The wheat has been tasseled and filled, showing a yellow-green color, and the entire outside of Jiuyuan City is a boundless sea of wheat.

But further to the east is a large black bean field, about 100 hectares, the black beans have been ripe for harvest, and more than 1,000 soldiers are busy harvesting black beans in the bean field.

Black beans are mainly used to supplement the food for the war horses, every autumn, the herdsmen on the northern grasslands will bring a large number of high-quality dry pasture grass to Fengzhou in exchange for grain and salt, but relying on the grass to feed the war horses, is not conducive to the growth of the war horses, black beans must be added appropriately.

At this time, Xue Changshou rode a horse from a distance and galloped in front of Guo Song, he clasped his fists and saluted: "Envoy, I just heard a piece of news. ”

"What is the news that makes Xue join the army anxious?" Guo Song asked with a smile.

Xue Changshou said worriedly: "It's news from Yulin County, there are locust plagues in Shengzhou and Xiazhou, and Lingzhou is strictly guarded, I don't know if the locusts will come to Fengzhou?" ”

The smile on Guo Song's face disappeared, and his brows furrowed, "Hundreds of miles away from the desert, I shouldn't come over!" ”

"I went to the county chronicles just now, and also asked some old people, and it is recorded in the county records that the locust plague in Shengzhou in the fourteenth year of Tianbao did affect Fengzhou, and several old people also confirmed that there was indeed such a thing, and the locust plague came in mid-September, resulting in almost no wheat harvest that year."

"Is there still a record of locust plagues in Toyoshu?" Guo Song asked again.

"Also, in the autumn of the eleventh year of Kaiyuan, the locust plague from the grassland also ravaged Fengzhou and Lingzhou, and the grain production was reduced by seventy percent that year, and the imperial court later urgently dispatched 200,000 stone of grain to relieve Lingzhou and Fengzhou."

Guo Song thought for a while and asked, "Is the locust plague a frequent outbreak in the south?" ”

Xue Changshou understood what Guo Song meant, was it an accident that the locust plague arrived in Fengzhou?

He shook his head, "Envoy, this is what I am most worried about, there has only been one locust plague in Shengzhou, that is, that locust plague flew hundreds of miles to Yulin County, and then invaded Fengzhou along the Yellow River from Yulin. ”

Guo Song's face became a little grim, and he immediately ordered: "Return to the military mansion immediately and convene military and political officials to discuss countermeasures." ”

In the hall of the Three Towns Jingluo Mansion, dozens of civil officials and military generals gathered together, and at this time, the soldiers brought in dozens of elders, all of whom had experienced the locust plague of Tianbao in the fourteenth year.

Guo Song said slowly to everyone: "I think everyone knows, Shengzhou and Xiazhou have a drought in the spring and summer this year, as the saying goes, locusts will be locusts after a long drought, so today I received news that the locust plague broke out in Xiazhou and Shengzhou at the same time, Tianbao 14 years, the locust plague in Shengzhou has seriously affected Fengzhou, and the situation this year is not optimistic, if we don't deal with it as soon as possible, our food will be all over, so today we will gather everyone together to discuss how to deal with the locust plague." ”

After Guo Song finished speaking, there was a whispering in the hall, and Leng Qian, the patriarch of the Leng family among the dozens of elders, stood up and said, "Guo Yuanjun, please let the old man say a few words." ”

Leng Qian was also very anxious, the Leng family also had 300 hectares of wheat fields outside the city, and the locust plague of the year caused the Leng family to suffer heavy losses, and he never wanted to see the old things happen again.

The lobby was quiet, Guo Song nodded and said, "Patriarch Leng, please speak!" ”

Leng Qian said in a loud voice: "Everyone, I have experienced the locust plague in the fourteenth year of Tianbao, and I have personally led hundreds of young people to fight locusts, and I have a lot of lessons and experiences, I think I can talk about my thoughts in the extermination of locusts." ”

"Patriarch Leng, but it doesn't hurt to say it!"

Leng Qian nodded, and said to everyone: "The locust plague is very terrible, millions of locusts are flying like a piece of dark clouds, and the plants and crops are swept away everywhere they pass, and it is impossible to extinguish them, the only way is to change their flight direction, and in winter, they will naturally become extinct, this is the lesson we learned later, we realized afterwards that we should use the method of blocking to force them to change the direction of flight, but it was too late, the locusts swept away the crops in Jiuyuan County, and then went north. ”

Guo Song nodded and asked, "Patriarch Leng thinks it's better to stop them by any means?" ”

"First of all, there must be a lot of people, men, women and children go into battle together, form several long human walls, and secondly, use smoke, locusts are afraid of smoke, which is also what we found out later, when the locusts come, we burn a large number of wheat straw and bean stalks, forming a thick wall of smoke, even if a small number of locusts rush through the smoke wall, they will be extinguished by our human wall in time, I think this is the only way."

