Northern part of the Valstad Empire,

Flanders, a handicraft city.

Fourteen years have passed since the day when the dragon sent down the plague,

At least half of the 350,000 inhabitants of Flanders were infected, and hundreds of each died from complications caused by the plague.

In order to prevent the plague from spreading throughout the empire, the emperor sent troops and police to cordon off the entire city, and sent a task force of medical experts to deal with the current emergency.

December 19,

It's Winter Veil and if it were a normal year, the square would have been packed with festivities, and at this time of year, stalls selling grilled sausages and loose beers can be found all over Flanders.

But this year's Winter Veil Festival is a bleak and desolate scene, and the country is experiencing an unprecedented catastrophe.

The demoralization of the people and the Great Depression brought about by the defeat of the war, coupled with the plague, the streets of the city were deserted, and occasionally a few citizens with masked faces hurried by, even if they knew each other, only nodded and did not talk to each other.

As a result of the previous cases of looting shops and injuring civilians, every once in a while armed gendarmerie knights patrol the streets of the city.

As soon as a criminal act was discovered, the perpetrator would be arrested, and in case of resistance, only one warning was required, and then the direct shooting was killed, such a strong and powerful response policy was obviously issued by the emperor himself, and the safety and order of the city was effectively guaranteed.

At the door of the food store on the corner of the street, an old man walked out with a large paper bag, and he suddenly fell to the side of the road because of the plague or some other reason, and scattered the bread and apples in his arms.

The citizens quickly reported the situation to the municipal authorities, and a quarter of an hour later, a team of plague doctors wearing beak-like masks arrived to examine the corpse.

The female military doctor at the head is really not, she is the famous Marquise, the rising star of the imperial medical community, and the director of the Imperial Medical Research Institute - Lady Janen Winstede.

Ten years ago, Lady Janening volunteered to come to this plague-stricken city,

She led her most astute doctors and nurses to join the Emperor's medical task force, and became the leader of the team by sheer strength.

As soon as she stepped into the city, she was shocked and despaired, and there were a large number of corpses lying on the streets, each of which was in a horrific state of death.

After years of research and practice, Jian Ning has summed up a set of modern epidemic prevention theories, the primary task is to prevent the infection from continuing to expand, and must not let these corpse infection sources stay on the streets.

Since then, she has set out to standardize the process of disposing of the bodies of the plague dead.

After unremitting efforts, she began to reap the initial results, and since Lady Jeanning took over the work in Flanders, the number of new daily infections has dropped off a cliff.

In the early stages of the work, there were many other difficulties that needed to be resolved, with police work halting and serious violent crime in the streets, and it was only later that the joint patrols of the military and police were intensified and order improved.

The city has been locked down, and all personnel are forbidden to go out, and only professionals and supplies are allowed to enter the city

From that moment on, Janine knew that her fate was tied to the city, and she would not be able to return home until the pandemic was lifted.

But she has no regrets about the decision she made, and now that the situation is urgent, it is the time for her to serve her country and show her talents.

Jian Ning led everyone to the scene of the incident, uncovered the white cloth covering the corpse with her double-gloved hands, and saw an extremely disgusting and terrifying face, which would have been spit out if it were an ordinary person.

After years of training, Jian Ning has become accustomed to working with all kinds of corpses, and she is the chief expert in the city, with a professional quality that far exceeds that of ordinary doctors.

Jian Ning glanced at the pocket watch and instructed his assistant:

"Dr. Dale, I beg you to record the deceased and put it in the file folder when you get back."

Dale straightened his eyes and took out a notebook and pen:

"I'll keep a good record of that, Madam Dean."

The skin of the deceased was covered with swollen yellow bumps, some of which had burst open, slimy white pus splashing or flowing from the ruptured lumps, and in addition to the cysts, there were large bruise marks and gangrene, both looking and smelling, challenging the limits of human psychological tolerance.

After careful observation, Jian Ning covered the deceased with a white sheet and said to the crowd beside her:

"Yellow abscesses, severe bruising, and extensive gangrene due to necrosis of tissue at the end of the limbs......

