Tian Fan asked Tian Yi and Tian Er's two bodyguards to follow and sent Mi Zhen to the carriage.

Seeing that Mi Zhen was worried about herself, Tian Fan took her hand and said with a forced smile: "Zhen'er, I'm fine, I'm just worried about ......" Mi Zhen held Tian Fan's hand with her backhand, patted it gently, and said: "Brother Tian Fan, it's okay, I will help you no matter what!" Tian Fan looked at this sensible girl, and was really emotional, she was less than fifteen years old, and she was still in junior high school in the next generation. nodded, patted Mi Zhen's hand, and sent her away.

Tian Fan rushed to Tao Qian's mansion with two bodyguards, and the three of them did not wait for Menzi to report, and directly followed Menzi into the courtyard. When Menzi saw that this was an urgent matter, he hurriedly went to report the news.

Not long after entering the door, I saw the potter and Tao Yingying come out. After seeing the ceremony, the three of them rushed in together.

The potter and Tao Ying saw Tian Fan's gloomy face, and the potter asked, "Brother Tian, is there something wrong?" Tian Fan said: "It's not sure yet, I'm just skeptical." By the way, why didn't the two brothers go out? Tian Fan knew that the two people, the potter and Tao Ying, couldn't stay at home, and often went out for a day. Tao Ying shook his head a little helplessly and said, "It's not that Liu Xuande is here, our father won't let us go out, saying that he wants to accompany the guests." Tian Fan Yileng, "Huh? Xuande Gong is here? What is he here for? The potter replied, "Isn't my father sick, he'll come and see." Tian Fan was a little excited, after all, the person he was going to see was the lord he planned to take refuge in the future!

The three of them arrived at the Taofu meeting room while talking, and Tian Fan dressed up before walking in. I saw a few people in the room, an old man sitting on the main seat, dressed in a scribe's uniform, full of gray hair, and a gray beard, that is Tao Qian, Tian Fan has seen it before, and he is not a stranger. There is a person sitting in the guest seat, with a white face, big ears, and long hands, this must be Liu Xuande! Seeing Tian Fan looking over, he smiled and nodded. There were two people standing behind him, one was nine feet tall, with a beard two feet long, red phoenix eyes, lying silkworm eyebrows, a face like a heavy jujube, lips like grease, dignified appearance, and majestic. I saw that this person was armed, holding a sword in his left hand and his waist with his right hand. Don't ask, you can know that it is Guan Yu Guan Yunchang who is! Seeing Tian Fan looking at him, he ignored it, squinting his eyes and raising his head as usual. But when I saw Tian Yi and Tian Er, my eyes opened slightly! The other person has a swallow-jawed tiger beard, a leopard's head and eyes, is eight feet five inches tall, and is also dressed in a samurai suit, holding a sword in his left hand and crossing his waist with his right hand. Seeing Tian Liang looking at him, he nodded with a smile and nodded in greeting. Who is this man? Well, it must be Zhang Fei!

According to the pottery merchant, after several people greeted each other, Tao Qian asked, "Tian Fan, what are you looking for me?" He had already heard from Menzi that Tian Fan came to him, not Tao Ying, a potter, as usual, so he asked.

Tian Fan said with a little hesitation: "Envoy, I'...... Hmm, last winter was a warm winter, huh...... It's been unusually hot this year, and it hasn't rained yet, so I'd like to say ......"

A loud thunderous roar interrupted Tian Fan's words, "It's really hard for you to speak, big man, just say whatever you want?" "This is Zhang Fei.

A gentle but majestic voice said, "Third brother, shut up!" Let's listen to Mr. Tian! Zhang Fei muttered: "Originally, the old man's ......" Liu Bei glared at him, and the guy immediately closed his mouth.

Liu Bei said to Tian Fan: "Mr. Tian, my third brother is a rough man, I apologize to you on his behalf!" ”

Tian Fan hurriedly replied: "Xuande Gong doesn't have to be like this, the three generals are quick to talk, and they can't stand me talking like this." After that, he continued the topic just now: "Tao Yuanjun, what I want to say is that this year, there may be a locust plague in Xuzhou!" ”

This sentence exploded in the ears of these people like thunder! The people in the hall were a little surprised, Liu Bei's smiling face suddenly lost his smile, Guan Yu's squinting eyes suddenly opened, a cold light shot towards Tian Fan, Zhang Fei's big mouth opened in surprise, and his eyes widened like bull's eyes. The cup in Tao Qian's hand fell to the ground with a clatter, he stood up stiffly, and pointed at Tian Fan with a trembling hand, "Tian Fan, can this be taken seriously?!" Even the two gentlemen, the potter and Tao Ying, widened their eyes and looked at Tian Fan with a shocked expression. …,

Modern people may not have an intuitive sense of locust plague, you must know that it was in ancient times, and people's fear of locust plague is no less than that of floods or droughts, or even excessive. Floods and droughts can severely reduce food production and kill a large number of people, and then epidemics, many more people. The most terrifying thing about locusts is that wherever they pass, there is no grass left, no grain is produced, and even tree bark is left, which will cause extremely serious damage to productivity, and then lead to a large number of deaths.

If a locust plague occurs in modern times, the most effective way is to spray pesticides to exterminate locusts at the early stage, that is, the larval stage when the locusts have not yet flown up.

