Chapter 810 Epidemic
Pingyang is quiet, at least for the settlement of Huangtou Army soldiers.
However, the epidemic is far away in Hebei, and it has only now spread to parts of Sizhou, Bingzhou, and Yanzhou. As far as the counties in Bingzhou that are closer to them are concerned, Yanmen County under the control of the Xianbei people has heard that there is an epidemic. enemy.
Leping County seems to be more serious, making Taiyuan, Shangdang and other places nervous and nervous.
But in the final analysis, Pingyang is still a bit far away from them.
So, it doesn’t matter whether you should move or move.
After November, the leap month ushered in. At this time, there was a sudden epidemic in Hedong County. It was said that the disease was brought back by the tribes of the Wei and Liu families who fought against the Pujin Pass bandit army.
Xia Houcheng, the governor of Hedong, sent doctors to see that the symptoms seemed different from those in Hebei and not the same plague. He immediately panicked and ordered the sick people to be driven into abandoned villages and left to fend for themselves. .
Hadong is already there, can Binh Duong, Xihe, Hongnong, Hanoi, Henan and other places escape? The probability is very low.
So, after the twelfth lunar month, everywhere was empty. During the slack season, people hide at home and no longer walk around, and even the New Year atmosphere is much lighter.
"Team leader, Qi Lei from Nancun is dead." Someone shouted outside the fence and left quickly.
Zeng Yi went out and saw his back in the distance, carrying a large bundle of firewood on his back and walking in a hurry.
He sighed and kicked the big tree in the lower yard angrily, but unexpectedly, he was covered in frost and snow.
The little girl sat on the threshold, giggling, and then continued to eat the cheese in her hand.
Zeng Yi walked over and rubbed her head hard. The little girl ran away with a smile.
Lan took a frozen deer into the courtyard and looked at it carefully.
"This was caught by Kelan while hunting. I gave the silk cloth given by the king to Paoze and bought it. The skin has been taken away, leaving only the meat." Zeng Yilai Go to the well and whisper.
Mr. Lan nodded slightly, and then said: "If your husband wants to eat meat, there is no need to spend money. I will go hunting in the mountains. If you are lucky, you may get something."
Although it is early I heard that my wife can ride a horse and shoot archery, but I was a little surprised to hear her say it herself.
Seeing Zeng Yi's stupid look, Mrs. Lan chuckled and said, "Liu Yuan and Liu Cong, father and son, once ordered both men and women in the palace to hold bows and arrows, and those who could not shoot were punished. The tribe's In ancient times, even women had to draw bows and shoot arrows. After settling in Pingyang, this practice gradually disappeared, but I can still do it.”
Zeng Yi was speechless.
What kind of life did the grassland tribes live? Even women and children have to learn to ride horses and archery, and worry about being attacked, killed, and robbed every day.
"Who shot this deer? His archery skills were so good that he pierced the eye directly." Lan asked, stroking the prey.
"The King of Liang shot it in the forest." When he said this, Zeng Yi's face was full of admiration, and he praised: "I raised my hand and shot, and it fell down in response to the string. It was so magical."
Lan nodded and said: "The most practical method in the army is to shoot with just raising your hand. If you aim for a long time, there will be nothing. Husband, if you want to learn, I can teach you."
Zeng Yi His face turned red and he shouted: "I am the sword and shield wielder, we will talk about this later."
After that, he turned around and went to the kitchen.
There was a bowl of warm milk in the kitchen. Zeng Yi felt warm in his heart and picked it up to drink.
At first, he couldn't bear to drink cow's and goat's milk. After a long time, he seemed to get used to it. He drank it without any problem and found it quite refreshing.
The grassland herders rely on this thing to survive.
In the autumn, when the nobles organized a hunt, they might be able to share some meat.
Before the winter, some livestock were slaughtered due to lack of fodder, and some meat could be eaten.
