Seeing Shi A leaving, Zhang Liao looked at the northwest sky, no need for Shi A to say, he knew where the locust plague would start, the county where he was located in his previous life was a large agricultural county, and he knew something about locusts. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Locusts prefer warm, dry and low-lying areas, low water content of no vegetation soil is most suitable for locusts to lay eggs and reproduce, in the oviposition dense area, every three feet of land there are 200,000 to 400,000 eggs, especially on the shores of rivers and lakes, the water level in the dry season drops during the locust spawning period, exposing a large area of arid low-lying flats, which will lead to a large increase in locust egg production, most of the locust plagues in Chinese history also occurred in the Yellow River Basin. On the contrary, the rainy and humid environment has many adverse effects on the reproduction of locusts, the high water content of the plants that locusts feed on will delay the growth of locusts and reduce their fertility, and the rainy and humid environment will also make locusts endemic diseases, so it is said that locusts will be killed after a long drought.

For thousands of years, the ancients have not had a very good response to the locust plague, the vitality of the locusts is extremely tenacious, and they can survive when buried in the soil, even the pesticides of later generations are useless many times, let alone the ancients.

For the ancients, the ineffective means are to worship the gods of Qi, and the effective means are basically to capture, dig pits and bury, burn, etc., but these means are just a drop in the bucket for hundreds of millions of locusts that cover the sky and the sun every time, and the consequences of each locust plague are extremely terrible, accompanied by a large number of people starving to death.

Zhang Liao knew that the locust plague was coming, and since the end of last year, he began to plan to deal with the locust plague, first of all, to build water conservancy, reclaim land for planting, dig up fish ponds, and even plant grass, which can minimize the laying of eggs by locusts.

In addition, in the past month or so, he has sent soldiers and young men to dig up a large number of locust eggs in the low-lying areas of the arid river beach, feed chickens and ducks, or burn them directly, but the river beach is too big and the locust fecundity is too strong, and the locust plague still occurs.

He knew that most of China's locusts were flying locusts, and they were most fond of weeds such as reeds, barnyard grass, and red grass, as well as crops such as wheat, sorghum, rice, and millet, and generally did not eat legume crops, so Zhang Liao let the people under his rule plant bean crops after the wheat was harvested, and sprinkled grass ash and lime on the seedlings, so as to prevent locusts from harming crops too much.

However, this is only a passive defense method, and locusts will still eat when they are very hungry, so they must take the initiative to hunt and kill.

The ancients used the methods Zhang Liao has prepared, one is that the counties and townships have dug trenches for landfilling, and prepared straw on the edge of the trenches, ready to burn at any time, as for the smoke is useless for the locust plague, the vitality of the locusts is extremely tenacious, even if it is buried in the soil, it can be drilled out, so after covering the soil, it is necessary to burn or cone to kill the locusts.

The second is the prevention and control of natural enemies, Zhang Liao has long encouraged the people to raise chickens and ducks, this time can come in handy, a big duck can eat two catties of locusts in a day, then a thousand ducks eat as many as two thousand catties of locusts a day, which is also extremely useful.

The third is to mobilize the people to capture, every household has made a net bag, and then it will be caught, but the locusts fly very high, and they will not fall when they encounter a large crowd, and this kind of capture can only be carried out when they land and jump to eat.

In addition, Zhang Liao discussed many times with his staff and came up with some new methods, the first of which was food trapping, because locusts like to eat weeds such as reeds, barnyard grass, and red grass, so Zhang Liao had already arranged for each county to select a large area to densely plant reeds, barnyard grass, red grass, white grass, etc., and use these places as important places to trap locusts. It is also the use of the art of war, luring the enemy into fighting in a designated place, so as to surround and kill.

The second is to sprinkle water, Zhang Liao asked the people to use bamboo tubes to make water guns, spray water when encountering locusts, locust wings will be wet and difficult to fly after being wet, easy to kill, of course, this method is better than nothing, after all, locusts fly very high, can only be used in specific situations.

However, Zhang Liao is hungry now, and he uses any method that can kill one more locust.

Of course, for the matter of hunting and killing locusts, there are also some officials who think that natural disasters should deal with personnel, and locusts cannot be injured and must be virtuous.

This time, Zhang Liao sent Lu Su, Lu Dai, Bu Qi and other powerful subordinates to various places to prepare for the disaster, and it can be said that he used all means.

After Shi A left, Zhang Liao immediately mobilized the soldiers and people in this area to prepare for the locust plague, and he and his guards went to a large reed field, straw, nets, and oil, everything was ready.

