Short video spoiler history: The beginning of modern warfare

Chapter 154: Thousand Years of Locust Control

Jinling City.

"Go back and reflect on your mistakes!" Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and yelled at the second brother.

The anger was half vented, it was time to solve this problem. As Tianmu said, his education of his son was a failure.

In addition to appeasing the people, the focus is on the education of the princes. Song Lian is a man of integrity, but due to his status as a rebellious son, he is mostly admonished and rarely punished, which gradually indulged his character. This may be one of the reasons why he became lawless in the future.

Another big reason is that when you have a sharp weapon, you will naturally want to kill.

Just like people who suddenly become rich and powerful, when they suddenly come to power, their desires will inevitably rise. In addition, since they are in a high position and have great power, no one dares to offend them, so they naturally do things without any scruples.

Zhu Yuanzhang was overwhelmed by the education of the princes and the problems of the royal family.

[Once a person dies, the cancer cells will also die. So why do cancer cells choose to perish together with humans? Can't they coexist with the human body and live well? ]

[This idea is good, but cancer cells have no consciousness. The program engraved on their DNA is always working. In essence, as long as there is enough nutrition, they are immortal cells. They can first lead to immortality and then lead to immortality.]

[Unfortunately, it only knows how to take more and grow itself, and it splits itself without restraint to rob the nutrients of various organs in the body. Then the pressure is on glucose. Once the nutrients such as lactic acid, glucose, and amino acids cannot keep up, the body will collapse.]

[Every cell in the human body has a life cycle. For example, red blood cells in the blood can survive for 4 months, skin cells are renewed about every 28 days, and gastric mucosal and intestinal epithelial cells can only live for 2-3 days]

[You should know that there are 50 trillion cells in our body, and each of them has its own life cycle. In fact, about 380 million cells die in the human body every second, although new cells are born to replace them.]

[But some of them are reluctant to leave this world and start to struggle, not wanting to die like this. By chance (such as staying up late, smoking, drinking and other irregular diet and rest), their DNA mutates, breaking through the fate of cell death and gaining "immortality" under certain conditions.]

[Although the human immune system can basically detect and eliminate them in time, there are always some that slip through the net and survive, and begin to rob the body of nutrients. In addition, they divide every 20 minutes, and the divided cells also inherit the "immortality", which means they proliferate indefinitely, and finally form scary tumors.]

[It looks like cancer cells and humans are at war to the death, but in fact, they are cells that are destined to die. They just temporarily escape death through mutation and live for a few more months or years. It's not that they don't want to coexist. As long as the self-dividing genes are still functioning, the final result will definitely be 'human death and cell death']

[Some people also say that cancer cells have their uses, and that this characteristic can be used to infinitely reproduce meat. Those who say this are really ruthless. Don't you want to buy 2 taels of meat from the vegetable market and turn it into 3 taels? When you pick it up and want to put it in the pot, it will stick to your hand and crawl upwards, wet and sticky.]

In front of Fengtian Hall.

Everyone had just recovered from the farce, and when they heard Tianmu mention cancer cells, they performed a series of facial expressions with wonderful expressions.

They already knew the name of cancer, so they frowned.

What followed was conditional eternal life, which even stunned Zhu Yuanzhang.

"There really is eternal life!" many people exclaimed, and then another basin of cold water was poured on them.

"Ugh" the consequence of the immortality of cancer cells is that they compete with other cells, tissues, and organs in the human body for nutrients, and cancer cells can divide indefinitely and increase their own value, which means that the human body is doomed to end up with expenditures exceeding incomes!
The human body then collapses.

"According to this description, if a person suffering from a tumor is losing weight day by day, it could be because the cancer cells are robbing the body of nutrients?" The people in the Imperial Hospital analyzed the matter carefully. Generally speaking, a tumor is a growth on the body that does not belong to the human body's tissues.

"If the speculation is true, then the real cause of the disease has been found in many cases, but it is difficult to treat."

"How about removing this part of the tumor?"

“It may be effective, but it may not be a cure, otherwise future generations won’t be helpless.”

Everyone was silent. This statement could not be wrong. If they could discover the pathogenicity of cancer cells, how could they not have tried this method?

Now they all know that the smallest unit of the human body is the cell, and there are 50 trillion cells in the human body. In addition to removing the grown tumors, there may be some cancer cells hiding somewhere unknown. It is not easy to accurately kill these cancerous cells.

"I don't think there's any need to sigh. At least we have now figured out the causes and development directions of some diseases. We will always be able to find corresponding prescriptions in the future." The young imperial physician said loudly, and his laughter diluted a lot of sorrow.

“However, these people in the future are simply reckless. They actually want to use cancer cells to reproduce meat!”

