At this time, Liu Pei sent all the family members, except for the necessary guards, to the direction of Jinan Mansion. Now he was weak in his lair. Okay, Liu Pei has already controlled the glue, that is, the two counties, and he is not worried about any problems.

Moreover, Liu Pei was still planning the villages along the road that the victims were passing by, and sent people to spread rumors, saying that there was a locust plague in Jinan Prefecture, and a large number of victims would cross the border, and everyone had better stay at the gate. There will be a large number of bandits who will take advantage of this opportunity to raid the place.

In fact, this cannot be regarded as a rumor, but the actual situation. After every catastrophe, there are always displaced people who are on the move. Some of the brave outcasts, as well as bandits from all over the world, will take advantage of this opportunity to loot everywhere. Some people even took this opportunity to fish in troubled waters, in a vain attempt to claim hegemony. The villagers know this very well! Therefore, after these rumors spread, all the villages on the predetermined route have formed villages to protect themselves. Villagers have also reduced their travels.

At that time, the village was not as open as the village is now. During the Ming Dynasty, every village had a walled wall. As for the height and thickness of the wall, it is directly proportional to the richness of the village. The richer the village, the taller and thicker the wall.

Take Henan at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Those places are the land of four wars, and the officers and soldiers, and the rogues come and go, killing people's heads! But there are still many villages that have survived in the cracks. During the day, the villagers do not go to the outside of the wall to farm until long after dawn. Before it got dark, he returned to the village and defended himself. When the officers and soldiers came, they donated a little food; The rogue is coming. He also donated a little food in exchange for his own survival.

Because of the existence of the walled wall, a large number of officers and soldiers and rogues felt that it was not cost-effective to attack. Because there are not many things in the village compared to the army. The large-scale attack killed and injured people, and there is not much to gain, naturally the gains outweigh the losses. And a small group of bandits could not break through the wall. That's why these villages can barely survive on their own.

Just when Liu Pei and Fang Degang were relatively speechless, the first batch of locusts took off in Yanzhou Mansion. The locusts gathered by a small river. Because of the dry weather this year, the water level of the river has dropped a lot. Therefore, the river beach has become the best place for locusts to lay eggs.

And Yanzhou Mansion has not yet recovered because of the war caused by the Wenxiangjiao uprising. Many of the villages have been deserted, like ghosts. So these locusts can grow unhindered and eventually gather into swarms. After they have eaten everything they can eat in their birthplace, hunger prompts them to take off in search of the next crop of food. Another catastrophe on the land of Qilu was thus kicked off by this swarm of locusts.

Zhao Youfu's name is good, but he really doesn't look like a blessed person. he

This family has had very bad luck in recent years, and disasters have continued. In his early years, his eldest brother felt that he could not eat enough to farm, so he joined the army, but died in Salhu. There has been no news of his second brother and the caravan so far. It is estimated that it is also more auspicious! Two years ago, his wife died of illness again, and his eldest son fell seriously ill again. After sending the old lady and curing the son, only two acres of the family's six acres of land remained.

As a last resort, Zhao Youfu had to take back the land he had sold. Just thinking about having a good time, I made a fuss again. Although it did not affect the small village where Zhao Youfu lived, it scared him enough and paid a lot of taxes.

When the incident passed, the weather was very dry, and there was not much grain in the field. Zhao Youfu, who was worried all day long, frowned. As a result, his dad has been in trouble again recently.

Daddy Zhao is a rare person with a long life. In this year when the average life expectancy was less than 35 years old, he lived to be 76 years old, which can be described as a long life! And Daddy Zhao is quite tough, and he walks very neatly with a crutch.

Just two days ago, a few outsiders came to the village to inquire about whose old people have the highest life expectancy. The villagers in the village naturally told them that Daddy Zhao had the highest lifespan. Those few people visited Daddy Zhao.

At that time, Zhao Youfu was still working in the field, and hurriedly returned home after hearing the news from the villagers. Father Zhao followed a few outsiders out of the village. When he went up according to the instructions of the villagers, he saw that his father was following the outsiders back and forth, and went to the river beach. Every now and then, you dig something out of the ground?

