At the end of the Ming Dynasty, scholars had an extremely vivid description of the development of this locust plague and its rampant situation: "The beginning of the locust is like a fly gathering, and its roding is also like encroachment, and the spring is gushing in, and it is unstoppable. Trapped in a trench with a depth of feet, and the trench swirls around; Hinder the fence on three sides, and the fence is full. There is no grain left in the red land everywhere, but it is still harmful to one side. Those who are less than the moon before have shins to walk, and wings to fly. There is a sound in the air, like the wind traveling; The heavens are obstacles, like clouds; When he saw the green grass and gathered it, he abandoned the dry stems and gave it to him; The leaves are all worn, and the valley is cut. The village where it is located beats the drum and rings the gold to shake it, but he is not shocked; Wave the flag and hold the staff to drive it away, and he will not be driven away. Shouts and cries rang out in unison, and greetings and curses were exchanged. ”

If this kind of behavior continues, not to mention the grain promised to be underwritten to the merchants, even their own rations will become a problem. Fortunately, the current locusts are only in the nymph stage, and they can't take off without wings, so Song Youliang raised his arms and shouted, "Exterminate locusts and provide disaster relief"

However, there was an immediate opposition to it. This person is none other than Song Youliang's mentor Lu Wenzhou.

Lu Wenzhou said solemnly: "Locusts are divine insects~ Because people complain about it, natural disasters have fallen. As a result, there are years of drought and locusts, and there is no agricultural harvest. It's not that manpower can stop it~~ and there are many insects, and it must be peaceful, and this thing can't be done. Don't you know that in the Tang Dynasty, Yao Chong advocated the killing of locusts, and his son was condemned to death? ”

Lu Wenzhou's statement is not groundless, in May of the 4th year of Kaiyuan, a large-scale locust plague occurred in Tang. The people still set up altars and begged the heavens to take back the locusts. But Yao Chongshang said that he wanted the people of the world to hunt and kill locusts together. The opposition panicked. But Xuanzong thought it was feasible, but except for Zhang Jiuling, no one in the court agreed. Xuanzong was determined to exterminate the locusts and ordered all the locusts to be exterminated. However, it could not be carried out, and everyone from the officials down to the common people thought that they could not be hunted and killed. also beat Zhang Jiuling, who demolished the altar. The matter was reported to Xuanzong, and Xuanzong was worried. Yao Chong used the matter of the king of Chu to eat leeches, and asked Xuanzong to take the lead in eating locusts. Xuanzong agreed, and agreed to eat locusts. Even Colliers came out to oppose it. It happened that the palace people reported that Yao Chong's youngest son suddenly fell ill with heartache and fell to the ground. Gao Lishi and Lu Huaishen told Xuanzong that this was the retribution that Yao Chong swore at that time that he would bear the burden of disaster. Yao Chong's youngest son died soon after, and opponents of locust extermination made a big fuss. It was Yao Chong who fought hard and persevered to the end, and finally extinguished the locust plague.

Some elderly people also supported Lu Wenzhou's statement, saying: "The locusts are turned by the southeast wind, and there is no way for people to deal with them except to ask for the blessing of the grasshopper lord (locust god) and the white tree lady (moth god)." There is a grasshopper temple built in the early years near here, let's bring sacrifices and go to the grasshopper temple to ask the grasshopper master for mercy and give us a way to live~~"

Song Youliang was so anxious in his heart that he shouted: "Locusts are ordinary insects, even if they are hunted and killed every day, they may not be able to get rid of them." Can we watch the locusts eat our crops, and we still go to ask grandpa to sue grandma? If you don't hunt locusts, everyone will be hungry this year~"

"Son~" Song Youliang's mother, Song Li, didn't know when she was crowded in the crowd, "My mother would rather starve to death than have any three long and two short ones~~" Song Li cried and choked up

"Mother, it's going to be fine~~" Song Youliang saw that his mother also believed that killing locusts would be punished by heaven, and he was even more anxious

At this time, Sun Heding, who had rarely gone out and was concentrating on sorting out his father Sun Yuanhua's notes, said: "Lord Qianhu is right, locusts are ordinary insects, not heavenly insects. Mr. Xuanhu (Xu Guangqi), the teacher, said in "Removing Locusts" that the locust plague is most prosperous between summer and autumn, and it is the same as when the hundred grains grow and mature, so it is the most harmful. "To the south of Youzhuo, to the north of Changhuai, to the west of Qingyan, to the east of the Liang and Song dynasties, to the land of the capital county, the lake nest and the society, the drought and overflow are impermanent, it is said to be dry, and the locusts are born. Those who dry up are the original locusts, and they want to get rid of the locusts, and the picture is here. But seeing that the soil veins are uplifted, even if you report to the official, the cluster will be extinguished~"

