The Spring Festival of the 26th year of Shengwu is approaching, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites have already drawn up the ceremonial regulations to be played to the heavens. In previous years, there must be a lot of excitement inside and outside the Dazheng Palace during the Spring Festival. Decree: The chief of the Relief Department is not effective in disaster relief, and he is specially dismissed to investigate and deal with it. The princess of Qingping temporarily took charge of the relief department, and the imperial physician ordered Song Defang and the imperial physician He Ruyi to assist him and went to the disaster-stricken area of Pingli to provide relief to the people.
Then came a decree: the fourth prince, Ye Tianling, added the title of observation envoy to Jingli, commanded the deployment of soldiers and horses, inspected and sealed off the two places of Beijing and Li, and worked with the Relief Department to handle disaster matters with full authority, and all local officials in Pingli would be dispatched by him.
Two days later, at dusk, there was a third decree: the seventh prince, Ye Tianzhan, would be given the title of censor and palace bachelor, and the ministry of ceremonies would make arrangements for the New Year's ceremony.
At this time, Qing Chen and Ye Tianling had already gone to Pingli, and as soon as they left Beijing, the Xuanjia Army stationed at the city gate, and set up a card seal from the outskirts of Beijing, drawing up a tight line of defense between the infected area and the non-infected area.
The Xuanjia Army's strict military management is worthy of its name. None of the sergeants brought in was like the previous relief department. They were either deserted first for fear of the plague or let them go privately after accepting bribes.
According to Qingchen's order, Mingyilou expanded Muyuan Hall into several branch halls, and provided medicine and medicine to the victims, which really helped many people, and soon became a well-known charitable hall in Jingli. For the sake of convenience, Qing Chen changed into men's clothes when traveling. People in the suburbs of Beijing also went to Muyuantang to see a doctor. They recognized her and ran to tell her.
Qing Chen and the others stopped and walked, all the way down to Pingli, and saw that almost every household in the city hung white banners, every family had mourning, some even died of their entire family, and countless people died by the roadside. There are also many counties and counties around, and everyone is in danger.
It's almost Chinese New Year, but Pingli is full of sorrow and resentment, which is extremely tragic. Those who died died, those who fled fled, and the rest of them lost their lives in panic. Qing Chen couldn't tell what it was like, he just felt the earth-shaking shock in his heart, wishing he could wipe out this plague immediately, restore the peace of the people, and restore the peace of the world.
In the early morning of deep winter, the streets are almost deserted, deserted and quiet like a ghost town. The long wind blew the papers flying all over the sky, and there were faint crying sounds, adding to the desolation. In the back hall of the Pingli County Mansion, Song Defang woke up early after only sleeping for a few hours. After several nights of hard work, his old bones were almost too much to bear. When they arrived at the front hall, they saw Ye Tianling's guard commander Wei Changzheng waiting there, and greeted him, "Wake up early, Commander Wei."
Wei Changzheng said with a smile: "Morning doctor Song, we have been used to fighting with His Royal Highness over the years, you should take a break."
Song Defang said: "People get old and feel less, your highness?"
Wei Changzheng said: "Your Highness and the princess have left the mansion, and I will give these recipes to you to try, princess."
Song Defang took the prescription he handed over, and looked at it intently. After a few days, Princess Qingping formulated preventive care measures and gradually pushed them away. The epidemic seemed to be contained. Presumably, King Ling and the princess went out to visit in person again. The only worry is that the blood of the divine beast is limited after all, and not many people can be saved every day. He didn't dare to delay, and immediately went to the pharmacy to test the medicine.
At this moment, Ye Tianling and Qing Chen came out of a family, behind them were several teams of guards in full armor, carrying stretchers covered in white cloth. No one in this family was spared, all five members of the family, old and young, died of the plague, and even the people who collected the corpses for funerals were nowhere to be found.
Seeing Qing Chen staring ahead in a daze, Ye Tianling worried that she would not be able to take it anymore, so he asked in a low voice, "But are you tired?"
Qing Chen smiled: "Fortunately, these are the last few."
Ye Tianling nodded: "I've traveled all over the city, and the outskirts of the city must be the same." In the past few days, the two of them visited the whole city in person, and Qing Chen went from house to house to receive patients, comfort the people, and implement preventive measures. The law also persuaded the survivors to cremate their deceased relatives to cut off the source of the disease. Even if there were those who were unwilling, most of them complied with their sympathy for the pain of their loved ones' bereavement, and earnest comfort and persuasion. A fire site was set up in a wasteland in the eastern suburbs, and countless dead were buried every day. It has been burning like this for five days.
