Liao Zhai alchemist

Chapter 371 Hungry

Laizhou Prefecture, Hetian Village.

Villager Wang Dazhi put a bowl of decoction beside his wife, and said to her, "You drink the medicine first, and I will go to the field to weed."

The frail wife nodded. She was ill, and it was still not serious at this time.I heard from the elders in the village that this is an epidemic and must be quarantined.But where can their village be isolated?Everyone has to be busy with farming, who will take care of the quarantined people?
Under all kinds of difficulties, the isolation matter was left alone, and the patients could only be kept at home.People from the county came, distributed a lot of medicine packs, and left.Sick people take some medicine packs home, and that's all they can do.

Wang Dazhi came to the rented field with a hoe. He thought of his wife who was seriously ill, and he only wanted to finish the work early and go home.He didn't pay attention to what the tenants around him said.

"Have you heard? The old Li family in the village is dead!"

"??? Who did you hear that from?"

"Last night, I saw the village chief took people to collect the corpse. Their family hasn't gone out for several days, so it's probably gone."

"This... this is terrible!"

"Well, who said otherwise. This disease really kills people..."

A few sharecroppers were plowing and gossiping.At this time, a tenant suddenly said: "Hey, take a look, are there too many locusts?"

The other tenant farmers followed the sound and saw five or six small locusts lying densely on the seedlings in front of the tenant.

The tenants felt tense, and quickly began to check the locusts in their fields.Then they frowned and said, "It's a little too much..."

Just when the people of Laizhou Prefecture observed locusts in the fields.However, locust plagues have already emerged around the capital.

There was no snow in the winter last year, and the insects in the ground were not frozen to death, and this year's warm spring effect has caused a large number of locusts to breed in the fields.

These locusts have just emerged from the ground, and they are not very big, but there are so many of them. There are seven or eight locusts standing on a single stalk. It is impossible to kill them all, and they cannot be defeated!
Above the court, Yin Yanchun, the new governor of Jingzhao Prefecture, wrote to Emperor Baojing: "Since the beginning of spring, there have been many reports of locusts among the people. According to the investigation of the farm officials, there are many locust larvae in the farmland soil near Jingzhao Prefecture. Breeding. Last year, it was rare for Jingzhao Mansion to have no snow, but this year it may be plagued by insects."

Sitting on the dragon chair, Emperor Baojing rubbed his brows, feeling really tired.Only after becoming the emperor did I know that the emperor was really under a lot of pressure.Last year was a drought, so is there another locust plague this year?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel upset about his ill-fated fate, and then asked Governor Jingzhao: "Then how do you deal with it?"

Yan Chun returned: "According to the experience of exterminating locusts in Tianmen County, we used light to lure insects. We set up a large bronze mirror and illuminated it with lights. The light from the bronze mirror was reflected into a large bucket to lure locusts into the water and drowned. The effect of the method is good. However, bronze mirrors are expensive, and the quantity is small and cannot be popularized.”

Emperor Baojing nodded after hearing this, as long as there is a way, but he is afraid that there is no way.He thought for a while and said, "There are a lot of bronze mirrors in the palace. I will ask the palace to provide them to you later."

There are many bronze mirrors in the palace, but compared with the vast land of Jingzhao Mansion, what use are these bronze mirrors?It's just a drop in the bucket.

After talking about this matter, Jing Zhaofu Yin continued: "The epidemic in the capital has been isolated and blocked, and the situation has improved slightly. However, there is a large shortage of medicinal materials, and support from various places is still needed."

Hearing this, the Minister of the Household Department shook his head and said, "The disease is also serious in this place. I'm afraid we won't be able to provide support."

When the other officials heard this, they also frowned.They all live in the capital.If the disease is not controlled well, they will be in danger.

At this moment, Cao Bin came out and said to Emperor Baojing, "Your Majesty, the top priority now is to stockpile grain and stabilize the people. I have heard that people in various places in the south of the Yangtze River hoard grain at high prices. Now the court is troubled, and the grain relationship is stable. , Your Majesty, please give an order to crack down on illegal grain storage!"

