Aunt Chen is back from the world of cultivation

This situation made Chen Qingzhu feel depressed, and he had a bad feeling.

“Ask him why the city is closed.”

She was the sponsor who paid a large sum of money. Although the driver was a little afraid of the soldiers guarding the city, he still mustered up the courage to ask:

"Master Jun, why is the city closed suddenly?"

The soldier shouted down loudly:

"Many people in the city have been infected with the plague. The county magistrate has ordered the city to be sealed off and no one is allowed to enter or leave. You should leave quickly or you may also be infected with the plague!"

Upon hearing this, the coachman turned the carriage around and ran away. He only stopped when Chen Qingzhu stopped him when he was a mile away from the city gate.

The plague was so terrible that it caused thousands of miles of desolate graves.

Once infected, unless you are particularly strong, you will die.

Although this mysterious lady gave a lot of money, it is not as important as life.

The driver had made up his mind that no matter how much money the lady gave him, he would never approach the city gate again.

"Madam, I won't go to Xingde County! You'd better not go either. If you get the plague, it's no joke."

"Then you'll have to walk back to Wu County by yourself."

Chen Qingzhu didn't make things difficult for him.

Half of the cost of hiring the person had already been paid, and this time she gave an extra two taels of silver as a reward for his hard work.

The driver was very satisfied with this. He gave a few kind words of advice, then took the silver and left.

After nightfall, Chen Qingzhu parked the carriage in a dilapidated temple outside the city, set up a protective formation to prevent anyone from entering, and then took Rong Niang to explore Xingde City at night.

The city wall of Xingde City was not very high, and there were not many people guarding the city. Chen Qingzhu found a dark place and directly climbed up the city wall in three or two steps while holding Rong Niang.

Rong Niang was very well behaved and didn't make any sound.

Just as Chen Qingzhu was about to jump off the city wall, he heard a loud shout from the tower not far away:

"stop!"

Rong Niang in his arms tensed up with fear.

Chen Qingzhu also stopped and looked towards the source of the sound.

The darkness does not affect her vision, and she can see farther than ordinary people.

It turned out that there were a dozen civilians carrying bags at the foot of the city. They had walked to within twenty steps of the city gate in the dark and were discovered by the soldiers guarding the gate.

"Go back! The county magistrate has issued an order that anyone who dares to disobey the order and leave the city will be killed without mercy!"

The people were somewhat frightened, but some still spoke boldly:

"We are not infected with the disease. We will not spread the plague to others if we leave the city! Please let us out, sir!"

"Yes, if we don't get out, we might get infected in the city, and that would be a dead end!"

The soldier said without hesitation:

"No! The doctor at Heling Hall said that everyone in Xingde County may have been infected with the plague, and no one can leave the city!"

The county magistrate said that what they were guarding was not the city gate, but the lives of millions of people in other counties behind them, and they must not be soft-hearted.

"What if the wealthy families in the city had already left? Maybe they had already taken the plague out!" Some people asked dissatisfiedly.

The soldier said:

"The county magistrate has already reported the list of these people to the prefectural capital. When the time comes, the prefect will definitely have people arrest and detain these people!"

The commoner was full of suspicion and sneered:

"You're kidding! How could the government detain those wealthy people?"

"Yes! You just want to lock us ordinary people up here and wait for death!"

"I heard that if the plague is too severe and cannot be controlled, it will burn down the entire city and burn everyone to death. If we don't rush out today, we will die in the future!"

Filled with righteous indignation, he saw a dozen soldiers rushing down from the city wall, with either fully drawn bows or broadswords in their hands.

The leading flag said coldly:

"No one knows whether he will die in the future. But whoever dares to break into the city gate will be killed today!"

"I'll count to three. If you don't go back, I'll take you all to the county government office to take care of the plague patients!"

Faced with real swords and arrows and even more frightening threats, the people who were about to break into the city gates were finally scared and went back home obediently.

Chen Qingzhu did not stay any longer and quickly flew towards the county government office with Rong Niang.

It sounded like there were quite a few patients gathered in the county government office, so she planned to go there first to take a look at the situation.

According to common sense, the county government office is usually located in a relatively central location in the city, and Chen Qingzhu found the place quickly.

The place is now brightly lit and very conspicuous in the dark night.

The entire front hall of the county government office was filled with plague patients.

As soon as Chen Qingzhu landed on the roof, he heard coughing, vomiting and groaning sounds coming from the rooms.

There were also many men and women in the yard, covering their mouths and noses with white cloth, and were busy boiling medicine and fetching water in the yard.

Among these people, many were coughing.

