The severity of the epidemic exceeded everyone's imagination, but the prevention and control of the epidemic did not seem to have the desired effect, and almost all the prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Tianjin Prefecture died every day due to plague, which lasted for at least nearly 20 days.

Just when even the people around Yang Hongzhang lost confidence in prevention and control, the good news finally came. The first to see a decrease in the number of daily deaths due to plague infection were Tianjin Acropolis and Nanpi, which were the most effective in prevention and control. According to the data collected late at night, the number of deaths due to plague infection in Tianjin Acropolis dropped from 12 to 9 the day before, and from 15 to 11 in Nanpi.

Yang Hongzhang immediately asked people to report the results to the prefectures and counties in their jurisdiction, and asked the prefectures and counties to continue to strengthen prevention and control. This can be regarded as an encouragement to all the officials and pickets who persist in fighting.

Soon Yang Hongzhang realized the benefits of the method of the harmonious era, and the result of the daily reporting of death data was that after the death toll in Tianjin Wei fell for four consecutive days, Nanpi, Jinghai, Qingxian, and Cangzhou also sent good news, and the death toll was gradually declining. By the time of the Shangyuan Festival, Tianjin Acropolis and Nanpi took the lead in realizing that there were no more deaths due to plague infection, and the number of people who were monitored and quarantined was also plummeting, and the situation in other states and counties was also improving, which made Yang Hongzhang finally stand up.

Therefore, in the name of the General Military Office, the prevention and control regulations and a number of suggestions and experiences for self-protection were issued again. And began to increase the intensity of sending personnel to the countryside to carry out propaganda in an attempt to replicate the model of the county seats.

Just when Yang Hongzhang was full of confidence in the prevention and control of the epidemic, Tianjin Acropolis ushered in a messenger, a great eunuch Gao Keng. Gao Keng once fought side by side with Yang Hongzhang in Gaoyang and Hejian, and was also reused because Fan Fucui and others firmly stood on the emperor's side when they launched the palace change.

So after he underwent a series of tedious tests by the picket team members, the first thing he said when he saw Yang Hongzhang was: "General Yang, you are always so aggressive, and now that you are not in the capital, you have given those people so many handles that the emperor is not easy to protect you." ”

Yang Hongzhang was in a good mood, so he smiled and said, "Gao Gong, what happened?" ”

Gao Keng was angry and said: "You are doing nonsense in Tianjin, and you even connived at your subordinates to do something to Zhizhou, and someone has already sued you to the emperor." The bullets of the imperial historians are the same as snowflakes, and the emperor can't stand it, so he sent our family to see what is going on, if the situation belongs to us, then our family will replace you and take over Tianjin. ”

"Gao Gong, you may not know, although Hongzhang's methods in Tianjin these days are a little blunt, and it can even be said that it is not humane, but the effect is also obvious, as of today, there have been Tianjin Acropolis and Nanpi County basically controlled the epidemic, there are no more deaths due to infection with the plague, and the number of deaths in other counties in the jurisdiction is gradually declining. Compared with the results, I believe that the people will understand those processes, and the emperor will definitely understand them when he knows about them. ”

"You mean that the epidemic in Tianjin has been controlled, so how many people have died in Tianjin this time?" Gao Keng looked at Yang Hongzhang in disbelief.

"So far, the number of deaths due to plague infection in seven major urban districts, including the Tianjin Acropolis and six counties and one prefecture under its jurisdiction, is 4,845. Among them, Cangzhou has the largest number of deaths due to the latest prevention and control measures, 1,232 people, and Tianjin Acropolis has at least 226 people. ”

Gao Keng's eyes widened and he looked at the confident Yang Hongzhang, and then looked at Xia Dongwei next to him and the newly acquainted Luo Kedi with a smile on their faces, Gao Keng still couldn't believe this number. You must know that although there are few people in Tianjin Acropolis, Cangzhou, Nanpi and other counties are counties with large populations.

"If Gao Gong doesn't believe it, he will take a look around with the pickets patrolling the streets tomorrow." Xia Dongwei on the side reminded.

Gao Keng looked a little hesitant, so he looked at Yang Hongzhang again, Yang Hongzhang smiled: "Don't worry, Gao Gong, you and I have to go through the inspection of the picket team when we go out, and we can only go out with protective equipment, and there is no problem just to go around the street." I just don't know what the situation is in Beijing and Baoding, and has the epidemic spread to other places? ”

Hearing this, Gao Keng's face changed. After a long time, he said: "The situation is not optimistic, the capital is better, Baoding Mansion is said to be the following county town together with Baoding Mansion City four or five out of ten dead, more sick." Some counties are even more empty! Now Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong have all found that people have been infected......"

"So serious? Didn't the imperial court promote the prevention and control regulations of the generals? Yang Hongzhang was very surprised, the news Gao Keng got must have only been reported to the imperial court by the officials below, and the actual situation would only get more serious. The population of Baoding Mansion alone is at least 60,000 or 70,000, plus more than a dozen county seats, and the number of deaths is afraid that it has exceeded the soldiers on both sides who were killed in the plundering of the Qing army and the slaughtered Ming people. So compared with Baoding Mansion, what I did in Tianjin was not a simple and effective problem, but a very, very effective one. No wonder Gaokeng was surprised by the death toll from the outbreak in Tianjin.

