Kai Fu Han

Chapter 539
"Preliminary estimates indicate that this drought will affect [-]% to [-]% of the summer grain harvest. If the drought continues until May, some dry fields that cannot be irrigated may have no harvest," Luo Chenghui reported.

Liu Xinqi frowned and put a hand on his forehead.

It’s really unsettling.

As soon as the front foot suppressed the possible war with Southern Zhao, a severe drought broke out in the back foot's own territory.

"How long can the Xinghan League's current grain reserves last? What percentage of the total cultivated land can be artificially watered during a prolonged drought?"

Luo Cheng was very familiar with these numbers and had memorized them all in his mind.

"After several years of continuous internal and external grain storage, the current grain reserves of Xinghan League can support all the people of Xinghan League for six months."

"As for irrigated land, it only accounts for [-]% of the total cultivated land. This is the result of the continuous construction of water conservancy facilities in recent years."

After hearing these numbers, Liu Xinqi finally felt relieved.

"So, even if we only harvest a little amount of grain in the summer, we can still wait until the autumn harvest, right?"

"Not necessarily. No one knows how long this severe drought will last or whether it will affect summer planting."

While the two were talking, Xu Zhong intervened.

"Alliance!"

"What's wrong?" Liu Xinqi looked at Xu Zhong.

"There is one more important thing." Xu Zhong's face was still heavy.

"You said."

"Since ancient times, there have been locusts when there has been extreme drought. I heard that a large number of locust larvae have been found on the East and West Road in Beijing." Xu Zhong told Liu Xinqi a piece of news that made Liu Xinqi feel heavy again.

Liu Xinqi read a post in his previous life and knew that in ancient times, locust plagues on the mainland basically came every few years.

In Liu Xinqi's memory in this life, there has been no locust plague in Jingdong for five or six years. This interval has been a long time.

This severe drought is very likely to trigger a locust plague.

Locusts lay their eggs in the soil, and the soil moisture content is 10% to 20%, which is most suitable for them to lay eggs.

Under normal circumstances, if rainfall is normal, locusts cannot reproduce on a large scale because locusts must lay eggs on land with less than 50% vegetation coverage in order to form a large scale.

Rainfall is normal, but trees, weeds and young wheat seedlings can shade the land, making the soil water content too high for locusts to breed.

Even if some eggs hatch, natural enemies of the locusts will destroy them.

Frogs, birds, big bugs, etc.

Drought can tip this balance off.

"Is there any way?" Liu Xinqi asked.

If there is a locust plague, even if the fields are irrigated, there will be no harvest, and even summer planting and autumn harvest will be affected.

The grain reserves of the Xinghan League were not enough to feed all the people for a year.

"There are many ways to control locusts, most of which have little effect. The most effective way is to use food or money to buy locusts and let people go to the fields to catch them." Luo Cheng replied: "However, if a locust plague occurs, this method will not How useful it is, because there are too many locusts during the locust plague.”

"We make more bamboo baskets and dense nets, and all the people go to catch locusts. I believe that man can conquer nature. And the locusts should be edible." Xu Zhong suggested from the side.

"You can't eat it." Liu Xinqi replied. He happened to have seen this knowledge point.Ordinary locusts can be eaten before they gather.

But when they gather into a locust plague, the locusts will mutate, secrete toxins, and become poisonous if eaten.

Liu Xinqi couldn't remember the specific toxin. He only knew that the locusts before mutation were green and gray, and the locusts after mutation were colored, black, yellow and other colors.

The law of nature: the brighter the color, the stronger the toxicity.

Locusts in locust plagues are basically colored.

"Why can't you eat it? There are records that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty ate locusts." Xu Zhong was confused.

This allusion is very famous and well promotes the kindness of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.

In the second year of Zhenguan, there was a severe drought in the capital and locusts broke out everywhere.Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty entered the garden to check the loss of grain. He saw locusts on the seedlings. He picked up a few locust eggs and muttered: "Food is the people's wealth and life, and if you eat it, you are harming the people. The people are guilty." , all those sins are mine. If you really have a spirit, just eat my heart, and don't sin against the people." After saying that he was about to swallow the locusts, the people on the side advised him: "You can't Eat! You may get sick if you eat!" Taizong said: "I just hope that it will transfer the disaster to the people! How can you not do it because you are afraid of getting sick?" After saying this, he immediately swallowed the locusts. .

There is a background in this story: the ancients believed that locusts had supernatural powers, so they built temples and called them locust gods.Moreover, the word "Locust King" has the same pronunciation as "Locust King", so the common people dare not hunt and kill him.Therefore, in ancient times, whenever a locust plague occurred, it was considered a punishment from heaven.

Liu Xinqi knows that historical records cannot be 100% believed.

No one knows whether Tang Taizong actually ate locusts.However, it is recorded in history books that Emperor Taizong only ate a few locusts in his garden, possibly still larvae.

The "nymph" stage of insects is basically non-toxic and mostly contains protein.

And regardless of the dose, talking about toxicity is just hooliganism. Emperor Taizong only took a few for show, so he might be fine.If Baixin eats the locusts during the locust plague, he will definitely be poisoned.

"Locusts will mutate when they gather together, and those that were originally non-toxic will become poisonous, as evidenced by the color change of the locust's body." Liu Xinqi explained to the two people why locusts are poisonous in locust plagues, and used mushrooms as an example to prove it.

Ninety-nine percent of brightly colored mushrooms are highly poisonous.

"I see. No wonder Baixin doesn't dare to eat locusts." Luo Cheng said thoughtfully.

When a person is about to starve to death, he will eat even dirt and will not care about any taboos, whether he is a locust or an emperor.There is only one final reason that can make Baixin not eat locusts, and that is that if you eat them, you will die, and you will die in pain.

"Then we will just watch the locust plague occur and the food harvest will be cut off?" Xu Zhong sounded helpless.

"Of course not." Liu Xinqi and Luo Cheng replied at the same time.

……

On April [-], a new issue of "Baixin Xundao" was published.

The first eight pages of the newspaper were all about the locust plague.

The front page headline on page one read, “Continuing drought could lead to locust swarm.”

The article introduced in detail how the locust plague is formed, the breeding conditions of locusts, the relationship between locust plague and drought, etc. It finally concluded that if the drought continues, a locust plague will definitely occur in the Xinghan League.

At the beginning of the third edition, the Xinghan League's strategy for controlling the locust plague was announced.

The first and most important strategy is to exchange locusts for food.

Three kilograms of locust carcasses are exchanged for one kilogram of coarse grains, and the exchange ratio for sun-dried locust carcasses is even higher.Any grain store run by the Xinghan League can be redeemed.

The second article is to warn people that adult locusts cannot be eaten as they are poisonous.

Liu Xinqi took great pains to introduce the three stages of locust growth in the article: eggs, larvae, and adults.

(End of this chapter)