kingnovel Chapter 202 Chaos
Chapter 202 Chaos
1449 Summer
"Last week, a plague broke out in southern Midland and western Yoda without any warning. The scope of infection is expanding in all directions. In the early stages, the infected people showed symptoms such as coughing up blood and fever, and eventually died of bleeding, with their bodies covered with black and purple spots. According to the current spread, the entire Midland Kingdom will be shrouded in the plague in a month, and in half a year, the plague will sweep across Midland, Yoda, and the southern countries."
While enjoying breakfast, John listened attentively to the civil servant's report on the plague. As he expected, the plague finally came.
"Are there any reports of plague infection in the territory?" John asked.
"Since you previously ordered the land border to be closed and no one is allowed to enter or leave, no reports of infection have been received so far," the civil servant answered truthfully.
"That's good. How is the construction of the quarantine area going?"
"The isolation area in Franche-Comté is nearly completed and is expected to accommodate about 10,000 patients. Isolation areas in other regions are also under construction. If there are no other factors interfering, all isolation areas will be completed in half a year."
John was also relieved to hear that his problem was being dealt with in an orderly manner.
"Quack quack!"
Just then, Coal Ball rushed in from the door and ran towards John with its butt twisted, and behind it was an orange cat following it.
Seeing that the orange cat was still following it, Coal Ball hurried to John's feet. Then two wings with newly grown feathers stretched out from both sides of Coal Ball. Coal Ball flapped its wings and jumped up, jumping onto John's legs.
Touching the plump duck, John couldn't help but sigh:
"Meiqiu, I haven't seen you for a month. How come you've gained so much weight?"
But Coal Ball ignored John. After straightening his body, Coal Ball poked out his furry little head, tilted his head and stared at the orange cat on the ground with his watery eyes.
"Meow~"
The orange cat did not follow after seeing this, but stopped a few meters away from John, then lay on the ground and looked at the coal balls on top with a lazy look. The duck and the cat stared at each other in silence.
As requested by John, the merchants from Issu transported about a thousand cats to North Port. Most of these cats came from various tribes in Kusha, and after being tested by the merchants from Issu, they all had the ability to catch mice.
Although the cats arrived, John did not release them immediately because these cats needed someone to manage and care for them. Otherwise, if they were released and no one took care of them, the cats would die or get lost, and John would have bought them in vain.
However, due to the reasons of the French King's Hall, all countries that believe in the God of Light have no habit of keeping cats. After searching around, John set his sights on the Kushan people who were imprisoned.
In order to encourage the Kushans to help John manage and care for the cats, John not only allowed them to leave the prison when they were working, but also promised them that they would be released after the plague was over.
John always treats those who are helpful to him and have no hostility towards him with a gentle attitude. After all, after he has used these people this time, there is no guarantee that John may need them again one day, so John will not do such things as crossing the river and destroying the bridge. "Reducing enemies and increasing friends without harming one's own interests" is the standard of the Hohenzollern family in dealing with external affairs.
Touching the soft surface of the coal briquettes, John looked at the sky outside the window, hoping that the disaster would end soon.
Outside John's territory, however, the scene was quite different. The mercenary war that had lasted for several months had left the land of Midland covered with corpses that had not been cleaned up. Countless flies and insects were buzzing around the corpses, while rats were gnawing at the rotten bodies and fleeing when only a skeleton was left.
On the roads, in the villages, and in the towns, rats scurried from every dark corner to the tables and beds, while the original owners of the furniture were either lying dying in their beds or had already been sent to the carriages that transported corpses.
The sudden outbreak of the plague made the villagers who did not have good sanitary conditions the first victims. Swarms of rats not only spread the plague to them, but also ate the crops they had just planted. After a period of devastation, the farmland became barren again, and the farmers who were suffering from the disease could only watch their crops being eaten while they themselves gradually became terminally ill.
Under the dual torture of disease and hunger, countless people fled their homes and headed towards the unknown wilderness. Corpses of people who died of starvation and disease could be seen on both sides of the fleeing crowd. Occasionally, a few starving wild dogs would tear at the remaining rotten flesh on the corpses, while crows were circling above the wild dogs above the dark clouds, waiting to clean up the last residue.
Some people, after going through untold hardships, finally fled from the countryside to the city, and naturally spread the plague there. People were horrified to find that this disease seemed impossible to get rid of. It broke out in every settlement, and was accompanied by swarms of rats. The end result was that the citizens were forced to leave the city and join the ranks of refugees.
However, those who were able to escape were relatively lucky. As the precious labor force in the hands of the lords, although the nobles also realized that something serious might be happening, in order to prevent the labor force of their territories from being wasted, they ordered their soldiers to guard the border and prevent the people from escaping the territory. They hid in the castle and prayed that they would not be afflicted by this evil disease.
When their lives are threatened, even the gentlest sheep will struggle. Unsurprisingly, violent conflicts caused by refugees have occurred in many places. For food or freedom, refugees choose to take up arms and fight against anyone who stands in their way of survival.
Faced with the aggressive armed groups of refugees, the standing armies of the small nobles were no match for them. While sending rescue requests to their earls, they also recruited a large number of mercenaries to fight for them. In a short while, refugees, mercenaries, bandits, and armies, all kinds of forces gathered in this land ravaged by the plague to conquer and massacre each other. The summer, which should have been full of vitality, was now like a winter with everything withering.
In those areas that have not yet been affected, the nobles are still singing and dancing in their respective castles. No matter how far away they are, they cannot stop their gorgeous dancing and extravagant banquets, just like the last carnival before the end of the world.
In the Crusader camp outside the city of Kas, a group of people wearing bird-beak masks were standing in a circle. In the center of them, a dead rat was lying in a pool of blood.
"So, what do you think?" Captain Pa Ying, who was in the lead, asked the people around him.
"The rat's hind half has been rotted away, but it can still walk freely. Its eyes are an abnormal red. I think there's a high probability that the rat is possessed by a demon." A Crusader Knight said as he poked the rat's corpse with a wooden stick.
"The most important thing is that there are more than one of these rats. Our people have killed many in other places, and those places have now become no-man's land." The Crusader Knight next to him added.
"Then it looks like we have work to do again." Looking at the strange rat corpse on the ground, Captain Pa Ying already knew roughly what the cause was, so he gave the order:
"Call all the brothers who don't have military missions. There is a high probability that cultists are behind this plague. We must go out immediately and crush those cultists who are trying to cause chaos!"