The locusts ate up the crops they had worked so hard to grow. Now the prefect and the Fan family are kind-hearted and are willing to give them a chance to earn money.
You definitely can’t miss it.
Without crops, we must seize the money.
The number of places is limited and the competition is too high, so ordinary people call their friends and cooperate with each other, and the money they get will be divided equally.
The people tried their best to catch the locusts and eliminated more locusts than the people in the seventeen counties.
More importantly, in addition to the participation of the common people, the chickens and ducks of these three prefectures also made meritorious services.
Because Li Qiao had known about the occurrence of this locust plague, he decided to set up a line of defense in Jincheng Prefecture, Yuncheng Prefecture, and Changzhi Prefecture to stop the locust army and prevent it from crossing the province.
This line of defense was not established in vain, and it made a lot of contribution this time.
The people in these three prefectures initially obeyed the government's call and raised a lot of chickens and ducks. After all, Li Qiao was famous, and the people were not worried about losing their chickens and ducks to their hands, so each household raised a lot of chickens and ducks.
When the locust plague comes, these chickens and ducks cannot eat locusts as fast as humans, but they do eat a lot of locusts.
Human capture + chickens and ducks worked together, and the locust army was consumed in these three prefectures.
Li Qiao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the effect of chickens and ducks in killing locusts is not particularly significant - the power of chickens and ducks is limited, and it is more the role of the Fan family and the prefect of Jincheng Prefecture.
But it worked after all, and he didn't waste his efforts.
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Chapter 226 The locust plague was eliminated and measures taken in various places
However, the locust plague continues.
According to the observations of people from Jincheng Prefecture, Yuncheng Prefecture, and Changzhi Prefecture, the locust army did not go straight south, but turned a corner, entered Yuanhe Province, and then headed east.
But this is only what the three prefectures have observed. Shengjing can only wait for news about where the locust army will go next.
Just as several magistrates in the seventeen counties did, the magistrates and magistrates in the three prefectures of Jincheng Prefecture also tried their best to spread the news to Yuanhe Province.
The eight-hundred-mile rush is faster than the locust army. People in Yuanhe Province have one, two, or three days to prepare.
If the local magistrates are capable, they will definitely be able to introduce some locust eradication measures in such a short period of time.
Sheng Hong was so anxious that he could not sit still.
As long as the locust army exists for a day, what they eat is his money. Not only does he have to exempt the people in the affected areas from paying taxes, but he also has to distribute seeds, seedlings, etc. for free.
The locust army moved south from central Tay Son Province into Nguyen Ha Province, and now it is wreaking havoc in Nguyen Ha Province. The crops that farmers have worked hard for several months to grow have been wiped out in one day.
The farmer's heart bleeds, and his heart bleeds too.
The unhappiness in his heart could not be resolved, so he began to investigate the response measures of local officials wherever the locust army went.
The county magistrate's salary is as high as one thousand taels a month, one thousand taels!
Ordinary farmers and their families can't save so much money even if they work hard for a hundred years!
Taking his hard-earned money but not doing things properly for him, who can tolerate this?
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, so Sheng Hong ordered a thorough investigation of the reactions of all local officials wherever the locusts passed. Even the small county captain, county magistrate, and even the head of a village would not let him go.
In Dasheng, the squire class was severely suppressed. The village chief could directly contact the county magistrate. Although the village chief was not part of the imperial establishment, he was directly oriented to the people at the bottom. If the village chief did not act, or he was a member of the village. A village bully appears in the middle, and his abomination is not inferior to that of the county magistrate.
While Sheng Hong was busy settling accounts, Li Qiao began to buy food and prepare to distribute it directly to the people affected by the disaster.
Of course, what he bought was not fine grains, but coarse grains such as millet, corn, and sorghum. Eating too much sweet potatoes is not good for your health, so you have to eat it with other whole grains.
In the disaster-stricken areas of Xishan Province, some counties have coal mines. People can dig coal to earn wages after farming, and their lives are not bad. Even if this season's autumn grain is gone, there are still freshly harvested grains at home. Wheat and uneaten old grain from last year.
But there are also many areas where there are no coal mines, and the lives of the people at the bottom of these places are very ordinary.
Therefore, Li Qiao's food donation this time is aimed at those families who are extremely poor and cannot survive this winter without this autumn food.
He doesn't plan to donate more. After all, there will be many places to use money in the future, and the locust plague has affected a wide range. He cannot support it with his own financial resources, so he will do his best.
In addition to Li Qiao, there are also some people who donate money and food to the charity hall.
Sheng Hong did not call on everyone to dig into their pockets, but the locust plague had spread throughout the capital, and some capable people spontaneously donated money and food.
Everyone doesn't donate much. After all, they have donated too much in the past few years. Maybe they will continue to donate this winter - this summer is not very hot, and the cold period after the new year will be longer than last year.
For example, although the Xin family is wealthy, Xin Zhi and Li Yuan only donated 800 taels of silver on behalf of the Xin family this time.
Grains are cheap, costing three or four cents per catty. Eight hundred taels of silver can buy more than two hundred thousand catties of grain.
The seventh prince, the eldest prince, the second prince, the fourth prince, a few bachelors, the sixth minister and others donated not much, ranging from a few dozen taels to a few hundred taels.
Some low-ranking officials donated between a few hundred yuan and a few taels.
The Fan family is located in the area affected by the disaster. The Fan family is not short of money and is donating food. Fan could not directly open a warehouse and donate all the food in his own warehouse.
Some kind-hearted wealthy households did not donate much, such as Han Ning, who donated two hundred taels on behalf of the Han family.
There are small bosses from well-off families who donate a few pennies, a dozen pennies, or dozens of pennies.
