In March, Lian Po commanded 50,000 Zhao troops to the south and approached Pengcheng of Chu.

This war marked the official opposite of Zhao and Chu as allies, and the situation in the world changed from Qin and Zhao to Zhao and Chu.

Along the way, the Zhao army was not hindered in any way, and after seeing the Zhao army, the cities along the way turned against each other to welcome the Zhao army into the city.

The land of Huaisi suffered a drought, the people were displaced, and the people were in urgent need of being overwhelmed, and the Chu State did not transfer food for disaster relief, but took the opportunity to attack other countries, and the Chu people were full of resentment for a long time.

In addition, most of Huaisi has not been included in the Chu State for a long time, and there is no centripetal force for the Chu State, let alone resisting the Zhao army.

A very small number of officials arranged by the Chu State could not influence the general trend.

In mid-March, Lian Po rushed outside Pengcheng, and Pengcheng County ordered the city gate to be opened and the seal surrendered.

After entering the city, Lian Po immediately ordered the opening of the warehouse to release grain, and at the same time sent a letter to Handan, asking Lin Xiangru to bring a large amount of grain and grass to relieve the local people.

When the surrounding counties heard the news, they sent envoys one after another, asking for a return to the Zhao State, and a large number of victims poured in from all directions.

Cai Ze personally rushed from Handan to Pengcheng to take charge of the relief of the victims.

"After so many years of fighting, the old man has never encountered such a situation." Lian Po looked at the letters from the four county magistrates he had just received, and he didn't know what to say.

This battle was fought too smoothly, until the capture of Pengcheng, the Zhao army did not experience any major battles, did not lose a single person, and the smooth operation made Lian Po a little unbelievable.

The surrounding counties and towns have asked to return to Zhao, and in just ten days, most of the counties north of Pengcheng have sent people to send letters of surrender, which means that after receiving the news that Pengcheng was captured by the Zhao army, they almost did not hesitate and decided to surrender.

"I never thought that my Zhao State would have such prestige in the Chu State." Cai Ze smiled and said, "How does General Lian Po plan to march next?"

"Just now Handan sent news that the State of Chu has sent troops to support, and it was originally planned to garrison Pengcheng and wait for the arrival of the Chu army." Lian Po said.

Pengcheng is well located, it is one of the few large cities around it that is suitable for defense, and Zhao can transport grain from Tao County to Pengcheng through two rivers, Shengou and Surabaya.

On the contrary, Chen Ying, the capital of Chu State, although it is relatively close to Pengcheng, cannot take the waterway, and can only transport grain by land, and the loss of grain and grass far exceeds that of Zhao State.

There is another point that Lian Po didn't expect before, the people of Pengcheng actually support Zhao Guo very much, maybe it is because Zhao Guo is relieving them, but no matter what, Zhao Guo has a certain popular foundation in Pengcheng, so there is no need to worry about civil strife.

As long as there is no civil strife, Lian Po has no worries, even if the Chu State comes with the strength of the whole country, he has the confidence to be invincible.

While Lian Po was waiting for the Chu army, a new disaster appeared in the Central Plains and quickly spread to all sides.

"Great King, there is a plague of locusts in the central part of Wei." On this day, Zhao Kuo had just finished his busy day, and before he had time to rest, Liu Ping rushed over.

If it was in the past, he would definitely let Zhao Kuo rest for a while before reporting the news, but this time the matter was too serious.

Look at the locusts of locusts, it is the emperor of insects and emperors, and you can see how afraid everyone is of this thing.

"Locusts will come out of a long drought, locusts will come out of a long drought, the widow should have thought of it a long time ago." Zhao Kuo said with great annoyance, "Where has the locust plague spread now?"

"The south bank of Jishui has appeared, but it has not yet formed a scale. But in three to five days at most, a massive locust plague will form." Liu Ping said.

At noon the next day, the sun hung high in the sky, the sun sprinkled warmly on his body, and everyone lined up in a long line under the organization of Zhao Jun, waiting for the rice porridge to boil.

At this moment, a black oppressive thing rushed from the sky in the distance, instantly covering the entire sky, covering the sky and the sun, and I don't know how many there are.

After seeing the people, the locusts frantically pounced on the people, grabbing them with their teeth and claws.

There is a long drought, and it is not only people who are hungry, but also these locusts.

Drought is promoted

It makes it easier for the eggs to hatch, but the Central Plains has been dry for so long, where is there any grass and trees for them to eat, and the locusts that have been hungry for so long have long gone crazy, where do they care about what is in front of them, as long as they look at it, they will pounce on it, tear it, and bite it.

"Locusts!"

