Chapter 917: The Opportunity Brought by the Plague

The first year of Da Chu Jianye was spent in a storm, and the atmosphere of the New Year's Festival was less lively because of the rumors of the plague, and the night markets of the old and west cities of Vermilion Bird City were also canceled in previous years, only those red paper lanterns hanging in front of the doors of each household were telling that it was the arrival of the new year.

The spread of the plague was faster than expected, if cases were only found in some places in the three northern provinces before, but with the attention of the local authorities, the garrison also joined the patrols in various places, and more and more people with this new disease were discovered.

The number of people once increased from more than 1,000 to thousands, and in this context, Leng Zhuo issued the latest lockdown order in the kingdom at the beginning of the second year of Jianye.

When a gong sounded, on the streets of Luojia Town, several officials carried a big gong and beat it with drumsticks, and in front, a loud official shouted loudly: "Listen to the left and right, His Majesty the King of Chu has issued a statewide ban!"

"From today onwards, if there is no important matter, every family should stay in their own homes, not allowed to walk around the streets at will, and not allowed to go out of the town without permission, the government will send special personnel to provide daily needs for each family, if anyone in the family has any illness, please immediately notify the officials who patrol the streets!"

Leng Zhuo's edict did not arouse many objections, even if Leng Zhuo did not give this edict, every household had already closed their doors, unless they had to go out on the street, few people went out, after all, the name of the plague was not blown out.

And before the issuance of the lockdown order, Leng Zhuo also issued a number of edicts to prevent the spread of the plague, such as the rodent eradication order, the bird extermination order, in short, all carriers that may carry the plague have been labeled as a decisive decision.

Fortunately, it is winter at this time, even in a warm place like Chuzhou, the fields must be fallowed, so it will not affect production, but most of the commercial activities have stopped, and only the various materials needed to maintain daily needs are distributed in an orderly manner by the local government and the garrison.

At the critical moment, Leng Zhuo's control over the local area was highlighted, and the yamen re-established by the empire in the local area fell vulnerable under the rumors of a plague, but it was the former local officials who re-presided over the locality, and now the officials of Dachu stationed in the local area.

Most of these local officials are young and middle-aged, all of whom are exceptionally promoted, and it can be said that they are loyal to the Great Chu Kingdom, because in the empire, a place where seniority is ranked and the background is seen, it is not so easy to be a county commander.

These local envoys of the Great Chu Kingdom had been in office for two years, and even after the establishment of the Great Chu Kingdom, they did not really leave the place, and they were stationed in the local area in another way, and even in some confrontational events that occurred one after another, these people played a great role, and the local popularity gradually increased.

Therefore, at this critical moment, the ten prefectures under the control of Chuzhou did not have any turmoil due to the outbreak of the plague, and the place was quite stable, plus Leng Zhuo began to mobilize troops and horses at the beginning, stationed in the locality, and began to implement military management over the locality, so the preventive measures were quite timely.

Although the number of people who found the disease was increasing, the impact on Chuzhou was not as strong as expected.

However, this plague is obviously not independent, not only Chuzhou suffers, Zhongzhou as the source of the plague, the entire southeast of Zhongzhou is shrouded in the horror of the plague, and even Qingzhou on the side has begun to have cases, Qingzhou is not immune, and Yangzhou is also unable to hide.

Qingzhou, compared to Chuzhou, which has been peaceful for two years, Qingzhou has been in turmoil, after the Bai Qi army occupied most of Qingzhou, although it has been more than a year, but Qingzhou has not been tamed, and most of the local forces in Qingzhou are still inclined to Situ Hao, the new emperor.

And this time the arrival of the plague undoubtedly gave Bai Qi a chance, in the arrival of the plague panic, after getting the news from Leng Zhuo's side, Bai Qi, who had been prepared, immediately took action.

The army abandoned most of the places north of Huaishui, contracted the main force in the four prefectures in the south of Qingzhou, Heze, Huainan, Jiyang and Gaoyou, and set up an isolation area in the west of Heze Prefecture, and at the same time followed the example of Chuzhou and activated military management.

Although a stricter ban was not enforced, Bai Qi's army took advantage of the plague to enter various cities and towns, forcibly requisitioned local guards, cut off communication between towns, and shot birds flying in the sky, and even ordered rats to be killed.

Under the banner of preventing the plague, and then strongly intervening in the place, it can be said that this step is exquisite, which can not only prevent the plague from running more effectively, but also insert it into the place, and use the excuse of the plague to isolate some local families who are yang and yin, although there is no blatant bloody purge, but once isolated, the consequences can be imagined.