The three little guys, Li Xiaorui, Li Changfeng, and Li Yunfan, were fascinated by their parents' experience of eating locusts in the past, so they wanted to donate most of the money in their piggy banks.
In fact, they don't have a very specific concept of this locust plague because they have not experienced it personally. No matter how detailed the elders like Li Qiao, Tao Bamboo King, Osmanthus Li Dashan, etc. talk about it, they don't have deep feelings about it.
But this does not prevent them from donating money. The three little guys are very kind.
Li Qiao didn't ask the three of them to donate more, so each of them just donated a hundred taels as much as they could.
There will be many more natural disasters in the future. If you donate the money in the piggy bank slowly, it will come in handy.
No one donated much, but when the news of Yuanhe Province reached Shengjing, these scattered donations actually amounted to more than 50,000 taels.
After the locust army entered Yuanhe Province, it first wreaked havoc in the three border prefectures, and then headed east.
The response of the three prefectures in Yuanhe Province was similar to that of officials in Xishan Province. After receiving the news, the county magistrates and magistrates ordered the people to exterminate the locusts.
Some officials were not very ambitious and did not want to be promoted. They just wanted to make no mistakes. Therefore, they were not enthusiastic enough in this locust eradication operation. They just called on the people to catch locusts without giving any substantial incentives.
Some officials wanted to seize this opportunity and become famous so that they could show their face in front of Sheng Hong.
These ambitious officials, like the prefect of Jincheng Prefecture, set up bonuses out of their own pockets to encourage the people to eliminate locusts.
Every official's response is under Sheng Hong's investigation.
Soon, the news that worried Li Qiao reached Shengjing.
The locust army continued eastward and reached Hexi Prefecture.
Li Qiao set up a chicken and duck defense line in Hexi Prefecture and the two prefectures adjacent to Hexi Prefecture. This time the locust army passed through Hexi Prefecture and one of the prefectures, and then continued eastward, heading straight for Dongshan Province.
The duck shop in Sanliu Village is much larger than before, because the duck shop in this shop not only supplies Pingcheng and Fucheng, but also supplies the remaining four counties of Hexi Prefecture.
Thanks to the construction of cement roads, the connection between the five counties of Hexi Prefecture has become much faster than before. The time between the two places has been shortened, and duck products, which are not easy to store, have begun to be sold to the remaining four counties.
As a result, relying solely on Pingcheng's ducks is no longer enough.
People in the remaining four counties also began to raise ducks, and later chickens, to supply the fried chicken shops opened in Pingcheng and Fucheng.
The business of fried chicken shops is no worse than that of duck shops. In addition, the people have the habit of raising chickens, so the entire Hexi Prefecture raises more chickens than ducks.
With so many chickens and ducks here, the defense lines in the five counties of Hexi Prefecture are unprecedentedly tight compared to other places.
In addition, the news was received three days in advance, so when the vanguard of the locust army entered the territory of Hexi Prefecture in scattered pieces, the people who had been prepared for it released their marked chickens and ducks while getting ready. Tools such as brooms and sacks.
Locusts are very good feed. Nowadays, every household raises a lot of chickens and ducks. These locusts can be burned without burning, so it is best to preserve them.
The government has said that these locusts should be cooked, dried, ground into powder, and bagged. When the chickens and ducks are cooked later, the locust powder will be mixed into it. The chickens and ducks will be big and fat.
Since the crops are destined to be chewed up and cannot be saved, then we must catch more locusts to make up for our losses!
Moreover, the magistrate has also set a bonus. Although everyone is rich now, who would think that he has too much money?
With the purpose of saving feed for their own chickens and ducks and earning bonuses, the people of Hexi Prefecture joined together to fight the locust army to the death.
Not only farmers try their best to catch them, but also small business people close their doors and use tools to catch them.
The chickens and ducks stopped working after they were full, but the people continued to fight hungry. The locusts flew away after eating all the plants. If you want to catch more locusts, you have to keep eating.
The people of Hexi Prefecture worked hard, and with a large number of chickens and ducks, they really eliminated a lot of locusts.
According to the current magistrate of Hexi Prefecture, when the locust army first arrived at the boundary of Hexi Prefecture, they lay on the sweet potato seedlings, which were nearly a foot thick. When the locust army flew away, the thickness was only half a foot.
The heroic people of Hexi Prefecture wiped out half of the locusts that broke into Hexi Prefecture!
Moreover, the prefect of Hexi Prefecture clearly stated in the report that Hexi Prefecture did not need assistance from the court and that the people of Hexi Prefecture could bear the losses.
Hexi Mansion does not add burden to the court.
When this memorial was handed over, Sheng Hong's face, which had been gloomy for a long time, finally turned cloudy.
Although the locust army still destroyed the crops in Hexi Prefecture, the elimination of so many locusts in Hexi Prefecture was considered a small revenge.
What's more important is that the people of Hexi Prefecture bear the losses themselves and do not ask him and the court for money. This is so satisfying.
How sensible!
He likes officials and people who make him worry-free.
However, seriously speaking, I have to give Li Aiqing a small reward.
This time, during the huge locust plague, Hexi Prefecture was able to eliminate half of the locusts in the territory, which made him feel bad. This was largely due to Li Aiqing.
This is simply a miracle.
How could manpower eliminate the great locust plague in the past?
They all wait for the locusts to die themselves or die when the temperature drops after winter.
Not to mention wiping out half, even wiping out one-third is just a fool's errand.
But now because Li Aiqing was able to eliminate half of them, he never dreamed of such a good thing!
However, the specific rewards and punishments will be discussed after this locust plague is completely over.
He wanted to settle the accounts together, and settle the accounts of all the officials wherever these locusts passed. The Jinshis he had selected with all his efforts were waiting to be promoted. If you don't do practical things, you will lose your hard-earned money. Raise waste.
