Chapter 697: Petty Officer

If there is a locust plague in the office of the magistrate, the official wants to impeach himself, but Su You can no longer take care of it.

Now is the time to put out the signs of the disaster.

I don't know which unlucky ghost spread it, saying that the locust plague would lead to the debasement of officials, and Xiao Su Shaobao probably didn't stay in Kaifeng Mansion.

Now the peasants were in a hurry, and during the day, men, women, and children went out together to use ancient methods to exterminate locusts.

The so-called ancient law has to be thanked to Yao Chong, a famous minister in the Kaiyuan period.

Before Yao Chong, the locust plague was a manifestation of the emperor's unworthiness, and the imperial court did not support hunting and killing, believing that it was impossible to eliminate the dense locusts in the sky and wilderness, which was a punishment from above.

Generally, the temple is repaired and prayed, and the locust god is asked to receive supernatural powers.

The story of Tang Taizong eating locusts is certainly commendable, but his actions and his words are to let God transfer the guilt to himself, which has some counterproductive effects, making everyone more afraid of the divine power of locusts.

In the fourth year of Kaiyuan, the locusts in Shandong, the people "all burned incense and worshipped, set up sacrifices to pray for grace, and saw the seedlings, and did not dare to approach their hands." ”

For the first time, Prime Minister Yao Chong put forward the idea that the government should organize the people to take the initiative to exterminate locusts.

When Yao Chong said his suggestion in the court, he was immediately questioned by many people, and Bai Juyi's poem mentioned this incident: "What is the benefit of catching locusts and catching locusts? It is only to make the hungry heavy laborers. Even if one worm dies and a hundred worms come, how can man condemn him to a natural disaster? ”

The first question of the skeptic is: "There are so many locusts, how can they be killed?" ”

Yao Chong's reason is very simple: "Now that there are locusts everywhere, and the people are about to run out, how can we sit idly by and let the locusts spoil the crops and ignore them?" Even if you can't kill these locusts, it's better than keeping them, right? ”

Vice Minister Lu Huaishen proposed: "If there are too many locusts, will it hurt the harmony of heaven and earth?" ”

Yao Chong's answer was: "In the past, the king of Chuzhuang swallowed leeches and recovered, and Uncle Sun Ao killed snakes and was blessed, how could he not bear to kill locusts, but he could not bear to let the people starve to death!"

Ni Ruoshui, the assassin of Bianzhou, refused to allow Yao Chong to send the locust extermination Yushi into the country, and wrote a letter to Yao Chong: "To eliminate natural disasters, we have to rely on accumulating virtue, Liu Cong once hunted and killed locusts, but the result was not only ineffective, but the locust plague was more serious, obviously because of the lack of virtue."

Yao Chong replied immediately after receiving the letter: "First of all, Lao Ni, the Liu Cong you said is an illegal emperor, how can his virtue suppress the demon? ”

"Now that we are the reign of the Ming Emperor, virtue is naturally better than evil. It's a little inappropriate for you to compare him with our emperor. ”

"Secondly, history records that in ancient times, the wise magistrate, and locusts could not enter his jurisdiction. You say that accumulating virtue can avoid locust plagues, but now that there are locusts in your jurisdiction, is it because there is a problem with your morality, Lao Ni? ”

After receiving the reply, Ni Ruoshui was so frightened that he hurried to take action, and killed 140,000 stone of locusts in Bianzhou that year!

The emperor directly asked Yao Chong for questioning: "They are all saying that Aiqing doesn't understand the truth of heaven and harmony, I originally thought so, it seems that my idea is wrong?" ”

Yao Chong replied: "In fact, since ancient times, there has been a lesson that the locust plague was not dealt with in a timely manner and finally a tragedy occurred. ”

"During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Shandong region was also plagued by locusts, and at that time, their monarch was really not as wise as His Majesty, so he couldn't bear to hunt and kill, but caused the people to suffer, and finally the crops were destroyed by locusts, and the people's livestock developed to the situation of gnawing at each other's hairs."

"Now that the people in Shandong have no extra food, if the locust plague is allowed to spread, I am afraid that the people will flee. Even if we may not be able to wipe out the locusts completely, it is better than watching them eat up their crops little by little! ”

Yao Chong's determination promoted the government's decision to intervene in the locust plague, and it was from that time that the ancients began to study effective measures to eradicate the locust plague.

After hundreds of years of development, many methods have also been developed.