"Sure!" This agenda was passed in the cabinet long ago, and now it's just going through the process.So Emperor Baojing agreed without any hesitation.

With this decree, local governments have the right to crack down on what they consider to be 'illegal grain storage', and then confiscate their property.

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At night, Wang Dazhi finally lay down after a busy day.After working all day and taking care of his sick wife, he was exhausted physically and mentally.After hastily drinking a bowl of cold porridge, he fell asleep with his head on the pillow.

He didn't know how long he had slept, and while he was in a daze, Wang Dazhi heard a sound like "sizzling" like rain.

He was woken up by this sound, and then said in a daze, "Is it raining?" Then he looked out the window, and then saw a scene that made him unbelievable.

Where is it raining? There is a bright moon in the sky, and there is no cloud at all.The sound of "snapping" is clearly the sound of locusts gnawing on trees and crops under the moon!

Seeing this scene, his heart couldn't help but feel a chill, and he immediately thought of the crops he planted.He quickly turned up, lit a torch and rushed to the field.

When he reached the edge of the field, his crops had been gnawed by densely packed locusts, leaving only short stalks. His nearly one month of hard work, his harvest this year...

Wang Dazhi was completely stupid!He couldn't help but knelt down with a 'plop', his eyes full of despair.

His wife was seriously ill in bed, and the wheat field was eaten up.This double blow made this man lose all hope for a while, and he had nothing to love in life.

The plague of locusts in Laizhou grew overnight, catching everyone by surprise.

Not only Laizhou, but also Terengganu and Qingzhou.And the most serious one is Tai'an Mansion!
The people of Tai'an Mansion closed their doors and windows at home at this time, trembling when they heard the sound of locusts hitting the walls and windows outside!Some people have lived for decades, but they have never seen locusts that are so numerous that they will hit the doors and windows of people's residences when they fly!
The locusts that cover the sky and the moon block the moonlight, and fly under the moon like this. They will eat up all the edible food they pass by, and fly towards the center of Tai'an Mansion—Mount Tai!
Zhang Wei was caught off guard by the sudden locust plague.He stood in the backyard of the government office, looking at the locusts flying in the sky, his face was as calm as water.

"Hehe, the epidemic and the locust plague... are linked together, linked together!"

Hu Jubai looked at the migratory locusts all over the sky, and she said, "Sir, do you want to use Tianmen County's method again?"

Zhang Wei shook his head and said: "It can't be done. This world is not the same as in the past. Back then we solved the locust plague only after we solved the locust god. This locust plague must be caused by the locust god. If the locust god is not solved, these locusts will not be killed." Light lures."

Without the Locust God, the locusts are insects relying on instinct, but with the Locust God, the locusts are an army of locusts!
Tai'an, Qingzhou, Terengganu, and Laizhou are in a hurry.Locusts ravaged these four prefectures, the crops planted were eaten up, and the land was barren.The locusts, on the other hand, were like dark clouds, lingering in the four prefectures, faintly showing signs of encircling Tai'an Mansion.

Zhang Wei issued an order to collect grain.This year's harvest is bound to be fruitless, and we should make preparations to store grain now to cope with the coming time.

Large households in the city had the habit of stockpiling grain, so Zhang Wei sent people to collect grain forcibly. Except for enough rations left for them, Zhang Wei bought all the grain.

The big households in the city dared not speak out.On the one hand, Zhang Wei's reputation is extremely high, even if they want to make trouble, the people will not cooperate.On the other hand, Zhang Wei is still the commander of the Qingzhou Navy, with soldiers in his hands!
The Qingzhou Navy is an important navy in the north, with a total of 30 soldiers and more than 1 ships. More than [-] soldiers are all stationed in Qingzhou Port, and Qingzhou Port is only more than ten miles away from Qingzhou City.

