"Remove its moths and its thieves, and do not harm my Tianzhi. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Tian Zu has a god, Bing Yan fire. This is the earliest record of the plague of locusts in the Book of Songs, in which the beetles are locusts.

Locusts can often be seen in the fields of later generations, for example, Li Xiu simply regarded roasted locusts as a delicacy when he was a child, but he has never seen a locust plague since he was a child, because the locust plague in later generations has basically been controlled, and the locust itself is also a kind of food.

However, although Li Xiu has not seen the locust plague with his own eyes, he has seen the description of the locust plague from the book, some people describe that the locust plague is out of the ground, thousands of miles away, and all the visible green will be eaten up by the locusts, which will cause a devastating blow to agriculture, and even the people are afraid of the locust plague like a god, and even offer the small locust to the altar, called the "locust god", and dare not catch the locust plague when encountering the locust plague, only dare to burn incense to worship, which also makes the locust plague come, it will only form a greater loss.

In many legends related to locusts, Li Xiu heard a locust story related to Li Shimin, it is said that when Li Shimin had just ascended the throne, there was a locust plague in Guanzhong, when the locusts flew, even the sunlight in the sky was covered, and not only the crops in the field were eaten, even the flowers and plants in Li Shimin's imperial garden were also devoured by locusts, and finally Li Shimin grabbed a few locusts in anger and ate them, and also blamed himself for the cause of the locust plague, so that God had any anger against him alone. Don't bother the people, and the next year there was no plague of locusts.

Of course, I don't know whether the above historical story is true or false, in Li Xiu's view, this story is mainly to highlight Li Shimin's wisdom and martial arts, and even has a tendency to deify Li Shimin, plus this story seems to be written by an official of the Tang Dynasty, and it is even more suspicious of sycophancy, so the authenticity of the story has to be doubted.

However, the background of the general historical story is true, such as the dynasty, such as Li Shimin is the emperor, etc., and the locust plague may also be true, after all, this story was written by an official of the Tang Dynasty, and he should not dare to tamper with history indiscriminately, which is a big crime for ancient readers, so he at most did some artistic processing on these backgrounds, which is why Li Shimin swallowed locusts.

It was precisely because of the above that Li Xiu suddenly became worried, and now Li Shimin has just ascended the throne, which is completely in line with the background of the above story, and Li Xiu also suddenly found that the number of locusts in the field has increased, although it has not reached the level of locust plague, but it also seems very abnormal.

After sending the child home, he immediately came to the Ministry of Agriculture, although he found that the number of locusts increased, but he was not sure, after all, he did not have much experience in locust plague at all, but there are many officials in the Ministry of Agriculture who are proficient in agriculture, so he wants to ask these people for advice to see if there is a possibility of an outbreak of locust plague?

However, when Li Xiu came to the Ministry of Agriculture, his heart sank before he could speak, because he saw that in the farmland outside the Ministry of Agriculture, there were several officials of the Ministry of Agriculture holding fishing nets and catching locusts in the fields.

At that moment, Li Xiu entered the Ministry of Agriculture with a heavy heart, and went straight to Yang Nong's office room, but as soon as he entered, he saw Yang Nong and Yang Dui discussing something, and on the table in front of them, there were still a few fresh dead locusts, obviously the content of the discussion must also be related to locusts.

"Yang Gong, you actually killed the locust, aren't you afraid of the locust god's revenge?" When Li Xiu saw the locusts in front of Yang Nong, he couldn't help but joke.

"The so-called locust god is just the fool's words in the village, where are the locusts worthy of being called gods, and even if there are really any locust gods, the old man is already a person buried in the loess to his neck, where are he still worried about the revenge of the locust god?" Yang Nong couldn't help but smile when he saw Li Xiu coming in.

Two years have passed, Yang Nong is older than when he was just in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, the wrinkles on his face are piled up with wrinkles, his body is thinner, and his back is already hunched.

"It seems that Yang Gong, you have also noticed the locust incident, and I also want to ask, do you think it is possible for a locust plague to break out?" Li Xiu's face also became very serious at this time, in fact, he was almost sure that the locust plague was about to break out, but he still wanted to hear Yang Nong's opinion.

