Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 114 You Die and I Will Not Live Alone

The rapid sound of horse hooves was very noticeable at this time.

If someone came out of the city and ran in such a hurry, it must be that Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone here to convey something, right?

With this thought in his mind, Zhang Yifan turned around and looked.

It turned out that it was okay not to look at it, but when he looked at it, he was suddenly a little surprised.

I saw five horses running in a hurry. The leader was none other than Zhang Yifan's daughter-in-law, Princess Zhu Jingjing of Lin'an.

So he quickly reined in his horse, turned around, and waited for his wife to come over.

Others were also a little stunned, wondering what the princess was chasing after?
As they approached, a group of officials and eunuchs paid tribute to the princess one after another. Zhang Yifan asked, "What are you doing here?"

Zhu Jingjing only had Zhang Yifan in her eyes, so she drove her horse side by side with Zhang Yifan, and then answered him: "I want to accompany you!"

"No, I'm going to arrange vaccination with cowpox. What are you doing here?" Zhang Yifan asked a little puzzled after hearing this.

The eunuch, to be precise, was a eunuch with a position, that is, a eunuch named Zhao An. Hearing what Zhu Jingjing said, he immediately said worriedly: "Your Highness, it is a smallpox plague. It is not a joke. Others hide It’s too late, why did you come over on your own initiative?”

Zhu Jingjing recognized him. When she heard his words, she turned to look at him, then looked at Zhang Yifan and said seriously: "It's because this is a smallpox plague, so I have to stay with you!"

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan was about to say something, but Zhu Jingjing had already added a little faster: "You don't have to persuade me. You said that vaccination with cowpox is safe. Others don't believe it, but I definitely believe you. So, What does it matter if I come? Besides, if others see me coming, it will be fine. Wouldn’t it give them more confidence, don’t you think?”

Zhang Yifan listened to her words and saw that although she didn't look worried, Qiu Ju and several others who were following her had obviously worried looks on their faces.

When he was about to speak, he heard Zhu Jingjing continue to say: "Even if there is any problem, I am still willing to be with you. We will live together, and I will not live alone if you die!"

What she said was categorical and unquestionable.

Looking at her clear eyes, Zhang Yifan couldn't help but feel a little moved.

Ancient people were absolutely afraid of plagues that they didn't understand.Zhu Jingjing was naturally no exception. She must be afraid of smallpox.

However, she believed in herself unconditionally. To be more precise, she was actually worried that she was in danger, so she had to stay with her.

Life is life together, death is death together!
Thinking of this, Zhang Yifan couldn't help but reached out and held Zhu Jingjing's hand. With a little touch, he smiled and said to her: "Okay, let's go there together. When we are done with this, I will cook for you and cook for you." Would you like some braised chicken? It’s delicious, I think you’ll like it!”

When Zhu Jingjing heard this, she immediately showed a sweet smile, looked at Zhang Yifan and said, "Okay, but you are the consort, so it's not good for you to cook by yourself, right?"

"What's there?" Zhang Yifan held her hand and drove the horse forward while saying, "I'm telling you, you have to make delicious food yourself, so that you can make delicious food that best suits your taste. ."

"It seems to make sense. How about, husband, let me do something for you?"

"..."

Looking at the backs of the consort and the princess, listening to them talking about delicious food, for some reason, the people behind them, including the imperial doctor, Zhao An, Qiu Ju and others, suddenly felt at ease.

Although Zhang Yifan and Zhu Jingjing didn't say a word to them from beginning to end, they just relaxed.Even if Zhang Yifan had explained it to them before, the effect of reassuring them was not as good as it was now.

Not only them, but also those who watched the movement from a distance, saw Princess Lin'an chasing after her, and the son-in-law even asked Princess Lin'an to go to the place of martial law together.Immediately, they became a sensation.

"Did you see that Princess Lin'an is here, and the prince-in-law asked her to come with him? What does this mean? It means that smallpox can really be cured!"

"Yes, yes, I think so too. If there is danger, how could the consort let the princess go with him?"

"Don't talk about the princess. If there is really danger, the consort will not go there!"

"That's right, that's the truth. Haha, it seems like you don't have to worry about smallpox anymore!"

"Yes, this is great news. How about we go have a drink?"

"It's worth celebrating, it's definitely worth celebrating, let's go!"

"..."

After these people returned to the city, the news immediately began to spread in the city.Suddenly, everyone's confidence increased greatly.

Zhu Jingjing's visit made the common people feel more at ease than worshiping Buddha and seeking Taoism.

Zhu Yuanzhang also received the news quickly. After being stunned for a moment, he shook his head, and then smiled happily, wondering whether he should prepare.

On Zhang Yifan's side, after arriving at the smallpox camp, the sergeants on guard also relaxed.

He took his wife and the group of people behind him directly and broke into the lonely big tent in the center.