The people everywhere were also gathered in front of their respective fields under the organization of the officials, and prepared to light fireworks, although the smoke was useless, but it was better than nothing.

The locusts flew very fast, and not long after they were ready, a dark cloud came from the northwest sky, covering the sky and the sun, and the sound of the locusts shook the sky, making everyone's hearts numb, and some of them were so timid that they almost wanted to flee in fright.

The dark clouds moved very fast, as if they were blown by a strong wind, and in a blink of an eye they came to the front, this piece of reed land was a great temptation for them, and the dark clouds that covered the sky and the sun were pressed down, and at this time they could clearly see that they were locusts, densely packed with I don't know how many.

The locusts fell in a blink of an eye, the most in the reeds, connected to everyone's heads, faces, and bodies, covering everyone's sight, although the locusts do not eat meat, but the feeling of crawling on the body is also extremely terrifying, everyone exclaimed, the sable cicada hurriedly pounced, and even many people hurriedly wanted to escape.

At this time, even Zhang Liao's scalp was a little numb, but he couldn't retreat, he spit out a locust that crawled into his mouth, and shouted: "God has sent meat to our chickens and ducks, and he doesn't act!" ”

Looking at the mountains of locusts piled up on the reeds, he picked up an oil drum and threw it over there, then took a rocket, lit it, shot it, boom! A place was burning, and there was a smell of burnt meat.

After all, the guards were well-trained, and they acted immediately, and the fire and oil rockets were fired in unison, and this piece of fire ignited.

Not really facing the locust swarm, not knowing its horror and impact on people, Zhang Liao turned around, and saw through the black pressure of the locust swarm that many people were still in a daze, and they were trembling with fright, he shouted: "Don't act yet!" Kill one more to protect a seedling, and if you don't want to starve to death next year, you can do it! ”

He laughed again: "Ben has just eaten a few, this locust is delicious, and the roasted taste is even better, great supplement!" Ahem! This locust is stuck with me! ”

His loud laughter came from the sound of the locust swarm, and the hearts of the people were reassured.

Bao Xin was the first to echo loudly: "It's really delicious!" God doesn't know that when you send food to chickens and ducks, you also send us food, and if you don't eat them, they will eat our crops! Above! ”

Zhang Liao laughed, turned his head to see Diao Chan's pale face, closed his small mouth tightly, and was only afraid of the locust entrance, he couldn't help laughing again, pulled out the net pocket on his waist, and handed one to Diao Chan: "Xiaoyu, if you don't want to eat, catch it!" ”

Diao Chan nodded hurriedly, the two of them each pulled one side, opened the net, and rushed towards the place where the locusts were most dense, but in an instant, the net pocket was full, Zhang Liao took it quickly, tied the pocket, and took out another one: "Come again!" ”

Diao Chan and Zhang Liao cooperated once, calmed down, hurriedly took it, and the two of them netted again.

The same is true of the soldiers and the common people, except for those who set fires, fill ditches, and shoot water, they are all caught in pairs with nets.

Quack! Giggles! But some people let out flocks of chickens and ducks to feed on locusts.

There is more than one group of locusts, Qingzhou is adjacent to the Yellow River, and it appears everywhere, dense and endless.

Similarly, thousands of people, under the leadership of Qingzhou Mu Zhang Liao and the organization of local officials, did everything they could to catch locusts, protect their fields and crops, and protect their homes.

Even so, there are still large areas of crops that have been eaten up, which is no way, in the face of such natural disasters, manpower can only reduce the loss, it is difficult to completely avoid it.

This time, the area of the locust plague was extremely large, and for more than 10 days, Guanzhong Sanfu, Hedong, Hanoi, Henan, Qingzhou, Jizhou, Yanzhou, as well as Yuzhou and Xuzhou half of the country, were affected almost everywhere.

Especially in Yanzhou, Jizhou, Yuzhou and Guanzhong, because of the lack of defense, countless crops were wiped out, and countless people wept in panic.

Inside and outside Puyang City, Lu Bu and Cao Cao, who were originally in the big battle, made a truce, and they hid in their camps, not daring to come out, in the face of this natural disaster, their force seemed to be a joke, and they couldn't kill a few locusts in the invincible world.

Only under Zhang Liao's rule, because of his arrangement half a year in advance, there were already preventive measures everywhere, and the losses were minimal and bearable, even if the crops were lost, there were fish ponds and dried goods collected in advance to make a living.

Countless people are grateful to Zhang Liao in their hearts, and some people who originally complained about him in private are now completely convinced, and they can't do it if they don't accept it.