Recalling the scenes she had witnessed on the streets earlier, Su Xiaoqi felt that the prefect being stripped of his position was too lenient.
He should have experienced the suffering of being infected with the epidemic and having no medicine, and then been tortured to death.
"How is it, Physician Lu? Did you find anything?" Wang Enze had spent the day with Shen Yun at the prefect's yamen dealing with Gong Huaigui, the former prefect of Tongzhou.
They had also visited grain and medicine shops throughout the city to check their reserves.
All were zero.
Those that were looted had been looted long ago.
What remained were things that were not needed.
Now that the two of them had finished their tasks, the rest was up to the imperial physicians who were skilled in medicine.
"This is not an epidemic at all; it's a combination of heatstroke and plague," Lu Mingyang provided his answer.
He had examined the symptoms of the deceased today and also the bodies of those who were infected with the epidemic and were still alive.
He discovered that this disease was not one hundred percent fatal.
Those with good physical condition could survive.
Those with poor physical condition would die.
"Moreover, in the early stages of the illness, they generally had runny noses, sneezed, then coughed, and finally developed a fever," Su Xiaoqi added.
In modern times, these were the symptoms of the common cold.
The entire process took seven days, and those with good physical constitutions could persevere and recover.
Those with poor physical constitutions who could not persevere would require medication intervention.
However, here, because everyone was afraid at first, no one took care of the infected people, nor did anyone provide them with medicine to treat their illness.
They were allowed to die.
If they had been given some medicine when they were about to give up, they would not have died.
"But isn't the plague very serious?" Wang Enze had also heard of the severity of the plague.
"I have checked, and the plague is currently only present on the corpses; the living have not yet been infected.
However, with their weakened bodies, coupled with the lack of clean drinking water and food, it is only a matter of time before they get infected, and it must be controlled immediately."
Su Xiaoqi's expression was more serious than ever.
This matter had to be dealt with immediately, without any delay.
Otherwise, if the plague spread, it would be absolutely deadly.
Moreover, it would become more widespread, and this epidemic would not be eradicated.
Wang Enze looked at her, then at Lu Zhengyang.
He was not familiar with Su Xiaoqi, only knowing that although she dressed as a man, his sharp eyes had noticed that she was a woman.
Her appearance was too delicate; being a beauty, he would not mistake her.
Moreover, she was Shen Yun's person, and Lu Mingyang was the imperial physician sent by the emperor to help them eradicate the epidemic.
"Miss Su is right," Lu Mingyang said, stroking his beard and nodding.
After an afternoon, he was full of admiration for Su Xiaoqi.
She looked very young, but her mastery of medicine was extremely high.
Furthermore, he could vaguely see a shadow of his brother, who had been missing for over ten years, in her.
Having received Lu Mingyang's approval, Wang Enze naturally had nothing more to say and immediately asked what specifically should be done.
"Prevention first, treatment and prevention combined."
Wang Enze had reviewed many records before coming, but seeing Su Xiaoqi being so professional now, he naturally asked for clarification.
He asked her what specifically should be done.
Su Xiaoqi did not hold back now and told everyone that to cut off the source of infection, they had to cremate the corpses, bury them deep, and exterminate the rats.
Then, they had to cure the heatstroke and cold of those people.
This entire theory, interlocking and complete, even earned repeated praise from Lu Mingyang.
Shen Yun and Wang Enze were not people who adhered strictly to tradition. After weighing the matter, they nodded to each other, agreeing with Su Xiaoqi's method.
After this, Su Xiaoqi had nothing more to do; she only needed to stay at the medical clinic with Lu Mingyang to treat the sick.
Every day, they prescribed medicine, dispensed it, and brewed it.
Sometimes, when a particular herb was insufficient, they had to go to the mountains to collect it.
Fortunately, Su Xiaoqi had a spatial dimension and had stored a large amount of medicinal materials in it when she was in the capital, so she was not in a tight spot this time.
Moreover, even if some of the medicinal materials were used up, there was Yuanbao Mountain within the spatial dimension.