It's nothing more than looking for eggs; Holding a fishing net modified from a noodle bag, he was caught all over the mountains; digging trenches to expel locusts into the ditches and burying them deeply; At night, a pyre is lit to attract locusts to be killed.

Today's Song people have some superficial research and analysis on the causes of locust plagues.

They have discovered that locust plagues are susceptible to droughts and floods.

Therefore, many "people of insight" deduce that the shrimp eggs were stranded, turned into locust eggs, and finally hatched into flying locusts, thus causing the locust plague.

With the microscope, with the observation of the scientific and biological experiments of the Heavenly Master Dao and the Emperor Song Goldfish Village, this statement is naturally self-defeating!

The main reason is that the wetlands and tidal flats formed by the sudden rise and fall of the locusts have newly grown tender grasses suitable for the growth of locusts, giving the locusts a good living environment, resulting in disasters in the second year.

The drought from last year to this summer has caused a lot of water around Kaifeng to turn into moist grassland, and Su You has actually been a little vigilant.

But his problem was that if the locusts had not yet appeared, and the people were to plough the tidal flats and dig up the eggs, they would inevitably provoke fierce opposition and criticism.

Therefore, we can only pay close attention, and when the first batch of locusts just emerge from the soil, we will immediately organize manpower to burn and kill them on a large scale before they can fly.

Only when the evidence was in hand did he dare to order the residents of the 16 counties to start disaster relief measures.

First, the tidal flats are ploughed to turn out the eggs and let the birds eat them.

Second, organize large-scale incineration and smoking.

Third, following the example of Emperor Renzong back then, he encouraged the people to look for insect eggs, ordered them to be purchased, and exchanged them for the same volume of grain!

Fourth, through the power of the Heavenly Master's Dao, under the guise of purchasing traditional Chinese medicine, locusts are good things to nourish and strengthen, treat cough and asthma, and children's chancre accumulation.

In terms of volume, regardless of weight!

Finally, the emergency production of locust trap gas lamps was activated, and the manual booby trapping was too energy-intensive, with high-brightness gas lamps, locusts could be lured into throwing themselves into the net, falling into the smooth metal funnel under the lamp, and then sliding into the barrel and drowning.

Needless to say, Xiao Su Shaobao's prestige was needless to say, and for a while, all the sixteen counties of Kaifeng Prefecture immediately took action and launched a battle to defend against the locusts for food.

In Xiangfu County, Su You took the science and engineering team to live in Liujia again to inspect the effect of the locust trapping lamp.

Liu Da now knows that the one who stayed at his house turned out to be the famous Xiao Su Shaobao.

Shi Wei brought a plate of fried locusts to the table: "Brother Xiaoyou, you can encourage the people to eat this, you made it for us when you were a child, and it is actually quite delicious." ”

Looking at the pale faces of Sun Neng and Liu Da's family, Su You shook his head: "This thing needs to be oiled to be delicious, and it is fragrant when sprinkled with ingredients, so it is impossible for the people to eat this." ”

After speaking, he picked up one with his finger and put it in his mouth: "Well, it tastes the same as the locusts in Shuzhong, it's good, everyone can taste it." ”

Zhang Qi followed Su You to eat this thing when he was a child, and now insect dishes have become popular dishes in the Yiren area of Kuizhou, and several people sit down to eat.

The surrounding working groups all looked at each other, and a delicate green-robed petty official walked out in three or two steps, with tears in his eyes, and bowed his hand to Su You: "The beetle destroys the crops, and it is a thief for the people, although it is burned and eaten, it is not enough to atone for its sins." Shao Bao leads by example, how can no one follow suit. Please give a few locusts and bite them with Shaobao! ”

"Oh?" Su You couldn't help but be a little curious: "It's quite courageous, but I don't need it, I eat them just because they taste really good, and I don't mean to lead by example." ”

The green-robed petty officer was embarrassed: "That'...... Then please also give a few pieces, and the lower officials will taste it, if it is good, you can ...... Or you can promote ......"

Su You waved his hand: "Don't, there's no need to make trouble with such side dishes, yes, since you have the heart, I'll give you a few to taste." ”

The little official took the fried locust, didn't look at Su You's smiling expression, poured it into his mouth, and swallowed it like a pill.

Su You shook his head: "Eat it like this, it's better not to eat it, you have to chew it slowly to know how fragrant it is......"