This is a fairly typical case, all of which are characteristic of the plague, and it has been confirmed that the patient died of serious complications at the end of the plague infection. ”

Doctor Dale used his shorthand expertise, and in a short time he recorded all the information, and another doctor lifted the corner of the sheet to examine the body, and said:

"The extent of the lesion is very serious, it seems that this old man has been infected with the plague for many days, since he still has the strength to go to the food store to shop, why not go to the hospital for treatment? What an irresponsible guy whose actions would put many people in danger of infection! ”

"Forget it, Dr. Will, there's no point in scolding him.

The deceased was supposed to be a lonely old man, and looking at the cross he wore, he preferred to go to church to pray rather than modern medicine.

Perhaps his sons and daughters had already died in the war, leaving him alone to face this terrible plague, but it was our work that did not do a good job and did not find out his difficulties during the visit. ”

As she spoke, Baroness Jeanning checked her gloves and robes again to make sure there were no holes or crevices for the plague to enter.

Doctor Dale put away his notebook and pen, and began to check his equipment, and said as he tightened his gloves:

"I now finally understand why His Majesty the Emperor signed that humiliating treaty, not to mention the disparity in military strength, if the war continues, the enemy Rao dragon will rain a plague on the entire peninsula, and the Valsta nation will be destroyed."

Jian Ning sighed: "Signing a contract is indeed a difficult decision, it's a pity, most ordinary people won't understand the helplessness, look at the recent newspapers, full of negative news about Your Majesty." ”

One nurse said, "I'm so angry, I really want to get those newspaper editors here, so that they can see the horror of the plague." ”

Jian Ning waved his hand to everyone: "Doctors and nurses, it's time to call it a day, put that corpse in a sealed bag,

The workers at the incineration plant were instructed to follow the standard procedures I had established, to completely burn the bodies of the infected, and to put the remaining ashes in sealed jars for centralized landfilling. ”

When I returned to the military doctor's dormitory building, it was completely dark.

Janine Winsted was so exhausted that she took off her robe, took off her mask, and fell headfirst to the bed.

There was a thick stack of newspapers on the bedside table, which Jian Ning's assistant had bought for her and put in the dormitory, and it was an important lesson for senior officials in the empire to grasp the trend of public opinion, Jian Ning put on her glasses and took out a copy of the newspaper stack casually.

It is the Valstad Evening News, which is published today, with a long headline printed in large font on the front page; "The ministers are about to fight to the death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?"

The article reported on the fierce quarrel that took place in the parliament of the Scales, and the pro-war members expressed their shock and incomprehension at the emperor's signing of the contract, believing that they had been deceived.

The tyrannical monarch they once supported had suddenly become a compromise lamb, and some even threw out conspiracy theories that the current emperor was a pretending actor, and that the real Empress Salantos had died of her injuries.

Discord in the council continues to ferment, and the treasury has long been unable to make ends meet due to the wear and tear of the war and the huge war reparations paid to the Kingdom of Solan.

Even the Emperor's eldest son, Duke Meyer Onassis, the leader of the free trade, could not afford to pay such a large debt, the empire's economic deterioration, and the panic caused by the plague shrouded the entire country

Janine threw away the newspaper, her mind a mess.

The only thing that gave her comfort was that her husband and son had all returned safely from the battlefield, and she didn't have to worry about them every time.

Thinking of this, she dragged her tired body to her feet, sat down at her desk and began to write:

"My dear husband, I have received your letter, and I am sorry that it took me so long to reply, because I am too busy and tired.

Rest assured, I'm living in an officer's apartment in Flanders, and fresh food is brought in from outside the city.

As for your biggest safety concerns, I always wear the mask of the plague doctor to work, and the beak-shaped breathing valve is stuffed with a lot of gauze soaked in iodine to sell the filth in the air.

In addition to this, I also wore a full set of airtight special robes and two layers of gloves, which were effective in protecting me from the plague.

Thanks to His Majesty the Emperor's trust, I have been promoted to temporary supreme governor of Flanders, and now that even the mayor and the military police are at my disposal, I can carry out my plans with confidence and boldness.

Due to the fact that the plague was spread from the sky by the enemy dragon, and had a very high lethality rate, it was finally named the 'plague plague' after discussion.

This is a war with no smoke in sight, and I am confident that I will lead you to win this tough battle.

My dear, I'm tired, so let's write about it, take care of our dear William for me, and tell him that no matter how tall and strong he grows, he will always be the most concerned baby in his mother's heart!

Love Your Wife: Janen Winsted

Written in Flanders, December 19, 1723.