In April, the weather has begun to get hot in some parts of Da Mo, but in the border areas of Nanyue Province, there are only spring and summer in the year, and there is no winter throughout the year.
Located outside Taichuan County, Nanyue Province, farmers can be seen everywhere carrying a bamboo basket on their waist, walking back and forth among the rice fields.
This bamboo basket is not used to catch fish in the rice fields, but to catch pests in the rice fields.
The people who grow fruits, vegetables and rice in Damo have no easy way to drive away pests. They have no choice but to carry a bamboo basket around their waists every day at dawn, walk to the rice field ridge, and roll up their trouser legs. Then he stepped into the rice fields, picked up the pests in the rice fields with his hands and put them into the bamboo basket. Then he walked far away and buried the pests with soil.
There was no look of joy on the faces of any of the farmers, but there was a look of sadness.
These rice plants were planted not long ago, and now they are still growing green and are no more than one foot tall.
These rice are not only the hope of Taichuan County to collect taxes next year, but also the hope of farmers.
Although the economies of Nanwang and Mozhang provinces are not as good as other provinces, the taxes collected by the court every year do not exclude these two provinces. They are also collected, but the local officials in these two provinces are not like those in other provinces.
It doesn't matter how much money the local official who can endure hardship receives, but this official who cannot endure hardship has to dig out this poor place to hand it over to the court to ensure that he can be transferred to other wealthy places. magistrate.
Just as these farmers were carrying the bamboo baskets and looking for pests in the rice fields as usual, they suddenly raised their heads and saw such a scene.
There were densely packed flying objects coming from the distant sky. The sound was comparable to that of a cannon. It was an exaggeration, but it was actually not that loud.
The sound combined with the body shape resembles a swarm of bees, but it doesn't look like a bee.
This time, it was not just one farmer that was attracted, but one farmer after another.
Everyone lifted up from the rice field and looked towards the sky over there to see what it was.
Everyone guesses something different.
As these swarms of things covering the sky came flying closer, an experienced farmer shouted.
"No! It's locusts! Locusts are coming!"
As soon as the farmer shouted, the other farmers all had nervous faces. Some were so panicked that they ran towards the city and home. The remaining people were not sure and were still standing there, watching this. One scene.
At this time, a locust took aim, landed on a rice plant, and began to erode it. Then one after another, it landed on the rice plant and began to eat the green rice leaves.
Now, wouldn’t anyone be able to recognize this thing?
I saw that the farmers who had not run away just now ran towards the city and home in a panic after seeing clearly that they were locusts.
Although the locusts are very small and not very big, who would not be afraid of these swarms of locusts?
All of a sudden, a large rice field outside the city became a feast for locusts, and all the locusts covered the rice.
If you don't look carefully, how can you tell whether it is rice or some other weed?
The farmers who ran towards the city in panic suddenly attracted the attention of the people walking in the streets and alleys.
At first, some of the people who saw the farmer looked like this
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Cursing "madman" in his mouth, until he saw the locusts flying across the sky, the people who had just called them mad suddenly became mute.
These locusts, if they are eaten individually, are not that fast, but if swarms of locusts eat them, the speed is extremely fast. As long as they fly over, it will not take long for the originally green crops to be eaten. The branches are dry.
Thousands of locusts surrounded the sky above Taichuan County. The sun was almost blocked by these locusts that day.
Fortunately, about half an hour later, the sky finally showed its original color.
Thinking about the scene just now, the people who were not farmers were not surprised, but the farmers all had sad faces.
Some farmers who were very concerned about rice hurried out of the city to see how the crops they grew were doing.
As you can see, the rice field has become completely bare, with only a "base" left of the originally green seedlings.
Seeing such a scene, the eyes of the farmers who rushed back to see them all turned red. After all, these rice plants were the hope of survival.
Who can accept that the rice that originally grew nearly a foot of green and lush rice now has only a bare root left?
After learning about the locusts, Li Hongwan, the magistrate of Taichuan County, took it very seriously.
The last time the locust plague came was during the Hongdao period, and it has been eighteen years now.
The locust plague is not only the most feared thing by the people, but also the most feared thing by the government and even the court. When the locust plague comes, if no measures are taken, then the locust plague will affect not only the harvest of one place, but the whole country. of harvest.
In some areas of Damo, there are still temples passed down from ancestors. These temples were not built for people, but for the locusts.
This temple was originally built to protect the people, to protect them from the locust plague and to protect them from a bumper rice harvest.
The last locust plague in Damo was during the Hongdao period. Many people simply refused to worship for the sake of convenience.
"Send Magistrate Sun to come here!" County Magistrate Li Hongwan shouted.
