In this year of natural and man-made catastrophes, no matter how many plans Emperor Xing Wu had for Luo Wei, he could only put them aside and deal with the issues at hand first.
In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed. The flood in the south receded, and immediately the epidemic that Emperor Xing Wu was most worried about broke out again. In the local officials’ report to the emperor, the current tragedy in the south was described — villages that were originally densely populated were now mostly deserted. People were displaced en masse, and corpses were left unburied. Starving men died on the streets and sold their wives and sons for food. Refugees were everywhere. The southern land that used to be full of mountains, rivers and misty rains has now become a dreadful hellscape.
Emperor Xing Wu used the palace’s silver reserves to survive the catastrophe in the south alone. There was a severe drought in the northwest, the farmland produced no grain, and even the harvest in the south was not kept. In response to the desperate demand for food, Emperor Xing Wu had to send his ministers to various countries to buy grain at high prices.
Following the order of Emperor Xing Wu, Long Xuan went to Yunzhou to inspect the local epidemic that would not subside. Yunzhou was on the way to Yun Guan. It was only by passing through it that one could one go from Yun Guan to the capital. Emperor Xing Wu was afraid that the epidemic in Yunzhou would spread to Yun Guan. The northern gateway of the Great Zhou relied on the iron cavalry stationed in Yun Guan. This army could suffer no more losses.
Halfway through his journey to Yunzhou, Long Xuan heard bad news again. He Xinzhi, the Shang Wu Wei general who was ordered to go to the southeast to suppress the barbarian’s rebellion, had been defeated. In the mountains in the southeast, Long Xuan was anxious, but with the emperor's edict, he could only continue to rush to Yunzhou. With the province just around the corner, Long Xuan got two more pieces of news: General Du Wei and Hou Luo of Dingwu were quickly dispatched to the southeast by Emperor Xing Wu to replace He Xinzhi, who had died in the battle, to lead the suppression of the rebellion. The second piece of news was about the refugee riots in the south. Long Xuan couldn't sleep all night. Suddenly, there was not a single peaceful place in Great Zhou, how could he be able to sleep?
Long Xuan brought several imperial doctors from the Imperial Hospital into Yunzhou. Inside the province, the air smelled of burning wormwood.
"This official and the others are helpless against this disease now." The Yunzhou official who came to welcome Long Xuan said, "We heard that this wormwood herb can sterilize the air, so we can only try to burn it."
"Does it work?" Long Xuan asked.
The local official said: "It doesn't appear to be effective yet, but the common people now believe in any method that can cure the disease."
Sitting down, Long Xuan said to the imperial physicians: "You go to the medical center here to have a look. Let's see what kind of disease it is and whether it can be cured."
The imperial physicians took the orders.
The local officials led the imperial physicians to the clinic to see the sick. Before leaving, they kindly reminded Long Xuan that it was best not to go out.
“I know, you go and get busy," Long Xuan said to the official, "don't worry about me."
"Your Highness," Fu Yun said to Long Xuan after seeing off the doctors and officials: “When this servant came, I saw a few people lying outside the wall, motionless. I don't know if they are dead or alive."
“Let's go out and have a look," Long Xuan said.
"Your Highness wants to go?" Fu Yun rushed to stop Long Xuan and said, "There are sick people outside, Your Highness should not go out."
"If you are afraid, then don't come." Long Xuan knew that Fu Yun was afraid, so he didn't talk anymore. He got up and headed out: "You just stay inside."
Where did Fu Yun dare not follow Long Xuan? He catched up with Long Xuan and said: "This slave will follow Your Highness."
"Don't force it," Long Xuan walked out of the room, and glanced at the guards standing outside.
"I’m not," Fu Yun said, "This is the duty of a slave."
The guards also followed behind Long Xuan. None of them wanted to go to the streets, but where the master wanted to go, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow.
Yunzhou is the trading center of the Northern Zhou. Merchants flowed from the south and north uninterrupted, so Yunzhou was also the richest place in this part of the country. Long Xuan walked the streets of Yunzhou today, but what he saw was a depression. Few shops were open, and the doors and windows of the houses were closed. There were still pedestrians on the street, but they were all in a hurry.
"Your Highness," Fu Yun pointed to a house along the street with the word "no" [1] written on its gate, and showed Long Xuan.
Long Xuan couldn't understand what it meant, so he stopped a man who was passing by them, and said, "Friend, why is the word 'no' written on this door?"
The pedestrian spoke quickly: "This family is dead. They all died of illness."
Long Xuan wanted to ask more, but the pedestrian had already hurriedly walked several steps away.
"Your Highness," a guard called Long Xuan from behind.
Long Xuan turned his head, and following the guard's fingers, he saw that one-third of the houses on this street had the word "no" written on their gates.
"Oh my god," Fu Yun said in surprise, "Are they all gone?"
"Let's go," Long Xuan's face was gloomy. This was a natural disaster. He was not a doctor, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Fu Yun and the others followed Long Xuan all the way. The more they walked, the more frightened they became. They felt that if people continued to die like this, the whole population of Yunzhou would be wiped out.
Long Xuan had listened to the local officials with a grain of salt. Rather than relying blindly on their words, he wanted to ask the local people about the situation, but except for the pedestrian who he had stopped to ask about the writing on the gate, he had walked all this way but no one would stop and talk to him. After walking through three streets, from the east to the west side of the city, Long Xuan finally saw a restaurant that was open for business. He didn't look twice, and went inside.
The waiter in the restaurant saw the guests coming, but didn't seem very attentive. He walked up slowly, and said to Long Xuan and the others: "Guest, we don't have any food here now, only noodles."
"Your Highness," Fu Yun asked Long Xuan in a low voice, "Do you want to eat noodles here?"
Long Xuan looked around the shop. There were only two tables of guests sitting in the shop with more than twenty tables.
"Guest," the clerk saw that Long Xuan didn't answer, and said again, "If you are afraid that our place is not clean, you can buy raw food and cook it yourself."
"No need," Long Xuan said to the clerk, "We will leave immediately. Fu Yun, give him a reward." After giving Fu Yun the order, Long Xuan walked towards one of the tables with guests.
The clerk received the reward, so he didn't care what Long Xuan was doing in the store. He walked back to the counter and leaned against it.
There were four guests sitting at the table. Seeing Long Xuan approach, they all got up and wanted to leave.
"Wait a minute," Long Xuan put his hand on the shoulder of one of the people, a man of medium build, and said, "I think we have something to talk about."
The other three men wanted to make a move.
The guards behind Long Xuan saw the situation, and also readied to attack.
"Don't panic," Long Xuan said to everyone.
Under Long Xuan's gaze, the guards took a few steps back.
"This is the Great Zhou," Long Xuan said to the four men: "Are you sure you want to use force here? Can you escape this Yunzhou City?"
"Sit down," the man whose shoulder Long Xuan was pressing said to his companions.
"Let's talk over there," Long Xuan pointed to an empty table far away and let go of the man’s shoulder.
The man didn't struggle, and followed Long Xuan to the isolated place.
"I saw you by Sima Qingsha's side." After sitting down, Long Xuan whispered to the man, "What is this general's name?"
"Sun Li," the man answered.
Translator Notes:
[1] 无 wú – a negation particle; no / nothing / none
> More on wormwood medicinal uses here.
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