The night was deep, and the moon was dark.

The sound of banging was gone. Under the shadow of the plague, the whole city of Chengdu was silent. That is, above the four gates of the palace and the provincial capital, there are also red lanterns hanging high, showing the last vitality of the city.

The county king and the officials each pinched a piece of soap wrapped in oiled paper, and hurriedly left the Shu King's Mansion under the guidance of their respective entourage lanterns. Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night for them.

The county kings had to hurry back to inform Xiaozong and assign manpower to prepare lime masks, cauldrons, coal, lard, medicinal herbs, plant ash and other raw materials for the production of soap. They and their families had to take a bath with the soap given by the Son of the World, and it was terrible that they were infected with the plague. Early tomorrow morning, they will meet at the Shiquan Palace, and discuss the articles of association for the sale of soap.

The officials immediately mobilized the soldiers and soldiers to search the whole city, and in any case found the beggar, who did not know whether he was alive or dead. Tomorrow when the sick are removed from the city, the four gates are to be sealed, and lime is to be sprinkled all over the city. Of course, the most tired are the parents and officials of Chengdu and Huayang counties, and they have a share in everything in the government. The governor strictly ordered that the two county officials should print and post the "Plague Control and Epidemic Prevention Song" issued by the prince of the world by tomorrow at the latest, and they must also send small officials to knock gongs from door to door to notice:

Take a bath every three days and change clothes every five days; There is no dirt on the body, and the hair is loose and washed; The grain should be cooked, and the raw water should be boiled; Rancid rice should not be eaten, and stale water should not be drunk; Old clothes are boiled in a pot, and the cotton is dried in the sun; Wear a mask when you go out and avoid beggars on the street. Raise a cat without feeding, let it catch mice

……

Liu Zhibo returned to the patrol yamen and went straight to the back ya. He went to Sichuan to take up his post, and only brought an old concubine and an old servant. The old servant lives in the wing room of the outer courtyard, so the second hall is extremely deserted. He instructed the concubine to grind ink, the old servant to boil water, and he rested for a while on the official hat chair in the main room of the second hall.

Zhu Pingjin's performance tonight greatly shocked him.

Unexpectedly, Liu Zhibo said to himself, seeing is believing, hearing is false, fortunately he is serious and does not believe rumors! I never imagined that the prince of Shu was such a loyal and loving man, benevolent and righteous! In particular, the prince took the lead in proposing to pay tribute to the emperor in Beijing, which made him feel very ashamed.

Why didn't you think of it? Liu Zhibo said to himself, could it be that when he arrived in Sichuan, a remote place far away from Beijing, his loyalty and filial piety faded? Obviously he should have persuaded the prince to go out of the city to avoid the plague, why didn't he boldly bring it up on the platform? Is it just because he is afraid of the criticism of the hundred officials, and he is afraid that he will fall into the notoriety of the king of the Afu domain?

Why? Liu Zhibo asked himself dozens of whys, but he couldn't answer any of them, which made him even more painful. He plucked the black veil from his head and placed it on the table, staring at the spread of his wings. More than ten years of cold window, a lifetime of ambition, is it in this forward-looking, hesitant to spend it?

Liu Zhibo slammed the table hard. No, since I have embarked on a career in office, I, Liu Zhibo, must do a few good things for the country and the people! A provincial patrol according to the imperial history, on behalf of the Son of Heaven to patrol, big things to judge, small things to decide, can do a lot of things for the people! For example, this year's taxes in Sichuan can be reduced or reduced by the imperial court. Last year, there was a great drought in Sichuan, and thieves entered the country; In the first month of this year, there was a civil unrest, and now there is a plague. Natural and man-made disasters have followed, and there are good reasons to ask for relief!

After making up his mind, Liu Zhibo finally calmed down. He thought about everything tonight and prepared to write a report to the emperor.

What kind of prince is greedy for money and lustful, and what kind of prince is not subservient, it must be deliberately spread by those scheming thieves of King Fushun and Liu Quanzhong! Liu Zhibo scolded hatefully, the country is in such a crisis, these traitors still refuse to stop, and always want to get some moths out in an attempt to fish in troubled waters. They are nothing more than using the trick of pouring dirty water and creating rumors, trying to attract the wind of the court to the prince, making it difficult for the prince to distinguish between them, so as to achieve their delusion of usurping the country and seizing the throne!

