Chapter 461: This Won’t Work Either
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation [ Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Since ancient times, whenever there was a great disaster, a great plague would follow after that. The forefathers were right indeed!
Wei Zhongming wanted to cry. He felt that his future was totally bleak!
He regretted it very much now. If he had known earlier, he would have captured Su Ying. That way, he wouldn’t have to inform the Imperial Court about the disaster in Luo City. As long as he hid it well and survived the drought season, he would be able to return to the capital city to report on his work next year.
However, now that the plague had broken out and so many people had died, the Emperor would definitely not let him off.
“My Lord, what should we do? If we quickly send a message to the Empress and ask her to come back quickly… Argh!”
Before the official could finish his words, Wei Zhongming gave him a resounding slap on his face.
“What kind of stupid moron are you? I was just playing along with her. You guys still think of her as the real Empress? Immediately send more people over and bring those infected people to the mountain. Tell them that I will send the doctor to treat them. When you return later, look for an opportunity to put some drug in their porridge…” Wei Zhongming’s eyes were filled with viciousness. “We can’t let them live until the people from the Imperial Court arrive.”
In Wei Zhongming’s opinion, as long as he killed all the sick people, the disease would cease to exist. Only in this way would the possibility of him being held accountable be minimized.
“Yes, yes, I understand. I’ll do it now.”
After the official left, Wei Zhongming paced anxiously in the hall, hoping that the matter would quickly die down.
That night, the official arrived at the disaster relief area where the plague broke out and led all the people with the disease out of the place.
“Behave yourselves and don’t run around. In order to prevent you guys from spreading the infection to healthy people, His Lordship has created a temporary place for you guys to settle down. The doctor is already waiting there. Whoever arrives first will be treated by the doctor first and will recover faster.”
The official shouted at the victims who were so sick that they could barely stand up.
Those who were walking were supported by those who could still move. Those who were unwilling to leave were directly dragged away by the officials.
“Will His Lordship really give us medical treatment?” A thin weak man asked shakily.
The official replied impatiently, “Of course. His Lordship won’t ignore your well-being. Hurry up and get in line. Let’s go.”
“I… I don’t believe it. I don’t want to leave. We must have contracted the plague Lord Wei wants us to die. We can’t go. Once we go there, we will never return again.”
When the man shouted out, the rest of the people became afraid. Since ancient times, most people who contracted the plague had only one outcome, and that was death.
The Imperial Court was worried that sick people would infect healthy people, so they would always bring them to a place to be isolated.
To put it nicely, they were being isolated for medical treatment, but the truth was that they were no longer treated as living people.
If they went, they would definitely die.
“I’m not going. I don’t want to go with you guys. You tell the doctor to come here to treat us. We are not leaving!”
The patients started to put up resistance.
There were only a limited number of officials, and they were worried that there would be unrest among the patients if this continued. Thus, one official shouted, “This is the Empress’s order. Back then, all of you were about to starve to death. It was the Empress who found people to give you porridge and water so that you were able to survive. Don’t tell me you don’t even believe the Empress?”
The official’s words seemed to have an effect. The patients began to calm down slowly.
Back then, Su Ying had personally come over to supervise the relocation of the disaster victims. She cared for them wholeheartedly.
Would such an Empress send them to their deaths?
For a while, they did not know what to think.
“Let’s go. The earlier you get there, the earlier you can get treated by the doctor. Otherwise, if this drags on, the only ones who suffer will be you guys.” When the official softened his attitude, the patients began to waver. Some people simply stopped making a fuss and obediently lined up according to the official’s instruction. The man who started the commotion saw that everyone believed the official’s words and said worriedly, “You are not lying to us are you?”
“You’ll know whether we are lying or not when you get there.” The official gave an eye signal to the men beside him and ordered them to go forward and grab the man on both sides. They then forcefully dragged him away.
Those people were taken to the mountains that night. The illness was so sudden that some patients died on the way before they reached the place. When they saw how lethal the illness was, the officials were also afraid.
Initially, Wei Zhongming thought that after dealing with the sick disaster victims, he would be able to get through this matter safely. To his surprise, the next day, sick people began to appear in other disaster relief areas. That afternoon, the same illness broke out in three disaster relief areas in all, and the number of patients soared.
Wei Zhongming panicked. Ever since he cooperated with Su Ying to receive the disaster victims who had come to Luo City, the number of disaster victims outside the city had skyrocketed.
According to the preliminary statistics, there were already thousands of people infected. How could it be so easy to deal with these thousands of people quietly?
“My Lord, bad… bad news. There’s… there’s a plague in the city.” The caretaker entered the room with a pale face. Even his voice was trembling.
Wei Zhongming’s knees went weak and he knelt down outright. This kneeling action was equivalent to bidding farewell to his own official career. Could it be that he would really be ruined here?
“My Lord, please take care of your health.” The caretaker quickly went forward to help him up. Wei Zhongming was their pillar of support. If they lost their pillar of support, they could only run away as soon as possible!
Wei Zhongming took a while to calm himself down with great effort. He gritted his teeth and asked, “How many infected people are there in the city?”
“Based on my preliminary estimate, there are already over a hundred people.” In the morning, many people knocked on the medical hall in the city. The patients who came to see the doctor had almost the same symptoms. First, they had vomiting and diarrhea, then they felt stuffy in the chest, and finally they began foaming at the mouth. Some of them had already died.
When the commoners realized that something was wrong, they immediately went to the medical hall to look for the doctor.
Many doctors in the city had already heard about the plague. None of them dared to step forward and get infected at this time. At this point, nothing was more important than staying alive.
Those commoners had no way to seek medical help, so they came to the government office and begged the government office to save them.
“Are you saying that they are now blocking the entrance of the government office?” Wei Zhongming’s face turned ashen.
The caretaker nodded. “Yes. I’ve already tricked them into going to another place, but this isn’t a long-term solution.”
Wei Zhongming took a deep breath and said with a trembling voice, “I’m afraid this matter can’t be suppressed anymore. Go. Gather the doctors in the city and announce a reward. As long as they can cure this illness, I will definitely reward them handsomely.”
No matter how much Wei Zhongming wanted to cover up this matter, he still didn’t dare to take so many people’s lives blatantly. Since he couldn’t suppress it, he could only put on an act. At least when the people of the Imperial Court came and saw what happened, they might just give him a light punishment on account of his hard work.
-My Lord, should we send a message to the Empress?” How could they not let
the Empress make the decision for such a big matter?
Wei Zhongming understood what the caretaker meant. The caretaker was reminding him that he could use Su Ying as a scapegoat. However, he had already written letters long ago stating that Su Ying was a fake. If he still listened to Su Ying on such a big matter, wouldn’t he be telling the Imperial Court that he was stupid?
This matter would not work..