Little lucky girl from the peasant family: Queen Splendid

Chapter 339 Do Your Best
Gong Zhiming pulled her to him and looked her up and down, but Ding Wei said, "My son threw it in my arms. I don't know what it is. I squeezed it and threw it away!"

After all, the little hand was so frightened that he grabbed his husband's sleeve and accused his son of his "crime".

"This stinky boy, once he returned to the Zhuangzi, he lost his appearance. He actually caught bugs and came back to scare me! I won't give him any delicious food from now on!"

Brother Ang blinked his big eyes, and his small appearance was extremely innocent. Seeing Gong Zhiming hurriedly pleaded with his son, "He probably thinks it's funny, so he knows you're afraid of bugs. Just tell him not to be like this next time!"

Mrs. Cheng also hurriedly chimed in, "The young masters were playing outside the yard just now, and a few hens were digging up this bug in the soil. The young master said it looked like a silkworm chrysalis, and clamored to bring it back for you to fry."

While talking, she bent down and picked up the bug. At this time, Yunying also sent a lantern to her. When everyone saw it, it turned out to be a bug that people often call "Waiwai". It looks the same as a small silkworm chrysalis, no wonder Ange admits his mistake.

Ding Wei's heart skipped a beat, and she didn't care about being afraid at the moment, and asked repeatedly, "The hen dug the worm out of the soil? Are there still many in the soil?"

Mrs. Cheng nodded, although she was a little confused, she still responded, "There are a lot of them in the soil, just a few young masters picked up seven or eight of them."

Ding Wei didn't study agriculture in her previous life, and her family didn't have any land. Naturally, she couldn't tell what these bugs would turn into when they grew up in spring, and whether they would be harmful to crops, but I always felt a little bad.So he looked at his father, and sure enough, old man Ding's complexion was very bad.

"These insects will grow up to become moths, produce eggs and become adults, and only eat the leaves of crops. I didn't see so many in previous years. I'm afraid this year is not good.

Gong Zhiming also frowned when he heard the words, and comforted everyone, "Maybe it's just around the capital. I'll send people to visit the places tomorrow before dealing with it."

Everyone also knew that it was not easy to talk about it, so they said a few more gossips and then dispersed.

Early the next morning, before dawn, Gong Zhiming took his bodyguards back to the city.When the early court was over, he summoned the minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and several servants, and after some discussion, he dispatched a hundred or ten fast horses with secret orders and scattered them around the capital for thousands of miles.

After that, one after another, news came back one after another.The situation is really not good, it can even be said to be serious.

The vicinity of Kyoto is fine, but the further south you go to the warmer places, the more insect eggs are found in the farmland.Huizhou and Zhuzhou, where there were locust plagues in the early years, can already see signs of locust plagues resurging.

Stayed early in the morning, and when the news was announced, there was an uproar among civil and military officials.

Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, although agriculture ranks second, is the foundation of the country.After all, everyone has to eat, no matter how proud the nobleman is, no matter how chic the literati are, they will inevitably eat and drink.If the plague of locusts breaks out and the food production ceases, then Dong Hao, who has just changed his Yuan, has just had a bumper harvest, and he is afraid that he will be beaten back to his original form immediately.

At that time, don't talk about flattening Tie Le, as long as it can ensure that the people in the country will not rise up because of the famine, it will be very good.

All problems in the world have solutions, if there is no solution, it can only be said that the right solution has not been found yet.

In the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, if it is said to go to battle to kill the enemy, its own generals will rush forward screaming; if it is said to deal with political affairs and manage the people of the state capital, its own civil servants will do their best.But now facing the eggs in the field, everyone is helpless.

Some people say to dig deep as early as possible, and then pick out the eggs.

But although this method is a bit stupid, it will have some effect. Unfortunately, the eggs of big insects like "Waiwai" are naturally easy to pick. What about those eggs that are like small grains of rice, or simply hidden in the grass?
Some people say that it is better to set fire to a prairie fire, but it is a pity that it was sprayed into a pig's head as soon as it was exported.Setting fire has always been a huge risk, and one carelessness will affect the mountains and forests.If there are no mountains and forests, what to do with firewood, where to find the wood for making wooden utensils, and even if you want to eat wild animals, there is nowhere to look for them.

Besides, many insect eggs are hidden in the ground, and burning wasteland is of no use at all.

Just like a giant playing with a boulder casually but unable to pinch a single hair, seeing that the insect plague is approaching, everyone has no other choice but to sigh.

Gong Zhiming was so annoyed that he drove the useless civil and military officials home, changed his clothes, and rode a fast horse to Dingjiazhuang.Whenever he gets irritable, he can only feel at ease when his wife and children are around him.

Ding's manor was as lively as ever.The remnant snow beside the road has almost melted, a few old yellow dogs are wagging their tails and wandering around a group of little children, who shake the snacks in their hands, and tease the old dogs in front of their noses from time to time, making the old dogs want to bite Their little hands swallowed, but they didn't dare, they could only whine from their aggrieved throats.

A few old ladies were sitting in the corner with needles and threads in their hands, looking at the children and talking homely
Because it was almost noon, smoke was rising from the chimneys of every household. The girls and daughters-in-law were busy in and out of the kitchen, arranging the food for the family, while the men sat under the eaves smoking a bag of cigarettes, thinking about this year. big and small.

The courtyard of the Yun family was even more lively because the daughter brought her grandson to stay for a while.Yesterday, the Fang family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law came to join in the fun again, and went back after eating and drinking, and left behind a lot of food and cloth they brought.

