"It’s ."
An ominous premonition crept into Li Ang’s heart. The noise from Chen Danqiu’s end of the Nearby Worm indicated he was discussing sothing with the Emperor and the Pri Minister.
Chen Danqiu asked, "How is the situation in Shuo Province?"
"Not good. Nearly two hundred people are dying every day."
Li Ang recounted the situation in Shuo Province truthfully. "We have done our best to isolate all patients, suspected cases, and close contacts, while also focusing our efforts on eliminating the rat infestation. However, we can’t completely stop the spread of the plague. There are simply too many rats; almost every household has a rodent problem. Eradicating them will take ti."
Chen Danqiu asked, "Approximately how much longer will it take?"
"A minimum of one month, a maximum of three. By then, the rat infestation in the Shuo Province region should be eliminated, and the chain of human-to-human plague transmission will likely be broken."
Li Ang rubbed his sore eyes, his voice heavy.
The plague’s transmission rate and severity were far greater and more serious than the Suzhou Water Poison had been. He felt utterly exhausted, both physically and emotionally.
After a long silence from the other end of the Nearby Worm, Chen Danqiu finally spoke: "We need you to go to Taiyuan Prefecture. The plague has broken out at the station there."
"...What?!"
Li Ang froze, a roaring like thunder echoing in his ears.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally ca to his senses. The ringing in his ears faded, replaced by Chen Danqiu’s voice.
"Li Ang? Are you still there?"
"I’m here."
Li Ang took a deep breath. "What’s the situation with the plague? How many people are infected? When did this happen? Have the confird patients and close contacts been isolated?"
"The incident occurred yesterday," Chen Danqiu said. "A passenger suddenly collapsed and died while walking through the station."
He continued, "Upon receiving the news, the sick house in Taiyuan Prefecture imdiately sealed off the station and isolated the two thousand passengers who were still inside the station and on the trains at that ti. An inspection revealed sixty confird patients from various regions and two hundred suspected cases."
"The station in Taiyuan Prefecture is still operating?!"
Li Ang exclaid in astonished anger, "Half a month ago, I submitted a morial to the imperial court demanding the complete shutdown of the entire Hedong Road railway system! Why hasn’t it been closed yet?!
"Taiyuan Prefecture is the heart of Hedong Road and a major transportation hub connecting Guanei Road, Hedong Road, and Hebei Dao. Among the thousands of passengers, there were over sixty confird patients and two hundred suspected cases.
"Heaven knows how many more infected individuals traveled by rail to various parts of Yu Country before this was discovered?!
"And within Taiyuan Prefecture, a city of millions, how many sources of infection are still active?!"
Li Ang’s furious voice echoed in the underground laboratory. He simply couldn’t comprehend it. He had written so many reports, assessnts, and observation logs for the Chang’an Court, repeatedly detailing the severe risks and explaining the terror of the plague, yet the imperial court hadn’t even managed the most basic asure of blockading transportation throughout Hedong Road.
Chen Danqiu took a deep breath. "Risheng, calm yourself."
"How can I calm down?"
Li Ang pressed his hand to his forehead, his voice hoarse. "That’s Taiyuan Prefecture, with a population of millions! With its expanding scale, growing population, and complex terrain, the difficulty of controlling the epidemic there will increase exponentially! For Shuo Province, with a population of over a hundred thousand, I could still have soldiers deliver grain, at, and vegetables door-to-door. Moreover, many residents of Shuo Province are farrs with their own grain reserves, so they can manage for now. But what about Taiyuan Prefecture? What about the seventy or eighty percent of its urban residents who don’t farm?!
"If we impose a complete lockdown on Taiyuan Prefecture like we did in Shuo Province, how can we ensure the livelihood, let alone the survival, of these residents?!"
Li Ang’s voice grew increasingly irate, and he unconsciously unleashed his Telekinesis, sweeping all the flasks and beakers off the desk before him.
"Blocking the transportation of an entire Road isn’t sothing that can be accomplished with a single sentence."
Pei Su, Pei Jing’s father and the Minister of the Left of Yu Country, said gravely, "The implications are too broad, and too many aspects are affected. With so many State Mansions involved, how would we fill the resulting shortages of supplies, manpower, and funds? With what resources?
"Deploy tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of troops to blockade the main transportation routes? Inspect every single carriage, every pedestrian, every package? Is such a thorough inspection even feasible?
"Even if we successfully blockaded the roads, how would we manage the transport of essential supplies?
"When grain prices skyrocket and people cannot afford food, the number starving to death in their hos will be no less than those dying from the plague!"
"Pri Minister Pei, aren’t the largest grain rchants in Yu Country the esteed officials of the imperial court themselves?" Li Ang, in no mood for Xue Ji’s platitudes, retorted sarcastically, "Scholars, farrs, artisans, and rchants—rchants rank last. The Yu Law states, ’Families receiving official stipends shall not compete for profit with the common people; those in crafts and comrce, among other miscellaneous professions, shall not be permitted to hold official positions.’
"The Taigong Family Education—a prir read by every literate family—also states, ’Be wary of marrying into a rchant’s family; do not live near those who profit from market dealings.’
"Scholars consider comrce a lowly profession. But what’s the reality?
"Which of the major large rchant firms in Yu Country doesn’t have the backing of influential figures? Which one isn’t acting on their behalf?
"If they genuinely wanted to prevent grain prices from soaring, if they truly worried about the common people lacking food and clothing, why wouldn’t these esteed officials relinquish so of their profits?"
"Alright, what’s done is done. Assigning bla now is pointless."
Minister of the Secretariat Xue Ji interjected, breaking up the argunt. "The imdiate priority is to contain the plague in Taiyuan Prefecture and prevent it from spreading throughout Hedong Road, or even spilling over into other Roads.
"Risheng, you are the foremost expert in Yu Country, indeed in the entire world. Only you can resolve this crisis in Hedong.
"Whatever you require in Taiyuan Prefecture, we will do our utmost to provide."
"...I refuse."
"What?"
"I refuse."
Li Ang took a deep breath and said slowly, "In this period, we have cremated over two thousand bodies.
"These included not only common people afflicted by the plague, but also Doctors and soldiers who were tragically infected while combating the epidemic.
"Over a dozen civilian Doctors, who heard of the plague in Shuo Province and volunteered to help fight it, have perished.
"Several students from the Imperial dical Bureau, who should have been pursuing their studies there but ca to Shuo Province with the ideal of healing the sick and saving lives, have also perished.
"They believed in , trusted , and followed to Shuo Province. Yet, I failed to bring them back to Chang’an.
"I don’t even know how I’ll face their parents with this news.
"I understand that sacrifices are inevitable when fighting an epidemic.
"But I cannot accept that a situation, which was clearly preventable from the outset, was allowed to escalate into a disaster due to bureaucracy, due to so-called ’broader considerations’ and ’vested interests.’
"And now, you expect the frontline personnel to disregard what has happened and continue to make sacrifices.
"What is this?
"’Let the common people suffer a little; I’ll bear the infamy’?"
Silence hung on the end of the Nearby Worm for a long mont before Xue Ji’s resigned voice finally ca through: "Risheng, the imperial court has its own concerns and requires ti to deliberate."
"Pri Minister Xue," Li Ang said softly, "from the mont the first plague case appeared, Yu Country has only faced two possibilities: bad, and worse. There is no way to escape unscathed, nor is there any perfect solution."
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