The Collection of The End

——A.D. 177——

In the fifth year of Xiping, there was a great plague in Sili. The main symptoms were chickenpox, but also typhoid, tuberculosis, and head wind. For a time, Luoyang was full of coughs and sneezes. Because these plagues are easily contagious, difficult to cure, and easy to cure after cure. It left scars and sequelae, so although there were no dead yet, Emperor Ling was still terrified. He ordered Luoyang to be sealed off, with no entry or exit allowed. At the same time, it was forbidden for more than three people to travel together, and doctors were recruited from all over the country to come for treatment.

Therefore, when Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan were walking on the streets of Luoyang's West Market, they saw almost no pedestrians. Only soldiers on official business came and went. Occasionally, soldiers noticed these two young men who looked like brothers and ignored them or spoke to them.

"This is due to lack of knowledge," Liu Bei shook his head: "All currently diagnosed diseases are 'contact infection', and if there is no disease, it will not infect others. It should not have made such a big noise."

"But 'that one' is afraid," Gongsun Zan raised his chin towards the palace: "It is said that anyone there who dares to cough will be immediately bagged and taken away."

"Really..." Liu Bei sighed: "Brother Bogui, if the foreign races in Liaodong are infected with the plague, how will they usually deal with it?"

“Set it on fire, spread it with lime, and bury it deep.”

"..."

"I'm talking about livestock." Gongsun Zan added seriously.

"I didn't understand it as anything else," Liu Bei said, changing the topic: "The teacher's documents only have records such as 'a certain month of a certain year, a plague in a certain place, a number of deceased people', etc., but there are almost no coping methods, and there is no understanding of the current situation. help."

"No, the records you found are very helpful. At least they never thought of these measures." Gongsun Zan stopped and looked at a shop in the distance.

It was originally supposed to be a cloth shop, but now it looks more like a dyeing workshop. Looking around, there are many large bronze cauldrons set on fires. Boiling water is boiling in them, and cloth and other small daily items are being cooked and transported back and forth. The cloth servants and minor officials all covered their heads and faces with yellow linen facecloths, and some of these facecloths seemed to be cooking in the big cauldron. Occasionally, some people would nod when they saw Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan in the distance.

As the two disciples who assisted the great sage Lu Zhi in proposing the "anti-gas mask" and "boiling water disinfection method", they have a very high status in the hearts of the servants and soldiers who need to enter and leave the patient's mansion. Although they are quite busy, they at least avoid being The tragic situation of isolation after infection.

It is helpful, of course. After finding out the coping method of "covering the face with thick cloth and pouring boiling utensils" from the history books, most of the people who knew about it expressed goodwill to Liu Bei. The warm current cannot be faked, and the So I say "most" because that small group of people thought that this was Lu Zhi's special move to make his students famous. In fact, the "disinfection method" was completely discovered by this great sage himself.

"This is just a precaution for healthy people. It still doesn't help those who are already sick." Liu Bei gestured to that side and did not approach. Otherwise, he would definitely be stopped by the soldiers who were trying to prevent the spread of the plague. After all, no matter what method he used, No matter how effective it is, those servants are still a dangerous group of people who come into close contact with patients.

"Do you still want to cure those doctors? Xuande, you have to remember that you are just a scholar who has not yet been crowned. You are no better than Zhang Ji, Dong Feng and Hua Tuo in treating diseases and saving people." Gongsun Zan said.

"Brother Bogui," Liu Bei turned to look at Gongsun Zan: "Please name any more doctors currently gathered in Luoyang."

"Well, Ge Xuan? Uh, um... we should go." Gongsun Zan looked around and talked about it.

Ge Xuan is an alchemist, and he invented the Five Stone Powder. It is said that after being presented to him by Shi Changshi, he was rewarded by the emperor for it. However, because the refined elixir was ineffective against the plague, he temporarily lost the emperor's heart and disappeared. .

"Even if you listen to the so-called rumors that 'three famous doctors have gathered in Luoyang, and the plague can be eliminated in an instant,' these plagues have clear treatment and recovery time.

It is not something that can be cured instantly by skilled medical practitioners. Liu Bei finally said this.

"Haha, of course I know this." Gongsun Zan humbly accepted.

When it could actually affect him, the emperor's decrees were timely and accurate to an astonishing degree. Not long after the plague broke out, in addition to Dong Feng, who was originally from a family of imperial doctors, the long-famous Hua Tuo of Qiao County and the newly famous Nanyang Zhang Zhongjing was all recruited to Luoyang, and all of them were given the title of "Grand Tutor", thus becoming known as the "Three Great Doctors".

In addition, since Taiping Dao's "talisman water" can only heal injuries but not diseases, its reputation has dropped a lot after the outbreak of the plague. Although Taiping Dao has long claimed that "talisman water" can only cure "if you leave it alone, you will "Good" injury, but it is still questioned by many people, and his influence has almost completely withdrawn from Sili. Among them, there seem to be ten constant servants secretly fueling the fire, and they don't know what they want to do.

