At the end of May, outside Yanzhou City.
With the arrival and departure of a "buzzing" sound, all the green in the fields around Yanzhou City turned into dust. The locusts were flying wildly in the sky, like dark clouds, constantly hovering over Yanzhou City, seemingly looking for anything to eat.
This is the locust plague. At present, this locust plague has swept through the northern and southern Beijing, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Henan. Everywhere it goes has become a wilderness, and people everywhere are hungry.
The locust plague left the people with no harvest. The locusts ate all the food that people could eat, and then caused famine.
The sanity of the victims who gathered outside Yanzhou City had been exhausted by hunger. Immediately, tens of thousands of victims were hijacked by bandits and began to besiege Yanzhou City. The huge city suddenly turned into a battlefield of flesh and blood.
The news that Yanzhou City was besieged by disaster victims soon reached Lingshan Guard, and everyone in Lingshan Guard suddenly became nervous. The war in Yanzhou City is like sparks in a firewood pile, which will cause a prairie fire at some point.
So Lingshan Guards immediately issued an order to the Qianhu Station and Baihu Station everywhere: Immediately clear out the bandits within their jurisdiction and disperse the gathered victims!
In Wangjiazhuang Hundred Households, Liu Yan looked at the order in his hand and couldn't help but shook his head in disappointment. In the eyes of those Shangguan, whether the victims will riot is already the biggest issue now, and it has even surpassed the life and death of hundreds of thousands or millions of victims across Shandong!
"The situation is starting to get out of control!"
Liu Yan sighed, and he still remembered that there were records of this locust plague in history books: "In May of the 11th year of Chongzhen, there was a severe drought of locusts in Beijing, Shandong, Henan, and Zhejiang."
The final result of this locust plague is that "there is no grass in the fields and nine houses are empty" everywhere.
After Liu Yan sighed, he summoned all the subordinates in Wangjiazhuang. Miao Shao, Xu Ming, Yue Ming and other general flag officers came one after another, as did the three chiefs Tan Xiaoda, Xu Le and Zhao Min.
Liu Yan looked at everyone. When he got married, chiefs Tan Xiaoda and Xu Le came to congratulate him. However, the chief medical officer, Bao Xuezhen, was busy researching medicines used in the military and did not come. He just asked Tan A congratulatory message from Xiaoda.
"Why don't you see Mr. Bao?"
Liu Yan asked doubtfully: "Is Chief Bao still in the hospital?"
Tan Xiaoda said: "Your Excellency, Chief Bao is indeed still in the hospital. It has been more than ten days. My subordinates heard that Chief Bao is preparing Marching Powder and Xiaoshu Pills. The prescriptions are still somewhat defective, so they are still unable to get away. .”
Liu Yan nodded and said with a smile: "It seems that I did not choose the wrong person. Chief Bao is really scholarly, so I feel relieved."
Then Liu Yan got into the topic and talked about business directly to everyone.
"...You all know, right? Now our Lingshan Guard has several bandits making trouble, and victims from all over the country are constantly pouring in. The situation is very serious. According to the order sent by the thousands of households in front of Xiahe Village, our thousands of households The bandits in the territory are also ready to move."
Miao Shao said excitedly: "Sir, please give the order. When will we send out troops to suppress the bandits?"
Xu Ming was even more direct, clasping his fists and saying, "I am willing to be the vanguard and lead my troops to investigate the bandit situation everywhere, so that I can explore the way forward for you."
Liu Yan smiled and asked the two of them to sit down first, and said: "Suppressing the bandits is certain, but sending troops this time is secondary. Arranging the victims who are crossing the border is the top priority."
Everyone's expressions were grim, Yue Ming clasped his fists and said: "What your Excellency said is absolutely true. I remember that Dr. Xu Guangqi once said in the early years: There are three causes of severe hunger: water, drought, locusts, high and low ground, and rain. There are some remote areas where floods and droughts are disasters, but there are still some who are spared. However, when the drought is extreme, locusts will appear. For thousands of miles, all vegetation, cattle and horse hair, flags and flags will be wiped out. The damage is particularly worse than floods. This locust plague is among all kinds of disasters. Among them, it can be said to be the most dangerous. And those victims have nothing to live on at this time, and even as time goes by, the victims in various places may have to exchange their children for food!"
Liu Yan was very worried about this. The consequences of the locust plague were very serious, but it did not mean that the locust plague itself caused great disasters to the people, but that there would be a drought before the locust plague. This is what the ancients said "Prolonged drought brings locusts."
In fact, the ancestors of China have been fighting locusts for thousands of years. By this time, the people of the Ming Dynasty also showed great wisdom and learned experience from production.
One of the people who must be mentioned is scientist Xu Guangqi. Xu Guangqi was proficient in agriculture and recorded a large number of methods of resisting locusts in his "Agricultural Policy Complete Book" and "Locust Control".
Some of the methods used by later generations to control locust plagues were based on the experience of ancient working people. For example, to eliminate locusts by digging ditches, you usually use cloth or wooden boards in the field. When the locusts fall into the ditch, they are quickly buried or killed. This is recorded in Xu Guangqi's "Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs": "When the nymphs jump, they must dig ditches to catch them. The method is to look at the nymphs everywhere and dig a long ditch in advance, two feet deep and two feet wide. The ditches are about ten feet apart. A pit for burial.”
There are also methods to prevent and control natural enemies. It is recorded in "Locust Eradication": "Ducks can eat them before they are free of flight. Hundreds of ducks will enter the rice fields, and the locusts will be gone in an instant. It is also the same method as catching locusts in the south of the Yangtze River." That is us. What is now called the "Duck Army" will still be used in later generations.
