Kuan-yu, a general of the Three Kingdoms period who was later deified as the Sage of the Martial Arts, has always been Yan-shuei's most revered god. Disease persisted, and the residents invited Kuan-yu to exorcize the plague on his birthday (two days before Yuan-Hsiao), and he accompanied the exorcism by designing and igniting the rocket hive, a further effort to scare off the plague.
關聖帝君（關公）一直是鹽水人最崇敬的神祉，鎮民選擇農曆正月十三（關聖帝君生日）那天，迎請關老爺繞境驅邪；再設計比蜂窩還凶、有火光及爆炸聲的蜂砲，加上煙火、鞭炮，希望「多面夾攻」，把瘟神嚇走。