Mrs. Lu was busy making some more clothes for her grandchildren, and was discussing the styles with Mother Gu.Mrs. Liu and Yunying Lianqiao were busy in the kitchen, and when they were picking dried peppers under the eaves, they suddenly saw Gong Zhiming coming in from the door and said in surprise, "Oh, the emperor is here!"

This sound made everyone turn their heads to look, and turned to salute.Gong Zhiming waved his hands, and finally stepped forward to salute Mrs. Lu, and asked, "Mother, how are you?"

"Okay, okay." Lu was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth from ear to ear. Seeing his eyes wandering in the yard, she said, "Wei'er is busy these days, and I don't have time to make meals. You go back to the room and have a look, she I haven't come out of the drill room for a while."

"Where's Brother An?" Hearing that his wife was safe and sound, Gong Zhiming asked about his son again.

"Ange'er followed the old man to the field, don't worry, Danggui and the others will follow."

Only then did Gong Zhiming feel relieved, he lifted his feet up the steps and entered the west room of the main house.

Ding Wei didn't know what she was busy with, so she blocked the doors and windows tightly, and only lit an oil lamp on the table.

The lamp was like a bean, which made her little face pale, which was very strange, and really made Gong Zhiming jump.

"What is this for?"

Ding Wei raised her head when she heard the sound, and when she saw her husband came, she immediately became happy and said with a smile, "I'm learning how to incubate chickens with my sister-in-law."

Mrs. Cheng was sitting on the kang, but now she jumped off, saluted hastily, and then made an excuse to go out.

Ding Wei raised her hand and pulled open the curtains, and then beckoned Gong Zhiming to come forward. Only then did he see clearly that the big kang where the couple rested in the past was already covered with a thick quilt. There is only an egg, and a quilt is covered on the egg, which is tightly wrapped.

"I saw that the hens at home were eating worms quickly and abundantly, so I wondered if I should raise hundreds of chickens and drive them to the fields. Is it the best of both worlds to feed the chickens and remove the worms? Of course And a lot more eggs."

Gong Zhiming's eyes lit up, but he said again, "Mostly the hen hatches in April, and it's already after the spring plowing, so I'm afraid it's too late."

"So, I'm thinking about artificial hatching now. If it's successful, I can raise it two months in advance. During the spring plowing, most of the bugs in the field may be eaten. Even if we can't completely eliminate the pests, there are always some." Contain it."

Gong Zhiming became interested when he heard that, he stretched out his hand to feel under the quilt, it was warm, but not hot, guessing that this method must be difficult to master, he said, "No wonder you haven't returned to the palace for seven or eight days, so no matter how busy you are, This. If it works, I will thank you on behalf of Donghao people."

But Ding Wei poked her mouth out, "Don't say that, I've listened to the birth. Besides, most of the credit is due to Mrs. Cheng. When she was in her mother's house, she saw people rectify it like this. I just heard it. I spent a few days with her to think about it. I have some clues. I just covered the curtains and illuminated it with an oil lamp. Most of the eggs contained chicks, and we will see how many chicks we can get when they hatch in ten days."

Gong Zhiming picked up an egg, only felt the shell was warm, and listened carefully, but there was no sound inside.So he hesitated, "Can these chickens really eat up the locusts?"

"It should be said that it can have a great effect. Even if there is no locust plague, if the eggs in the field are eaten more, the crops will always be less damaged. In case of a locust plague, the government will buy locusts in exchange for food, and manpower will catch some , It’s probably about the same. The locusts won’t be wasted if they are collected, they can be dried and ground into powder to feed pigs or chickens.”

Ding Wei actually didn't know much about it, so she could only bite the bullet and explain a few words.In her opinion, even if raising chickens has little effect on locust plagues, at least they can be killed and eaten in autumn, which is better than doing nothing.

Gong Zhiming lowered his head, thoughtful.Ever since he heard that there will be drought and locust plagues this year, he intends to step up the purchase of grain from the people, and every place in the Changping warehouse is full, and any officials who engage in favoritism and malpractice will be punished immediately.If the locusts are bought with food as compensation, firstly, it will relieve the famine among the people, and secondly, it can also reduce the plague of insects. Even if half of the food is left in autumn, it will be enough for the entire Donghao to survive until next autumn.If the deployment is reasonable, maybe there will be no delay in fighting Tiele.

"Okay, try to record the method as much as possible, and implement it once it succeeds."

"In autumn, even if there is no food to eat, there will be chicken to eat." Ding Wei covered the quilt with a smile, and finally asked, "In the farm, we will start digging deep water wells in a few days. In the court, we will also let people from all over the country Are you all starting to deal with the drought?"

Gong Zhiming nodded, "The grain has been collected almost, and the news will be released in the next few days to prepare for the drought."

After all, a look of annoyance flashed in his eyes, "Could it be that God really doesn't want Tie Le to be wiped out?"

Ding Wei loves her husband's high-spirited appearance the most, and hearing these words gives him encouragement, "God is not partial to Tie Le, but I just want you to save some effort. Think about it, our Donghao had a bumper harvest last year, and even if we want Prepare in advance for this year's drought and insect plague. At Tiele's place, most of the staff died due to internal strife, and the cattle and sheep have been starved to death this winter, and there is no way to survive. Even if you want to come to the border, you will be scared Yes. Maybe in a few months, before you lead troops over, they will surrender directly, not necessarily."

(End of this chapter)