On July 29, information came from Quancheng that the front line of the Yellow River was also attacked by locust swarms, and Xu Muhe, the governor of the capital, personally went to the front line to supervise the battle.

On the first day of August, reinforcements from Qingzhou arrived at the front line, especially the coastal fishermen in Rizhao brought many fishing nets, which were propped up with wooden sticks, and a large number of locusts flying in mid-air could be netted at a time.

At night, the people lit a large number of fires in the fields, and the locusts also have phototaxis, and a large number of locusts plunged into the fires and turned into flying ashes.

Women, children, and the elderly carried torches and dug up locust eggs all night long. The mobile unit composed of adult males chased the main force of the locust swarm, and Xu Shiyang personally led the cavalry unit to use the advantage of mobility to chase down the locusts.

Even the locusts that were driven into the mountains would not be spared, and on the fifth day of the eighth month, the reinforcements from Laizhou and Dengzhou arrived, and after receiving the support of the new army, Xu Shiyang even sent a large number of people into the mountains to catch locusts one by one.

By the 10th day of the first month of August, in 20 days, the bank had seized as many as 2 million catties of locusts, and more than 500,000 catties of eggs, and countless people were eaten by the people and poultry and burned to death by fire.

Most of the collected locusts and eggs are dug and burned in the spot, but some are crushed and mixed with small amounts of bran and grass to make feed.

Some people think that the locust plague will pass one day, but such good chicken and duck feed is really hard to find, so it is better to store a little more now.

……

Under the jurisdiction of Yanzhou Prefecture, a small village at the foot of Jun Mountain.

A witch dressed in strange colorful clothes and with a cloak that looked like a madman was singing and dancing around a paper locust several meters high.

No one could understand what she was singing, and the so-called "dance" she danced looked more like a meaningless convulsion after being struck by lightning.

However, the hundreds of men and women around were all kneeling around the paper locusts, watching the witch dance with a reverent face.

After a long time, the witch trembled violently like chaff, slumped to the ground, and cried out in a hoarse voice:

"Disaster! Scourge Miles! ”

"God has sent a great disaster! If you don't respect gods and immortals, God will send gods and insects to eat up all your seedlings! ”

The crowd was in an uproar and ate all the seedlings! Is that worth it?

An old man who looked like a village chief asked tremblingly:

"Immortal Gu, our village was only built last year, and all the families are outsiders, and they are not familiar with the local rules, and they don't know where to annoy the local immortals, so that such a disaster has fallen, and I hope that the fairy aunt will guide us to the maze and tell us how to avoid this ......catastrophe."

"Your village does not respect the mountain god of Aishan, and this is why disaster befalls you."

The witch said wearily:

"You must prepare a pair of boys and girls within three days, and sacrifice the heads of cows, sheep and pigs to the mountain gods, so as to avoid disaster!"

"Huh? There must be boys and girls? ”

The village chief was stunned for a moment, the sheep's head and the pig's head, gritting his teeth, it was not impossible to take it out, and it was difficult to prepare the cow's head, because the cattle were all in the accounts of the governor's mansion, and they were not livestock that could be killed casually.

In the case of boys and girls, it is even more problematic.

In a newly formed village like this, where immigrants and displaced people are everywhere, everyone must be in the accounts of the Household Department of the Metropolitan Governor's Office, and anyone who dies and why he dies must be reported in time.

Any baby birth must also be reported to the county as soon as possible.

Otherwise, you will be punished.

Now, dedicate two boys and girls who are in the thin population of the county to the mountain god? No one knows whether the mountain god will be angry or not, and it is inevitable that the county will be punished.

The village chief had no choice, so he took out a handful of food stamps from his arms, looked like he had to be more than a hundred catties, and quietly stuffed them into the witch's hand:

"Immortal Gu, these people in our village are all remembered by the county lord, how dare we send them out, please ask the fairy aunt to ask the mountain god for a favor, do you think we will pay more tribute?"

The witch unceremoniously grabbed the food stamps and began to count them with her sweet fingers.

A total of one hundred and thirty-three catties, which is not a lot, but it is not unacceptable to the goddess nested in a small mountain village.

"Okay, I'll ask the mountain god for a favor for you, but the pigs, sheep and cows can't be missing! If you are a boy or a girl, replace it with two hundred pounds of fine noodles. ”

"Medium!" As soon as the village chief gritted his teeth, he wanted to agree.

At this moment, the sound of hooves rumbled, and more than thirty heavily armed cavalry entered the village.

A young knight at the lead carried a boy who looked to be only about ten years old.

The village chief, the witch, and the other villagers all looked at these imposing cavalrymen with panicked eyes—at this time, even fools knew that these people were not good.

The village chief's eyes widened as he looked at the child on the horse, and he recognized it as what appeared to be the child of the village.

The child pointed at the witch and shouted, "That's her!" She was going to burn the children! She's the bad guy! ”

The leading knight was none other than Xu Shizhen, the commander of the dragoon company, riding on a war horse captured from the Tartars, his condescending eyes wandering between the witch dressed like a rooster and the paper locust several meters high.

"This little general ......"

The village chief felt that the atmosphere was not very good, and he seemed to want to say something, but Xu Shizhen didn't want to hear it at all.

"You're the village chief?" He asked.

"Yes...... I'm the village chief......"

"Didn't the county give you an order? During the period of locust extermination, it is not allowed to pray to God and worship Buddha, especially not to worship this pest, and violators will be severely punished! ”

"The locust master is a god worm!" The witch suddenly screamed as if she had gone mad: "You don't respect the mountain god, the mountain god will punish you......"

"Kill her." Xu Shizhen was too lazy to listen to her nonsense, he turned his head and gently commanded the soldiers beside him.

One of the dragoons drew his saber and rode forward.

The witch realized that the other party was real, and she raised her hands to cover her head, and screamed wildly.

The cry was harsh, but it was no more, the sharp saber flashed coldly, and a frightened head flew into the air.

The smell of blood spread at the scene.

"Ahhh

The villagers kneeling beside the paper locusts let out panicked screams, and the bloody scene reminded these foolish men and women from all over the world of homeless people unconsciously reminded of the cruel bandits near their hometowns in the past.

"Shut up!"

The dragoons rode forward one after another, forming a faint encirclement of the villagers.

The villagers huddled together under the pressure of the cavalry, and the men were forced to stand up and use their chests to block the women, children, and elderly who were falling into despair.

This slightly brave scene made Xu Shizhen feel that the people in this village were a little ignorant, but there was still salvation.

"I am Xu Shizhen, the commander of the Sixth Dragoon Company under the New Army of Qi Province."

"This official has received a report that your village has disobeyed the order issued by the Governor's Mansion and knelt down in the village to worship this ridiculous thing!"

Xu Shizhen pointed at the paper locust with a saber and said loudly:

"The Governor's Mansion has ordered the company commander to deal with you!"

"For the sake of you just being deceived by the witch, you burned this thing with your own hands, and this official will not kill anyone this time!"

In fact, unless the villagers take the initiative to attack, he has no right to kill anyone except for the witch.

However, he felt that it would be better to scare the villagers in this way.

Immediately the boy who had reported his village jumped off his horse and struck the paper locust with a stick.

"Burn this bad thing!" The boy cried out, "Burn this evil thing!" ”

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