Da Qin: Self-destruction and time travel, I will extend my life for Qin for a thousand years

Chapter 169 How to control the locust plague

Xu Guangqi, a famous scientist of the Ming Dynasty, once said:
"There are three causes of severe hunger: water, drought, and locusts."

"The land has its ups and downs, the rain and swamps have its slopes, floods and droughts are disasters, but there are still some who are spared."

"Only when the drought is extremely severe and locusts appear, for thousands of miles, all vegetation, including the hair of cattle and horses, as well as flags and banners, are gone. The damage is particularly severe than floods."

Although the Ming Dynasty is more than 600 years away from the Qin Dynasty, under the feudal system, many principles are interoperable.

It can be seen that in the eyes of the ancients, locust plague was a very terrifying natural disaster, even more severe than flood disaster.

In many cases, the main cause of great famine in China is locust disasters.

It can be said that this is a very troublesome matter for rulers of all dynasties.

Cui Yuan now completely understood why everyone was so sad just now.

If the locust plague was limited to Handan County, it would not be difficult for Da Qin to deal with it. Even if food was not needed, the people in these three places could be supported through nearby counties and cities, not to mention that Da Qin is still undergoing an agricultural revolution.

But now that the locust plague has intensified several times, and is even moving westward to spread to the customs, this concept is completely different.

If it is not handled well, it will be a great famine in the Guandong Plain!

However, Cui Yuan still has doubts, because this natural disaster happened too suddenly.

The locust plague is not like the cold disaster or the Yellow River bursting its banks. It can happen suddenly and there will definitely be signs.

Since the beginning of farming civilization, locusts have been the mortal enemy of the Chinese people. Logically speaking, the local county governor must have refined salt to deal with the locust plague, so it is impossible not to notice it.

But according to the memorial, this locust plague occurred suddenly without any warning.

When it was discovered, it was already overwhelming!
After thinking about it, Cui Yuan felt that there was something fishy about this matter. In addition to the effect brought by the title, there must be other tricks hidden in it.

"Your Majesty, apart from the memorial, this Handan County Sheriff has not sent anything else?"

"Like locust corpse samples?"

Ying Zheng hadn't answered yet and had been silent. Yin Gaofeng, who was looking at Cui Yuan, spoke first.

"no!"

"But... I asked the person who sent the letter this question. The person who sent the letter said that the locust swarms are like thick soil, densely packed, and they don't see the light of day when they attack."

"The size is three to four times larger than ordinary locusts."

Because Yin Gaofeng was obsessed with studying celestial phenomena, he had some ignorance about etiquette, and even dared to steal His Majesty the First Emperor's words.

However, Ying Zheng didn't care. Instead, he signaled Cui Yuan with his eyes that if he had any questions, he could ask directly.

Astronomers are an outlier among various schools of thought. Different from the Mohists who focus on the art of mechanics, astronomers study the relationship between celestial phenomena, seasons and tides.

Before large groups established all-sky star platforms, they often lived alone in deep mountains and wild forests. They also had an extraordinary understanding of agriculture, second only to farmers.

"Three or four times bigger than ordinary locusts?"

Cui Yuan's brows jumped. The amount of information contained in Yin Gaofeng's words was very large.

When he established the Liucunbao Academy before, he also compiled the farmer's classics, which recorded that there were mainly four types of locusts living in Daqin, and they were all about the same size, and they were all mainly green.

The color resembles thick soil and the size of the locusts is completely different from them!
"May I ask Master Yin, have you sent someone to Handan County to investigate and asked them to capture some locust samples?"

"Have!"

Yin Gaofeng nodded and pointed at Dun Rui: "Because the matter is so important, I asked Commander Dun to send people to Handan County to investigate, and Commander Dun also brought me here."

'So it is! '

Cui Yuan understood. Now he understood why Master Yin appeared here.

It turned out that Dun Ruo had brought him here, and luckily he had brought Master Yin here, which saved him a lot of effort.

"Cui Yuan, what did you discover from it?"

Ying Zheng was curious, and he had a hunch that Cui Yuan seemed to have noticed something was wrong during this generation change.

"It's a bit true, but I'm not sure yet."

Cui Yuan admitted: "I can't make a conclusion until I see real locust samples."

"it is good!"