With soldiers in their hands, those big households could only swallow their anger and watch Zhang Wei take away the carts of grain and pile them all on the wharf of Qingzhou Port.And guarded with heavy troops.

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Jiangnan Road, Jinhua Mansion.The gate of Zhang's house was full of people.All the people present were dressed gorgeously, but without exception, their faces were full of anxiety.

The small door next to the main gate was opened, and a young concierge came out and said to everyone, "I'm sorry, all distinguished guests. The master is ill. Please come back."

When these people heard this, panic appeared on their faces, and they immediately shouted: "Master Zhang, please be merciful and save us! We are all from the same chamber of commerce!"

These people said, constantly begging the young concierge, just to be able to enter Zhang's mansion and see Master Zhang.

The concierge couldn't delay left and right, so he simply went back to the mansion and closed the small door at once, no matter how much they begged, they would never open the door again.

Zhang's father in Zhang's mansion put down the teacup in his hand, shook his head and said, "I knew this before, so why bother! I advised them not to hoard goods for themselves. Now that the government has really done it, what's the use of begging me."

Father Zhang said, and the old housekeeper beside him nodded, and said, "The young master is right, we shouldn't interfere with this kind of national calamity."

Father Zhang nodded and asked, "Is there enough food at home?"

The housekeeper said: "We didn't sell the grain last year, but now there is more than enough grain. If it doesn't work, we can get some from my uncle's house."

After Zhang's father heard it, he felt a little confident.He said: "Inform the Zhou family that the wine making business will not be done for the time being, and save the food in case it is not needed. Also, send some people to Huangmei County to prevent chaos."

Uncle Zhang Wei's family is now a master of wine making in Huangmei County, consuming millions of catties of grain every year to make wine.They also store hundreds of thousands of catties of grain all year round for backup.This year's winemaking has just started, and Zhang's father intends to let them stop and see the situation.

The butler took note of the matter and went to arrange it.

The businessmen waiting outside saw that Zhang's father really didn't mean to see them, so they all left angrily.These merchants hoarded a lot of grain, and now the prefect of Jinhua ordered them to sell the grain to the government at a low price.These businessmen naturally quit, so they joined hands to resist.

But soon, they were suppressed.Plagues of locusts have appeared in many places in the north, and plagues have appeared in various places. No matter how stupid the local government is, they have to start stockpiling food to save themselves.Those who dare to resist will have to see whether it is your head or the government's knife.

Ever since, the businessmen here wanted to instigate Zhang's father to stand out. As Zhang's father, he could break the wrist with the prefect of Jinhua.But the point is, Zhang's father didn't participate in this business at all. Why did he give these businessmen a head start?
Most of the Zhang family is mountainous, which is not suitable for growing grain. Instead, they vigorously develop the sericulture industry. A small part of good land is only self-sufficient, and supplies the farmers who help the Zhang family plant mulberry and silkworms.The Zhang family has no surplus food, and will not be targeted by the government.Naturally, there is no need to go to this muddy water.

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In April of the fifth year of Baojing, sporadic locust plagues finally appeared on the south bank of the Yangtze River.Governments around the country actively sent people to extinguish it.

In May of the fifth year of Baojing, the plague of locusts that could not be extinguished for a long time suddenly expanded, and all the state capitals in Jiangnan Province were out of control, and the plague of locusts began to sweep across the south of the Yangtze River.Fortunately, the early rice is ripe at this time, and this year's weather is warm, the early rice has matured ten days earlier, and the state governments in various places have begun to organize rush harvests to compete with the locusts for these rations.

In June of the fifth year of Baojing, a great epidemic swept Jiangnan Road, and many wealthy people in Jiangnan moved south.

In June, the surplus food in the homes of the people in the north has been exhausted, but this year's summer grain has not been harvested, and the people began to fall into hunger.But the plague of locusts is raging, and there is no grass in the wild, and the people can't even eat weeds!

