Hengdao Sixteen Kingdoms

Chapter 298 Drought Locust
A locust the size of two fingers flew from the north and landed on the weeping willows in the Bronze Sparrow Garden.

Then, a large blue-yellow net was cast from the sky in the north, and it was covered in the Copper Sparrow Garden. Countless locusts spread on the trees and gnawed.

The palace servants and guards all went down to slaughter them, but it was of no avail.

One after another, large nets were thrown down, and the green in the Tongque Garden gradually disappeared.

With a buzzing sound, the locusts raised their wings, rushed to the sky, and continued to fly south.

Li Yue watched everything from the Bronze Sparrow Terrace, the sky was dark, and the locusts were boiling like sand and dust.

Seeing that there is still more than a month before the autumn harvest, the drought and locust plague in Yan country gradually spread to Hebei.

The major river systems in Hebei have dried up.

The troubled land of Hebei is facing a new round of natural and man-made disasters.

Worse than the drought is the plague of locusts, which cover the sky and cover the land when they arrive, and leave in a mess when they leave, devouring all the crops.

Zhongshan, Changshan, Xiangguo, Boling, Zhangwu and other counties were severely affected.

The food around Yecheng is basically gone.

"If the locusts go south, I'm afraid there will be no grain left in Qingyan and Erzhou." Liu Qun's face was full of sweat.

The drought stopped in the north of Yecheng, but the plague of locusts will not stop, they will fly to places with green and crisp plants.

"How is the disaster in the country of Yan?" Li Yue asked.

Last month, Murong Ke personally led his troops to attack Yuyang, and used both suppression and appeasement. Murong Ke has always been magnanimous and faithful in his word. After resisting for more than 20 days, the Tian family and several other powerful men surrendered one after another.

Murong Ke sent the tyrants back to Jicheng.

Gongsun Chuo of Beiping County was defeated by Yue Wan and fled to the grassland.

The rebellion in Yan State was quickly quelled.

Zhang Shengye said: "According to the news sent back by Xizuo, most of the fields in Youzhou and Liaodong were destroyed, and many livestock and horses starved to death. Murong Jun led the people to eat in Liaodong."

Murong Jun ran to Liaodong, and there should be no war in the north in the short term.

"All the soldiers and people in the territory tried their best to control the locusts, but the locust plague spread to the south of the river!"

With such a large locust plague, Li Yue set an example and joined the recruited new army in the war against locusts.

Zhou Qian also mobilized [-] to [-] slaves and more than [-] people in Chenliu to light dry grass by the Yellow River to prevent locusts from going south.

There is no longer any green leaves near Yecheng, only bare tree trunks.

Tongshan Pi and Baisi Pi in Fangtou in the south are being poisoned by locusts.

Looking at the wheat fields that were about to be harvested by locusts, Li Yue felt uncomfortable. Famine was more terrifying than war. When people are hungry, they don't care about the government and court. People who have just stabilized will become turbulent again.

Liu Qun, in his 60s, went to the fields to catch locusts himself.

At this time, the locusts had carapaces and their limbs were as sharp as knives. Within a moment, Liu Qun's hands were bleeding.

Others are no better.

Even if there are layers of insect corpses on the ground, it will not help.

There are too many locusts, and they are overwhelming from the north.

"Stop, light up, burn!" Li Yue gave the order reluctantly.

The food in these two areas can no longer be kept, and it will be thankless if this continues. After the locusts are full, they will become their breeding grounds.

"Mr. Liang, how can such a large amount of grain be destroyed at once? We only need to survive this month to have a good harvest!" Liu Qun, Shen Zhong and other veterans had bitter faces. They had experienced the famine in Yecheng and cherished the grain .

"Hebei can't be kept anymore. To keep Henan, this is a military order, burn it!" Li Yue didn't explain to them again, and asked the guards to light the fire.

Soon, the wheat field caught fire.

Attracted by the flames, countless locusts jumped down from the sky and dived into the flames, crackling, and after bursts of crisp sounds, there was a scorched smell everywhere.

