On the sixth day of March in the twenty-fourth year of Tai'an, in the Nuan Pavilion of Qian'an Palace.
On the imperial desk, there are countless memorials that can never be finished, and there are obviously more today than before.
This is because, as the emperor, Zhao Yongcheng is not in very good working condition today because his favorite son left today.
He and Concubine Duan's two sons, the fourth, died in mysterious circumstances, and the ninth was now forced to stay away, and was granted a further vassal title than usual.
Thinking of how he had been pressed hard by ministers for more than 20 years since he took the throne, Zhao Yongcheng became angrier and more aggrieved.
With a "pop" sound, Zhao Yongcheng threw away the memorial, and then flipped the things on the imperial case to the ground.
Memorials, pens and ink, books, teacups... were scattered everywhere.
The emperor was suddenly furious and ordered all the maids and eunuchs serving in the palace to kneel straight on the ground and kowtow their heads on the cold floor.
The chief steward, Chen Changhe, just came back from outside and saw people kneeling inside and outside the hall. He quickly found someone to ask about the situation.
After serving the emperor for so many years, Chen Changhe naturally knew why the emperor was angry at this time.
Others could kneel down and pretend to be dead, but Chen Changhe had the emperor's orders, so he could only bite the bullet and walk into the palace.
A few breaths later, Chen Changhe appeared at the door of Nuange.
"My servant comes to see the Emperor!"
Raising his head slightly, Zhao Yongcheng looked gloomy and said after a few breaths of silence: "You're back!"
"Reporting to the emperor, I was ordered to see the prince off, but now the prince has left the city!"
Then, the hall fell into silence again, making everyone on duty feel extremely depressed.
Fortunately, Chen Changhe is no ordinary slave.
I saw him slowly getting up, approaching the imperial cabinet with his waist bent, and then carefully picking up the things on the floor.
"You idiots, why don't you hurry up and help!"
Only Chen Changhe had the courage to take such a risk when the emperor was furious.
Several young eunuchs entered carefully and began to pack their things.
"Your Majesty, I have already told the prince what you asked me to tell you!"
"What did he say?"
"This..." Chen Changhe didn't know how to answer for a moment.
"The prince has repeatedly warned that the emperor must remember that there will be a great disaster from heaven!"
"What else?"
"Well...that's what the prince said!"
With a long sigh, Zhao Yanxun raised his forehead and said: This bastard walked away happily, happy and free!"
While cleaning up, Chen Changhe said: "Your Majesty... I don't want the Emperor to worry!"
"Yes, he is a good boy!" Zhao Yongcheng nodded.
Afraid of being embarrassed as a father, he disobeyed his biological mother and gave up the crown prince he was trying to obtain. Of course Zhao Yanxun was his good son.
Soon, the room was tidied up, Zhao Yongcheng took a look at the boring memorial, and picked up the pen again in desperation.
"Have you seen the disposed ligers with your own eyes?"
"Report to the Emperor, I have personally seen it!"
"What's going on?"
Recalling it, Chen Changhe said solemnly: "Your Majesty, although ligers are fierce, slaves have seen them in daily life, but this batch from the Animal Taming Prison... is different from what we have seen before!"
"He is not afraid of death, is bloodthirsty and ferocious, and is extremely difficult to deal with. Even though the Imperial Army was fully prepared, something almost went wrong for a moment!"
Hearing these words, Zhao Yongcheng frowned and thought deeply, and then asked: "You were there that day, can you tell me... is what Xun'er said that day true or false?"
"Such a thing is unheard of, it's really..."
"So, you think it's fake?"
"It's a lie, but those ligers in the Animal Taming Prison are solid evidence..."
Chen Changhe said both pros and cons, which meant that he had no clear opinion.
After thinking about the conversation that day again, Zhao Yongcheng said for a long time: "There was a strange phenomenon in the sky the day before yesterday. Xun'er said it was a meteorite falling, and meteorites can mutate humans and animals..."
"So, these meteorites are a scourge and must be dealt with properly!"
On the side, Chen Changhe listened attentively.
"Immediately order the cabinet to draft an edict. Meteorites carry great epidemics. If meteorites appear in various places, they must send special personnel to bury them!"
"The person responsible for burying the meteorite may be infected with a serious epidemic, so the officials in various places must keep a close eye on him!"
After giving these instructions, Zhao Yongcheng was about to continue writing, but found that Chen Changhe didn't move at all.
"You have something to say?"
Chen Changhe said extremely cautiously: "Your Majesty, in a hurry, he said that meteorites would cause a great epidemic. The cabinet... I'm afraid there will be doubts!"
Zhao Yongcheng couldn't help but be stunned, this point was indeed ignored by him.
"Go and deliver the message first. If they have any questions, let them come to see me!"
"According to the order!"
This "abnormal" edict can easily make people have doubts and just think that the emperor is doing something wrong.
When the emperor's decree reached the cabinet, the three cabinet ministers were really surprised, and then they rushed to Qian'an Palace together.
Facing the questions from the three cabinet ministers, Zhao Yongcheng said what he had prepared.
Relying on words alone was very weak, so Zhao Yongcheng led three cabinet ministers to the animal training prison to have a closer look, and met with the imperial army responsible for killing ligers and tigers.
It took most of a day before the three cabinet ministers truly believed that the "big epidemic" mentioned by the emperor might be true.
"It's...unbelievable!"
The chief minister, Wang Tinghe, had a solemn expression, as did the other two cabinet ministers.
If the epidemic is real, and based on the speed of its spread, it can be called a catastrophe, and there is no telling how many people will die.
They think this way, but in fact they still don't understand what the zombie virus means. They just think it is a simple plague and another group of people will die.
Zhao Yongcheng said: "So an edict must be issued to the whole country so that all levels of government offices can take precautions as soon as possible!!"
In response, all three cabinet ministers nodded.
The imperial edict is easy to write, but the monarch and his ministers all know that it is extremely difficult to get the government offices at all levels to strictly implement it.
In response to this pandemic, issuing an edict is only the first step, and it is the simplest step.
Based on this, the four monarchs and ministers discussed again, and the discussion did not end until dark, and they came up with a complete set of rhetoric.
Then the next day came, and as the contents of the edict were released, discussions arose both inside and outside the government.
Most people only thought that the emperor was messing around, and the three cabinet members were "accomplices."
So the officials sent memorials one after another, tactfully admonishing the emperor not to "act recklessly".
Fortunately, the three cabinet ministers knew the truth, and they calmed the officials' discussions, saving Zhao Yongcheng a lot of trouble.
By presenting facts and evidence again, the three cabinet ministers finally convinced the officials that the so-called pandemic was real.
Five days after the edict was issued, all officials in Beijing were convinced, and a big step was taken in the nationwide prevention of the epidemic.
Driven by interests, Beijing officials from all over the world would write letters to their hometowns and ask local gentry and dignitaries to supervise the government.
But the next question is whether the gentry who received the letter will believe its contents, which will take a lot of time.
Now, it has been more than ten days since the meteorite fell.