Emperor Baojing ordered all places to open warehouses to release grain, and when the tide receded, all the naked swimmers were revealed.Whether there is any food in the official warehouses in various places is undoubtedly revealed at once!

Henan Road, North Cangzhou, the magistrate Yan Guisheng opened the door of the granary, looked at the empty granary inside, and couldn't help shouting loudly: "Where is the grain? Where is my stored grain?"

The face of Tongzhi behind him was already covered with sweat, he stared at his food officer, wishing he could eat him!

At this time, the food officer's face was ashen.Under Yan Guisheng's questioning, he could only murmur, "There is no food...the food is gone..."

"Where did the food go?" Yan Guisheng knew something was wrong at this moment, but he still had the last luck, as long as the food was still in the city, he could get it back.

"It's sold! It's all sold! It was sold two months ago." The grain officer finally broke down. He covered his face and cried loudly, shouting out as if to vent.

"Damn you!" Yan Guisheng was terrified, this time he didn't care about the scholar etiquette that he usually cares about the most, and kicked the food official down with one kick.

"Who gave you the guts to sell my food?!" Yan Guisheng cursed loudly.

The grain official fell to the ground, trembling with fright at this moment, subconsciously looked towards Tongzhi.

Seeing the grain officer's appearance, Yan Guisheng immediately understood!He pulled out the long sword from his entourage with a 'bas', and put it on Tong Zhi's neck.

"You are the one who sold the grain?" Yan Guisheng asked with red eyes.

Tongzhi was so frightened that his feet went limp!Although Yan Guisheng is the magistrate, he likes to wield knives and guns, ride horses and hunt, and relies heavily on Tongzhi, the second-in-command, in government affairs.But it is because of his indulgence that this colleague has the capital of greed.

Tong Zhi tremblingly said: "My lord, I was also confused for a while. In the past six months, the price of grain has skyrocketed. I am thinking about selling the old grain in the grain depot and replenishing it when the summer grain is harvested. I... I I didn't expect...the summer crops won't be harvested!"

Having said that, he cried aggrievedly.He just wants to make a difference...he has no bad intentions.

"I... I haven't touched a penny of the money I earned. I keep it at home. I was really confused for a while!" Tong Zhi hurriedly begged for mercy.

"Bastard! Why do I need your money now? Can your money buy food? Can your money feed the common people? You fucking!"

The more Yan Guisheng thought about it, the more angry he became, suddenly his heart broke, and he killed the Tongzhi and the grain official with a single sword strike!
After killing two corrupt officials, he slowly wiped his long sword, and said to his followers: "Go and investigate to see where our food has gone. If it doesn't work, we can only grab the food!"

Soon after, the follower reported: "The sold grain has long since been transported away and disappeared, and it may be difficult to recover it."

Yan Guisheng sneered, and said, "Since we can't catch the food, we'll go grab it. Call the yamen servants, postmen and militiamen, and we'll attack Heihu Mountain. I think the King of the Mountain who came to Heihu Mountain still has some surplus food!"

Yan Gui was born to study literature and martial arts, and he doesn't like government affairs.He couldn't think of a way to get food from the big families of the common people, but he was sure to get food from the bandits in the mountains.

Without food, North Cangzhou is very likely to be in chaos. In this case, we can only suffer from the mountain king in the mountains.Raise thieves for a thousand days, use thieves for a while, it's time to slaughter them!
In the capital, in the cabinet.Emperor Baojing hadn't slept all day and all night, and so did the other cabinet members. Memorials from all over the place came like snowflakes, and they didn't have time to sleep at all.

"Your Majesty, there is a major epidemic in the south of the Yangtze River, and all places are being quarantined. Even if there is summer grain, it will not be able to be shipped." Cao Bin said wearily.

"If you can't get it up, you have to get it. If there is no one, then I will send the army!" Emperor Baojing said harshly.

"The army can't move around. At such a time, we must pay attention to the soldiers and civilians everywhere to prevent chaos." A cabinet minister on one side said immediately.