However, using ducks to defend against locusts can only be applied to regional locust plagues, and has little effect on locust swarms that have formed a gathering shape. But this method is also conducive to increasing farmers' income, which can be said to be two birds with one stone for many ordinary people in ancient times.
And for the first time, Xu Guangqi systematically proposed to control locusts from the source and completely eliminate the comfortable environment where locusts breed. He wrote in "Removal of Locusts": "Therefore, those who dry up the lake are the origin of locusts. If you want to get rid of locusts, figure This is the place." The "dry lake" is a lake that has dried up due to drought and lack of rain.
At the same time, the people of Ming Dynasty also learned about the phototaxis of locusts. Nets are set up at night to catch them. Some local officials even offered heavy rewards, with a pound of locusts being exchanged for a pound of rice or a pound of flour.
Although the ancient working people came up with various ways to fight the locust plague, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the productivity levels in various places had been devastated, and the situation in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty had become increasingly corrupt. In the face of large-scale locust plagues, , no method can be implemented, and people everywhere can only cry out helplessly when they see the locusts all over the sky. They watch helplessly as the land they have worked hard to cultivate suddenly becomes all vegetation and trees, and the hearts of the people suddenly become as desolate as the land. Then, Under the coercion of bandits from all over the country, he embarked on the road of violent resistance to the imperial court.
Liu Yan said: "Although our population in Wangjiazhuang is already large now, I think it is still not enough. We need to continue to recruit victims. I will notify Huolu Dun and Tunbao of this matter: all victims passing by will be We need to provide as much relief as possible and then turn them into military households on the spot to enrich the population everywhere."
Regarding the recruitment of refugees, Tan Xiaoda and Xu Le naturally had no objections, but Zhao Min and Yue Ming stood up almost at the same time.
Zhao Min said sternly: "Your Excellency cares about the people, and I admire you very much. Please accept your respects!"
After saying that, Zhao Min knelt down and knelt on the ground. Liu Yan hurriedly stepped forward to help Zhao Min up. Just as he was about to speak, Yue Ming on the side said, "Sir, I think it is inappropriate to recruit disaster victims."
"oh?"
Liu Yan first stopped Zhao Min who was about to retort, and then said with a smile: "What's wrong with this?"
"My subordinates believe that there are two things wrong with this matter."
"Speaking."
"First: Your Excellency is just the officer in charge of the Wangjiazhuang Hundred Household Office. If it were placed on the northern border, the population under your control would only be a few thousand, and the military strength would only be over a hundred. But now, the population and military strength under your control are only a few thousand. How many?"
"Now the population of Wangjiazhuang is already large, and the defense of Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village relies on the military force of important people, so I ignore your request to expand the army. But what do other superiors think of this matter?"
Yue Ming said worriedly: "Sir, although the world is in turmoil at the moment, the imperial court is a imperial court after all and has its own laws. I am worried that my lord will be caught for recruiting people and expanding the army. Is this because Something big happened!"
"Second: Once the recruitment of victims begins, there will definitely be many victims arriving one after another before the locust plague passes. By then, to accommodate them, a large amount of wasteland will need to be reclaimed, farm tools, cattle, and seeds will need to be purchased. To build houses in Huoludun and Tunpu, we need to buy food rations, warm clothing, etc. How much food will it cost?"
"Although our Wangjiazhuang Hundred Household Office now has tens of thousands of taels of silver in reserve, but these silvers spent on thousands or even tens of thousands of victims are like pebbles falling into the sea, and they will not stir up anything at all. Splashy!"
After listening to Yue Ming's words, everyone's faces became very ugly. Obviously, the two reasons Yue Ming put forward had made everyone worried.
Liu Yan looked at everyone's expressions, suddenly laughed, and said: "General Yue Qi is in his heart, I know. And I have also thought of these two points that General Yue Qi said, but even so, things still have to be done. of."
Yue Ming said in surprise: "Sir, why is this?"
Naturally, Liu Yan couldn't tell Yue Ming and others clearly. He couldn't tell everyone that the slave-builders would rush into Shandong this year. He had to prepare in advance and accumulate population and troops in advance, right?
So Liu Yan said: "I can't tell you the specific reasons now, but I can tell you one thing. The two issues mentioned by General Yue Qi are no longer a problem based on the current world situation."
Everyone looked at each other, feeling that Liu Yan was being alarmist. Although there were armies of bandits raging in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and other places, and there were armies of slaves outside the customs, but in everyone's eyes, the Ming Dynasty was still as stable as Mount Tai. . So what do Liu Yan’s words mean?
Miao Shao looked at Liu Yan hesitantly, thought for a moment, and then said: "Sir, I think that even if we want to take in the victims, we must control the number of people. Each Huolu Dun and Tunbao can take in hundreds of people. That’s fine, just give appropriate relief to the remaining victims.”
Xu Ming and Zhao Min did not speak, while Yue Ming voiced his agreement.
Liu Yan shook his head and said: "Don't talk about this anymore, just do as I say. Let's talk about suppressing bandits."
When everyone saw this, they didn't know what to say, but the worries in their hearts still didn't dissipate.
Liu Yan didn't care about this and said: "Mr. Zhao, you immediately draft a few orders and send them to Dapanbao, Huangshan Dun, Fengshan Dun, and Shagou Dun early tomorrow morning, and order Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Wang Bo, and Zhang Yi and Shen Tuo came immediately to discuss the matter." m.
"yes."
"Chief Tan and Chief Xu will start preparing spare supplies for the soldiers of various ministries tomorrow."
"yes."
"General Yue Banner, immediately prepare money and food, three days' rations for the officers and soldiers of each department, and one month's military pay as a backup."
"yes!"
Some people died, but not completely...