“I got goosebumps.”

"The King of Hell should have his name tattooed on his back."

A group of people were talking and laughing, their eyes stopped at the comment section to see if they could get some supplementary information or other information from it.

Can I fake my death and trick cancer cells?

"Can we negotiate and coexist together? As long as the cancer cells don't spread, let them live forever?"

Cancer Non-Proliferation Treaty, right?

"There are benign tumors, that is, those with limited growth, high degree of cell differentiation, and little impact on the human body. On the contrary, those that become cancerous are malignant."

[Locust plague is one of the three major natural disasters in ancient times. I believe everyone is unfamiliar with this term. In 1977, my country announced that it had controlled the locust plague that had been raging for thousands of years. After entering the st century, sporadic locust plagues occurred from time to time in the vast western region, but they were quickly curbed by the joint efforts of various provinces.]

[Locusts are the biggest pest in my country's history. They have severely damaged agricultural production for 2000 years. What is even more dangerous is that locust plagues often occur after severe droughts. Often, farmers have just survived a drought and rushed to plant some life-saving grain, but then a locust plague follows, shattering their just-ignited hope for survival.]

[This endless amount of disaster and suffering continued to accumulate and ferment, and in the end only six bloody characters were left in the history books: There was famine, and people ate each other.]

[Faced with the surging Huangchong army, some people chose to surrender. They invited the Queen of Locusts and General Liu Meng to come out, thinking that as long as they devoutly worshipped these clay statues, they could appease the censure of heaven and disperse the locusts in the sky.]

[Others were unwilling to sit and wait for death. They threw down their weapons and vowed to fight the locusts to the end. The "Book of Han. The Chronicle of Emperor Ping" records that as early as the second year of the Yuanshi period of the Western Han Dynasty, the Chinese people had already begun the fight against locusts.]

[That year, a locust plague broke out in Qingzhou, Shandong. In order to control the locusts, the imperial court allocated a large amount of money to reward farmers who caught and killed locusts. This is also the earliest locust control law in my country recorded in history.]

[In the Tang Dynasty, Prime Minister Yao Chong attached great importance to locust control. He found that locusts have the habit of repelling light. As long as a fire was lit in the field at night, a large number of locusts could be burned and killed. Chen Jinglun, a Fujian native in the Ming Dynasty, first experienced the horror of locust plagues when he promoted sweet potato planting in Anhui.]

[However, he also found that egrets like to devour locusts, so he thought of the similarities between ducks and egrets, and Anhui is suitable for raising ducks, so he invented the biological control method of raising ducks to control locusts. Before the locust nymphs (locust larvae) emerge, ducks are released to peck in the fields, which can have a very good effect.]

[In the two thousand years of struggle for power, generation after generation of hardworking and tenacious Chinese people have accumulated a wealth of valuable experience with their blood and sweat]

In front of Fengtian Hall.

"Even locusts can be controlled in the future?" Everyone was shocked, then they came to their senses and buried their heads in copying.

Can locust plagues be controlled in later generations?

Zhu Yuanzhang also looked surprised and doubtful. The word "locust plague" evoked his horrific memories. As someone who had personally experienced a locust plague and survived, he understood how much damage the plague brought.

As one of the three major natural disasters, locust plagues have always been a cause of fear for people, because they are followed by severe famine. If an epidemic breaks out, the country will fall into turmoil.

The severe drought and locust plagues in the Zhizheng years killed countless people. He had seen with his own eyes several people fighting like vicious dogs for a piece of tree bark, and he had also seen old people and children eating Guanyin soil to survive and bursting their stomachs.
In ancient times, people did not have a full understanding of locusts. They generally believed that the emperor had failed to live up to his moral integrity. If a locust plague occurred, the emperor would issue an edict to blame himself and examine his mistakes. Although people later had a deeper understanding of locusts and knew that it was just a natural disaster, they were still powerless to do anything.

Whether it is the people beating and capturing them, lighting fires at night to attract them to put out the fire, etc., they are just a drop in the bucket and have little effect.

Only when you are in the middle of it, facing such an overwhelming swarm of locusts, do you realize how powerless people are. The important officials present have all experienced troubled times, and naturally understand the harm of locust plagues and their difficulty in controlling them, so their expressions changed from solemn to puzzled to curious.

“Is it targeting insect eggs?”

"Could it be pesticides?" Liu Ji and others speculated to themselves that only by targeting insect eggs could the locust plague be fundamentally controlled.

Pesticides have been mentioned before, and are said to be able to kill insects and prevent pests and diseases, but the specific formula was not mentioned. Even if everyone wanted to explore it, it would not be so easy, so it was put on hold for the time being.