"There shouldn't be a locust plague this year...... Li Xiu's heart was immediately relieved when he heard this, but he didn't expect Yang Nong to finish his words, so then he said again, "But if there is still little rain next year, it will almost certainly break out of the locust plague!" ”

"What? Does the locust plague have anything to do with whether it rains or not? Li Xiu also said a little incredulously when he heard Yang Nong's words, his understanding of the locust plague was very limited, and he didn't even know as much as an ancient person like Yang Nong.

"The horse doesn't know, the locust plague is actually connected with the drought, so there is a proverb that 'locusts will be locusts after a long drought', this year's rainfall is relatively small, and the fields are very dry, so this year's harvest is definitely not very good, but what's worse is that the number of locusts will increase greatly under the long-term drought, maybe this year is not on a large scale, but if there is no big snow or rain this winter or next spring, then the locusts will inevitably break out!" At this time, Yang Dui also opened his mouth to explain in detail.

"Locusts will come out of a long drought, so there is such a saying!" Li Xiu nodded thoughtfully when he heard this, he knew some biological knowledge, and knew that the reproduction of some insects would indeed be affected by humidity, it seemed that locusts were one of them, and when the weather was dry and humidity dropped, it was more conducive to the reproduction of locusts, no wonder there were so many locusts this year.

"Li Xiu, in fact, we are also planning to ask you to see if you have a way to prevent and control the locust plague?" At this time, I saw Yang Nong suddenly ask Li Xiu with a solemn face, after all, in their eyes, Li Xiu knew almost everything, as if no problem could be difficult for him, even smallpox could be overcome, maybe there was a way to prevent and control the locust plague.

"Huh? This ......" Li Xiu couldn't help but show a helpless wry smile when he heard this, he knew limited about the locust plague, and he didn't even know as much as Yang Nong, how could there be any way to prevent and control the locust plague?

Seeing Li Xiu's expression, Yang Nong and Yang Dui also showed disappointed looks, in fact, they could guess if they thought about it seriously, Li Xiu didn't even know the cause of the locust plague just now, let alone the method of prevention and control.

"Yang Gong, I really don't have a way, in fact, I came here to find you, and I also want to ask if you have any way?" Li Xiu finally smiled bitterly and said honestly, he really hoped that he knew everything at this time, but unfortunately a person's ability was limited, and there was too much knowledge in this world that was difficult for people to master.

"There's a way!" I saw Yang Nong pondering for a moment at this time and spoke.

"What's the way, Yang Gong, say it quickly!" When Li Xiu heard that there was a way, he couldn't help but show an excited look at the moment.

"The solution is to wait!" Yang Nong replied helplessly and powerlessly at this time.

"Wait? This...... What kind of solution is this? Li Xiu stared at Yang Nong with wide eyes and asked rhetorically, he really didn't expect that Yang Nong's so-called method was to let them wait, didn't he need to let them do anything?

"Horses, for the possible locust plague, we do only have the method of 'waiting', the reason why the locust plague can be formed, the main reason is that the weather is drought, resulting in locust outbreaks and natural disasters, but this year is about to be harvested, followed by a cold winter, but there is no need to worry about the outbreak of locust plagues, if there are a few heavy snows this winter, or a few heavy rains next spring, the number of locusts will be greatly reduced, and there is no need to worry about the outbreak of locust plagues!" Yang Dui explained again at this time.

"Can we just wait for God to snow or rain and do nothing ourselves?" Li Xiu is still a little unwilling, he has always thought that it is better to ask for others than for himself, and as for betting all his hopes on God, it makes him feel unreliable, so he must do something!

"Actually, there is an impossible way to do it, which is to drain all the rivers and dry all the fish in the rivers to death!" At this moment, Yang Dui next to him suddenly proposed a somewhat whimsical method.

"What do you mean, what do locusts have to do with fish?" Li Xiu was confused, and he really couldn't figure out what Yang Dui's words had to do with locusts?

