The next day, the Xianjun continued to let the horses, and the range of feeding the horses was further closer to Shao Ping, and the stallions were full of food and drink, and the sun was shining, and they began to be irritable, and under the seduction of the mare, they were ready to move, and the black turban army in Shao Ping did not move, and there was no abnormality from outside the city.

Until the early morning of the next day, the north and south gates of the Black Turban Army suddenly opened, and 30,000 horses from the north and south poured out of their nests, camped ten miles away, and formed a formation with the battalion as a barrier, and at the same time, thousands of wooden carriages, knife carts, and rejecting horses were quickly fixed on the roads that must be passed everywhere under the cover of night, and fixed on the ground with wooden stakes and copper nails.

At dawn on the third day, the scouts of the Xian army sent the news back, and Bailiyan led the forward battalion to the north of Shaoping to inspect and found that several roads leading to the east of Shaoping were full of blockages such as carriages, knife carts, and horse rejections.

If this is the case, the spear formation of the Black Turban Army guarding the north will move in a square circle to the north and south, and the cavalry may be attacked again.

"This method is very powerful, so that our army will have to go farther away to pass. Once you make a detour, you will have to be sleepy in the afternoon to reach the east of Shaoping, so it is easy to encounter a sneak attack. Bai Liyan (Wei Xian) said.

"General, the south of Shao Ping must be the same."

"Well, not only that, Ben would have dared to conclude that these obstacles were all nailed to the ground and could not be dragged away by lassoes and rope hooks, and had to be dug by hand to remove them. If you do this, you will fall into the hands of the enemy. ”

"Then why not burn it?"

Lu Gao proposed, and Sikong Nan took over the conversation:

"It is feasible to burn, but even if it is burned, thousands of carriages, knife carts, and horses will be scattered and set on fire, and then burned for half a day and a day, during which not only will the men and horses not be able to pass, but in case the enemy army comes to attack during the arson, our army will not even be able to recover the men and horses. And it burned during the day, and at night they were on the table, so repeatedly sawing, we have few people, they have many people, and it is our army that is tired."

"What Brother Sikong said is true, and it is this method for the Black Turban Army." Bai Liyan affirmed what Sikong Nan said, and looked north at the Black Turban Army camp again. Thinking of the grain and grass that An Xing transported, he was going to enter Shaoping in the next two days, and Bai Liyan was still thinking about how to rob this batch of grain and grass.

Judging from the scout news obtained one after another, the Black Turban Army did send 20,000 cavalry to set up an ambush, and learned that the Xian army did not plan to rob the grain, so the Black Turban Army had the courage to show up to take the food, even if the 20,000 cavalry could be defeated under the hard fight, the loss of the Xian army itself was not small, in case it was counterattacked, the consequences were unimaginable.

On the way back with the army, a large area of regular woods was found three miles northwest, and when he got closer, he found that it was planted peach trees, orange trees, apple trees and other fruit crops. Beihai is located in the tropics, and the local fruits are constantly used all year round, and the endless ones are used to make wine, and the pomace and wine can also be made into sugar paste to satisfy hunger.

Now in mid to late April, apples and oranges are still green fruits, only the salty country is subtropical, peaches are ripe earlier than the inland, it is the tropical peach ripening season, Baili Yan picked a bite of it, delicious and juicy taste sweet, if it is peaceful and prosperous, such high-quality peaches, can also be sold at a good price.

"General, it's a fruit forest, let's go."

Su Hong urged. Bai Liyan hesitated and said:

"Well, let me think about it."

Looking at the peaches that had already eaten half of them, Bailiyan thought of two things, one was peach gum. Peach gum has a wide range of uses, and can be used in many fields such as chemistry, industrial glue making, metallurgical additives, and biopharmaceuticals, but at present, there is a lack of talents and supporting industries, and there is basically no much use, and only peaches can be used.

After thinking for a moment, he said to Su Hong:

"Su Hong, take three hundred people back and gather six thousand sacks."

Su Hong was puzzled and asked:

"The general wants to pick peaches?"

"Don't be verbose, let you go, you can go, where is so much nonsense!"

"Order!"

Su Hong turned around and led people away, and Sikong Nan asked:

"What does this mean, general, what can peaches be used for?"

Baili Yan grinned:

"Looting food!"

Sikong Nan was taken aback:

"Looting food? How do peaches rob grain? ”

"Of course peaches can't borrow grain, but locusts can!" Bailiyan pointed to the locusts that could be seen sporadically nearby, and said: "Although the locust plague has receded, there are still locusts sporadically, and locusts like sweets, so if you can scatter peaches on the road that grain and grass must pass, and attract the scattered locusts nearby, the number is still extremely considerable." ”

Since the locust plague occurred in 625 years of Shengyuan, it has been two years, the locusts in the affected areas have basically subsided, but there are occasional attacks, although the locusts near Shaoping have not become a climate, these days to feed the horses, sporadically can still see small groups of locusts wantonly gnawing on the green seedlings. Although it does not become a disaster, the locusts reproduce very quickly, and once they form a scale, the reproduction rate will skyrocket, and it is difficult to guarantee that they will not make a comeback.

If you can attract a swarm of locusts with a large amount of peach juice, once the grain transport team passes by, the grain and grass in the sack will inevitably become the key object of the locusts. Locusts will attract more locusts of the same type by emitting insect pheromones, and once they have formed a scale, the rate of reproduction will increase rapidly.

Sikong Nan had never heard of it, and after hearing it, he couldn't help but feel that this matter was unreliable:

"General, even if it can attract locusts, this grain is packed in sacks, layer by layer, and it will take a long time to gnaw it."

