Locusts ravaged the lands under Liu Chengzong's rule.
What surprised the people of Lanzhou was that the first important task of the Generalissimo's Mansion was not to destroy the locusts, but to dispatch troops to seize territory from the Ming army.
On the night of the fifth day of September alone when the locusts first attacked Lanzhou, brigade commander Wang Wenxiu led the three battalions of Luo Rucai, Yang Chengzu, and Li Wanqing. They marched 160 miles in two days and one night, and arrived at Didao, where Lintao Acropolis is located, on the morning of the seventh day of the lunar month. After a brief rest day, the third battalion set off again on the night of the seventh day of the lunar month.
To the south of Lintao Prefecture is the Taozhou Military and Civilian Command and Envoy. In this land that is larger than Lintao Prefecture, the ruler is Yang Guolong, a Zhuo Tusi who possesses the skills of a scholar.
Chieftains are people who like to learn, because if a land is not closed enough, the emperor of the Central Plains Dynasty will not allow the appearance of chieftains. The closed environment brings a huge sense of security to the chieftains, but it also makes the sense of backwardness a necessity in the life of the chieftains. An indispensable experience.
This turned Yang Guolong into a scholar. The Heshuote Imperial Guard Khan of Oirat entered Qinghai, and Yang Guolong had Zhuo Tusi Chief change the entire territory to the Gelug Sect in one day. Later, the Imperial Guard Khan was killed by Zhao Ke Bianzhang dismounted, and with the harvest in Hehuang, Yang Guolong's Zhuo Tu Chief copied and pasted the Marshal's Office's land equalization policy and administrative divisions in one day.
This autumn, Yang Guolong tasted the sweetness. Although the land in Taozhou is not fertile enough, he can still proudly say that thanks to 'his' policies, the people of the Taozhou Military and Civilian Command are almost full!
It is indeed almost full. It is difficult to find a flat and fertile land in Taozhou like Lanzhou, Jinxian, and Hehuang. Agriculture is not developed. The mainstay of people's survival is animal husbandry. The cultivated land area is not small, but the broken mountain fields It is difficult to irrigate. With highland barley as the staple food and rapeseed as the non-staple food, the yield per mu is low.
Thanks to the introduction of new crops, potatoes became a new staple food and were easily put on the tables of the native people.
The reason why he hasn't eaten enough is because Yang Guolong is observing the actions of the Marshal's Mansion with a cautious attitude. Liu Chengzong is very reluctant to grow potatoes and sweet potatoes in the Marshal's Mansion. It is expressly stipulated that only one-tenth of the land is allowed to be planted with these two types. crop.
Although Yang Guolong didn't understand why, in order to ensure safety, Yang Guolong always followed this rule in the territory.
In fact, this is already a very bold agricultural policy. Using one-tenth of the land to plant an unknown crop may sound like a small proportion, but in fact, the impact on people's lives can already make people struggling to survive just enough. Those who were on top fell to struggling on the line of life and death.
There are advantages and disadvantages to copying such rules. The advantage is that it reduces losses. The cold mountainous areas are not suitable for large-scale planting of sweet potatoes. The disadvantage is that there are not many potatoes planted. If more potatoes can be planted, maybe this year his native people will grow more potatoes. You'll be full.
Food brought prosperity, and Yang Guolong's pockets were bulging. The first thing he wanted to do was to recruit troops. He had wanted to do this for a long time, but when the real thing came, he didn't dare.
Taozhou is not small in size. To the east is a hundred thousand peasant army, and to the north is the huge marshal's palace. No one noticed him, just because he was like an ostrich, trying his best to hide himself in the mountains. Once he started recruiting troops, other Not to mention, the Marshal's Mansion in the north will definitely notice him.
A fist as big as a sandbag must be stretched out with a strong face to verify. Yang Guolong didn't think he could catch Liu Chengzong's punch after expanding his army.
Unexpectedly, even though he didn't expand his army, Liu Chengzong still extended his fist.
On the evening of the eighth day of September, Yang Guolong saw the local soldiers under his command who were about to die of exhaustion at the Zhuoni official village in Taozhou. He learned that tens of thousands of marshal troops had marched southward yesterday, stationed in Lintao Guards in a mighty manner, and set up bonfires in the fields. , illuminating the wilderness like daylight.
When he sent people out of the mountain again to explore north, the people could no longer get through.
There are two important roads from Taozhou to Lintao Prefecture. One is in the northwest of Taozhou Guanzhai, called Anlongguan, and is occupied by the Marshal's Army; the other is in the northeast of Zhuoni Guanzhai, and there is a Yangsaguan in Taozhou, but On the morning of the ninth day of the lunar month, news also came that outside Yangsa Pass, General Li Wanqing of the Marshal's Office led his troops to set up a stronghold and ordered the defenders to surrender or surrender the pass, otherwise they would launch a strong attack in three days.
It is said that Li Wanqing was accompanied by a very powerful conjurer, who made the spells chanted by the conjurer stationed in Yangsaguan ineffective.
Yang Guolong thought, I have never offended you!
