The World of Yellow Sky

Chapter 748 Report to Zhongzhou Wanmin
Chuping five years (194 years)
In June, Ding Chou and Chang'an suffered an earthquake.

Dozens of houses collapsed, more than [-] people were injured, and [-] people were killed.

Wuyin, another earthquake, no casualties.

In the dark of Yiyou, there was an eclipse every day, and the people of Zhongzhou were terrified, thinking that the wrath of heaven had descended.

In late June, the Sansuke locust...

A locust is only the size of a finger, and can be easily hunted and killed by humans.

But when tens of thousands of locusts gather together, they almost have the potential to destroy everything and become a disaster that countless people fear—the plague of locusts!
The migratory locusts cover the sky and the sky is colorless, and the wild old Tianzhong is weeping and weeping.

The sun and the moon are shaded above, and the vegetation is hidden below.

When the migratory locusts swept across the border, the sky was dim and there was almost no light, as if the end was coming.

The drought in the Sansuke area of ​​Zhongzhou lasted for two months, but relying on the Wei River, there are still many crops barely surviving.

These crops survived the drought, but they did not survive the locust plague that followed...

The overwhelming locusts swept across the ground like a black wind, and the dense locusts attached to the crops, leaves and grass, and attached to the trees and bushes.

Countless locusts crazily gnawed on everything they could see. There was the sound of gnawing like rain in the fields and woods. The crops on the slow slopes disappeared in a blink of an eye, and the grass, trees, cattle, horses and manes were all gone .

The dry locusts are thousands of miles away, and the autumn fields are clean, and the wild sorrel is rustling in the August sky.

It's not that Xu An has seen locusts, but he has never seen such a large-scale locust plague. Although he was prepared in his heart, and although he had heard about the scene of the locust plague, when he saw it with his own eyes, he still had a little feeling in his heart. The horror of the locust plague is far beyond his imagination.

When the overwhelming migratory locusts flew from the west, it was as if the sky was falling. Countless locusts gathered together to form a swarm.

Overwhelming, boundless, almost covering the sun.

And this is the scale formed by Xu An's order to exterminate the eggs of locusts in various places. If the Yellow Turban Army does not go to eliminate the locusts, the current scale may be even larger.

The locusts not only affected the crops in those fields, but even affected the disaster relief of the Yellow Turban Army.

Those locusts flew past, eating everything that could be eaten, and even part of the grain transport convoy was attacked by them, and the food they carried was eaten up.

Several granaries were also attacked by locusts, but due to the large number of Yellow Turban soldiers guarding the granaries, many locusts were finally killed with torches and large nets. In the end, the granaries were saved, but losses were inevitable.

In Yingtian County, Ganting was also attacked by locusts. The locusts that covered the sky made Ganting, who was already panicked by the drought, even worse.

As the sun rises, the light gradually dispels the darkness,
Liang Ping hid in the house, peeking out from behind the window, carefully observing the scene outside the house.

A light wind blew, and a broken earthen jar was blown by the wind, rolled on the slightly uneven ground, and made a few soft sounds.

The breeze lingered among the houses in the village, blowing into the houses through the gaps in the doors and windows.

The wind is full of fishy smells, including earthy, watery, and more disgusting insect smells.

Liang Ping became more and more nervous. He clenched his fists and stared out the window.

"call out------"

A long whistle broke the silence of the entire village.

Liang Ping's expression changed slightly, and he immediately locked the window.

"When I go out, remember to lock the doors too, and they must be locked."

Liang Ping closed the doors and windows tightly, thought for a while, and took some wooden branches to completely plug the gaps left by the windows.

After plugging it up, Liang Ping looked at the ground of the house, moved another log, and pressed it on the ground beside the wall.

There is a place where grain is stored, and no one except him and his wife knows that there are still things buried there.

Liang Ping raised his hand, wiped off the sweat on his head, and handed the sunflower fan to the woman's hand.

"Be sure to close the door tightly. If those katydids fly into the room again, don't be afraid, don't let those katydids damage the things at home."

The woman nodded. Although she was a little scared, she still held the sunflower fan tightly.

"call out------"

When the whistle sounded again, Liang Ping's face changed slightly. After he glanced at the woman, he let go of his tightly clenched hands.

"I'll be back later."

Liang Ping clenched his fist and slowly pushed open the wooden door.

At this time, many people had already walked out of the house on the road of the village, some with knives and axes for chopping wood, and some with wooden forks for forking grass, and walked towards the square in the center of the village.

