Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1216

North of Luoyang, on the bank of the Yellow River.

The Habayashi riders with red pheasant feathers on their heads blocked the beach on the south bank of the Yellow River.

The emperor and the prince were walking on the river beach. Luo Cheng held a small shovel in his hand, while the prince held a bamboo sieve and a small bucket.

Luo Cheng bowed his head and observed the river beach carefully.

"Father, what are you looking for?"

Luo Cheng straightened his waist and looked at the Yellow River ahead. The current of the Yellow River that used to rush has been greatly reduced, exposing a large area of ​​the river beach.

"Flooding occurred frequently in many places last autumn, but there was no snow in winter, and there is no rain today. There is a strange phenomenon in the sky."

The prince was puzzled, "Didn't the father say that the celestial phenomena are all natural, and the so-called visions are all heresies?"

"The vision in the sky I mentioned refers to natural anomalies, not to those ghosts and gods. Prince, there is a saying that you should remember, there will be locusts after a long drought. After a long drought, there will be locusts. I will bring you today You are here to check the situation yourself. Come and see, have you seen these small holes?"

The prince followed the emperor's fingers, lowered his head and inspected carefully, and found that there were indeed many small and fine holes on the beach of the Yellow River.

"Father, what is this?"

"This is the hole left by locusts for laying eggs. If you dig down this hole, about an inch, you will be able to dig locust eggs."

The prince was surprised. He took the shovel and started digging. He was digging cautiously with curiosity, and he was extremely careful not to damage the digging. Luo Cheng watched patiently from the side.

After a while, the prince said in surprise, "There are indeed insect eggs!"

Under the excavated soil, a large row of insect eggs is densely arranged, there are nearly a hundred of them, and the slightly beige eggs are buried in the soil. At first glance, one may think they are grains of rice , almost the same shape and color, just smaller.

"Count how many there are!" Luo Cheng squatted aside and said.

So the prince counted seriously, and there was an official of the Eastern Palace behind him, who stood behind and recorded all this.And behind the emperor, there were also two historians on duty writing furiously, even with worried expressions on their faces.

Zuo Shi Ji Yan, Right Shi Ji Xing, the emperor was always around the historian, and they recorded the emperor's words and deeds for future generations to see.

The historians were worried, locust plague, two terrible words appeared in their minds.

However, the prince seems to be unaware of the horror of the locust plague. The 11-year-old prince is just taking it as a nature lesson. Accompanied by his father, he is very happy to go out to watch the Yellow River dig locust eggs together.

"87!" the prince said happily after counting.

"Locusts lay eggs, and generally they can lay fifty or sixty to more than 100 eggs at a time. Ordinary locusts will die after laying eggs, but some strong ones can continue to live, and they can even lay a second egg in a short time. produce more."

The prince looked at his father adoringly. His father seemed to know everything and be omnipotent.

"Do these locusts lay eggs like silkworms?"

"It's not the same. Silkworms can chrysalis, but locusts can't. These locusts can produce two seasons a year. After the eggs are laid in autumn, they hatch in summer after the winter. The hatched locusts are only larvae, called jumping gnats. They shed their skin for the first time, and then become adult migratory locusts. Migratory locusts like to swarm and eat everything. Wherever they pass, no grass is left, crops have no seedlings, and the particles can be harvested."

"Especially after the drought, locust plagues are more likely to break out. Once they are not controlled in time, they can even spread to more than ten counties, causing a major famine. In history, there are endless records of locust plagues in history books. According to records in the Han Dynasty, there will be a major disaster almost every eight or nine years. There are countless plagues of locusts and small locusts, and there are often historical records that the plagues of locusts are severe and people eat each other."

'Is this locust so powerful? 'The prince was surprised.

"The three major disasters are floods, droughts, and locust plagues, which are even more terrifying than the plague."

Zuo Shi couldn't help but said, "Saint, it's been nine years since the last locust plague. Could it be that all this is really predetermined?"

Luo Cheng shook his head.

"The occurrence of locust plagues is a natural phenomenon, not a predetermined order. Locust plagues often occur after floods and droughts. Why? Because after floods and droughts, locusts have an excellent growth environment. For example, this Yellow River beach, go to autumn, the Yellow River Although the flood did not cause major disasters such as bursting dikes, the water level rose sharply, and then the water receded, and these river beaches became good places for locusts to lay their eggs."

Locusts also choose places to lay their eggs. They like to pick the soil with high moisture content, but the soil is dense or even slightly alkaline to lay their eggs. This kind of soil is conducive to the survival and hatching of locust eggs.

On the edge of the river beach, there are often many weeds such as reeds, which are also the favorite food of locusts. At the same time, laying eggs on the edge of these places is also conducive to the growth of hoppers hatched from the eggs.

"In a normal year, many of the locust eggs would be drowned and some of the locust eggs would be drowned, while the water level of the Yellow River would rise in the spring. It is difficult to cause disasters. But after floods and droughts, locust eggs can often hatch and survive in large numbers."

Autumn rains, floods, no snow in winter, no rain in spring, such extreme weather conditions make it possible to face extremely dangerous locust plagues this year.

The prince stood up, looking at the holes on the river beach under his feet, he felt scalp numbness for the first time.

"There are hundreds of locust eggs in one hole, how many eggs does this river beach have?"

Luo Cheng was also very worried and said to the prince, "Before, I asked the Imperial City Secretary and Jin Yiwei to pick a place to check. There are numbers that worry me."

Jin Yiwei and Huangcheng Division picked places that obviously had a large number of locust eggs. They measured out an acre of land, carefully dug up the locust eggs, and then counted them. .

The results are amazing.

In each mu of land, there can be as many as 200 million to 300 million locust egg masses, and each egg mass is an egg mass produced by a locust, and there are often fifty to sixty to one hundred eggs in it.

In this way, it can be as high as 34 eggs per square meter.

One mu of land is 660 square meters. Even if the mu in the Tang Dynasty was a little smaller, it would be more than 580 square meters per mu.

The river beach in front of the emperor alone covers [-] mu.

There may be 6000 million eggs in one mu of land, and [-] billion eggs in three thousand mu of land.

Just imagine, if these eggs are successfully hatched, what a terrible scene it will be at that time, the sky will be covered with locusts, and wherever they pass, they will be wiped out.

And with so many locusts, they can lay eggs for another season and hatch in autumn.

Even if not all eggs can hatch, even if the most intensive spawning grounds are being checked now, due to the drought, how many river beaches and lakes and ponds have such places suitable for spawning.

Who knows how many insect eggs are buried there.

The prince's numbers were taught by Li Chunfeng himself, and he is still very proficient in the nine-nine multiplication table, but after he calculated the numbers given to him by the emperor, he still couldn't believe it. There are too many locust eggs on the three thousand acres of river beach. Too many, more than [-] million, he always thinks that he has made a mistake.

"You did not miscalculate, there are indeed so many locust eggs on this river beach."

Prince Jiawen's scalp was numb. It seemed that countless locusts were coming out of the river beach, jumping on his body and engulfing him.

"Father, is there a way to kill these locust eggs and prevent them from hatching?"

(End of this chapter)