As for normal times, they can only live on the milk of cows, sheep, horses and camels, plus wild vegetables, mushrooms, wild fruits and the like. Maybe a little saved cheese and physalis, that's all, unless they still have it. Plant some “God-harvest” land.
After drinking the milk, Zeng Yi felt refreshed. Then he came to the door and looked at a cow tied in the cowshed chewing hay.
I didn’t have it last year, but I bought a new one this year because someone was moved to Hongnong and was forced to sell off their property.
"Did Zhou Da in this year's team come over to help?" Zeng Yi asked.
"Coming." Lan replied casually as she was boiling water in the courtyard.
“If I don’t go on an expedition next year, I have to go to their fields to help.” Zeng Yi nodded and said, “I heard that Queen Hui is training calves in Shanglin Garden and will sell more than two thousand calves next year. You can buy one of the grown cattle, but it’s not convenient for several families to share one.”
Lan replied.
Zeng Yi secretly sighed, this woman is good, but she is too spendthrift.
If you have money to buy farm cattle, what kind of beef cattle should you buy?
Or is it that the legacy of the Xiongnu is too strong, and most of the time farming is done by manpower, and the harvest is too low, so we really have to rely on heaven to harvest?
Zeng Yi returned to the kitchen again, opened the basket and saw how the cakes were steaming.
I recall that when I first came here, my family was too poor to open the pot. The first meal Lan cooked, the porridge was so thin that it could almost reflect a person's face. He ran to Pao Ze's house and bought a pheasant and a few steamed cakes to celebrate the new year.
It seems to be better this year.
The government did not go to their homes to collect grain, so the family who had harvested one season of wheat and one season of millet gradually had a surplus.
After exchanging part of the grain for a cow, the remaining grain, plus cow and goat milk, can barely support the next autumn harvest.
Zeng Yi thought while looking at the fire.
The days in Xihe and Kelan seemed to be getting better, and the Hu chiefs were more convinced of King Liang.
With winter crops, many livestock are no longer slaughtered in late autumn, but sold to merchants going south.
It was once mentioned that Queen Hui, Princess Xiangcheng and the Guanqiu family's caravan were the three most active in buying and selling livestock.
Queen Hui built pastures in Guangchengze, Jizhou Anping and Pingyang Shanglinyuan. Now she specializes in collecting calves for training and selling them as cattle when they grow up.
Princess Xiangcheng has a ranch in Runan. Recently, she was encouraged by Queen Hui and sent people to Loufan to build a ranch. When the Yellow Head Army returned with King Liang, they once camped outside this ranch.
The Guanqiu family was just doing business, which was the most unethical. They also asked their Huangtou Army to help escort a group of livestock south to Hedong from Lishi. When the tribal chiefs who cooperated with the Guanqiu family along the way were short of fodder, they even borrowed hay stored in county granaries, and they were very arrogant. However, the existence of these three companies does not seem to be a bad thing. It is better to be able to buy and sell, and both parties will benefit, than to fight and kill.
"Team leader." Someone shouted again from outside the fence.
"What's the matter?" Zeng Yi glanced at the steaming steamer and asked when he went out.
"Don't go out. Two more people died in Nancun this morning, and dozens of people were sent to the mountains." Sergeant Zhou Da stood far away on the road and shouted.
Zeng Yi’s heart tightened.
The plague is invisible and intangible. No matter how well he practices his sword and shield skills, it is useless. It is really scary.
"Sent to the mountains? Why?" he asked subconsciously.
"Afraid that others will be infected with the epidemic." Zhou Da said: "The thieves in the county personally led the team and arrested the people to the abandoned village in the mountains. General Yuan Xiyuan issued a strict order, and those who disobey will be dealt with according to the military law ."
Zeng Yi nodded with an ugly expression.
He didn’t want to be sent to an abandoned dock in the mountains to fend for himself, that would be too desperate.
And, does this really work? There are so many people infected, but only a few can be discovered and taken away.
This year has been difficult.
"Team leader, take care." Zhou Da said again and disappeared.
Zeng Yi sighed.
