The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 937 The Source of the Plague: Torture

Throughout the autumn, the pandemic became increasingly rampant.

In just two months, the number of infected people surged from thousands to tens of thousands.

Finally, all the provinces stopped publishing the number of infections.

Tianxin City has repeatedly ordered all regions not to conceal the truth and to report the most accurate infection figures. However, neither the power of the emperor nor the council can reach the outskirts of the empire.

Things that are outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant always happen.

Fortunately, the Yalenjikun did not cause the patient's death.

However, the excruciating joint pain and prolonged coma caused by the disease are enough to make people shudder.

As the number of infected people increased day by day, production activities in some areas were paralyzed, prices soared, and all industries declined... In short, people were living in misery.

The vassal lords requested that Tianxin City allocate grain, oil, coal, and other essential supplies to help their vassal states overcome their difficulties.

Their reasoning was that, regardless of the circumstances, Parliament and the Prime Minister should be held responsible for the current predicament.

In other words, without this war, there would have been no large-scale plague outbreak.

As long as there is no outbreak of plague, factory production, farm cultivation, and other productive activities will not stop.

Then everyone can live in peace and harmony.

However, now everything is in chaos.

Continuing the war was beyond our capabilities, not to mention the high taxes we had to pay, making it unsustainable.

Everyone simply adopted a "what's the worst that can happen?" attitude, and decided to give up and do whatever they wanted.

In addition to requesting aid from Tianxin City for food and supplies, the vassal lords also proposed to the council to reduce or exempt the double taxes (foreign taxes and training taxes) for the affected areas this year.

Otherwise, they would be unable to undertake the mission of fighting the "New Crusaders".

In other words, we can no longer fight the British.

~~~~~~~
When the lords' "friendly proposal" reached Tianxin City, the council was in an uproar.

Opposition leader Tang Jiaoren fiercely criticized the prime minister, calling him a "servile fool and a good-for-nothing."

If it weren't for the prime minister's incompetence, the war would have ended long ago, and there would have been no plague!
Tang Jiaoren demanded that the Prime Minister apologize to the feudal lords and resign in disgrace.

The Prime Minister made no comment on this, only saying it was a natural disaster.

Just as Tianxin City is flooded every year, the plague is also a natural disaster, and a once-in-a-century calamity.

~~~~~~~
The plague struck fiercely.

The people of Qi said it was a calamity brought by the British, while the British said it was because Qi was conducting some kind of terrible biological experiment in the southeastern provinces.

Other countries refer to it as God's punishment for the militaristic state of Qi.

punishment.

Regardless of the truth, regardless of the origin of the plague.

In short, everyone is now afraid of mosquitoes.

Legend has it that the plague will spread by migrating with mosquitoes.

The war was forced to stop.

The British set up layers of mosquito nets around the camp, and the soldiers lit mosquito coils, making the sign of the cross in front of them while praying to God that the mosquitoes would not bite them.

The Qi army huddled in the fortified city, and lower-ranking officials began a large-scale mosquito eradication campaign. All plants, trees, birds, insects, and fish in people's homes that were related to water were to be disposed of in a harmless manner, because experts said that mosquitoes came from stagnant water.

The flowers, birds, insects, and fish belonging to the lords and officials remained unharmed, but the exquisite ponds and rockeries were inaccessible to lower-ranking officials, and of course, no one dared to enter them.

Perhaps, as one imprisoned writer put it, we were already in chaos before the British even invaded.

Fortunately, the British abandoned their attack.

The two sides faced off, separated by swarms of mosquitoes.

In other words, the war between the Great Qi and the European countries came to a standstill because of a tiny mosquito.

The soldiers could finally catch their breath, except for those eager for medals, of course.

Officials could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The sound of gunfire cost tens of thousands of taels of silver, and the enormous military expenditure fell on the shoulders of Tianxin City and the various vassal lords.

Of course, in the end, the people bore the brunt of it all.

The war is not over.

~~~~~~~
Liu Xuan was quite helpless and even somewhat angry about this outcome. The emperor had originally planned to achieve his goal in one decisive battle, eliminating all foreign forces opposing him and physically removing all his opponents.

We must severely damage the Kingdom of Britain and let King George know that this distant relative is not so easy to manipulate.

The emperor's ideals were lofty, but reality was far from what he desired.

The course of the war was very unfavorable to the State of Qi.

Since the start of the war, Liu Xuan and his army have not won a single battle.

Repeated defeat.

Guangxi Province avoided war, which enraged the emperor, who ordered the vassal lord to come to the capital and convene a national trial.

In eastern Guangdong and Zhejiang, many fortified fortresses were breached by the British.

Despite the resolute resistance of the defenders in eastern Guangdong, they ultimately failed.

The performance of the Imperial Army, whether navy, land force, or air force, on the battlefield was far from satisfactory.

Now, the Europeans have stopped their attack.

No one would attribute the credit for repelling the enemy to the army; even a fool would know it was the plague that did the work.

A war halted by a plague.

Liu Xuan had carefully read the sayings left by Emperor Taizu, which described the distant future.

In a country hundreds of years later, their leader (similar to an emperor today) ordered his soldiers to blow up a riverbank to stop the enemy's advance during a war, causing a massive flood.

Using water as a weapon, they blocked the enemy.

Today, the same story is playing out in the southeastern part of the empire.

Rumors are circulating that the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in Yalengki Kongkun was orchestrated by Tianxin City.

The people of Qi hoped to use this plague to stop the Europeans from attacking—they had no other effective means of stopping the enemy.

Such statements are not only baseless, but also alarmist.

Liu Xuan was furious.

Others may see him as a tyrant, and the State of Qi as a barbaric nation.

However, the people of Qi have a bottom line in their actions. How could they possibly use the Yalenji Kongkun virus to stop the enemy?
Such a tactic, which kills a thousand enemies but also loses eight hundred of your own, is far too foolish.

"It's not just the British; many people in our own country say that this plague was released by us, that it's a special kind of battlefield weapon. What do you say about that?"

In the Imperial Palace of Tianxin City, Minister of Health Xi Beihai stood nervously before the Emperor, bracing himself for the raging roar of the storm.

Faced with the emperor's rebuke, the minister was momentarily at a loss for words.

He just stood there stammering.

"I, Your Majesty, believe these are all..."

Liu Xuan slammed his fist on the table and stood up, pointing at Xi Beihai's nose and yelling, "What do you mean, 'you'?! You guys are really raising mosquitoes in the Southeast?!"

"Your Majesty, those are all British rumors..."

Liu Xuan roared, "There's no smoke without fire! You must give me an explanation!"

Xi Beihai quickly said, "This plague has nothing to do with the Great Qi anyway. Your Majesty can have the ambassador stationed in Britain give a speech to protest their poisoning."

Liu Xuan asked in confusion, "Poisoning?"

"Your Majesty, we should blame the Europeans for the plague; we must do this!"

"That makes sense." Liu Xuan nodded approvingly. Although he was unwilling to retaliate, national interests were always the most important thing.

We must seize the initiative and occupy the moral high ground.

"We need to come up with a plan as soon as possible so that the whole world knows that this epidemic is the responsibility of Europeans!"

Xi Beihai smiled and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, this is something we have been doing all along."

After Xi Beihai left, Liu Xuan rubbed his temples and closed his eyes in pain.

The situation is becoming increasingly unsettling.

Just when they were about to crush the British, this Yalenquikun plague suddenly appeared.

"What a turbulent time!"