The locust plague spread rapidly from south to north, and the momentum dropped sharply by more than half but it was not false, and when it entered the Xian country, it had to decay by one-half to one-fifth only three, and half a month later it was the end of summer, less than one month from the autumn harvest, as the temperature dropped, the autumn grain was harvested, and the locusts could not survive the winter, so naturally they could not produce harm.

Even the locust plague caused heavy economic losses to Zhiguo, Sunguo, and Xuguo, and the affected areas could not be relieved for two or three years, and even if Xianguo suffered some losses, the damage suffered was far less than a fraction of that of other countries.

To say that Gongsun Yue's words are quite reasonable, so that Mo Anzheng has nothing to say.

Originally, it was intended to slow down the momentum of the new policy "Push Business Tax", but he never thought that he would be refuted by Gongsun Yue, and finally only reached a compromise plan, but all the places affected by locusts will be reduced by 20% to 40% of the tax this autumn grain according to the situation, so as to reassure the people.

To tell the truth, if the locust plague is really bad, I am afraid that there will be no harvest. For farmers who pay more than 50 or 60 percent of their taxes, even if the tax is reduced, the losses they suffer are no different from a drop in the bucket.

On the sixth day after the end of the court meeting, Huangmen ordered Guo Pan to receive the bad news of Guangxin, the godfather Guo Pan died of overindulgence, and the steward Zhang Xing worked day and night, and rushed back to the capital for three days to report the funeral.

"What, Guo Peng is dead!" Guo Pan was shocked, but he couldn't see any sadness, but his eyes were slightly dim, maybe unexpected, which caught him off guard.

"Back to Father-in-law Guo, the son died of excessive indulgence in the gentle township, and when the maid woke up in the morning, the body was already cold."

Zhang Xing replied cautiously, for fear of incurring Guo Pan's anger. Guo Pan froze down, grabbed the jade bead in his right hand and clenched it in his fist, and said ruthlessly:

"Has the body been examined?"

"After testing, it is indeed a continuous day of excessive indulgence and death, when he died, the bed was wet, and the death was floating. His subordinates persuaded Gongzi many times, but Gongzi never listened to him. It has become the norm for as few as two women to serve and as many as three or five people to have fun.

There have long been rumors in Dingyang City about this matter, because of qi deficiency and kidney loss, and they don't know how to control it, so they ended up now. I also ask Guo Gonggong to give his opinion on what should be done in this matter. ”

"Alas...... Guo Peng is extremely filial to our family, but he is also a rare talent, but it is a pity that God is jealous of talents......" Guo Pan sighed, his eyes were filled with tears, and there was a hint of regret, and he said at the next moment: "Forget it, since people are dead, they will only increase their sorrow." Order someone to transport the body back to Dingyang and find a feng shui treasure to bury it. ”

"No."

"In addition, as soon as Guo Peng dies, our family's business in Guangxin has no hope, let Grandpa Chen come back, there is no need to do things publicly."

"After the subordinates returned to Guangxin, they immediately made arrangements for the aftermath. However, there is one thing that the subordinates do not know the inside story, and they still hope that Guo Gonggong will advise. ”

Guo Pan sat back on the collapse and said with a depressed expression:

"Say."

"This Huo Xing has been bought for many years, but he died under the poisonous wine of others. Moreover, Huo Xing carried the son's private crossbow on his back, and the son didn't know it, and his subordinates dared to ask his father-in-law, can his father-in-law know the inside story of this matter? ”

"If you don't say it, our family really doesn't care. This Huo Xing's private crossbow almost dragged our family into the water, and he was innocent of death. But the whereabouts of more than 2,000 strong crossbows are suspicious, is this a trick directed by Guangxin Gong? ”

At this time, Zhang Xing said:

"My subordinates don't look like it."

"How so?"

"The cost of a strong crossbow is amazing, and Huo Xing also relies on captured craftsmen to build it, so the cost is low, and if two thousand strong crossbows are not a strong soldier like Zhiguo who is good at using strong crossbows, it is difficult to be useful.

According to the military system of the Xian State, 2,000 strong crossbows can be combined with at least 10,000 archers and 20,000 or 30,000 infantry troops to form an army. With such a huge military force, how can Guangxin Gong raise it. What's more, the cost of a strong crossbow is quite large, and the strong crossbow is vulnerable and needs to be replaced every year, so the cost of the strong crossbow is probably not less than that of raising cavalry. ”

Guo Pan's eyes froze, thoughtful, and said after a while:

"So, is there anyone else?"

"The subordinates don't dare to speak falsely, but they will never be as Gongsun Yue, Ding Yang Hou and others say."

"Hmph, what kind of virtue do the two of them have, our family knows it in our hearts. However, this matter still needs to be secretly investigated, in case Jiang Min colludes with foreign criminals, these strong crossbows may not be Guangxin Gong's acquiescence to private systems, and there are even other unknown private weapons. ”

"What my father-in-law said is."

The strong crossbow made by Huo Xing ended up in whose hands it fell into is still a bad debt, and no one has really seen this batch of strong crossbows, and the strong crossbow seems to have evaporated.

In September, the north is still very hot, just like Guangzhou and Hainan, until October and November, the summer heat will not easily subside.

Bailiyan (Wei Xian) has been serving as the city's trough transfer envoy for more than ten days, and the horse thieves represented by Huo Xing have been completely wiped out, and more than 20 people such as Niu Gui and Wu Shan have been beheaded at the entrance of the vegetable market, among which Niu Gui and Wu Shan were sentenced to be cut in half, and the waist was cut into two sections with a guillotine, which can be described as extremely cruel.

