The cruel little princess

"Brother Xu, don't call me Princess anymore. It sounds awkward. Just call me Sister Youyou, just like we are at the border..." Shen Youyou talked with Doctor Xu as they walked.

From Doctor Xu's words, they learned that Doctor Xu and his companions had arrived in Tongniu County half a month ago. Just like when they came in, the yamen runners let them in without asking any questions.

Then they began to gather all the survivors together. The sick were gathered in a small area inside the village. Those who were not sick were gathered outside the village, near where the yamen runners were stationed. The imperial physicians distributed herbs to these people outside, and they were asked to prepare them at home.

The sick were taken care of by those with less severe illnesses. Since everyone was from the same village, and sometimes several members of the same family were sick at the same time, it was not difficult to take care of them.

However, the prescriptions they could prescribe were not very effective, only slightly delaying the worsening of the disease. Still, people kept getting sick and being transferred there.

So far, after the floods and plague, the county town of over 13,000 people has been reduced to only about 5,000 people, of whom over 1,000 have fallen ill! Every day, people continue to die and fall ill...

Shen Youyou took a deep breath. This plague was far more serious than she had imagined!

Sending a secret letter to the capital was a last resort!

Among the group of imperial doctors and elite soldiers who came, Imperial Doctor Sun, Imperial Doctor Li, Imperial Doctor Yang and a hundred or so other elite soldiers had already shown initial symptoms of the plague and had been sent to the village.

Shen Youyou was deeply moved after hearing this. No matter when or where, there is always a group of people carrying heavy burdens forward in places you can't see!

They are not after fame, fortune, or gold, silver, or jewelry! They are only after the bright red sun under this prosperous world!

Doctor Xu led them to the intersection of the two places, where the rest of the elite soldiers were stationed to guard the area, preventing anyone inside from escaping!

"Princess! We can't go any further, we can only go here." Doctor Xu pointed to the mark on the ground.

But if he couldn't move forward, he couldn't see the specific symptoms with his own eyes. Shen Youyou stood there and looked inside.

Suddenly, she saw a familiar figure walking back and forth inside, "An Er, ask Doctor Yang to come forward and talk!" Shen Youyou turned around and said to An Er.

Because the distance was quite far, she was afraid that her voice was too soft for Doctor Yang to hear her, so she asked An Er to call him.

"Old man Yang! Old man Yang!" An Er used his internal energy and shouted twice.

Doctor Yang, who was in unbearable pain inside, thought at first that he was hallucinating. How could he hear those boys from Prince Jin's Mansion calling him Old Man Yang here!

But when he looked around, he actually found someone whom he thought absolutely could not be here at this moment but was here - Princess Jin Shen Youyou!

"Your humble servant pays his respects to Princess Jin!" Imperial Physician Yang also stumbled out, but he stopped moving forward when he was still some distance away. Instead, he kowtowed and knelt on the ground.

"Doctor Yang, please stand up quickly! Let me ask you, how many days have you been ill now? How do you feel? What were the symptoms when the disease first started? Tell me the truth!" Shen Youyou asked loudly.

If you ask ordinary people, they will just say where they hurt or feel uncomfortable, but they won't describe it in such detail from beginning to end. But asking Doctor Yang is much easier. He can describe all the symptoms, both his own and others', without leaving out anything.

Based on Doctor Yang's description, Shen Youyou initially concluded that they were suffering from the plague! However, she couldn't examine them in person and couldn't be 100% sure, so she decided to prescribe some medicine and see how it worked.

Shen Youyou and the others returned to Doctor Xu's courtyard and stayed there temporarily.

Shen Youyou picked up the pen and quickly wrote down the prescription for treating the plague.

But after writing it, she hesitated again, because in modern times, there are several types of plague: bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, and septicemic plague.

The main symptoms of bubonic plague are chills, high fever, facial redness, thirst, and confusion. The tongue coating may also be yellow. Traditional Chinese medicine treatments include scutellaria baicalensis, forsythia suspensa, isatis root, yuanshen, coptis chinensis, mint, red peony root, prunella vulgaris, and raw licorice.

Symptoms of pneumonic plague include high fever, thirst, cough, respiratory distress, and hemoptysis. Treatment primarily focuses on clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood, and stopping bleeding. Treatment options include gypsum, buffalo horn, raw rehmannia root, coptis root, moutan bark, anemarrhena root, pinellia tuber, agrimony, and whole trichosanthes root. Dosage is determined based on the severity of the condition.

