It's snowing and it's getting colder.

Coincidentally, the name of this place is Bexue.

There are seven counties under the jurisdiction of the county, in addition to the snow field, there are still six counties, and Bexue is the first county to come in from the north wind pass.

Song You and his entourage walked for two days.

As Liu Junshou said, when you arrive at Guijun, you basically can't see the mountains, and even the earth rarely sees ups and downs, when the weather is good, you can see the edge of the horizon at a glance, if it is dusk, the sunset can pull people's shadows until they are blurry and invisible, and there is no end.

I have passed through the countryside and met pedestrians.

Some of the villages are empty, and some are still inhabited, and if there are people living and seeing outsiders coming, the doors of every house are closed, and they dare not even open the windows, and there is no difference from empty villages.

So far, there are only two types of pedestrians on the road.

One is the postman official who corresponds between the prefectures, and his identity can be seen from his clothes.

These people generally come and go like the wind, covering their mouths and noses tightly, riding horses and passing quickly, no matter what Song You and the swordsman say, they will never stop half a step. Even those who are vigilant will see them from afar and go under the road and bypass them through the fields.

These people ensure the connection of the county government offices.

One is the medicine collection team in each county.

The Dayan court did not choose to end the plague by slaughtering the city, but set up a medicine administration bureau in Angzhou, sending teams from the outside world into Gui County, sending the medicine to Beifeng Pass, and each county organized its own people to collect it, and then retrieved the county seat.

These people would occasionally ask a few questions and answers with Song You and the others from afar.

There are roughly three kinds of medicines sent by the imperial court, Ganoderma lucidum is poisoned, the Golden Emperor saves the bitter pill, and the Bodhisattva Jishi Pill is the medicine commonly used to treat epidemic diseases. It's just that I heard that it doesn't work on the demon plague in Guijun, and at most it only delays the people who will die in nine days to ten days.

This plague is called the demon plague.

Song You walked for two days and learned a little about it.

After the outbreak of this epidemic infection, the first eyes were bloodshot, which was easy to identify, and then there were cough and nosebleeds, vomiting and diarrhea, high fever and vomiting blood, pale complexion, hair loss, atrophy of limbs, erosion of the whole body, etc., almost every day there will be a new symptom, and when the final coma, people are no different from ghosts, and most people will die on the ninth day after the attack, a total of 18 days.

Therefore, it is also called the nine-day plague.

The epidemic is so ferocious that there is no cure.

Fortunately, the transportation is inconvenient in these years, and the epidemic prevention in this year mainly depends on the inconvenience of transportation.

After the war disaster and the great drought in the north, the land is even more vast and sparsely populated, the nine-day epidemic mainly broke out in the city, and officials from all over the country almost quickly blocked the city, not allowed to enter and exit, most of the villages were not affected much, only a few were infected because of inexplicable strange reasons, and they died.

In addition to the inconvenience of transportation, this is another big move to deal with the plague this year-

Dead person.

When people are finished, the plague is gone.

Even sometimes the government will adopt the method of slaughtering and burning the city, which is cruel and helpless.

At present, Gui County has not done this, but has strictly closed the city, set up a sick relocation workshop, actively isolated, if someone dies, some are burned, some are deeply buried, a layer of lime must be laid when buried, and if people who come and go to communicate or take medicine enter and leave the city gate, they must also use fire and smoke to eliminate the virus.

For the families of the deceased, the imperial court will also give subsidies.

It has been heard that if a family dies six or more people in an epidemic, it will be given 5,000 burial money, 3,000 if four or more people die in a family, and 2,000 if two or more people die.

Although it is a backward era, people have exerted great wisdom to deal with the virus, and they have done their best to survive, and their attitude is not inferior to that of future generations.

Therefore, in the past few months, although there have been countless deaths in several small counties, the epidemic has not continued to spread.

It's just that Song You went to see it carefully, although the nine-day demon plague was rumored to be from the snow, it was not a simple demon magic and evil magic, but a real epidemic, and it was extremely fierce and terrifying, far from the common plague diseases in the world, and the sick people died very miserably, but it really seemed to be the handiwork of the big demon.

If you don't know how to use medicine, you can only get rid of demons and evil arts, and you can't cure complex pathological diseases.

Although the spiritual power of the four seasons is very useful, but this disease is too complicated, spiritual power is not omnipotent, can make healthy people healthier to avoid illness, can help people recover from injuries, but only magnify the body's own ability, and can not accurately solve the different symptoms of the sick person.

That's the power of a miracle doctor.

If you go to the disaster vine, maybe you can.

However, Song You did not carry the calamity vine, the ancestor who was proficient in this path is no longer alive, and all the existing calamity vines in Fulongguan cannot save even half of the village.

However, there are ways to prevent it.

In the 24 solar terms, the rain valley rain is full of vitality, and the most moisturizing, although it can not make the people who have been sick healed, but if it turns into spiritual rain to fall, or melts into the well spring water tank, although it is not like that year Changjing, it is just in time, seducing the spiritual power of the season can make the entire Changjing and the surrounding areas benefit from it, but it can also benefit a village and a city, the people are full of vitality, good health, spiritual power to protect the body, and the disease is naturally difficult to invade.

If you are sick, you may be able to feel better.

It's all he can do.

Song You thought of the miracle doctor.

All the way forward.

Gradually, from Bexue County to Yuluo County, and then to Yuntai County, getting closer and closer to Hanshu, the plague became more and more serious.

