As soon as Yang Xuangui's words fell, he heard Uncle Hua shouting: "Look! ”

Zhang Bao'er raised his eyes and saw that the mountains in the distance were still covered with a layer of clouds and mist, and the locusts had begun to migrate in their direction. For a while, the locusts flew sideways, and the black pressed a large area, flying and whirring.

As the locusts flew by, the locusts in the ground suddenly increased, and they tumbled in the southwest direction like flowing water, forming gray and yellow lumps, wriggling like rolling balls, and stepping on a foot, the locust liquid splashed all over the feet and legs, and the timid people were suddenly frightened. Locusts have an excellent "appetite" and are never picky when eating. In short, wherever the locusts rolled, the ground was immediately white.

Not far from Zhang Bao'er, I saw a woman with two teenagers, running with a bamboo pole to fight locusts, wherever the bamboo pole went, the locusts rose and fell, in the air and on the ground, up and down, and the whole valley was shrouded in locusts. I don't know if the locusts are too hungry, or if they are extraordinarily bold, regardless of the beating, they scream vigorously, and while eating, only listening to the rumbling sound of chewing in the valley, the sound of falling, they have nothing to do, and they look worriedly at the green seedlings crawling with locusts.

"Let's go, go up and help!" As she spoke, Zhang Baoer rushed forward.

After working for a long time, the woman invited Zhang Baoer and others to rest at home, and when she returned home, the woman lifted the lid of the pot, and the locusts went to the soup and put themselves in the stove. The "locust army" not only gnawed away the household utensils, but also gnawed the god of wealth, the family hall, and the stove painting shaft to the hole, and the wooden ancestral box was also full, making people panic and at a loss.

When Zhang Baoer and his entourage entered Chenliu County, it was already evening. They did not live in a post house in the county seat, but in an inn.

After dinner, Zhang Baoer was chatting with Yang Xuangui about the locust extermination, when there was a knock on the door.

When I opened the door, I saw Uncle Hua leading two people into the house.

"Master!" One of them, as soon as he entered the house, he saluted Zhang Baoer.

"It's Li San! Are you in charge of exterminating locusts in Chenliu? Zhang Bao'er recognized at a glance that the person in front of him was Li San, the leader of those child slaves in Qixingzhuang.

"Yes, master!"

"Chen Liuxian ordered Zheng Huaren to meet Lord Qincha!" The other person also gave a salute to Zhang Bao'er.

Zheng Huaren and Zhang Baoer exchanged a few polite words, and then got up to say goodbye.

"Li San, tell me about the situation of locust extermination!" Zhang Baoer asked.

"When we first came, the people saw that the locusts were eating the seedlings, but they did not dare to catch them, and the seedlings were all gone wherever the locusts passed. Seeing that there were so many locusts that there were so many that the people were afraid, they thought that this was the blame from heaven. The villagers beat gongs and drums to worship the 'grasshopper master', praying that they can leave some last life-saving rations under their mouths. 'Grasshopper Master' really left something to eat, and that is mung beans. ”

"Why is that?" Zhang Baoer was puzzled.

"Locusts eat everything, but not mung beans!"

Zhang Baoer suddenly realized.

"The master taught us the method of exterminating locusts is very effective, especially lighting locusts in the middle of the night, the effect is particularly good, digging deep trenches, lighting fires in the trenches at night, sprinkling medicine into the fire, locusts come when they see the light, and the effect of concentrating manpower to kill is very good."

"What about the day?"

"During the day, we mainly rely on manpower to kill locusts, and tens of thousands of people have to face tens of millions of locusts, and the result of a day of fighting is often that the number of locusts has not decreased, and the crops have been eaten, and the locusts spread their wings and fly away from this place to the next field, leaving only a field full of locust eggs."

Zhang Bao'er lowered her head and pondered.

"We have also come up with a lot of ideas, and we have asked all villages to set up sentry posts to observe and closely monitor them. When they found that the locusts were coming, they waited with their tools. Concentrate manpower, divide points and pieces, hold high red flags or strips of cloth of various colors, wave them in the air, and the big drums and gongs cooperate with the beating and beating, resulting in a noisy situation of red flags and gongs, and the locusts dare not land. If the locusts have already landed, they should go all out and fight together with brooms and other tools, and the best effect is when the locusts cannot fly in the morning when there is dew. Sometimes, if you can find out where the locusts are entrenched, dig a deep ditch, and if there is a water source, you can release water into the ditch, drive the locusts into the ditch and drown, and if there is no water, fill the ditch with firewood and grass, and set fire to death. ”

Zhang Baoer remembered the scene when she helped the woman drive away locusts during the day, and felt that the use of bamboo poles was not effective, so she asked again: "What do you use to catch locusts?" ”

Li Sandao: "Tie the bamboo branches into a broom-shape, widen the sweeping surface, and lengthen the handle, so that a strong beating tool is ready." ”

Zhang Bao'er instructed Uncle Hua: "Let Yang Sihu ask someone to draw and shape the tools that Li San said, and send officials to distribute the drawings to various counties for imitation, and there must be no mistakes." ”

"Uncle! I'll arrange it! Uncle Hua said yes and turned around and left.

"Li San, do you still have any difficulties here?" Zhang Baoer asked again.

Li San thought for a while and said, "The locust treatment potion brought by the merchant is very effective, but the amount is too small!" Can you give out more? ”

"Is this potion really good?" Zhang Baoer was pleasantly surprised.

The locust treatment potion that Li San mentioned was found by Zhang Baoer when he asked Hua Yunfeng and Song Xuecheng to consult ancient books.

"Yes, just set up a cauldron on the edge of the field to boil the medicine, and when the medicine has cooled, take the basin with one hand and dip the medicine with a sorghum broom with the other hand and spray it on the corn leaves. Not to mention, this locust cure potion is really a big deal, as long as the corn that has been sprinkled with the potion has never been eaten by locusts. Instead, one by one, the locusts died in the cornfields. ”

In fact, the locust cure potion is very simple, made with mandala, heavenly fairy, aconitum aconitum, poison hemlock, hyacinth and other multi-flavored herbs. The point is that the demand is too great to raise for the time being.

Zhang Bao'er said: "I will try my best to arrange for the merchant to transport it for you, but it mainly depends on manpower, and the locust plague is not completely eradicated, so we can't relax for a moment." ”

On the second day, Zhang Baoer went to the branch of the Cen firm in Chenliu. Chen Liu's semicolon was not set up in the city, but a few wooden houses were temporarily built on the outskirts of the city. It was very lively, and many people turned in locusts here.

"How much can this locust sell for?" Zhang Bao'er asked a man who had come to hand over the locusts.

"Locusts are ten taels of silver, locusts are more expensive, five taels of silver!" The man said with a smile.

Originally, the locust plague came, and everyone thought they were going to be unlucky, but who knew that this Cen business actually bought a large number of locusts, and the locusts all over the mountains and fields became silver, which caused hundreds of people to start hunting locusts one after another, and even the people who had no land in the city put down their work and participated in this locust hunting army.

"A pound and a penny, it's still quite cost-effective!" Zhang Bao'er asked casually: "What does this Cen family firm do when it collects locusts?" ”