"Plague?!" Guo Zhiyuan and Liu Guangxian exclaimed at the same time. In this era, plague is definitely a noun that scares everyone. Later generations summarized that there were three objective factors in the demise of the Ming Dynasty: one war, two disasters, and three plagues. However, if it is about the degree of fear, the order will be reversed, because once the plague breaks out, more people may die than wars and famines. For the government, the importance of plague is higher than that of famines and famines, because wars and famines are the main victims of ordinary people.

Those who are familiar with the common people, those who are starved to death by famine are the common people. The dignitaries will definitely not starve to death. In the case of war, the dignitaries and nobles are well-informed and have many ways to avoid disasters in advance. However, this plague is a commoner or a dignitary. As long as you are infected, it will be over. Moreover, the plague is invisible and does not know if it is infected. It is often too late to treat it after discovering it. In addition, the plague is usually extremely contagious, spreads very quickly, and has great destructive power, so the government cannot ignore it.

But in fact, even if the government attaches great importance to it, there is no effective means of prevention and control for the plague. Sometimes it can only watch the plague rage. Because the plague is sudden and violent, once it breaks out, it will cause a large number of people to die, and the corpses are everywhere, and the wails are endless. Historical records record that in the sixth year of Jingtai, plagues occurred in Nanjing and other places. "The dead are connected to each other, and the living are crying for the market. There are many abandoned families and bankruptcy; there are also many sellers of wives and children, and there are still people who sell their wives and children." This is not serious. In the 33rd year of Jiajing (1554), a plague occurred in Beijing. Gong Zhong'an, an at that time, once described the tragic situation when the plague occurred in the book: "The epidemic was too much, and the death was blocked, and the villagers died innocently. There were corpses and bones everywhere, and there were no grains in every family." The tragic scene was terrifying!

You should know that the medical level in this era is very low, and it is not like modern times that there are antibiotics, vaccines, etc. People's physical resistance is relatively weak, so people's life span is relatively short. When encountering plagues, they can basically leave their fate. Moreover, people in this era are more afraid of plagues than floods and beasts. Naturally, no one is willing to study ways to prevent and control plagues. Their understanding of plagues is very limited. All severely contagious diseases are classified as plagues. For example, a cold that may be very common to modern people may turn into a plague that will die in the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, it is often the time to test the courage and administrative efficiency of local executives. When encountering those unscrupulous and fearful corrupt officials, they may run away first, regardless of the lives of the people. When encountering such mediocre officials who are in corpses and eat in vain, they may have been scared and at a loss. They can do nothing but hide in the official residence and pray to God and Buddha.

Of course, Guo Zhiyuan is not such a mediocre official, so although he was shocked when he heard the news, he was very calm and waved to Shen Lingyu and said, "Let's go and have a look..."

Shen Lingyu hesitated and said, "Young Master, if it is really a plague, I'm afraid I will be unable to cure the disease for a while. This disease is highly contagious. You are a daughter-in-law and should not take risks with your body. It's better to stay in the county government office. Just tell me what to do..."

Guo Zhiyuan waved his hand and said in an unquestionable tone: "If I don't come to the scene to understand the situation in person, how do I know how to deal with it? And if it is really a plague, the people will be panicked. As the magistrate of Gutian County, if I hide in this county government, the people will be even more panicked, and the situation will be even more difficult to control. You don't need to say that since you can get along with the patients without fear, why can't I?!..."

Liu Guangxian, who was standing beside him, looked at Guo Zhiyuan with admiration and suddenly said, "I will go together..."

Guo Zhiyuan was stunned when he heard this and quickly advised: "Sir, you shouldn't go. Do you still have official duties to deal with? While the plague has not spread yet, please leave quickly!"

Liu Guangxian glared at Guo Zhiyuan and said unhappily: "As the inspector's censor, understanding the people's sentiment is a responsibility for the people. Now a plague may occur in Gutian. How can I leave? You can go, why can't I?!"

Through this period of time, Guo Zhiyuan is already very familiar with Liu Guangxian's temper. He knew that he would never leave at this time, so he had to smile bitterly and said, "Okay, let's go together, if you have an adult in charge, the subordinates will be more at ease..."

Following Chen Lingyu to the clinic, he heard violent coughs coming from inside outside. After entering the clinic, Guo Zhiyuan was also shocked. When he built the clinic, Guo Zhiyuan planned to provide free medical treatment to the people of Gutian as a benefit, so the scale of the construction was really not small. He built a large courtyard with four entrances in front and back, with dozens of wards. Now not only are the dozens of wards all filled, but the corridors are also filled with patients. There are not enough beds, and some of them simply lay a straw mat to sleep on the ground. Judging from the situation, there are hundreds of people, and the situation is far worse than Guo Zhiyuan imagined!

The patients were also shocked when they saw Guo Zhiyuan coming. You should know that although they had not been diagnosed with what disease they had, the contagiousness of the disease had been basically confirmed. Neighbors all hid when they saw them. Even some of the families of patients were very disgusted with them, and threw them to the clinic and ran away. As the county magistrate, Guo Zhiyuan came to visit them in person regardless of the risk of possible infection, which shocked and moved them. They struggled to get up from the hospital bed and straw mat to salute Guo Zhiyuan.

Guo Zhiyuan quickly waved his hand and said loudly: "Don't do this with all the villagers. Just keep your care and care. Doctor Shen is skilled in medical skills and will definitely cure your illnesses!"

Those patients were worried that they would not be cured by the plague, but they were a little desperate and were in a very depressed mood. Seeing that Guo Zhiyuan came to visit them in person regardless of his own safety, they shed tears of emotion and calmed down a lot.

To calm the patient's emotions, Guo Zhiyuan quickly pulled Chen Lingyu aside and lowered his voice and said, "Doctor Chen, this is not possible. Although I don't understand medical skills, since this disease is extremely contagious and has made so many patients crowd together, isn't it even more serious?..."

Chen Lingyu said bitterly: "I can't do anything about it. The clinic is only so big. I can't keep the patients out!"
Chapter completed!