"You bastard! Look at this! Another reseller of government food! Good job! This kind of corrupt official should be killed!" The irritable Emperor Baojing suddenly saw a memorial, and then said loudly.

This memorial is Yan Guisheng's memorial, in which it is written that Ming Tongzhi and the grain officials reselling grain, and he has already cut it off first and then played it. This is an apology.

But at this time, Emperor Baojing would not pursue his crimes, but would applaud him instead!When the entire north was short of food in the face of plague and locust plagues, the true appearance of each state capital was fully revealed.

Beicangzhou is not the only state capital with no grain in the grain depot!There are also a large number of state capitals with little or no food, and these state capitals have written for help!
But he, Emperor Baojing, was not a god, and he couldn't make food without food!Besides, even a god can't conjure food out of thin air!
All the cabinet ministers were silent. This disaster was so big and sudden that it caught everyone by surprise.

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Qingzhou Prefecture.

There are few people in the city, but at the port outside the city, it is crowded with people.Today is the grain release day every five days.People in Qingzhou can buy grain at the granary at a fair price.You can also use locust corpses to exchange food here.

It is Zhang Wei's policy to exchange locusts for food.If the locusts in Qingzhou do not leave, production will not resume.In order to maintain the situation, Zhang Wei proposed to exchange the locusts for food, and asked all the people to cull the locusts and exchange them for food.

There are several advantages to doing this.

First, it can make people move.If the common people have nothing to do, it will cause huge pressure on public security.Let the people move and let them have something to do. This will reduce their chances of thinking wildly and reduce the pressure on public security.

Second, food was originally intended to be distributed to the people.But the common people cannot get it for nothing. Even in such a difficult time, let them know that hard work can feed them.Self-reliance is also a respect for workers.

Third, culling locusts can slightly reduce the number of locusts, which is also a way to exterminate locusts.

Under this policy, people from all over Qingzhou Prefecture culled locusts, and then exchanged the culled locusts for food.The situation is stable everywhere and there is no confusion.

Moreover, under this policy, it is a good policy for the common people to exert their subjective initiative and come up with various methods to exterminate locusts.

And Zhang Wei looked at the collected locusts, and took out a gourd to suck them!
The gourd in Zhang Wei's hand is a yellow gourd, which is the third gourd produced by the gourd vine.

The gourd vine bears seven gourds in total, and the colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue and purple.The red gourd became the gourd cave.The orange gourd became the bodyguard of the snake demon, and is now carried by Chen Zhirui.

And this yellow gourd, for some reason, actually has a bit of star refining ability.But this gourd cannot make alchemy, but can change matter.

Star alchemy can change matter, which is the most basic ability of star alchemy.This gourd has absorbed a large amount of star power, and it has also generated lines like the star refining technique inside it.So it has part of the ability of star alchemy.

As long as the gourd inhales the substance, it can be transformed into another substance through star refining.

This is amazing!Used well, it's an artifact!Zhang Wei now only needs to put the locust corpses into the gourd, and the gourd can transform the locust corpses into the materials Zhang Wei needs.

During this period of time, the gourd transformed many locust corpses into medicinal materials that Hu Jubai needed.Hu Jubai has studied the plague for so long, and finally wants to make a special medicine for the plague.

With this precious yellow gourd, Zhang Wei can turn waste into treasure and continuously provide medicinal materials.

As long as Hu Jubai researches the prescription, Zhang Wei can improve it into a pill.Then use the materials transformed from the yellow gourd for alchemy.The refined medicine can be taken by the common people to treat the plague.

The elixir is so powerful that most people can't take it.But the reason why Zhang Wei wanted to refine the elixir, instead of letting the common people boil it directly, was because of the immediate effect of the elixir.Because of the need for this fast-acting feature, Zhang Wei also needs to improve the elixir so that ordinary people can eat this elixir.

Zhang Wei is not worried about this, because he has Sacred Heart Pill available, and he can develop a pill that ordinary people can eat.

　There will be more later!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)