In the feudal era, anyone who stopped the army or officials would almost certainly face death, so “stopping the road to write a petition” and “stopping the sedan chair to file a complaint” were mentioned in operas. Those who dared to do these things were either facing a desperate situation or possessed great courage.
The Qin State's punishments were even more severe. Someone actually dared to stop an official's carriage from entering Shu. Zhu Xiang quickly jumped off the carriage to prevent the Qin army from executing the person directly.
As Zhu Xiang expected, except for the old man in the lead, the others who were kneeling on the ground to stop the car all had miserable faces and were naked. They should be slaves from the mountain stronghold.
If they dare to stop the car, they will be prepared to abandon the people who are kneeling now.
Zhu Xiang's gaze stayed on the slave for a few seconds, then he looked away.
He had seen many miserable things, and now he was numb to the slaves, so he just jumped off the carriage quickly to prevent the slaves from dying. Although it was not necessarily easier for the slaves to survive than to die, these slaves did not choose to die, they just wanted to live.
"Tell me what's the matter." Zhu Xiang said in a cold tone.
The old man in the lead kowtowed and introduced himself.
She was a Qin woman who married into the mountain stronghold. Although she was not a noble, she was the daughter of a minor official. Because she was loved by her family and could barely recognize a few words, she became the leader of the mountain stronghold after her husband died.
The reason she stopped the car this time was because the village was hit by a major epidemic. She heard that Duke Zhu Xiang had given the previous village a "magic medicine", so she wanted to change the medicine.
Duke Zhu Xiang's reputation for saving the world and helping the people was so great that even if he killed the people who blocked his way according to Qin law, he would probably still give them medicine to save them.
Zhu Xiang was still wondering what kind of magic medicine it was. Li Mu's face darkened and he drew the sword from his waist.
Although the kneeling old woman's words were full of praise for Zhu Xiang, Li Mu instinctively felt angry.
Zhu Xiang held Li Mu's hand and said, "I understand why you are angry. She is blackmailing me morally."
Zhu Xiang first explained what moral kidnapping meant, then looked down at the old woman and said, "You are very smart. You know that scholars value reputation and are careful about their reputation. You specifically emphasized that I love the people and will definitely use medicine to save people. You just hope that I will consider my reputation and go to save you even if I face the danger of a major epidemic."
The old woman kowtowed: "I dare not, I dare not..."
"You have already done it." Zhu Xiang said calmly, "But you have not considered one thing. If I really get sick because of your village, I am afraid your entire village will be wiped out. I still have some confidence in my status and position."
Although the other party was in a desperate situation and risked being killed to ask for help, Zhu Xiang felt very sympathetic. However, no matter how sympathetic he was, he had to protect himself and try his best not to let others take advantage of his kindness to harm himself and his relatives and friends.
In his past and present lives, Zhu Xiang has faced too many moral and identity kidnappings. Not to mention in Zhao State, even when he went to the countryside in his previous life, he encountered many "troublemakers" who liked to take advantage of others.
Zhu Xiang turned his head and said to Li Bing, "Li County Magistrate, it is the county magistrate's responsibility to prevent and control the epidemic. I will not interfere in your duties."
Li Bing nodded and said respectfully, "Jun Changping, please get in the car and wait."
Zhu Xiang patted Li Mu's hand again, asked Li Mu to put away the sword, and then turned around and got into the car.
Li Mu crossed his arms in displeasure. Zhu Xiang had given this old woman a chance, but she still dared to "morally blackmail" her? The term "morally blackmail" was really accurate.
If the old woman had only kowtowed and begged for help, the immoral kidnapping would have alerted Zhu Xiang. Given Zhu Xiang's soft heart, he might have agreed to save her.
But what is the magic medicine? Why doesn’t he know that Zhu Xiang has such a thing
After Zhu Xiang returned to the carriage, he pulled Ying Xiaozheng, who was half leaning out of the window, back into the carriage: "Danger!"
Ying Xiaozheng said: "I thought my uncle would be anxious to save people as soon as he heard about the epidemic."
Zhu Xiang tapped Ying Xiaozheng's forehead and said, "In your eyes, is your uncle stupid? I'm not a doctor. Even if I want to save someone, I can't, and I'll lose myself. I cherish my life."
Ying Xiaozheng curled his lips: "Uncle, you never cherish your life."
Zhu Xiang said: "I will not hesitate to sacrifice my life when it can help me achieve my goal. Fighting hard to achieve a goal is called bravery, and wasting a life in vain is called recklessness. Do you understand?"
"I understand. Uncle, do you understand?" Ying Xiaozheng said, "You won't go to the mountain, right?"
Zhu Xiang said: "I won't go. At most I will listen to what the epidemic is about and give some suggestions."
Ying Xiaozheng rolled his eyes without giving his uncle any face.
Someone stopped your car and blackmailed you, but you still wanted to save him? There will be more and more people blackmailing you in the future! Can you save your little nephew who is less than six years old from worrying about it
"There are so many people who are sick, hungry, or have encountered bandits along the way. Is it really necessary for my uncle to save them all the way?" Ying Xiaozheng said unhappily.
