If I were born again, I would marry a strong but short-lived husband.

Chapter 486: More Serious Than He Imagined

The situation in Hexi was far more serious than Fu Jinyuan knew.

On the way, they met many refugees. Some of these refugees wanted to go north, and some wanted to go south, but they were all stopped by other cities.

They were afraid that they had infectious malaria and would infect others after entering the city.

Fu Jinyuan arrived in Hexi as quickly as possible, only to find out that the flood sweeping across Hexi was a once-in-a-century event.

The muddy flood carried away the carcasses of livestock and broken roof beams, turning the world into purgatory.

Dark red rashes spread among the victims, and coughing sounds were heard one after another.

"Your Highness! Seventeen more bodies were carried out from the shanties on West Street!" The voice of the captain of the guards, Chen Feng, was shattered outside the oilcloth tent by the heavy rain.

Fu Jinyuan clenched the map tightly with his muddy fingers.

This was his third day in Hexi.

The stench fermented in the humid air, mixed with the bitter scent of burning wormwood.

Through the makeshift cowhide tent, one could see swollen corpses of livestock floating in the muddy water, and a pale swaddling cloth stuck between the crooked beams, like a pear blossom blown down by wind and rain.

"Take me to see it." The corner of the black robe with golden python pattern swept across the medicinal residue on the ground, and the golden dragon pendant on the waist made a clear sound.

Twenty black-armored guards pressed down the hilts of their swords in unison. The friction of the iron scared away the crows that were pecking at the carrion.

In a newly dug pit at the mass grave in the south of the city, more than a dozen corpses overlapped to form a strange arc.

The old woman at the top remained curled up, with moss filling the cracks between her fingernails and dark red rashes crawling on her festering neck.

Zhou Zhou and the imperial doctors were sweating profusely as they worked hard. They covered their mouths and noses with scarves. "It was an epidemic. He had a high fever for three days and vomited black blood and died."

Fu Jinyuan suddenly remembered the day he left Beijing, when Fu Jinyi was standing on the Danbi with a look of sorrow and worry on his face.

The morning light at 12:30 a.m. shines through the eaves of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, casting fine shadows on the twelve-chapter patterns on the Nine-Dragon Robe.

"Brother, if you leave this time, the entire court will depend on you for the lives of 100,000 people in Hexi. I don't care about others, you must come back safely."

Fu Jinyuan closed his eyes and swung the token in his hand in a sharp arc.

"Order that all patients be moved to the City God Temple for isolation, and that my seal be used to transfer Atractylodes lancea and Angelica dahurica to Linzhou. All corpses must be cremated before midnight tonight.

All the guards responded loudly.

The rain suddenly became heavy, and Yu Bai's hand, which was about to hold an umbrella for him, froze in mid-air.

The young prince walked straight into the streets where the mud was up to his ankles, and his black soap boots crushed the broken moonlight in the puddles.

A child huddled under a broken wall suddenly coughed violently, and the blood foam splashed onto his cuffs embroidered with cloud and thunder patterns.

"How many days can the food in the granary last?" Fu Jinyuan asked in a deep voice.

The governor of Hexi behind him stood with his fat body, Supa covered his mouth and nose, and made an unclear sound, "With the food sent by the prince, we can still hold on for another half a month."

Fu Jinyuan paused, eyes full of anger and disbelief. "The court has allocated disaster relief grain three times in a row. How could it only last half a month? In a county as big as Hexi, is the grain in the granary gone so quickly?"

The governor of Hexi looked embarrassed. "Your Highness, I took over as governor of Hexi half a year ago. At that time, I personally checked the granary. The grain reserves were sufficient and fresh. When the flood started, I opened the granary. Who would have known that within a few days, the grain in the granary was eaten up, and most of the grain below was... moldy."

"Mold?" Fu Jinyuan's face was gloomy. "Why didn't you report it to the court at this time?"

"It was reported. We reported it urgently a month ago." The Hexi prefect shouted.

It was really unfair to him. He was born fat and his hair was falling out in clumps due to worry. After eating porridge for a month, he didn't lose a single pound. Moreover, he got fatter because of the greater stress he was under.

If he hadn't been busy here every day, the people would think that all the delicious food went into his stomach.

Fu Jinyuan's face became increasingly gloomy. He was very sure that the cabinet had not received the urgent report sent by Hexi.

After so many years, who knows how much silver has been embezzled from the granaries in Hexi.

Fu Jinyuan took a deep breath. He finally understood why the imperial envoy sent by the court had been unable to solve the problem here.

In addition to the disaster caused by the flood, I am afraid there are still many things that need to be carefully investigated.

"What about the grain merchants in Hexi? Don't they have any grain?" Fu Jinyuan asked.

