plague

Just as Gao Yuan was making a fortune, the tragic Battle of Phnom Penh finally approached its end.

After suffering over 70,000 casualties and even losing more than fifty elephants, the toungoo people finally stood atop the blood-stained walls of Phnom Penh and secured their position.

However, the Khmer did not give up; they organized forces, even releasing prisoners from jail and arming them to engage the toungoo people in street fighting.

Leveraging their familiarity with Phnom Penh, Khmer soldiers ambushed and assassinated the Toungoo from every conceivable hiding spot.

Maha Bandula initially thought that once they scaled the walls and opened the gates, everything would be fine, but he never expected to be met with even more brutal street fighting.

On the first day of street fighting, Toungoo casualties exceeded 2,000, causing Maha Bandula great distress.

To motivate the troops, he even made a promise:

"Once we occupy Phnom Penh, there will be no restriction on weapons for three days; except for the royal palace, soldiers may take whatever they wish from anywhere else."

What pained him even more was that the massive accumulation of corpses and the sweltering tropical weather eventually led to an inevitable problem—a plague.

The terrifying plague quickly swept through the city of over 100,000 residents and tens of thousands of soldiers.

Disease and death hung over everyone like a dark cloud; Maha Bandula even considered voluntarily withdrawing from the city because over 2,000 people had died from the plague in just one month.

The gates of Phnom Penh were thrown wide open, and the Common People began to flee in panic, while the Toungoo soldiers didn't dare to stop them.

These refugees died in large numbers along the roadsides due to the illness, but a significant number still managed to flee to Kampong Thom, a piece of land that Gao Yuan had just occupied.

"My Lord, something terrible has happened, something terrible!"

Seeing Liu Rengui in such a rare state of disarray, Gao Yuan couldn't help but feel tense as well.

"What happened, Liu Renguis courtesy name?"

Liu Rengui swallowed hard, panted for a while to calm his nerves, and said with a look of terror:

"A plague has broken out in Phnom Penh, and many refugees have already fled to Kampong Thom. What should we do?"

The others were also shocked, and Wu Zetian in her youth displayed her iron-fisted resolve.

"Immediately dispatch the Xuanjia Army to blockade the border; we must not let the plague spread within our territory."

Gao Yuan glanced at Wu Zetian in her youth, looking at her with appreciation for her decisiveness, but he still shook his head and spoke with firm conviction.

"I have a set of measures specifically for dealing with epidemics. This time, I want to try them out to accumulate experience for future use."

However, Gao Yuan did not force the order this time; instead, he looked at everyone, seeking their opinions.

The first to agree was actually the young woman, Wu Zetian in her youth.

"I agree. Having this opportunity will not only allow us to test if this method is feasible but also help us accumulate experience so that we won't be caught off guard if something like this happens in the future."

Zishan remained silent; he was inwardly opposed, but since the two leaders had already agreed, he didn't speak up. Liu Rengui, however, hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"I will fully cooperate."

"Good. Explain clearly to the soldiers that this is entirely voluntary. Every soldier willing to cooperate will receive twenty strings of cash in bank notes as compensation. If casualties occur as a result, they will be treated according to the standards for martyrs."

Liu Rengui finally showed a smile, cupped his hands to Gao Yuan, and took his leave.

In the end, nearly 5,000 soldiers and over 20 Medical Practitioners voluntarily joined this team. Additionally, over 1,000 volunteers and more than 50 Medical Practitioners quickly gathered in the Diannan Circuit and began heading south to reinforce them.

Gao Yuan's plan was naturally based on experience from the later generations, as well as a summary of the vast amount of useless trivia he had seen in videos.

First, establish specialized camps to separately house refugees who haven't shown symptoms, those with mild symptoms, and those with very obvious symptoms;

Second, sprinkle quicklime within the camps and burn various medicinal herbs around the perimeter to prevent snakes, insects, rats, and ants from spreading the disease;

Third, prohibit the consumption of raw water; everything that enters the mouth must be boiled thoroughly;

Fourth, designate specific areas for all bathroom activities, which are to be covered with quicklime and then buried;

Fifth, all personnel entering the Quarantine Zone must wear specialized clothing and masks produced in haste;

Sixth, all refugees entering the Quarantine Zone must change their clothes, and old clothes are to be burned on the spot... To this end, Gao Yuan also collected all the alcoholic beverages he could find and built a crude set of equipment on-site to refine alcohol. Although the efficiency was low, it was barely enough.

When he first saw Gao Yuan refining alcohol like this, that blockhead Xia Luqi smelled the alcohol and secretly took a sip. Naturally, he was filled with disdain.

"My Lord, this wine is no good; it burns the throat and is hard to swallow."

Gao Yuan kicked him in the backside.

"Get out of here! This is for sterilization and disinfection, not for drinking."

"Is it poisonous?"

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. In short, don't touch this; drinking it could kill you."

Actually, many people have a misconception that distilled liquor originated very late and that such high-proof alcohol would easily conquer everyone in ancient times.

In fact, distilled liquor appeared as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty. The reason it didn't become mainstream was simple—it didn't taste good.

Ancients cared about sentiment and atmosphere when drinking; everyone drinking wine while composing poetry or engaging in loud discussions was the true wine culture, not slamming the table and saying, 'If you don't drink, you're not giving me face.'

High-proof liquor largely pursues a quick and cheap drunkenness; after all, wine was a luxury in ancient times.

"Li Bai writes a hundred poems for a dou of wine." In the Tang Dynasty, one dou was six liters by the large measurement system and two liters by the small one. Drinking that much high-proof alcohol would leave no room for atmosphere; one would have died of alcohol poisoning long ago.

Gao Yuan only realized after transmigrating that ancients drank wine entirely like a beverage, especially those sweet-tasting ones which were particularly popular.

Of course, most disinfection methods involved boiling water; all clothing basically achieved the desired effect after being boiled and dried in the sun.

Given the limited conditions, if you really expected Gao Yuan to follow the standards of later generations, he could only throw up his hands.

"I simply cannot do it!"

Gao Yuan's strategy quickly took effect. The number of new cases decreased, and many patients recovered after receiving treatment.

The soldiers were pleasantly surprised to find that the number of bodies being carried away daily was dwindling, from several hundred a day at the start to over a hundred, and finally to just a few a day.

Over a month later, more and more people had recovered, filling the entire Quarantine Zone with an atmosphere of joy.

However, after recovery, Gao Yuan also established strict procedures; people were only allowed to leave the Quarantine Zone after a fourteen-day isolation period.

Gao Yuan's efforts also yielded a huge reward. After recovering, the vast majority of these people chose to stay and become law-abiding subjects under Gao Yuan's rule.

Watching these Common People, with their families in tow, bow in thanks to Gao Yuan before continuing north to join the Zhongnan Circuit, Liu Rengui couldn't help but marvel at Gao Yuan's boldness and foresight.

A population of over 50,000, and people who were wholeheartedly devoted at that, was the harvest from Gao Yuan's great sacrifice this time, making everyone incredibly joyful.

In stark contrast to this was the mess in Phnom Penh. By now, the once prosperous and majestic city of Phnom Penh had become a land of death.

Whether inside or outside the city, the daily theme was death—inevitable death.

The plague had raged for over a month, claiming tens of thousands of lives. Regardless of race, country, faction, or status, even elephants could not escape the clutches of the plague.

At this time, a piece of news arrived, becoming a life-saving straw for everyone.

"The Han people there can save lives!"

Thus, the army, nobles, and commoners all joined the ranks of those fleeing for their lives.