Gao Keng shook his head: "General Yang, as soon as your prevention and control regulations were sent to the cabinet, countless imperial history chapters impeached you, saying that you were doing something wrong. It wasn't until later that someone paid close attention to what you were doing in Tianjin, and then our family ventured to come. ”

"Hey, it's useless to be a scholar, and the current epidemic is just thinking about the struggle, misleading the country and the people. Gao Gong, Hongzhang is here to implore you to take a turn around the Tianjin Acropolis and the prefectures and counties under your jurisdiction in the past few days, and then immediately write a chapter to Emperor Chen, and you must take measures in the capital and Baoding Mansion as soon as possible, otherwise you will ......"

"Tell us how you've been doing these days. If it is really useful, I can't say that our family still has to return to the capital immediately to persuade the emperor to implement the prevention and control regulations. Gao Keng saw that Yang Hongzhang and others didn't seem to be fakes, so he became curious and wanted to learn more about it.

"Gao Gong, don't be busy, according to what you said, Tianjin may be in trouble, because the epidemic is flowing with the crowd, if the Tianjin government only solves the epidemic, it will face more people fleeing from the hard-hit areas, and our epidemic prevention task may be more difficult, first of all, the people from nearby villages and towns will flock to the county seat, and then the people from other state capitals will definitely rush over when they hear the news. Therefore, this will have to be arranged overnight, Gao Gong please go back to rest first, and tomorrow Japan will personally accompany Gao Gong to take a turn in Tianjin Acropolis and Nanpi. ”

"It's good, it's good!" Gao Keng saw that Yang Hongzhang seemed to be very experienced, and hurriedly said goodbye. Gao Keng also needs to seriously consider how to write the chapter, if what Yang Hongzhang said is true, Tianjin has really effectively controlled the plague, then this prevention and control regulations are not allowed to be implemented as soon as possible, even if they are unreasonable, this is a lot of lives. Don't look at Gao Keng as a eunuch, he still has a basic conscience, even more responsible and moral than the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty.

Yang Hongzhang's overnight deployment naturally includes informing the prefectures and counties of the situation in Baoding and Beijing, so that everyone can build confidence and understand the prevention and control regulations, but also need to focus on preventing the continued spread of outsiders.

When all the prefectures and counties received Yang Hongzhang's report, almost all the county governors and picket team members were shocked, shocked by the seriousness of the plague, and also shocked by the effectiveness of the implementation of the epidemic prevention regulations. Compared with the lives of a large number of people, this grievance is nothing at all.

The prefect and county officials who were touched were really touched, and from the bottom of their hearts, they had actually been resisting Yang Hongzhang's epidemic prevention regulations, but now the Tianjin government has basically controlled the epidemic, the number of deaths is less than 10% of Baoding Prefecture, and the infection rate is much lower, all because they have a prefect who makes a quick decision, an arrogant general soldier. Now they are grateful to Yang Hongzhang from the bottom of their hearts, Yang Hongzhang has borne most of the pressure for them, and now they can justifiably give an explanation to the court and the people in the city.

However, after watching Yang Hongzhang's next deployment, everyone frowned again, because what this young chief soldier was worried about in the deployment was indeed reasonable! Now that Tianjin has basically controlled the epidemic, it is estimated that the news will spread soon, not only in the nearby villages, but also in Baoding, Hejian, and Dezhou.

When Gao Keng put on a full set of protective clothing and walked on the street of Tianjin Acropolis with several layers of masks, he saw a relatively peaceful scene, and what surprised Gao Keng was that all the people walking around the street were wearing masks, checkpoints were set up at every major street entrance, and the entrances and exits of some lanes were also guarded. It could be seen that the people in the city were relaxed. The most surprising thing is that there are still people selling vegetables and grains on the street, although they are fully protected and supplied at designated points, which is indeed rare in epidemic areas.

Of course, there are also uncomfortable places, that is, the smell of lime water everywhere he goes, and Gao Keng knows that this is caused by disinfection. Gaokeng doesn't have to go door-to-door to ask the people, just look at the funeral situation in the whole city to know the death of the people in the Tianjin Acropolis. At least the people of the city have strictly followed the regulations for the cremation of the remains, and there is no place for funerals. At the gate of the city, Gaokeng once again felt the cumbersome inspection of the pickets, and he had to undergo cumbersome monitoring, including body temperature monitoring, before he could go out of the city with the general soldier Yang Hongzhang.

On the way to Nanpi, Gao Keng began to brew a concert, and proposed that Yang Hongzhang and the magistrates of various prefectures and counties jointly sign a petition to the imperial court to implement epidemic prevention regulations in various places. Yang Hongzhang didn't expect that he should regularly report the epidemic prevention situation to the imperial court, and now Gao Keng reminded him that he felt that the prefectures and counties under his jurisdiction should report to the imperial court at least once, and then he should report at least once every three or five days, otherwise the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, including Zhu Youzhen, would definitely not believe the situation in Tianjin, and there was no way to promote the prevention and control regulations.