activa-t Chapter 436: A Humble Woman
Chapter 436: A Humble Woman
The prefect was rather thin and looked like he could be blown away by the wind; he resembled a typical little old man.
The old man stroked his white beard, squinted his small eyes, and greeted everyone with a smile, accompanied by the yamen officials.
"I had long heard of a fairy in the capital who was skilled in medicine. Seeing her today, I can confirm that she truly lives up to her reputation. I am overjoyed to have the honor of seeing her in person."
Fang Xiaoxiao looked around and realized that the old man was talking about her, so she quickly waved her hand jokingly.
"My lord, you flatter me. I am but a woman, how could I dare to call myself a fairy? My medical skills are only so-so, I can hardly be said to be skilled."
As a person, you must learn to be humble, otherwise you will easily attract unnecessary jealousy and trouble.
Pei Yan and the others followed behind her and entered the prefectural government office together.
Passing through the main hall and around the corridor, we arrived at the side hall in the back courtyard.
Prefect Yang sat upright, holding a container of epidemic virus bacteria in his hand, examining it carefully, and clicking his tongue in amazement.
This was the first time I had ever heard of germs, and the first time I had ever seen a plague virus in person.
Even after reading countless books, this was the first time he had ever seen such a strange object.
Russian qing.
Fang Xiaoxiao reported her plan to Prefect Yang and then described the subsequent relocation of the city's residents.
Upon hearing this, Prefect Yang exclaimed that she was a woman who was no less capable than any man.
After a few words to get down to business, everyone went about their respective duties.
Pei Yan led his agents to infiltrate the garrison camp outside the city and introduced the plague virus into it, while the rest of the people in the city were organized to gather in the rear overnight.
Fang Xiaoxiao originally planned to move all the people of Suzhou out of the city and head towards the back mountain within two days, but who knew that when Prefect Yang counted the number of people, nearly half of the people in the entire city of Suzhou had disappeared. Among them, more than a million people had died from the plague, and the rest had fled Suzhou a month ago.
Those who stayed were either impoverished people or those with large families who were unwilling to abandon their homes.
Fang Xiaoxiao, Li Daozhang, and others standing at the back of the group kept glancing back at the positions behind them.
They were all hoping that Pei Yan would bring back good news.
Time passed slowly, from the early hours of the morning until dawn. The city's residents had been mostly evacuated, leaving behind a group of people with severe symptoms.
They were completely incapacitated, and some even chose to ingest arsenic or commit suicide by cutting their wrists.
Overnight, the entire city of Suzhou became a ghost town.
When Fang Xiaoxiao and Prefect Yang returned to the city, the ground was littered with rotting corpses, and the air was filled with a nauseating, rotten stench.
Looking at this scene that resembled purgatory, Fang Xiaoxiao sighed.
"They say there is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below, but the best place on earth is Jiangnan!"
"But now, this huge city has become a graveyard for others."
Looking at the scene before him, Prefect Yang's face showed a hint of despair, and his voice was filled with grief and indignation.
"This is all the work of those bastards. If this matter is over, I will definitely submit a memorial to impeach those officials who are just sitting on their laurels in the court."
“Your Excellency, throughout history, countless people have been deceitful and self-serving. If there were truly people in the court who loved this land and its people as much as you do, how could they turn a deaf ear to what is happening in Suzhou?”
Fang Xiaoxiao did not reveal that the people in the imperial court already knew about the events in Suzhou.
She understood that she didn't need to explain further; Prefect Yang was well aware that those people already knew what was going on, but no one was willing to step forward and uphold justice.
Prefect Yang said no more and stepped into the carriage with his head down.
Fang Xiaoxiao followed closely behind a carriage.
The group carefully drove along the official road and soon arrived at the government office.
At this moment, Pei Yan and the others, who had already completed their mission, were waiting here.
Pei Yan arrived at the location of Fang Xiaoxiao's carriage and led her down from the carriage.
Fang Xiaoxiao glanced at Pei Yan, whose face was covered in dirt and dust and whose hair was disheveled, and asked with concern.
"What's wrong? Did you run into trouble on the way?"
"It's just a small trouble, my wife, you needn't worry."
"Oh, then you should be more careful next time."
"understood!"
Pei Yan followed Fang Xiaoxiao into the yamen.
Prefect Yang said he was old and needed to go back to his room to rest, so he left first and went into the back hall.
As for Fang Xiaoxiao and Pei Yan, they naturally planned to return to Wan Family Pharmacy.
Fang Xiaoxiao wanted to develop an even more powerful poisonous fungus in the last three days, just before the city's garrison launched a fire attack and massacre.
She calculated that there were about 100,000 troops stationed outside the city. If the virus could multiply automatically and spread rapidly in the military camp, it would only take two days to slaughter all 100,000 of them.
It was cruel, but exchanging 100,000 lives for 5 million, and for the peace of a city, was a worthwhile trade.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
When Fang Xiaoxiao came out of the room again, she looked like a beggar, with messy hair covered in weeds, dark circles under her eyes, and unsteady steps.
If Pei Yan hadn't caught her in time, she probably would have fallen flat on her face.
"Take a rest first. You haven't slept for the past two days, it's quite frightening."
"It's alright. As long as I can save the people of the city, I'll do it even if it means going three days and three nights without sleep or food."
"Alright, hurry up and order something, then get a good night's sleep. Leave the rest to me!"
"No, this time I want to go with you in person."
Fang Xiaoxiao stood up abruptly, her words earnest, her eyes suddenly gleaming as she looked northward.
That was the camp of the garrison outside the city.
Pei Yan knew her temperament, so he didn't say anything more, only instructing her to follow orders in all matters.
Fang Xiao nodded vigorously, her mouth uttering a promise.
After some preparation, Pei Yan, along with his spies and Fang Xiaoxiao, sneaked into the military camp under the cover of night.
At this moment, inside the general's tent, four or five doctors were whispering among themselves.
"What's going on? What should we do? Why is Fang Xiaoxiao's Banlangen (Isatis root) no longer having any effect on the soldiers?!"
They were all military doctors, and each of them was an executioner.
When the plague broke out in the military camp, it was these few who took the lead in proposing to throw the corpses into Suzhou City.
Later, upon hearing that a strange medicine called Banlangen had appeared in the city and that it could cure the plague, he ordered his men to sneak into the city and buy it in large quantities.
It was quite effective at first, and it did cure many soldiers. But just the night before last, for some reason, most of the soldiers in the entire camp were infected with the plague. And Banlangen could not cure it. Instead, it became more and more serious. During this period, no less than several hundred soldiers and generals in the camp died.
The general sat behind his desk, his sharp eyes sweeping over the group.
After the group finished arguing, he finally spoke angrily.
"Useless, they're all a bunch of useless people. Not only did they fail to infect all the people of Suzhou with the plague as planned, but they also created this Fang Xiaoxiao."
“This woman is truly despicable, and so are you all. If you cannot come up with an effective solution to the plague in the military camp today, I will have your dog heads hung on the flags.”
Upon hearing the general's words, the doctors were so frightened that their legs went weak, and they knelt down on the ground with a thud, crying and begging.
"General, this is not our fault. We have done our best, but the plague that broke out in the camp this time is too strange. A few days ago, the infected people were almost recovered, but now they are getting sicker for some reason."
The general had no intention of listening to their explanations and slammed his fist on the table, roaring angrily.
"I don't want to hear your nonsense. If you don't come up with a solution by tomorrow, you can all go and join them!"
"Men, drag these good-for-nothings out and lock them in cages. If they still haven't found a way to cure the plague after the city is burned tomorrow, let them become food for the soldiers."