Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Even the three naval forces were waiting in the Ji River, more than ten miles away.

In addition, more than 500 laborers recruited from the mountains at great expense led carts pulled by large livestock, following behind.

After receiving Zhao Yuan's order,

The infantry dispersed into a mandarin duck formation on the spot to stand guard, while the cavalry patrolled around Xucheng, keeping a close watch on the city's movements.

The more than 500 laborers took the thick silk protective suits from the carriage, put them on, and then put on thick masks.

Only after they had wrapped themselves up so that only their eyes were visible did they pull the cart toward the disaster relief camp.

On the city tower of Xucheng,

Cheng Wanli and Dong Ping both noticed the movements of the Liangshan troops.

"Strange, these bandits have come, yet they're not attacking the city. They're just sending men into the refugee camps to move the half-dead refugees. What are they trying to do?"

Dong Ping asked doubtfully, "You don't mean you want to take these disaster victims back to Liangshan for treatment, do you?"

Prefect Cheng Wanli, who was standing nearby, also had the same doubts.

Previously, when Liangshan lured disaster victims to join them with grain, Cheng Wanli already understood that the leader of Liangshan had a grand scheme.

But now, these refugees outside the city are all half-dead from hunger, and most of them are also infected with plague.

If Cheng Wanli hadn't felt a little compassion, he would have stopped providing them with even the thin soup and rice water they ate each day.

After all, if we just starve all these people to death, and then cremate their bodies,

The biggest problem of this plague can now be considered solved.

However, could it be that the leader of Liangshan really intends to take these disaster victims back for treatment, as Dong Ping claims?

A thought suddenly popped into Cheng Wanli's mind, but he immediately shook his head.

Bandits are bandits after all. It's already a miracle they haven't killed or burned; how could they possibly have any compassion to help these disaster victims?

Chapter 189 The Swing of Officials and Bandits

After the laborers from Liangshan entered the camp, they carried the half-dead disaster victims onto carts and took them to the Ji River, which was more than ten miles away.

The Ruan brothers' naval forces in San Du were waiting there.

The refugees were loaded onto boats and transported along the Ji River to the camp previously built by the lake.

More than 500 laborers worked tirelessly for three days to bring all the Hebei refugees away from Xucheng.

The Liangshan army remained outside Xucheng for three days.

After the laborers finished their work and began to leave,

Zhao Yuan ordered dozens of loud-voiced soldiers to come to the foot of the city wall and stand outside the range of their bows and arrows. They shouted in unison, "Listen up, officials of Xucheng! The court doesn't care about the lives of these Hebei famine victims. They ignore them and leave them to fend for themselves!"

"Such an injustice, we of Liangshan must intervene!"

"These disaster victims have been brought back to Liangshan for medical treatment! We just invited a divine doctor from the south, and he will definitely cure them!"

After these soldiers finished shouting, another group of archers, under the cover of shield bearers, approached the city wall and began shooting arrows at it.

On the city tower of Xucheng,

Both Prefect Cheng Wanli and Dong Ping had strange expressions after hearing the shouts of the Liangshan soldiers.

Dong Ping thought that the Liangshan bandits must be crazy.

These Hebei disaster victims are either starving or sick. Even if there were a miracle doctor, treating them would be extremely difficult. Why bother with something so thankless?

Cheng Wanli, however, understood much better than him. The Liangshan bandits had already taken the disaster victims away, yet they still insisted on shouting in front of the city wall, clearly trying to undermine the morale of the people in Shandong.

In recent years, various regions have either implemented the "Flower and Stone Tribute" or the "Field Confiscation Method."

In addition, rampant corruption among officials and the abuse of power by gentry and powerful families have already plunged the people into misery and resentment.

Take last year's floods in Hebei as an example. If it had happened decades ago, the imperial court would have allocated funds for disaster relief long ago. How could the Hebei disaster victims have been forced to flee their homes and travel thousands of miles to escape famine?

Public discontent is boiling over in various places, but it hasn't erupted yet; it just needs a trigger.

Liangshan's actions undoubtedly added fuel to the fire of the boiling public resentment.