"Even if there are pesticides for locusts, it would be difficult to spray and cover such a large area of ​​land, right?"

"Yes, there is no time at all."

Hexing Tea and Snack Shop.

Everyone's faces were a little solemn. It had only been about 20 years since the great drought and locust plague in the fourth year of Zhizheng. Even if you haven't experienced it, you have heard your parents talk about it. Every time you think of or hear others talk about those tragedies, it seems as if they are right in front of you, and you can't help crying.

"How did they do that?" Shopkeeper Wan murmured. He even thought that if the skylight had been lit twenty years earlier, perhaps those tragedies could have been avoided. His parents and brothers!
"Don't worry. Only by understanding the process of locust plague can we better prevent and control it."

Everyone present put away their playful smiles. After more than a year of training by Tianmu, the people of Jinling City have learned the process of observing and understanding the principles first and then proposing targeted solutions.

Mr. Su and others also know that if there is a scientific prevention method, it can save countless lives.

[In modern times, advanced entomology and biological control techniques began to be introduced into China. In 1922, the Jiangsu Entomology Bureau was established. Since then, entomology institutes have also been established in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and Hebei provinces.]

[In 1928, a locust plague broke out in the Nanjing and Zhenjiang areas. The Jiangsu Entomology Bureau spread kerosene when the locusts crossed the water, which had a significant killing effect. In the same year, the Zhejiang Entomology Bureau established a parasitic wasp protection laboratory in Jiaxing to study how to kill insects with insects. The close combination of research and practice promoted the development of locust control.]

[However, there were still many shortcomings in the locust control work during this period. In 1928 and 29, the Jiangsu Insect Bureau used drugs to kill more than 1000 kilograms of locusts and nymphs. However, due to the lack of a coordination mechanism with neighboring provinces, locusts spread to neighboring provinces, and the control effect was greatly reduced.]

[Controlling locust infestations requires long-term, uninterrupted locust surveillance to nip the plague in the larvae stage, but China was in social turmoil at the time and did not have many resources to conduct locust surveillance.]

[In 1938, Chiang Kai-shek opened the Huayuankou Canal to allow the Yellow River to flood, creating an excellent breeding ground for locusts. In Jiangsu province alone, there are 33.3 hectares of locust areas. These locust areas are like time bombs. Once the conditions are right for the locusts to take off, the food rations of hundreds of millions of people will disappear overnight.]

[In 1944, locust eggs began to hatch in the spring of Linling County, Henan Province. They were densely packed in the cracks between rocks and under the soil. The county and district governments of Lin County promptly established a locust suppression command center, and each village established a locust suppression brigade, organizing a large number of manpower to use various methods to kill locust nymphs and eggs.]

[In May, Lin County and Anyang County jointly took action to wipe out swarms of locusts at the border between the two counties. In August, the Lin County Locust Suppression Command also organized a 5-man locust suppression army to support Qi County and Ji County]

[By 1945, the locust plague that had lasted for three years had basically subsided, and this massive campaign to eliminate locusts along the forest line came to an end.]

[In 1951, the locust situation in Huangye County, Hebei Province was serious, and the Ministry of Agriculture decided to test a new weapon to control locusts: airplanes]

[This time, the People's Air Force also joined the battle on the front line of Yellow River control. On June 6, two planes carried pesticides and spread them in the locust area. After the test, it was estimated that one plane working for 14 hours a day could kill 6 acres of locusts, which is equivalent to 3200 to 10 people manually swatting them for hours.]

Tang Dynasty, Chang'an City.

Li Shimin, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Cheng Yaojin, Qin Shubao and others were so excited and moved that they wanted to cry.

From the black and white picture on the sky, we can see that the people at that time were all skin and bones, but they were full of passion and courage to fight. They went shirtless with hoes, shovels and other farm tools to kill locusts in the fields and would never sit and wait to die.

The situation is similar to the locust plague in Guanzhong two years ago, but they are more hardworking and more confident, knowing that this way they can effectively control the locust plague.

"Investigation of locust situation, joint locust control, extermination of locust nymphs, mobilization of the people, and spraying of pesticides by airplanes." Fang Xuanling solemnly recorded these measures one by one. These measures seem very simple, but they require the court to have extremely strong control and organizational capabilities at the grassroots level.

By following these measures, even without airplanes, the locust plague can be controlled within a certain range. This is truly a case of man conquering nature.

"The efficiency of the plane is so high!" Li Shimin and others were shocked. He counted on his fingers and calculated that according to 12 hours of daytime, one plane could kill 6400 acres of locusts in one day.
10 planes mean 64000 acres. Although we don’t know how much the acreage in later times differs from today, as long as there are enough planes and the imperial court reacts quickly enough, the locust swarm can be completely controlled.

