."

After hearing this, the King of Qin turned around and gave orders to Cai Kun!

"Master Cai, send someone to throw those contaminated clothes into the cattle farm outside the city immediately!

Attention! Throw them all on the cows so that they can be infected with the virus as soon as possible.

Send troops to blockade that cattle ranch!"

Cai Kun didn't understand why, but he agreed without hesitation and sent someone to carry out the task.