After Emperor Taigan came to the throne, he planned to occupy this fertile land in the middle section of the Jialan River. He believed that after completely occupying this place, he would be able to spread to the surrounding areas and now control the entire Saibei wilderness. He slowly advanced and spent twenty years occupying the Yaojin Granary. , and then controlled the entire northern Saibei. Emperor Taiqian knew that the use of force would have endless consequences, so he used immigrants to rush to the border and assimilate to Hanize the northern Saibei. Unfortunately, this plan caused a civil war because the Tartars were dissatisfied with the division of wealth.
This happened to give the Wuhuan people an excuse to invade and then occupy the northern part of Saibei. The Wuhuan people occupied the Yaojin Granary, but did not immigrate here for the time being. Instead, this place became a useless place for them.
However, there was a civil war in Tartar because of the fight for the Khan King, and the Beiyi Kingdom rebelled. The Mohe people were too few to fight for it, and the Holy Han Dynasty was in chaos, temporarily letting the Wuhuan people control the Yajin granary. Zhang Xiaowu wanted to send troops to Yajin at this time. It's a granary, but it's easier to conquer a country than to defend it. Even if he can defeat it, he can't hold it, and instead loses many lives.
In the southern part of the Tarta Wasteland, although there is a lack of water sources, there are abundant coal resources, which are commonly known as smoke stones by herdsmen.
Zhang Xiaowu sent people to investigate coal burning and found that there was a huge open-pit smokestone mine on the north side of Mucheng and near Yizhuang, with a length of even fifty miles. Others didn't know the importance of coal burning, so how could he not know that with coal burning, This means that the age of steel is not far away. However, places with coal mines are often short of water. This is also the legendary "water and fire". Mucheng still faces the problem of lack of water sources.
Just as the construction of Mucheng was booming, the plague finally began to break out in the Central Plains in the second year of Dade. Most of the people in Lianglangguan fled to Daizhou, so that Daizhou was the first to have problems. But at the same time as the problem broke out, It was the flood in Daizhou. No one expected that after Emperor Dade succeeded to the throne, there would be floods in the north for many years. The newly sown land was soaked in water, and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. The plague and floods forced the people of Daizhou to The surrounding areas fled, and the Lianglang Pass was closed. A large number of hungry people and refugees in the north fled to the south, bringing the plague with them.
Because the Holy Han Dynasty did not pay much attention to the plague in Saibei, and the people and local officials were not prepared enough, the plague gradually spread to Huizhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Yongzhou, and then spread to Sizhou where Longdu was located, and then It spread to Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Yangzhou in the east.
Perhaps after a year, the plague gradually mutated and became more ferocious. It no longer had a short onset like in Saibei, and the symptoms were not obvious. Instead, it became rapid and violent, and people coughed violently and even vomited blood after the attack. And died. As a result, the people in the Central Plains began to panic. Countless people fled, and millions of people fled to the south.
In Daizhou, by May, the number of deaths due to the plague reached 30,000.
In Huizhou, by May, the number of deaths due to the plague reached 50,000.
In Youzhou, by May, the number of deaths due to the plague reached 20,000.
In Yongzhou, by May, the number of deaths due to the plague reached 10,000.
In Bingzhou, by May, the number of deaths due to the plague reached 10,000.
In Sizhou, by May, the number of deaths due to the plague reached 60,000.
In Qingzhou, by May, the number of deaths due to the plague reached 10,000.
Xuzhou, Yangzhou...
Plague broke out in various places, and local officials petitioned the imperial court for rescue. Especially in Daizhou and Huizhou, where floods were raging, the disaster was even worse. The number of 80,000 people in the two states was only local records, but in some places even Xiangzheng and Lizheng were connected. They are all dead, where are the accurate statistics?
Before Shi Chong's newly formulated policy of immigrating to the south and rushing to the border was implemented, the people spontaneously ran to the south, leaving Shi Chong without having to persuade anyone. When encountering foreign invasions, the people of the Central Plains often fought to the death to defend their homeland, but When encountering the plague, everyone chose to run away without the ability or determination to fight it. However, Shi Chong became even more worried. The immigrants from the north brought not productivity to the south, but a plague, which would cause the people in the north and the south to suffer. Confrontation ensued, and chaos broke out.
Shi Chong immediately petitioned Emperor Dade to send troops to maintain the order of the people moving to the south and distribute food to the fleeing people. However, it was difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. Shi Chong was an official in the Ministry of Household Affairs, so how could he not know how much money and food the court had?
Today's Dade Dynasty can be said to be at a disadvantage because of Emperor Taiqian's unbridled squandering. Emperor Taigan made contributions to the empire, but overdrawn the empire. Even if Emperor Dade wanted to do something, firstly, he had no money, and secondly, he had no power. Chong also didn't know how much his plan to immigrate to the south and develop Lingnan could be implemented, and how much it could help the sick empire.
The plague broke out in the north, the plague gradually emerged in the Central Plains, and the plague began in the south. Longdu was naturally not immune. A large-scale plague broke out in May, and the core of the outbreak was the White Tiger Army barracks.
Uncle Dushan never dreamed that disaster would come from the sky. A plague broke out in the White Tiger Army, so that the entire Dragon City was shrouded in the shadow of the plague. Among the four camps in Longdu City, the Green Dragon Army had 20,000 soldiers, and the White Tiger Army had 8 Ten thousand people, including 10,000 Suzaku Army (left-behind troops), 20,000 Xuanwu Army, and a total strength of 130,000 Forbidden Army. However, after the outbreak of the plague, densely populated military camps like the White Tiger Army were the hardest hit, and it was the Suzaku Army that suffered the most The lightest.
At this time, Helan Zong presented the "Eight Strategies of Wooden City" to Du Shanbo, and as evidenced by Chen Qing and more than 3,000 Qinglong soldiers, the Eight Strategies of Wooden City were very effective in curbing the spread of the plague.
Du Shanbo summoned the Helan Sect and asked, "Does Mucheng strictly implement these eight policies?"
Helan Zongdao: "The ghost guards carried out the execution meticulously and without slacking off. There were some disobedient orders at first, but after Zhang Xiaowu ordered them to be buried alive, no one dared to disobey the order again."
Uncle Du Shan took a breath of air and said sternly: "Buried alive?"
Helan Zongdao: "Exactly."
Chen Qingdao: "Actually, there were only two buried alive, and the others had their heads chopped off."
"How much was cut?"
"About twenty."
"What crime?"
"No face mask, by the way, Zhang Xiaowu named it mask." Chen Qing said, took out the mask from his arms, handed it over, and said: "Uncle, please look, this is the mask."
Uncle Dushan looked at it and didn't think there was anything special about it. It was just a square scarf with two straps. He said, "You're going to be beheaded just because you don't wear this?"
Chen Qing nodded and said: "Yes, there is no distinction between beheading targets. One of the people who was beheaded was Du Zuo of the Ghost Guard, and the other was Zhang Xiaowu's servant. It was said that someone in the family was sick and was in a hurry to go home and forgot to wear it, so he was also beheaded. He smiled bitterly and said: "It is true that a lot of people died after the implementation of the Eight Policies in Mucheng, but if it is not strictly implemented, I am afraid that more people will die. Only about ten people died in Mucheng due to the plague, and in the epidemic village... "
"At first, 1,300 people died, but later the wolf guards took away 7,000 people. 150 people also died in the epidemic village, and the rest all survived." Helan Zong said, "Mucheng Bace, indeed Very effective.”
Du Shanbo said: "Tomorrow I will take you two to the palace and discuss it in detail with all the officials."
