In September of the eighth year of Zhide, there was a locust plague in Jingzhou, Cao Dingbang found that these locusts only crawled and could not fly, and floated along the moat of Xiangcheng, and climbed into the city along the city wall.

But there were still a lot of brave soldiers, who caught a lot of locusts, roasted them over the fire, sprinkled them with pepper, and ate them quite deliciously. But there are also people who don't eat a bite. It is understandable that people have different tastes.

There are many locusts, on the roads of Xiangcheng, in the courtyards of the people, densely packed everywhere, and they cannot be dispersed.

These locusts invaded the gardens of the rich and noble, not to mention the flowers and plants, even the pine, bamboo and trees, as if they had been cut with scissors overnight, and some people's curtains and paper paintings were gnawed, and some of them were even more evil, saying that those locusts bit the portraits of their ancestors enshrined in the ancestral hall, and gnawed their heads.

For a time, rumors spread in the city, and many large families invited Taoist monks to pray for their own practices.

The plague of locusts spread through the city for a few days, and then they had nothing to eat, so they gnawed at each other, and the misery was indescribable.

Although this locust plague destroyed many flowers and trees, and also destroyed some curtains and paper, it was not without benefits, such as many poor people, because of this locust plague, they ate a few meals, and it was still considered a meat dish.

There was a locust plague, Cao Dingbang, as the general of Zhennan stationed in Xiangcheng, naturally could not sit still, if the locusts were allowed to scatter, this year's crops in Jingzhou will be unlucky, so he ordered the three armies to go out collectively, must eliminate the locusts in Xiangcheng, since the locusts can crawl across the moat, then dig a ditch by the moat, put fire oil, when the locusts run over, set fire to the insects.

Although Cao Dingbang's strategy consumed a lot of money, it did effectively protect the food of the people of Jingzhou, so it won the support of the people, and they all said that General Cao was a good official who served the people.

Hearing these words, Cao Dingbang was also satisfied, although he falsely reported a lot of materials through this operation, and at the same time, he also blocked the warehouse deficit caused by years of accumulation. However, the people did not know about those things, only that General Cao Da had blocked the locusts, and that was enough.

But this year, there are a lot of strange things that happened in the Xiangcheng area, to the end of September, the sudden heavy rain, even seven or eight days, fortunately the Yangtze River did not break the embankment, after the rainstorm, the people knelt down by the river to worship the river god, but at this time they found that the heavy rain in the small ditch that hit out of the road, actually found that there were fish, the length of the fingers, the people exclaimed, this rain actually has fish falling from the sky.

At this time, a fortune teller said, "This is a sign of the death of a soldier, and a sign of great evil." ”

The remarks of fortune-telling made people panic, and the news spread to the barracks, where Cao Dingbang's personal soldiers heard about it and told Cao Dingbang.

General Cao was furious, and ordered Xiangcheng Mansion Yin to quickly arrest the rumor-mongering fortune teller, and within ten days, the fortune teller was arrested and brought to justice, and Cao Dingbang was directly escorted to the military camp, and the military management dealt with it, and pulled him to the entrance of the Xiangcheng vegetable market, and in front of the people, he was beaten to death. And posted General Cao's order on the public notice boards everywhere: Those who talk about yin and yang in vain will be killed! Those who cause instability in the hearts of the people will be punished by the three clans! Those who cause instability in the army's morale will punish the nine clans!

General Cao acted vigorously and resolutely, and it was mostly a wise move, with him guarding Jingzhou, the people were convinced.

Gradually, the reputation of General Cao Dingbang became a household name in the local area, and because of the celebrities in the town, the economy of Jingzhou area has been greatly restored, whether it is grain, vegetables, livestock, agriculture and animal husbandry, or textiles, ironmaking and other industries, have made great progress, Jingzhou has become rich, and has the trend of catching up with and surpassing Huainan.

Seeing that Jingzhou's tax account had increased greatly, Emperor Zhao Ce was overjoyed, and took out some of the money to reward Cao Dingbang, and praised him as a pillar of the country.

At the end of October, one night, a bright red star suddenly fell from the sky, happened to fall into Xiangcheng, the sound was like rolling thunder, a bang spread out dozens of miles away, smashed a big earthquake trembling, like an earthquake, after the big spark landed, shattered and flew, flew all over the city, the night of Xiangcheng shone like day, fortunately, did not cause a large-scale fire.

This time, a group of fortune tellers said: General Cao is wise, and the heavenly beast has descended into the world, which is an auspicious omen.

The news reached Cao Dingbang's ears, Cao Dingbang thought about it, and this time he didn't pay attention to the group of fortune tellers.

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Xiao Han of Mozhou, commanding 50,000 troops, since Gongsun Xiong left Mozhou, Xiao Han felt that he was particularly trusted by the Queen Mother, and there was no longer an officer above the rank of lieutenant general in the Xuanjia Army by his side, and when Cen Shen was also transferred out of Mozhou, General Xiao at this time was already in Mozhou.

Mozhou, as the only state in the "Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures" in the hands of the Liang Dynasty, has great symbolic significance, and is also the most important treaty port with the Liao State, countless merchants come and go every day, in order to protect the merchants, General Xiao is in the city in the east and west of the city, the east market is mainly leather goods trading, the west market is the grocery trade, after diversion, so that the market becomes orderly.

In order to protect the merchants, a military control area of up to 100 miles was set up in the south and north of the city, and no matter how powerful the bandits were, they did not dare to provoke General Xiao. In the past few years, Xiao Han has suppressed bandits, and the bandits who are a little famous in Hebei have already been suppressed by him.

Inspired by Xiao Han, Xiao Tianzhen, the general of the Liao State who guarded Zhuozhou, also followed Xiao Han's example, protected the trade routes, and cleared the bandits.

The Liang Dynasty was happy, the Liao State was also happy, and the Empress Dowager Xiao also sent a delegation to see the Empress Dowager Cao, sent many small gifts with Liao characteristics, and also expressed her desire to meet the Empress Dowager Cao in her lifetime.

Sympathizing with each other, the Empress Dowager Cao also sent an envoy to see the Empress Dowager Xiao, and the high-level exchanges between the two sides were close, and it was a peaceful scene.

The stability of the sixteen states of Yanyun has great benefits for the overall development of the Liang Dynasty, although Luoyang is the capital of the Liang Dynasty, but the sixteen states of Yanyun are the lifeblood of the Liang Dynasty. Once Hebei is lost, not only the Liang Dynasty will be in danger, but Jiangnan and Sichuan will also be in danger.

"It's over."

Emperor Zhao Ce looked at the documents sent by the household department, and the treasury finally had some surplus, and the emperor was happy, and took out some money to make some new clothes for the concubines. Especially the queen's clothes are even more graceful and luxurious, with a golden silk phoenix dress and robe with a big red background, proudly among the concubines.