In mid-May of the 10th year of Zhenguan, on the outskirts of Wannian County.
At this time, spring plowing has just ended. Today, Li Shimin led Zuo Shefang Xuanling to go out incognito to inspect the people's situation.
"Xuanling, is it true, as the outside world says, that I caused the smallpox plague because I killed too much and was punished by heaven?"
As he walked, the worried Li Shimin murmured to Fang Xuanling beside him. The scenes he saw along the way were chilling.
People rushed to flee, and the once bustling village was now riddled with holes and nine out of ten houses were empty.
Occasionally I see people wailing all over the ground, a picture of human tragedy.
Fang Xuanling naturally knew what Li Shimin was worried about.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to pay attention to these rumors. These are just petty people who want to spread rumors and cause trouble. These are treacherous words. Divine Doctor Sun and Taiyuan Hospital will definitely find a solution."
Hearing Fang Xuanling's comforting words, Li Shimin did not feel relaxed, but felt even heavier.
Smallpox has been an intractable plague since ancient times. Once it spreads, it cannot be easily controlled.
It turned out that after May, as the weather got warmer, people in Xiaohe Village were infected with smallpox at some point, and it spread from one to ten, and then to a hundred.
When the court realized the seriousness of the incident, a series of chain reactions followed.
In Chang'an City, shops began to close and workshops stopped working, causing grain prices in the city to rise.
Xiaohe Village, the birthplace of the plague, was left with so many people dying and fleeing, and it became a deserted village.
What's even more frightening is that the people in Gyeonggi Province have begun to become uneasy because of the smallpox plague.
Although the imperial court promptly invited Sun Simiao to come to Chang'an City to take charge, it had little effect.
After all, in this era, there was no specific cure for smallpox. Once infected with smallpox, it was almost impossible to survive.
As more and more people were infected with smallpox, Sun Simiao had limited energy and could not cover everything, so the situation became more and more serious.
Li Shimin sighed and walked up the stream from Xiaohe Village.
At noon, I came to a mountainside, stood up and gazed into the distance. I saw a village two miles to the east filled with fireworks and full of life.
Li Shimin suddenly became interested and asked curiously: "Where is this place?"
Along the way, all I saw were people escaping in a hurry or sparsely populated villages. How could I see such a quiet and peaceful place.
At this time, smoke was rising from almost every household in the entire village.
"Your Majesty, this is Baishui Village, do you want to go and have a look?"
After checking the map, Fang Xuanling quickly replied.
"Well... let's go over and have a look..."
Entering the village, I often see old people and children chatting and playing in front of their houses and on the roadside.
Seeing this scene, the two of them were secretly amazed.
"Old man, your village has not been affected by the plague?"
After the shock, Li Shimin couldn't help but ask about the old man who was chatting.
Several old people raised their heads and glanced at them after hearing this, and one of them, who seemed to be somewhat educated, spoke.
"You two are strangers, are you coming to the village to seek refuge with relatives? Let's talk about who to look for..."
The plague has been rampant outside recently, and many relatives in the village have taken refuge. He is already used to this scene.
"Old Chen, why are you talking so much? They must have come to visit relatives; but so many people have come to the village, and it is difficult to settle down now; as for the plague, we have a lord in the village, so of course we are not afraid of the plague."
A skinny old man next to him interrupted the old man surnamed Chen, speaking decisively and with a proud look on his face.
Hearing what the skinny old man said, the old man surnamed Chen was very embarrassed.
Because there are too many people visiting relatives in the village recently, each household does not have much leftover food!
Maybe some people couldn't stand the arrogance of the skinny old man, so the old man surnamed Chen said:
"Now that we know about Sir Alex, didn't someone say that Sir Alex wanted to seek wealth and kill himself?"
The words of the old man surnamed Chen immediately made the skinny old man blush, and he didn't know how to respond.
Seeing the skinny old man's depressed look, several old men nearby snickered together.
Hearing this, Li Shimin's eyes lit up.
It can be seen from the words of a few old people that the villagers here are really not afraid of the plague.
How could they not be excited by this discovery, wishing they could see the lord they talked about right away.
Not caring so much, Li Shimin excitedly grabbed the hand of the old man named Chen.
"Can your lord cure the plague? Quickly... take us to see him."
Seeing the excitement of Li Shimin and the others, the old man did not reply immediately. Instead, he looked at Li Shimin and the others with wary expressions.
You must know that Sir Alex is now a god-like figure in their hearts. No one can harm or insult him. How can he see him whenever he wants?
Seeing the alert look on the old man's face, Li Shimin realized that he was too anxious, which actually caused the old man to misunderstand.
Somewhat embarrassed, he let go of the old man's hand, and some sheepishly apologized softly.
"Old man, please don't be offended. We were sent by the imperial court to observe the situation of the people. I just found out that you are not afraid of the plague, so I am rude. Please take us to find your lord."
After listening to Li Shimin's explanation, the old man's expression slowly softened, but there was still a hint of sullenness on his face.
