Chapter 441
Chapter 441
“Your Highness, do you know who in this world I trust the most?”
“Zhang Chong?”
“Then do you know who is second?”
Princess Ning Jie shook her head.
“It’s Su Nan. That old man is an extraordinary person. If he hadn’t been so greedy, he truly would have achieved great things, and I would never have dared to kill him. I’m certain Su Nan wouldn’t have just handed over the fortress to Zheng Tuo so easily. He must have laid a massive trap.”
“Did Su Nan tell you that?”
Shen Lang shook his head.
“No, he did not.”
“So you’re willing to trust your own speculation, attack the Marquis of Zhenyuan’s Estate with a mere two thousand men, and face Zheng Tuo’s twenty thousand?”
“This isn’t speculation, it’s a certainty. Your Highness wouldn’t understand this feeling. How could a woman who went through menopause in her thirties possibly understand the unspoken conversations that pass between men?”
Unable to restrain herself any longer, Princess Ning Jie struck Shen Lang.
*Thud.*
Shen Lang fell to the floor. Big Dummy rushed over, flustered and unsure what to do, before finally glaring at her and saying,
“Ning Jie, don’t hit Little Dummy. If you do it again, I’ll get angry.”
The moment Princess Ning Jie looked at Big Dummy, her expression softened.
“Alright, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I won’t do it again.”
Big Dummy checked on Shen Lang, and seeing he wasn’t hurt, he stepped back. It seemed a foul mouth earned a quick fist. Shen Lang got up from the floor with a sigh.
“It seems I’ve misspoken. But even if Your Highness hasn’t gone through menopause, you certainly act like a menopausal woman.”
Princess Ning Jie clenched her fists, her killing intent flaring again, when Big Dummy's voice came from outside.
“You can’t hit Little Dummy.”
*‘Patience, patience, patience!’*
“Shen Lang, are you going or not? Are you really going to treat His Majesty’s goodwill like dirt?”
Shen Lang's expression turned serious.
“Please thank His Majesty on my behalf. As long as Zheng Tuo is not eliminated, I will never leave this place.”
“Are you saying you’ll defy the imperial edict?”
Shen Lang replied, his face serious once more.
“A general in the field is not bound by his sovereign's command!”
*‘It's not that you're not bound by it, you tossed His Majesty’s edict aside the moment you left the capital, didn’t you?’*
Princess Ning Jie said coldly, “If you're so eager to die, then do as you please. Just don't come begging me to save you when you're on your deathbed.”
Shen Lang smiled.
“This is for my own personal affairs. No matter what situation I find myself in, why would I ever ask a favor of you, Your Highness?”
Hearing this, Princess Ning Jie's gaze wavered. Shen Lang had said it lightly, but his words drove a huge wedge between them. Back during the He Wanwan incident, Princess Ning Yan had asked Ning Jie to simply say a word to stop the Blackwater Terrace from torturing Shen Lang. It was something Ning Jie could have done with a single sentence, but in the end, she refused.
Princess Ning Jie spoke, offering a small concession.
“I’m sorry. Hitting you earlier was rash of me. We are not close enough for that. In the future, if we become enemies and I die by your hand, I will not complain.”
With that, Princess Ning Jie left the barracks.
* * *
The moment Zheng Tuo saw that Princess Ning Jie had left but Shen Lang remained, he was ecstatic.
*‘Hahaha! Shen Lang, you damned fool, you didn't leave? You stayed here to court death? How ridiculous. This is perfect! You're a dead man now. Ning Yuanxian's gesture was laughable, too. He took a step back and even appointed me as the Count of Zhenyuan, but in the end, he couldn't save Shen Lang. Shen Lang treated goodwill like dirt, and now he'll face annihilation. Hahaha!’*
Zheng Tuo roared, “Are the catapults ready?”
“Yes. Thirteen catapults have been dismantled. They can be reassembled in front of the estate in two days.”
Zheng Tuo laughed loudly and said, “Good. Then in two days, we will have our final battle with Shen Lang! We'll retake the pass before the Marquis's estate, drive his army out into the open like rats, and slaughter them all at once! Hahaha! The damned fool has brought this upon himself!”
Just then, a physician from the barracks came running in to report.
“My Lord Count, it's a disaster! Smallpox has broken out in our army.”
Hearing this, Zheng Tuo was stunned. He asked in a trembling voice, “How can that be? How could there be a smallpox outbreak without a source of infection? Kill and burn all the soldiers who have it.”
Zheng Tuo assumed that at most a few dozen men were infected. He thought that by quickly killing them and quarantining anyone they had contacted, he could stop the spread.
The physician said, “My Lord Count, infected individuals have appeared in almost every barrack. If we are to contain it, we would have to quarantine the entire army!”
Hearing this, Zheng Tuo froze as if struck by lightning.