Li Yue suddenly remembered that all insects have phototaxis, that is, moths rush to the flame.

The effect is more pronounced at night.

Li Yue immediately ordered all the recruits to chop firewood, and ordered dry firewood to be brought from the surrounding cities and thrown into the fire.

Let the fire keep burning.

At night, the flames of Tongshanpi and Baisipi rise into the sky, lighting up the dark night.

Overwhelming locusts came from all directions and got into the fire.

"Tian Zu has a god, and he is a fire. Liang Gong's method is deeply ancient!" Seeing that this method is effective, Shen Zhong sent a warm flattery.

Ran Min proclaimed himself emperor, and he was also the first to respond.

"There is no unparalleled road, no matter how difficult it is, the country can be rejuvenated!" Under the light of the fire, Li Yue became more and more confident.

As long as the food in the south of the Yellow River is preserved, there will be no big problem.

Li Yue established the first line of defense in Liyang, Fangtou, and Zhou Qian established the second line of defense in Baima and Puyang. Qinghe, Pingyuan, and Bohai counties also adopted this method, burning locusts at night.

Although there were sporadic locusts flying across the Yellow River, they were not on a large scale and were culled by the people who went all out.

For half a month, Li Yue lived in Tongshanpi, and even postponed his marriage.

Fires were set off on both sides of the river every night, and scouts and school officials traveled to and from both sides of the river, examining the counties and counties like Li Yue's eyes and ears.

No one is negligent in this matter, and the fear of famine has been deeply rooted in the bone marrow.

There was no need for Li Yue's order, and all the localities were mobilized, men, women and children all joined the battle.

The locusts became scarcer visible to the naked eye, and the overwhelming scene was no longer there.

Li Yue still didn't dare to be careless, and even handled official affairs directly in the Tongshanpi camp.

Yecheng was so severely affected by the disaster, not to mention other counties in Hebei.

The disaster in Yan State was far above Yecheng, and even Murong Jun was in Liaodong.

The counties of Zhongshan, Wu'an, and Xiangguo were full of hungry people, and the Yan army also took the initiative to shrink its defenses, retreating to the front line of Xiangguo, and abandoning Handan, Wu'an and other cities.

They retreated, and Li Yue did not send troops to occupy these cities.

For one thing, the current drought and locust plagues, these cities are huge burdens, and the population has been relocated.

Second, there are fewer guards and the Yan army cannot be stopped, and there are more guards, which weakens the defense of Yecheng.

The surrounding area of ​​Yecheng is already stable and solid as a rock. Building a new line of defense is not an easy task. It is better to turn this area into a buffer zone.

Li Yue even suspected that this was Murong Ke's intention to attract himself to invest troops in the north.

Where there is danger, there is opportunity.

Julu, Anping, Changshan and other counties sent people to ask for food support, and Lukou Wang Wu also sent people.

Cannibals are soft and short.

A natural disaster made Li Yue's control over these forces stronger and stronger.

Su Yan, the prefect of Changshan, sent his family members to Yecheng, and the prefects of Anping and Julu also wrote to ask the Heiyun army to settle in.

The only one who was still stiff-necked was Lukou Wang Wu, but he also became submissive to Li Yue's tone.

"To tame a fierce horse, you must first grasp its temper and gain its trust." Li Yue salivated at this elite team from Lukou.

Starting from Deng Huan, this team has withstood the attacks of Murong Ke and Murong Chui several times.

Liu Qun was not as optimistic as Li Yue, "There is not much food left over from last year's hard work..."

Li Yue said: "Qingyan has been saved, so there is no need to worry too much about the food. We have people, and we have newly acquired the land of Huaibei, so we need to vigorously cultivate it."

The sky treats everyone equally, and it is bad for oneself, but it is not good for others.

The fertile lands on both sides of the Yellow River were controlled by Li Yue, backed by the Central Plains, and recovered faster than Yan.

"Duke Liang, there are messengers from Xinye!"

Li Yue was startled, Huan Wen sent someone...

(End of this chapter)