Qing Chen looked up at Ye Tianling, seeing that he had to dispatch security guards and worry about the epidemic in the past few days, his brows did not relax. The two of them were so focused on the disease that they rarely even had the chance to be alone. But they can only see each other when they raise their eyes and turn around, so they feel at ease, and they cooperate with each other step by step, and they cooperate seamlessly, so they can get twice the result with half the effort. I just feel that this life has never been so comfortable, and the gloomy and misty epidemic area has a little more aftertaste for no reason.
Seeing her looking over, Ye Tianling's clear and stern eyes flickered, and Yan Xi asked beside him, "Your Highness, are you still going to the Eastern Suburb fire scene today?"
"Go." Ye Tianling said lightly, burning for five consecutive days, hoping today is the last time.
On the road from the middle of the city to the eastern suburbs, the cry of the worshipers along the way was loud, and when they climbed to the high platform, a raging fire erupted in front of them, devouring countless dying souls. Yan Xi had been watching it for a few days, but he still couldn't bear the sight, and couldn't help turning his head to avoid it. Everyone lowered their heads and closed their eyes, unable to bear to look at each other, but they couldn't hide the miserable howls of the survivors in their ears.
On the top of the high platform, Ye Tianling stood expressionlessly with his hands behind his back, staring coldly at the ferocious flames in front of him, the soaring heat wave still couldn't melt the coldness in his eyes, it seemed that he was indifferent to this hellfire scene. Qing Chen stood beside him quietly, the heat forced the white gauze covering his face to shake uncontrollably, only a pair of clear eyes were exposed outside, the autumn water reflected the enchanting intensity of the flames, everything in the world twisted and rose above the flames, Straight into the sky. She stared at the death struggle in front of her without dodging, as if she wanted to engrave it in her heart and remember it forever.
At this moment, it seems that the heart of "Ning Wenqing" has been stripped away, and "Feng Qingchen" is also forgotten. An indescribable feeling grows in the bottom of my heart and gradually embraces her. The few days of intense fire seemed to have completely reborn her, and the world that she hadn't seen in the past slowly spread out in front of her, as if she was reborn from Nirvana.
The surviving monks in the city gathered on their own and recited the mantra for the dead. The sound of the Buddha brought some peace. Qing Chen listened for a while with his head turned, and whispered: "Fourth brother, we should have come earlier."
Ye Tianling thinned the corner of his mouth and said, "It's not too late now."
Maybe the sky has the virtue of good life, but ten days later, the Emperor of Heaven received a report that Princess Qingping extracted the medicinal liquid from the highly poisonous softshell turtle, and mixed it with rhubarb, Fangfeng, Qingdai, Platycodon grandiflorum, and a small amount of Taibai aconitum. The "Ku Ruo Pill" made together is extremely effective against the plague in Beijing and Li, and countless people have died. Immediately, the Emperor of Heaven allocated another 200,000 taels of disaster relief funds to mobilize medicinal materials from various places to make this medicine.
Muyuantang had already hoarded a large amount of medicinal materials and food under Qing Chen's behest. As soon as the money from the court arrived, it would be bought and sold, and even if it had an additional income of more than 200,000 yuan. While completely solving the urgent needs of Mingyilou, he bought medicines and prepared "Kuruo Pills" according to the prescription and distributed them widely. The number of patients taken in at Muyuantang is decreasing day by day, the outskirts of Yige City have been banned, and Pingli is gradually calming down. It's just that the people's livelihood and economic vitality have been seriously damaged, and it won't be able to recover in a short time.
For disaster relief after the epidemic, the Emperor of Heaven exempted the Pingli area from paying taxes for one year, and opened warehouses to release grain.
After staying in Pingli for another month, seeing the surroundings have settled down, the group decided to return to Beijing on the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month to report on their duties, because the New Year would be just a few days away.
When the car drove away from the Pingli county government office, the people of Pingli came out empty, and those who knelt on the street to see each other came one after another. Many people followed the car and walked for more than ten miles before returning. Through the window curtain of the car, Qing Chen looked at the people who followed behind reluctantly, feeling deeply moved, and suddenly felt that he was really living here, and this feeling had never been so strong.
In the eastern suburbs of Pingli, a "mass grave" was erected. In front of the tomb was a two-foot-tall white stone tablet. An inscription was written to record the twenty-five-year epidemic in Shengwu. In the same year, people in the city gathered funds to build the "Pingchun Temple", in which a statue of a woman in white clothes stepping on a lotus is enshrined, which has been honored by doctors for generations.