The people were so frightened that they threw their bowls on the ground and pounced on the locusts with all their might.

The child hid in the arms of the adult and shivered.

Some old people sat on the ground in despair, since ancient times, locusts have been invincible, only when they have eaten everything and fly away, as for where they fly, no one knows.

But all the places that have been plagued by locusts have suffered.

Zhao Jun brandished his weapon and slashed at the locusts hard, countless locusts were cut to the ground, but more locusts pounced, no matter how desperately Zhao Jun tried, the locusts killed were not even one in ten thousand.

Who would have thought that the Zhao army, who was invincible on the battlefield, had nothing to do in the face of the little locusts.

Some old people rushed up and hugged Zhao Jun and prevented them from cutting and killing locusts, saying that this kind of doing *** angered the sky and brought greater disasters, and was ordered by Zhao Kuo to pull away.

Liu Ping looked at the overwhelming locusts in a daze, this was not the first time he had experienced a locust plague, but such a big locust plague was the first time he had seen it.

At this time, several soldiers quickly rushed over from a distance.

"Great King, Xinling-kun/Wangzhujun/Neishi/Dupingjun's letter." The soldier said quickly.

Zhao Kuo opened the letter and looked at it, sighed deeply, clenched the hilt of the sword in his right hand, and finally put it down helplessly: "Locust plagues have broken out in many places in Wei and Korea, and some places are even more serious than ours."

"Xinling-kun, do they have any suggestions for dealing with locusts?" Liu Ping asked.

"Nope." Zhao Kuo shook his head, in front of the locust plague, all the top ministers, all the top generals, as if they had lost their abilities, were left to sit and wait to die.

"The locust plague must be solved, and it must be solved as soon as possible, otherwise it will spread to the territory of my Zhao Kingdom in ten days at most, and the consequences will be unimaginable." Zhao Kuo said in a deep voice. "Liu Ping."

"The minister is here." Liu Ping said solemnly.

Everyone's eyes were focused on Zhao Kuo, not knowing what order Zhao Kuo was going to give.

"Pass the order, from today onwards, I, Zhao Guo, will buy locusts in unlimited quantities. One bucket of rice or wheat for each bucket of locusts, one bucket of corn for every two buckets of locusts, and one bucket of polished rice or flour for every three buckets of locusts. Unlimited, as many as you want. If you don't want food, you can exchange it for the corresponding copper coins. By the way, give orders to all localities, and after receiving the order, each person's daily share of porridge will be halved, and if you want to be full, you will go and catch locusts in exchange." Zhao Kuo ordered.

If money can make the devil grind, he doesn't believe that under the impetus of money, just locusts can still turn against the sky. Han and Wei combined millions of people, together with their efforts, as many locusts as they wanted, they could be caught.

However, in order to prevent everyone from doing their best, and also to save some food, Zhao Kuo still ordered that everyone's share of porridge be halved.

「

Within five days, wherever the locust plague occurred, all counties and counties were to set up exchange points, and the kings of Wei and Han were to order cooperation. To the north of the river, where there has not yet been a locust plague, exchange points should also be set up to prevent the locust plague from spreading there. At the same time, tell Sangkook...... The amount of grain and grass that has been brought in will be increased by another fifty percent." Zhao Kuo said again.

The locust plague as a whole spread from south to north, and as long as it was controlled in the territory of Wei, it would not spread to Zhao. As long as it does not spread to Zhao and ensures the grain production of Zhao State, even if the drought in Han and Wei continues for a while, Zhao Kuo will have enough food to rescue them.

On the contrary, if Zhao was plagued by locusts and there was not enough food and grass, then he could only abandon the Wei and Han people and protect the Zhao people.

"The King...... If this is the case, the grain and grass that my Zhao Kingdom has accumulated with great difficulty in the past two years will be emptied." Liu Ping reminded.

"Use up the food, the grain and grass were originally in case of emergency, since there is a disaster, it is natural to use the grain and grass to save the emergency." Zhao Kuo said.

"Then the minister sent a letter to Xiangguo." Liu Ping was just about to leave, when he suddenly thought of something, "By the way, King,

What to do with the locusts that are collected?"

"Transported back to Handan or the barracks, fried in oil, and fed to the soldiers and workers, as well as the widows and courtiers." Zhao Kuo waved his hand.

Although this kind of social locust is poisonous, it is not poisonous after being fried in oil, and it is fragrant and crispy, making it a good appetizer.

Anyway, it's also good meat and can't be wasted.

Ordinary people have no oil at home, and there is no way to fry locusts, but it is not a problem for Zhao Guo at all, whether it is soybean oil or lard, it is very good, but due to the production, it cannot be popularized, and it can only be used by officials and the army.

