The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 2306 - 2281: Upgrade

Bai Erlang said, "Smallpox originally came from foreign countries into the Central Plains. If they are afraid of smallpox, they shouldn’t go west. The further west, the more people get smallpox, right?"

Assistant General Nie was not well-read; he only knew that smallpox was terrifying and truly didn’t know where it came from. He couldn’t help but turn his head and ask, "Smallpox was transmitted from the Western Regions to the Central Plains?"

Because Manbao is a doctor, Bai Erlang followed them while flipping through some medical books, plus her discussions with Bai Shan, so he knew a bit more. He nodded and said, "Yes, it is said that during the Han dynasty, when fighting in the Western Regions, too many people died on the battlefield, leading to rampant outbreaks of epidemics. Some soldiers contracted the disease, and once recovered, their faces were pockmarked, hence the name ’smallpox’."

"This disease was transmitted back to the Central Plains by soldiers, and later this disease has inexplicably never been eradicated," Bai Erlang paused and then said, "I heard Manbao mention it before; it’s particularly formidable. A single living pustule could fall to the ground and survive for a year, perhaps even longer, despite being buried in dust, exposed to the sun, or washed by rain."

Assistant General Nie and the others were shocked.

"Moreover, it can be hosted on other animals, so it always breaks out unexpectedly. Unless every person carries a seed of smallpox within them, this disease can hardly be eradicated."

Assistant General Nie and the others fell into deep thought. There had never been a moment when they felt the cowpox formula was so important.

So Assistant General Nie diligently gathered information, although news remained scarce, he managed to obtain some bits and pieces.

While documenting, he wondered, "Did General Guo initially not pay attention? Even if it’s a bit tricky to gather intelligence, surely he could have heard something, right?"

Mr. Zhuang lowered his eyes and said, "The Western Regions are unstable, and General Guo is very busy; his attention might not be on this matter."

Assistant General Nie thought about the busy Protectorate of Anxi during this period and felt that Mr. Zhuang’s words were true, but he still had some dissatisfaction in his heart.

He felt that General Guo hadn’t taken the Emperor’s orders seriously; otherwise, why would we need to make this trip?

Though their journey wasn’t a loss.

But before Assistant General Nie could express any dissatisfaction, General Guo personally led the troops on an expedition.

Of course, this had little to do with their diplomatic mission, as the Protectorate only sent someone to advise them not to go west or south unless necessary.

They planned to attack Kucha, and if someone from the mission inadvertently got caught up near there, it would just mean serving the nation with loyalty.

Mr. Zhuang responded on behalf of the group, sent the person away, then turned back to Bai Erlang and the others, "Did you hear that?"

Bai Erlang hadn’t spoken, but Assistant General Nie unceremoniously snorted, "Lord Zhuang, General Guo is too arrogant."

Mr. Zhuang smiled, "He meant well."

During this period, they were engaged in remote competition, basically returning to Liu Huan what was done to them earlier. However, Bai Erlang and his three young companions confronted the front, preventing General Guo from using many tactics. Moreover, his son didn’t stand on his side, making it impossible to incite a conflict between the ’youngsters’.

Under these circumstances, it was remarkable that General Guo sent someone to remind them.

Yet clearly not out of goodwill, prompted by his son, he reluctantly sent someone to notify the diplomatic mission, snorted, and said to Guo Zhao, "We’ve told them; whether they appreciate it or not is their matter."

Guo Zhao replied, "Father, whether they appreciate it is their concern; our Protectorate has fulfilled its duty, and that’s enough."

He didn’t want his father to dwell on old grievances, so he changed the topic, "Father, the passage is open, the letter sent out more than half a month ago should have reached Yumen Pass by now. I wonder if the court will send troops to aid us."

General Guo said, "His Majesty is ambitious; the Western Turkic has been inimical to the court. The small countries in the Western Regions sway back and forth, accept our Great Jin’s food and silk, yet seek Western Turkic’s favor. And now, just because Xiazhou has an epidemic, they have rebel thoughts. His Majesty will surely not tolerate this. Rest assured, once the documentation reaches the capital, His Majesty will definitely dispatch reinforcements."

Kucha has a large population and plenty of soldiers and horses, with Western Turkic at their back. Relying solely on the several thousand troops of the Protectorate of Anxi would indeed be difficult to conquer completely.

But they could first capture some territories. With Junior General Meng guarding Tubo, the problems are not significant.

Guo Zhao agreed and headed to Kucha with his father.

Once the battle commenced, General Guo had no time to deal with Liu Huan, and those old grievances were temporarily set aside.

Bai Shan and the others were, at that time, in the wilderness, far away from Kucha and even Xizhou, unaware of these matters.

They had already crossed a desert, arriving at a grassland. They asked some villagers nearby yesterday, who had also seen a fireball fall, and one place was even further ahead.

In their words, "First there was a loud noise, we rushed out to see a huge fireball descending over our heads. Luckily, it landed in the desert, away from our village; otherwise, there would be casualties."

Bai Shan immediately said to Manbao, "It shouldn’t be far now."

Manbao agreed; they had been out for so long and finally received good news. As she was about to rejoice, the always busy Teacher Mo also went online.

He urgently contacted Manbao, knowing it was daytime at her location and not conducive for conversation, so he directly emailed her, informing, "The master system agreed to upgrade system 0531 by one level, with the alliance and encyclopedia jointly bearing the cost."

Manbao’s eyes sparkled, and Keke let out a beep, notifying, "Upgrading, temporarily shutting down, please be aware, Host."

With that, the voice disappeared.

Manbao could only see the system’s space, even the mall was offline.

But Manbao was very happy and held Bai Shan’s hand, shaking it excitedly, "Shall we stop for a day of rest?"

Bai Shan turned to her and asked, "Are you tired?"

Manbao shook her head and whispered to him, "We can wait for some good news."

Bai Shan didn’t ask what the good news was. He nodded and then said to Daji, "Find a place nearby to camp; we’ll rest for a day and move tomorrow."

Daji agreed and sent someone to find a water source; camping near water is more convenient.

Manbao climbed onto a small hill, looked into the distance, and said, "I wonder if the other team has any news."

After leaving, Bai Shan gathered information from nearby villages and refined the directional map.

Then, once they entered the desert, they split directions in front of the known crater. They only took two villagers as guides, while the rest formed another team heading in another direction, calculated by Bai Shan, wondering if they could find anything.

If they can’t find anything, they should be turning back in a few days.

Manbao was suddenly awakened at dawn by a familiar buzzing sound. She immediately got up from her mat, slightly closed her eyes, and contacted Keke.

Keke updated the system, greeted the host on the tablet, "Host, upgrade complete, rebooting scanning program..."

Manbao could hear the joy in its voice.