Zhu Xiang said: "If they dare to block the road, it is probably not just their own problems, but the whole village and mountain stronghold is facing a desperate situation. So, it is not a disease, but an epidemic; it is not starvation, but famine; it is not bandits, but banditry. As a local official, isn't it your duty to treat plague, provide relief for famine, and quell banditry?"
Ying Xiaozheng was speechless.
Zhu Xiang smiled and said, "I only do things within my duties. I can't do it and I dare not do it outside of my duties."
Ying Xiaozheng rolled his eyes again. What else could an uncle who could point at the King of Qin and scold him not dare to do
If Zhu Xiang knew what Ying Xiaozheng was thinking, he would definitely cry out for justice. He had never cursed the King of Qin before!
Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng chatted casually while waiting for Li Bing to deal with the matters outside.
After chatting for a while, Ying Xiaozheng felt thirsty, so Zhu Xiang handed Ying Xiaozheng the boiled water in the bamboo tube.
Ying Xiaozheng: Gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle.
Zhu Xiang handed the dried plums to Ying Xiaozheng to relieve the taste of onions and garlic in Ying Xiaozheng's mouth.
Ying Xiaozheng: Baji, baji, baji, baji.
Zhu Xiang glanced at the sun, worried that he would miss dinner, so he took out a bag of dried meat to feed Ying Xiaozheng.
Ying Xiaozheng: Rustling and rustling.
Zhu Xiang asked, "Would you like some more chestnuts?"
Ying Xiaozheng: Click, click, click, click.
Zhu Xiang looked at his own Zheng'er with bulging cheeks and couldn't help but want to hold his face.
My own Zheng'er really eats everything and accepts nothing. He is so easy to feed.
Ying Xiaozheng took another sip of boiled water and patted his stomach: "I'm full!"
Zhu Xiang smiled and rubbed Ying Xiaozheng's belly. Ying Xiaozheng dozed off in Zhu Xiang's arms.
I feel sleepy after eating.
While Ying Xiaozheng was asleep, the people sent by Li Bing finally came back.
He first burned the cloak he was wearing and washed his hands before reporting what he had seen to Li Bing.
When he heard that the people in the village were all skinny but had big bellies, Li Bing turned pale and drew his sword to point it at the old woman kneeling on the ground: "You actually tricked Lord Changping into going to the water poisoning place!"
The old woman's lips moved, and then she covered her face and wept: "I just wanted to ask for some medicine, and I didn't think of asking you to go to the village."
"Of course you don't dare! If you trick the nobles into going to the water poisoning place, I will burn down your entire village!" Li Bing gritted his teeth, "Water poisoning cannot be cured by medicine. If you don't want to worship the gods, why are you blocking the way here? Who told you that Lord Changping has a magic medicine?!"
Maybe their target is also Prince Zheng. Could this matter involve the struggle for the throne or a royal family conspiracy
"Well, if you scare her again, she will be so frightened that she won't be able to say anything." After hearing that it was a water poisoning, Zhu Xiang got off the car again. "Water poisoning is schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease transmitted through the skin, food and drinking water. It's not witchcraft, and offering sacrifices to gods is useless. But schistosomiasis is indeed incurable now, so we can only take precautions."
Li Bing was dumbfounded: "Ah?!"
The old woman raised her head and said in disbelief: "It's not witchcraft? It's not a punishment from God?"
Zhu Xiang said, "What's the point of looking for me for witchcraft and divine punishment? Aren't you asking me for medicine?"
“I… I…” the old woman stammered.
Zhu Xiang said: "You don't know if I really have a magic medicine? Why are you stopping me? Forget it, you can talk about these things later. Let's control the epidemic first to prevent schistosomiasis from spreading to other places."
Zhu Xiang was not at all surprised to encounter schistosomiasis.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country launched a nationwide campaign to prevent and treat schistosomiasis. At that time, statistics showed that the number of people suffering from schistosomiasis was about 10 million, and the number of people at high risk was as high as 100 million.
Judging from the population at that time, it can be seen that almost the entire South was shrouded in the shadow of schistosomiasis.
Even though schistosomiasis has been basically eradicated since then, the Epidemic Prevention Office still sends people to the countryside every year to prevent the resurgence of schistosomiasis and kill snails on a regular basis.
When deciding to enter Sichuan, Zhu Xiang had already prepared to popularize schistosomiasis and persuade Li Bing to launch a nationwide snail eradication campaign.
When the old woman stopped a car to ask for medicine, he gave Li Bing the information he had prepared in advance.
Zhu Xiang said, "I was planning to talk about this after we got to Chengdu, but who knew that the government affairs department would come to me halfway?"
Li Bing was flipping through the documents, mumbling, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.
Li Mu couldn't help but ask, "Zhu Xiang, can you really have the ability to predict the future?"
Zhu Xiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "How is that possible? Water poisoning is a common disease in the south, and paddy field farming is the most likely to cause the disease. I want to teach them how to improve rice planting techniques, and naturally I will also consider how to avoid water poisoning. Just like Li Mu, before you fight the Xiongnu, you will definitely understand their situation first."
Li Mu took a deep breath: "That's right."