There are more empty villages on both sides of the official road, and there are often people who occasionally live there, and there are often sick people, and coughing is heard when passing by in the middle of the night.

People use all kinds of methods to cure diseases.

All kinds of home remedies, praying to God and worshiping Buddha, as well as abstaining from food, doing good deeds, and even eating soil and swallowing gold, cutting flesh and bloodletting, don't feel ridiculous, they are all people's cherishing of life and the struggle in the face of death.

Occasionally, I heard that some villages were not connected to the outside world, but for some reason, some people were also infected.

Some say that it is a disease caused by the wind, some say that someone secretly went out at night and came back, and another say that the people who died of illness in other villages were not buried, and the graves were dug by wild dogs, and some people said that it was caused by demons and ghosts.

I often hear rumors about Dr. Cai.

The further you go, the more lonely you become.

You can't enter the city, and even if you meet pedestrians on the village road, few people are willing to communicate with them, and the world seems to have become much quieter.

Soon it was the winter moon.

On the seventh day of the return to the county, night.

A village called Wujia Village.

The sky was hazy, the whole village was coughing, and an old man with bloodshot eyes stood opposite the young Taoist, and the strange thing was that the old man who was suffering from the epidemic was more afraid.

A few feet away, a swordsman looked at this side, two horses, one black and one red, stood quietly, and a three-flowered cat wearing a gray linen coat and a hood at his feet also observed this side from a distance.

"I have to tell my father-in-law that the water made of elixir may not be able to cure the disease, at most let the people who are not sick drink it, and it is not so easy to be infected by the disease. If a person who is already sick drinks it, it will be better at most, and he will live a few more days, and one bowl a day will not be beneficial. The young Taoist's voice came from afar, accompanied by the whimper of the dog in the distance, "If it is used in combination with Doctor Cai's medicine, it may also have some therapeutic effect on those who are sick." ”

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir."

Muramasa bowed again and again and thanked him sincerely.

In fact, where can mortals immediately discern what medicine is effective? What medicine didn't work?

It's just that civilians also have true feelings.

There is no medical treatment for this disease, almost death in nine days, and the contagion is very strong, sometimes I don't know where it comes from, ordinary people don't even dare to walk into the village, just don't hear the cough, meet people on the road, they have to stay away, if you hear the cough, you are afraid to avoid it.

How can anyone dare to come and talk to him when he knows about the patients in half the village, and sees that he is obviously sick?

Not only spoken, but also medicine was delivered.

It is often said that rushing to the doctor when you are sick is not only a behavior, but also a state of mind.

People are willing to take the risk of sending medicine, but it is useless, and it is also the heart of the Bodhisattva, if it is really useful, it is really a fairy descending to earth.

What's more, after only taking a sip of this water, mortals already feel that their drowsy and splitting brains are much better.

That's a big help.

"If it is useless to take it together with Doctor Cai's medicine, please don't be surprised." The Taoist continued, "If it is useful, it is a blessing, and the credit should belong to Doctor Cai. ”

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, just ask Muramasa one more sentence, where did Doctor Cai go after he left today?"

"I heard it went north."

"Thank you."

Song You thanked him and went on the road.

The swordsman and the cat next to him followed, and Muramasa hurriedly retreated, covering his mouth and nose with a cloth, and watched them go away.

At dusk, the group walked along the village.

There was a thick air of death in the village, as if it was three points thicker than the twilight of the night, and I don't know how many people died during this time, and I don't know how many people will die in a few days. The twilight of death was contrasted with a strong stench, and death was a truly undignified thing.

Song You didn't walk fast, and as he walked, he looked left and right.

The three-flowered cat took small steps, followed the Taoist, and also turned his head to look left and right, his eyes were clear.

"Squeak~"

Suddenly, a door opened.

"Little sir."

A shout came.

Song You stopped and turned his head to look.

For a moment, the wind was still.

Standing at the door, I don't know whose old woman it was, even if she covered her mouth and nose with a cloth, she could see that her face was full of wrinkles, and her clothes were tattered and dirty. In this chaotic time in the north, I am afraid that I have already tried my best to live, but I have encountered this plague.

I saw her and Song You standing across a courtyard, her eyes were bloodshot, her face was as pale as paper, most of her hair had fallen out, and at dusk, she couldn't tell whether it was a ghost or a human for a while.

I am afraid that the ninth day of the epidemic has reached the seventh or eighth day.

Song You looked at her and was silent for a moment before asking:

"What's the matter with the old lady?"

"Ahem......"

The old woman coughed habitually, raised her eyes to look at him, and didn't dare to take a step forward: "Mr. has the ability, I don't ask Mr. for help, and I can't save it, but cough cough, I heard that people will become ghosts when they die, go to the underworld, I want to ask Mr. Xiao, is it true or false?" ”

"Maybe."

Song You thought for a moment before replying.

He glanced at her again, and then bowed and left.

The sound of coughing all over the ground, accompanied by screams and wails of pain, came and went.

The black cry continues, and the dog smells it when it cries.

People are ghosts, and ghosts take away people and gods.

Most people are ghosts during the day, and ghosts are suspicious at dusk.

But in fact, I can't tell whether it's a human or a ghost, and it's not just a human, and even the ghost itself can't tell the difference.

Song marched to the entrance of the village, looking back and still sighing.

I only ask you to go first, don't ask where you are on the way back, life is so bitter, what is the difference between heaven and earth?

(End of chapter)