Yang Zhen seemed to have promised something to Tang Ruowang, but in fact, he promised nothing.

Yang Zhen did not want Tang Ruowang to develop any followers in his territory and act like a missionary, but he also wanted to stimulate his service and use the knowledge and techniques he had mastered for his own use. As a last resort,

This is the only last resort to be made.

However, it was said that that night, Yang Zhen met Chu Xianzhang and Tang Ruowang on the dock, and then met with the generals who came to greet him one by one. Surrounded by them, he returned to the main town hall in the south city of Lushun and dismissed them.

The people who greeted him went straight back to the inner courtyard.

I met my wife Qiu Bihan, looked at my baby son who was one month old, then washed up and went to bed, and the couple talked at night.

Early the next morning, Zhang Degui and Fang Guangchen came to visit and reported to Yang Zhen various situations in Jinhai Town, the imperial court and Denglai since he left Lushunkou.

After Yang Zhen led the Musketeers Battalion to leave Lushunkou by boat, except for the suspension of immigration affairs, everything else in Jinhai Town was still progressing normally.

On the one hand, the production of guns and ammunition in the north city of Lushun never stopped. While the production capacity of guns and ammunition was expanding day by day, the output of guns and ammunition was also increasing day by day. It was enough to expand the battalions of the advance army for the Eastern Expedition led by Yang Zhenzhi.

On the other hand, the work of cultivating wasteland and planting potatoes in the resettlement camps under the jurisdiction of various roads in Jinhai Town is also coming to an end. The land that is easy to cultivate and cultivate in various villages has been rushed to be planted or replanted with potato seedlings.

Next, it depends on whether God will provide us with food and whether we can have a good harvest of sweet potatoes in Liaodong.

Of course, Zhang Degui and Fang Guangchen were very worried when this point was brought up, and they still had doubts about Yang Zhen's almost all-out decision to promote sweet potatoes.

However, Yang Zhen himself was full of confidence in this and was very happy to learn that the planting tasks in various villages had been basically completed.

When talking about the immigration and settlement, Yang Zhen remembered the terms of the secret agreement between Li Chaosheng and Li Chaosheng to borrow Jeju Island. He immediately informed the two of them of the secret agreement, and then said:

"Yeongju Island, also known as Jeju Island by the Koreans, has a very vast land. Compared with the existing islands in Jinhae Town, there is much more fertile land that is easy to cultivate and cultivate.

"The land on the island should not be left idle. We should immigrate there as soon as possible from Denglai and other places to cultivate it. But we don't know what has happened to the plague epidemic in Denglai during this time?"

Fang Guangchen and Zhang Degui were overjoyed when they heard that Yang Zhen's trip to Jianghua Island not only brought back a large amount of food and property to Jinhai Town, but also obtained iron ore and loaned land from the court people.

But when they heard Yang Zhen ask about the epidemic of pimple plague in Denglai, the two people immediately got into trouble again and looked at each other. Finally, Fang Guangchen, who had been in charge of immigration affairs, said:

"Captain, since the last 600 immigrants in Dengzhou Water City were moved to Daqin Island and other places for quarantine, we in Jinhai Town and Dengzhou Prefecture, Master Yuan, Mr. Yue, have completely lost contact with each other.

"Right now, in Dengzhou Prefecture, whether the epidemic of pimple plague has spread, or whether it has been contained, or to what extent it has been contained, Beizhong and others really don't know, but -"

"But what?"

The person who ordered the blocking of communication between the two places was Yang Zhen himself, so Yang Zhen was not surprised that Fang Guangchen and others were unaware of the current situation in Dengzhou Prefecture.

However, he heard something in Fang Guangchen's words, and he obviously knew something, so he immediately asked.

"I'm a low-ranking official. Although I don't know the current situation in Dengzhou Prefecture, judging from the experience of Eunuch Chu and Mr. Dao Wei as they crossed the sea to Jinhai Town, I'm afraid the epidemic situation in Dengzhou Prefecture is definitely not optimistic."

Hearing Fang Guangchen's answer, Yang Zhen asked again with a solemn face: "How can you see it?"

After Yang Zhen asked this question, he saw Zhang Degui suddenly took over the conversation and said: "Captain, before you went to Ganghwa Island, your humble position complained to you several times that the court did not reward the merits in time. In March and April, we

He immediately went to the capital to report the great victory, but there was still no news of the imperial reward as late as June.

"At that time, Beizhong and others were puzzled and did not know what the reason was. However, this time when Eunuch Chu and his party came, Beizhong and others' doubts were dispelled.

"As early as April, the emperor sent an imperial envoy to convey the decree. However, the plague was raging in Gyeonggi. The imperial envoy, Eunuch Lu, traveled to Hejian Prefecture and contracted the epidemic. He died of the disease within a few days."

"Ah? Which Eunuch Lu?"

Yang Zhen was originally dissatisfied with the imperial court's slowness in appreciating merit. Several months had passed since the Battle of Jinhai Town. He not only repelled Dorgon's attack, allowing Jinhai Town to gain a firm foothold, but also killed a county king.

One beizi, Abatai, the king of Raoyu County, and his son Yuele, the Beizi of Gushan, also captured alive Li Shutai, the son of the old traitor Li Yongfang.

Although this kind of achievement is inferior to the previous Liaoxi strategy of capturing Duduo and others alive, the accurate news of the death of Daishan and the death of Brother Hao that was reported along with the results of this battle is still enough to shock the world.

However, after these merits and personal and material evidence were reported, it was as if everything was lost in the sea. There was no news of reward from the capital court.

Even though Yang Zhen had always been able to keep his composure, in June, when faced with the complaints from his generals, he could not help but grumble in his heart.

