Because smallpox, which can be transmitted by droplets, it spreads very quickly among many infectious diseases.

The reason why there has been no large-scale infection in the past is because the local government has adopted extremely strict quarantine measures.

Once it is found that a village or county is infected, the entire village or county town is sealed off, and neither the people inside nor the outsiders are allowed to enter. Whoever dares to come out will be killed, regardless of whether the people in the blockaded epidemic area are dead or alive.

In addition, in order to deal with the ghosts of the Hu people, the imperial court also issued an unprecedented ban on commerce, so that the Hu people could not further spread the plague.

Under this almost cold-blooded quarantine measure, the epidemic in various places has indeed been effectively contained.

Even if many people later ran out of the epidemic area under the instigation of the Hu people's spies, it was because the gates of various prefectures and counties were closed and outsiders were not allowed to enter, which avoided the large-scale spread of the plague.

However, the vaccination campaign organized by Tai Tai Hospital broke this situation that was not easily stabilized.

Just like the Northwest Territory, which carried out a large-scale vaccination campaign throughout the Northwest in the past, there has not been a single case of sores for so many years, which shows that this vaccination method can indeed prevent the epidemic and disperse the sores.

Because of this, many vaccinated people, including the people of Xinjing, thought that they would not get sores again, and began to subconsciously relax their vigilance against this menacing plague. Many vaccinated areas have even opened their gates to allow outside supplies to enter the city.

In addition, in order to guide many people who have escaped from the epidemic area to return to their hometowns, some soldiers in the army inevitably have to have close contact with the victims.

In this way, the probability of smallpox spreading will naturally increase significantly.

If the vaccination method implemented by the Tai Hospital can indeed prevent smallpox, then there is no problem.

But the problem is that this kind of cottage inoculation method, which is equivalent to carving a boat for a sword, has no effect at all, which led to the outbreak of this great plague.

When more and more areas that have been "vaccinated" have a large number of sores and infections, the epidemic in the provinces south of the Yangtze River has become difficult to control.

At this time, it is useless to close the city gates as before, because many cities have already appeared with sores and sores, and once they appear, they will spread very quickly.

Often, if one family is infected with a scab, the entire residential area will be infected within a few days.

The main reason why it spreads so quickly is that infected people often deliberately hide their illness in the early stages of infection.

After being infected, many people often choose to hide their illness from others in order not to be discarded by their family members or those around them, even if they know that they have obvious symptoms of sores on their bodies.

In addition, I will comfort myself in my heart, thinking that I have been vaccinated with the miracle medicine of the Tai Hospital and will be fine.

Because the infected person deliberately concealed it and did not know that the sores could be transmitted through droplets, they unknowingly passed the sores to their families and neighbors.

Then the new infected people continue to spread to more people, which is why the plague spreads so quickly.

In just one month, the plague swept through almost the entire Jiangnan, and no province was spared, the difference was only in the degree of local spread.

The plague came so suddenly and quickly that it not only caught the officials of the provinces south of the Yangtze River completely off guard, but also plunged the local people into a huge panic.

Many people fled with their families to escape the plague that broke out in the city.

Due to the lack of information, the fleeing people could only listen to all kinds of rumors.

As soon as they heard which county was safe, they followed in droves, regardless of whether the news was true or not.

For a time, people fleeing their families could be seen everywhere in Jiangnan, and everyone was in a panic.

Those county towns that were lucky enough not to have the plague were closed and heavily guarded, and they did not dare to let any outsiders in.

These areas also often became the gathering place for many people who wanted to escape the plague.

Outside the city, people from other places could be seen seeking refuge. Even if they couldn't get into the city, they didn't want to leave, preferring to sleep in the wilderness rather than return to their hometown, where the plague was outbreaking.

Among them, Feng Dazhu's family is a typical example.

It has been almost five days since he and his wife Zhang Cui brought their only son Feng Yishan to Ma'an County.

Unable to enter the city, the family had to dig a cave in the barren mountains outside the city, and then use branches and rags as gates to barely survive.

Now that the weather is getting colder and colder, if you don't live in a cave, the family will really freeze to death.

Although the problem of housing was barely solved, the food on their bodies was getting less and less, which made Feng Dazhu and Zhang Cui very worried.

Their only son, Feng Yishan, who was only four years old, did not know the sorrow of his parents, but still felt very new about this life in a cave, and still played carefree all day long.

That night, when his son Feng Yishan was asleep, Feng Dazhu sat up a little irritably, and then asked his wife, who also couldn't sleep, "Child, how much do we have left to eat?" ”

Zhang Cui said worriedly: "It's not much, and it will last for about another month at most."

We've saved a lot along the way, but people always have to eat, and it's not a way to go on like this. ”

Feng Dazhu frowned deeply, and then said: "In the future, I will eat one meal in two days, and the extra will be left for you two mothers, so that it should last for ten more days and half a month." ”

"How can this work, you only eat one meal a day now, and if you change it to one meal every two days, how can you stand it as a big man."

"It's okay, I can hold it, that's it. Tomorrow I'll go up the mountain again to see if there's anything to eat, and if I'm lucky, I might find one. ”

Hearing her husband say this, Zhang Cui was so distressed that she couldn't help crying quietly.

