Spring and Autumn I Am King

"In July, when I look up, a katydid came from the Huotai Mountain in the northwest, covering the sky like a cloud of clouds and the sun, and went through the Tongkao Palace..." Taishi Mo, an elderly man, wrote these words on the slip, and sighed deeply: "Sheji will die, there will be disasters..."

Katydids, that is, locusts, in the early autumn of this year, people constantly witnessed huge swarms of locusts taking off from the Daluze area in the south of Taiyuan by the north wind and rushing to the south. They were divided into two by the Huo Taishan Department. One group went west into the Fen River Basin, while the other group rushed towards Shangdang and the eldest son.

The Tongjiao in the north was the first to suffer the disaster. For a time, the small town of Tongjiao, which was the temporary capital of Jin State, seemed to be rained by insects. locusts.

Chinese people are not unfamiliar with locust plagues. For example, there is an article in the Book of Poetry called "Katas", and Lu Chunqiu also recorded that "early tax mu, winter, katydids..."

The origin of the locust plague in Jin is basically lakes and lakes, such as Dalu in Taiyuan and Juluze in Hejian. This place is the Ludang area. The weather is wet and dry, which is very conducive to the breeding of locusts. After the locusts multiply for two or three generations, If the area cannot accommodate it, it will migrate out, causing a plague of locusts.

Generally speaking, locusts are inevitable after prolonged droughts, and locust plagues often occur after severe droughts. This is because locusts are warm and dry insects, and arid environment has many benefits for their development and survival.

And the locust plague is more difficult than the drought, which can be relieved as long as it is rained. But the locust plague is different. The locusts are in swarms, migrating and flying along the wind and air currents. They can travel hundreds of miles in a day, and it is too late to be alerted in advance.

The three-light policy is implemented everywhere they go, because locusts are omnivorous and eat everything, not only harming crops, but also the leaves of weeds and woody plants can be used as their food. The ears and leaves of bamboo and wood are all eaten cleanly, the starved locusts, and even the hair of livestock can chew in their mouths...

Even the erudite Shi Mo believed that the locust disaster should be prevented. He was very worried. Once the locusts raged, I am afraid that the entire Jin Kingdom would be plunged into famine for several years and could not be cured!

This locust plague is fierce and the number of swarms is huge. Xiaotongli County can't satisfy their appetite. Because of the Taihang Mountains, they can't go to the Hebei area, so the locusts continue to head south, and the destination is Hedong in Han and Wei. Territory, and Zhao's eldest son county.

This time, it was Wei's turn to record in horror: "In the middle of the seventh month, the katydids rose from the north and headed to the east of the river. They flew over the Fen River, and fell into Xinjiang, Anyi, and Quwo, all of which harmed crops..."

...

The daughter of the Yan family had a dream. She dreamed that it was pouring rain outside, and the raindrops the size of fingertips fell suddenly, and the roof was smashed, and even the rubble trembled...

She woke up frowning in this strange dream, and in a daze, she heard a scream from her mother.

"Katasssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!"

She had never heard her mother cry so loudly, hersing exhausted, like the cry of a cowardly bird when it sees a natural enemy.

She hurried down to the bed, pushed the door open, and was immediately stunned by the situation in front of her.

Their whole family, as well as all the people in Yanchi City, came out, all looking up at the sky. But where can I see the sky, the dense swarms of locusts are the sky, a flowing sky with a swooshing sound.

The sun had already risen, but the sun was obscured by locusts, and the morning sun was like a big loaf full of black flies. The locust swarms swirled in the sky with the wind, falling and rising, like a black whirlwind.

When old women with broken mouths were spinning or doing laundry together, they often told her horrifying descriptions: "Wherever the katydids fly, they are as bald as the head of a tortured person, a blade of grass. There's nothing left!" Even so, the Yan family's daughter still had a deep sense of distance from the plague of locusts.

The girl of the Yan family was in a good era. For more than 20 years, Hedong had not suffered a major locust plague, at least where she was. The locusts she understands are weak and humble insects crawling on grass leaves. When a person steps down, they don't know how much they will trample to death. Her chickens and ducks don't know how much they devour. After eating locusts, they can still grow. Fat, laying more eggs.

At this moment, she seems to understand a little bit, a single locust is not comparable to a swarm of locusts, if this locust swarm falls, it will be incredible!

In Yanchi, there are not only salt workers who pick salt for a living, but also many people who grow crops. Salt workers pick up salt for money and silk, and then exchange it with farmers who grow grain. This relationship has been maintained for hundreds of years.

Therefore, the crops that have just survived the drought are the lifeblood of many people. They have been drinking porridge for three months, and they have no energy to work. The food and clothing expenses in winter are all counting on this piece of millet field!

It is not yet the best season for the autumn harvest, and the millet is only a little short of time to mature, so the grain is still in the field. Looking at the already yellow crops, the people of Yanchi Town prayed in their hearts over and over again: Let the locusts fly elsewhere! Let the locusts fly to other places, even to nearby towns.

Some even knelt down, but the swarms showed no mercy, they were gradually descending.

The daughter of the Yan family suddenly remembered that the old people had said in small talk that locusts like to fly downwind. The stronger the wind, the more they like to fly.

It's blowing right now, just against the wind...

The sound of the swarm's wings became louder and louder, and when it reached a height of several meters above the ground, the buzzing sound was unbearable, like a large group of musicians plucking the reeds on the harp and playing. But it is the most unpleasant music.

After a while, they fell like dense raindrops on the roof, on the branches, and on the crops. The sound that the daughter of the Salt Clan heard in her sleep came from this.

When these khaki bugs flew, they all showed a kind of scarlet inner wings, like blood spots floating in the air, and like thousands of tiny red flowers. Falling on the soil, it is almost exactly the same as the soil. They seemed to be starving, and as soon as they landed, they began to bite, giving no choice what to eat.

The people in Lijuli couldn't stay still, and ran to their fields one after another. As soon as they got there, the daughter of the Yan family saw that the fields were covered with insects, and they were biting at the millet beans.

Her heart was bleeding, and there was not much land in the family. Her father and brother went to the salt pond to collect salt, and she and her younger brothers took care of the fields. What kind of millet did she not water? It is not the crops that the locusts eat, but their hard work!

"No food, I am millet!"

The daughter of the Yan family was in a hurry. She was running in the locust rain, trying to save her own crops. The locusts kept hitting her face like raindrops, causing pain and numbness.

She waved her scythe feebly~www.readwn.com~ but couldn't match the speed of the locusts: they were still so tiny when viewed individually, but crawling on the millet leaves, there seemed to be a clear division of labor, whoever bites this side, Whoever bites that side, then gradually converges to the middle, and in a blink of an eye, a leaf that is very end disappears. In addition to the leaves, the ears of millet were not spared, their serrated mouths glistened with fresh juice, their buttocks pouted from time to time, and the black-green excrement came out one by one like pills.

"No food for my millet!"

The eldest brother of the Yan family's daughter was angry, took a big broom, and slapped it randomly in the air.

Others have followed suit, all trying to keep their own crops. The people of the whole city, regardless of age or sex, waved brooms, waved their clothes, and shouted, trying their best to drive away the locusts.

"Can't pounce, can't pounce!"

However, some village elders rushed over and hurriedly stopped them.

"These are **** locusts!"

ps: There will be another chapter in a while (to be continued.)