Guo Song nodded and said approvingly: "Patriarch Leng said very well, very comprehensive and pragmatic, do you have anything else to add?" ”

Jiuyuan County Commander Xie Changzhi raised his hand and said, "Envoy, I'll say a few words too!" ”

Guo Song smiled slightly: "Xie County, please say." ”

Guo Song immediately waved his hand and asked Leng Qian to sit down.

Xie Changzhi said: "The Leng family is actually very right, the statement of exterminating locusts is not correct, it should be changed to drive locusts, we can't kill locusts with manpower, we can only wait for winter to exterminate them, the only thing we can do is to drive away locusts and change the direction of flight of locusts, I have learned a lot of experience in exterminating locusts in the Central Plains in the past few years, concentrating manpower to drive out locusts is the most basic and effective method, the second method is also smoke, but if you use pine branches to light the smoke, the effect will be better, the smoke contains pine oil, locusts do not like this breath, It just so happened that we had a lot of pine forests here and we could take advantage of ......"

Everyone gossiped, you said a few words, I expressed a few opinions, and gradually reached a consensus, one is to concentrate manpower to drive locusts, the other smoke to drive locusts, the two are used in parallel, but in some details, everyone argues, such as using manpower to drive away, what tools are better, some people propose to use pine branches to fight, some people propose to use shields to resist, each has its own opinions.

At this time, Guo Song waved his hand and said, "Then let me say a few words!" ”

The lobby gradually quieted down, and Guo Song said with a smile: "First of all, I want to explain to you that locusts are actually a very delicious food, which is most .......suitable for drinking when fried in oil and sprinkled with salt."

Before Guo Song finished speaking, everyone immediately burst into laughter, and someone shouted: "Actually, Guo Yuanjun is right!" Locusts are grasshoppers, and when we were young, didn't we catch grasshoppers and cook them with fire? It's delicious indeed. ”

Guo Song pointed at Xue Changshou and said: "Let's Xue join the army and say a few words, he is a military doctor and has the most right to speak." ”

Hundreds of pairs of eyes looked at Xue Changshou together, and Xue Changshou said slowly: "Eating locusts can indeed strengthen the body and prolong life." ”

As soon as this sentence came out, there was a round of applause in the lobby.

In the ensuing discussions, Guo Song proposed to use pine branches to drive away locusts, use nets made of mosquito nets to catch locusts, use large vats to hold locusts, and use pine branches and trees to ignite to drive away locusts, and at the same time mobilize all the people and soldiers to conduct drills and make full preparations.

Thoughtful and well-prepared, everyone feels confident that as long as there is full preparation for any disaster, the damage will be minimized, which is the life experience of all people.

The discussion lasted until the afternoon, when everyone dispersed, and at this time, Li Ji said to Guo Song: "Has the envoy considered Xue Yantuo's army coming to retaliate?" ”

Guo Song said lightly: "Of course I have considered it, I am going to write a letter to Sijie Khan, asking him to gather a large number of troops on Xue Yantuo's border, so that Xue Yantuo will not dare to act rashly, and in return, I will send 10,000 stone of grain to Sijie Ministry." ”

"This is a good way, a typical strategy to save Zhao from Wei Wei." Li Ji high-fived and praised.

Guo Song nodded and said: "I have a relationship with Sijie Khan, he still owes me a favor, I believe he will give me this face, in fact, I am not too worried about Xue Yantuo's army, I am a little embarrassed now, what should the people of Yulin County do?" ”

This is indeed a big problem, the discussion just now did not touch on this issue, it seems to have nothing to do with everyone, but as the envoy of Fengzhou Thorn History and the Three Towns, Guo Song can't just consider Jiuyuan County, Yulin County, which has just been assigned to Fengzhou, is also a key point, and millions of locusts are coming from the direction of Yulin County.

"What does the envoy mean?" Li Ji asked cautiously.

Guo Song pondered for a moment and said: "I consider moving all the people of Yulin County to Feng'an County, and I will compensate for the loss of food in Yulin County with military grain, so that the people of the three counties can gather together and establish a defense network in Feng'an County to drive the locusts to the north." ”

"The envoy originally wanted to drive locusts in Feng'an County?"

"Of course, you think I'll be in Jiuyuan County? It is too close to the main grain producing area, it is too dangerous, if Feng'an County fails to drive locusts, we can also retreat to Jiuyuan County to establish a second line of defense, so Jiuyuan County must also be prepared. ”

Li Ji nodded, "Just give the order!" Gather the troops of the three surrendered cities together and withdraw together with the people of Yulin County, and I believe that the people of Yulin County will understand the envoy's decision. ”