Soon, there was the latest news again.

After leaving Hexi Province, the locust army headed east and entered Dongshan Province.

Li Qiao also set up a chicken and duck defense line at the junction of Yuanhe Province and Dongshan Province, and he asked the people of Qiu'an Province and Zhouyang Province to raise chickens and ducks, saying that he would open a duck goods shop and a fried chicken shop in Weiqing County.

This line of defense was established for a short time, and the people in these two prefectures who raised chickens and ducks were not as many as those in Hexi Prefecture, but they were not few.

The measures taken by the officials of these two provinces were similar to those of officials in other places, so when the locust army passed through these two provinces, it was also consumed.

When the army of locusts in Wufu in Xishan Province first rose, there were so many locusts that they covered the sky and the sun, and the inner and outer layers were pressed on the plants, and goosebumps rose for those who watched.

However, after this attrition, when the locust army left Qiu'an Mansion and Zhouyang Mansion, it had already turned from a once-in-a-decade locust plague into an ordinary locust plague.

The army of locusts cannot cover the sun when it flies again, and when it falls on grass and crops, although it can bend the leaves, the thickness is only three or four fingers thick.

A large part of the reason why the locust plague was successfully eradicated this time was that the locust army had been consumed, and there were few new locusts along the way.

There are many ponds in Hexi Province, and there is no innate condition for locust eggs to hatch, so Qiu'an Province already has a lot of water, otherwise the Grand Canal would not flow through Weiqing County.

In addition, Li Qian put 50,000 acres of cultivated land in Qiu An Mansion, where Li Gu has been hiring people to repair rivers and dig ditches, so Qiu An Mansion is not conducive to the hatching of locust eggs.

As for what will happen after the rest of the locust army rushes into Dongshan Province, it depends on the report from Dongshan Province.

Before the governor of Ming took office, he took drought control as the focus of his work, and immediately after taking office, he immediately inspected the river situation in the province, Daze Province and the original river province are adjacent to each other, when the Grand Canal set the route, it almost could not flow through Weiqing County, because the British wanted to let the Grand Canal bypass Weiqing County and go to Daze Province.

Daze Mansion is adjacent to Yuanshan Mansion, Yuanshan Mansion is the hometown of the British Duke, these two mansions are under the control of the Lu family, and there have been many lives because of the underground gambling house.

After the end of the British government, Zhao Cun personally went to the two provinces to uproot the power of the Lu family in the two provinces, and after the governor of Ming took office, he also came to the two provinces to investigate.

One is to see the situation of these two prefectures, and the other is that Daze Province is adjacent to Yuanhe Province and adjacent to Weiqing County, the wharf of Li Qiao.

When the Grand Canal is opened in the future, Weiqing County will inevitably be developed into a large wharf by Li Qiao, and the passenger flow is huge, so the Ming Governor attaches great importance to Daze Mansion.

Although it is two provinces, who will make the two places adjacent, Daze Mansion may be able to touch the light of Weiqing County at that time.

With this purpose in mind, the Ming governor first formulated a plan for the construction of water conservancy in these two prefectures.

The Governor of Ming personally stared at it, and the river repair and trenching projects in Daze Mansion and Yuanshan Mansion were very smooth.

Moreover, the governor of Ming had long known about the locust plague, and when the army of locusts rushed into Yuanhe Province, he was worried that it would spread to Dongshan Province, so he personally went to Daze Province.

There is no chicken and duck defense line in Daze Province, but there is a lot of water and no drought, so the army of locusts in Daze Province has not increased, only consumed.

The governor of the Ming Dynasty requisitioned a group of people from the capital, and also set a bonus out of his own pocket.

Under the supervision of the Ming Governor, the army of locusts was wiped out a lot in Daze Mansion, and the locust swarm could no longer be continued, and was divided into small waves.

This kind of small wave of locusts can only be caught slowly by manpower.

Fortunately, Dongshan Province is not a drought this year, and if there are no new locusts to join, then this small wave of locusts will not be able to become a climate.

Locusts have a short lifespan and either die naturally or are exterminated by the people.