Liao Daheng is also a good person, maybe he is a little greedy for power, maybe he is a little careful, but at least he can understand the general situation, is willing to do things, and does not run the party, no wonder His Majesty praises him. That Zhang Jimeng of Baoning Mansion is really mediocre. Not to mention the tens of thousands of people in one state and two counties, now they are allowing the plague to spread to the provincial capital. Why is he so mad? Why do you have the audacity to make your dirty thoughts public? That's not because he is an old minister of Donglin, and he has a close relationship with Zhou Yanru, who was reinstated by His Majesty in February this year!

Liao Daheng is the governor, and he said that he is not good at participating in the impeachment of Zhang Jimeng, which is obviously to spread the matter in front of the prince and the hundred officials, and let me watch it. Hum! Liao Tycoon, you underestimate me Liu Zhibo too much! Yue Wumudao: Civil officials don't love money, military attaches don't hesitate to die, and the world is not peaceful. Now that the contemptible man has come out, he is ready to promise the country with his body. What is he a Zhang Jimeng! Even if Zhou Yanru himself is corrupt and perverts the law, I, Liu Zhibo, will also participate in him! If I don't impeach Zhang Jimeng, I'll be sorry for Your Majesty's kindness!

Liu Zhibo was in a surging mood, and the concubine came over and whispered, the ink has been polished. Liu Zhibo put on his official hat, vibrated his robe, entered the study with vigor, sat upright at the table, and began to write a note to the emperor. The content is mainly to report that the plague in Baoning Mansion is scorching, and the prefect Zhang Jimeng is derelict in his duties and allows the plague to spread, and now the plague has spread to Chengdu Prefecture. Shu Shizi urgently summoned a hundred officials to discuss, and after the proposal of the governor Liao Daheng, it was decided that the provincial capital would be under martial law for three days, prohibiting the people from entering and leaving, checking the plague patients and transferring them to isolation outside the city. In the following half month, Chengdu was allowed to enter and leave until the epidemic was initially controlled.

After the Chengdu epidemic report was completed, Liu Zhibo immediately turned his pen and pointed the finger at Zhang Jimeng, the prefect of Baoning. He recounted in detail the brutality of the local tyrants in Boryeong Mansion, the misery of the displacement of the people, the embarrassment of the officers and soldiers losing their divisions and land, and finally pointed to Zhang Jimeng's mediocrity. He reported that now the local tyrants in northern Sichuan have taken control of Tongjiang and Nanjiang counties, occupied the important communication passes from Sichuan to Hanzhong Prefecture and Xing'an Prefecture in Shaanxi, and threatened the life safety of King Rui in the Han Dynasty at any time, and caused the danger of the mountains and rivers in northern Sichuan to be owned by the enemy, and the gateway to northern Sichuan was wide open, and Shaanxi thieves could enter and leave freely. Now the local rioters in northern Sichuan took advantage of the spread of the plague and occupied the city of Bazhou again. If swift measures are not taken, Boryeong Ichifu is in danger of falling completely. Zhang Jimeng was incompetent, lost his teacher and lost his land, and his crime was unforgivable, so he asked the court to immediately allow Zhang Jimeng to be dismissed from his post and questioned.

Liu Zhibo listed Zhang Jimeng's crimes one by one, and felt that he was very conclusive, so he turned his pen and implored the imperial court to appropriately reduce or reduce the taxes in Sichuan this year. He also vaguely stated that Sichuan was experimenting with new drugs to prevent and control the plague. As long as the experiment here is effective, it will be produced in large quantities to pay tribute to the Jingshi. Originally, Liu Zhibo also wrote a few sentences about Zhu Pingjin's performance tonight, but after thinking about it again, he still erased it. Perhaps, a vassal king with a mellow and beautiful woman is the virtuous king in the emperor's mind.

Liu Zhibo sighed in his heart, there are no two days in the sky, and there are no two kings in the country. Although the son is virtuous, it is a pity that he was born in a family of vassal kings, and he is buried.

