Time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it had been several months since the rest of the country was destroyed.

During this period of time, with the support of a large number of slaves from the rest of the country, the various projects of the Han Dynasty were done very quickly. In particular, the construction of roads and the digging of canals, two large users of labor, have a slow progress because they have sufficient labor.

Listening to the progress of various projects, Liu Hongna was quite satisfied. With so many large projects started at the same time, not only the progress is fast, but it also does not disturb the people, and Liu Hong has no reason to be dissatisfied.

Think of Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Yang of Sui, both of whom are quite wise and martial. If it weren't for their desperate efforts to build the Great Wall and the other to dig canals, his country would not have died so easily. But look at Liu Hong again, he is also doing these big projects, but he uses foreigners, and his own people not only do not object, but they are all applauding.

In the blink of an eye, it was June, and the situation reports from various places showed that there was a drought in seven states in Dahan, and where there was a drought, the locust plague had also emerged.

Such a big thing happened, where could Liu Qian still sit still, and he came directly to Liu Hong with the folds.

"My day, just after a bumper harvest year, there was a great drought and locust plague again, why is my life so bitter?!" Liu Hong had a headache and asked, "Uncle Huang, there is a major drought in seven states, and it is also accompanied by a locust plague, what are the arrangements of your government affairs yuan?" ”

"Your Majesty, as for the drought, we thought that where there is a river, we can let the local government set up a waterwheel to divert water for irrigation. As for the places where there are no rivers, we mobilize the people to dig wells and irrigate them with well water. As for the cost of digging wells, our imperial court can consider a part of the subsidy. As for the locust plague, he can only call on the people to catch it, and as for the effect, Weichen doesn't dare to think about it. ”

"Why?" Liu Hong is very strange, this is not Liu Qian's character.

"When there is a great drought in the world, the water level of the river and the well will be lowered, so it is hard to say what the effect of diverting river water and digging wells will be. As for the locust plague, it is even more difficult to deal with, most of the people dare not catch this thing, and would rather watch them eat the crops. ”

Liu Hong pondered, and what Liu Qian said was very reasonable. The world's severe drought will definitely affect rivers and groundwater, and in many places there will be no waterwheels, and many wells will no longer have water.

To solve this problem, rivers with little water can only be used to build reservoirs to store water, and wells can only be dug deeply.

However, the amount of work is many times larger. The amount of work is so large that it is meaningless, but the difficult thing is that he has to hurry up for this matter. Otherwise, even if these things are repaired, this year's crop will be finished. In this case, if the people do it themselves, they will definitely not be able to catch up.

"Uncle Huang, let those projects that are under construction and are not in a hurry stop first, free up manpower, and build water conservancy facilities first. Where the river is shallow, build a reservoir, and where there is no river, dig a deep well. ”

"Okay." Regarding Liu Hong's arrangement, Liu Qian agreed quite happily. In fact, he himself wanted to arrange it like this, but don't look at him as the prime minister, he really doesn't have the right to stop those projects under construction, this is what Liu Hong can say.

As for the locust plague, Liu Hong dealt with this thing when he was not yet the emperor, and he was no stranger to it. When there is no benefit, the people may not dare to grasp it. But as long as there are benefits, the people don't care so much, not to mention locusts, even the emperor, and they will definitely catch it.

The locust plague has just emerged, and there is no need to be too anxious to clean it up, and the top priority now is to solve the drought first.

Liu Hong gave an order, and many projects were suspended first, freeing up a large number of slaves to build water conservancy facilities. But now that time is tight and the task is heavy, even with a large number of slaves, there is still a large shortage of labor.

Seeing this situation, Liu Hong was anxious and asked Huang Zhong and Huang Gai to give an order, asking them to exterminate Shanyue Barbarians as soon as possible.

Without Liu Hong's urging, both of them were already in a hurry. After all, the Northeast Army, which started later than them, has completely wiped out the Fuyu Kingdom. And they haven't completely wiped out Shanyue for so long, and they are all blushing a little.

However, the terrain of the mountains and barbarians cannot be compared with the terrain of the rest of the country. One is on the plains, and they have nowhere to hide. The other is in the mountainous area, and it is difficult to find it, which has caused such a big gap.

But now that Liu Hong is urging, Huang Zhong and Huang Gai are both desperate, capturing Shanyue Barbarians all over the mountains and wilderness, and then sending those captured prisoners to the hands of the imperial court, and then arranging for them to be reformed through labor to help the people build water conservancy facilities.

The construction of water conservancy facilities is busy, and Liu Hong has also begun to make arrangements for the locust plague.

With previous experience, things are not difficult to do. Liu Hong first informed his ecological breeding factories to go all out to buy locusts, whether it was money or food, to attract the people, and to catch locusts with all their might.

Liu Hong is not as good as before, at that time he was a small ecological farm, and there was limited movement. But now it's different. Liu Hong's farms and breeding bases are all over the Han Dynasty, and they work together to buy locusts, and the impact is too great.

Now the whole Han is in an uproar, discussing whether the locusts can be caught. Seeing that the people were discussing, Liu Hong immediately launched the newspaper and began to publicize.

In the newspaper, Liu Hong was directly taken out as an example. Don't they all say that locusts can't be caught, you look at our emperor, when he was very young, he organized the villagers to catch locusts, not only did he not receive any punishment, but he became the emperor. Therefore, the people can rest assured that they can catch locusts boldly.

The power of example is endless. Originally, it was difficult for the people to resist the temptation of interests, but now there is Liu Hong's example to persuade me that a big operation to capture locusts was officially staged in Dahan.

Water conservancy facilities, once built, are permanent facilities, and they can also be used in the event of a drought in the future. But the locust plague is different, once or twice the locust plague, he opened up to buy locusts, so it doesn't matter, even if it is a little wasteful, it can be regarded as doing a good deed. But they happen quite frequently, and he can't let his farm open up for locusts as soon as there is a locust plague.

In order to solve this problem permanently, Liu Hong opened up artificial hatching of poultry. Let those who can afford it open hatcheries and sell poultry seedlings in large quantities, so that the people have enough poultry, and naturally a large number of locusts will be consumed.

This method alone is not very safe, Liu Hong asked his restaurant to make every effort to develop dishes with locusts as the main ingredient. According to the successful experience of later generations, as long as a species can be on the dinner table, if the state does not protect it, it will not be far from extinction.