Ying Zheng nodded and did not continue to dwell on this issue, but changed the topic.

"So, do you have any way to stop this locust plague?"

"I haven't decided yet. I want to hear your opinions."

Cui Yuan didn't say it fully.

Because this matter is indeed very troublesome.

Even in modern society after 2000, locust plagues often occur, damaging farmland and causing serious losses.

Not only in China, but also abroad.

The science and technology of the future society is already so advanced, but it still cannot completely prevent such natural disasters. It can only reduce them as much as possible.

When it comes to Daqin, which is countless times behind in technological level, there is only one word - difficult!

Before Cui Yuan traveled through time, the way to cope with such natural disasters was to eat directly!

Wherever there is a locust plague, people are called upon to collect the locusts and eat them.

In fact, this method is completely outrageous and opens the door to outrageousness - it's so outrageous!

Not to mention that the locusts that caused the locust plague had mutated and produced toxins in their bodies, making them inedible.

Just say that the number of locusts that cause a locust plague is at least tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions!

There are so many locusts that even if they all stand still and let the people catch them, it will take several months!
By the time they were almost caught, the food had already been exhausted!

It can be said that this method has no practical significance and is of no use in the face of a super locust plague.

To deal with the super locust plague, the first step is to control the locust plague within a certain range. Handan County may not be able to defend it, but they must not be allowed to get close to the pass!

Otherwise, it will not only be as simple as the rubber trees that were finally obtained become extinct, or the food harvest will fail.

Now that the weather is colder, locusts will destroy farmland and lay eggs crazily.

When next spring comes, the ice and snow melt, and a new wave of even more terrifying locusts will emerge!

By then, this locust plague, which is rare in a century, may become a locust plague that is rare in a thousand years.

"Your Majesty, how did Great Qin deal with locust plagues in the past?"

Cui Yuan sat down, stretched out his right hand, and tapped the table slightly to ask.

"In the past, when encountering locust plagues, the court's response was to let the common people arrest them," Ying Zheng replied.

The gray-haired Li Shimin also nodded and said: "Catch them and burn them on the spot to become fertilizer for the next year's farming and reuse the waste." As an emperor, although he rarely does farming, the order to exterminate locusts comes from the emperor.

Therefore, both Li Shimin and Ying Zheng are very familiar with this process.

Especially Li Shimin, when he was in power, he once swallowed locusts alive in order to deal with the locust plague.

Cui Yuan looked at Yin Gaofeng again, who replied: "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Datian" records that "getting rid of the borers and their thieves will not harm our Tianzhi."There is a god in Tian Zu, who is responsible for the fire. ""

"It means to get rid of the heart-eating leaf-eating insects, as well as those insects that bite the roots and joints, so that they will no longer harm my crops and young seedlings. Pray to the God of Agriculture, Tian Zu, to show mercy and burn them all with fire."

"When our forefathers astronomers used to live in the mountains, they would directly light up bonfires when encountering locusts, and then they would throw themselves into the flames and commit suicide."

"However, the forefathers of astronomers only tried this method to deal with small groups of locusts."

"It should not be possible to deal with a natural disaster like a super locust plague."

Insects are phototaxis, especially locusts.

If you set up a bonfire, you can indeed attract locusts to join the trap.

However, as Yin Gaofeng said, this method is limited to dealing with small groups of locusts. In the face of hundreds of billions of locusts, a pile, two piles, or even dozens of bonfires are of little use - the corpses of the locusts are enough. Put out the bonfire!
And one acre of farmland is only that big. If all the bonfires are set up, what will happen to the immature crops?
The purpose of eradicating locusts is to protect crops. If you burn crops first in order to eradicate locusts, you are undoubtedly putting the cart before the horse.

Dunruo also expressed his opinion, which was the method Cui Yuan had given up on before - eating it directly.

As a farming civilization, the people of China have long tried to make this pest that harms crops into delicacies.

Cui Yuan listened to everyone's opinions, thought carefully, weighed the pros and cons, and gradually formed his own opinion in his mind.

Dun Rui was the last one to speak. When he finished speaking, everyone present immediately looked at Cui Yuan, waiting for him to speak.

They have been discussing for a long time and have not come up with a reliable solution, so for now they can only place their hopes on Cui Yuan.