Lu Wenzhou shook his head and said: "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty says: Xu Xu of Wujun, for Xiao Huang Ling, Shi Chen stayed by locusts, passed away from Xiao Huang, stabbed the history of the department, blamed for the incurable, abandoned the official, the locusts came, stabbed Shi Xie, ordered the temple to be returned, and the locusts were all gone. and "On Balance" said: The world calls Nanyang Zhuo Gong as the Order. Locusts do not enter the border. Cover with wisdom and sincerity. Plague insects do not enter their counties. Then "Yibu Old Biography" said: Ren Fang. A native of Chengdu, Shu County, his father repaired, the word Boqing, was the first marquis of Gushi, the locust in the world, and he was unique and did not enter the boundary. Lu Wenzhou quoted three allusions in one breath, "It can be seen that the locust plague can be resolved by cultivating virtue~~"

Sun and Ding contended with each other and said: "The ancient good guard, locusts do not enter." If the locusts are not cured today, it proves that there is no virtue at all. ”

Song Youliang was so angry that he had nothing to say, "Then may I ask the teacher, can Xiude make everyone eat their stomachs, not starve to death, and not be a homeless person?" Song Youliang's words were very polite

Lu Wenzhou was obviously enraged, and he said angrily: "The old man is all he says, you can do it yourself~" and walked away

The old man who suggested going to the grasshopper temple to worship also led a large number of people to prepare for the sacrifice, leaving only Song Youliang, Xu Erduo, Sun Heding and others. Seeing the tense atmosphere just now, Xing Jiabao, the eldest brother of the Xing brothers, who had never dared to speak, said at this time: "The owner, in fact, we don't have to do it, there are other things in our city that can cure locusts~~"

"What's that?" Song Youliang was stunned

"It's the chickens and ducks we raise~" Xing Jiabao said: "I have seen people in Hebei before, who herded chickens and ducks to control locusts. It is to raise chickens and ducks to eat locusts and achieve the purpose of eliminating locusts. When locusts occur, they are released into the field to prey on locusts. ”

"yes~ Why did I forget this?" Song Youliang was overjoyed, "You have made a great contribution, Jiabao, you will immediately drive all our chickens and ducks to the fields ~~"

"Obey the order~~" Xing Jiabao pulled his younger brother and hurried back to the ranch

Song Youliang saw that Michel, Heinrich and Ludwig were still standing there and didn't leave, so he had an idea and stepped forward and said to Michelle: "Ask your subordinates, do you want to get double the salary this month~"

"Double pay?" Michelle looked at Heinrich and Ludwig, "No need to ask, they will be happy to call you generous~~, what do you want us to do?" ”

"Insecticidal~~"

Early the next morning, Song Youliang posted a notice in the city, and those who were willing to follow him to exterminate the locusts would get double wages. Someone was moved, and someone on the side advised: "Aren't you afraid of being damned?" ”

"What's there? Rather than starving to death, I'd rather take back the food first and eat it when I'm full~~"

"It's ~~ When the sky falls, there are thousands of adults on top, we are a cheap life, if the thousands of households and I are condemned to death together, Lao Tzu's face will be stained~~"

"It's also said ~ let's go, let's go together~~"

There must be brave men under the heavy reward, and in one day's effort, Song Youliang recruited more than 100 people to volunteer to join the locust extermination team. So, Song Youliang pulled Michelle and a group of mercenaries and recruited volunteers to resist the hoe, pushed the wheelbarrow and started the locust eradication operation. Volunteers are responsible for killing visible adults, while Song Youliang and Michelle are specifically looking at the ground. Locusts prefer to lay their eggs under dry, bare ground. As soon as the ground is found to be uplifted, it is immediately dug up, and the soil mixed with eggs and larvae is thrown into the fire to burn, and the excavated area is filled with lime powder. At night, taking advantage of the phototaxis of insects, many bonfires are lit in the field, and firewood is burning, and locusts jump into the flames one after another. Especially in the dark night, the locusts that meet the fire are more dense, and the corpses of the locusts are burned and exploded. The locusts gathered more and more, and at last a dozen or so fires were extinguished by the locust corpses.

Song Youliang saw that his locust extermination team was still too small, so in a hurry, he could only resort to the last resort, posting notices in the city, and buying locusts in large quantities at his own expense. This method really worked, and more and more people in Hai Duong joined the ranks of killing locusts.

"The child's father, Qianhu is young and ignorant, why are you also fooling around?"

"Nonsense? The first time I heard that someone spent money to buy locusts, if I die, I can leave some money for your mother and son, and I will be relieved~"

"Go, don't talk nonsense~"