The incubation period for the smallpox virus was about ten days. In fact, there had been infected cases two days prior, but the numbers were very small, and the infected themselves mistook it for a common rash or chickenpox, so it hadn't become an issue. There were twenty thousand troops inside the fortress, and it was nearly impossible for soldiers to bathe regularly, so rashes and pox were a normal occurrence. They basically had dozens of pox-like spots appear on their bodies daily.
Yesterday, when a large-scale outbreak of pox occurred in the army, the military physicians finally took notice. The moment the physicians realized it was smallpox, they were terrified, fearing they too would be infected. However, the physicians of this army were smart enough not to spread the news publicly and reported directly to Zheng Tuo.
“How could this happen? Shen Lang… this must be that damned Shen Lang's scheme. No, not Shen Lang. It's Su Nan. Yes, it has to be Su Nan. I thought it was strange. Why he handed this fortress over to me so easily!”
Zheng Tuo felt dizzy. He had already been extremely cautious. He first sent in a death squad, then his son Zheng Long, and only entered the fortress himself after confirming there were no issues. Furthermore, he had the elderly, women, and children of the Su Clan eat all the fruit, vegetables, grain, and meat in the estate first, and also had them drink the water first. Only after watching them for two or three days and confirming they were fine did Zheng Tuo allow his own army to consume the food within the estate. Zheng Tuo had even taken precautions against smallpox. He had searched every corner of the estate but found not a single living patient with the disease.
“I was too optimistic…”
Zheng Tuo struck his own head in anguish. He should have realized when he occupied the Marquis of Zhenyuan’s Estate that Su Nan would not have given up the fortress so easily. But Zheng Tuo couldn't resist the temptation of claiming it. The Zheng Clan was a newly risen noble family and had no fiefdom or fortress of their own. How could he not seize one of the world's finest fortresses when it was right in front of him? Just as the gold of the Qiang King's palace was a temptation to Su Nan, the fortress of the Marquis of Zhenyuan was ten times more tempting to Zheng Tuo.
Of course, Zheng Tuo and Zheng Long weren't worried about catching smallpox themselves. They had been vaccinated with cowpox before and were immune, but the soldiers of the army had not been inoculated. Besides the State of Qiang and the Su Clan, no one else in the world practiced large-scale cowpox vaccination. The first reason was that the eastern nations generally had good sanitation, so even if there were cases of smallpox, large-scale outbreaks were rare. The second reason was that inoculating an entire army against smallpox wasn't something a single general could decide; it required the approval of the royal court.
The court had more important matters to discuss than a proposal to inoculate the army. Frankly, who in the Yue court would care about cowpox vaccination? They were too busy currying favor with the king and scrambling for power. Besides, smallpox outbreaks were always a problem for the State of Qiang, not the State of Yue.
*‘What do I do? What do I do?’*
Zheng Tuo's entire body went cold. It felt as if heaven had sent down an unexpected calamity.
“Can't we just quarantine them now?”
At Zheng Tuo's question, the military physician shook his head. Since there were already infected people in every barrack, it meant that everyone had likely been infected already; the virus just hadn't manifested in all of them yet. Perhaps some of them had survived smallpox before and had immunity.
“Then how many do you think will die?”
“If we were stationed in the State of Qiang, eighty to ninety percent would die. If we were at White Night Pass like before, at least seventy percent would die. But since we are in the Marquis of Zhenyuan's Estate, perhaps half might survive.”
Whether a smallpox patient lived or died was up to the heavens. The virulence of the strain was a crucial factor. The next most important thing was the medical environment. With sufficient medicine and good conditions, the mortality rate could be significantly reduced. In that sense, the environment of the Marquis of Zhenyuan's Estate was excellent.
*‘Half of them will die?’*
Zheng Tuo closed his eyes. The prognosis itself wasn't entirely bad. Moreover, the cycle from the onset of smallpox to death was very short, so perhaps learning about it now was actually good news. The outcome of the battle would be decided soon, and if he still had ten thousand troops left by then, it would be enough to defend the Marquis's estate. Ning Yuanxian wouldn't have enough time to send a large army to annihilate him in just ten-odd days.
In any case, the most urgent task now was to eliminate Shen Lang immediately. If the smallpox outbreak exploded within the fortress before Shen Lang was dead, that damned fool would surely take advantage of the chaos. Besides, once the outbreak peaked, the soldiers would be suffering from high fevers and unbearable itching all over their bodies; they wouldn't be able to fight at all.
Zheng Tuo asked the physician, “How many patients are infected with smallpox right now?”
“We've found several hundred, but the number is constantly increasing.”
“This news must not be told to anyone. Tell the soldiers it's chickenpox and a rash.”
“Yes!”
Zheng Tuo asked loudly, “Are the large catapults assembled?”
Zheng Long replied, “It will still take two more days.”
Zheng Tuo gave a cold command.
“The catapults must be assembled by tomorrow. If they can't do it, kill all the craftsmen. They're all cunning slackers.”
“Yes!”
“We only have one day left. Tomorrow, we will have our final battle with Shen Lang, and we will annihilate that damned fool's army!”