As soon as he approached, he was blasted back by his father. However, Zhao Youfu is not worried about his father's loss. After all, an old man who is dozens of years old, it is difficult to abduct him. But when his father came home, he lay down and there was no movement. It's been two days since Shuimi didn't stick to his teeth! This can make Zhao Youfu anxious!

Zhao Youfu got up this morning and asked his mother-in-law to boil a bowl of porridge for his father. He cautiously came to his father's side with the porridge and said, "Dad! Get up and have a drink of porridge. ”

has lived with his father for decades, and Zhao Youfu has long been familiar with his father's temper. Zhao Youfu felt that his father should not be able to speak yet. Because his father is a very stubborn person, he likes to drill the horns of the bull the most. If he can't figure it out, no one can do anything until he figures it out himself.

But what he didn't expect was that after he finished speaking, Father Zhao opened his eyes and said slowly, "Help me up." ”

Zhao Youfu was surprised and delighted, hurriedly put down the porridge bowl, and helped his father sit up. The water and rice have not touched their teeth for two days, and Father Zhao has weakened a lot. He gasped for a moment and said, "Blessed."

！ How much food do we have left? ”

Zhao Youfu said: "Dad, don't worry about this. No amount of food will be lost to your old man. What's going on with you? ”

Father Zhao didn't reply. He gasped a few more times before he said, "It's been more than a year since Mr. Wang's family bought our family's four acres of land, right?" Go and sell him the remaining two acres of land. If you don't want money, you want food. Other than that. Borrow food from him. Borrow no matter how high the interest is! Borrow as much as you want! ”

Zhao Youfu was anxious when he heard it! Those two acres of land are his lifeblood! The only two acres of land left in the family are not land, they are the hope of turning! Although it is a little slim, it is better than planting other people's fields for the rest of your life.

So Zhao Youfu said in surprise: "Dad, what's wrong with you?" How can the land be sold? What the hell is going on? ”

Father Zhao raised his head, and Zhao Youfu realized at this time that his father had no energy and seemed to have become a 96-year-old man!

Father Zhao looked at Zhao Youfu with godless eyes and said, "The locust plague is coming!" Hurry up and get your food ready and run for your life! ”

Zhao Youfu was so frightened when he heard this, his face turned pale! Zhao Youfu knows that Daddy Zhao is indeed very stubborn, but he is definitely not stupid! It is said that there is an old man in the family, and there is a treasure. Daddy Zhao's decades of life experience is definitely not nonsense. Daddy Zhao has seen a lot more storms than Zhao Youfu in his life! And everyone in the village knows that Daddy Zhao is a good farmer, and he is also a good hand at watching the sky. Daddy Zhao hasn't been rained for more than 30 years is proof of this! But for so many years, he has never worried about the locust plague, but today Father Zhao said so solemnly, which means that this locust plague is definitely not small!

At the same time, Zhao Youfu also understood why his father didn't eat water and rice for two days? Because Daddy Zhao knew that it was impossible for him to escape the famine. He was too old to walk. If you follow your children and grandchildren, you can't say that you will drag them down. It's better to die in your hometown.

Father Zhao looked at his son's frightened face, and the crutch that grabbed his head hit his calf. Zhao Youfu grinned painfully and came to his senses. Immediately said loudly: "Dad, is there really a locust plague?" What a plague of locusts? ”

I smoked Zhao Youfu with a stick just now, as if Daddy Zhao's spirit was used up with that stick! He directly lay back on it and whispered, "I have lived for decades, and every few years there are locusts. But I haven't seen as many locusts in the past few decades as I have seen in the past few days. ”

Zhao Youfu was completely stunned when he heard this! It's not like he hasn't seen locusts. It's just that a few fires are lit in the village at night, and a period of seventeen or eighteen days has passed. can look at Daddy Zhao's appearance, it is obvious that he can't get through it!