Chapter 131: The Stone-Carved Final Testament

"The Prince is not yet a human guinea pig, but regardless of whether the Marquis's transmitted news succeeds or not, the Prince will be in the second batch."

Changsun covered her mouth and wept uncontrollably; after all, they were just two children! Li Er, acting as the head of the household, said with solemn composure, "Good! As an imperial prince and a state marquis, he ought to bear such responsibilities. Go back and tell Meng Baolai to secure the valley and ensure no mishaps occur there.

"Since the Marquis of Chang'an has begun the human trials, it means the Valley of Pustules will soon emerge. If those pustules escape, you all know what will become of Chang'an. Therefore, tell Meng Baolai that if he fails, he is to pour animal fat over the valley and unleash a rain of flaming arrows to burn everything to ashes. Remember—everything."

A man's heart must be ruthless. Li Shimin sternly admonished him repeatedly. For the safety of Chang'an, let alone losing one son, he was prepared to sacrifice several more if necessary.

"This humble subordinate understands, and Commander Meng knows as well. The moment the experiment began, the Commander gave orders that any living soul attempting to leave the valley must be executed by fire without exception."

"The movements inside the valley must be reported constantly. Do not spare horses; report any development at the very first moment, regardless of whether it is day or night. Do you understand?"

"This subordinate obeys the imperial decree."

"Dismissed! Yan Dong, reward him with five taels of silver and a bolt of cloth. Let him rest properly before he leaves."

Li Shimin said with a smile. The young soldier's face was filled with such excitement that he almost forgot how to walk. The Emperor thought so highly of him; this lifetime was worth it.

Only the couple remained in the room. Li Shimin said with depression and sorrow, "Suspend court for tomorrow; my heart is truly unsettled."

"So is mine, Erlang. I wish to go to the ancestral temple to pray for the two children, hoping the ancestors will protect their safe return."

"Very well! Tomorrow, the two of us will do nothing else; we will pray for them and those warriors at the ancestral temple, hoping our ancestors protect them."

Li Shimin embraced Changsun and spoke softly. People hundreds of miles away probably did not know that Li Shimin was suspending court for the first time just to pray for them.

That very night, the hundred or so people in the valley did not close their eyes for a single moment. Perhaps never in their lives had they felt such anxiety. Cai Cong developed a fever, chills, dizziness, and weakness, needing assistance even to urinate.

All of this matched the initial symptoms of the pustule plague. This meant the valley where they resided might have already become a ghost town. Everyone was filled with suspense and unease, and not a single soul slept that night.

Even the four physicians, who had long since embraced the notion of sacrificing themselves for the greater cause, felt lost. The realization that they were about to face the invisible and intangible demon of pustules brought a overwhelming sense of powerlessness to their hearts.

A depressed mood hung over everyone's face. Three days later, Cai Cong and the other human guinea pigs' fevers broke, and their vigor returned, except that they began to break out in pustules, their bodies covered in small bumps.

By this time, no one held onto a single shred of illusion anymore. The flag-bearer signaled that the pustule plague had arrived, and security needed to be tightened further.

Everyone carved their last wills onto stone tablets. Only after the people outside thoroughly scorched the valley entrance with raging fires would they dare to collect the final testaments—every single word filled with guilt toward parents, wives, and children, yet reflecting their own unregretful resolve.

When Li Shimin read Li Tai's farewell letter to his family, he could no longer control his tears, which streamed down his face before all the civil and military officials.

***

Farewell to my family, do not grieve, do not yearn. In times of great tribulation, there must be those who step forward to face the peril. Your son departs.

"Make stone rubings and print gazettes to circulate throughout the empire. Apart from the Crown Prince, I have another outstanding imperial prince and a loyal, brave Marquis of Chang'an."

Li Shimin declared with an unchallengeable tone. Li Chenqian swept his fierce gaze across everyone present; anyone who dared to stand in opposition would be deeply remembered by him.

After reading the stone inscriptions, the officials offered no words of objection. Even their fiercest political rivals would not stand up to voice opposition at such a moment.

"Where is the stone inscription of the Marquis of Chang'an? Why is there none of his here? Could it be that he..."

Fang Xuanling examined all the rubbings and, noticing the absence of the Marquis of Chang'an's, asked with a hint of suspicion.

"This..."

The messenger found it somewhat difficult to speak, hesitating with words dangling on his lips.

"This what? Do not stammer."

"The Marquis must have been delirious from the fever. He left no stone inscription, stating only that for thousands of generations to come, all humanity would live under the grace of his benevolence," the messenger said with sorrow. If not for burning up with fever, how could he have uttered such boundless, outlandish boasts?