"Don't you know, don't you know, locusts are made of fish eggs, and when there is a drought, there is less water in the river, and there are not too many fish, so the fish eggs in the water will become locusts and climb ashore to eat all the crops in the world!" Yang Dui explained with a natural face at this time, but his pseudoscience really made Li Xiu unconvinced.

"Who told you that locusts are made of fish eggs, and that locusts themselves can lay eggs, okay?" Li Xiu couldn't help but look at Yang Dui with an incredulous look at him at this time, and even wondered if Yang Dui's brain was wrong, otherwise how could there be such a strange statement?

"Li Xiu, are you mistaken, the ancients said that locusts are mutualized, of course, some people say that locusts are transformed by shrimp eggs, but no matter which way you say, locusts should come from water, otherwise why are locust plagues easy to break out in droughts?" As soon as Li Xiu's words fell, Yang Nong also said with a serious face, looking at his appearance, he shouldn't be joking.

"Yang Gong, do you also believe in this nonsense?" Li Xiu's eyes widened even more in surprise at this time, in his impression, Yang Nong had always been a very wise elder, and such statements as this kind of mutual transformation of fish and locusts should not come from his words.

In fact, what Li Xiu didn't know was that the mutualization of locusts was indeed a saying passed down from generation to generation in the Central Plains, not only ordinary people believed it, but even experienced agricultural officials like Yang Nong believed that it was not that they were superstitious, but that the era in which they lived limited their cognition of things, which led to the absurd statement of locust mutualization.

"It's not that I believe it, it's an old thing, almost everyone knows it, do you have a different opinion?" Yang Nong also stared at Li Xiu with a puzzled face at this time and asked rhetorically, if someone else said so, he would definitely scoff at it, but Li Xiu's erudition was famous, so he asked.

"Of course, there are different opinions, fish and locusts are originally two different species, how can they be mutualized, fish eggs are even more unlikely to become locusts, locusts themselves will also lay eggs, although it is not easy to see in ordinary times, but you can still find it if you look carefully!" Li Xiu said a little excitedly at this time, he really didn't expect that the brains of the ancients would be so big, and even different species could be related.

"You're not kidding, don't you, I've never seen a locust egg look like when I'm so big?" Yang Dui still couldn't believe it at this time, although he usually learned a lot of things from Li Xiu, but the concept of locust mutualization has always been deeply rooted in his mind, so it is difficult to change it for a while.

"Of course it's true, if you don't believe me, I'll take you to find some locust eggs!" Li Xiu immediately stood up and said, facts speak louder than words, and he also saw that Yang Nong and Yang Dui had a deep misunderstanding of locusts, so it was definitely not enough to just talk about it, and it was better to take them to see it with their own eyes to completely dispel their suspicions.

Yang Nong and Yang Dui were also very interested in Li Xiu's new statement, and they both stood up at the moment, and when they left the room, Li Xiu found a small shovel in the Ministry of Agriculture, and then took the two of them out of the Yamen of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Although Li Xiu didn't know much about locust plagues, he did have some understanding of the habits of locusts, after all, he had eaten a lot of locusts in his previous life, and he knew that this thing liked to lay its eggs on sunny soil slopes, and the less vegetation on the soil slopes, the more locusts liked it.

Li Xiu soon found a bare soil slope in the field, carefully observed the soil, and soon found some traces of insect activity, immediately shoveled off the soil on the surface, and dug a small hole at once, and then expanded the hole with his hands, immediately revealing the long rows of insect eggs inside, just like rice grains, but longer than ordinary rice, a bit like the long fragrant rice produced in Southeast Asia.

"See, this is the eggs of locusts, they like to lay their eggs in the soil, so that they can survive the winter safely, and when the weather warms up next year, the eggs will hatch locusts!" Li Xiu said and turned over the soil a few times at will, but he couldn't help frowning, because he found that with a shovel in his hand, a lot of insect eggs were turned out, which shows that this year's locusts are so large in number of eggs, if they are really allowed to hatch next year, I am afraid it will really be a big locust plague!