Chapter 222: 你们看，皇后娘娘来了

[You guys see, the Empress is here.]

In addition to the manpower he brought with him, he also got the uninjured people to act together, and then went to the county government residence afterwards.

It had long been empty inside and the dear one is no longer there.

Luckily, he found the private adviser of Tai Ling County.

After the issuance of the relevant documents, the management of the entire Tai Ling County is temporarily taken over by the Liu Royal Envoy.

There are quite a few always prepared tents in Tai Ling County and soon Liu Royal Envoy arranged some people to go to the south of the city to set up the place.

Luckily, the isolated and infected area was not burned by the fire.

Liu Imperial envoy also let the people underneath go to gather some women, set up cauldrons in many places, and distribute rice porridge.

Before it rained, all the tents were set up.

In the south of the city, there were nearly a hundred tents alone.

There were also dozens of giant cloth tents.

Under the command of Tang Lao, all the injured patients had been transferred to various tents according to the severity of their injuries.

Although the epidemic situation was serious now, it was reasonable that the injured should not be placed in a tent.

But there was no better way at the moment.

Besides that, the first thing to do was to survive. 

The good thing is that the cesspit is not surrounded by residential areas, but even so, the casualties are still too tragic or too horrible to look at. 

Listening to the survivors, I heard that at that time, some people saw Magistrate Cao trying to escape from the city.

Many people got up from their beds to surround this dog official in the streets.

But then many places were on fire, and everyone was busy carrying water to put out the fire, and there was an abandoned river water near here, so it just happened that all of them gushed over.

Who would have thought suddenly there was a blasting sound? 

Huge heat waves and stream waves on the spot, many people impacted into mid-air.

There were countless deaths and injuries.

Right now, the fires were still raging all over Tai Ling County.

It was because people were busy rescuing other people. 

Several people who went to the river and carried water, tried to put out a burning cartload of firewood with a cup of water (a useless attempt). 

Common people watched helplessly as the hideous fires in the distance slowly engulfed the place where they had lived in their whole lives, until it was slowly reduced to ashes.

[Rumble …]

The sky struck with loud thunder.

A heavy rain came down with a crash sound in the midst of everyone’s despair and helplessness.

Many people looked at this belated downpour but lost their voices and cried.

If this rain had fallen earlier, was it that their loved ones would not have been burned to death?

Wouldn’t this disaster have happened?

The majestic big rain seemed to be whimpering and crying for this blood-stained city as well.

It was really laughable (in a sarcastic way) or absurd.

The plague did not overwhelm the people of Tai Ling County.

And a mere magistrate Cao easily pushed them into the abyss.

It must be said that sometimes man-made disasters are often more frightening than natural disasters.

It rained heavily for a whole day before stopping.

The once prosperous city became devastated.

Even if it hurts, those who are alive still have to keep living. 

In the evening, 

A baseless rumor spread from somewhere.

It said that the fire was actually premeditated, and that the imperial court wanted to set the city on fire and massacre the inhabitants for all, and that’s why they asked Magistrate Cao to do it.

Because the plague here has reached a point beyond the court’s control.

Even Prince Chen has been infected with the plague.

This statement caused everyone to panic.

It wasn’t as if something like this hadn’t happened before in the history of Dong Lan Kingdom.

Not to mention, Tai Ling County was sealed again a long time ago.

No one was allowed to leave the city.

At that time, because the common people trusted Prince Chen, although there was some opposition, nothing happened.

But right now, even Prince Chen had been infected with the plague, so who else could save them?

Panic gripped this lonely city.

In retrospect, it did seem very much like it was premeditated in general.

First the county was sealed, then the fire was set.

This step by step.

It’s hard not to let people think that the imperial court deliberately wanted to do this.

After experiencing the fire, the common people’s emotions were sensitive and tense, and an emotional breakdown could happen at any moment. 

Fear and anger spread through the crowd.

Many common people gathered and flocked to the city gates demanding that the gates be opened and they be let out to seek a way out (a way to make a living.) 

“Open the gates! We want to go out!”

“That’s right, open the gates!”

“Why won’t you let us out?”

“Is the court deliberately trying to burn us to death by fire?”

The people were getting angrier and angrier.

Constantly attacking the city gates.

There were vague signs of a riot.

Imperial Envoy Liu rushed to the city gates with his men.

But the people were so agitated that they couldn’t be suppressed.

He even tried to speak a few times, but the strong protests and angry questioning muffled all the voices, and no one was willing to listen to him.

“Open the gates! Open the gates! Open the gates!”

The people shouted in unison in anger.

These days, people around them are constantly dying of smallpox.

This fear of being under the shadow of death for a long time has long been crushing their nerves, plus today’s fire has burned the last taut string in their hearts.

Apart from the injured, more and more people joined the protest.

Imperial Envoy Liu looked at the growing number of people gathered and stomped his feet anxiously.

He had just heard the officiating medical officer, Tang Lao, say that this smallpox plague could infect people even before it started.

Originally, when the fire happened today, in order to save people, he hadn’t taken that much into consideration.

Now, with all these people crowding around, if there are a few patients with smallpox inside.

They were afraid of this mess, that infected people will be more.

The Imperial envoy Liu helplessly climbed the city wall.

In a loud and clear voice, 

“Everyone listen to me, I am the imperial envoy of the imperial court, this fire, I will investigate it as soon as possible to give you an explanation. Now, the plague has not been resolved, if we open the city hastily, the consequences will be unimaginable, please understand and don’t gather together.”

“Imperial court envoy? Don’t lie! The court even said that they would send the Empress Dowager here, but so many days have passed, where is the Empress Dowager?” Someone in the crowd said.

“That’s right, if you want us to trust the imperial court, send us the Empress Dowager!”

“The Empress Dowager has already come ah!” Imperial Envoy Liu stomped his feet, afraid that the citizens wouldn’t believe him.

“Ha Ha, he said that the Empress Dowager has already come, how come we didn’t know? When did she come?”

“The fire is so big today, where is the Empress Dowager?”

“Tai Ling County is dead, injured and crippled, where is the Empress Dowager?”

The people all know in their hearts that Tai Ling County is now an epidemic city!

Who would come to die?

Not to mention the Empress Dowager, even ordinary people wouldn’t run here.

The court put out such news just to make them lower their guard!

In the end, so that a fire can burn them down.

How could the Empress come here?

It was all a lie to them!

“The Empress Dowager is really here.” Because of worry, Imperial Envoy Liu’s face was sweating, but the people underneath didn’t believe him at all.

He was thinking of sending someone to invite the Empress over.

In the distance, a figure walked this way.

Imperial Envoy Liu hastily rejoiced and shouted, “Look, the Empress is here!”