Zhang Bao'er attacked his shield with his spear, leaving Ni Ruoshui speechless.

"Last year, His Majesty sent eunuchs to Jiangnan to collect rare birds and wanted to put them in the Forbidden Garden. When the eunuch goes to the south of the Yangtze River, he will inevitably pass through Bianzhou, and after he arrives, he will also ask for wine and meat, which is extremely high-flying. Seeing that the eunuchs were so presumptuous, Lord Ni sent a message to His Majesty and said that now is the time when the farmers are busy, but His Majesty has let birds be hunted from all over the country to enrich the back garden. These birds were transported from Jiangnan and Lingnan to Chang'an, and I don't know how much manpower and material resources were wasted! Everywhere they went, the messengers also ate meat, and the birds also ate meat, so how bad it was for the common people to see! Everyone will say, Your Majesty, you are a slut and a precious bird! You also said, when will Your Majesty treat the phoenix as a mortal bird and the unicorn as a mortal beast, and the world will be really blessed! Lord Ni's reprimand this time is to ask for the people's life, and has been vigorously commended by His Majesty. It is the people who pay taxes for the country, and it is the people who farm the land, but now, in order not to exterminate the locusts, Lord Ni is ignoring the lives of the people, isn't this dizzy? ”

Zhang Bao'er said that the matter of admonishing His Majesty has always been the thing that Ni Ruoshui is most proud of and the most brilliant. Now, Zhang Baoer uses this incident to ridicule his actions against the extermination of locusts, which makes him very angry, but he cannot refute it.

"When he came, Yao Ge Lao confessed that the local officials who performed well in this locust extermination should be promoted to the imperial court first. Officials who resist the extermination of locusts will not hesitate to be dismissed on the spot. ”

Zhang Baoer's words made Ni Ruoshui shake a lot, and there was a reason for this.

In the second year of Kaiyuan, Li Longji issued a book to select erudite and capable people to serve in the Beijing officials, and awarded the posts of governor and assassin history; Similarly, among the local officials, those with outstanding political achievements are promoted to Beijing officials. As soon as this book was issued, many well-equipped Beijing officials took up their posts, and Ni Ruoshui, who was the right man of Shangshu, was sent to Bianzhou to serve as the assassin because of this book. Shang Shu Youcheng is a fourth-grade official, while Bianzhou Thorn Shi is a third-grade official, which can be regarded as a promotion. However, for a long time, officialdom has had the concept of valuing Beijing officials and ignoring foreign officials, so Ni Ruoshui is still sullen.

When Ni Ruoshui arrived in Bianzhou, it happened that a magistrate named Ban Jing was also transferred from Yangzhou to Chang'an to serve as the Shaoqing of Dali because of this edict. Passing by Bianzhou, Ni Ruoshui gave him a farewell, and his eyes were red with envy. After drinking the farewell wine, seeing Banjing's horse disappear, Ni Ruoshui stood in the dust, motionless, his eyes straightened.

He said to his subordinates: "Ban Sheng is here, how strange is it to become an immortal!" ”

His subordinates persuaded him: "People have gone away, there is a lot of dust here, let's go back." ”

Ni Ruoshui was still reluctant to leave: "Where is this dust, it's clearly fairy dust!" Let me get a little more immortal. ”

Although Ni Ruoshui is reluctant to be a magistrate, he still has talents, and he works very hard in Bianzhou in order to return to Chang'an as soon as possible.

It is precisely because of this that Zhang Baoer will induce Ni Ruoshui earnestly, if he is replaced by someone else, why does he need so much nonsense?

Under Zhang Baoer's coercion and temptation, Ni Ruoshui's attitude finally relaxed. He snorted: "Dingguo Gong, I understand, but now that the extermination of locusts in Bianzhou has been delayed, how can this be good?" ”

Zhang Bao'er waved his hand and said: "This may not be, maybe the locusts will commit suicide, let's go to the city first!" ”

"Locusts kill themselves?" Ni Ruoshui's eyes almost popped out, and he was still waiting to ask carefully, but he saw that Zhang Bao'er had already gotten on his horse and went to the city.

