Chapter 129: The Crown Prince's Violent Wrath

Inside the Huan Shan Academy, Li Gang sat with a gloomy expression, while Li Chengqian sat beside him, looking equally upset.

Zhao Zhujie looked at the two of them and persuaded earnestly, "His Majesty sending the two of you to the academy is also for your own good. The imperial court is currently extremely perilous. One of you cannot tolerate a single grain of sand in your eyes, and the other is hot-tempered. Seeing Cai Cong being bullied to such an extent, you would undoubtedly step forward, and by then, even the Crown Prince might be impeached by them."

"Hmph! This old man understands the situation better than you do, but my heart aches! For their own interests, the civil and military officials of the entire court are making a move against a mere child—do they even have any shame left?"

Li Gang's beard trembled with anger as he panted heavily, his face flushed red.

Li Chengqian also had a bellyful of frustration with nowhere to vent. Even Li Tai was allowed to represent the royal family and enter the mountains with Cai Cong, yet he himself could do nothing. Whenever he thought of Li Tai telling him that the Crown Prince was destined to be emperor and could not take risks, but that Li Tai himself could—that the royal family must not show cowardice and someone had to accompany Cai Cong—his heart ached terribly.

His parents, his brothers, and his good friend were all fighting, while he alone could do nothing, having to hide far away from the court like a coward.

"When I become emperor in the future, I will surely execute all of these people! This is too bullying, simply too bullying!"

Li Chengqian shouted, the aura of brutality radiating from his entire body startling the two old scholars.

"Crown Prince, hold your tongue!" Li Gang stood up and roared. Li Chengqian's demeanor was far too terrifying; it reminded him of how Emperor Yang of Sui smiled while ruthlessly executing veteran ministers upon ascending the throne.

"As the heir apparent, how can you be so tyrannical? Look at your Imperial Father—how much suffering is he enduring right now? Yet has he ever slaughtered people indiscriminately just because he was in pain? A ruler should be benevolent and advocate non-aggression. Have you forgotten all of this?"

"I temporarily lost control of my emotions and spoke inappropriately. Please forgive me, Master." Li Chengqian apologized very sincerely. Cai Cong had told him long ago not to talk back; the masters always wanted to mold the heir apparent into an ancient sage-king like Yao, Shun, Yu, or Tang, but that simply did not fit the demands of the era.

Therefore, he should listen when he was supposed to, and apologize when he was supposed to, as long as he secretly persisted in his own sense of right and wrong, so as not to break the hearts of his teachers with his stubbornness.

"This old minister knows the Crown Prince is suffering, but this is also a trial. The Crown Prince must never treat slaughter as an outlet for venting."

"I know. I was just too angry, which is why I spoke like that. I wonder how Cai Cong and my younger brother are doing." Li Chengqian said with an embarrassed expression, his face full of worry when mentioning his brother and Cai Cong, which made Li Gang nod in satisfaction.

Deep within the mountains, thousands of elite soldiers were stationed around a valley, with patrols constantly guarding even the cliffs.

Meng Baolai was in command of the military camp. This mountain had been designated a restricted area: anyone who dared to step foot inside would be executed on the spot, and anyone who attempted to leave the valley would likewise be executed on the spot, even if that person were the emperor's son.

The valley was desolate and bleak, with withered grass and vegetation, devoid of even a hint of green. Small animals freely scavenged for dried grass, occasionally glancing at the two-legged humans. Finding that no one paid attention to them, they ate even more heartily. Winter was approaching, and getting enough to eat was no easy task.

Today, an ox was slaughtered in the valley. After studying it for a long time without the slightest clue, Cai Cong and the others finally decided to slice up the beef and make a hot pot.

"Cai Cong, have you figured out any clues at all?" Li Tai asked nonchalantly, his mouth greasy from eating.

"No clues! There isn't even a single smallpox patient here; I truly have no idea where to start. I only vaguely know that smallpox is related to oxen."

Cai Cong said with bitter frustration. He was not omnipotent, and simply remembering this much was already quite an achievement. Even so, he had only seen it in some crappy forum in his past life, and try as he might, he could not recall the details.

