"Mother, that hybrid rice ...... Are you really not afraid of locusts? The little boy said with a sullen face.

"I don't know, I don't know!" The peasant woman, too, had always been dull, shook her head wistfully, and replied weakly.

When the news came, Chu Ze immediately took action.

He is well aware of the seriousness of this locust plague, and if he does not provide timely assistance to those small county towns and peasant households that have been affected, it will inevitably lead to even greater turmoil and humanitarian disasters.

Chu Ze immediately gathered his subordinates and cronies around him and hurriedly discussed countermeasures in the study.

"The locust plague hit the three counties of Dali, Anlong and Changwu under the jurisdiction of Fengyang City, and the damage was reported to be extremely serious." Chu Ze's expression was solemn, and he pressed his hands on the desk and said slowly: "We must quickly come up with relief measures now, otherwise it will definitely lead to a tragedy." ”

"Yes, the prince is wise." Zhao Si beside him had a worried face, and asked eagerly, "I don't know what the prince thinks?" The villain can now send an order down and send someone to carry out disaster relief. ”

"First, immediately ask the imperial court for instructions, so that my Ming can transfer military rations from other provincial cities to support."

Chu Ze pondered for a moment, and ordered with a frown: "In addition, we also have to temporarily open the reserve granary of Fengyang City and take out the reserve grain to support the victims." Li Xing, you start this matter immediately. ”

"No." Li Xing took the order and left, and hurriedly conveyed Chu Ze's edict.

Chu Ze wrote a letter and stated to Zhu Yuanzhang the seriousness of the locust plague.

It is important to request the allocation of surplus grain from other counties to support the disaster-stricken areas, and to explain that the situation is grim and must not be taken lightly.

Since his appointment, he has been committed to promoting the cultivation of insect-resistant hybrid rice. However, the remote small county did not understand this way and failed to adopt it widely, so the disaster was exacerbated, and the minister was really ashamed. I hope that Your Majesty will issue an order to promote it throughout the country in the future, so as to prevent the locust plague from raging and harming the livelihood of the Lebanese people......"

Zhanzhuan narrated the locust plague that was difficult to check and balance, and Chu Ze used sonorous words and sprinkled thousands of words, hoping that Zhu Yuanzhang would attach great importance to it.

It was easy to draft a number of folds, and Chu Ze was satisfied, and he hurriedly sealed the seal and delivered it to the post station.

Chu Ze's recital was sent to the court, and after a while, the royal approval came.

"Hmm...... The locust plague is ferocious, and the people are struggling to make a living. Immediately order the coastal provinces to allocate military rations and distribute irrigation support. And the surplus grain from Zhenyuan, Lianzhou and other places will be transported to Fengyang, and there will be no shortage of them. I have a loss in dealing with this injury, and the day after tomorrow I should send an envoy to the front to supervise the battle, and I am anxious to calm down. Full of deep worry, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression was solemn and abnormal.

As a generation of Ming monarchs, he should uphold the purpose of benevolence and love for the people, and cannot let the locust plague continue to ruthlessly ravage the people.

When an edict was handed down, it seemed that he had the ability to calm the sea and calm the turbulent waves.

Subsequently, the army in the coastal area received an order from the imperial court and immediately took action to mobilize grain stocks to help the disaster area.

At the same time, farmers in Zhenyuan, Lianzhou and other places who had harvested a lot also transported all the surplus grain to Fengyang City under the call of the official.

The convoy was like a flowing supply line, injected into the hardest-hit area.

In Fengyang City, under the personal command of Chu Ze, a large amount of reserve grain in the granary had already been taken out and urgently transported to the disaster area to those displaced victims.

"Mother...... We're going to starve to death......" The victims of the brigade were trapped in the square of a village.

The once abundant crops were swept away by the locusts, and the family was left with only clothes and grass.

The children were crying out in pity, and the babies had been crying for days without milk.

The poor people were plagued by locusts, and a great calamity was coming, and the people were gloomy.

At this time, several fast horses suddenly came from afar, causing a commotion.

"It's from the official family!" Someone shouted loudly.

The leader was Li Xing, who took the lead, followed by several scouts, and the bright red official robes shone in the sun.

"Don't be discouraged, folks!" Li Xing raised his voice and shouted: "I will come to the disaster relief on the order of the prince, don't give up, wait for the rescue with peace of mind, and we will tide over the difficulties together!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the whistle of the train came from afar, and people followed the sound to see a steam locomotive slowly driving into the field of vision in the distance, causing a burst of exclamations.

"Good fellow, this is the first time I've seen such a big monster!" "Hey, don't underestimate it, it's said that this guy is infinitely powerful and can replace thousands of troops!"

Food was unloaded from the train cars and distributed to the hungry refugees.

Chu Ze used the fastest speed to deliver the rations to the disaster area in a steady stream.

Although the urgent disaster relief work has been launched, Chu Ze understands in his heart that this is only an expedient measure, and after stabilizing the situation, he must find a way to fundamentally solve the problem of locust plague.

Although this disaster only affected a few small counties under the jurisdiction of Fengyang, if the locusts were allowed to spread wildly, it would inevitably bring even greater disasters.

Chu Ze sat alone in the study, with an ancient book with an old cover in front of him, flipping through the dense small characters on it.

This book records the various methods of dealing with locust plagues in the past dynasties, and although there is no systematic scientific plan, it also gives Chu Ze a lot of inspiration.

"Farmers have used medicine to expel locusts since ancient times..."Chu Ze muttered to himself, his brows gradually relaxed: "Learning from the wisdom of the ancients is one thing, but with the blessing of modern scientific knowledge, wouldn't it be more efficient to create special pesticides to kill insects?" ”

Chu Ze came to the window and looked out.

The sky was full of sunshine, the twilight was four, and Li Xing and Zhao Si, who had been running all day long, were hurrying back from outside the city.

"You've come just in time." Chu Ze beckoned to stop the two of them, and said with a solemn expression: "I already have an idea, and I plan to personally develop a poison to deal with locusts. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Si eagerly asked, "This is really good news!" It would be better to deal with such a scourge as locusts if there were good tactics to deal with them. It's just that I don't know what the prince thinks? ”

Chu Ze exhaled slowly, put his hands together in front of his abdomen, and explained solemnly: "According to legend, in the Song Dynasty or beyond, the imperial court once developed a poison to deal with insect plagues. Although it is no longer possible to consult the specific recipe of that year, the general pharmacological effect and production principle are still documented......"

After some detailed explanations, Li Xing and Zhao Si had a preliminary understanding of this modern insecticide.

It's just that this research is a difficult task from scratch, and I'm afraid it will take a lot of twists and turns to make a breakthrough, right? “

"That's right, it's easy to develop an insecticide from scratch." Chu Ze nodded and said, "But this is also an attempt, even if it fails in the end, you can accumulate experience from it." I'm going to secretly set up a small alchemy workshop in the south study and try it quietly, so you two can help me personally. (End of chapter)

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