"Not only are those grain merchants unwilling to release the grain, they are even raising the price. I have already approached them, but...the backers behind them are too powerful, so I am really powerless to do anything."

"Wuyang, tell those grain merchants that if they don't see the rice carts by noon tomorrow, I will burn their ancestral homes for firewood." Fu Jinyuan gave the order coldly.

"Yes." Wu Yang took the order and left.

Fu Jinyuan: "Prefect Chen, you go down first."

He also saw in the past few days that the prefect Chen was really working hard. He drank several bowls of medicine every day to prevent infection, and his official robe was wet and dry, dry and wet again.

When the third watch drum sounded, the flames rising from the east of the city dyed half the sky red. The smell of burnt flesh floated in the thick smoke, and twenty iron pots were boiling medicine.

Gao Jian hurriedly passed through the swirling steam, with a waist badge covered with husks lying in his palm.

It was turned out from the moldy rice pile at the bottom of the granary.

From afar came the hoarse sound of the night watchman's clappers, mixed with the intermittent groans of the patients, like some ancient and sad requiem.

"Your Highness, look at this badge. Does it look familiar to you?" Gao Jian handed over the badge with both hands.

Fu Jinyuan's eyes were cold as he stared at the badge.

The clear word "Ruan" on it almost hurt his eyes.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Ruan..."

"Send the badge to Prime Minister Ruan immediately and ask him to investigate the matter thoroughly." Fu Jinyuan said in a deep voice.

Gao Jian was slightly stunned. If he just gave the badge to Prime Minister Ruan like this, wouldn't that be alerting the enemy?

Fu Jinyuan said, "I believe in Prime Minister Ruan."

"I will arrange for someone to send him back to the royal capital right away." Gao Jian said.

Their Zhenfu Division has a special secret line that can deliver the badge to Prime Minister Ruan as quickly as possible.

"Your Highness, you haven't slept much these days. You should have a good rest." Zhou Zhou brought in the medicine and placed it on the table.

Fu Jinyuan's eyes were bloodshot. "Doctor Zhou, how long will it take to control the disease?"

"This disease is unprecedented. We need to keep trying medicines until we find the most effective prescription." Zhou Zhou whispered.

"The current prescriptions can only delay the disease, but cannot completely cure it."

Fu Jinyuan nodded gently, "Thank you for your hard work, Doctor Zhou."

Zhou Zhou said, "Then Your Majesty, please take care of yourself and don't add to my burden. I promised the princess that I would let you return to the capital safely."

"Okay, I understand." Fu Jinyuan took the medicine and drank it all.

He frowned and thought for a moment, "The prescription for this medicine has been changed again."

"Yes." Zhou Zhou nodded, "Your Majesty, it's time to rest. Let's continue working in the morning."

"Doctor Zhou, take care of yourself too." Fu Jinyuan did not force himself.

No matter how strong his body is, it is not made of iron, and he can easily be infected with the disease when he is exhausted.

……

Although Yongning agreed to meet Yao Xinling, she was still ill and looked sick. She didn't want to see anyone from Yong Dynasty, so Shen Suian did not bring Yao Xinling into the palace immediately.

Yao Xinling was not in a hurry now. Since Princess Yongning agreed to see her, there was no harm in waiting a few more days.

She began to travel around the royal capital every day and never got tired of it.

Shen Sui'an went to Mrs. Zhong's new house for a banquet.

The Zhong family left General Mu's mansion and set up their own business, and the nobles in the royal capital all took a wait-and-see attitude.

No one wants to offend General Mu.

So when they received the invitation from the Zhong family, they hesitated again.

It was obvious that Mu Chengtian didn't want to divorce, and he went to Zhong's door every day to ask her to come back. If they went to the appointment, who knew what Mu Chengtian would think.

But the Princess Regent went to the banquet.

When did Mrs. Zhong become so close to the Princess Regent?

"Haven't you heard that when the Mu family hosted a banquet for the Regent and his wife, the daughter of the Mu family's eldest wife rushed into the Regent's arms. Do you think the princess could swallow this?"

"Now that Madam Mu and General Mu have fallen out, the princess is of course happy to see it happen."

"Shall we go to the banquet?"

"Go! Of course I have to go!"

Originally, Mrs. Zhong did not have high expectations for the first banquet in her new house. She anticipated that many people would be afraid of Mu Chengtian and would not dare to attend the banquet.

Unexpectedly, after Shen Sui'an arrived, more and more people came to the banquet.

When the guests arrived at the Zhong family's house, they found that in addition to Shen Suian, who was already there, the two ladies of the Ruan family and the two sons of the Zhong family were also there.

Everyone knows that the Mu Zhifeng brothers are now highly valued by the emperor and have long been transferred from the Mu family army to the three major camps. Their future achievements may not be inferior to those of General Mu.