Liang Ping glanced at the locust corpses scattered on the road, he paused for a while, and finally merged into the crowd, and followed the flow of people towards the square.

"Erro."

Someone behind him called Erlang, and Liang Ping turned his head to follow the prestige.

"Three uncles."

Seeing the person who called him, Liang Ping softened his face and replied respectfully.

That man was his father's younger brother. There were five members in his father's family. One of them died young. His father was the second in line. The person who came was his third uncle, who raised him up. Otherwise, I'm afraid he and his little sister will starve to death in the calamity year.

"The katydids eat food, but they don't eat people."

The middle-aged man called Sanbo walked up to Liang Ping and patted him on the shoulder.

"The Diannong officer has already said that the Taoist master has found out where the katydid is, and he is rushing there now. The ones that come to us are ordinary katydids, which cannot harm humans or animals."

"What's more, the Taiping Dao talisman Zhu is also here, so there is nothing to be afraid of."

Liang Ping nodded in agreement, but his movements were obviously a little stiff.

He had seen the overwhelming migratory locusts with his own eyes. They came like a black wind. There was no rain for several months. Many plants and trees were dead, but they could still see the scorched grass leaves.

After the black wind blew, there was only a bare piece, only the earthy yellow soil remained.

The black wind composed of locusts not only blew across the fields outside the garrison, but also rushed into the garrison.

To this day, Liang Ping still remembers the horror of the black wind, the swarms of locusts rushing past, and the sound of countless wings vibrating gathered in his ears, as if there were thousands of troops and horses outside.

Countless migratory locusts passed by, and from time to time, migratory locusts hit the eaves and walls, and some locusts even hit the doors and windows, and many locusts even rushed into the house through the gaps in the doors and windows.

Because of this, the locust corpses were covered inside and outside the village.

Soon, Liang Ping and others had arrived at the square, and hundreds of people had gathered on the square.

The Diannong official's belt ring head knife stands on the high platform, and a huge brazier is placed in the center of the square, and a raging fire is burning.

A group of soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army stood a little farther around the brazier, and they all held unlit torches in their hands.

"call out------"

The third whistle sounded when Liang Ping and others arrived at the square one after another, and more people also entered the square.

After the number of people was counted, the Diannong officer standing on the high platform also raised the trumpet in his hand.

"The katydids are not here, but the swarms will soon cross the border. Our food here has been eaten up, but these katydids must also be removed, otherwise they will rush into the granary, the food in the village will not be guaranteed, and the convoy will not be able to pass , it will be very difficult to receive relief food in the coming time, we must first get rid of the insect swarm.”

The Diannong officer shouted loudly, repeating what he had said a long time ago.

Liang Ping followed a soldier of the Yellow Turban Army and walked towards the outskirts of the garrison. Their task was to cut down timber and then pile it up outside the garrison.

When the locust swarm is found, the fire is lit immediately, and the locust swarm will naturally fly into the fire. It is said that this is a spell cast by the Taiping Taoist priest, which can attract the locust swarm to throw themselves into the net, especially at night Light the room, the effect is even more.

Those locusts flew into the fire, and were roasted by the fire in an instant, and fell to the ground, smelling of rotten meat.

According to the soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army, locusts could be eaten, but Liang Ping didn't have the courage to try.

It is said that if the locust is eaten into the stomach, as long as the katydid does not die, it can be resurrected in the stomach and eat all the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney.

The Taoists of Taiping Dao haven't killed the katydids yet, and if they eat them in their stomachs, they may die of gut rot. Now that there is still some food left over, and they can still eat enough, Liang Ping naturally won't eat those seemingly Just disgusting katydids.

Hundreds of people left the garrison, except for some people who were left behind with large nets and torches to protect around the warehouses of the garrison.

The rest of the strong labor force in the garrison basically left the garrison to search for wood to prevent the locust swarm.

Go out in the morning and come back in the evening.

At sunset, a large number of wooden piles were piled up outside the village.

Outside the settlement, a large number of piles of wood were coated with a layer of golden yellow by the afterglow of the setting sun.

The work of hundreds of people a day still has a lot to do.

Fortunately, there were no traces of locust swarms today, and the day was still calm.

The smoke rose slowly, and every household started to make dinner.

But at this moment, the bell in the center of the village rang again.

The short whistle is to summon the soldiers of the garrison, the long whistle is to summon the young and strong in the garrison, and the sound of the bell is to call all the people in the garrison.

Liang Ping had been working hard all day, and he was already resting on the couch at this time. Although he was puzzled when he heard the bell, he still sat up.