If even Cui Yuan can't do anything, then he may have to be prepared to fight a tough battle and wipe out the locust plague.

The army was dispatched to help the people build bonfires, weave nets to catch locusts, and then transferred food from other places to provide disaster relief.

But in this way, the damage caused will definitely be huge, and it is the worst way. Even whether the locusts can be stopped is a big problem.

It is even very possible to bring back the prosperity of the Qin Dynasty in recent years and the good life that the people have just lived.

As if they were worried about disturbing Cui Yuan's thinking, everyone involuntarily lowered their breathing.

Cui Yuan didn't deliberately show off. He took a look at everyone to clarify their thoughts and then said his own method: "My method is actually very simple."

"That is to use a principle called the food chain to use ducks to deal with locusts."

If you want to get such a large number of locusts, whether you catch them or attract and eat them by a campfire, you will be very weak.

Only ducks, the upper level of the locust's food chain, can restrain locusts in a real sense.

"Duck!?"

As soon as this statement came out, everyone present looked puzzled.

The starting era of duck raising in China is probably the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Common folk raising may have started in the Spring and Autumn Period. By the Qin Dynasty, ducks had become one of the three major poultry species in China (chickens, ducks, and geese).

It is true that ducks eat locusts, but no one has ever connected locust control with ducks!
When Cui Yuan saw it, he understood everyone's confusion and explained: "Actually, the reason for this is very simple."

"The simplest example is the deer and tigers in the mountains and forests. When the deer herds reproduce too much, the number of tigers will also increase due to the increase in food. The retreat will finally kill the number of deer herds below the safety line."

"The same is true for locusts and crops. When there are the most locusts, there are the most crops. When all the crops are eaten, the locusts will also die of hunger. This is the mutual restriction of the food chain."

"When the population of a species expands rapidly, the population of its predator will also increase explosively until the balance is restored."

"And ducks, chickens and geese are the predators of locusts!"

Cui Yuan made it very clear that everyone present was also a person of extraordinary intelligence.

Although I have never been exposed to similar theories, I can still understand the meaning of what Cui Yuan said.

"So your method is still to eat, but this time it's not the common people who eat the locusts, but birds like ducks?"

As Ying Zheng said, Cui Yuan nodded and gave everyone a glass of water: "Yes, that's what it means."

"This method can still be used after 2000. At that time, a super locust plague also broke out. At that time, a hundred thousand ducks were dispatched to quell the locust plague..."

After Cui Yuan gave examples, he began to explain detailed implementation methods.

Everyone didn't even drink water, their thoughts were all on Cui Yuan.

Especially when I was weak, I took out my notebook and copied frantically, for fear of missing a word.

What I recorded is probably a super method that can save Handan and other counties!

"But regarding the locust specimens, I still hope to send them as soon as possible."

"Mr. Chen feels that there is no simplicity behind this matter."

"It's natural."

"If you are still not at ease, I will send an extra team to Handan now, and I will ensure that I will grab a basketful of samples for you."

Ying Zheng happily agreed and did not hesitate at all to Cui Yuan's request.

Although the locust plague is still raging, at least there is a way now, and there is a high possibility of success.

Compared to the headless state just now, the current situation is much better.

"But Cui Yuan, you should go back and rest first."

"They are also surveying the Yellow River landforms, and they are discussing with us how to treat locusts."

"You must be tired too. Go back and spend some time with Yin Man first."

Cui Yuan nodded, thanked Ying Zheng for his concern, and then said goodbye to everyone.

Although with his physique, he would not feel tired at all.

But Ying Yinman would definitely be very anxious if she hadn't seen him for so long.

It is indeed time to go and see her, otherwise she will have random thoughts.

That night, Cui Yuan and Ying Yinman hugged each other and chatted until midnight.

It wasn't until the girl fell asleep that he quietly stood up and prepared to return to his chariot.

"His Royal Highness King Qin."

Just halfway through, the night wind blew, and a tall and thin figure came from a distance, with bright eyes, and called out to Cui Yuan.

"whats the matter?"

Cui Yuan turned around in confusion and looked at Yin Gaofeng curiously. He didn't understand why the owner of the All-Tianxing Platform came to find him in the middle of the night.

Could it be that besides the locust plague, he also observed other things?
(End of this chapter)