An Qingxu was suddenly shocked in his heart and asked, "Have these people been brought to the county office?"

"They were all brought over, and their families also temporarily ordered them to be banned from their homes. There is another thing, according to a common man in the city, he went to Shicheng to visit relatives a few days ago, and he didn't want his two distant uncles to die of illness a month ago, and the symptoms before his death were also fever and rash, and he said that there are no less than 100 people in Shicheng who have died of this disease. ”

"What?" An Qingxu was shocked after hearing this, "Is this news true?" Li Wenshan said secretly: "It turns out that this An Qingxu has already sent someone to investigate, and this person is planning to do both hands everywhere, and I am in the dark!" Liu Xiancheng continued: "My lord, the lower officials also heard the report of the officials, and whether it is true has not been verified. ”

"Send someone to Stone City immediately and report the truth of this matter as soon as possible. ”

"Yes, the lower official will do it immediately. After speaking, Liu Xiancheng hurried away.

An Qingxu rubbed his hands together, not knowing what he was thinking, Li Wenshan was surprised, it seemed that it was indeed a plague. Lu County is adjacent to Shicheng, the journey is less than half a day, Li Wenshan said: "My lord, if the matter of Shicheng is true, then the plague will be born, and you don't need to worry about it anymore, once it spreads, there will be countless deaths and injuries, if you don't report it, the same sin is not small." An Qingxu nodded, flicked the sleeves of his robe and said, "Shidong, Shidong!" After half a ring, a young Taoist priest walked in from outside, wearing a yellow robe and a blue and black head, and said, "My lord!"

"Come with me to the study, this official has something to discuss with you. ”

When An Qingxu went to Li Wenshan's house, this Taoist priest named Shidong followed, but he didn't say a word. Li Wenshan saw that this person behaved freely and had an extraordinary appearance, An Qingxu took him to the study, and discussed the matter of the excerpt, so he had no time to think about it, so he retreated.

Li Wenshan didn't know where the patients who were brought were located, and when he went out, he happened to meet Liu Xiancheng with a few officials. Li Wenshan stepped forward to inquire, and Liu Xiancheng led the way to the courtyard behind the lobby, only to see that the surrounding sycamores were towering, the gloomy atmosphere was forested, there were ten rooms in the courtyard, and the thirty-two people brought back were locked inside. Li Wenshan took out a few pieces of cloth from his pocket, brought them with a few people, covered his mouth and nose, and walked into a room, only to see three men sitting on the bed with decadent expressions, and when they saw Li Wenshan and others coming in with masks, they were all startled, and their faces were slightly frightened. Liu Xiancheng raised his voice and said: "This is Dr. Li Wenshan, who is famous in our Lu County, don't panic, Dr. Li's wonderful rejuvenation will definitely cure everyone." Li Wenshan's name is indeed loud in Lu County, these men heard that it was Li Wenshan who felt a lot more at ease, and one of them asked: "Doctor Li, when can we leave here?" Li Wenshan said: "Don't worry, the yamen brought you here, and it is also for everyone's sake, Wenshan will heal you as soon as possible." Then he said some words of comfort, and when the faces of several people were a little calmer, Fang Zi stepped forward to check on everyone's conditions one by one.

After turning around, Li Wenshan went to other houses again, and looked at the ten rooms one by one, and it was already dark. Walking out of the courtyard, Li Wenshan let out a long breath and said, "Liu Xiancheng, this can't be done, everyone must be separated, if it's just an ordinary headache and fever, wouldn't it be infected." ”

"Dr. Li, there are only so many rooms here, and if you live in it again, you will have to go to the prison cell. ”

"It's okay to be in a prison cell, the conditions are almost better than losing your life, and besides, Wenshan doesn't know how this disease is contagious, so the tea bowls they eat and drink every day must be boiled and washed three times with boiling water, and they must not be used by others again, and they must dig deep in the soil and bury their urine and urine. Liu Xiancheng listened to what Li Wenshan said seriously, and hurriedly wrote it down, after all, he is not a doctor, if he is not careful, he will really harm others and himself.

After Li Wenshan finished explaining, he prescribed some prescriptions to detoxify and clear the fire, and let these people take it every day, and it was already early when he was busy when he saw An Qingxu's housekeeper standing in the courtyard, and saw Li Wenshan greet him: "Doctor Li, has my wife's illness improved?" Li Wenshan asked: "What's the matter?"

"Lord An hasn't eaten for a day, so he must be worried about Madame!"

"It seems that the adults have a deep affection for Madame!"

"That's not bad, my lord has been an official for six or seven years Chinese New Year's Eve, he has never taken a concubine, and he has always been very fond of his wife. After saying that, he smiled and said: "It's not a secret, Mrs. is from a famous family, and she is the younger sister of Lord Shi Zhen of Pingzhou today." Li Wenshan was slightly stunned, he didn't think that this Mrs. An was not small.