"You certainly have nerve. Whenever a person with smallpox ghosts is found, they are killed on the spot. If those people were allowed to roam free, who knows how many would die!"

Li Tai said matter-of-factly. During the Tang Dynasty, patients afflicted with smallpox could only hide deep in the mountain forests, even if they miraculously survived.

In the eyes of the ancients, smallpox was contagious. If someone in a village contracted smallpox, the entire village could only wait to die. In some regions, it was even more ruthless—they would directly set fires to burn everyone to death.

Cai Cong slammed his palm onto the table. People who survived smallpox would never catch it again in this lifetime; yet the foolish world treated these pitiful people with such cruelty.

However, he also understood that anyone discovered to have had smallpox was dead for sure, let alone someone currently suffering from it. No one would ever allow such a person to cross prefectures and arrive here.

"You've eaten enough, stop eating or you'll turn into a meatball. Accompany me to the ox pen to take a look."

"I'm not going. It's filthy and stinks to high heaven, absolutely not! Ox hair, ox blood, ox liver—you've already studied all of that and couldn't make heads or tails of it. How could I possibly know what to do?"

Li Tai shook his head like a rattle-drum. The only reason he dared to come was because of youthful bravado, and because his older brother told him Cai Cong was taking the blame on behalf of their family.

He had come, yes, but asking him to look at dirty, stinking oxen every day was out of the question. Beef was fine to eat, but going to the ox pen where manure covered the ground would ruin his appetite for beef.

"Suit yourself, then! I'll go by myself."

With that, Cai Cong walked out of the house. The ox pen was not far away. Five robust yellow oxen were chewing grass, and upon seeing Cai Cong walk over, they even let out a few calls at him.

Cai Cong fed grass to the oxen and said with a troubled expression, "Oxen, oxen, don't yell at me. If you have the ability, tell me how to prevent smallpox."

The yellow ox swallowed the grass in his hand, chewed its cud a few times, and walked away wagging its tail.

Cai Cong secretly mocked his own foolish behavior; he was no cowherd, so how could this ox possibly speak to him?

The soldiers in the valley were bored out of their minds, doing training day in and day out. What on earth was the Marquis doing? Every day he fussed over a few oxen, and whenever he got frustrated, he would slaughter one for everyone to share. What happened to the smallpox they were supposed to be dealing with?

Half a month later, the remaining five oxen had all been sacrificed to their stomachs. They had no choice but to use flag signals to tell the people outside to send more oxen in. Another month passed, and those oxen were eaten up as well, forcing them to ask Meng Baolai to send more.

The oxen were delivered to the mouth of the valley and led inside by the men within. Along with the oxen came a letter from Meng Baolai.

After a month and a half without any progress, the soldiers might not have cared, but Cai Cong had grown increasingly irritable, scolding even Li Tai's frivolous attitude multiple times.

Li Tai was so angry he didn't even want to talk to Cai Cong, snatching the letter from the ox's back to read it first. After reading it, he angrily threw the letter on the ground and stomped on it. "This has infuriated this Prince! Do these officials still hold the Imperial House in their eyes? They actually use these sick oxen to perfunctorily dismiss me!"

Li Tai's roar drew the attention of the others. Upon closer inspection, those oxen indeed all looked sickly and listless.

Cai Cong's face darkened as if ink were dripping from it. He picked up the letter, covered in footprint smudges, and began to read.

As it turned out, no one knew how the rumor had spread, but word that smallpox was related to oxen—and that the Marquis of Chang'an was researching oxen in order to eradicate smallpox—had become common knowledge everywhere. When Meng Baolai went to the Ministry of Revenue to request oxen, the Ministry actually only provided a few sickly ones, claiming that spring plowing was coming in two months and slaughtering healthy oxen in large numbers was inauspicious. They could only spare a few healthy ones and filled the rest of the quota with sick beasts.

Cai Cong did not say a word, simply ordering people to drag the oxen to the ox pen. Li Tai clamored that once he got out, he would definitely smash the Ministry of Revenue to pieces. Cai Cong ignored him; if he couldn't conquer smallpox, walking out of here alive was impossible, so he might as well escape and live in anonymity.