Yang Dudu's army stopped again when he went south......

This time it's really blocked.

The overwhelming locusts swept most of Shandong, Jinan, Dongchang, Yanzhou, these provinces were all flooded by the locust army, and even affected some areas of North Zhili such as Hejian, and this is the beginning of May, winter wheat has just begun to be harvested, spring millet has just emerged, it can be said that these two most important crops for the north, all in the most critical stage of the entire growth period.

And then it was all ruined.

The Qi Party's Household Department Shangshu Qi Shijiao strongly demanded that Yang Dudu suspend his advance, organize disaster relief on the spot, and suppress the local government at the same time to prevent the emergence of a rebellion by starving people.

He knew that Yang Xin would not sit idly by.

This area of Shandong was originally the hardest hit area of the civil uprising, and it has not stopped one after another over the years, of course, the main thing is that the famine in this area has not stopped, from the beginning of the forty-third year of Wanli to the forty-fifth year, this area is a continuous drought and locusts one after another, and the hungry people have no food to eat. The peak of Fang Congzhe's prestige in power is that he did his best to help the victims in this area in the forty-fifth year of Wanli, so that the civil uprising did not expand, but then there was a rebellion in this area, another Luxi earthquake, and now another drought locust.

In eight years, there were three natural disasters and one large-scale rebellion that swept half of the province.

The people's ability to bear it has reached its limit, and if you don't try to appease it, it will be another big chaos.

The decree of the Apocalypse was then sent to Dezhou, and Yang Xin's army was stationed in Jinan and Dongping, which were the most serious of the locust plague, and the area around Jinan was almost bare in the blink of an eye, and all the crops that could be eaten were gnawed clean by the locusts.

Jinan.

"Master, our family has lost a lot this time!"

The old servant's heart was like a knife and he looked at the silver that was being sprinkled out and said.

And those victims are carrying empty pockets, counting the silver dollars in their hands and smiling, although their crops have been eaten, but they can catch locusts for silver, and now the locusts are overwhelming outside, and the whole family can easily catch fifty catties in a day when they go out, take them home and pour salt into the pot to cook, and they can be brought when cooked. Then fifty catties is two taels of silver, although locusts are usually transit, but they can be caught for a few days during the locust's stay.

There are even people who have begun to chase locusts.

Anyway, the field is finished.

Of course, the corresponding thing is that the Yang family's silver is spent like flowing water.

"Have I lost anything, sir? Last year, you said that I lost a lot of sweet potatoes, and the year before last you said that I also lost a lot of canned food, but what about this year? Haven't you earned it all back? ”

Yang Dudu said.

The old servant was immediately speechless.

Indeed, Yang Dudu tuned sweet potatoes last year, and all sweet potatoes have been bought up this year.

There are emperors who bought disaster relief, 9,000-year-old people who bought for their hometowns, and there are also local people who can't plant other people who can't plant in drought to buy back to plant, and even many Shangtun's sweet potatoes are in short supply, and last year's loss for Tun sweet potatoes has all been earned back this year, and a large number of cheaper ones have been shipped from the south, and then sold at the same high price.

As for cans, not to mention.

At present, a quarter of Liaodong's military rations are canned.

After all, transporting grain from the south is far inferior to transporting canned food directly from Tianjin, and even the civilian disaster relief presided over by the 9,000-year-old also uses canned food, and every day there are constantly boats carrying canned food from Tianjin to Hejian, although the canned food of the clay pot has a short shelf life, but it can still be eaten for more than half a month when it is transported to the river. At this time, even the poor people in Liaodong who could not afford to buy rice bought canned food, and 50 catties of canned food was cheaper than 50 catties of rice in Liaodong.

"Don't care about any money, Pontus is clever, you won't understand, besides, even now we don't lose money, you see, they all eat locust powder."

Yang Xin pointed to the three-headed thief and said.

There are only a few Luo Rucai who maintained the order of the acquisition for him, and they are nibbling on a baked bun like black bread, scolding those who try to cut in line while gnawing.

That's their staple these days.

Mix flour with locust powder and put it in the oven to bake the steamed buns.

The taste is indeed not very good, but Yang Dudu took the lead, the whole army must eat this, and they can't help it, these days they are this kind of grilled bun with canned fish, and the whole army has complained about it, as for the noodles that should have been their military food, they were sold by Yang Xin.

The old servant said no more.

In fact, the Yang family is still losing, because the purchase price of locusts is too high, even if they are all squeezed, there is still a lot of moisture, which must be much higher than the noodle price, not to mention how much soldiers can eat, most of the dried locust powder is actually canned. Just like those tin cans, they are directly packed into tin cans, pressed firmly and then sealed to prevent moisture, so that when they are eaten by the hungry people in the future, they can have a few canned fish and a canned locust powder.

Nutrition should be balanced.

Fat is available, and protein is also not lacking.

It's called science.

"By the way, our family hasn't suffered from the locust plague, has we?"

Yang Xin asked.

"Back to the master, we don't have it there, and the harvest is still very good, the highest one acre has harvested two and a half stones, this guano is really a good thing, but there is also a locust plague in the river, this drought is accompanied by a locust plague, I'm afraid this year this year this Beizhili can't escape this thing."

