Li Chengqian almost ran before he arrived at the Taiji Palace, at this time the civil and military officials were already in the palace, and Li Shimin on the dragon chair was frowning.

Obviously, this time is not a trivial matter.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!"

Until a little yellow door shouted.

Only then did everyone look outward, and they focused all their eyes on Li Chengqian alone.

The attention that Li Chengqian has received is completely above Li Shimin, but Li Shimin doesn't have time to pay attention to it too much now.

When he saw Li Chengqian coming, he beckoned: "Gao Ming, come on, come here!" ”

Li Chengqian was puzzled, and after stepping forward, he hurriedly asked: "Your Majesty, Erchen heard that something big happened, but I don't know what happened?" ”

He was still confused.

Li Shimin was dumbfounded.

"Didn't anyone tell you?"

Xiao Huangmen didn't say anything! How does he know?

"Yes! The retainers only heard that something big was happening, but they didn't know what it was. ”

At this time, Na Du Ruhui came out and said: "His Royal Highness the Prince, this is the case, this morning from Tongzhou flew pigeons to Chang'an City, and there was a locust plague in Tongzhou!" ”

Tongzhou is more than 500 miles south of Chang'an City, which is not a small area.

There are few people between Tongzhou and Chang'an City, so even if it is eaten by locusts, people are not distressed, even if they want to resist, it is impossible, and when people arrive, the locusts will also fly away. In fact, people are more afraid of Chang'an City, whether it will be affected by the locust plague.

Du Ruhui's words came out, and everyone's mood was still heavy.

"Where is the locust plague going?"

Li Chengqian asked a crucial question.

"The locust plague is very likely to spread northward! Coming to Chang'an! ”

Tongzhou is more than 500 miles away from the west of Chang'an City. The speed of the locusts flying is 10km/h, in fact, they eat all the way, so the speed will not be so fast, and the time to reach Chang'an City is already about three days. The crops outside Chang'an City are growing very well, and the new crops planted during this period of time have an extremely fatal attraction to locusts, so 80% of them will come to Chang'an City.

The turmoil caused by locust swarms has been throughout history. All locusts in the world alone cover 20% of the Earth's land area, eat up to 200 tons of plants every day, and affect the livelihoods of 10% of the world's population.

Ancient books of the pre-Qin Dynasty, such as the Book of Songs, often called locusts (mites are the general name of locusts, including mantises) or scorpions, and locusts are the nymphs of locusts (incomplete metamorphosis insect larvae are called nymphs). After the Warring States period, it was mostly called locusts. Locusts and locusts are harmful to the crops. The earliest record of locust plague in ancient books is the fifteenth year of Lu Xuangong (594 B.C.) recorded in the Spring and Autumn Period: "The initial tax is mu, winter, and locust birth." “

The earliest record of locusts is "Lü's Spring and Autumn Mengxia Ji Fourth": "Spring Order...... then the locusts are defeated. “

and the same book "Judgment of Time": "...... Hemp of Time...... In this way, there are no locusts. "The Book of Rites and the Lunar Order" also has a record of "insects and locusts as a plague", which is not quoted. About after the Song Dynasty, the locust was renamed "locust", collectively known as the locust, which is still used today.

Xu Guangqi of the Ming Dynasty counted the number of locust plagues in the Spring and Autumn Period (770~476 BC), and pointed out that there were 111 locust plagues in 294 years in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the monthly distribution is as follows:

Month (lunar calendar): 02|03|04|05|06|07|08|09|10|11|12

The number of locust plagues is 02|03|19|20|31|20|12|01|00|00|03

A locust plague is the passage of billions of locusts at every turn, and the crops are destroyed everywhere they go, which will be a great blow to the agriculture of Chang'an City. If it is not extinguished in time, it will be another disaster for the area north of Chang'an City.

No one wants to see Chang'an's crops destroyed. Once agriculture is destroyed, all kinds of unstable factors will be completely amplified, which will be completely unfavorable to the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

According to historical records, the locust plague should be in June at this time, is it ahead of schedule?

Or is it a test given to him by God?

"When did the pigeon come?"

"An hour ago."

As soon as Li Chengqian heard Du Ruhui say this, he muttered: "The flight speed of the carrier pigeon is about 100 kilometers per hour, so this letter was sent about two hours ago, so we still have nearly three days to prepare!" ”

Li Chengqian didn't know that his words had already been heard, and someone asked: "His Royal Highness the Prince, what three days?" ”

How do you know, how did he calculate it, three days?

Even Li Shimin felt a little ridiculous.

"Gao Ming, how did you know that there are still three days to come?"

Li Chengqian said straightly: "Your Majesty, this is the arrival time of the locusts calculated by the son-in-law. ”

Everyone was in an uproar, how did this come out?

"Calculated based on speed and distance."

Li Chengqian had no choice but to tell all the calculations he had, and he said it very mysteriously, which made everyone a little puzzled.

But the key to the whole is not how to calculate it!

At this time, Liu Hongji said: "No matter when we come, we must make some decisions, right?" We shouldn't waste time on this, should we? ”

"Kui Guogong! If you want to make a decision, should you know when the enemy is coming? What are we going to do to prepare! You say, don't you? ”

Li Chengqian scolded him in person, provoking everyone to agree.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is right, that's it! If we don't know when the locust plague will come, how can we prepare? ”

"That's right, that's it!"

And some people are very negative and say: "This is a natural disaster!" I'm afraid it can't be solved! ”

For this kind of disaster, the ancients can be said to be helpless.

Liu Hongji said coldly: "It seems that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has made a decision and has a plan!" The ministers want to hear what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's plan is! ”

The civil and military officials were helpless, and Liu Hongji also said that this kind of invitation was obviously digging a pit for Li Chengqian to jump.

Cheng Yanjin said: "We have nothing to do about this disaster, why don't you think of a way, Kui Guogong, and ask His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to deal with it?" What incompetence! ”

"His Royal Highness the Prince's talent is well known to everyone in the world, generally speaking, when we have no choice, it is always right to find His Royal Highness the Prince."

Liu Hongji tried his best to put on a high hat for Li Chengqian. It's refreshing.

Li Chengqian likes this feeling of being flattered.

So he said: "Kui Guogong is right, you have vision!" This king has a way! ”

As soon as his words came out, everyone quieted down, especially Li Shimin, the expression on his face relaxed slightly, you must know that he was very depressed just now.

Liu Hongji sneered unexpectedly, and then said, "I don't know what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince does?" ”。

Li Chengqian really jumped into the pit, and someone was happy now.

Someone else followed Liu Hongji's words and asked: "Yes, what is the way?" Speak it up and listen to it! ”