In the past month, he has heard more bells and whistles than in the previous year, and more frequently.

When he arrived at the square, the Diannong officer was already standing on the high platform.

The Diannong officer's right hand is drooping, holding the iron loudspeaker, and the other hand is raised high, as if holding a piece of yellow paper.

"Just in the afternoon, our village received a letter, a letter from Chang'an."

There was a loud commotion on the square, and everyone looked at the yellow paper in the hands of the Diannong officer and couldn't help discussing it.

Chang'an, they know Chang'an.

It seems to be the place where the Taoist master of Taiping Road is now, that is, the capital.

When they heard the letter, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. They didn't know anyone in Chang'an.

And why a letter was sent to summon them all.

"This letter is a letter from my Daoist of the Taiping Dao, my king of Ming Dynasty, to all of you."

The Diannong officer pulled the copper bell hanging on the high platform, and the copper bell made a harsh sound, which also suppressed the noise of the crowd.

"A letter to the disaster-stricken people in Zhongzhou..."

"From the seventh year of Guanghe to the fifth year of Chuping, in the past ten years, there have been wars and chaos, frequent disasters, epidemics, exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and peace is hard to find..."

"...The powerful and powerful family is superior, and they regard us as pig dogs!"

The Diannong officer paused for a moment, and his tone became more serious.

"Officials are rampantly corrupt and wantonly bullying us. We are poor and helpless. We work all day long, but it is difficult to feed ourselves..."

There was a hint of inexplicable meaning in everyone's eyes, Liang Ping clenched his fists slightly, and his wife beside him moved closer to him, holding his right hand.

Liang Ping also held his wife's hand tightly. From the seventh year of Guanghe to the third year of Chuping, for more than eight years, there were very few days when he could have a full stomach. For many days and nights, he endured hunger and fell asleep.

"After ten years and hundreds of bloody battles, because of the bloodshed and sacrifice of millions of people, the peaceful life I'm waiting for is now, and I don't need to be bullied anymore, and I don't need to pay heavy taxes anymore... ..."

Although Diannong Guan's voice was hoarse, it was still possible to hear that his voice was full of anger, and his body was trembling.

Liang Ping couldn't empathize with the farmer on the high platform. He didn't know how to fight, and he didn't know the situation of the war. He was just an ordinary farmer.

Facing the loess and back to the sky, he doesn't have much knowledge.

But he understands one thing, he understands one thing very well.

The powerful landlords who rode over their heads in the past were overthrown by those wearing yellow scarves, and they were given justice so that they would no longer be bullied by them arbitrarily.

Those wearing yellow scarves also gave him enough fields to cultivate and rented cattle for them.

No exorbitant taxes were collected, and no corvee was collected.

Instead, they are hired with money to repair roads and build water conservancy.

Those water conservancy projects and roads are repaired, and after the repairs, they are the ones who benefit in the end, but they are allowed to build them, and they are not expropriated or collected from them. Instead, they are paid back and paid.

The people have a steelyard in their hearts. Limited by their vision, they may not see long-term benefits, but they can know who is really good to them through the changes around them.

Although a year is short, they have saved their food earnestly, and they don't say they are full every day, but they don't need to worry too much about the future, and their lives are much better than before.

The food and grass for disaster relief have been delivered early, and those people with yellow scarves on their heads have not forgotten their original promise.

"Drought is a disaster, and katydids are rampant. Because of this, we need to be united, and we must also be united."

The hoarse voice of the Diannong official echoed in the square and echoed in the ears of everyone.

"Those powerful families want to seize the fields that should belong to us again!"

"Those powerful families want to rob us of our money again and turn us into their slaves!"

"Those powerful families want to ride on our heads again!"

The words of the Diannong official hit Liang Ping's chest like a heavy hammer, and hit the chests of all the people on the square!

"Are you willing to let those powerful families ride on our heads again, let them succeed, and let them reign supreme again!"

On the high platform, the questioning voice of the Diannong official pierced into the hearts of everyone like a sharp sword.

I don't know who it is, raised his arms first and roared.

"I don't want to!"

Immediately afterwards, more people raised their arms, angrily responding to the Diannong officer on the high platform of the square.

"I don't want to!"

The Diannong officer on the high platform raised his left hand high, holding up the yellow paper in his hand and roaring angrily.

"We will definitely be able to tide over the difficulties, we will definitely be able to win!!!"

"The enemy's plot will never succeed!"

(End of this chapter)