A lazy bum transmigrates and marries a eunuch – it's awesome!

Chapter 180 Cat and Mouse

To confirm whether her guess was correct, Jiang Xinyu had someone open the coffins of the Yongshun County Magistrate and his advisor.

The lips turned black, there were bleeding spots under the eyes, and the nails turned blackish-purple.

No autopsy is needed; anyone with a little medical knowledge would know that the death was due to poisoning.

Real hammer!

It's uncertain how many of the remaining plagues were real, but at least it can be determined that someone deliberately disrupted the order of Yongshun County.

It could be Zhang Zhongyi, but we can't rule out other forces in the county taking advantage of the situation.

Regardless of who is behind it, the most important thing now is to stabilize the situation as soon as possible.

The reason why plagues are frightening is not only because they are difficult to cure, but more importantly because they are highly contagious.

In the current situation in Yongshun County, there is no time to slowly implement benevolent policies. Only by decisively eliminating all sources of infection can the remaining people be saved.

In the past, other places were overjoyed to hear that the imperial envoy had come to provide disaster relief, but in Yongshun County, so many people had died that the place was deathly gloomy.

Xiao Yuan sent people to contact the three major forces in the city. The yamen runners and local gentry were the first to surrender, while the force composed of local thugs and ruffians became the scapegoats.

The soldiers disregarded the posthumous honors bestowed upon the county magistrate and directly unveiled the white cloth in public, allowing the people to see the corpse.

I want to tell you all that the county magistrate did not die from the plague, but was poisoned by local ruffians who wanted to control the city's food supply and make a fortune from the disaster.

Furthermore, doctors explained the difference between the symptoms of death from the plague and those of poisoning. Soon, someone in the crowd cried out that their family member's lips had also turned black after death.

When Xiao Yuan heard that dozens of people had died in the city at the same time, he knew it wasn't that simple.

Zhang Zhongyi's men could indeed spread the plague, but they couldn't control when the infected people would die.

Since they need a large number of deaths in a short period of time to escalate the situation, they must be using both plague and poisoning to ensure the effect.

This explosion has indeed uncovered numerous poisoning cases, which they can use to boost the public's will to survive.

Plagues are natural disasters that cannot be avoided, and it is inevitable to feel disheartened when people are dying all around us.

But if it was poisoning, that would be a man-made disaster. Now that the group of thugs who poisoned the animals has been arrested by the Imperial Envoy, they are safe.

Now that we have food and medicine, as long as we behave, we can survive.

There was no need to report and approve the execution of these scoundrels who took advantage of the famine; Xiao Yuan simply beheaded them all at the city gate to appease the people.

This killing not only served as a deterrent but also made the unsuspecting people believe that the imperial envoy had avenged them, greatly increasing their goodwill towards him. This made it much easier to implement the policy of cremating corpses.

However, the plague here is indeed much more severe than elsewhere, resulting in a severe shortage of manpower.

Some families have all died, and their corpses rot in the house; just collecting the corpses requires a lot of human resources.

Xiao Yuan did want to transfer some people from Xuzhou, but when he thought about the several villages and counties behind, he knew that transferring people would not make much sense.

He simply sent his trusted confidant with the token to the garrison in Hexi to mobilize troops.

There are two military garrisons, one on the east and one on the west, on both banks of the Yellow River.

Unlike other war-prepared forces that require military seals and cannot be moved lightly without war, these two garrisons, due to their special geographical location, can be called both the Yellow River Navy and the disaster relief reserve forces.

In the event of a major disaster such as the Yellow River breaching its banks, imperial envoys could mobilize them to serve as disaster relief personnel.

The issue of troop deployment is too sensitive. The flood in Xuzhou only destroyed a few small areas and was far from being as serious as the Yellow River breaching its banks.

Xiao Yuan hadn't originally intended to use the troops stationed in Hexi, but after looking at the geomantic map, he knew that his small force was definitely not enough.

Given the current situation in Yongshun County, he needs to leave at least half of his people behind. There are also several villages between Yongshun and Yonghe, and he needs to leave some people behind as he passes through them.