Bai Qi wantonly recruited local guards and isolated those families with ill intentions, and at the same time began to prevent and control the plague.

Although Bai Qi gave up most of the northern Huaishui area, his strength was not weakened, but unprecedentedly improved, as long as he could survive this plague safely, Bai Qi could be considered to have completely taken root in the southern part of Qingzhou.

Compared with the vigorous and resolute action in the south of Qingzhou, Yangzhou is a ball of wool, completely cut and untidy, successively, Songjiang, Jinfeng, Suzhou three prefectures to implement military management, at the same time block the official roads, the local three counties under the county also implement strict precautions.

However, this kind of defense and grounding like a great enemy did not cause any dissatisfaction, but made many people feel relieved, not afraid of your strictness, afraid that you will not do anything, this is a plague, if there is no such strict control, it will really spread, and the plague will not care what your identity is.

However, in addition to the three prefectures of Yangzhou, among the other five prefectures, Jincang Mansion is also very direct, directly dispatching family soldiers and horses to blockade Taicang, and even interrupting all foreign trade, but the remaining four prefectures do not have such control.

Yangzhou Prefecture, Taihu County, and Yixing County are controlled by Leng Zhuo's forces, while Yangzhou County has been divided into three forces, falling to the Nangong family and some families of the Great Chu Kingdom, to Situ Xue, the family of the Tang family, and some wait-and-see grass, and the three forces are fighting for power.

In this case, the implementation of Yangzhou City's prevention and control policy for the plague was chaotic, and even some big families took advantage of the chaos to make a fortune.

"What!" Leng Zhuo's eyes widened in disbelief, obviously the fact he had just heard made Leng Zhuo's head feel like thunder, he never imagined that this great plague that had affected Zhong, Qing, Chu, Yang, and might even continue to spread was because of an order from him.

"Young master, judging from the situation that has been obtained, it is already ** and ten, and the source of this plague is likely to be caused by General Ran's dead cavalry!"

"So sure?" Leng Zhuo was still reluctant to accept this, if that was the case, he would be the culprit of the plague.

"Actually, the plague sent back from the spiritual healers and medicine masters we sent out, this plague is different from ordinary plagues, we call it the plague of dead air!"

"Oh?" Leng Zhuo looked at the grass cone, this spiritual healer who had followed him from the beginning, was now only a thin line away from the Heavenly Spirit, and was now the dean of the Kingdom Medical Academy.

"We compared the similarities and differences between this dead air plague and the plagues that occurred in the past, and found that the source of the death gas plague is dead air, a different existence from the infectious plague, after this dead air enters the body, it will devour people's vitality, how to say, this is like a kind of dark energy!"

"Although the death gas will be transmitted through contact, spread, and at the same time cause death, but compared to the destructive power of the general plague, the death gas plague is much inferior, if it is a strong person who is hit by the death gas, it is likely to survive with a strong vitality, as long as the death gas in the body is suppressed and gradually dissipated, the body should be able to recover!"

"Judging from the cases we have found everywhere so far, some strong young people are still alive and tenacious although their bodies are withered, while some old and weak, as well as some people with old diseases and dark injuries, will die quickly if they are entangled by this death qi!

"This kind of dead air, if you guess correctly, should be regarded as the dark energy diffusion of the dead knights, and spread through some birds such as crows, so as long as it is handled properly, it should not cause a large-scale plague! But if it is not well controlled and the dead are not properly disposed of, the dead qi will spread again, and if the number of dead people continues to increase, the power of this dead gas plague may be even more terrifying than the ordinary plague!"

Leng Zhuo was stunned for a moment and said, "Really?"

"That's right, if Your Highness goes to the southeast of Zhongzhou, you will find how strong the dead air is there, almost all the crops have been destroyed, even the weeds on the ground are difficult to grow, the sky is full of dead air, and there are almost no living people there!

Leng Zhuo was speechless for a while: "Okay, I'll think about it!"

Leng Zhuo didn't nod directly, because he found that this plague that could be controlled was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him and for the Great Chu Kingdom, Ran Min continued to wreak havoc in Zhongzhou, and the weakening effect on Li Tang was self-evident, which was even more powerful than sending thousands of troops in the past, and the consumption was almost none.

And with the help of this plague, Bai Qi reorganized the southern part of Qingzhou, and the ground in Yangzhou can also take the opportunity to clean up, it can be said that this plague is used well, no less than hundreds of thousands of soldiers, so it seems that it is a little early to take back this big killer!