Xiao Lin smiled and exchanged a few pleasantries with Cui Hong before suggesting that he go and check on the patient's condition.
Then, squatting down in front of the patient, pretending to touch his neck, he let Yu Tang crawl into his palm, covering him with his wide sleeve, allowing the little Yu Tang to use his divine power to treat the patient before putting him away again.
She stood up and said, "Sister Cuihong, what herbs do you usually give your patients? Could you give me a list?"
Seeing his demeanor, Cuihong became somewhat more convinced that he was a doctor.
He nodded hurriedly and led him to the simple pharmacy to look at medicinal herbs.
In the following days, under Yu Tang's secret guidance, Xiao Lin gave Cui Hong several suggestions on how to settle the patients and changed the prescription for applying the pox medicine, which left the other party completely bewildered.
He quickly gained the approval of the bandits.
Five days later, one night, Gu Dashan took out the wine he had previously stolen and the wild rabbits he had hunted in the mountains to entertain Xiao Lin.
The bandits also lit a campfire and gathered around to eat and drink.
Although there wasn't much food, the atmosphere was warm enough.
In the past few days, Xiao Lin has learned that Gu Dashan and others have indeed been continuously gathering disaster victims.
And they generously distributed their already meager food supplies to those people.
In order to survive, they relied on each other, and even though they became outlaws, they still retained their kind nature.
In this respect, he greatly admired Gu Dashan.
"Dashan..." The strong liquor slid down his throat, and Xiao Lin was also a little drunk. Looking at the bonfire, he said, "I have passed through many villages and cities along the way. I saw notices posted about the achievements of the soldiers in the Northern Border. There was a General Yu who led his troops to burn the enemy's food supplies in order to defend the border. In the end, he was left with no trace of his body."
It's fair to say that without the efforts of the soldiers in the North, the Xiao Kingdom would likely have changed its name long ago. I truly admire them from the bottom of my heart…”
He paused, a hint of sorrow in his eyes: "But when I came here, I found that no one cared about their efforts, and they even resented them for taking away your supplies."
"This is clearly the emperor's dereliction of duty, which led to the flooding in the southern city going unchecked. How can you blame it on those soldiers?"
Yu Tang, hiding in his hair, felt a little uncomfortable upon hearing this.
It wasn't for her own sake, but because she sensed that Xiao Lin was blaming himself.
Do you know that without a country, where can you have a home?
Xiao Lin tilted his head back and gulped down a mouthful of strong liquor. He raised his voice and said, "If we allow foreigners to trample over our borders, then no matter how far Nancheng is from the northern border, it will still be unable to escape the calamity of being oppressed by foreigners!"
He stood up and addressed those who were stunned by his words in a serious tone.
"You can criticize the emperor for being incompetent, criticize the officials for being incompetent. But you cannot criticize the soldiers who protect the nation's borders for being useless!"
"The floods will eventually be healed, and the plagues will surely disappear. But if this country is gone, then everything is gone!"
"Therefore, I'm making a request of everyone here." Xiao Lin bowed to everyone present, his hands clasped in front of him.
"Remember the merits and hardships of the soldiers on the border, and remember the pride and honor that I, as a citizen of Xiao, should have!"
"Xiao Lin thanks everyone here—"
Chapter 20
The villain was resurrected for the fourth time (20)
His words stunned everyone.
In the Kingdom of Xiao, Xiao is the surname of the royal family.
Even if these villagers didn't know what the emperor looked like, they had heard of his name.
Emperor Xiao Wu, Xiao Lin, this is the name of the current emperor!
"You...aren't you called Yu Lin?" Gu Dashan was so frightened that he sobered up completely.
He hurriedly said, "Aren't you a poor doctor with no fixed abode? How come you have this name? Is it a coincidence?"
"You can't just call out the emperor's name like that! If someone hears it, they could be beheaded!"
"The current Emperor Xiao Wu is my emperor." Liu Feng took out his personal waist token and showed it to the people here, saying, "I am not a groom, but His Majesty's secret guard, escorting His Majesty on his incognito tours to observe the people's conditions in Nanliu City."
"You bandits, don't you realize that if His Majesty were to truly hold a grudge against you, how could you possibly have managed to tie us up?"
"Now that His Majesty is here, why don't you bow?"
His words were imbued with inner strength, carrying far and clearly.
"Your Majesty!" After his initial shock, Gu Dashan was terrified and immediately knelt down.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"
"It is this humble subject who is ungrateful and dares to do such a thing to His Majesty. This humble subject deserves to die!"
At this moment, Gu Dashan had no more romantic feelings for Xiao Lin. He just kept kowtowing and saying, "Please, Your Majesty, spare the others here. Just blame me!"
Hearing this, the people nearby crawled over and said, "Your Majesty, please don't blame Brother Dashan, we were also at fault!"
The third son said, "I was disrespectful to Your Majesty before. If you want to kill me, then kill me! Don't make things difficult for Brother Dashan!"
Xiao Lin straightened up, looked at the bandits kneeling before him, and sighed softly.