By merely circulating her consciousness within the dimension, she could collect large quantities of the desired herbs.
With the efforts of Su Xiaoqi and Lu Mingyang, the afflicted citizens of Tongzhou city were recovering.
Concurrently, the bodies of those who had died in the city had also been properly disposed of.
However, the task of exterminating the rats encountered a bottleneck.
Although the rats looked unsightly, each and every one of them seemed to have become cunning.
Moreover, having tasted blood, they were now greatly fearful of humans and even dared to attack them.
"When ants bite, they can kill an elephant." One straggler was bitten by a rat and disfigured.
He was rescued with one breath left, but after a while, he passed away.
Su Xiaoqi was stunned when she heard this. She had expected severe rat infestation during such a natural disaster, but she had not expected these beasts to become so audacious.
After all, rats generally did not attack humans proactively.
"The corpses were cleared, and the rats had no food to feast on, which is why they became like this," Shen Yun explained.
Su Xiaoqi nodded, realizing that the problem had become very serious.
They could no longer rely on manual catching or driving them away.
She recalled a story about rat extermination she had heard about in the experimental fields.
After the harvest in the experimental fields, many rats would appear.
At this time, people would find ways to exterminate the rats.
In modern times, it was easy; there were rat glue boards.
They had attractants on them that could draw rats from within fifty meters, causing them to stick to the glue boards.
At that time, Su Xiaoqi was very curious and had even researched the composition of the attractants on the rat glue boards with her classmates.
She had made some herself and used them.
The effect was also good.
At this moment, she pondered for a moment and said, "I will go and prepare some medicine."
Two days later, Su Xiaoqi prepared a batch of medicine specifically for rat extermination.
This medicine was based on the principle of modern rat glue boards.
It first emitted the smell of food that rats liked, luring them over to consume the medicine, and after a short period, they would die from poisoning.
After Su Xiaoqi explained the principle, Wang Enze immediately took it and put it to use.
That evening, Shen Yun returned and said the agent was very effective and had already been deployed in the streets and alleys of Tongzhou.
He believed that it would not be long before all the rats in the city were exterminated.
Indeed, three days later, when Su Xiaoqi walked out of the medical clinic, she saw that the streets were clean.
The previously piled-up corpses had been disposed of, and the swarms of rats that used to cross the streets were gone.
After half a month, the problems in Tongzhou were basically cleared.
Shen Yun, Wang Enze, Su Xiaoqi, and Lu Mingyang became the great contributors of Tongzhou.
The first battle was a victory.
As they were leaving, the officials of the prefectural government and the common people were deeply moved and came forward to voluntarily kneel and express their gratitude.
Especially Su Xiaoqi, who often went in and out of the streets and alleys, giving medical treatment and dispensing medicine to them.
Not only did she cure their epidemic, but she also treated other ailments if she discovered them, giving away medicine for free and charging nothing.
"Truly a living Bodhisattva, a living Bodhisattva." Everyone surrounded Su Xiaoqi, with tears in their eyes, reluctant to let her leave.
Su Xiaoqi was also touched by the sincerity of the people.
They had clearly experienced one natural disaster after another: drought, epidemic, and rat infestation.
But hardship and pain had not defeated them; they still harbored gratitude, were still vibrant, and were still full of confidence in life.
Su Xiaoqi said, "I am in the capital, not far away. If you need anything, come and find me."
"Where can we find you?" someone asked.
Lu Mingyang chuckled and suddenly said, "The Scholar's Mansion. This lady is the wife of the new top scholar."
Su Xiaoqi looked at Lu Mingyang with some surprise, thinking how he had revealed her identity.
"Physician Lu is looking out for us. If your background were not revealed, they probably wouldn't let you and me leave," Shen Yun said with a hint of jealousy.
Having fought here for more than ten days, his wife had endured much hardship and had won over the hearts of the people more than he had.
He had never known that his wife, besides doing business, possessed such a formidable side.
Wang Enze looked at Su Xiaoqi with a thoughtful expression.