Septicemic plague manifests with blood in the stool and urine, cold limbs, and a pale complexion, requiring cooling the blood and clearing away toxins. Herbs such as Bamboo Leaf, Cortex Moutan, Radix Rehmanniae, Imperata Root, Radix Yuanshen, Coptis chinensis, Gypsum Fibrosum, Lithospermum Officinale, and Platycladus Orientalis are very effective.

Bubonic plague requires clearing heat and relieving symptoms, reducing swelling, and detoxifying. Pneumonic plague requires clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood, and stopping bleeding. Septicemic plague requires cooling the blood, clearing the vital energy, and detoxifying. Symptomatic treatment is tailored to the condition and type of illness.

She judged it to be plague based on Doctor Yang's description, but she couldn't accurately determine which type of plague it was. She pondered carefully again.

Doctor Xu saw that she was still hesitant after writing the prescription. He asked directly, "Princess, is there anything wrong with the prescription?"

"No, it's just that I preliminarily diagnosed Doctor Yang's symptoms as plague. However, there are several types of plague. Without taking his pulse myself, I can't accurately determine which type of plague he has...so I'm a little hesitant."

"That's easy! Imperial Physician Yang and the others are all doctors. Princess, please write down the plague symptoms and pulse patterns that you know about! There are also corresponding prescriptions. Let Imperial Physician Yang and the others take each other's pulses, and then you can treat yourself, right?" Imperial Physician Xu said.

After listening to it, Shen Youyou directly wrote down in detail several symptoms of plague, the pulse diagnosis and the corresponding prescriptions. After finishing, she handed it directly to Doctor Xu, "Brother Xu, I was obsessed with appearances. I only thought that doctors don't treat themselves, but forgot that there are several other doctors and medical doctors in this!"

"Princess, you are so concerned that you are confused..." Doctor Xu took the prescription with a smile.

"First, let Doctor Yang and the others boil a large amount of medicine, and then determine by taking the pulse whether the villagers have the plague like them. If so, carefully distinguish which type of plague it is, and classify them according to the type of plague, and give them medicine accordingly." Shen Youyou gave the instructions in an orderly manner.

"If it's not the plague, record the patient's pulse in detail, ask about the specific symptoms from the beginning to the present, and then repeat them to me in detail. I will make a decision then. Don't compromise casually! The treatment must be targeted! Don't generalize!" Shen Youyou said seriously.

"Don't worry, Princess! I saved it." Doctor Xu replied.

"Also, I want to meet the leader of the guards who escorted you here. There are some things I need to discuss with you."

Shen Youyou decided to cut the Gordian knot and implement drastic reforms, starting from the source! First burn the bodies, then burn all the villages in the county!

After all the villagers were cured, they moved out. Since this place has become a natural water reservoir, it means that such situations will continue to occur from time to time in the future. Instead of waiting for death, it is better to leave their hometown and find another way out!

Of course, the prerequisite is that the plague is eradicated and all villagers return to normal!

It can only be said that Shen Youyou's strategic planning is definitely not inferior to Erlang! She has a far-sighted vision, the determination and means to make bold moves, and the courage to take on responsibilities and obligations!

The chief of the imperial guards sat upright, listening to Shen Youyou's decision together with Doctor Xu.

The more they listened, the more stunned they were! This was too shocking, wasn't it?! After cremating the body, they couldn't just bury it in the ground or scatter it in water. Instead, the ashes had to be put into a large jar and buried deep underground?! Doesn't that mean they'd have no place to rest?!

Imagine that scene, you're a pile, I'm a pile, and we all turn into a pile of ash...

Then burn down the entire village?! Leave no furniture or belongings behind?

Was she here to provide disaster relief or to confiscate property? If it weren't for the secret guards accompanying her to verify her identity as Princess Jin, he would have surely thought she was some devilish female villain from nowhere!

Such shocking and appalling behavior!!!

Shen Youyou saw the guard leader's shocked expression and knew he might not be able to accept it for a while. Doctor Xu, on the other hand, wasn't so surprised and expressed his understanding and support for her approach! She truly was worthy of graduating from the frontier anatomy department with honors!

Well, this child is truly teachable!

From a medical perspective, Doctor Xu could understand Shen Youyou's approach. It seemed cruel, but it was the most practical and effective way to block, isolate and eliminate the source!

However, from a human perspective, the leader of the Imperial Guard felt that Princess Jin was a bit cruel! However, those who have accomplished great things have always been unafraid of trivial matters! Moreover, in this situation, Shen Youyou could only choose the lesser of two evils!