The sunshine in the farmyard is just right, making me warm, but my heart feels chilly.
Locust plagues, droughts, floods, earthquakes, and plagues all hit one after another, not to mention the continuous war. It is not easy for those who can survive until now.
Lan also heard this. She subconsciously looked at the man with a look of fear on her face.
The little girl was feeding the livestock in front of the cowshed and sheepfold. She couldn't understand this and just blinked.
“Don’t be afraid.” Zeng Yi looked at his wife and daughter and said, “This world was already in ruins. It was King Liang who turned things around. He is the spirit of the Taibai Star that descended to earth, and he must be a man of gods and ghosts. He must be a bit of a plague ghost. Run away."
Lan nodded slightly, with hope in her eyes.
******
A group of knights rushed out from Ningshuo Palace, galloped to the bank of Fen River, and threw burning torches into the frozen river.
The torch burned quietly for a moment and then went out soon.
The knights cheered immediately, as if the plague in the palace had disappeared in the cold wind with these torches.
The former assassination superintendent of the law enforcement order and the current Pingyang order Liu Fang stood by the river, waved his hand and said: "Drive away the epidemic."
The swordsmen and axemen immediately stepped forward and took the three A condemned prisoner wearing a plague ghost mask held him down, raised his knife and beheaded him on the spot.
"The plague ghost is dead!"
"The plague ghost is dead!"
Some onlookers cheered loudly.
Liu Fang's face darkened, and she pointed at them and said, "Your Majesty does not allow people to gather in groups. Why did you disobey the order? Disperse quickly and order everyone to go home."
"Promise." The thieves and soldiers immediately came forward with their men, beat and scolded them with their scabbards, and drove away the people who were watching the excitement.
The death row prisoner's broken neck was still steaming hot. In Liu Fang's eyes, it was the smell of plague, and he subconsciously took a few steps back.
According to folklore, Zhuanxu had three sons, all of whom died and became plague ghosts: one lived in the river, which was a malaria ghost; one lived in water, which was a sprite ghost; and the third son who lived in the corner of a human palace and was good at surprising children was called a little ghost. .
It sounds ridiculous, but there are many believers.
Just yesterday, Xia Houcheng, the governor of Hedong, asked him to make the three plague ghosts generals and build a temple to worship them. King Liang stayed in silence and did not give a response.
Today, Prime Minister Yu Chen, Zuo Army Chief Wang Yan and others asked again, begging to seal these three ghosts to avoid diseases.
Liu Fang knew that King Liang probably didn't believe this, but Li Yuanxin and the scholars believed it, so he actually believed it a little bit.
I don’t know if it was anxiety or something else, but last night he actually dreamed of the imp among the three plague ghosts, hiding in Ningshuo Palace, staring covetously at the princes and princesses, baring his teeth.
This matter cannot be told to anyone, let alone to Prince Liang. If something happens, Prince Liang may not blame him, but what about the ladies?
I hope the Taibai Star Spirit can suppress the plague ghost, right?
"Alas!" He sighed and led the people back to the city.
As the days passed, various anti-epidemic rituals were performed, but the effect did not seem to be very good.
People died one by one.
In the first month of the seventh year of the Divine Turtle (323), the funerals in Pingyang and Hedong counties reached a climax.
This kind of thing cannot be prohibited, and with the current management capabilities of the government, it is even more incapable of prohibiting it.
At this time, news from other places also came intermittently: Jiangnan, Henan, Hebei, Bingzhou, Guanzhong, there was a widespread epidemic, and the dead were not counted.
The plague in Hebei and Jiangnan was probably caused by floods.
Henan might have been spread from elsewhere.
There are two possibilities for Bingzhou.
As for Guanzhong, I don’t know what the epidemic is.
Some people with quick thinking have vaguely guessed that this epidemic may have more than one disease prevalent, and there may be more than one source of disease.
No wonder the theory of ghosts and gods is so popular. This era is really too difficult, rarely seen in history.
(End of this chapter)