In Feng'an County, the soldiers of the brigade cut down pine branches in the pine forest in the northwest of Feng'an County, and large bundles of pine branches and pine trees were dragged by horse-drawn carriages and sent to the county seat.

At this time, thousands of large tents were set up in the wilderness to the west of the county, and the people and soldiers of the entire Jiuyuan County were mobilized to come to Feng'an County to establish the first line of defense against the locust plague.

The second line of defense was set up to the east of Jiuyuan County, and it was mainly to prepare various materials such as pine branches.

The women mobilized and sewed all kinds of nets to catch locusts out of cloth, as well as various tools to kill locusts, such as rolling wood grinders, and several soldiers dragged huge rolling logs to walk, and all the locusts on the ground were crushed to death by the rolling logs.

There are also hundreds of large vats, under which fires are set up for barbecue, and there are lids on top, and all the locusts caught are poured into the vats and smoldered to death.

All kinds of preparations are in full swing.

Guo Song led all the officials and generals to Feng'an County, and Jiuyuan County left only hundreds of old and young guards to guard the county seat.

The officials also divided their labor, some took care of the people, and some commanded the locust extermination, and all kinds of preparations were very sufficient, and the progress of the locust extermination was also carried out in an orderly manner.

With the arrival of the people of Yulin County and Hebin County one after another, the entire camp in Feng'an County became extremely lively, and Li Ji began to organize young people in the two counties to carry out locust repelling drills.

On the second day of the first month of September, the temperature suddenly rose in the originally cool weather, and the blue sky in the south also turned gray and yellow, and directly south was Daqing Mountain and hundreds of miles of desert Gobi, and the locust swarm could not cross the desert, but would go north along the green channel on the west bank of the Yellow River, first to Hebin County, then to Yulin County, and then turn west to invade the Zhongtao Plain.

Guo Song stood on the top of the city and stared at the gray-yellow sky in the distance, at this time, Xue Changshou stepped forward and said with a somewhat solemn expression: "I just got the news that locusts have also appeared in Lingzhou." ”

Guo Song was stunned and asked, "Is the disaster serious?" ”

"It's not very serious, it is said that there are only a small number of locusts, and the entire Shuofang army has been urgently mobilized to concentrate on exterminating locusts in Huile County."

After speaking, he handed an urgent eagle letter to Guo Song, and after reading the eagle letter, Guo Song smiled faintly: "This should be a good thing, disperse a part of the locusts for us." ”

Xue Changshou pondered and said, "Will the locust plague not come to Fengzhou?" ”

"Of course, it's best not to come, but even if there is only a half-percent chance of coming, we must be 10% ready."

"The envoy is right, and he must not be taken lightly."

At this moment, a soldier suddenly pointed to the east and shouted: "Wolf smoke, a pillar of wolf smoke!" ”

In order to call the police in time, Guo Song re-abandoned beacon towers along the way, one every forty miles, extending to Shengzhou in the south, there are a total of thirty beacon towers, if there is a column of wolf smoke, it means that the locusts go north along the green channel on the west bank of the Yellow River, if there are two pillars of wolf smoke, it is the locusts have arrived in Yulin County, if there are three pillars of wolf smoke, it is the locusts along the Yellow River to Fengzhou.

The locusts still went north, and Guo Song immediately ordered: "Ring the alarm!" ”

'When! While! While! Alarm bells are ringing.

Some soldiers ran around the camp and shouted, "What's new, the locusts have begun to move north!" ”

The situation suddenly began to become tense, and once the locusts moved north, the speed of their spread would be extremely rapid, and they would fly to Toyosu in just a few days.

..........

In Chang'an, hundreds of officials were discussing the problem of locust plague in the northwest, not only in Shuofang's prefectures, but also in Yinzhou, Suizhou, and Yanzhou in Guannei.

Shang Shuzuo, who had just been promoted to Xiangguo, shot Yan Zhenqing and said: "Your Majesty, this locust plague will appear in the summer, some states are more fully prepared, and the loss may not be large, but most of the states and counties are not prepared, just on the eve of the autumn harvest, the locust plague will seriously reduce the production after the plague, which will inevitably lead to a surge of hungry people, Weichen suggested that the grain should be transported north immediately, and try to provide disaster relief in the local area, if the hungry people come to Chang'an, one is to affect the order of Chang'an, and secondly, it will affect the spring ploughing next year, be sure to solve the disaster in the local area, please Your Majesty Mingjian!" ”

Li Yu, the Son of Heaven, nodded, and said loudly: "What Yan Xiangguo said is reasonable, what else do you Aiqing have to add?" ”

At this time, Xiangguo Chang Gon came out and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister wants to add a few words!" ”

"Chang Xiangguo, please speak!"