"Why are you here just now? Are all the officials in the court so inactive? Look at the nearby villages. They are dying and fleeing. It's so miserable..."
Although our village is not afraid of the plague, there are so many people seeking relatives that we can hardly survive.
At the end of the story, the old man couldn't help but shed tears.
Hearing the old man's accusations, Li Shimin and Li Shimin were a little ashamed.
Indeed, as the emperor and the head of officials, it is their responsibility to let the people live and work in peace and contentment.
Nowadays, people are displaced due to smallpox, and they bear a great responsibility.
…
Under the leadership of the old man surnamed Chen, Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling came to a manor, where a large wooden sign was hung.
The manor has white walls and gray tiles, and is very majestic, with a unique and exotic layout.
Xu noticed Li Shimin's doubts, and the old man surnamed Chen proudly explained.
"This was originally a dilapidated villa, but after some repairs by the Lord, it became like this. Please be careful when you go in. Our Lord is a god-like figure, and the things inside are like those in the sky..."
The proud look on his face seemed to be the blessing of being able to see the things inside.
Li Shimin and Li Shimin didn't blame it, they just thought it was because the people in the village were ignorant.
After all, they were more concerned about the cure for the plague.
On the other hand, they don't think there is anything in this world that they haven't seen before.
"Old man, we will pay attention."
Dong Dong Dong, the old man came forward and knocked on the door.
Not long after, the door slowly opened a crack with a creak, and a voice came.
"Lao Lizheng, it's you, what's the matter?"
When the old man surnamed Chen saw the person opening the door, he cupped his fists and laughed.
"Manager Yang, please excuse me. Don't call me Li Zheng. I have already retired. These two heard that the lord can prevent and cure the smallpox plague, so they wanted to come and ask for advice."
Having said that, the proud look on his face can never be concealed.
Although he has retired, after all, he once served as the village's upright person and belongs to the village official, which is enough to make him proud.
At this time, Yang Laifu noticed that there were people following the old man. They were all wrapped up tightly and his faces could not be seen clearly.
Yang Laifu was not surprised.
After all, the plague is rampant now, so there is nothing wrong with dressing up like this.
As all the gates of the villa were opened, Fang Xuanling was surprised to find that he knew the steward mentioned by the old man surnamed Chen.
He suppressed his inner surprise and took off his mask.
"Steward Yang, it turns out to be you."
Seeing Fang Xuanling's face, Yang Laifu was also stunned.
Unexpectedly, the person who came to see my lordship was the housekeeper who bought the young master’s Buddha statue some time ago.
As for Li Shimin, I have never met him and I don’t know him either.
Although I don't know Li Shimin's identity, it is possible that the person who came with this housekeeper is not a simple person.
After all, Fang Xuanling can spend one hundred taels of gold to buy a Buddha statue, how can he be a simple person?
He quickly bowed and replied, "It turns out it's the housekeeper who wants to come in."
The old man surnamed Chen saw that Yang Laifu knew Fang Xuanling, so he apologized and left.
Entering the villa, Fang Xuanling softly explained to Li Shimin how she met Manager Yang. During this period, Li Shimin told Fang Xuanling not to reveal his identity after meeting the owner.
After a while, Yang Laifu led me to a pavilion.
In the pavilion, a young man was lying leisurely on a rocking chair, and two little maids on the left and right were waiting on him with fans in hand.
At this time Yang Laifu quickly stepped forward and asked for instructions:
"Sir, the housekeeper is here to visit..."
Only then did Yang Fan, who was enjoying the degenerate life in feudal society, come to his senses.
When he stood up, he saw two people following Yang Laifu, standing ten steps away from him. Among them was the housekeeper he knew.
"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Fu. You can go down first; Lao Fang, why are you here? Please sit down, both of you..."
Although he didn't know Fang Xuanling's name, he was deeply impressed by Fang Xuanling.
After all, the first pot of gold was earned from him.
A few months ago, Yang Fan traveled to the Tang Dynasty. Although he inherited the title of Wannian County Baronet, his family was in such a state of decline that it was almost impossible to untie the pot.
Among the servants, only Yang Laifu, the book boy of his dead father, did not leave.
After time travel, I saw how dilapidated my home was, so I exchanged my last savings from the system for a three-foot-tall golden Buddha statue to be sold in Chang'an City. I met this housekeeper at that time.
The system is also the golden finger after time travel, and Yang Fan named it the exchange system.
The reason why it is named the exchange system is because the system can redeem things, provided that there is gold.
Yang Fan likes this salted fish system very much.
Because it does not arrange tasks like other time traveler systems, and makes the protagonist look like a tool that serves the system.
There are three major categories of exchange items in this exchange system, daily necessities, technology and martial arts. The only exchange item collected is gold, and the system can be opened for exchange three times a month.
Therefore, as long as you have enough gold, you can exchange it for modern daily necessities or martial arts secrets.