There were two cows and a little boy inside.As soon as Zhang Yifan and others entered, even though the tent was very large, it suddenly seemed crowded.

The little boy, who was probably about ten years old, was obviously frightened when he saw so many people entering, and he immediately hid behind the cow.

When Zhang Yifan saw it, he smiled and said: "Little brother, don't be afraid, things here will be over soon, and you can collect the reward and go home!"

He naturally knew that this little boy was herding the cows infected with smallpox, so he brought them to the capital with him.No one else dared to serve the smallpox-infected cow, so the little boy took care of it all the way.

The other cow, from the capital, was originally healthy. After the two cows were allowed to live together, they were also infected with smallpox, and they were both cared for by the little boy.

Seeing that Zhang Yifan was just a big brother at his age and spoke in an amiable manner, he talked to him with a smile.

The little boy came out from behind the cow and knelt down to kowtow to Zhang Yifan.

Zhang Yifan saw him and quickly stepped forward to help him.

Unexpectedly, a reminder came from behind: "No..."

Zhang Yifan ignored the group of people behind him, squatted down, helped the little boy up and started asking questions.

The main purpose was to ask the little boy if he had ever been infected with smallpox. If nothing else happened, he would definitely be infected.

Maybe he was really different from others. The little boy started from asking a question and squeezing a little toothpaste out of the answer, and slowly started talking more and more.

Zhu Jingjing saw it from behind and walked over.

When other people saw this scene, they felt even more relieved: It must be okay, otherwise the prince-in-law would not be like this!

However, the question arises, how did the prince consort know that smallpox in cattle would not be fatal to humans?

Zhang Yifan didn't care what they thought. After the boy verified the situation, he began to order the imperial doctor to prepare to vaccinate the condemned prisoners.

At this point, seeing that they were still quite nervous, he said to them: "Smallpox can only be spread by close contact, and it can also be spread by bites from mosquitoes and the like. The spread rate is not high, so don't worry. And This is cowpox, which is weakly virulent, so it doesn’t matter. You see, there are actually examples. This little boy has already had it. His symptoms were just fever, and he is now completely cured."

The imperial doctors looked at the consort, then at the princess, then at the little boy, and then thinking about the emperor's instructions, they finally calmed down and started to make preparations according to Zhang Yifan's instructions.

Others went to the tent next door to bring the death row prisoners over.

Zhang Yifan saw that these death row prisoners were not vicious, but rather polite and well-educated, and they clearly looked like scholars, so he knew that these people were probably officials in the past.Unfortunately, he met his official nemesis, Emperor Hongwu.

After asking about the situation, he was a little surprised.Unexpectedly, among these death row prisoners, there was one whose name he had heard of.It was Ye Boju who stupidly wrote a letter criticizing the vassal system.

It seems that when the butterfly wings flap, a lot of changes occur.At least in this dimension, this Ye Boju doesn't have to starve to death in prison!

He was not one of those corrupt officials, but his political consciousness was not high enough to warrant the death penalty. Now, because he participated in vaccination with cowpox, according to Zhu Yuanzhang's decree, he was deemed to have been executed once and could go home afterward.

This is also a good thing!

Then, the vaccination work began.It is to use the abscesses on the cows, or squeeze them into the nostrils, or cut the arms, paint those abscesses, etc. Anyway, several methods are used together to ensure that the cowpox can be infected.

During this process, Zhang Yifan kept staring.

Because he knew that during the promotion of cowpox in the late Manchu Dynasty, there was an example of using milk as cowpox vaccination. As a result, the body's immunity to smallpox was not activated, and he died of smallpox, which led to the vaccination of cowpox being abandoned.

The first step is to vaccinate these death row inmates, which won't take much time.

However, now that these people have come in, they cannot go out again.Even Zhang Yifan and Zhu Jingjing can't go out.

Fortunately, preparations had been made here. There was a tent specially prepared for the Prince Consort, with a camp bed inside.

I have to say that living in a tent is definitely not as comfortable as living in your own home.Fortunately, Zhang Yifan happened to be forced to stay in the military camp for several days by Zhu Di. Now he lives in a tent and sleeps on a camp bed, so he doesn't feel too uncomfortable.

Especially since Zhu Jingjing was accompanying him, it didn't matter anymore, just treat it as a camping trip in the wild.

In the next few days, the death row inmates were cared for by imperial doctors after their vaccinations. As for Zhang Yifan, he had people bring the ingredients, built a fire in the camp, and cooked braised chicken for Zhu Jingjing on the spot.

The prince-in-law started making chicken, which naturally aroused everyone's interest.Especially after the fragrance wafted away, it caused a lot of swallowing sounds.

So Zhang Yifan just kept cooking and made a lot of chicken stew. Everyone in the camp, including the little boy, the entourage, and even the sergeants and prisoners on death row, were given chicken to eat.

Under his influence, the tense and worrying atmosphere in the smallpox camp was basically gone.

(End of this chapter)