Early the next morning, Liu Xiancheng sent news that there was indeed a plague in Shicheng, and it had been more than two months, and more than 100 people had died, but the news was suppressed by the government and did not come out. Li Wenshan was furious when he heard this: "I don't report the death of so many people, but I'm afraid that now Shicheng, Luxian and even Pingzhou have been affected, can An Daren already play?" An Qingxu said: "It's an excerpt." The official has put martial law in the city, especially the merchants and ordinary people who have passed from Shicheng, all of them are forbidden to enter. He also wrote a notice that people in the city should not go out recently, and the countryside should try not to go to the city to prevent infection. ”

Li Wenshan nodded, pondering for a while and feeling that he should go to Shicheng, this is the source of the plague, if he can find out the cause of the disease, it may help, and he wants to leave and leave, An Qingxu said: "Doctor Li, the people of Lu County are still in dire straits, but you went to Shicheng, it seems that you forgot what I said." ”

"What?"

"If you can't cure Mrs., you want your father and son to accompany you to the funeral, Li Wenshan, I'm An Qingxu, don't think it's a joke!"

Li Wenshan secretly thought that this An Qingxu was unreasonable, and said that he did not leave himself to treat the people, but for this Mrs. An, and said with a wit: "Lord An, this epidemic is not trivial, the grass people have several prescriptions, but they must all be used on the lady, in case there is anything wrong, the life of the grass people is small, and it will be difficult to recover if the lady has any accidents, there are many infected people in Shicheng, and the grass people used to want to find a few dying people to try a few more times in order to confirm what is a good remedy!" An Qingxu felt that there was some truth when he heard this, but judging from Li Wenshan's character, his medical ethics were quite high, so he thought about it and asked again: "There are some patients in this county, why bother to go to Shicheng?"

"The people in this epidemic will die in more than a month, the people in this county have not been for a long time, some are just ordinary diseases, and the results of the medication will be biased, there will be many people who will die in the epidemic in Shicheng, try to come is the real prescription, my lord, this matter can not be delayed any longer, and Mrs. can not be delayed any longer!"

Mrs. An has been ill for more than ten days, An Qingxu listened to Li Wenshan's words, weighed the pros and cons, and decided to release Shicheng. Before leaving, he wrote a letter to the local county order, and if he encountered difficulties, he could take the letter to the Shicheng County Office. originally wanted to send another official to follow, but Li Wenshan refused, and An Qingxu did not force it.

Li Wenshan was dressed lightly and arrived in Shicheng before dark, but he saw that there was no martial law in the county seat, but there were few pedestrians in the city, the doors of the restaurants and shops were closed, and occasionally small traders set up a small stall, but it added to its zero. Li Wenshan stopped a cart of young men selling cloth and said, "Little brother, is there something big going on in the city now?" The peddler sighed and said, "Sir, you don't know yet, now that the plague god has descended to earth, hundreds of people have died in the county!"

"What plague god?"

"The plague god is the plague god, we here Taoist priest said, the people do not worship the old king, so they sent the plague god down to punish Shicheng, and now the county lord and the people in the city have gone to the Xishan Temple to worship. ”

Li Wenshan was half angry, the county official didn't look for a doctor to find a Taoist priest, and asked, "Then where are all the dead people buried?"

"It's all buried in the south of the city, in fact, it's not buried at all, it's thrown into the pit, the official family said that these people didn't do good things in their lives, and they were invited away by the plague god first, and they couldn't put them into the earth to erect a monument. Oh, these people, what retribution. Li Wenshan was amazed: "Retribution, what kind of retribution! This is not only a natural disaster, but also a man-made disaster!" Then he asked, "Little brother, no one dares to go to the street to worship at the Taoist temple, why don't you go?" The young man sighed and said helplessly: "The poor family has an old father, who can't eat and dress every day, so he has to come to the city to make money to make a living." ”

Li Wenshan sighed, said goodbye to the young man, and walked to the south of the city, the more people walked, the more scarce people became, and inquired all the way to the place where the corpse was thrown in the south of the city, only to see overgrown weeds, desolate and secluded, and a wall stood alone. Li Wenshan took out a cloth to cover his mouth and nose, and walked to the wall, but saw that the nineteen-foot-long brown wooden door was half-closed, and before he reached the door, he smelled a smell of corpses. Push open the wooden door and go in, only to see the thick firewood and grass covered on the ground, reach out and peel it off, three or four dead bodies lying flat, Li Wenshan walked a few steps, turned over the firewood and grass one after another, only to see the corpses lined up one by one, there are dozens of them, Rao is Li Wenshan has been practicing medicine for many years, and he has also seen some dead people, but at this time he can't help but sweat coldly, his face changes color, and a rotten smell comes, Li Wenshan's mind is dizzy, and he faints when he lands.

Besides, the Luxian County Government sent someone to Li Wenshan's house, Li Shi was anxious when he learned that his father was going to Shicheng, and Zhang Wentai and Gu Daihui were also worried about what happened to Li Wenshan. A few days have passed, and there is still no news, Li Shi wants to go to Shicheng to find his father, secretly thinking that if he talks to Master and Wentai, they will definitely oppose it, so it is better to say goodbye without saying goodbye. At night, Li Shi couldn't sleep, and was in a daze in the courtyard, only to see the moonlight sultry and scattered branches, and couldn't help but sigh: "I am safe and comfortable at home, but my father doesn't know where to lie on the couch." If he seeks a cure for this plague, he will definitely touch the sick and even the dead, how dare he let him stay in such a farmhouse inn. Then he thought again: "I'm afraid that my father himself is also afraid of infecting others, and he doesn't go to live in an inn, so wouldn't he be reduced to the streets or trapped in the wilderness, and the weather is cold now, how can I bear it at night." ”