Li Hongwan has been the magistrate of Taichuan County for more than ten years and almost twenty years. He has always been the magistrate without seeking advancement. He has never been a bigger official than the magistrate.
Nowadays, he has gray hair and old bones. Everyone in Taichuan County knows him, and even his name is a household name.
With his thin figure, looking at this appearance, he must be a good official with cool sleeves.
After a while, Sun Xiancheng came over.
He also has a thin build, his surname is Sun, and his given name is Lian, but he looks like he is in his thirties or forties at this age.
"Li Zhixian, are you looking for me?" County Prime Minister Sun Lien asked.
Li Zhixian nodded and said: "There is a locust plague today. What do you think should be done to solve it?"
"Locust plague?" Sun Xiancheng didn't seem to know yet.
Li Zhixian nodded: "The last locust plague was in the forty-second year of Hongdao. In the blink of an eye, eleven years have passed, and this locust plague has appeared again."
"Li Zhixian, what can I do? Last year, the food in the granary was used to relieve Jiang Lai. Almost a year has passed, and the food has not been returned. There is only one way to do this. , that is, report it to the court and let the court resolve the matter."
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Sun County Chengdao.
Listening to what Sun County Cheng said, there really was no other way, so he said: "Indeed, this is the only way." After saying this, I don't know what he thought of, but Li Zhixian came up and said: "There are several people in this temple. Didn’t you go to pay your respects in the New Year?”
After hearing this, Sun Xiancheng nodded: "It has been several years. In the past few years, not many people have gone to this temple to worship."
"In this way, go and talk to a few of them and organize the people to go to this temple to worship." Li Zhixian ordered.
Listening to Li Zhixian's words, Sun Xiancheng didn't quite understand. What's the use of worshiping the temple built for locusts even though the locusts were here? He then expressed his opinion: "Li Zhixian, this is the capital of locust plague." Now that you’re here, what’s the point of going to this temple to worship?”
Listening to Sun Xian Cheng's words, Li Zhixian came over and said: "Worshiping this temple is passed down from ancestors. It must be that I haven't visited this temple in the past few years, and the heavenly insects have ignored us people. Let the locusts come as they please. Just do what I say."
Looking at Li Zhixian's determined face, Sun Lian, the county magistrate who had just come to Taichuan County for a few years, didn't know much about this, so he had to do it.
Later, under the auspices of the county government, 20,000 people from Taichuan County held a meeting outside the city. They saw that each of the people took out their own portions to eat and stood in rows in front of the temple to make offerings. The Taoist priests He was muttering something on the side.
The locust plague caused damage to crops in a province in South Vietnam, and soon the locusts began to go to other places.
However, due to the large territory of Great Mexico, the news of the locust plague could not be conveyed to the court in time. However, the incident of the Guangnan Uprising Army informed the court of new developments.
It was already early the next morning when I received the news that General Xia Shaoyuan had been killed in battle.
"Invite the Minister of Household Affairs, the Minister of War, and the Grand Governor to come. I have something important to ask." Su Yunqi, the left prime minister, ordered.
"good."
After watching the junior official leave, Yang Youcheng, the Right Prime Minister on the side, said, "Left Prime Minister, what should we do next?"
Listening to the question from Right Prime Minister Yang Youcheng, Left Prime Minister Su Yunqi shook his head slightly, sighed, picked up a cup of tea on the table, took a sip, looked at Yang Youcheng's face, and said: "I am Wan I never expected that this group of unscrupulous people would be so powerful. This team that has been fighting Japanese pirates for almost two years can't even eliminate these unscrupulous people."
Looking at the worried face of his benefactor Su Yun, Right Prime Minister Yang Youcheng said to himself: "The power of these unruly people should not be underestimated."
After a while, Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, Cen Anze, the Minister of War, and Du Antong, the Governor-General, hurriedly walked into the prime minister's house.
"I have seen the Prime Minister on the left and the Prime Minister on the right." The three of them said together.
Seeing the father and son talking to the Grand Governor Du Antong, Su Yun, the left prime minister, said: "You three are exempt from the courtesy."
"Thank you, Prime Minister Zuo, Prime Minister Right." the three of them said together.
Seeing the worried look on Zuo Xiang's face, Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, asked: "Zuo Xiang, you... have called us here, but what is the important matter to discuss with us?"
"You three, take a look at this letter." As he said that, Su Yunqi, the left prime minister, handed over the letter, and Cen Wenxing took it.
The two stood next to Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, and started to read.
While the three of them were watching, Su Yunqi, the Prime Minister of the Left, said: "This is a letter from Liu Wu, the prefect of Nanning Prefecture in Guangnan Province. I just received it. The letter said that General Xia Shaoyuan led troops to suppress the gang. When they act against the people, the entire army is wiped out and no one survives.”
(End of chapter)
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