What was worse was that after checking the other counties one by one, the same situation occurred.
The next day, Lord Li hurriedly summoned the newly appointed prefects and officials of each county to urgently discuss preventive measures.
But before the decrees could be implemented, Shuangyu County suffered a massive plague disaster that very day.
People in the entire county began to show symptoms continuously, and those who were infected earlier began coughing blood and dying in large numbers.
Even some villages rebuilt for refugees had all the villagers infected, almost causing them to be wiped out.
The plague spread very quickly, making it impossible to predict who would be the next infected person, and the people of Shuangyu County were in great panic.
Lord Li issued various defensive measures with thunderous means, and no one was allowed to defy them, otherwise they would be imprisoned. At the same time, he rushed to report to the capital.
Each prefecture and county began to implement lockdown and control measures, and those with symptoms were quarantined for treatment.
Each household was not allowed to move around at will, and only one person per household was allowed to go out to buy necessities, and they had to cover their noses and mouths and keep distance from others when going out.
Any infected person in a household must be reported and not concealed.
In addition, the clothes and living supplies used by the infected person in the family must be boiled in boiling water or burned directly.
Each household was issued herbs such as atractylodes, mugwort, and clove by the government, and fumigation was carried out at home for air disinfection.
Various preventive measures continued to be implemented.
Despite this, the number of infected and dead continued to be reported to the courier stations every day.
"Sir, reports from all over today total nearly five thousand infected people, of which more than one thousand have died. Among them, Shuangyu County has over three thousand infected people, and over eight hundred dead."
"In just less than three days, so many people have been infected and died. Have the doctors in the counties made any new progress?"
"I report to sir, no."
On the second day after deciding to stay, Gong Xiaohua entered Shuangyu County with several doctors who were dispatched there.
She guessed that the plague in Shuangyu County was likely to be the bubonic plague.
Because on her first trip to Shuangyu County, she found a large number of decaying corpses on the road, being nibbled by some rats and other wild small animals.
At that time, Shuangyu County had limited porridge, and many refugees were starving and may have begun catching large numbers of rats or some wild animals to fill their stomachs.
The symptoms of the infected people were also very similar to those of bubonic plague in modern medicine.
But in modern medicine, the incubation period of bubonic plague is usually short, generally 2-3 days, with only a few cases having a longer incubation period of up to 8 days.
At that time, it was also impossible to determine what kind of plague it was, and it was possible that it was an early form of plague with a longer incubation period.
What was more terrifying was that due to the possibly long incubation period of the plague, personnel in Nanlong Prefecture were mobile before the outbreak was exposed, and some refugees had even left the prefecture and went to other prefectures and counties.
In modern history, the mortality rate of bubonic plague was very high, with the number of deaths ranging from tens of thousands to tens of millions.
Once it was determined to be the plague, if not handled properly, the Da Ye Dynasty would suffer a great blow.
In any case, all kinds of antidote methods had to be tried, especially those against the plague.
Gong Xiaohua and the doctors who were dispatched with her were all arranged to stay at the county government.
On the way to the county government, apart from the officers, they saw no other commoners on the streets.
In the sky, all kinds of white spirit coins were flying, and there were faint cries coming from the houses, which was very bleak.
Outside the city, a large number of bodies of the dead were being burned, apparently a major death event had just occurred here.
When they arrived at the county government, they happened to see the witch doctors summoned by the county government performing a large-scale sacrificial ceremony.
They didn't know what talisman paper was burned by the witch doctor in the water at the end, but everyone present was required to drink a bowl.
Seeing this, Gong Xiaohua fled the scene immediately.
Capital City, Royal Palace.
After running to death several horses without rest day and night, the letter from Nanlong Prefecture arrived at the Royal Palace in less than five days.
When he saw the six characters "Plague outbreak in Nanlong" in the letter, King Ye was shocked and immediately summoned the ministers to enter the palace for discussion.
The ministers were also in an uproar when they heard of the outbreak in Nanlong Prefecture.
"Your Majesty, is this news reliable? My Da Ye Dynasty has not had an epidemic for several generations, how could it suddenly..." a minister asked.
"Could it be because the flooding angered the mountain god?" another minister said.
"Yes, yes." Several other ministers looked at each other and echoed.
"Alright, I called you here to discuss countermeasures."
"Reporting to Your Majesty, if it is the mountain god who is angry, the infected people should be burned uniformly for sacrifice to appease the mountain god."
"This... it's understandable for the dead, but is it too cruel to do the same to the infected living?"
"Your Majesty, one cannot be merciful in the face of an epidemic, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable."
King Ye was also unable to make up his mind and asked Prime Minister Qin, "What is your opinion, Prime Minister?"
Prime Minister Qin thought for a moment, frowning, "Sacrificing living people is unacceptable. It should be done as Lord Li said, isolating the infected first, then sacrificing after death. This method is very good."
"The Prime Minister is reasonable. In addition, according to Lord Li, Nanlong Prefecture has been locked down and requires a large amount of grain and supplies. The Ministry of Revenue will handle this matter immediately."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Spread the news of the plague outbreak in Nanlong Prefecture secretly to all prefectures and counties and pay close attention. Immediately isolate and report any similar outbreaks."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Prime Minister Qin's Mansion, Green Tide Courtyard, Study.
"Young Master, there is a secret report that a plague has broken out in Nanlong Prefecture, and the city has been locked down with no one allowed to enter or leave."
"Have Lord Li and the others left Nanlong Prefecture?"
"No, they haven't. And according to reliable information, Lady Gong is also involved in treating the epidemic."
"What? Prepare a horse for me immediately."
"Young Master, you must not go. It is a plague, going there is suicide."
Suddenly, Prime Minister Qin walked in and scolded, "What's with your behavior, every time it involves that Gong girl you lose your composure. If I hadn't come today, would you have secretly gone to Nanlong Prefecture again?"
"Granduncle." Qin Chuyuan fell silent.
"What can you do by going there? It's a plague, not an ordinary cold. Are you willing to abandon the family for a woman?"
"Come in."
"Master."
"From today, keep a strict watch on the fifth young master. You know the consequences if you let him leave secretly."
"Yes."
As time went by, several prefectures and counties near Nanlong Prefecture also began to have large numbers of infected people, and there was a growing trend of spreading nationwide.
For a time, people all over the country knew that a plague had broken out, and everyone was on guard.
Nanlong Prefecture had almost become hell on earth, with large numbers of people dying every day, and the rate of infection was accelerating.
With so many bodies in the city that they couldn't be cremated in time, the uninfected were very afraid and wanted to flee this place.
But the city gates were heavily guarded and they couldn't get out, so riots broke out.
The commoners came to the city gates armed with various weapons.
The leader of the commoners roared:
"Open the city gates immediately!"
The city gate guards said:
"You can't leave without orders from the lord."
The leader was very angry and waved his arm.
"Let's go, it's better to fight than wait here to die."
The guards fought with the commoners.
But how could the commoners be a match for the well-trained city gate guards?
This riot was easily suppressed.
When Lord Li learned of the commoners' riot, his brows were furrowed.
Now he was also barely holding on. In the past few days, the plague had spread rapidly, and riots had broken out several times. No matter how he tried to appease the commoners, it was useless.