The local official guarding Yangsaguan was Yang Guolong's nephew, and he sent back a letter to prepare for a fight to the death. Yang Guolong thought about it and refused to allow his nephew to start a war, so he decided to personally bring wine, food, cattle and sheep to Yangsaguan to meet Li Wanqing.
There are only 2,200 troops in the entire Taozhou. If war is inevitable, it is better to surrender directly.
But Li Wanqing really didn’t come here to start a war with Taozhou. The mission he received from Wang Wenxiu was to seize these two passes to prevent Lintao from being disrupted during the locust extermination. As for why he was in countless ravines , Li Wanqing didn't know about seizing these two passes.
Wang Wenxiu knew it, but it was impossible for Wang Wenxiu to tell others. He didn't know the road to Taozhou at all. He just found two passes on an old map and decided to take them first.
This is not even Wang Wenxiu's main direction of attack. Wang Wenxiu himself is stationed in the Lintao Guard in Didao, with Yang Chengzu Camp as the vanguard, stationed in Weiyuan County, and launches an offensive towards Shouyang Pass in Gongchang Prefecture. On the other side, Luo Rucai is responsible for the defense in Didao. They ran all over the surrounding area, conveying the orders of the Marshal's Office to exterminate locusts to the rural guards during the day, and setting fire to the locusts in the fields at night.
Locusts, like moths, are attracted to light. As long as a bonfire is lit at night, locusts will rush into the fire.
The order Liu Chengzong gave to Wang Wenxiu was to guard the southeast of Lintao Mansion, firstly to guard against the government troops, and secondly, to wait for an opportunity to seize the southern part of Gongchang Mansion.
In the northeast of Lintao Prefecture, Wei Qian'er led the battalion to Jinxian County and went to Jiaokou to hold down Shixiang's formation and prevent the officers and soldiers from passing through Jiaokou. At the same time, if there was a chance, like Wang Wenxiu's side, he would wait for an opportunity to seize stability. , Huining County.
Wu Panlong arrived in Lanzhou in the early morning of September 6th. Song Shouzhen was a little slow, summoned the township officials of Dongguan Town, organized manpower, and crossed the Yellow River before dawn. When he arrived in Lanzhou, Liu Chengzong was already having breakfast.
Because of the terrain, Hehuang is much better able to cope with the locust plague than Lintao Prefecture.
Liu Chengyun was originally in Dongguan Town, but after receiving the news from Liu Chengzong about the incoming locust plague, he ran west. He didn't run too far, he just went to the pox village set up by Liu Chengzong during the Hehuang War. The westernmost end of Guanzhen is also one of the narrowest areas in the Hehuang Valley.
The reason why Chengyun went there was because there were trenches there. During the war with the Ming Dynasty, many trenches were excavated from north to south. Some of them were diverted into the river to become canals, while others have not been filled in until now.
Chengyun's idea of locust extermination is very simple, that is, locusts cannot fly over Dongguan Town. The fields in Dongguan Town can be abandoned, because the land here is planted with sweet potatoes, which has destroyed the land. Now they are planting beans that nourish the land. , As early as when they were still living in the Black Dragon King Temple Mountain, the second uncle always said that planting millet could not prevent locusts, and planting beans could not prevent drought.
Locusts don't eat beans.
Rather than letting locusts fly over Dongguan Town, it is very simple to set fire between two mountains and two trenches.
As soon as he lit the fire, the village guards were still moving forward to transport wood. The locusts that had feasted in Lanzhou flew over and directly knocked out the wall of fire that he had raised between the two ditches three times. The fire finally stabilized.
Liu Chengzong was not worried about Hehuang, where he had his father, teachers and Chengyun. On the contrary, Lintao Prefecture, which only had the army, was defenseless against the locust invasion.
However, the team of township officials brought by Wu Panlong and Song Shouzhen solved this urgent need.
"It's been two days, and there are still nineteen more days."
In the main hall of Chengyun Hall, Liu Chengzong handed over the locust control book he had compiled all night long to 40 township officials for circulation. People watched and listened to his explanation: "Where locusts eat food, they lay eggs there. Two locusts can Lay fifty eggs three inches underground."
This is a very scary number. Everyone knows that locusts live and die quickly, but no one knows how many locusts can give birth, nor the exact time.
At this time, there are more than hundreds of thousands of locusts flying into Lanzhou. It only takes 21 days for the number of locusts to expand tenfold. The only thing that can limit their number is food. As long as there is nothing to eat, the locusts can only They feed on each other until they are completely dead in winter.
"So you have to do three things. The first is to catch the locusts, the second is to collect the locusts, and the third is to destroy the eggs."
As he spoke, Liu Chengzong unfolded the map, crossed the topographic map of Lintao Prefecture, and said: "Song Shouzhen was in Lanzhou, and Wu Panlong took forty township officials to the local area to organize the people to set up a locust hunting team, a small team of twenty people. , a team of four hundred people."
"Each team is divided into left and right wings. Two people on the left wing hold shovels and dig a ditch one foot long and four feet deep. The floating soil is piled on the opposite side. Four people are behind the ditch and two are beside the ditch. They use long brooms to sweep the locusts into the ditch. When the locusts are filled, they are buried and crushed to death; the other two use their long-handled leather palms to swat to death the locusts that cannot be swept in."