The garrison in Hexi is not too far from here; three days is enough for a fast horse to travel there.

It's possible that Zhang Zhongyi had spies in his own troops, the garrison in Hexi, and the nearby prefectures.

It was impossible to hide the fact that he had mobilized the troops stationed in Hexi, and of course, he hadn't intended to hide it.

That's exactly what I want them to know.

Once the troops stationed in Hexi arrive, the enemy's strategy of dividing their forces will be useless. Therefore, the days before the troops arrive are the best time for the enemy to strike.

The mice hiding in the shadows are too slow; he needs to give them a push to get them moving quickly.

There's no such thing as a thousand days of guarding against thieves, only a thousand days of being a thief. He has to be on edge until the knife falls.

Even tigers sometimes doze off. He himself doesn't care, but now that his wife is here, there can be no mistakes.

When Xiao Yuan shared his thoughts with his wife, Jiang Xinyu agreed and even wondered why Xiao Yuan didn't just kill Zhang Zhongyi.

It's not like the two of them haven't been at odds for a day. Xiao Yuan may not be good at writing, but he's quite good at killing people, isn't he?

Whether they are assassins or use various underworld methods, the Eastern Depot should be more professional than the Prime Minister's Office.

In Jiang Xinyu's view, the struggle between the treacherous eunuchs of the Eastern Depot and the powerful ministers and prime ministers should be like this: today you impeach me for disregarding human life, tomorrow I will impeach you for forming cliques and engaging in corrupt practices.

You send two censors to their deaths by banging their heads against pillars to remonstrate with the emperor, and I'll secretly arrest a few of your trusted disciples and torture them into confessing.

Even if there were such a drastic measure of assassinating the enemy directly, it should have been the Eastern Depot that did it. How come it's the other way around?

Did you two pick up the scripts upside down?

Xiao Yuan found his wife's question amusing.

"It is precisely because the Eastern Depot is adept at such methods that it cannot be done."

From the Emperor to the vegetable vendors in the capital, everyone knows that Zhang Zhongyi and I are sworn enemies.

He could die of old age, illness, or be granted death by the emperor, but he could not die a violent death.

No matter who it is, they may have the power of life and death, but they cannot be without scruples.

This rule applies to everyone; even the emperor cannot kill whomever he wants.

If I were to use underworld tactics against Zhang Zhongyi, all the court officials would probably have to unite against me.

Besides, once the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked.

Even if Zhang Zhongyi dies, the emperor will not leave me with absolute power.

That old man, though hateful, is the source of funding for the Eastern Depot. Just monitoring the Prime Minister's residence and his cronies could provide over a hundred jobs.

Jiang Xinyu suddenly realized, "So you two are Tom and Jerry? That so-called 'fighting like fire and water' was half real and half an act for the Emperor?"

"What does 'Tom and Jerry' mean?"

"It's just a cat and a mouse. The cat tried to catch the mouse its whole life but never succeeded."

Later, the owner got a new cat that caught the mouse very quickly, and the cat lost its job and was kicked out.

But that's not the point. First, tell me what's going on between you two. Did you two become like brothers, mutually respectful, loving, and even antagonistic after fighting for so long?

Xiao Yuan didn't know why his wife had such strange ideas, so he pinched her cheek helplessly.

"Our philosophies are incompatible, and we can never be kindred spirits in this lifetime. He is a hypocrite, and I am a true villain. We are not on the same track."

Zhang Zhongyi belongs to the civil official group, which is directly under the emperor's command. Together with the military officials and nobles, the court is now in a four-way balance of power.

However, sometimes the arguments in court were indeed staged for the emperor's benefit, as the old emperor enjoyed watching people argue.

Not only do our two sides argue, but civil officials and military officials argue, upright officials and nobles argue, and even the princes argue.

The imperial court is becoming increasingly chaotic; everyone is living their lives behind a mask.

Jiang Xinyu was puzzled. "If that's the case, why did that old bastard go to such lengths to kill you?"

Isn't he afraid that the emperor will be wary of him?