After Song Jie, Tang Zhao, Fang De and others dismissed the royal guests, they gathered for a few more days and took a boat to Changsun Kingdom four days ago. Until the end, Bai Liyan didn't know why they offended Qin Han, but after all, they went to sea and left Guangxin.

After joining the market slot transfer envoy, manpower can only be recruited temporarily. Beihai County soldiers were affected by finance and population, a large number of soldiers were given priority to supplement the garrison, Beihai County soldiers shortage was more serious, Bailiyan had to personally recruit troops, and then transferred Sikong Nan to the command, temporarily as a centurion.

After the battle of horse thieves, the population, financial resources, and material resources of the deserted village increased greatly, and in addition to the women and craftsmen who were resettled, a large number of landless people were resettled and collected everywhere.

In the name of Zhao Xun, 4,500 acres of new wasteland, plus the previous 500 acres, a total of 5,000 acres of land, after the autumn, will focus on cutting and cleaning up the weeds of the wasteland, in preparation for next year's spring ploughing.

At the same time, the selection and innovation of manure, breeding, breeding, and farming tools were carried out in an orderly manner, and because of the suppression of bandits, there were two or three hundred capable craftsmen, most of whom ended up in deserted villages.

After all, making strong crossbows is not an arms business that Bailiyan can do, but it is a waste of talent to let these people go to the heavy land to raise pigs.

The cotton, silk and linen that Ding Su will bring next year were originally intended to be sold on the spot, but now the craftsmen can actively imitate the spinning wheel, and use the spinning wheel in a centralized manner, so that the women can work, and only need to pay for the rice or copper coins and living materials that can feed them, so that the women can work diligently without any worries

Bailiyan then sold the cloth to Guangxin or other places, which can be regarded as taking advantage of his position to carry private goods. In this way, it can not only allow the idle woman to earn rice to support her family, but also reduce the production cost and bring economic benefits to the deserted village.

In addition, craftsmen were allowed to make oil pressing machines, which could be used to press cash crops such as sugarcane, coconut oil, and vegetable oil in the future, and used to produce sugar, oil, soap, etc.

The horse thieves were tossed around for a month, more than 100 people were killed and injured, and the safety of the deserted village was urgent.

Bailiyan used more than 100 war horses obtained from the bandits, and nearly 1,000 captured weapons, to select capable and strong men to equip them.

In particular, the strong men who have been trained by the royal guests and have participated in actual combat are filled into the guards, but they are not assigned to the command of the city trough transfer envoy, and are responsible for protecting the safety of deserted villages, and at the same time the township soldiers are arranged as a supplement to the guards. Township soldiers are stationed in the fields and cultivated when the farmers are busy, train in the slack hours, and combine farming and warfare, and their functions are close to the nature of the soldiers.

At this time, the first batch of porcelain fired by Liu Zao and Liu Chuan father and son has been baked, the batch is not very large, Bailiyan has no intention of expanding production for the time being, and after the autumn harvest of rice and grain is put into storage, this batch of bone china will be shipped to Ding Su for sale, leaving only part of the supply to the Guangxin market.

Time is already early autumn, and then half a month to a month, late rice can be harvested, Bailiyan led the transfer envoy under the command of fifty cavalry, walking in the fields outside Guangxin City, all eyes can see are golden rice fields.

"It looks like it's going to be another good year."

Sikong Nan sighed, his face filled with bland longing. Bai Liyan was worried and said:

"yes, I wish it had been harvested and put into storage sooner."

"Are you worried about the locust plague?"

"Hmm." Bai Liyan snorted lightly: "It is rumored that the locusts in the north have invaded Xianxi County and Chunan County, and the momentum is far beyond expectations. ”

The locusts were more ferocious than expected. Due to the low temperature in the south and the fact that it occurred at the turn of winter and spring, the locust plague in the south seemed to be unusually rapid, but in fact, people had not experienced the locust plague for many years, and their consciousness was weak.

The locusts spread all the way north along the way, and the locusts per unit area were diluted by the land and distributed to various places, but the locust plague felt less serious.

As a result, the weather in the north is hotter, and the locusts are temperate parasites, they can mate and lay eggs once in ten to thirty days, and they like to migrate to the tropics that are more conducive to reproduction.

What's even worse is that locusts lay eggs under the soil, not in one wave, but can last for several months or even years, the temperature in the North Sea is high in winter, and it is extremely difficult for the eggs to freeze to death, and the locust plague will inevitably occur again in the next year.

When Bailiyan was thinking, the stagecoach in front of him galloped over, and the postman had a black flag on his back, which usually meant that Hongling was in a hurry and was in a super police situation. The postman galloped past, his expression so solemn that he had no time to look at everyone.

Sikong Nan asked urgently:

"My lord, is there another war?"

"No, it must be something else."

If there is a war, Zhao Xun should write in advance when he sees the signs, since there is no letter, it is definitely not a war.

"Let's go to other places to see, and we must grasp all the terrain of Guangxin as soon as possible."

"What your lord said is very true."

Guangxin territorial area is not as good as Lincheng, in addition to the coastline, the terrain is a horse flat river, there is no danger to defend, when Feng Chan deliberately sealed Guangxin in Guangxin, so as to send troops to crusade in the future, Ding Yang Marquis Zhang Jun sealed in Ding Yang City, but also intended to contain Guangxin.

At the end of the afternoon, someone from the Guangxin Mansion caught up with Bailiyan and his party, and Jiang Min ordered him to hurry back to the house to discuss the matter, the content of which was unknown. Bailiyan didn't dare to delay, so Sikong Nan continued to patrol westward, and he returned to Guangxin alone.