Chapter 560 - The Calamity of the Pandemic (1/2)

Although they were still in the horse carriage, the wax-sealed letters were handed to her one after another because of Long Tianyu’s instructions.

Lin Mengya’s eyebrows would always knit together every time she opened a yellow letter.

Beautiful as she was, her beauty had been overshadowed by the many worries she had.

Although Long Tianyu’s heart ached for Lin Mengya, he knew that she was working so hard because she could sense something fishy regarding the pandemic situation.

“You must be tired; you should take a rest.”

From the night until daybreak, apart from the time she ate and slept, Lin Mengya had spent the entire time meticulously studying the situation at the affected areas.

The more she understood the situation, the more she found it very strange in some ways.

The special characteristics of the pandemic included being highly contagious and a high rate of infection. However, the chances of infection depended on each individual.

Take for example smallpox, although it was widespread at that time, there were many lucky ones who managed to escape because of their natural bodily disposition.

However, something was different this time.

The letters brought to Long Tianyu mentioned that once the pandemic started to spread, no one was spared from the virus.

From newborns up to the aged as old as eighty years old would be infected. For this reason, the death rate should skyrocket.

However, this was not the case.

Apart from the spot in Yun State where the outbreak started, although there were many who were infected in the other states, the death rate was considerably low.

Normally, the virus of a pandemic did not usually die down in terms of the spread.

Unless it was as she guessed that the pandemic was not a disease after all. Rather, it was poison!

In that case, she would be able to explain the reason that apart from Yun State, the infection rate and death rate in the other states were greatly reduced.

The other states might well have merely been implicated.

“Long Tianyu, does the Yun State have any special local produce? Particularly something that the other surrounding states don’t produce or produce that are of inferior quality, so much so that people from these surrounding states have to go to the Yun State to obtain it.”

Lin Mengya turned her gaze at Long Tianyu, cocked her head, and asked the question with a puzzled look in her eyes.

The latter pondered for a moment and seemed to found an answer to that question.

“The Yun State produces good rice. The rice produced by the other states is not as tasty and fragrant as the ones produced in the Yun State. Moreover, the Yun State was given the title “The Barn of Dajin”. Almost all the shops selling foodstuff within the boundaries of Dajin carry rice produced in the Yun State.”

Lin Mengya let out a long breath. She finally found the answer to the matter.

However, the answer had made her heart heavy.

“I think I know the intention of these people. They want to destroy the place where the people of the Yun State store their grains. This way, there would be a shortage of food and the people of the country would go into a state of panic.”

As she spoke, Lin Mengya lifted her slender pointed finger to her face and gently massaged her temple.

This was such an insidious ploy.

They did not have to resort to doing this even if they wanted to cut off the food supply and produce from the Yun State.

The people of the Yun State were innocent. Almost all their families were broken up because of this evil ploy to fight for power.

After some thought, she supposed the only people who would do such a thing were the Crown Prince and the queen.

Regardless of how resourceful and powerful the Candle Dragon Cult was, it was not possible for these outsiders to be so savage without backing from the Crown Prince and the queen.

Moreover, this pandemic did not come any earlier or later, but it came when the emperor had just recovered and Long Tianyu was not in the country.

Moreover, at the time when the emperor was seriously ill, the Crown Prince was in charge of overseeing the matters of the entire nation.

A new dynasty might well have started if the aristocratic families in the Yun State had not been guarding themselves against the Crown Prince.

If she were the Crown Prince and the queen, she might also vent her anger on the aristocrats.

Now it could be said that the Yun State had been destroyed. Not only were the people in a panic, but the foundations of the aristocrats would also have been shaken.

Was this turbulent time the best chance for the Crown Prince and the queen to stir up more trouble?

Moreover, although the emperor had recovered from his illness, the number of trusted people around him was limited.

These aristocratic families which he could fall back on had been uprooted from their homes and were raging from the painful loss. With what was happening now, there were really very few people around the emperor who would be useful to him.

If the pandemic could not be effectively put under control, the common people would surely start to resent the imperial court.

The Crown Prince would watch for the right time to act by pretending to be concerned about the people. By then, it would be very difficult to salvage the situation.

This was like hitting three birds with one stone. In reality, he was the villain but pretended to be like a compassionate savior.

It appeared that the Crown Prince had resorted to unscrupulous means just so he could usurp the throne.

“I did make that guess earlier. He is a citizen of the Jin State after all. How dare he be so unscrupulous because of his greed for the throne!”

There was a frightening fury in his voice.

He rarely allowed himself to be thrown into such rage. Long Tianyu had always maintained the brotherly affection towards the Crown Prince.

Now, this little-left affection towards his brother was gradually disappearing due to the Crown Prince’s ruthlessness.