Sui and Tang Dynasties: Killing Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty to sacrifice to heaven at the beginni

Chapter 405 Visit the front line to control locusts! ! !

Shandong territory.

Lu County, Xue County.

Lu County is the most serious locust plague in the entire Shandong area, and it is also the place where the locust plague was first discovered.And Xue County is the most serious locust plague in Lu County.

Now, some of the adult locusts in Xue County have hatched, and the locusts cover the sky and the sun, gnawing on the crops of the people.

The locust plague was an extremely terrible disaster in ancient times, because wherever the locusts passed, let alone food, even the bark and vegetation would be eaten clean.

Today, although only the locusts in Xue County, where locusts were first discovered, have hatched into adults, the other locusts have not yet matured.

However, it can also be expected that if the locust plague is not contained, then these locust plagues will inevitably spread throughout the Shandong border, and even affect the major prefectures and counties around Shandong.

"Drive, drive, drive."

"General, King Banbi is ordered to control the locust plague. The county magistrate of Xue County hastened out of the city to see you!" A fast horse galloped into the city of Xue County and went straight to the county government.

Xue County, county government.

The magistrate of the county is suffering from a headache now, and this locust plague first appeared in the territory under his jurisdiction.If one is not handled well, the black hat on his head will be gone.

Hearing that General and Banbi King Li Mu came to deal with the locust plague, the magistrate of Xue County was happy at first, and then worried.

This happiness is because Li Mu's name is big enough, but this worry is because Li Mu's name is not fake, but Li Mu's name is earned by fighting.Now, this is to control the locust plague.

It stands to reason that to control the locust plague, it should be to send experienced veterans from the household department, why did your majesty send the general.

It's like someone is sick and is waiting for a doctor, but a tailor comes. Even if the tailor is famous, he can't cure the disease, can he?
However, since Li Mu is here, as a local official, he has to go to the city to meet him, right?

The county magistrate of Xue County hurriedly took the master, the county magistrate and other officials of Xue County to meet Li Mu outside the city.

When the county magistrate of Xue County brought a group of officials from Xue County to the outside of the city, Li Mu had already brought them here first.

Although Li Mu brought people there first, he did not enter the city, but led people to wait outside the county seat.

On the way here, Li Mu had already heard that the locusts in Xue County had grown into insects. Now that time was running out, Li Mu didn't have time to go to the city to greet these officials.

The lifespan of locusts is very short. Normally, they can only live for one to two months, and at most they can only live for three months.

Although the living lifespan is short, locusts are highly reproductive.The locusts will eat crazily in the first ten days of adulthood. After ten days of crazily eating, the locusts will become mature, and then it will be the egg-laying period.

The spawning period of locusts is about 20 days. On average, one locust can lay more than [-] eggs, and some can even lay more than [-] eggs.

In more than ten days after laying eggs, the locusts will die one after another.The life time of this locust is not long, but it lays extremely many eggs.

From the fact that locusts have extremely strong reproductive ability, one can draw a conclusion that once the locust plague cannot be controlled at the beginning, it will become more serious later on.

It is very likely that there will be more and more locusts until they are completely out of control.

Li Mu was in a hurry to go to the place with the most locusts, so he didn't go into the city, but waited outside the city, waiting for the county magistrate to lead the way.

"I've seen the general, and I'm sorry that the general came to greet you, please forgive me." After seeing Li Mu, the county magistrate of Xue County quickly knelt down and saluted.

"The Magistrate of Xue County, come forward!" Li Mu called softly.

Hearing Li Mu calling him, the county magistrate of Xue County hurriedly stepped forward, prostrated himself under Li Mu's horse, and responded repeatedly: "Zhang Taisheng, magistrate of Xue County, is here!"

"In the eyes of the locust plague, it's too late to waste time. I also ask the county magistrate to take this general to the village where the locust plague is the worst." Li Mu quickly ordered.

Since I came here by myself to control the locust plague, but just being in the county town can't control the locust plague.If you want to control the locust plague, then you must go to the front line in person.

"Regarding the General, the place where the locust plague is the worst is Niujia Village. However, the General has come from a long way, why not go to the city to rest first, we can go to Niujia Village tomorrow?" said Zhang Taisheng, magistrate of Xue County.

"It's too late to waste time, hurry up and lead the way to Niujia Village!" Li Mu immediately ordered.

Seeing Li Mu's serious order, Zhang Taisheng didn't dare to say any more, and hurriedly led a group of officials under him to lead Li Mu's way.

This Niujiazhuang is not too far from the county seat, and the group of people hurried on for half an hour, and they were already able to see Niujiazhuang.

Li Mu immediately came to the farmland of Niujiazhuang. At this time, he could already see many locusts lying on the farmland of Niujiazhuang.

Once someone passes through the farmland, many locusts will be disturbed.It is now noon, when Yang Guang is at its hottest.

These locusts lie under the grain leaves to escape the heat, and these locusts in Xue County are the first batch of locusts.Although there are many locusts, they have not yet reached a large scale and have not produced a cluster effect.

Therefore, these locusts have not eaten up the grain in Niujia Village for a while, and the locusts will not leave easily after eating the grain in Niujia Village.

In fact, the plagues of locusts in ancient times have been like this.Experienced farmers are often able to detect early signs of locust plagues.

However, there are no pesticides in this era, so the early stages of locust plagues are often not handled well.

Even, many ignorant villagers dare not deal with these locusts at all.They think that locusts are a natural disaster, and that the locust god in the sky is punishing themselves. When encountering locusts, they often just look around.Or carrying out sacrifices that have no meaning at all.

Even if the Ministry of Households sent people, they often just presided over the sacrifices, and then dispatched food from various places. This is the way to deal with the locust plague.

Li Mu came to the scene and saw how ignorant these people were.On the fields, people were crying and shouting everywhere, but no one went to catch insects.

As for how to deal with the locusts, Li Mu already had a draft in his heart. Therefore, after arriving at Niujiazhuang, Li Mu immediately found an empty house as his office.

In the office, Li Mu gathered more than a dozen officials from the household department who came with him, and ordered: "Everyone, hurry down to the field to pass my order. Order the villagers to dig every [-] feet or so. Make shallow pits about ten feet each, and then prepare firewood in the shallow pits. After dark, light a fire in the shallow pits, and the locusts will be attracted to the firelight.”

"In addition, order the people to prepare a lot of gauze nets. After the locusts gather, they can catch them and throw them into the fire."

(End of this chapter)