At this point, the locust plague that affected the three provinces was over.

After Sheng Hong received the report from the Governor of Ming, his mood that had been gloomy for almost two months finally cleared up.

Judging from the reports received during this period, the damage caused by this huge locust plague was actually within his bearing.

What a miracle!

*

The author has something to say:

Judging from the conditions of ancient times, it is impossible to destroy the locust plague, but this article is overhead, and the frame is particularly empty, so the treasures will be my nonsense, watch it, don't be more serious~

Chapter 227: Aftermath, Trivialities Have Compensation

It's almost the end of August.

The Mid-Autumn Festival has passed, and the temperature has dropped a lot.

Shengjing was not affected by this locust plague, and the autumn harvest in Shengjing has begun.

On this day, Wang Guihua came back from Zhuangzi and brought back not only some peanuts with soil, but also a basket of freshly caught grasshoppers.

Recently, Li Xiaorui, Li Changfeng, and Li Yunfan like to listen to the elders of the family talk about the experience of the Li family when they did not make a fortune in the past, and they also want to experience it.

Autumn harvest in the field, this kind of work is too tiring, Li Qiao Taozhu Wang Osmanthus is reluctant to let them be tired, and they are not allowed to work in the field.

But it's okay to bring back some fresh crops from the Zhuangzi and eat them the same way they used to.

For example, peanuts, these freshly plucked peanuts are washed and marinated in a pot, and they taste much better than dried peanuts.

There are also roasted sweet potatoes, build a small earthen stove, first roast the sweet potatoes on the small earthen stove half-cooked, and then smash the whole small earthen stove, cover it tightly with soil, so that the stewed sweet potatoes are also delicious.

As for grasshoppers, in the past, how could the Li family have the conditions to make fried grasshoppers, and after catching them, they were strung together and thrown into the fire, and the aroma of the meat wafted out after a little burning.

This rough way of eating, judging from the Li family's current taste, is not delicious enough.

But Li Xiaorui, Li Changfeng, and Li Yunfan, the three little guys who are used to eating exquisite food, like it very much, and find this kind of hands-on experience very interesting.

Moreover, there was a steady stream of letters from Heijo, and every one of them was related to the locust plague, so the interest of the three little ones in grasshoppers never disappeared.

From time to time, Wang Guihua brought back some local products from Zhuangzi.

Li Xiaorui saw that his grandmother had brought back a lot of grasshoppers for him and his two little uncles, and immediately ran to the kitchen door to light a fire.

The grasshopper is still roasted and eaten more fragrant, and it is original.

Children playing with fire are prone to accidents, and Tao Zhu came back early today, so he moved a small bench to sit at the kitchen door and guard them.

So far, the Shantang side has received a total of less than 70,000 taels of silver.

According to the principle of proximity, the silver can be used to buy grain in the neighboring prefectures and counties of the affected areas, which can save a lot of transportation costs.

He only needs to count the donations, and the specific operation is in charge of the head of the charity hall arranged by Sheng Hong, so he is not very busy these days.

Sometimes I can go to my own village with Wang Guihua to keep an eye on the autumn harvest.

Li Xiaorui was also sitting on the small bench, he was holding a small wooden stick in one hand, and grasshoppers were running on the small wooden stick with the other, and his mouth was also busy: "Alas, it would be good if I were in Sanliu Village at that time, so that I could also kill." ”

"Even if I want to kill locusts without blinking."

Li Changfeng's two fleshy little hands were also stringing grasshoppers, and when he mentioned this locust plague, his white and tender face was full of regret.

"Although Brother Xiaobao is two months older than us, his strength is definitely not as great as ours, if we take a broom to sweep the locusts, at the end of the day, the harvest of locusts will definitely be more than Brother Xiaobao."

Li Yunfan said, he actually sighed with a small mouth, and his fleshy face was puffed into a small bun by his small action.

Obviously, he regretted not being able to show his skills in this locust plague.