Chang Gon said unhurriedly: "Disaster relief has always been a major event of the country, especially this kind of disaster involving a wide range, Weichen suggested that first, the important ministers should inspect various places to understand the specific disaster situation, and secondly, they should send out to supervise the imperial history to supervise the disaster relief in various places, so as to prevent a small number of local officials from using the disaster relief to enrich their own pockets." ”

Li Yu said happily: "Chang Xiangguo is more thoughtful, I don't know who Chang Xiangguo recommends as the appeasement inspector?" ”

Chang Gon bowed again and said, "Weichen suggested that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince recommend to appease the inspectors. ”

Li Yu's eyes turned to the crown prince Li Shi, Li Shi was sitting below, he was still observing the court meeting, and he could not speak to participate in court affairs without the permission of the Son of Heaven.

"Can the emperor recommend a suitable candidate?"

Li Shi pondered for a moment and said: "Father, the son-in-law considers that it is best for a Xiangguo to inspect and pacify the disaster area on behalf of the Son of Heaven and arrange disaster relief in a timely manner, and the son-in-law recommends Yan Xiangguo as the appeasement inspector. ”

Yan Zhenqing has a straightforward personality, loves the people like a son, and considers the problems thoroughly, so it is indeed more appropriate for him to inspect the disaster area on behalf of the Son of Heaven.

Li Yu asked Yan Zhenqing with a smile: "The prince recommended Aiqing as a pacification inspector, is Yan Aiqing willing to go to the disaster area on behalf of me to inspect the disaster area and appease the people?" ”

Yan Zhenqing said without hesitation: "Weichen is willing to go!" ”

.........

On the morning of the same day, Li Yu, the Son of Heaven, issued an edict appointing Yan Zhenqing as the appeasement inspector and the imperial envoy, and gave the Son of Heaven a sword to inspect the disaster situation in Guannai and Shuofang Prefectures on behalf of the Son of Heaven.

At the same time, Taicang urgently dispatched 300,000 stone of grain to Yanzhou and Lingzhou to prepare for relief to the victims.

At this time, the locust plague in Shuofang and other places had already caused serious losses, and Shengzhou, Xiazhou, Yanzhou and other places were devastated, and the locust swarm did not subside, but flew to the north.

........

It has entered the sixth day of the gathering of the people of Fengzhou in Feng'an County, and two sirens of wolf smoke have appeared the day before yesterday, and nearly 30,000 people and 6,000 soldiers have been on standby.

In the early morning of this day, the beacon thirty miles away lit three wolf smokes, and the black wolf smoke went straight to the sky, which meant that the locust swarm had appeared thirty miles away.

'When! While! While! The alarm bell rang urgently, men, women, and children rushed out of the big tents, down to children of seven or eight years old, up to old men in their sixties, all mobilized and rushed to their posts, while 6,000 soldiers stood on the front line, stretching from south to north for more than ten miles, and more than 300,000 quintals of light pine branches were prepared.

Both the soldiers and the common people have practiced more than 20 times, and they can skillfully operate all kinds of locust extermination tools, but when the locusts are really coming, everyone is very nervous, even Guo Song.

The locust extermination front is located 20 miles east of Feng'an County, with a large military and civilian camp behind it, and an endless wheat field a few miles behind.

At this time, Guo Song stood on a high platform, the locust extermination and locust drive need to be overall dispatch and command, the soldiers built a wooden building as high as five zhang, the top is the belvedere, in addition to Guo Song, there are three lookouts and five standard-bearers and two bell and drum players, responsible for commanding the locust army below.

At this moment, a strange sound was heard in the east, like an airplane passing in the distant sky, and then the dazzling morning sun disappeared, the sky became dark, and the sky in the distance turned yellow.

"Oh my God!" Guo Song couldn't help but let out an exclamation.

It is not a piece of dark clouds, but countless dark clouds that are connected together, covering the sky and the sun.

"Beat the drums, light the pine branches!"

Guo Song gave an order, the drum sounded, and thousands of soldiers threw the torches in their hands into the pile of pine branches, the first pile of pine branches was more than 20 zhang wide, as long as 15 or 6 miles, and the pile of pine paper was ignited, igniting billowing black smoke, connecting into a black smoke wall.

Six thousand soldiers and six thousand young men were the main force in driving away the locusts, and they stood on the first and last lines, 6,000 men each, and their weapons were not nets, but long pine branches, which were beaten with pine branches, to knock down the locusts in the air, and then crushed to death with rolling logs, or left for the women, the elderly, and the children behind them to capture.

The swarm of locusts finally came, the first swarm of locusts roared and pounced overwhelmingly, like raindrops in a storm, and when they passed through the smoke, they crackled and fell from the sky, and the pine smoke was indeed very effective, intercepting at least half of the locusts, and even through the smoke, they significantly reduced their flight altitude, or fell directly to the ground.

The soldiers and young men shouted and waved their branches at the locusts in the air, and a spectacular battle between men and insects began........