“I don’t blame you.” He helped Gu Dashan up. “Just like I said, I hope you can truly treat Xiao Kingdom as your own home. If anything happens, you can scold me, the emperor, instead of holding a grudge against the soldiers who protected you.”
"The Xiao Kingdom is now devastated by the late emperor, and I feel both hatred and shame in my heart."
"In the future, I will do my best to govern the country and will no longer let you suffer the pain of displacement in the face of disaster."
I also hope you can lend me a hand from behind, and not let this country down.”
"May I?"
His voice was calm and firm, carrying a convincing solemnity.
Despite his youthful appearance, his aura was as majestic as a towering mountain or as sharp as a sword piercing the sky, awe-inspiring to all.
The bandits' eyes welled up with tears as they listened, especially Gu Dashan, who knelt down again.
Leading everyone, he solemnly declared, "Yes!"
"We swear to follow Your Majesty to the death!"
This time, they truly knelt and prayed to Xiao Lin with utmost devotion.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"
Inside the simple thatched house, Yu Tang stood on Xiao Lin's shoulder, her small eyes red with emotion.
She whispered in the man's ear, "Your Majesty, you were so handsome just now."
"So you finally realize how good I am?" Xiao Lin snorted and said, "Now, surely you won't want me to push you to that bandit's wife anymore?"
Reminded by him, Yu Tang chuckled and said, "Your Majesty still remembers this matter?"
“Of course I remember.” Xiao Lin’s face was full of pettiness: “Not only do I remember, but I’m also very angry.”
Yu Tang thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I've been jealous these past few days too."
"Hmm? The general can be jealous?" Xiao Lin said sarcastically, "I thought I wasn't important to the general anymore."
Yu Tang suppressed a laugh and said, "Seeing how kind His Majesty is to these mountain bandits, and noticing that Gu Dashan's gaze towards His Majesty is becoming more and more blatant every day, I feel quite uneasy."
"I just wish I could grow bigger quickly, turn back into my original form, snatch His Majesty away, throw him onto the bed, and then..."
Yu Tang deliberately blew into Xiao Lin's ear and said, "I'll make sure you have sex with His Majesty and become my wife, the wife of this brute general."
Xiao Lin's pupils dilated slightly, and his cheeks, flushed from the alcohol, deepened in color.
He rubbed his fingers against the wine jug in his hand, a smile spreading across his lips.
"Then the general must keep his word."
"Don't keep me waiting in vain."
After Xiao Lin revealed his identity, the bandits treated him with much more respect.
I don't dare to tell those jokes anymore.
Afterwards, Xiao Lin told these people about his experiences in the Northern Territory. When everyone had a good understanding, he chose a suitable opportunity to have Yu Tang appear.
Yu Tang cured a patient suffering from the plague with a single treatment.
They then went on to propose a prescription for treating the epidemic.
Following the prescription, the patients' symptoms did indeed improve day by day.
Seeing that the time was right, Xiao Lin took Gu Dashan to Nanliu City.
With the other person's guidance, he was able to see the management here more clearly.
As Gu Dashan said, the distribution of grain here is indeed very unreasonable.
The grain distributed to wealthy and powerful merchants and officials was several times more than that given to the poor.
These farmers, who usually worked hard to cultivate the land and deliver grain to the imperial court on time, were all emaciated and looked like dried corpses, which was terrifying.
In the face of natural disasters, the imperial court should provide disaster relief to everyone equally. But now the situation is so biased, it's no wonder that Gu Dashan chose to become a bandit, stealing disaster relief grain to uphold the fairness in their hearts and protect their lives.
Having gathered sufficient evidence, Xiao Lin revealed his identity and began to drastically reform these local officials.
Several measures were proposed to ensure fair disaster relief. In order to appease the people, the original prefect of Nanliu City was dismissed, all his money and grain were confiscated, and he was imprisoned.
Following Yu Tang's suggestion, the people were allowed to vote on the officials of Nanliu City. The person with the most votes would be approved by Xiao Lin and appointed as the new prefect of Nanliu City to oversee the disaster relief efforts.
After these measures were implemented, Xiao Lin once again used the same method to bring Yu Tang forward, allowing everyone to truly see Yu Tang as the former general of the Northern Border.
How does Yu Ling treat patients, prescribe medicine, and resolve this plague?
Yu Tang initially felt quite embarrassed about being treated as a deity descended to earth.
But after a while, you get used to the awkwardness.
As he accompanied Xiao Lin through these epidemic areas, watching patients thank them one by one, and seeing everything moving in a positive direction thanks to everyone's joint efforts, he felt a warmth in his heart.
My forehead is always warm.
It is the power of those merits and faith that is gathering.
Two months later, at Xiao Lin's suggestion, the people of the three cities who had survived the epidemic worked together to build the first Temple of the God of War.
Due to limited resources, the sculptures in Yutang could only be made of clay.
The most experienced craftsman in Nanliu City accepted the task, but was stopped by Xiao Lin before work could begin.