indianbanksassociation Chapter 222
Chapter 222
Zhao Chengyu, who had been tormented to his last breath, sat up in shock from his deathbed upon hearing Ye Chutang's words.
"Murdering a prince is a capital offense!"
Ye Chutang kicked Zhao Chengyu to the ground, stepping on his face with the dirty sole of her shoe and grinding it down.
"For your own selfish desires, you wanted to wipe out an entire city of civilians. Your death is not to be pitied!"
Feeling both humiliated and in immense pain, Zhao Chengyu struggled desperately.
"Let go of me! I don't understand what you're talking about!"
"Once you contract the plague and reap what you have sown, you will understand."
After Ye Chutang finished speaking, she kicked Zhao Chengyu to the feet of the Defender Army.
"Take him away. Keep him in each cellar for a quarter of an hour."
"Yes, Madam Qi!"
The Defender Army hauled Zhao Chengyu up, casually yanked out the arrows stuck in his body, and dragged him toward the cellars.
Knowing how terrifying the plague was, Zhao Chengyu struggled like a madman.
"I am a prince! You cannot treat me like this!"
"Let go! Release me! Otherwise, I will execute your entire nine generations!"
"If I die, Imperial Father will have a legitimate reason to annihilate the Qi family!"
"Please, I beg you, spare me! I was wrong, I won't dare do it again!"
It only took a dozen steps to go from an arrogant prince to a lowly prisoner.
Yet no one was moved. They watched coldly as the Defender Army dragged the battered and bruised Zhao Chengyu into the eatery diagonally across the street.
Watching this made Zhao Meng tremble with fear. He reached out his hand to Ye Chutang.
"Hurry up and give this general the antidote for the plague, or the Northwest Garrison will flatten Dayang Town tomorrow!"
Ye Chutang narrowed her eyes, revealing coldness and displeasure.
"If you're begging for something, you should have the attitude of someone begging. I am rebellious to the core and never yield to threats."
"If it weren't for you throwing rats into our camp, we wouldn't have contracted the plague."
Qi Yanzhou kicked away Zhao Meng's hand that was reached out to Ye Chutang.
"If you want to blame someone, blame the Emperor, blame the deposed Crown Prince. They are the ones who did everything possible to bring the source of this plague here."
Looking at the back of his red and swollen hand, Zhao Meng suppressed his anger and looked at Sun Chu.
"You said that as long as I escorted you to Dayang Town, you would give me the antidote."
Sun Chu rolled his eyes with a cheeky grin.
"All is fair in war, haven't you heard?"
Zhao Meng hadn't expected Sun Chu to go back on his word. Furious, he immediately drew his saber.
Before he could even swing the blade, Ye Chutang spoke coldly.
"If you don't want your entire army wiped out, you'd better behave."
Zhao Meng forcefully shoved his saber back into its sheath and took a deep breath. "What will it take for you to give me the antidote?"
"Tomorrow, after dawn, publicly announce the truth about the plague in Dayang Town."
Last time in Liangzhou, the royal family's use of body doubles to annihilate the Qi family had already caused the commoners to detest them deeply.
Now, the royal family was going even further, ignoring the lives of the people and trying to burn down the city with a plague just to harm the Qi family. This would surely cause turmoil across the empire.
Ye Chutang had originally worried that internal chaos in the Beichen Kingdom would cause the commoners to suffer and invite neighboring countries to take advantage of their weakness, leading to the destruction of the nation.
But now, she felt that if she didn't deal a harsh blow to the royal family, the Beichen Kingdom would perish even before any foreign invasion!
Fortunately, the north was vast and sparsely populated with poor mobility, otherwise, the plague would have spread long ago.
Thinking of this, an unbearable anger surged from the bottom of Ye Chutang's heart.
To actually create a man-made disaster capable of destroying a nation, they were simply worse than beasts!
Looking at the furious Ye Chutang, Zhao Meng felt the temperature around him drop significantly.
He knew that he shouldn't refuse her demand at this moment.
But he was someone who ate imperial grain; he relied on the Ministry of Revenue to allocate military pay and rations, so he couldn't say anything detrimental to the royal family.
"I only know that the mission of the Northwest Garrison is to prevent the plague from spreading."
