Chapter 805: Acting
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the safety zone outside Phoenix City, the citizens who had confirmed that they were not sick had already left one after another. Some of them stayed in the city because their relatives were still there.
After Eunuch Wu finished reading the letter, Xuanyuan Qi said after a long time, “Prepare it. Collect what they need and send it in as soon as possible.”
The letter was written by Xuanyuan Ziming. It mainly reported the situation in the city and was sent out along with a list.
Eunuch Wu agreed and was about to leave when a letter accidentally slipped out of his sleeve.
Xuanyuan Qi looked up. Eunuch Wu explained awkwardly, “It’s a letter from the princess to the Empress Dowager. I’m about to send it over later.”
“She wrote it?” Xuanyuan Qi frowned slightly. “After all, it was sent out from inside. Get someone to smoke it with wormwood before handing it to Mother.” Eunuch Wu hurriedly said, “Your Majesty is so thoughtful.”
Xuanyuan Qi was not in the mood to listen to his words. He waved him off. After they left, his expression turned solemn. According to the letter, an adult man would die in less than seven days from the plague.
Seven days was too fast.
“Your Majesty, Lord Zhou is back.” A eunuch hurriedly walked in and reported. Xuanyuan Qi sat up straight. “Let him in quickly.”
Not long after, the travel-worn Lord Zhou lifted the curtain and entered. Without waiting for him to bow, Xuanyuan Qi asked, “How is it?”
Lord Zhou cupped his hands. “There’s no plague in Qingzhou, but…”
Previously, according to the investigation, the first to die from the plague was the Wang family. After asking around, he found out that they had returned to their hometown to visit their relatives. Lord Zhou found Qingzhou according to the household registration.
“Extermination?” Xuanyuan Qi’s pupils constricted as he looked at the person below him in disbelief.
“wnen 1 arrwea at tne wang ramuy village, tnere was no one lert In tne village. There were only traces of fire left in the entire village. I even specially visited the three nearby villages. The situation was exactly the same as in the Wang family village. Moreover, I found a small amount of kerosene around each village.”
Regardless of which village the plague originated from, it was obvious that the local county magistrate had discovered the plague but did not report it. In order to stop the plague from spreading, he chose to set fire to the village.
The Wang family must have left before the matter was discovered. Perhaps they did not even know that they had the plague and thought that they had caught a cold and ran to the medical center to prescribe medicine.
Coincidentally, it was winter. The medical center was filled with patients, and they were all infected.
Naturally, Ji Yunxi helped to encourage the spread in just a few days.
“How dare he!” Xuanyuan Qi slammed the desk angrily. “Who’s the local county magistrate?”
The emperor was far away. If not for the fact that the plague had spread to Phoenix City, no one would have known that the villagers of four villages had been burned to death.
Lord Zhou lowered his eyes. “It’s Yu Zheng, County Magistrate Yu.”
Yu Zheng was a descendant of the Yu family. Unlike the rest of the aristocratic families, he entered the court as an official through the imperial examination.
At that time, he had achieved good results, but because Xuanyuan Qi hated the aristocratic families, he was directly sent out.
Actually, in Lord Zhou’s opinion, setting fire to a plague was indeed the most effective and safest way. After all, there had never been a precedent of a plague being cured.
If Yu Zheng was wrong, his biggest mistake was that he hid it and made his own decisions.
The mistake was that they did not investigate carefully and let the Wang family return to the capital. They almost harmed the people in a city.
Xuanyuan Qi gritted his teeth. “The Yu family again.”
He seriously suspected that Ji Yunxi knew in advance, and that Madam Yu had leaked the plague on purpose.
He had misunderstood Madam Yu on this point. Since Yu Zheng had chosen to set the village on fire, he naturally wouldn’t let others know. It was a coincidence that Ji Yunxi met the Wang family.
“Your Majesty.” Lord Zhou took out a letter and raised it respectfully above his head. ‘When I rushed to the county magistrate’s residence, County Magistrate Yu had already committed suicide. He only left a letter.”
“He saw that the matter had been exposed and knew that I wouldn’t let him off.” Xuanyuan Qi sneered. “Bring it over. I want to see what he wrote.” Lord Zhou walked forward with the letter.
Xuanyuan Qi took it and opened it, reading the contents roughly.
He reprimanded, “Good, what a good Yu Zheng. What do you mean by I’m a wise ruler to the commoners? I’m a benevolent emperor. He didn’t want me to bear the reputation of being cruel, so he took the initiative to slaughter the village. He killed so many people. Do I have to thank him?” Xuanyuan Qi didn’t know if he should be angry or praise him..