As for the ancient ...... In ancient China, there was not much understanding of locusts, so there was a saying of "locust god", and there was also a saying of "locust (shrimp) mutualization", such as: Lu Dian's "Pi Ya" in the Song Dynasty: "Or locusts are transformed by fish eggs". Pan Zimu's "Chronicle of the Deep Sea": "Locusts turned into fish and shrimp". Li Fang's "Taiping Yulan" "Shrimp Gate" recorded: "Locusts flew into the sea and turned into fish and shrimp. Li Su's "Seeing Things" recorded: "When the drought dries up, the fish and shrimp turn into locusts, so there are many fish and trillion years." ”

In the face of the locust plague, the working people of ancient China had no choice but to wait for death. And Tian Fan said that there would be a plague of locusts, how could this not surprise everyone in the hall?

Liu Bei hurriedly helped Tao Qian, turned his head and asked Tian Fan: "Mr. Tian, you said that there will be a locust plague, is this true?" ”

Tian Fan hurriedly said: "Tao Envoy Jun, Xuande Gong, I'm just speculating. If you want to confirm it, you have to go to Tanaka! ”

Tao Qian hurriedly said, "Then what are you waiting for?" He turned his head to the potter Tao Ying and said, "Rebel, don't go and tell the car to be prepared!" The two brothers hurriedly agreed.

After a while, the next person reported that the carriage and horses were ready, Tao Qian waved his hand and went out first. So, Tao Qian's father and son, Liu Guanzhang, Tian Fan and two loyal servants, as well as Tao Qian and Liu Bei's personal soldiers, accompanied by a group of more than 50 people.

Along the official road in the east of Xiapi City, after everyone walked for about ten miles, Tian Fan said to Tao Qian and Liu Bei: "Envoy, Xuande Gong, we have to find a place where the ground is hard and the vegetation is less exposed to direct sunlight. ”

Tao Qian and Liu Bei, according to Tian Fan's words, instructed their soldiers to disperse to find this kind of place.

It didn't take long for a pro-soldier to reply that they had been found, and a group of people arrived at the specific address together. Everyone looked at Tian Fan, and Tian Fan looked at the environment here, this is the sunny side of a small hill, there is not much vegetation, he nodded with satisfaction, and ordered those pro-soldiers: "Turn over the land!" The pro-soldiers looked at Tao Qian and Liu Bei respectively, and after seeing the two nodding their heads, the pro-soldiers began to move.

When the soil was turned over, what I saw was dense yellow lumps, some of which had turned into locust larvae. Tian Fan secretly exclaimed that he was lucky, fortunately he found it in time, otherwise it would be a big disaster! Everyone was stunned, and then their hearts rose. It seems that there is really a locust plague this year!

Tao Qian hurriedly grabbed Tian Fan and asked eagerly: "Tian Fan, think of a way!" Liu Bei nodded again and again and said, "Yes, Mr. Tian, think of a way!" ”

Tian Fan said: "Envoy, Xuande Gong, now we must first destroy the locusts and locust eggs in this field, otherwise it will not take ten days, these insect eggs will become nymphs......" The two nodded again and again, Tian Fan saw that they agreed, and hurriedly shouted to all the soldiers: "Soldiers, everyone hurry up and destroy locusts!" The yellow stuff is the egg mass of the locust, and it is to be crushed! ”

The pro-soldiers did not wait for Tao Qian and Liu Bei to command, and began to move, and then everyone also began to move. Tian Fan saw that these people were in a mess, and hurriedly divided them into several groups, one group was responsible for turning over the land, and the other group was responsible for following the first group to kill insects. …,

Tao Qian trembled and followed the second group of people to step on the locust eggs, and with each step, he heard the sound of creaking egg masses shattering, or larvae being trampled to death, and after a while, a thick layer was stained on the soles of the shoes. The old man is about to cry, what is this called? I thought that Cao Cao was gone, Liu Bei stayed, and he could live a comfortable life for two days, but he didn't expect that it would be followed by a locust plague! At this moment, how many people will die in Xuzhou?

Tian Fan looked up at this small mountain bag, for these fifty people, it was not a day or two to turn it over, so he said to Tao Qian: "Tao Yuanjun, we have few people and we don't have suitable tools, it's not a way to do this, please ask the villagers in the nearby villages to help!" In addition, please bring all the officials in Xiapi City and let them participate in the extermination of locusts, so that they can learn the methods of exterminating locusts and the terrain where this locust concentrates to lay eggs, so as to spread the experience! ”

Tao Qian nodded deeply and said, "Hey, we are all scared and confused, Tian Fan is still thoughtful, I will ask someone to find tools!" After speaking, Tao Qian ordered a few personal soldiers to pass the order, and Liu Bei also found a personal soldier to notify Xiao Pei's officials to come over to participate.

Liu Bei respects people who have the ability the most, he will not despise anyone, and when you show your ability in front of him, he will give you enough respect. He said to Tian Fan: "Mr. Tian, do you have any other ways to exterminate locusts?" Tian Fan smiled politely and replied: "Xuande Gong praised it falsely, and I just guessed when I found the signs of the locust plague!" As for the other methods of exterminating locusts, we will discuss them in detail when the officials come and destroy the locusts in this place. "Mr. Tian is reasonable, and he is in a hurry!"

After that, the two of them went their separate ways. Liu Bei intentionally stayed with Tian Fan, chatting while doing it, Liu Bei was intentional to accept, Tian Fan was also willing to take refuge, and the more the two chatted, the more speculative they became.

It is only a dozen miles away from Xiapi, and there are several villages nearby. Not long after, the people of several nearby villages and most of the officials in Xiapi City came. Everyone was a little panicked, but fortunately, Tao Qian and Liu Bei pressed the formation, and under the coordination of the two, everyone temporarily put aside their worries about the locust plague and worked hard to finish the work first.