Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 452 Plague
Outside Nanjing, banners fluttered like a forest, and along the Yangtze River, a twenty-mile-long camp stretched out—the 100,000-strong Northern Expeditionary Army, fully equipped and ready to depart.

That night, the crimson moon hung high in the sky, and even the vast river surface was stained with an unsettling blood-red hue.

The soldiers on night patrol were marching in formation along the riverbank, and seeing this scene, they couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Look at the river!" Someone noticed an even more terrifying scene and shouted, pointing at the red river surface.

The soldiers looked in the direction of the sound and saw countless dead fish floating on the river, so densely packed that they almost filled the surface of the water.

Those dead fish eyes even emitted a dim red light, looking extremely terrifying.

The soldiers felt a chill run down their spines and wanted to stay far away, but they saw the bellies of the dead fish suddenly swell up one after another, and then one after another, they burst open with a bang.

A series of explosions echoed across the river. It was like the whole city setting off firecrackers during the Lunar New Year, but the feeling it evoked in the soldiers was completely different.

They stared blankly at the bizarre scene until they noticed countless red insects flying out of the bursting bellies of the fish. Only then did the leader of the group snap out of his daze and shout, "Get out of here!"

Upon hearing the order, the soldiers immediately took off running, but it was too late...

Each of those red flying insects was as small as a pinhole, but their numbers were astonishing. They rose from the bellies of the fish, gathered into a red cloud, and swarmed towards the soldiers.

Seeing the 'Red Cloud' closing in, the mansion owner quickly used his supernatural powers, snatched the torch from the soldier's hand, and spewed out a gust of wind. The wind fueled the fire, and a fire dragon rose from the torch, roaring as it pounced on the 'Red Cloud,' instantly burning countless red worms to death.

However, there were simply too many red worms. Even after the main building spewed out several fire dragons, it was still unable to stop them from swarming in.

The soldiers who were running behind were quickly overtaken by the red worms, and then everyone was enveloped in a red cloud...

The soldiers frantically patted themselves, but they couldn't stop the red worms from burrowing into their bodies.

Only after the red cloud had gone far away and the red worms on their bodies had disappeared did they calm down again.

The soldiers stopped what they were doing one after another, looking at each other in bewilderment, as if they had just woken up from a nightmare.

~~
However, the reality is far more complex than a nightmare.

Starting the next day, all the soldiers who had been exposed to the 'red cloud' developed high fevers, then became bedridden, vomiting and having diarrhea.

The military doctors initially diagnosed it as malaria. But soon, the disease spread to all the camps, and most of the soldiers developed symptoms, with some even falling into a coma.

General Xiahou Kui, who was in command of the army, then realized it was a plague. He quickly ordered all camps to close their gates and isolate the sick, while simultaneously reporting the situation to his superiors...

Upon hearing the report, Emperor Xiao Yan immediately dispatched Tao Hongjing to investigate the epidemic.

His whisk swept across an unconscious soldier, and many tiny red dots appeared on the snow-white tip of the whisk.

Those red dots were actually moving, trying to fly into the back of his hand along the handle. Tao Hongjing flashed a white light in his hand, shaking all the red dots off. Only one remained, landing on his fingernail, which he brought to his eyes for a closer look.

“This is the ‘Sitalin fly,’ a poisonous insect originating from India.” Tao Hongjing, being knowledgeable, recognized the insect’s origin and reported to Xiao Yan, “Although being bitten by it will not be fatal, it will cause illness for several months, during which time it will be difficult to even get out of bed, let alone march and fight.”

"Moreover, this disease is highly contagious. I have already ordered the military camps to be closed to prevent it from spreading to the capital." After saying this, Tao Hongjing looked at the furious emperor and said, "I suspect that someone deliberately poisoned the area."

"No doubt about it, it must be!" Xiao Yan said with a dark face, "The seventh general under Wu Yang is most skilled in using poison, this is probably his work."

"Why is he so heartless and insane?" Tao Hongjing asked, frowning.