Bai Liyan smiled:

"Of course, locusts can't eat heavy grain and grass in a short period of time, but as long as they gather, the surrounding crops, that's another story."

"That'...... Will the matter be decided after consultation with the Metropolitan Governor? ”

"Discussion is to be discussed, but peaches have to be picked immediately, the black turban army grain and grass are only two or three days away from Shao Ping, if you can't sprinkle peaches on the road tonight, tomorrow will attract locusts, otherwise it will be a failure.

In this way, you are on guard here, and Su Hong will pick peaches immediately after he comes. If there is an attack by the Black Turban Army, evacuate immediately, don't fall in love with the war, I will go to Governor Ye Dadu to ask for clarification on this matter. ”

The grain and grass are all packed in sacks, stacked layer by layer, and the locusts naturally cannot cause much harm, but the locusts will follow the heavy vehicles all the way to Shaoping.

The reproduction rate of locusts is extremely fast, and a batch of new insects can be produced in ten days, and when the temperature is high, it is not even necessary for ten days.

When the density of the community is low, the locusts are suppressed by birds and other predatory insects, which makes it difficult to form high-density disasters, and maintains a relatively balanced biological chain system. If locusts scattered in different communities within a radius of several tens of miles are gathered to a certain density, and the rate of new generation exceeds the rate of natural loss, locust plagues will break out.

The aggregation and spread of insects are guided by their own secreted pheromones, such as finding food to eat, looking for heterosexual mating, all rely on the pheromones secreted by insects themselves to spread through the air, up to dozens of kilometers.

Once the locusts on the periphery of Shaoping are gathered, it will not take a month, and the density of the locusts in Shaoping will increase by dozens of times, and then quickly spread to the periphery, rekindling the locust plague of that year, and undoubtedly causing serious damage to the agriculture of the counties and counties under the rule of the Black Turban Army.

With dozens of escorts, Bai Liyan personally rushed back to the camp and presented the matter to Ye Xin, but he did not tell the secret of locust breeding, even if he said it thoroughly, Ye Xin would probably not believe it. When Ye Xin heard about the plan to attract locusts, he was curious, so he asked:

"It is rumored that General Wei used a fire array to exterminate locusts in Guangxin back then, and now he uses peaches to attract locusts, how sure is this?"

Bai Liyan smiled:

"Anyway, it doesn't cost a single soldier of our army, and the certainty is definitely much lower than that of the fire array to exterminate the locusts, and whether it succeeds or not, our army will not hurt a single person, why don't you give it a try."

"Well, well, you should be careful, you will not fall in love if you go early and return early."

"No!"

From the bottom of my heart, it is not certain to attract locusts with peaches, anyway, there is nothing to be done at the moment, but it is better to do than not to do.

When taking people back to the fruit forest, Su Hong, Sikong Nan, and Lu Gao were leading people and horses to pick fresh peaches, put them into sacks and tie them with ropes, two bags as a group, and carry them on horseback, which lasted until dusk, and a group of nearly 4,000 people carried 6,000 bags of fruits, walking while eating, and going north while eating.

The news reached the ears of Shentong, and Shentong was suspicious, at first he got the pioneer camp to pick peaches for the reward of Ye Xin's army, and it was said that he should go south after picking, how did he go north.

To the north is the direction of Anxing, Shen Duchi's 20,000 horses and baggage battalion are heading south, and it is expected to arrive in Shaoping the day after tomorrow.

"Strange, this man is really acting perversely, what is he going to do?"

Puzzled in his heart, the supernatural power and the scout said:

"Investigate again, be sure to find out the truth!"

"No!"

That night, the pioneer battalion hurried north overnight, and arrived at the avenue more than 60 miles north of Shaoping in the early morning, Bailiyan ordered to throw down 2,000 bags of fruit, stretching to the north for a mile, and then let the soldiers ride horses back and forth to trample on the peaches, trampling the peaches to a sparse sparse place, leaving a large amount of juice on the ground, exuding a sweet and tempting fragrance, and then dividing the remaining 4,000 bags of fruit into two, 2,000 bags were sprinkled on the ground on the ground, and the other 2,000 bags were opened to the sky.

After the night of marching, people were already sleepy and tired, and after pouring the fruit, Bailiyan drove everyone to the nearby forest to rest. Sikong Nan, Lu Gao, Su Hong and others didn't feel that this method could attract locusts, and they were all watching Bailiyan's jokes.

"Laugh when you wait, if the general attracts locusts, what do you say?"

Sikong Nan, who was laughing, immediately pursed his lips and straightened his face, but he still wanted to laugh:

"General, this locust is not a roundworm in a man's stomach, how can it come according to a man's mind. In the past, the locusts were also fond of fire, and they could be seen in the air, but now they want to attract the locusts scattered within a radius of dozens of miles with sweet water, and the end will see enough hanging. ”

"Then have you ever heard of 'Ten Miles of Wine'?"

Lu Gao nodded:

"The liquor paid by the Liang State in the palace is not said to be ten miles away, but can be smelled five miles away. But this sweetness is not the aroma of wine, now far away from the road more than a mile, this fruity fragrance has faded a lot, according to this, after five miles of the aroma is gone, where can attract locusts within a radius of dozens of miles. ”

What Lu Gao said is not false, people's sense of smell can smell the aroma of wine a few miles away, and the fruity aroma is a mile or two away, and it is difficult for people to smell it again. But Bailiyan can't tell them that the smell of insects is tens of thousands of times that of humans, even if they can smell it from a distance of more than ten miles and dozens of miles, and they don't believe it.