Chapter 66 - Time to fight back

Back in Hefei, the health bureau identified that the number of deaths from the disease was climbing exponentially like the number of new cases. They did some calculations and worked out that the death rate skyrocketed to nearly 15%. 

Since nothing stops the disease from spreading in Hefei, outbreaks happen in neighborhoods, with varied results. In some places, the death toll is less than 1%. In others, it rises to nearly 40%. 

Hefei finally received the letter from Ding Qi. He sent a sample of the test, the medicines, and the recipes:

-"Dear friends in Hefei, I received your letter with concern. The uncontrolled epidemic in Hefei is raising uneasiness among the emperors of Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang. You have to convince Bai Chongye to do something. Since Hefei has such a large population, we cannot supply enough medicine and tests for you. I sent the recipes for you to work out a solution using your ingredients. Unfortunately, we cannot do much, we can only tell what has worked for us, but the emperor must comply with it. It is all Bai Chongye's responsibility. I imagine you are very concerned with your people. Try to convince him to do the right thing. We are doing our part and joining efforts. We will not accept Hefei doing anything and making us spend valuable resources on something Bai Chongye should solve. If the emperor agrees, we are willing to cooperate, using Feng Long's "Beauty of governance" framework. Sincerely, Ding Qi, king of Huangshan."

-He's not wrong! They are doing their part, but our city is the epicenter of the epidemic. We are the ones to be blamed. 

-How are we supposed to deal with Bai Chongye? He does not hear anything from us! 

-Maybe we can force him to cooperate.

-Cooperate? How??? We can't do it! 

-What if he accidentally gets infected?

Some members raise an eyebrow:

-This is immoral! We might kill him!

-Not really. We collected samples of the disease in the early stages.  The survival rate was over 97%. For the young and healthy like Bai Chongye, the survival rate is close to 99%. Death is improbable. And the onset of symptoms is also fast, only about a day.  

-We would be gambling with the life of the emperor!

-He gambles with our lives every single day. He killed Mo Lan just because he was not mature enough to understand arguments that make perfect sense for us. 

-Are you looking for vengeance?

-No. I'm trying to wake the emperor up. Thousands more will die if we keep the city functioning as if nothing was going on. How many commoner's lives is the emperor's worth? How many Mo Lan's will he kill? How many dreams will he destroy?

-Do you think he would change his mindset?

-I think it is very likely to happen. Bai Chongye will feel it and think again about how to deal with it. We have the answer. 

-What if everything goes wrong? What if Bai Chongye finds we tried to kill him?

-"What ifs" will not solve the problem. Mo Lan died for us. We may die for him if necessary. 

-So, how do we do it?

-I have a plan. 

The health bureau decided to take a bold step against Bai Chongye as the disease spreads and worsens at neighborhood levels. 

Someone has to do something. Or new variants coming out of the city will destroy neighboring empires. Or lead them to wage war against Anhui. Despite having military superiority, Anhui does not have the necessary motivation for it now. 

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