He thought of various reasons in his mind. For example, his merits sounded a bit appalling, so that some people in the court suspected that he had made false claims, so they delayed the issue of reward for a long time.

For another example, has your contribution been so great that it has caused Emperor Chongzhen to hesitate and not know how to reward himself, etc.

But what he never expected was that the reason why the imperial court had not sent anyone to reward the merits was because of the plague epidemic in the Beizhi area, and because the imperial minister who was sent to deliver the order died of illness on the way to deliver the order.

.

Especially when he heard Zhang Degui mentioned Eunuch Lu, the image of a fat and white middle-aged eunuch immediately popped into his mind.

"Haha, it's the one who visited Songshan and Jinzhou before and whom the governor met, Eunuch Lu Zhide of the East Factory! According to Eunuch Chu, the emperor originally sent Lu Zhide, who was familiar with the governor and was good with him.

Eunuch Lu is here to convey the decree and reward the Governor."

Zhang Degui saw Yang Zhen asking with surprise which Eunuch Lu it was, and then he smiled and continued to explain to Yang Zhen.

"Unexpectedly, this imperial envoy, Eunuch Lu, turned out to be a lucky man. Before he could board the ship and cross the sea, he contracted the epidemic and died in Hejian Mansion! In this way, the emperor selected another one who had also been to Songshan City.

, Eunuch Chu, who we have dealt with before, came out to sea! This coming and going has delayed a lot of time!"

I see.

After Yang Zhen heard Zhang Degui's statement, and then saw Fang Guangchen nodding aside, his heart suddenly became enlightened.

It wasn't that Emperor Chongzhen had doubts about him, or that someone in the court had begun to attack him, but it was purely a "technical" reason.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhen felt somewhat relieved and said with a smile: "In this way, it is a pity for Eunuch Lu. However, for us, we are not afraid of being late for a good meal. Now that Eunuch Chu is here on business, it is even more...

good!"

Having said this, Yang Zhen suddenly remembered that he was originally asking about the epidemic. He immediately reacted and returned to the previous topic, and asked again:

"Oh, by the way, since there is a major epidemic in Beizhi, Gyeonggi, and Hejian Prefecture, when there are so many people in Eunuch Chu and his party, before they cross the sea and come to our Jinhai Town, have you implemented isolation and quarantine measures for them?!"

When Zhang Degui and Fang Guangchen saw what Yang Zhen said, they seemed to have anticipated Yang Zhen's worries. They looked at each other and laughed, and then said to Yang Zhen one after another:

"Don't worry, Governor, the isolation and quarantine measures implemented by our Jinhai Town have been implemented by the Military Department in the Yongping Prefecture of Shanhaiguan after consultation with the party before. This time, Mr. Chu and the others are going to Yongping Prefecture.

Pingfu and Shanhaiguan are on the front line, and they were quarantined in Shanhaiguan for half a month before boarding the ship to cross the sea!"

"Haha, the governor doesn't know something. That Westerner Tang Ruowang, that is, the foreign devil Mr. Dao Wei the governor mentioned, is also a rare understanding person. According to Eunuch Chu, they will not go to Hejian Prefecture, but to Dengzhou Prefecture.

Going to sea through Shanhaiguan and not a single person in the group dying from the epidemic is his credit!"

"Oh? Then Tang Ruowang also knows how to prevent epidemics?!"

Yang Zhen was not completely relieved after hearing what Zhang Degui said, but when he heard Fang Guangchen talking about Tang Ruowang, he seemed to realize something.

Plague was a long-lasting nightmare for European countries in the Middle Ages. For example, the "famous" Black Death caused massive population losses in European countries.

So Tang Ruowang, a missionary from Europe, must have known that the plague was the plague, and he must also have known about the great danger of the plague and its transmission channels.

In this case, would this so-called knowledgeable Jesuit have any scientific methods for the prevention and control of plague?

"The epidemic prevention measures advocated by Tang Ruowang, Beizhong, are quite similar to the strategy that the Governor previously told Beizhong and others.

"If I hadn't heard that this foreign devil had reported to the emperor to implement the method of covering the mouth and nose and isolating and quarantining in Shuntian Prefecture long before he was ordered to leave Beijing, I would have suspected him even in humble positions, whether he had copied the epidemic prevention strategy drawn up by the governor!

"

"oh?"

After hearing Fang Guangchen's answer, Yang Zhen nodded thoughtfully, and an idea suddenly came to his mind, thinking of Tang Ruowang's use.

Since this Tang Ruowang came from Europe, where the plague was raging, and he knew some methods of epidemic prevention, we might as well send him to Dengzhou Prefecture.

On the one hand, I have no need of him for the time being, and I have to prevent him from leaking some of my secrets.

On the other hand, if the plague problem in Tengzhou Prefecture cannot be solved as soon as possible, he will not be able to immigrate from Tenglai to Yingzhou Island as soon as possible.

And sending Tang Ruowang, a foreign Jesuit, to Dengzhou Prefecture and asking him to help Yuan Shu prevent the epidemic was a good way to kill two birds with one stone.

Tang Ruowang's usefulness is of course much more than this, but Yang Zhen is not very confident about him at the moment, and he doesn't have time to work hard to recover him, so he can only arrange it like this first.

If he can do his job conscientiously and sincerely, then of course Yang Zhen will entrust him with important responsibilities.

Yang Zhen had made up his mind and was about to send someone to ask Tang Ruowang to come and speak when he saw Ma Keqing trotting over to report that it was Eunuch Chu, the imperial envoy who came to deliver the edict. He was wearing a formal dress and holding an imperial edict.
Chapter completed!