Feng Dazhu hugged her and comforted: "Okay, okay, don't cry, be careful to wake up Shanzi."

Don't worry, we will definitely be able to cross this hurdle, and our family will be fine. ”

"Mingming...... Okay, why is this happening? Why did it become like this...... "The more Zhang Cui thought about it, the more sad she became, and she couldn't stop crying at all.

Feng Dazhu didn't know how to comfort his wife, because he didn't understand how things could have turned out like this.

Their family is an ordinary farmer in Shaofeng County, and the family has more than 30 acres of land, which is all the family property left to him by his father.

If it is changed to the period of Emperor Jing'an, these more than 30 acres of land are enough for their family of three to live a very nourishing life.

Nowadays, although all kinds of miscellaneous taxes have become higher and higher in recent years, their family has a small population, and the land in their hands is barely enough to maintain their family's food and clothing, which is much better than those families who have to sell their fields and even sell their children and daughters because they are overwhelmed by the heavy taxes.

But a single plague disrupted their family and the lives of all of them.

When he heard that there was a plague in Jiangkou Province and remote areas, Feng Dazhu was worried, but he was not afraid.

After all, those places are far away from their county, so they shouldn't be able to spread the word.

Just when he was worried, the county government released a piece of good news.

That is, the imperial court will send the doctors of the Tai Hospital to inoculate everyone with the medicine to prevent the epidemic and disperse sores, and this medicine is the kind of "miracle medicine" that played a miraculous effect when the plague broke out in the northwest that year.

As soon as the news came out, everyone, including Feng Dazhu's family, was extremely happy and was grateful to the court and the emperor.

Half a month later, the imperial court really sent a medical officer from the Tai Hospital to preside over the vaccination.

And Feng Dazhu's family, like other villagers, successfully went to the county town to be vaccinated with the "miracle medicine".

After the vaccination, Feng Dazhu, like everyone else, thought that he could rest easy, and he no longer had to worry about himself and his family getting sores.

But no one expected that half a month later, a plague suddenly broke out in the city, and it is said that hundreds of people have died. And those people were not suffering from other diseases, but sores.

Not only that, but several villages near Feng Dazhu have also seen patients infected with scattered sores one after another, and I heard that hundreds of people have died.

Now even a blind person can see that the "miracle medicine" of the hospital is useless at all, and the plague has really spread here.

After a whole day and a night of painful consideration, Feng Dazhu finally decided to flee with his family and leave Shaofeng County, where the plague was breaking out.

Who wants to leave their homeland unless they have to.

Feng Dazhu is the same, of course he doesn't want to leave his familiar hometown, after all, if he stays at home, he can at least maintain food and clothing.

But he couldn't help but think about his four-year-old son.

The son is so young, if he really gets infected with scattered sores, he will definitely be more than lucky.

His Feng family only has this single seedling, and he must not take this kind of risk, so he must go.

He didn't plan to go forever, he just wanted to wait until the plague was over before returning to his hometown to live again.

It's just that the person left his hometown and was cheap, and when he saw that the food he brought out was getting less and less, he became more and more anxious.

In addition to food, when he came out, he naturally brought with him the silver stored in the house.

But now all the counties where there is no plague do not allow outsiders to enter, and even if you have money, you can't buy food, so you really have a little less to eat.

He told his wife that he might find something to eat when he went up the mountain, but he was actually comforting her.

Now there are homeless people everywhere, and everything that can be eaten on the mountain has long been eaten, and it is their turn to be the family.

Even now, he doesn't know what to do. Do you really want to risk going back?

Thinking of this, he subconsciously glanced at his sleeping son beside him, and quickly dispelled this thought.

No, you can't take that risk.

It is not only Feng Dazhu's family who is worried that the food will be cut off, but also countless homeless people like him.

No one knows what's going to happen next, almost everyone is just staying up, and they can live one day at a time.

At this time, in Xinjing, an atmosphere of tension and terror was permeated everywhere.

From the dignitaries to the common people, they were all full of fear of this sudden plague.

And the Tai Hospital, one of the original culprits who indirectly caused this great plague, was brutally purged.

Including the court envoy and the court sentence, many imperial doctors in important positions were sentenced to the most tragic punishment by the extremely angry Anguo Gong, and even their family members were tortured by the criminal officials of the Arrest Office to the point that no one is a ghost or a ghost, and then sentenced to death, and the end was very miserable.

After this round of bloody purge, almost half of the imperial doctors in the imperial hospital were slaughtered, which frightened the remaining imperial physicians.

Among these surviving imperial physicians, Imperial Physician Chen, who knew the truth, was one of them.

At this time, he was so frightened that he didn't even dare to speak.

If he could, he would even want to resign and go home, away from this terrifying court.

Just when the entire Jiangnan was highly nervous to deal with this great plague, Chi Feizheng, who was far away in Jiujiang, rushed to the northwest with a batch of wartime supplies led by Zhang Wu and Su Zihang.

Originally, he didn't need to do this kind of thing in person, but he had an important matter that he wanted to discuss with his father-in-law in the northwest, so he took the initiative to take over the task of escorting.