Chapter 57 - A MILLION cases

In Hefei, the health bureau issued an alert to Bai Chongye after the empire reached a million infections and almost seventy thousand deaths. The massive number of corpses were being burnt as many cities ran out of space for conventional burials, and there was a fear that the body fluids would contaminate the water supplies. The 7% death rate was too high.

Bai Chongye accepted the visit of the health bureau staff:

-Well, 70 thousand deaths. In a seven million population!

-Your majesty, please look at the details. We counted seventy thousand, but it is known that many more people have died already, and it is happening exponentially, which means that we may even reach a million deaths in a few months. We have recorded one million infections, which are also growing exponentially. We may face severe criticism from nearby empires...

-I do not care about criticism. And how about the zinc treatment? Someone must be sabotaging it! 

-Your Majesty, we have handed out tons of zinc, people are using it regularly, we have even put it as mandatory... As the students told us, and we confirmed, it was not having the effect your majesty expected...

 -Maybe... But, again, why such a fuss with seventy thousand deaths? This is roughly the annual death toll of the empire. 

-Your Majesty is correct. The problem is that these seventy thousand have died in just one month... 

-Well... so, what should I do?

-Well, we had a plan, but Mo Yang is dead, so we don't know what to do...

-He was not that important... Also, he tried to put words in my mouth, when someone must hear the emperor, not teach him.

The staff remains silent, Bai Chongye gets angry:

-Better you come up with something. I will not do anything that may cause social convulsion, dealing with the epidemic should be enough work. You are all dismissed, come back with a working solution or I'll not waste my time on it. Go away!

The staff quickly moves out of the room. Moving back to their building, they discuss the way Bai Chongye is dealing with the epidemic:

-The emperor is literally doing nothing, and stepping on those trying to do something! What should we do?

-Maybe we can check what is happening in Huangshan. The prince visited that kingdom and discovered a few things we were not aware of. Bai Chongye will do nothing, so we must try something.

-I agree with you, but there's a potential risk of letting the emperor in a bad situation among our neighbors.

-Who cares? We have an uncontrolled disease destroying the city, and it will spread well beyond our borders if we do nothing. No risk is greater than waging war against our neighbors for something we were 100% to blame for. 

-Why not simply asking Ding Qi?

-We need a more thorough look. Ding Qi could send inaccurate information to us due to the way the prince treated him.

-I don't think so. We should trust him, he is probably not that loyal to Bai Chongye anymore, just like us.

-So, let's just send a letter to him, and wait for a reply. 

The staff from the health bureau decided to send a letter to Ding Qi, and hopefully get an answer, even knowing that he may or may not reply. 

...

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