"It's me."
An ominous premonition arose in Li Ang's heart. Chen Danqiu's voice was noisy, and he was obviously discussing something with the emperor and the prime minister.
Chen Danqiu asked: "How is the situation in Shuozhou?"
"It's not good. There are nearly two hundred deaths every day."
Li Ang told the truth about the situation in Shuozhou, "We have tried our best to isolate all patients, suspected patients, and close contacts, and at the same time, we concentrated on eliminating the rat infestation.
However, it is impossible to completely prevent the spread of the disease.
There are so many rats that almost every household is infested with rats. It will take time to eradicate them."
Chen Danqiu asked: "How long will it take?"
"It can take as short as one month and as long as three months. By then, the rat infestation in Shuozhou will be eliminated, and the chain of disease transmission between people will probably be cut off."
Li Ang rubbed his sore eyes and spoke in a low tone.
The plague's transmission efficiency and degree of harm were far faster and more serious than the original Suzhou water poisoning. He felt physically and mentally exhausted.
The voice from the nearby side was silent for a long time. Finally, Chen Danqiu said: "We need you to go to Taiyuan Prefecture. There is a plague outbreak at the station there."
"...What?!"
Li Ang froze on the spot for a moment, with ringing in his ears, like rolling thunder.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally came to his senses, and the ringing in his ears was replaced by Chen Danqiu's voice again.
"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 now? When did it happen? Have the confirmed patients and close contacts been isolated?"
"It happened yesterday. A passenger suddenly fell to the ground and died while walking in the station."
Chen Danqiu said: "After the news came to the hospital in Taiyuan Prefecture, the station was immediately blocked and the two thousand passengers who were still in the station and on the train were quarantined. The inspection found that there were 60 confirmed patients from different areas.
Two hundred suspected patients."
"The station in Taiyuan Prefecture is still running??"
Li Ang was angry and stunned: "I wrote to the court half a month ago, requesting the complete closure of the entire Hedong Road railway system, why hasn't it been closed yet?!
Taiyuan Prefecture is the center of Hedong Road and the transportation hub of Guannai Road, Hedong Road and Hebei Road.
Among the thousands of passengers, there are more than 60 confirmed patients and 200 suspected patients.
God knows how many other patients had traveled to various parts of the Yu Kingdom via the railway before this?!
How many sources of infection are still active in Taiyuan Prefecture, which has a population of millions?!"
Li Ang's angry voice echoed in the underground laboratory,
It was really unimaginable for him that he had written so many reports, assessments, and observation logs to the Chang'an court, expounding the pros and cons again and again, explaining the horror of the plague.
But the imperial court failed to do even the most basic task of blocking traffic on Hedong Road.
Chen Danqiu took a deep breath and said, "Risheng, please calm down first."
"How do I calm down?"
Li Ang covered his forehead and said hoarsely: "That's Taiyuan Prefecture with a population of millions.
The scale of the city is expanding, the population is increasing, and the terrain is complex.
The difficulty of controlling the epidemic will increase exponentially!
For Shuozhou, which has a population of more than 100,000, I can still have soldiers deliver food, meat, and vegetables door-to-door.
In addition, the people of Shuozhou, many of whom are farmers, also have food stored at home, so they can still support themselves for the time being.
But what about Taiyuan Prefecture? Do urban residents who do not farm account for 70% or 80%?!
If we want to completely close the city like Shuozhou, how can we ensure the lives and even survival of these residents?!"
Li Ang's voice became more and more angry, and he unconsciously released his telekinesis and pushed away all the flasks and beakers on the table in front of him.
"Blocking traffic in a place cannot be done with just one sentence."
Pei Jing's father, Zuopushe Pei Su, the Minister of Yu State, said in a deep voice: "The scope of involvement is too wide and affects too many aspects.
How to fill the gaps in material, human and financial resources created by so many state capitals? What should be used to fill them?
Send tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops to block traffic arteries? Check every carriage, every pedestrian, and every package one by one? Is it possible to check it?
Even if the road is blocked, how will the transportation of materials be solved?
By then, due to rising food prices and unable to buy food, the number of people who starve to death at home will be no less than those who died of the plague!"
"Prime Minister Pei, the largest grain merchant in Yu State, isn't he the Gong Gong Duke of the imperial court?"
Li Ang was not in the mood to fight with Xue Jixu, and sarcastically said: "Scholars, farmers, and merchants are the last in the business rankings.
There is a saying in the law of Yu that a family that lives and earns a living must not compete with the world for profit; those who are engaged in industry and commerce must not join the official ranks."
"Tai Gong's Tutoring", an enlightenment book for every literate family, also says that people should be careful not to marry into a merchant's home; and people should not be neighbors to gain profits from the market.
Scholars regard business as a humble profession.
But what about in reality?
Which of the big companies in Yu State that can reach the top does not have the support of the powerful? Which one does not work for the powerful?
If you really want to stop the increase in food prices and are really worried that the people will have nothing to eat and nothing to wear, why don’t you, Lord Gonggun, give up some profits?”
"Well, it has happened, there is no point in blaming anymore."
Zhongshu ordered Xue Ji to speak up and interrupted the dispute between the two, "The top priority now is to contain the plague in Taiyuan Prefecture first and prevent the plague from spreading from Taiyuan Prefecture to all parts of Hedong Road, or even overflowing to other roads.
Risheng, you are the most authoritative expert in Yu State and even in the world. At present, only you can solve the dilemma in Hedong.
No matter what you need in Taiyuan, we will do our best to meet it."
"...I don't accept it."
"What?"
"I don't accept it."
Li Ang took a deep breath and said slowly: "During this period, we burned more than two thousand corpses.
Among them were not only ordinary people who were infected, but also doctors and soldiers who were unfortunately infected while fighting the plague.
More than a dozen folk doctors who heard about the Shuozhou epidemic and voluntarily rushed over to help fight the plague died.
Several students from the Imperial Medical Office who were supposed to study at the Imperial Medical Office and came to Shuozhou with the ideal of treating diseases and saving people also died.
They believed in me, trusted me, and followed me to Shuozhou. But I failed to bring them back to Chang'an.
I don't even know how to break the news to their parents.
Fighting the epidemic will involve sacrifices, I know this.
But I cannot accept that a dangerous situation that has been clearly explained from the beginning and can be avoided has developed into a disaster because of bureaucrats and the so-called "overall situation" and "interest considerations".
In the end, the frontline staff were forced to ignore past grudges and continue to sacrifice.
What is this?
‘I will take the blame for the suffering of the common people’?”
There was silence for a while. After a while, Xue Ji's helpless voice came, "The sun is rising. The imperial court also has its concerns and needs time to weigh it."
"Xue Xiang,"
Li Ang whispered: "Since the first outbreak of the plague, the situation faced by Yu State has only been bad and worse.
There is no possibility of avoiding losses, and there is no foolproof strategy."
This chapter has been completed!