The old servant said.

At this time, wheat yields are actually very low.

The first rice, the second millet, the third is wheat, watering the ground millet can reach two stones, but the wheat is more than one stone, the Yang family is supported by guano so the yield is high, but in fact, the second yield should be sorghum, but that thing is not used as the staple food.

"Then collect the locusts and tell the local merchants, and they will all do it on the spot."

Yang Xin said.

This thing will not be exterminated to the maximum extent, and it will fly to his house sooner or later.

His family can't be affected, it can be said to be the last line of defense for food security in the entire capital.

After Yang Dudu finished speaking, he found a Taishi chair and sat down, holding a teacup and looking at the victims who came to sell a cart of locusts as if the grain was collected, judging from the current situation, his method has a good effect, after all, the high price of fifty catties and two taels of silver is enough for all those victims to take action, and the large-scale extermination of locusts by millions of people is still effective after all.

It is true that locust swarms are usually hundreds of millions, but as long as they pass by a place, they will reduce a part of it, and the destructive power will eventually be weakened, and this thing will take nearly a month from laying eggs to hatching, and its own reproductive ability is not very strong, in fact, it is two generations a year.

Now this is the summer locust, which emerges in May, but the adults do not lay eggs until July, and then the autumn locusts emerge in August.

Locusts have also been exterminated in ancient times.

During the Tang Dynasty, the Henan locust plague once killed 140,000 stones.

People eat locusts, and even take out dried locusts and sell them for a long time.

He only added a direct silver stimulus, and it was a high price, in order to arouse the enthusiasm of the whole people.

He didn't spend much, Tianqi and Jiu Qiansui approved 500,000 taels of disaster relief money for him, he just didn't buy food for disaster relief but let the people catch locusts and sell them to him for money, this silver alone is enough for him to collect more than 100,000 stones, in the end, he is changing a way of disaster relief.

As for the rest, it's time to grow sweet potatoes.

In these locust-cleaned land, hurry up and replant sweet potatoes, if you can grab the maximum number of locust adults before this batch of locust adults, then the autumn locusts will not become the climate, this year can still get a good autumn harvest through sweet potatoes, the only problem is that the gentry do not like to plant sweet potatoes, because this thing can not bring them value. Sweet potatoes only kept the peasants from starving, but did not bring much profit to the gentry, so they were generally opposed to planting sweet potatoes in large quantities, and at most the tenants were allowed to grow some of them, but the vast majority had to grow millet that would bring them income.

"Who is the largest landlord in the area?"

Yang Xin asked Gao Hongtu.

"The biggest landlord in the area is King De."

Gao Hongtu said.

"Well, I forgot, so I won't go to see this king, after all, Your Majesty doesn't have a holy decree, and it's still not suitable for me to visit."

Yang Xin said.

Gao Hongtu really wanted to ask when this rule was in place?

But he didn't ask.

"Brother Yanwen, please go and meet the king on your behalf, and say that now the king is promoting sweet potatoes throughout the country, if the king can take the lead and plant sweet potatoes in the fields of the German Domain, then the long live lord will definitely be happy, of course, this is just a proposal of mine, and the king can not listen. It's just that now Long Live Lord has given 500,000 disaster relief, and the king can't not give it out at all, this is in the king's domain, so he should pay 100,000 taels, of course, this is also my suggestion, he can not come out, but if he doesn't come out. ”

Yang Xin paused.

"I will always keep this incident in my heart, and the next time there is a rebellion, I will immediately remember it."

He said.

"Hou Hejian, why don't you say this kind of thing yourself?"

Gao Hongtu said speechlessly.

"Can I say this kind of offending thing myself?"

Yang Xin said.

Gao Hongtu wanted to spit on his face, but Yang Dudu's shamelessness really lived up to his reputation.

"This is Shandong, you are from Shandong, this is the famine in Shandong, don't you want to make some contribution to the famine of Shandong? After the sweet potato is planted, you can eat sweet potato seedlings immediately after planting, and most of this year's summer grain is fed to locusts, do you think the victims will be able to survive until autumn? If they can't hold on, they will have to rebel, do you want to watch Shandong fall into war? Planting sweet potatoes can help them survive the famine, and if they don't plant sweet potatoes, they won't have anything to eat, you can do it yourself! ”

Yang Xin said.

In the next few decades, I am afraid that Shandong will be inseparable from sweet potatoes, just take advantage of this opportunity to forcibly promote on a large scale, not only King De, King Heng of Qingzhou, King Lu of Yanzhou, all have to force them to plant sweet potatoes, and the north of the Ming Dynasty is running into the sweet potato prosperous era.

As for the seeds......

He still has some seed potatoes there that he hasn't used up.

If it is not enough, he can go to the nearby sweet potato field within a radius of 200 kilometers to cut the seedlings, and as long as the harvest can be delivered to the plant within nine days, there is basically no problem.

In fact, storing it for a few days and then inserting it can also increase production.

Gao Hongtu stood there hesitating, but in the end he sighed, and then resolutely ran towards King De's mansion.