Liu Zhibo began to write a note to the emperor, and Liao Daheng returned to his yamen for a long time. The governor's yamen is not far from the west side of the palace, just because the west gate of the palace is closed at night, and the sedan chair has to go around the Duanli Gate, Yumen and Lingxing Gate in the south of the palace, so the distance is only a little farther. But Liao Daheng returned to the yaya late, not because the distance became longer, but because he needed to think about what happened just now in the sedan chair, and instructed the sedan chair man to deliberately go slower.

At the end of the meeting, Mr. Cheng was asked to give him a message, saying that the palace was going to openly recruit some literati to the palace to sort out the classics and revise the articles. In addition, it is also planned to open a school for children to study for some idle clans, royal officials, and village heads.

At first glance, it seems that the royal government's request is reasonable. There are many classics treasured in the palace, which can be called the largest solitary and rare book in Shu. When the king was present, Zeng Yi Xin collected tens of thousands of books, and Liao Daheng was fortunate enough to be invited to visit many years ago. The whole hall is full of dense and countless books. Recruiting literati to sort out classics is a grand event in the Shu literary world, so it is impossible for Liao Daheng to object.

It is also normal to run a school for children. In the three hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there were thousands of Shu clans, and there were hundreds of thousands of palace officials, eunuchs, guards, slaves, helpers, and many more than hundreds of thousands of years. Running a school for children to study, according to Confucius, is called "education without class", so Liao Daheng is even less likely to object.

But the timing was wrong! Liao Tycoon thought. Now is the time when the plague may spread everywhere, and the city gates will be closed for three days, why did the royal palace suddenly propose to run a school and recruit people? In the morning, I heard that Shizi personally went to the street to invite a teacher, is it just for this matter? Liao Daheng thought about it, but didn't come up with a result, and at this moment, the sedan chair man sang "Drop the sedan chair!" The governor's yamen has arrived.

Liao Daheng returned to the Yaya, and the three masters of Qian, Sun, and Li were still waiting for him there. Dong Weng didn't come back, and they didn't want to go to sleep early. Liao Daheng did not change his clothes in a hurry, but first briefly told the masters about the situation of today's Shizi platform with a calm face, and then asked the gentlemen what they think.

Since the beginning of the year, the two masters Qian and Li have made great contributions to the governor's staff by offering the strategy of surviving in death, and also offering the strategy of killing people with a knife, and have firmly sat in the first and second positions among the governor's staff. When Master Qian saw the governor's face, he thought that he was angry because he was unprofitable, so he smiled and comforted him, the prince was singing a double reed with Miss Luo, and even if a piece of soap was made entirely of lard, the cost would only be three dollars of silver. As long as the shipment volume is large enough, the prince will not make much less than the county kings. Master Li also smiled and said, since the government couldn't get the benefits of soap in the first place, then there was no loss. As long as the plague is safely avoided, the position of the governor of the Lord will be as stable as Mount Tai.

After listening to the words of the staff, Liao Daheng's face seemed to have dispersed. He smiled and nodded, and asked the concubine Huilian to cut the soap she brought back tonight into four parts, three of which were given to the master, and only one was kept for herself. The three masters thanked each other and went home to take a bath. Waiting for the three masters to leave, Liao Daheng sank his face again. He took off his official clothes, changed into a homely tulle robe, instructed Huilian a few words, and then walked into the back garden of the yamen alone with a lantern.

In the pavilion of the water pavilion in the back garden, a few female actors were babbling and singing a small song, and when they saw the adults coming, they hurriedly stopped and came out to salute. Liao Tycoon snorted, waved his hand to let the actors exit the garden, and then smiled at the people in the pavilion:

"Brother Liu, you and I are in-laws, and we are not outsiders, so why be polite? Brother Liu has been gone for a few months, and he wants to kill his brother! The actors are singing, and there is no silk, bamboo, and piano, I don't know how this Huilian is arranged! ”

Mr. Liu smiled and thanked him: "No wonder the clan sister! Now during the national funeral, the little brother doesn't dare to cause trouble to the adults! ”

"Oh, what an adult, there are only brothers at home, no adults!" Liao Daheng feigned anger.

Mr. Liu chuckled faintly.

"Good! Then the little brother transgressed! BROTHER CHUN (YIN) INVITES EACH OTHER AT NIGHT, AND THERE WILL BE BIG THINGS. Little brother is here, listen to me! ”