“Ten right-wing people organized women and children to catch locusts. The live locusts they caught had their wings removed, soaked in salt water to death, and made to spit out black water. They were left to dry in the sun. They could keep them for their own use or sell them to the government; The dead locusts caught are sold directly to the government in exchange for food, salt, or money."
After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he raised his hand and pointed to the west, saying: "The salt will be shipped here soon."
The people of Lintao Mansion are not short of anything else. Liu Shizi believes that the people will most likely exchange the caught locusts for salt, which is a great advantage for him. The Marshal's Mansion has endless salt, and more than 60 locusts have been found in the entire Qinghai. Located in the salt lake, only two areas are actually used, which can meet the daily needs of the Marshal's Mansion.
In fact, take Chaka Salt Lake as an example. If his salt fleet in Qinghai Lake runs once a day, the reserves of Chaka Salt Lake are enough for a Central Plains empire to use it from birth to death. But in fact, his salt fleet in Qinghai Lake runs every day. There is only one trip per month, and it is not the entire fleet. It only takes a few boats to make one trip, and the salt transported is enough to supply all kinds of consumption for the entire Marshal's Mansion.
Chaka Salt Lake is not the largest salt lake owned by the Marshal's Mansion. It is too small compared with the large salt lakes in Golmud - it is just the closest to Hehuang.
"All the brigades set up bonfires in the fields at night, attracting locusts to attack and burn them to death - Song Shouzhen."
Liu Chengzong turned to look at Song Shouzhen and said, "You also have something to do in Lanzhou. You borrowed ovens from military households and temporarily designated a piece of land outside the city. You will bake the dead locusts that people from all over the country sold to the government, and then use them to bake them." The boats on the Yellow River grind it into powder.”
Locusts can be eaten, but the question is how to eat them.
If the locusts are caught alive, they will spit out the black water in their stomachs as soon as they are caught, and soak them in salt water to make them spit out more cleanly. Such locusts only need to be dried in the sun, and they can eat whatever they want; but if they die, they will spit out the black water in their stomachs. Locusts that are caught after they have fallen out cannot be eaten directly because they still have something in their stomachs and smell fishy. They must be dried over fire and ground into powder before a small amount can be mixed with other things to eat.
Even if it is not eaten by humans and is eaten by chickens and ducks as feed, it cannot be used as the main feed, otherwise the odor will enter the meat of the livestock. If such feed must be used, it needs to be stopped seven or eight days before slaughter. , let the chickens and ducks metabolize this taste.
Song Shouzhen responded with clasped fists. He knew that the oven Liu Chengzong was talking about was an oven used for baking bows. Everyone who owns a bow has this in their home. It is mainly used to protect bows from moisture during the rainy season.
Setting fire to exterminate locusts was a good method used by Yao Chong in the Tang Dynasty. He lit fires at night to attract a large number of locusts to land, and then lit fires to burn them to death. This method was generally used on wasteland. As the saying goes, slash and burn, let go of fire. The soil will become loose, which is helpful for reclamation and the development of wasteland.
"If you do it quickly enough, kill all the new-born locusts before they crawl out of the ground. But I guess you won't be able to kill them all, so just catch and kill them before they grow wings, and then mobilize the people throughout the winter. The plains are plowed with oxen, and the sheep are driven and trampled.”
"Most of the places with insect eggs are wasteland, with honeycomb-shaped holes. Sprinkle lime on the eggs on the riverbank rocks and boil them to death. In mountainous or highland areas that are out of reach, use spray cans. Spray them and kill them."
A spray gun is a pump. Filled with kerosene, it becomes a flamethrower. Filled with water, it becomes a fire extinguisher. Filled with liquid, it can spray pesticides.
In the Ming Dynasty, the relatively simple potions to deal with locusts were concentrated alkaline water, vinegar, or poisonous herbal juices such as basil, jiacao, mango, and mulberry.
“In addition, even if we get rid of all the locusts in Hexi, there will still be a large number of locusts crossing the border in the spring and autumn of next year. On the one hand, we must be prepared. Every household must prepare locust-catching bags, brooms, and leather palms; On the one hand, we should plant winter highland barley and winter wheat this autumn and harvest them next summer to avoid the time when locusts breed."
"In several counties of Lintao Prefecture, there are vacancies for county magistrates, county magistrates, and magistrates. They must be selected from your forty township officials. So this time when we are leading teams to catch locusts in each township, you all also look at the teams. Pick a few confidants who can be promoted and teach them the methods of killing locusts, and strive to wipe out all the locusts. Later, I will need you people to go to Gongchang Mansion, or even Guyuan and other places."
Liu Chengzong gave a thorough summary of his ancestors' methods of eradicating locusts in one breath, and then he finally breathed a sigh of relief and said to everyone: "When there is no harvest after the new year, and the counties will open warehouses for the people to borrow grain, you don't have to worry about it, He Huang The food will be shipped over there."
Good evening!