Under the encouragement of money, everyone immediately came to the spirit, and in their eyes, locusts are no longer natural disasters, no longer the emperor of insects, but grains of grain, copper coins, are the guarantee of their full food.

Some old people kept saying that these locusts were sent by God to punish everyone, and they should be sent away, not culled, otherwise they would anger God.

But those parents who have children don't care about this, nothing is more important than living, in order to feed their children, in order to get food, even if they anger God.

The next day, Zhao Kuo held a ceremony by the Yellow River to worship the heavens, telling the heavens that the people killed the locusts were all due to his own order, and if there was any guilt, he would bear all the responsibility, and no one else would have anything to do with it.

The people were more moved and more relieved.

In their hearts, Zhao Kuo is the Son of Heaven, and since Zhao Kuo has decided to take all the responsibility, they naturally don't have to worry about the wrath of the heavens.

Children are the most active in catching locusts, they are not as awe-inspiring as the elderly, and they are so active that they can't stop all day long, and they catch a large number of locusts every day.

A large number of locusts were transported to Handan and the army, and at first everyone did not dare to eat this kind of thing, but after receiving Zhao Kuo's order, everyone ate it without hesitation.

They believed that Zhao Kuo would not lie to them.

"Don't tell me, this thing is delicious." Lian Po tasted it, his eyes lit up, and he said in surprise.

"The king still has a way, and the locust plague that made people smell bad in the past has been solved in this way. Now it's the turn of the locusts to tremble." Cai Ze took a pair of chopsticks and locusts and said with a smile.

"Hahaha, the smell has been wafting in the barracks for the past few days, and the Chu army outside is crying." Lian Po laughed, he had been staying in the city for the past few days, no matter how the Chu army outside the city shouted, he remained motionless and let the Chu army abuse.

He had seen Zhao Jun scold Qin Jun, it was really a scolding of the eighteenth generation of his ancestors, and some famous sayings and aphorisms were taught to the soldiers by Zhao Kuo himself.

In contrast, Chu Jun scolded too pediatrics. Lian Po moved a bench and sat on the head of the city and listened for a long time, and his face did not change.

"Yesterday, the King of Wei and the King of Han sent envoys to Handan to urge the general." Cai Ze said.

"Don't worry about them, Chu General Xiang Yan is young and vigorous, he will be hung for a few more days, and then fight with him when he can't wait." Lian Po picked up the teacup and took a sip, feeling that there was no taste of wine, so he reluctantly put it down.

When he went on the expedition, it was forbidden to drink, even the coach was no exception, Lian Po was the main general, although no one could control him, but he still suppressed the greed in his heart.

"Then I will first congratulate the general on his victory over the Chu army." Cai Ze raised his teacup and said.

Outside the city, Xiang Yan sat in the camp with a sad face, feeling a little helpless.

He was quite different from Lian Po of Youzai, and the order of the king of Chu was for him to defeat the Zhao army as soon as possible and regain the lost territory.

To this end, the state of Chu sent 150,000 troops to him, three times the number of Zhao's army, which also gave Xiang Yan some self-confidence.

Who would have thought that Lian Po would not fight with him at all, in desperation, he could only let the Chu army scold Lian Po in front of the battle, and even he himself stepped forward to scold, what a coward, a gut general, and the mother maid also scolded again.

No matter how he insulted Lian Po, Lian Po's face did not change at all, and even Zhao Jun's face remained as usual.

Xiang Yan couldn't understand how Lian Po, a famous general in the world who had been famous for a long time, could endure these swear words.

What he didn't know was that Lian Po had heard it

There are a lot more swear words than he has.

Zhao Jun's swear words were passed down by King Zhao himself.

Compared with Zhao Wang, who is proficient in C language, Xiang Yan is not at the same level at all. He tried his best to come up with scolding words, but he was only the most inconspicuous existence in Zhao Kuo's huge vocabulary.

How could the well-informed Lian Po be moved by this.

Xiang Yan also thought of stirring up the civil strife in the rear of the Zhao army through the people in the city, but the people in the city did not cooperate with them at all, and not to mention the personnel they sent to contact, they also signed up to defend the city one after another, resisting the Chu army outside the city, and choking Xiang Yan's anger.

For the common people, whether they were nobles or commoners, it was the Zhao army that gave them food and saved their lives during the famine, not the Chu army.

Now that the famine is not over, there are locust plagues in other places, and everyone's food still has to count on the Zhao army, if the Chu army drives the Zhao army away, they have no one to help, how can they survive?

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