He glanced at the dazed old woman and said, "She was instructed by someone to use the excuse of asking for help to harm you, and you actually managed to save her."
Zhu Xiang remained silent.
He also speculated that someone might be using the water poisoning to harm Zheng Er. If innocent people were to be saved, the old man would probably be arrested and interrogated.
The old woman came back to her senses from her daze and stammered, "I, I really can't make an excuse! I really, really just want to ask for a magic medicine, the magic medicine called garlic! Please, sir, I just want to ask garlic to save me!"
Zhu Xiang and Li Mu were both dumbfounded: "Ah?"
Li Bing's stuttering was gone: "What? Garlic?"
The old woman gestured and said, "It's garlic. It's the magic medicine that Lord Changping gave to Qingpian Village and Hongpian Village. Garlic."
Zhu Xiang was stunned for a while: "Who told you that garlic is a magic medicine?" The old woman said: "They all said that if Changping Jun rubbed garlic on his body, he would be immune to all diseases and insects. I, we have no other choice, we want to try whether garlic can, can it ward off the evil spirit of water poison..."
The old woman kowtowed continuously: "My lord, I really have no intention of harming anyone! I am willing to exchange all my family's property for garlic! I only have one granddaughter left who has not been infected by the evil spirit of the water gu. Perhaps with garlic, she will not be infected by the water gu. There is only one left, only one... "
Zhu Xiang, Li Bing and Li Mu looked at each other.
Is there really no conspiracy, just here to ask for garlic
"This...garlic is not a miracle drug, it's just..." Zhu Xiang said with a strange expression, "Well, applying garlic juice on the body can indeed prevent the bites of schistosomiasis larvae. It really works!"
Now only Li Bing and Li Mu were left looking at each other.
Is there really no conspiracy? Was the old woman really forced to seek the magic medicine garlic
Li Bing asked: "Duke Zhu Xiang, the garlic..."
"There is one more thing. But you can't give too much, otherwise there will be nothing to plant." Zhu Xiang said, "Garlic juice is useful, but it is not the only medicine that can prevent and treat schistosomiasis. The herb Artemisia annua I brought is also very useful. The climate in Shuzhong should also be suitable for the growth of Artemisia annua, and perhaps it can be found in the wild."
Zhu Xiang glanced at the old woman who was about to faint on the ground and said, "It's all written in my documents. The county magistrate can copy a copy for them. I can also sell them some garlic and Artemisia annua seeds. If they can grow them, the next generation may be free from the trouble of water poisoning."
Li Bing bowed and said, "I thank Duke Zhu Xiang on behalf of the common people."
Zhu Xiang helped Li Bing up: "Why thank you? Since I came to Shu with you, I am also an official of Shu. These are my duties."
He felt a little embarrassed and decided to hide in the carriage for a while.
He was fully prepared to face conspiracies and intrigues, but the old woman who stopped the car showed such a big fuss, was willing to die, and was morally blackmailed, all just to ask for garlic
Zhu Xiang was almost embarrassed.
He returned to the car dejectedly, sighing.
After listening to his uncle's troubles, Ying Xiaozheng didn't know what his uncle was embarrassed about.
Isn't garlic precious? Who else can eat garlic except the people around my uncle? Even the kings of the other six countries have never eaten garlic. Isn't it natural for the mountain people to block the road and ask for such a rare thing as garlic
"Fortunately, Zheng'er is very capable and his uncle still has a lot of garlic." Zhu Xiang sighed after feeling embarrassed.
Ying Xiaozheng tilted his head: "What does it have to do with Zheng'er? The garlic I planted is harvested well?"
Zhu Xiang smiled: "Yes."
He dueled with the alchemist in the Xianyang Academy, and after he stepped down, Ying Xiaozheng was still clapping loudly.
When Ying Xiaozheng clapped his hands and shouted "Uncle is so awesome!", a pixel fireworks announcement suddenly popped up on the system, indicating a system upgrade.
After a few seconds, the system was upgraded, and all previously extracted crops were expanded from "one thousand" to "ten thousand".
Zhu Xiang was always anxious because a thousand seeds were not enough for promotion. Especially for some seeds whose performance would decay, with such a small number, it would be difficult for him to re-cultivate them before they decayed.
The sudden upgrade of the system greatly alleviated Zhu Xiang’s seed pressure.
Zhu Xiang was once again convinced that his entire system relied on the existence of Qin Shi Huang, the Lord of Destiny.
Zhu Xiang rubbed Ying Xiaozheng's head and said, "It's all Zheng'er's credit that they were saved."
"Uncle said yes, so that's it." Ying Xiaozheng thought his uncle wanted to give him the credit. If his uncle gave it to him, he would accept it and would not refuse.
From then on, he would return to his uncle double what his uncle gave him.
Because of the water-gu disease, Zhu Xiang was delayed for a few days again.
When they were about to set off, Zhu Xiang heard that the old woman also suffered from water-gu disease and would not live long, so Li Bing did not punish her. He sighed deeply.
Even here, there is an outbreak of water poisoning. It seems that the first thing to do after entering Sichuan is to fight the epidemic.
(End of this chapter)