Please ask me to be the emperor

The common names of locusts are "grasshopper" and "grasshopper". The one widely distributed in my country is the East Asian migratory locust, which likes to feed on gramineous plants.

Bai Juyi, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, once wrote a poem: The rain flies and eats away thousands of miles, and there are no green seedlings and empty red soil.

Guo Deng, a famous general in the Ming Dynasty, once sighed and said: Locusts cover the sky and the sun is colorless, and the wild fields shed tears and blood.

But in his previous life, he lived in a new society where large-scale locust plagues almost never happened again, so Zhang Shun was indifferent to this.

Even after he traveled through time, there had been locust plagues in Chenzhou. In his childhood memories, they were nothing more than locusts flying all over the place, just enough to catch and burn.

However, leave the professional work to the professionals. Zhang Shun himself knew how much he weighed, so he stopped giving random orders.

So, he asked: "What is going on with this locust plague? And how should we deal with it properly?"

Zhang Shenyan was about to respond, but Han Lin, who had always been silent, suddenly interjected: "It may be said that locusts are transformed into fish eggs, so when drought dries up, fish and shrimps turn into locusts, and when they encounter water, the eggs will breed fish and shrimps."

What does that mean? Han Lin told Zhang Shun that the locusts were transformed from fish eggs. In drought years, fish and shrimp eggs turn into migratory locusts; in wet years, these eggs turn into fish and shrimp.

Although Zhang Shun didn't learn biology well in his previous life and didn't understand "phylum, order, family, genus and species", he still knew that fish, shrimp and locusts were not the same type of creatures at all.

Fish, shrimps and insects, now tell me, these three are actually transformed from a kind of egg. Isn’t this nonsense?

However, the ancients did not understand what scientific and cultural knowledge was, and Zhang Shun did not expect Han Lin to evolve into Darwin, as long as the means to deal with locusts were easy to use.

So, Zhang nodded noncommittally and said, "Keep talking and listen!"

After Han Lin was forcibly brought to Luoyang by Zhang Shun, he thought that Zhang Shun would use various means to force him to submit and serve him.

As a result, Zhang Shun did not expect that except for asking him a little about the construction of the city, Zhang Shun just let it go. This is really an insult to the ambitious Han Lin.

Han Lin thought that he had learned both Chinese and Western knowledge, and had a deep understanding of both Heaven and Confucianism, but his talent was not recognized. He not only wanted to bring glory to the Heavenly Sect, but also wanted to be the lintel of the officialdom.

Otherwise, he would not have surrendered to the rebels when Li Zicheng led his army into Shanxi in the 17th year of Chongzhen in history, became Li Zicheng's record office, and became the secretary in charge.

Now that he has joined Zhang Shun's command, no matter whether he is a subordinate or independent, he has finally taken on the name of "subduing thieves", then Han Lin can't help but take the opportunity to stand out.

Han Lin happened to have heard many ways to control locusts from Xu Guangqi, so he quickly continued: "The locust plague is most severe in summer and autumn, which coincides with the time when the grains are growing and mature, so they cause the most damage."

This is the time when the locust plague occurs. It is in the summer and autumn when the crops are ripe, so it causes the greatest harm.

"To the south of Youzhuo, to the north of Changhuai, to the west of Qingyan, to the east of Liang and Song Dynasties, in the land of capitals and prefectures, lakes, nests and communities spread. Drought overflows are unpredictable. It is called dry swamp, and locusts breed there."

This is an analysis of the location where the locust plague occurred, which is roughly south of Yangshan, north of the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, west of Shandong, and east of Songshan. To be more specific, it is where "drought and overflow are impermanent, which is called dry lake".

What is a dry place? There is a saying that "fishing in a dry lake" refers to dry lakes and pools.

"The dry swamp is the origin of the locusts. If you want to get rid of the locusts, this is the plan!"

This is the solution. The root cause of locust breeding lies in dry water sources. If you want to deal with the locusts, you must start here.

If you want to give Zhang Shun a grasshopper leg and let him drink two ounces of wine, maybe he can still do it. If you ask him about the habits of grasshoppers, his claws will be numb.

Zhang Shun couldn't tell whether Han Lin's story was correct, so he subconsciously read Zhang Shenyan's words.

Zhang Shenyan was not upset that Han Lin stole the limelight. Seeing Zhang Shun looking at him and knowing how much he weighed, he couldn't help but smile and said: "Scholar Han is really talented. I want to add more, but I can't!"

No, why aren't you going to ask him how fish and shrimp eggs can "turn into locusts"? Zhang Shun complained speechlessly, "With your little knowledge of biology, I really can't rest assured!"

In fact, Zhang Shun was overly worried. His biological knowledge may not be accurate, but his common sense based on observation is still accurate.

It turns out that locusts like to live in forests and low-lying places with long grass, but the place where the female lays her eggs needs to be dry and with sparse vegetation.

In normal years, due to soaking by rain, these locations are often humid and low-lying, which affects the survival of insect eggs. There are also natural enemies such as frogs that swallow large quantities of insect eggs to suppress the number of locusts.

Females can lay between 50 and 100 eggs at one time. Once there is no rain for a long time, it will create an environment conducive to the hatching and survival of a large number of eggs.

Due to the breeding and growth pattern of locusts, generally if there is a drought in the first year, a large number of locusts will breed in the second year, causing a "locust plague". Therefore, the ancients said that "when drought is extreme, locusts emerge".

Since Zhang Shenyan agreed with Han Lin's view and did not bother the two masters, Zhang Bianbing quickly asked: "In your opinion, how should we take measures to reduce this upcoming locust plague?"

Although Han Lin was not satisfied that Zhang Shun even asked Zhang Shenyan for his opinion on this matter, it was at least an opportunity to express himself. He quickly responded: "If you want to get rid of the root cause, you must get rid of the dryness first!"

"Once the low-lying and humid places dry up, fish and shrimp eggs will turn into locusts. In my opinion, you can either dig the place into a pond or fill it up in one fell swoop. This is the best solution!"

"However, there are so many low-lying and humid places in the world. It cannot be done without the efforts of several generations! Therefore, the central strategy is to remove eggs and flies. It can make people specialize in herding chickens and ducks, just like the Tartars herding sheep. Go to the low-lying and humid places. and among the fields and houses, now I eat their eggs.”

"If there are any omissions, and the farmers and children are allowed to dig up locusts, and if they are unable to dig out all the locusts, a locust plague will occur the following year, they will be punished with a hundred sticks. If there are locusts that fall to the ground, they should be dug up together, otherwise they will be guilty of the same crime!"

"The next step is to get rid of locusts. If the locust plague has already happened, we cannot just sit back and wait for death. The method of fighting locusts is like marching. With ten people in a team, two people hold shovels to dig a long trench that is more than ten feet long and three or four feet deep. The floating soil is piled on the opposite side. Four people behind, two people beside them, all used long brooms to blast into the ditch. Two people behind the six people used long-handled leather palms to kill those who were not clean."

"In this way, the locust plague can be prevented, the crops are safe, and the food is guaranteed!"

When Zhang Shun heard this, he realized that what Han Lin said was true. He couldn't help but laugh and said: "I didn't expect that Mr. Sir has such a great talent. It was my fault, Zhang Shun, to leave him without using him!"

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