Tao Zhu's eyes turned around the two of them, a little helpless: "This is not a good thing, didn't you Aunt Chuntao say that the locusts hit Xiaobao's eyes, making Xiaobao uncomfortably shed several tears." ”

In this locust extermination operation in Sanliu Village, Li Chuntao and Zhang Tiansheng's eldest son, Zhang Xiaobao, was very brave, although he was only more than five years old, he also picked up a small broom to sweep the locusts on the ground, so as to sweep the locusts into the sack.

This kind of work is actually risky for children, Zhang Xiaobao didn't pay attention to it, and was scratched by the locust.

But the three little guys ignored the danger, and only remembered that Zhang Xiaobao could catch locusts, and they regretted that they could not personally participate in the extermination of locusts every day for the past few days.

"Daddy, if I fight with Yunfan Ruirui, I will definitely protect myself."

Li Changfeng pursed his mouth as he spoke, and sighed: "If only we could fly, where there is a locust plague, we can fly all at once." ”

Although he knew that the locust plague was not a good thing, he really wanted to participate in the scene described by Aunt Chun Tao in the letter.

Because in addition to the locusts when they came, everyone worked together to catch the locusts, and afterwards everyone was still boiling the locusts, drying the locusts, and grinding the locusts.

That sounds like a lot of fun!

"You should still focus on roasting grasshoppers, don't talk about this kind of thing when you go out in the future, the locust plague is better to be completely exterminated."

Tao Zhu's tone was a little stern.

Recently, the saint has been in a bad mood, and these three little guys must not say words like "If only there was a locust plague in the capital".

Otherwise, even if Li Qian Jian is in the emperor's heart, there will be a small pimple in the heart of the saint.

"Don't worry, Daddy, we won't talk nonsense, we just want to kill locusts."

Li Changfeng said and threw a string of grasshoppers into the fire.

Then his bright eyes kept staring at the grasshopper strings, and his little hand grabbed a burning stick, the locusts are easy to cook, you must pay attention to the heat, otherwise it will be burned all at once.

"That's it, Uncle Dazhong's grandfather caught more than 5,000 catties of locusts alone, which is too powerful."

Li Xiaorui was amazed, and also threw the skewered locusts into the small fire.

"If it's replaced by Daddy, Daddy may be able to catch 10,000 catties of locusts."

Li Yunfan's big eyes were crooked and sparkling, and he looked at Tao Zhu: "Daddy, did you say?!" ”

Although I don't know how many locusts there are in 10,000 catties, his father is so powerful, he will definitely be able to double the number of catties of Uncle Dazhong!

“…… No, your father can't catch it, the reason why your uncle can catch so many locusts is because someone helps. ”

Tao Zhu shook his head.

When the locusts attacked, he took a large broom made of bamboo with a diameter of one meter wide and went to his field, followed by the coachman, the servant, and the rough wife of the white grapefruit.

Li Dazhong swept his sweet potato seedlings with a big broom, and a locust pile appeared on the ground.

Three of his helpers hurriedly packed the locust pile into sacks.

In this way, the four of them took a small rest except for drinking water and eating steamed buns, and the rest of the time was to catch locusts all the time.

From dawn to midnight, more than 5,000 catties of locusts were caught.

There are many strong laborers like Li Dazhong, such as Zheng Qianqian's two elder brothers Zheng Qi, Zheng Guang, and Wang Xiuying, although they are women, they have the same strength as men, and they are also good at catching locusts.

The half-grown children in the private school stopped class, even if they were covered with cloth towels, they were screaming and waving their brooms to catch locusts.

In addition to the Tao Shu family in Sanliu Village, each family has thousands of taels of savings, and they have been rich for ten years and have not suffered hardships, so this locust plague is more interesting than harmful for the young children and half-grown children in Sanliu Village.

So after Li Xiaorui, Li Changfeng, and Li Yunfan read the steady stream of letters from Pingcheng, they also felt that it was fun to catch locusts.

This kind of cognitive difference between adults and children, Tao Zhu wants to try his best to break it back.

It's not fun, the locust plague is not fun at all.

Who has the most to lose from this locust plague?