When they thought of this, their faces became even more excited. Now the Ministry of Industry had mobilized the nation's craftsmen, and they could barely grind out a diesel engine by hand, which meant they were not far from producing airplanes.

"What a great stuff!" Even rough men like Cheng Yaojin understood what was going on. This was truly a national treasure!

He licked his lips. This was a method of treating locusts that no one had thought of before. "It's a pity that there is no pesticide formula to kill locusts and nymphs!"

"No, we will develop it ourselves!" Li Shimin was full of pride. It was impossible for him to rely on Tianmu for everything. If he wanted to get these pesticide ingredients next time, he would have to wait until the end of time.

And we are not stupider than people in later generations. As long as we have a direction, the rest will be much easier.

Everyone was also infected by His Majesty's heroic spirit, and in a trance they seemed to see the King of Qin in front of Hulao Pass.

"Your Majesty is wise. This is a blessing for the country and the people!" Cheng Yaojin shamelessly imitated the words of the gang and quickly gave them a flowery fart.
[After that, airplanes were very useful in locust control. In 1955, a locust plague occurred in Xinjiang, and the government dispatched airplanes to spread pesticides, with remarkable results.]

[In 1960, the locust plague affected an area of ​​611 million mu in Henan, and aircraft controlled an area of ​​448 million mu. This was the year with the largest scale of locust control by aircraft in Henan. The area of ​​the locust area gradually shrank amid the roar of aircraft.]

[If using drugs to kill locusts is just a temporary solution, then transforming locust areas and eliminating locust breeding grounds is truly removing the fuel from the fire.]

Henan, which is at the forefront of locust control, has started large-scale transformation of locust areas since the 60s. Because most locust areas are waterlogged saline-alkali land, building water conservancy facilities and regulating water and soil have become key.

[Over the past few decades, Henan has mobilized the people to dig 17831 drainage ditches with a total length of 35262 kilometers, built 83 large and medium-sized reservoirs, dug more than 1600 mu of ponds, and introduced yellow mud to irrigate 102 million mu of sand and alkali. In addition, Henan also rewards those who reclaim locust areas. Whoever cultivates the land owns the land, whoever sows the land will harvest the crops, and they will not have to pay public grain for three years, and no purchase will be made for five years.]

[In areas not suitable for farming, we also took appropriate measures and advocated planting fruit trees, reeds and gold bars. This completely transformed the environment of the locust area, eradicated the locusts themselves, and increased people's income. In the 70s, the initial transformation of the locust areas across the province was basically completed, and the safety of the Central Plains granary has been guaranteed since then.]

[As of 2014, the breeding area of ​​East Asian migratory locusts has dropped from nearly 8000 million mu to 2200 million mu, and the occurrence density has been continuously controlled at a low level. There has been no large-scale take-off damage in 30 years. The area of ​​grassland locust damage has decreased by 35.7%, and there has been no large-scale grassland locust disaster for 10 consecutive years.]

[In recent years, my country's locust control work has gone beyond the borders and into the world. In Laos, Mozambique, and many other third world countries, agricultural science and technology workers from China are helping the people of these countries fight locusts and strive for more hope]

Jinling City.

"Transform locust areas, eliminate locust breeding grounds, develop water conservancy projects, and regulate water and soil." Zhu Yuanzhang and others were all convinced. A video only lasts a few minutes, but behind it are countless days and nights of locust eradication and painstaking efforts.

These measures are great achievements in ancient and modern times. Moreover, we not only helped ourselves, but also went abroad to help other countries deal with the locust plague.

"Airplane!" Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed his excitement. He had to wait until all the navy treasure ships were equipped with internal combustion engines and until he got seeds back from the American continent before he could start making airplanes.

Next is pesticides, fertilizers, etc., which should also be studied.

Although I really want to get something for nothing from the sky, no one knows when I can get it, just like the chemical system and industrial synthetic ammonia fertilizer. There is no sign of it so far.

We can only rely on the Ministry of Science. Zhu Yuanzhang is confident about this. Even if it cannot be produced in a short period of time, what about ten or eight years?

He has plenty of time.

"Anyone who says that locusts can be solved by eating them is a fool. Why didn't you drink the water when the flood came?"

"Before 49, my country was still a country with frequent locust plagues. Later, a department was established to deal with locust plagues. Through a series of measures such as cleaning up wetlands, dredging silt, and protecting the natural enemies of locusts, after years of vigorous control, the locust plague disappeared from the land of China. So the locusts were not eaten up. Stop saying that eating can solve the problem!"

(End of this chapter)