————

"Here we are," Liu Bei put aside his worries for the time being, stopped and started knocking on the door of a blacksmith shop, with a smile on his face: "Brother Zhang? Brother Su? Xuande is here to visit."

This is naturally the shop of the blacksmith Zhang Shiping. After he ran away in anger and was persuaded by Liu Bei to come back, he found that many old blacksmiths had been forced to leave Luoyang. Even if the remaining people were gathered together, they would not be able to compete with the inferior blacksmiths. The half-baked blacksmiths who occupied the market share competed with each other. Then, before he and his friend Su Shuang could come up with a solution, the plague suddenly broke out. Now no one could try to drive away the other.

After this incident, Zhang Shiping realized something and planned to use the treasured ore to buy a weapon for each of Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan, and then go directly to Youzhou with Su Shuang to sell horses. Gongsun Zan said that his family provided high-quality weapons and he was willing to give his own The share merger was handed over to Liu Bei, but Liu Bei couldn't refuse, so he proposed to build a pair of double-pronged swords.

"Xuande, you came just in time. The two swords are ready. If you don't come today, I will go find you!" After opening the door and welcoming Liu Bei into the house, Zhang Shiping seemed quite excited. He even called Liu Bei " "Little Master Liu" has all been changed.

"I think Brother Zhang will not let me down." Liu Bei looked around the blacksmith shop and almost immediately spotted the sand mold immersed in the sink: "I wonder if it has been cooled?"

Liu Bei has not had a dominant hand since he was a child. His left and right hands are equally flexible, so he tends to choose two weapons. After the double swords, double copper hammers, double axes, double hooks, double halberds and other cumbersome weapons are eliminated, only The double sword met his requirements, and it couldn't be a short sword similar to a dagger.

So, taking advantage of the outbreak of the plague and the city under martial law, Zhang Shiping spent a lot of time making these two swords.

"It should have been formed a long time ago, but I think they also hope that Xuande will be the first person to see them," Zhang Shiping rubbed his hands with some excitement: "Go, Xuande, meet your partner who shares life and death."

"I don't remember any of the outbreaks of plague affecting the head..." Gongsun Zan looked up at the roof in embarrassment.

Although Liu Bei was usually steady, he was only a sixteen-year-old boy after all. He couldn't help but be a little excited when he thought of a pair of swords made purely for himself, waiting there. He walked over and picked up the heavy mold from the sink and placed it on the table. Lay it flat on the top, take a deep breath, and then slowly open it.

Buzz - Zheng -

With the sound of two swords in succession, the blacksmith shop was first as dark as late at night, and then as bright as noon. After Liu Bei struggled to recover his eyes from the flash, he saw that there were two black and one white molds in the mold. Long swords with straight handles are placed side by side.

Liu Bei's eyes were first attracted to the white sword. It was slender and light. The sharp silver blade had a faint sense of transparency, and the hilt was as pure white as jade, which made Liu Bei subconsciously want to draw his hand back.

Then, Liu Bei noticed the black sword. Its color was extremely thick black. Even if there was a dazzling white sword beside it, there was no reflection at all. It was like a piece of black jade that could absorb all light. After looking at it for a long time, Can't even look away.

"They are made from the black magnetic meteorite that I have collected for many years and the extraterrestrial ice crystals that fell in Bingzhou last year." Seeing Liu Bei's fascination, Zhang Shiping also started to introduce with honor, "When I first started building, Originally I didn't want to make them into such exquisite shapes. After all, they are weapons and are meant to be used on the battlefield. However, after I started building them, I realized that making them anything other than what they are today would be a waste of resources and unforgivable. Their behavior is what they are born to do.”

"Yes." Liu Bei listened carefully, and at the same time reached out to hold them respectively. Such a powerful weapon, if...

call--

The blacksmith didn't feel the wind blowing yet, but Gongsun Zan, who had seen the frontier troops fighting on the border of Youzhou, couldn't help but narrowed his eyes. It was a kind of wind that could be felt even if it was not directed at him, like a real killing blow. Yi, look at the direction the wind is blowing... the palace? Ten permanent attendants? It's not surprising, but if it is other goals, then this little junior brother will not be easy.

"Brother Zhang, have you named them?" The gust of wind stopped as soon as it started. Liu Bei turned around with two exquisite long swords and asked with an almost unchanged smile on his face.

"Hmm..." Zhang Shiping frowned: "Although I forged them after realizing the black and white in the world, it would be too difficult for me to give them a name that suits the occasion. It's up to you, Xuande, to name it. Bar."

"If that's the case, you're welcome." Liu Bei nodded slightly, raised his swords in front of him, and said, "We are in darkness, but our hearts are toward the light. The purpose of explaining this darkness is to drive them away one day. "

Ah, as expected, Gongsun Zan thought, this is the kind of person his junior brother is, and he will do great things one day.

"So, I named them respectively -" Liu Bei looked at the black and white swords and said solemnly: "[Explanation] and [Chasing Darkness]."