As for how the plague came about or whether Dayang Town would be burned to the ground, it had nothing to do with him.
Ye Chutang was already in a bad mood, and she curled her lips into a cold sneer.
"But if you don't listen to me, you will die."
Zhao Meng: "..."
He knew Ye Chutang wasn't joking, and a look of dilemma appeared on his face.
Qi Yanzhou knew what Zhao Meng was worried about and spoke up.
"I know the Bingzhou garrison belongs to the royalist faction. General Zhao won't betray the Emperor, so you can only use your life to show your loyalty."
His words made Zhao Meng truly feel the threat of death.
"If I don't send a message to my lieutenant before tomorrow morning, ten thousand garrison troops will flatten Dayang Town!"
Qi Yanzhou raised his eyebrows, not caring much. "Fine, I'll wait."
Zhao Meng knew very well that this game was a test of willpower.
Whoever was more afraid of death would lose!
He took one look at Ye Chutang and left the pharmacy.
Seeing that it was already quite late, Qi Yanzhou said to Ye Chutang, "Atang, you go rest first. Leave the rest to me."
The people of Dayang Town had all been settled.
Now they only needed to brew and deliver the medicine, and observe the condition of those infected.
Ye Chutang had been incredibly busy earlier and was indeed a bit tired.
She yawned sleepily and pulled Qi Yanzhou to a corner in the backyard of the pharmacy.
There were many people in the backyard, and it was very busy.
It was the Defender Army brewing and delivering the medicine.
They were trustworthy, so Ye Chutang spoke without any reservations.
"Azhou, regarding the plague, we must teach Eunuch De and that dog Emperor a lesson!"
Qi Yanzhou thought the exact same thing.
"Once we resolve the crisis in Dayang Town, I will send a letter to the capital to poison Eunuch De and the Emperor."
If it weren't for the fact that the plague was contagious, he would definitely make them experience it personally!
Ye Chutang and Qi Yanzhou's thoughts happened to coincide.
"I'll prepare the poison. The symptoms will be similar to the plague, and the antidote will be difficult to make. It'll be enough to make them wish they were dead for a year or two."
"Alright, once you have the medicine ready, I'll have Nan Xiao deliver it."
"Also, spread the news that the Emperor has contracted impotence, and hang Eunuch De's manhood at the city gates. If the imperial guards come to snatch it back, destroy it directly."
She wanted to completely tear away the dignity of those two dog men!
Qi Yanzhou nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll listen to you. As for the scam of cultivating the Dao to seek immortality, I will also find the truth and make Eunuch De and the Emperor bite each other like dogs!"
Hearing this, Ye Chutang felt her mood smooth out, and she grew increasingly sleepy.
"You've worked hard, husband. I'm going to rest. If there's any problem with the infected people, come find me immediately."
Qi Yanzhou grabbed Ye Chutang and pulled her into his arms.
"You are pregnant and your body is relatively weak. Will the plague take advantage of your vulnerability?"
This was what he worried about the most.
Ye Chutang buried her head in Qi Yanzhou's neck and rubbed affectionately against it.
"Don't worry, I value my life very much. I won't put myself in danger for the sake of others."
After saying that, she suddenly remembered something.
"Around the hour of Yin, wet those herbs I prepared and burn them."
The dew is heaviest at that time, and the thick smoke produced by incomplete combustion won't scatter everywhere.
Most of the medicinal smoke will gather within the town and spread into the homes of commoners with open doors and windows, effectively killing the viruses in the air.
In about five days, the plague crisis will be completely resolved.
"Alright, I will remember. Go get some rest."
Ye Chutang pushed Qi Yanzhou away gently, left the pharmacy, and went to the inn across the street.
The people of the Qi and Chen families had been settled at the inn to rest.
The Zhao and Ye families were at the fabric shop next door.
Just as she reached the entrance of the inn, Zhao Mingxu quickly stepped forward and blocked her path.
"We are all at risk of getting infected. Why won't you give us the medicine to drink?"
They were almost at Dingzhou, and he didn't want to die halfway there!
Ye Chutang looked at the furious Zhao Mingxu, who wore an expression of absolute entitlement, and held out her hand.
"Just like the hornet poisoning last time, one life costs five hundred taels."