Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 518 - 469: Ten Answers

Chapter 518: Chapter 469: Ten Answers
Question One: Was the lockdown too hasty? Since a passenger collapsed at the train station, Taiyuan Prefecture sealed its city gates. They summoned local soldiers, Doctors, and officials from Shuo Province, claiming that personnel from Shuo had accumulated sufficient experience to combat the plague in Taiyuan Prefecture.
However, since the lockdown began, the plague in Taiyuan Prefecture has not subsided; instead, it has intensified. Like a spreading dye, it contaminates even the innocent common people yet to fall ill. Would the situation have been better if only the train station and its surrounding vicinity had been quarantined?
Was the decision to lock down the entire city a rational measure based on facts, or was it a deceitful ploy to curry favor with superiors and garner political achievements?
Question Two: Has the death toll been undered? I was utterly shocked to learn from a casual conversation with a friend that the local coffin shops have been completely taken over by Government Officials. The shopkeepers and clerks are working in shifts around the clock, tirelessly producing coffins. It is evident that the actual number of deaths far exceeds the information published daily in the newspapers. Inside the coffin shops, unclaimed turbans are scattered everywhere...
Question Three: How much longer can the people in the city endure starvation? Are the local elders and common people aware that even before the lockdown, the Taiyuan Government had already used funds specifically allocated for plague containment on useless purchases like Jianzhou Cats? The entire sum of one million strings of coins has been almost entirely squandered. They have recently incurred debts with Liu Guang Bank. The daily food rations are also dwindling. To my knowledge, one father was forcibly taken into quarantine, leaving his son and daughter at home unattended; they starved to death...
Question Four: Are the officials merely performing their duties superficially, their rigid adherence to protocol extinguishing their humanity?
Question Five: To date, how many officials have been disciplined? Why do the newspapers consistently good news but not the bad?
Question Six: How many more must die?
Question Seven: Has the lockdown been effective?
Question Eight: Was the lockdown necessary?
Question Nine: When will the lockdown end?
Question Ten: Does the Taiyuan Government have a clear conscience?
He Fanshuang examined the pamphlet with great interest. When she encountered sentences that were particularly resonant and emotionally stirring, she couldn’t help but applaud and read them aloud.
"A speck of dust from the times, falling upon an individual, becomes a mountain."
Standing outside the hall, Government Official Sun Er was so anxious he wanted to wring his hands. Yet, he dared not speak out due to He Fanshuang’s status.
It’s already this late, and she’s still going on about ’mountains’? If you have any orders, just give them!
"The person who wrote this pamphlet is undoubtedly a master," He Fanshuang said indifferently. "The sentences are straightforward, devoid of obscure allusions or even more advanced vocabulary. This ensures that everyone in the city, including those uneducated or illiterate, can understand it. Are there similar pamphlets elsewhere in the city?"
The last question was directed at Sun Er, who suddenly snapped to attention and hurriedly replied, "Yes. I found this one on a street in the South City Market. On my way here, I heard from other colleagues that similar pamphlets have appeared in all market districts throughout the city. It’s suspected they were distributed in the wee hours of the morning."
Sun Er paused briefly, then asked cautiously, "Scholar He, should we dispatch men to collect these pamphlets from the populace?"
"It’s too late for that now," He Fanshuang stated calmly. "The people of Taiyuan Prefecture have already seen the pamphlet’s content and will inevitably discuss it with their neighbors in the coming days. If the Taiyuan Prefecture Government Office were to confiscate them now, it would only validate the pamphlet’s claims and prove the government’s guilty conscience."
She narrowed her eyes and spoke softly, "All the pamphlets have the same handwriting; even the ink spots on the edges are identical. This proves they were printed using a printing press. There are roughly two to three hundred printing presses in Taiyuan Prefecture—not too many, yet not too few. It’s not easy to investigate on short notice. Even if we were to find the source, it would be futile. Only a few influential groups or organizations in the city possess the capability to distribute so many pamphlets overnight. They could simply hire a Telekinesis Master to harness their Telekinesis and write tens of thousands of new pamphlets overnight."
Sun Er naturally knew this. The Taiyuan Government patrolled the streets every night. To deliver such a vast quantity of pamphlets without raising suspicion, naturally, only the noble families from North City could accomplish such a feat.
But he couldn’t show off his cleverness for a moment of vanity; he had to let his superiors be the ones to demonstrate brilliance.
"Then... what should we do?"
After a moment of thought, He Fanshuang casually pulled a sheet of paper from the drawer, picked up a pen, and unhesitatingly began to write.
A moment later, she put down her pen, took a talisman, and affixed it to the back of the paper. Using the heat from the talisman to dry the ink, she then flicked the paper to Sun Er, instructing, "Take this document to the Taiyuan Prefecture’s daily newspaper office. Have them publish it as the front-page headline. It must go out today."
"Yes."
Sun Er looked down. The article on the paper was precisely the "Ten Answers" to the "Ten Questions," addressing each point from the government’s perspective with sincere and truthful explanations. Furthermore, the text expressed suspicion regarding the identity of the pamphlet’s author. It invited the author to step out from the shadows and, if they could provide effective suggestions for curbing the plague, they would be rewarded with ten thousand strings of coins.
"Muzzling the people is more dangerous than damming a river; a blocked river, when it bursts, causes great harm—and the people are no different," He Fanshuang said. "Since he desires a platform to offer suggestions and counsel, I shall give him one."
"Scholar He," Sun Er said, his eyes flickering, "a young man under my command, Zhuo Sanlang, told me something. He said the person who wrote these pamphlets claims to be a mere commoner, yet they seem to know the situation in every market district in the city. They even have a firm grasp on some information not yet made public. Perhaps the pamphlet writer isn’t a specific individual at all, but rather..."
"The Wang Family as a whole?" He Fanshuang smiled faintly. "They want to distort the truth, using public opinion to pressure the government into changing its policies. A rather clever thought. After you leave the newspaper office, you and your subordinates are to go to other publication houses. Make copies of the same document and then deliver them to the front-line personnel. Have the volunteers sent by the Taiyuan Wang Family help spread this information. Ensure they read my ’Ten Answers’ aloud, door to door, especially in the confirmed quarantine sick houses, patiently explaining everything to the patients."
The confirmed quarantine sick houses? Doesn’t that mean...
Sun Er suddenly realized the implications, and a chill ran down his spine, as if he had been plunged into an icy abyss. His gaze towards He Fanshuang was now filled with shock and dread.
He Fanshuang’s face betrayed no emotion, but her hand involuntarily rested on the hilt of her Longsword at her waist.
Since the Wang Family wants to use such despicable tricks to sway public opinion and pressure the Taiyuan Government into ending the lockdown, then I’ll have the Wang Family members take a stroll through the most severely infected areas.