sbdcsierra Chapter 374 Undercurrents Flow Among Various Parties
Chapter 374 Undercurrents Flow Among Various Parties
As night fell, two figures quietly met in a secluded alley and then stealthily approached the government warehouse where medicinal herbs were stored.
In recent days, the organization has repeatedly sent its men to infiltrate near the city gates, blending into the crowds to incite the people to create a riot, but the guards have seen through their schemes and easily quelled the chaos.
As a result, they lost a significant number of personnel.
Now that the government has reissued the notice and the soldiers guarding the city have been increased, the plan to incite the people to riot has been suspended.
Now the only option is to implement the next step of the plan: burn the medicinal herbs they have stockpiled. Once the herbs are destroyed, the epidemic will spread rapidly and become difficult to contain.
If the epidemic gets out of control, Beijing will definitely be in chaos.
They quickly infiltrated the warehouse where the medicinal herbs were stored, and the process went so smoothly that they found it somewhat unusual.
The two realized almost simultaneously that something was amiss.
This is clearly a trap!
Their eyes met, and they nodded in tacit agreement.
Even knowing it was a trap, they couldn't care less about anything else right now. They had finally managed to sneak in, and were just one step away from burning all their medicinal herbs. They couldn't miss this golden opportunity.
One of them took out a tinderbox from his pocket, preparing to set the medicine storehouse on fire.
However, just as they were about to take action, countless torches suddenly lit up all around them.
"Take him down!" Lu Beizhou said in a deep voice from the darkness.
More than ten officers and soldiers quickly surrounded the two.
After a struggle, one spy was finally captured, while the other lunged at the sword in the officer's hand and died on the spot.
Lu Beizhou's expression was grave. He ordered, "Take him away and interrogate him thoroughly. At the same time, strengthen the city's defenses."
"Yes."
Recently, undercurrents have been surging in the capital, with several groups of enemy spies surfacing and secretly carrying out numerous small actions.
In just a few days, they have thwarted several plots aimed at disrupting public order.
Fortunately, this pandemic has exposed many lurking enemies.
Such incidents have been occurring frequently in recent days.
For example, a convoy of vehicles carrying medicines and grains, dispatched by the Ministry of Works, was ambushed outside the South Gate. Fortunately, the court was prepared and increased the number of guards, and the medicines and grains were eventually delivered safely.
Worst of all, poisoning incidents have also occurred in the epidemic area.
Several patients experienced sudden and abnormal changes in their symptoms. These individuals, whose conditions were clearly mild and had shown signs of improvement, suddenly began to worsen, and some even died suddenly.
After a thorough examination of the deceased, it was discovered that their tongues were black, which was not a sign of the plague. Further investigation revealed that someone had poisoned the herbal medicine they were preparing.
The imperial physicians in the epidemic area immediately became alert and quickly reported to the officials in charge of the epidemic area's security.
They observed discreetly and eventually discovered that a servant named Lao Liang was behaving strangely, repeatedly taking the opportunity to approach the medicine pot before and after dispensing the medicine.
After observing secretly, they saw Lao Liang look around and then quickly sprinkle a packet of powder into the pot of medicine that was being boiled.
Caught red-handed, Lao Liang was apprehended on the spot.
The guards searched his pockets and found a small paper packet containing some white powder.
After examination by the imperial physician, it was determined that the substance was poison. It was colorless and odorless when mixed with water, and patients who drank it would quickly develop symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea.
The biggest fear in epidemic areas is diarrhea and dehydration, which will undoubtedly accelerate the death of patients.
After a swift and decisive interrogation, Lao Liang finally confessed that he was a spy from an enemy country, ordered to poison the epidemic area and create panic.
But he vehemently denied having any other accomplices.
That night, Lao Liang died suddenly in his heavily guarded cell. The autopsy revealed that he died of poisoning.
Lu Beizhou realized that there were still many spies hiding in the epidemic area, and it would take a lot of effort to find them all.
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Within the quarantine zone on the western outskirts of the city
"Cough cough cough..."
"Heh heh... cough cough cough..."
"Stop him!"
"Don't let him scratch your throat."
Seeing this, Long Chuqing, who was administering acupuncture to the patient, quickly gave instructions.
Two strong men rushed forward to help and held down a middle-aged man who was frantically scratching his neck due to a high fever.
The man struggled incessantly, trying to break free of his restraints, his face contorted in extreme pain and discomfort.
Long Chuqing knelt down beside the man, wrapped her fingers in a thick cloth, and then pried open the patient's clenched teeth, which were clenched in pain. She inserted a thin piece of wood into his mouth and pressed down on the base of his tongue to check the situation.
Long Chuqing narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze fixed on the patient's throat wall. In the light, he could vaguely see that the patient's wide-open mouth was covered with dense, mold-like gray-black spots.
Those grayish-black spots adhered to the patient's swollen oral mucosa, emitting a nauseating, putrid odor that could still be detected even through the thick mask.
These grayish-black spots are the deadly lesions they have found deep in the throats of those who died from the epidemic in recent days.
Its odor is foul, and its appearance is like mold; it is caused by the poison of a rat demon.
"Miss Long, the medicine has arrived."
Xiao Zeng brought in a bowl of herbal soup to soothe the lungs and relieve coughs.
Long Chuqing stepped aside: "Quickly force him to drink it."
With the help of two strong men, Xiao Zeng forcibly forced the medicine into the patient's mouth.
After the patient took the medicine, Long Chuqing gave him an acupuncture injection to put him into a deep sleep, so that he would not scratch his neck due to discomfort.
Some patients, even when asleep, will unconsciously scratch their necks due to discomfort and will wake up soon afterward.
Clearly, this is not a long-term solution.
Under the influence of the rat demon toxin, the epidemic mutated several times in just a few days, and ordinary epidemic remedies had little effect on it.
Long Chuqing and several imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Academy discussed and quickly revised the prescription, combining some detoxification formulas with those for treating epidemics.
However, the rat demon's poison is domineering and potent. Although the newly researched formula is effective in treating it, the progress is somewhat slow. So far, the number of people who have recovered is far less than the number of people who have been infected.
Moreover, the damage caused by the toxins to the human body cannot be completely eliminated. Even if the patient recovers, there will likely be significant long-term effects on their body.
There is another matter that needs to be addressed.
The dark purple aura that Long Chuqing had seen on the wounds of Boss Huang and the three bodyguards did not disappear with their deaths.
Due to the effects of the rat demon's poison, each of the patients infected with the plague was surrounded by a very faint aura of malevolence, so thin that it was almost negligible.
But even this seemingly insignificant trace of malevolent energy accumulated more and more as the number of people infected with the disease increased.
We must not only find a way to get rid of the rat demon's poison as soon as possible, but also deal with these evil energies.
If these malevolent energies are allowed to continue to expand, the entire capital city will be affected.
Inauspicious energy not only affects people's health, but also their emotions, making them irritable and violent.
If we want to bring the epidemic under control quickly, we must first find the Rat Demon. Only the Rat Demon's inner core can quickly eliminate the effects of these evil energies and toxins.