"What else could it be? To stop me from launching a northern expedition!" Xiao Yan sneered. "I expected them to resort to such underhanded tactics."

"Does Your Majesty have a solution?" Tao Hongjing said softly, "If we follow the conventional methods and treat them with talismanic water and herbs, it will take at least two or three months for the soldiers to recover." "It's alright," Xiao Yan said confidently, "I have a secret technique that can make them recover in a few days."

That afternoon, a long convoy drove into the military camp. The imperial guards officers escorting the convoy opened the large wooden crates on the vehicles, which were filled with straw dolls.

"Each box contains two thousand dolls, and there are fifty boxes in total," the Imperial Guard officer ordered loudly.
“Distribute the dolls, have the sick soldiers write their birth dates on them, spray them with True Yang Saliva and burn them, and the plague will be cured.”

"Yes!" The generals were overjoyed upon hearing the order and quickly distributed the dolls to all the sick soldiers.

The soldiers did as instructed, writing the eight characters on the straw effigy, biting their tongues to spit out blood, and then throwing it into the fire to set it ablaze.

Thick smoke soon billowed throughout the military camp. Amidst the rising dust, besides the black smoke from burning straw figures, there was also a striking red plume. This red smoke rose high into the sky and then slowly drifted north of the river.

Strangely enough, as the red smoke dissipated, the soldiers stopped having diarrhea and vomiting. The next day, they were able to get out of bed and walk normally.

"Take the medicine as prescribed and rest for three to five days, and you will be fully recovered." After examining the soldiers, Tao Hongjing prescribed more medicine and breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "It won't delay our departure."

"That's great." Xiahou Kui and the others breathed a sigh of relief; they had passed this hurdle without any real danger.

~~
The Jiangdong camp breathed a sigh of relief, but the Zijin Mountain camp was furious.

"How did Seventh do his job? He was completely cured by Xiao Yan in just a few days?!" Zhen Guan was so angry that his nose was crooked.

“Because Xiao Yan used Wu Xie’s ‘transfer technique’ to transfer the poison to the refugees in Jiangbei.” Zhen Di said with a gloomy face, “In the past two days, various temples in Jiangbei have reported that the refugees from the Northern Dynasty they have taken in have all contracted a strange disease with symptoms exactly the same as those caused by ‘corpse fly’ entering the body.”

"How could he be so treacherous?" Zhen Guan said angrily upon hearing this, "We kindly took in the refugees from the Northern Dynasty for him, and Xiao Yan actually repaid kindness with enmity!"

“He’s been unhappy about us competing with him for population for a long time, so this is a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone,” Zhen Di sighed. “What a brilliant tactic.”

"Does Senior Brother have any other ideas? The army will set off after the abdication ceremony tomorrow!" Zhen Guan asked anxiously.

"..." Zhen Di remained silent for a long time, then sighed deeply and said, "Yes."

"Tell me quickly, tell me quickly," Zhen Guan urged hurriedly.

"Before leaving Dreamland, the Great Dream Master gave me a brocade pouch," Zhen Difang said slowly. "He said to open it when the situation became unmanageable."

"Why didn't you bring out this good stuff sooner?" Zhen Guan was overjoyed upon hearing this.

"Weren't we able to handle it before?" Zhen Di muttered. Of course, he wouldn't admit that he was too proud to let his competitors laugh at him.

"Hurry up and take it out." Zhen Guan didn't care about anything else and just kept urging him.

Zhen Di then took out a colorful brocade pouch embroidered with cloud and dream patterns from his sleeve. When he opened it, he found a piece of paper inside with the name 'Nangong Meng' written on it, along with a string of birth dates and times.

"Who is Nangong Meng?" Zhen Guan asked upon seeing this.

Zhen Di shook his head. Although he didn't know who that person was, he knew what he had to do.

He then picked up a wisp of fire and ignited the piece of paper.

He stared intently at the burning piece of paper in his hand, only to see the surname and birth date on it transform into a ray of golden light, suddenly flying out of Tongtai Temple and landing in Qilin City.

(End of this chapter)