Cheng Wanli was still in a daze when Dong Ping suddenly shouted, "Oh no! The bandits are about to attack the city!"

After saying this, he ordered the soldiers on the city wall to draw their bows and fight back.

Just then, an arrow from Liangshan landed beside the two of them.

Dong Ping picked it up and took a look, only to find that the arrows from Liangshan had no arrowheads, but were instead wrapped with a lot of white silk.

Unfolding the silk strips and seeing the writing on them, Dong Ping was stunned. He quickly handed the strips over.

"Sir, this..."

Cheng Wanli took the strip of cloth and looked at it. He saw that the white silk was covered with densely packed small characters.

"Quickly collect these strips of cloth; this must be..."

Prefect Cheng assumed that what was written on the white silk must be words that defied the court and encouraged the people to rebel, so he subconsciously ordered Dong Ping to confiscate it.

But upon closer inspection, I realized that...

What was written on the white silk was actually a measure for the prevention and control of the epidemic.

From patient isolation to mask production, everything was provided, and finally, there were even some prescriptions for treating the epidemic.

In fact, what was written on the white silk was the epidemic prevention measure that Zhao Yuan had recently sent people to spread throughout Shandong.

Seeing the positive results, many state governments have already implemented the measures for several days.

Only Xucheng, being at the epicenter of the epidemic, was unaware of the situation outside because outsiders dared not come and the city itself had sealed off its walls.

Seeing Cheng Wanli remain silent, Dong Ping couldn't help but advise, "Sir, these Liangshan bandits dared to bring disaster victims back to the marshland, perhaps they really do have a way to fight the epidemic. Now the epidemic in the city is getting worse every day, why don't we try doing the same?"

"Rescuing the people and disaster victims should have been the government's job, but now it's the bandits who are worrying about it, while the government is only concerned with abusing the people and squeezing money and grain from them..."

Cheng Wanli sighed: "Fine, since we are powerless against the epidemic anyway, let's just follow the instructions on this white silk."

At this point, he suddenly thought of his daughter at home.

He hurriedly picked up the white silk, glanced at the prescription for treating the epidemic, and then rushed down the city wall and ran towards the prefect's mansion.

..........

When Zhao Yuan led his troops back to the marsh,

Those Hebei refugees who were sent earlier and contracted the disease have been separated and placed in separate accommodations.

The rest of the people were put into makeshift shacks.

All their clothes were confiscated by Liangshan and then burned.

After changing into the new clothes prepared by Liangshan, and eating several bowls of thick, hot rice porridge,

The disaster victims have finally regained much of their vitality.

Many people had already stood up and were peering out of the sheds, looking around at their surroundings with blank expressions.

At this moment, the five hundred laborers who had been there earlier, holding tin megaphones, stood around the camp and shouted into it.

"Dear brothers and sisters from Hebei, uncles and aunts, last year our area was hit by a great flood... Now the imperial court is abandoning us, leaving us to fend for ourselves, but Liangshan is taking care of us! Those of us who went up the mountain first have all been assigned household registrations and land..."

"The chief of Liangshan has said that as long as everyone stays in the camp for a full month and confirms that they have not been infected with the epidemic, they can go up the mountain to divide up the land and households!"

"As for those who have contracted the plague, don't worry! Liangshan has brought back a divine doctor from the south. As long as everyone cooperates well, we will definitely be able to cure the plague!"

......

The continuous shouts of the five hundred laborers quickly stirred up the Hebei famine victims.

Many people even broke down the wooden doors of the sheds, ran to the edge of the camp, clung to the fence, and asked the laborers who were shouting that the land distribution was real or fake.

This terrified the people outside the camp. A squad of guards in heavy protective suits rushed forward and ordered the refugees to retreat.

The laborers with tin megaphones hurriedly shouted, "Everyone, go back quickly! Some of you have contracted the disease, but it hasn't shown yet! If you mix together, you'll easily infect each other! From today onwards, everyone must stay in their own shacks and is not allowed to go out and move around freely!"

"Your daily meals will be delivered to your door by Liangshan soldiers, and even your chamber pots will be collected!"

"If you follow the orders of Liangshan, you will have enough food every day for the next month, and you will be well-fed! After that, you can go up the mountain and get land!"