At this moment, a man wearing a green round-collar official uniform, a black gauze hat, and his mouth and nose covered tightly, walked into the yard.

Judging from the patch on his official uniform, he is undoubtedly the county magistrate of this county.

At this time in his previous life, Chen Qingzhu's wandering soul had already gone to the capital, and he had only heard of the Xingde County Magistrate.

This person concealed the epidemic, causing the plague to spread seriously and affecting millions of people. He is the culprit of this plague disaster.

Although he himself died of an epidemic in Xingde County, Emperor Yong'an still executed three members of his family as a warning to others.

"grown ups!"

Everyone bowed and saluted.

"No need to be polite."

The adult's voice was very young and friendly.

"Doctor Liang, is the critically ill patient getting better?"

The old man named Doctor Liang shook his head and bowed:

"I am incompetent! Ten critically ill patients died today."

The Xingde County Magistrate sighed, but did not blame him. Instead, he said in a gentle voice:

"I know you have done your best. Just hold on for a few more days. Once aid arrives from the capital, the situation will surely improve soon!"

"Yes!"

"How many medicinal herbs are left?"

The Xingde County Magistrate asked.

Doctor Liang said:

"It can only last one day at most."

"I will think of a solution."

Seeing the county magistrate preparing to leave, Doctor Liang hurriedly stopped him:

"grown ups!"

"It's fine if you don't want to leave the county government office, but don't come to the front yard next time! This plague can easily spread to people. If you are also infected with the plague, the people of our county will be without a backbone!"

"Okay, I will pay more attention!"

The county magistrate returned to the backyard and called someone to the side door to question him:

"Has there been any reply from the capital city today?"

The yamen runner who was being questioned shook his head heavily:

"Sir, if there was a reply, we would have reported it to you long ago!"

As he was speaking, he saw another bailiff coming in a hurry.

"Wang Hu is back! There should be a response!"

The county magistrate hurriedly came forward and said:

"Have you seen the prefect?"

The yamen runner named Wang Hu shook his head, his expression solemn and angry:

"Sir, why have you not received any response to your letter? I have inquired and found out that the prefect left his official duties on the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month and went out to play. No one knows where he has been. It is said that he does not come back until after the 15th day of the first lunar month every year!"

The county magistrate was so shocked that his body was shaking. He asked quickly:

"Have they done anything to arrest those wealthy people who escaped?"

Wang Hu still shook his head:

"They said that they couldn't do anything without the prefect's consent. They also couldn't transfer the herbs and doctors we needed to treat the epidemic."

After hearing this, Chen Qingzhu still had something to understand.

Based on her decades of experience in her past and present lives, she knew that the young county magistrate had no problem with any of his decrees regarding the epidemic.

The blockade of the city was very decisive.

In order to stabilize the people's hearts, he even lived in the county government office with patients suffering from severe plague.

The problem lies with the wealthy families who escaped and the superior Raozhou Prefecture.

Generally speaking, the Spring Festival holiday for officials of the Qing Dynasty was a total of seven days before and after the first day of the New Year.

Who could have thought that the governor of a prefecture would go out for fun so early in the morning.

Not only did he go on the trip himself, he also held on to his power tightly, preventing other subordinate officials from making decisions on their own.

As a result, after an epidemic broke out in Xingde County, not only was it impossible to control and capture the large households that had fled, but they also could not receive timely support.

Given the current shortage of medical care and medicine in Xingde County, the people will collapse and scatter sooner or later, and the plague will spread in all directions at a faster rate.

The county magistrate was silent for a long time, then he said with determination:

"I will go to the capital to look for them myself!"

If his trip to the capital city was useful this time, millions of people would not have been affected in his previous life.

Instead of rushing to the provincial capital, it is better to control the plague in the county first.

Chen Qingzhu's mind raced and he soon came up with an idea.

This matter required much more spiritual power than she expected, so she naturally wanted to seek more rewards.

After placing Rong Niang in an empty house, she went outside the city to make some preparations and then quickly returned to the county government office.

Using spiritual power to transmit the voice:

"Where is the Xingde County Magistrate?"

The sound was ethereal and vast, as if it was far away in the sky, yet seemed to be right next to my ear.

It doesn't sound like an ordinary human voice at all. Instead, it is like the Sanskrit chanting in a temple, full of sacredness and solemnity, making people subconsciously feel solemn.

All the people who were busy in the county government yard looked around.

Then, in the pitch-black night, someone discovered that near the highest roof of the main hall of the yamen, there was a white figure standing in the air with a faint glow.

"Look, everyone, what is that!"