On the second day after arriving in Bianzhou, the entourage sent by Zhang Bao'er also returned.

"Master, the locust extermination envoy arrived in Bianzhou two days ago, and among the six counties under Bianzhou, two county orders that did not cooperate with the locust extermination were dismissed from their posts and were represented by the locust exterminator, and now the locust extermination has begun in all six counties. A total of 13,000 locusts were destroyed in two days. ”

Listening to the report of Zhang Baoer's entourage, Ni Ruoshui was stunned. Three days ago, the locust extermination envoys sent by the imperial court did arrive in Bianzhou, and they asked Ni Ruoshui to cooperate in exterminating locusts, but Ni Ruoshui insisted on waiting for Qin to arrive. Later, the post house officials came to report that these people had left Bianzhou City and were nowhere to be found, and they dared to love these people who had crossed Ni Ruoshui and went directly to the counties to exterminate the locusts.

"Thirteen thousand quintals, yes, it seems that the effect is good." Zhang Baoer nodded with satisfaction.

"Are these locusts really committing suicide?" Ni Ruoshui still didn't believe it.

"Lord Ni doesn't believe it, you can personally send someone to investigate." Zhang Baoer said with a smile.

Another day passed, and the official sent by Ni Ruoshui to investigate returned.

"Lord Thorn Shi, I took someone to Xiaolizhuang outside Bianzhou City to investigate, and I also came back with the dead locusts to report to the lord."

"Oh? How many to bring back? Ni Ruoshui hurriedly asked.

The official said, "My lord, you better go and see for yourself!" ”

Ni Ruoshui hurriedly walked outside to take a look, only to see seven or eight carriages stopped along the road, there were several officials moving baskets down from the carriages, not much effort, there were fifty or sixty baskets on the ground, Ni Ruoshui looked forward, the baskets were full of dead locusts.

The official who went to inquire came over and said, "Please inspect the goods, this is just a locust that Xiao Li Zhuang killed overnight." ”

Ni Ruoshui asked the officer: "Did you see with your own eyes that he killed him overnight?" ”

The official replied, "Yes, my lord, Li Zheng had dozens of fires burned in the ground, and then sprinkled some medicine into the fire, and soon a large swarm of locusts flew in, and some of them flew into the fire and burned to death, and many of them were piled up on the ground and killed with a broom. ”

Ni Ruoshui was convinced, and he sighed: "I didn't expect this locust to really commit suicide." ”

Zhang Bao'er laughed and said: "Actually, it was not suicide, it was a special medicine put in the fire, and the medicine gas floated into the air, luring the locusts to come and throw themselves into the fire and take the opportunity to extinguish it." ”

"In this way, it is not difficult to exterminate locusts." Ni Ruoshui also felt relieved.

"It's not so easy, it's just the beginning!" Zhang Bao'er poured cold water on Ni Ruoshui: "From tomorrow, I will inspect the counties to exterminate locusts, and I ask Ni Tingshi to send me someone who is familiar with the situation." ”

"Dingguo Gong, why don't you go with you!" Ni Ruoshui asked Zhang Baoer for advice.

"You are in Bianzhou, coordinating and supervising the extermination of locusts in various places, counting the disaster situation, and making preparations for disaster relief. You don't have to go down. ”

……

On the cold food festival in the third year of Kaiyuan, on the outskirts of Chenliu County, more than a dozen people looked around with their hands in their hands.

"It seems that the locust plague in Bianzhou is really not light!" Zhang Baoer said to Yang Xuangui beside him with a solemn expression.

Yang Xuangui was a Sihu in Bianzhou to join the army, and because he was familiar with the situation in various parts of Bianzhou, he was sent by Ni Ruoshui to Zhang Baoer as a guide.

"Yes!"