"Did the Marquis of Chang'an truly speak those words?"

Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling cried out almost simultaneously. The monarch and his subject exchanged glances and burst into hearty laughter; Cai Cong's words indicated that he was exceptionally confident.

"Fang Yuan, does my word still carry any weight?"

"Madam, please spare this humble servant!" Fang Yuan bowed and pleaded repeatedly, begging Sister Cai not to ask him anymore where the Marquis had gone.

"You must speak! Not only has my son vanished this time, but he also took so many people with him. Has he gone off to do something dangerous again?"

Fang Yuan wanted to say no, but he did not know what else to say. He had led a hundred men to protect Sister Cai for over two months, capturing countless assassins, hitmen, and poisoners. Right now, it was not just Cai Cong who was in danger; Sister Cai was in danger too.

"That means it is very dangerous. People in the estate have kept disappearing for no reason lately, and some even ate my meals right in front of the guards. Is someone trying to harm me?"

Sister Cai said calmly. Over the past year or so, her heart had grown much stronger—at least she would no longer faint at the slightest provocation.

"These villains wish to persecute the Marquis for their own selfish gains, and wanting to kill you is simply to retaliate against the Marquis."

"Say no more. From now on, we no longer need to handle these matters covertly. Whatever happens each day will be dealt with right here in the council hall. The Marquis is away, but the Marquis's Estate is still standing. I want to let them know that whoever tries to harm my son will pay with their lives."

Sister Cai spoke with fierce intensity. Had her complexion not been deathly pale and her hands trembling, this might have been the second most majestic moment of her entire life.

"Then may this subordinate deal with them openly?"

"Do whatever must be done without too many reservations. Whatever happens, this mistress will shoulder the blame," Sister Cai declared with sweeping authority. After that, a row of bamboo poles was erected at the village entrance, hung with bloodied, mutilated corpses. Some were servants of the estate, some were passing petty merchants, and others were impoverished scholar-commoners who had once knelt bitterly outside the academy gates begging for education.

The moment Cai Cong entered the mountains, all these monsters and demons that had been lurking for unknown periods jumped out. Not only did they want to kill Sister Cai, but members of rival scholarly factions also tried to abscond with the manuscripts from Cai Cong's academy office. Zhang Wen pinned one such culprit to the academy wall with a single arrow; the corpse had already rotted, yet it remained firmly nailed there, with no one daring to collect the body.

This action dealt a heavy blow to those with malicious intentions. Among those corpses, only the faces remained intact, and some recognized that a portion of them were long-established martial arts experts from the pugilistic world.

No longer did anyone treat Cai Village as a place where one could come and go freely. The New Army was terrifying; though veterans like Zhang Wen were aging, their experience was unmatched by the New Army.

A simple patrol of the perimeter was often enough to identify the routes thieves considered safe, and setting up ambushes in those spots proved effective every time.

Gradually, Cai Village became a forbidden zone. Jianghu martial artists no longer dared to set foot there, regardless of how high the bounty offered. Those unidentified operatives also vanished; every loyal assassin was precious, and losing even one caused heartache, so no one would waste their lives in meaningless places.

At the end of the month, news came from the valley that the Marquis of Chang'an and the ten other human guinea pigs were safe and sound. They had already begun experiments with a second batch of test subjects, and the first batch of guinea pigs was tending to the second batch without contracting any further infections. They requested Li Shimin to send a group of women and children to test whether the method was equally effective on females.

When the news spread, Chang'an boiled with excitement. The demonic pustule plague could no longer wreak havoc among mankind, and people no longer feared contracting this horrifying disease.

It was impossible for Li Shimin to seize ordinary women for experiments, so he posted an imperial notice seeking extraordinary women of great benevolence and righteousness.

Days after the notice was posted, no one responded. No matter how noble the reputation sounded, nothing was more important than one's own life, and not everyone was willing to sacrifice themselves for others.

Just as everyone was at their wit's end, more than forty female Daoist priests from Ganye Temple submitted a joint petition to Li Shimin, stating they were unwilling to sit idly by until their natural lifespans ended, and wished to use their remaining frail bodies to cultivate merit for the next life by testing the medicine for the people of the world.

Li Shimin immediately picked up his brush and wrote six characters: "Heroic women are no match for men," and arranged for people to escort them to the valley.

Cai Cong stood on no ceremony and immediately inoculated them with the cowpox. As facts proved, this method still carried a certain degree of peril.