"Those who disobey Liangshan's orders will have their rations halved for three consecutive days for their first offense! For a second offense, they will go without food for three consecutive days! If they repeatedly fail to mend their ways, they will all be tied up and sent back to Xucheng to fend for themselves!"

Chapter 190 Li Kui Returns Home

After a barrage of propaganda combining harsh words and sweet promises, many disaster victims retreated back to their makeshift shacks.

Although this kind of isolation is like being in prison

But compared to those in Sugihara who only had thin rice porridge to eat and could only lie there waiting to die, it was undoubtedly much better.

Not to mention, Liangshan also promised that once they were confirmed to be free of disease, they would take them up the mountain to divide the land!

Seeing the disaster victims retreat back into their shacks, the people around the camp breathed a sigh of relief.

No one knows how many of these disaster victims have contracted the plague.

If they were allowed to leave and wander around, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Soldiers wearing heavy protective suits rushed into the camp and sealed all the wooden doors of the sheds.

Compared to this side, the camp on the other side, where patients live, is much easier to manage.

Those who had contracted the plague and were already seriously ill had long since stopped causing trouble.

The remaining patients with mild symptoms were initially somewhat anxious, wondering how Liangshan would treat them.

But after drinking the thick rice porridge distributed by the soldiers, and seeing that Liangshan had begun distributing medicinal soup to them,

These people also understood that Liangshan was indeed keeping its promise and treating their diseases.

Many people who had learned they had contracted the plague and were resigned to dying found their hope rekindled.

In order to receive treatment and survive, they did almost everything Liangshan told them to do.

......

"Brother, the headcount has been tallied!"

Du Qian's voice sounded noticeably muffled through the thick silk mask.

"There are a total of 43,614 disaster victims, of whom 26,321 have been infected with the disease, while the remaining 17,293 have not yet shown any symptoms of infection."

"Of the 26,321 people who contracted the disease, 8,653 have already deteriorated."

Of the more than 40,000 people, half have contracted the disease, and one-fifth have deteriorated significantly. It is unknown how many of these disaster victims will survive.

Zhao Yuan sighed, pondered for a moment, and then asked,

"Are we getting enough food, medicine, and cloth?"

Du Qian estimated: "There is more than enough medicinal herbs and cloth. As for grain, if we calculate one jin per person per day, the daily consumption will be about three hundred shi."

"One pound of grain per person per day is not enough,"

Zhao Yuan frowned and said, "Doctor An has already said that the stronger the body, the greater the chance of recovery. Since we said we would make sure they are well-fed, we must do so!"

"So, two catties of grain per person per day? In that case, the camp will need six hundred shi of grain per day. Adding the consumption of the mountain village population, the total will be about seven hundred and fifty shi of grain per day."

Du Qian reminded him, "Brother, there are still more than 80,000 shi of grain stored in the mountain stronghold, which is barely enough for three months of use!"

"It's alright. Let Brother Shiqian's spies work a little harder lately to gather more intelligence on the local tyrants. Since the people are afraid to come to Liangshan to file complaints because of the epidemic, let's take the initiative and stand up for them!"

After Zhao Yuan finished speaking, he added, "By the way, didn't the mountain stronghold collect a lot of ginseng and tonics before? Ask Doctor An if they can be given to these disaster victims."

“Brother, those are all precious medicinal herbs…” Du Qian said with a pained expression.

"Now is not the time to worry about these things,"

Zhao Yuan comforted him, saying, "Think about it carefully. There are more than 40,000 people here. Even if we can only save half of them, that's still more than 20,000 people!"

"With these 20,000 people going up the mountain, the stronghold can at least recruit another four or five thousand soldiers. Even if the rest are divided into artisan households and civilian households, it will greatly help the development of the stronghold!"

"If we calculate it this way, which is more important, a population of over 20,000 or some unnecessary ginseng supplements? I don't need to say more, do I?"

Du Qian was also temporarily blinded by the high price of ginseng.

After Zhao Yuan reminded him, he immediately realized what was happening.

"Brother, don't worry, I understand. The more of these disaster victims we save, the stronger Liangshan will become!"

......