The whole banquet soon became lively.

Zhong couldn't help but drink a few more glasses of wine happily.

"Princess, thank you so much for your kindness. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to take this step." Zhong said gratefully.

"Madam, you are too kind. I didn't do anything." Shen Sui'an said.

Zhong laughed, picked up the wine glass and clinked it with Shen Sui'an, "Today is the national mourning period, wouldn't the princess like to have a drink?"

"I'm not feeling well today, so I won't drink. I'll drink with you next time." Shen Sui'an said with a smile.

"When I really divorce you, I will get drunk for three days and three nights," said Mrs. Zhong.

When she found out that Mu Chengtian was having an affair with his widowed sister-in-law and even came up with the good name of "joint succession" to cover up their disgusting affair, she really wanted to divorce him immediately.

She felt sick and uncomfortable every day she was with that man.

Now I finally feel refreshed.

She slept very well every day after moving out of the Mu family.

"Princess, after we disperse, please stay for a moment. I have something to tell you." Zhong whispered.

Shen Suian lowered his eyes and responded.

"Madam, the general is here. We stopped him outside the Chuihua Gate, and he injured our servant." The maid came in hurriedly and reported in a low voice.

Zhong's face suddenly darkened.

Without disturbing anyone at the banquet, she immediately went to the Chuihua Gate with her maid.

Mu Chengtian was stopped by Zhong's maids, all of whom were skilled in martial arts.

"Stop!" Zhong shouted at Mu Chengtian.

She came up to him with a cold face and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"Madam, I have already sent away the mother and son of the eldest wife. I will never have anything to do with them again. Please come back with me." Mu Chengtian wanted to reach out and hold her.

Zhong suppressed her nausea and waved him away, "Mu Chengtian, if you can revive my daughter who died before she was born, I will go back with you."

Mu Chengtian's face changed slightly, "Why don't you let it go? It's been so many years. I was also heartbroken when you had a miscarriage."

"Why are you so heartbroken? You turned around and happily hugged your daughter, who was born out of wedlock, and raised her like a treasure." Mrs. Zhong sneered.

Even though she had decided to divorce him, she still couldn't help feeling resentful whenever she thought of her daughter who had miscarried.

Mu Chengtian blurted out, "You were only pregnant for a few months at that time, and you didn't even know if you could give birth to the baby. You..."

Snapped--

The slap landed heavily on Mu Chengtian's face.

"roll!"

Guilt flashed in Mu Chengtian's eyes, "I said the wrong thing, Madam, we..."

"Bring me my sword." Zhong ordered coldly.

"Madam, this is for you." Shen Suian came at some point and personally handed the sword to Zhong.

"If General Mu does not agree to the divorce today, I will go to the palace to ask the emperor for you." Shen Suian said calmly.

Mu Chengtian glared at Shen Sui'an and said, "Princess Regent, it is better to demolish a temple than to ruin a marriage. What you are doing is not fair."

"No matter how unkind I am, I am still more humane than you." Shen Suian sneered.

"That's right, what kind of person is this? He doesn't feel sorry for his wife losing her daughter, but he actually says such a cruel thing."

"ungrateful."

"Why keep a man like this if you don't want to divorce him?"

"..."

Mu Chengtian looked at the ladies inside the Chuihua Gate in surprise, only to find that everything he had just said had been heard.

His face turned blue and white.

I have never been so embarrassed.

Zhong's eyes were slightly red, and she drew her sword. "Mu Chengtian, I really want to kill you. Why didn't you die?"

"Don't ever dirty my place again."

"Madam..." Mu Chengtian stepped forward and apologized.

Zhong stabbed his chest with a sword and shouted angrily, "Get out of here!"

Mu Chengtian looked at Zhong in disbelief. They were a young couple and they worked together seamlessly on the battlefield. He could trust his back to her; she was the person he trusted the most.

He never expected that one day the person who would stab the sword into his chest would be her.

"Mother!" Mu Zhifeng spoke hurriedly.

Mrs. Zhong took a deep look at her son and said to Mu Chengtian sarcastically, "I will avoid your vital points, so you won't die."

"Mu Chengtian, don't force me to really break up with you. I can do anything."

"Do you really want to divorce me..." Mu Chengtian said in a daze.

He had always thought that she just wanted to be angry with him and force him to kick out the people from the first house.

"That's right. It's disgusting to spend a whole day with someone like you." Zhong said coldly.

Mu Chengtian looked at his two sons, "Why are you here today? Are you also going to condone your mother to divorce me?"

"Father, mother has endured for so many years." Mu Zhifeng whispered

"Okay, let's divorce, let's divorce!" Mu Chengtian nodded slightly.

Mu Zhifeng turned to Mrs. Zhong and said, "Mother, I will send father back first, and you can continue the banquet."