Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 754: Smoke and Fire

Hualei was also surprised. Locusts? Locusts would devour the fields in large numbers, causing serious damage to crops, which could lead to a locust plague.

In the past, locusts also existed, and in some areas, locust plagues were still a problem. However, due to the development of technology, people have been able to better control and prevent locust plagues.

For example, the number and damage of locusts can be effectively reduced by spraying pesticides from aircraft and changing the ecological environment of farmland.

But if a locust plague occurs here, it will be troublesome. There are no pesticides or helicopters to spray here.

Wan Tongpan and Feng Shuangxi, who were following behind him, also had serious expressions. As local officials, they had encountered locust plagues before.

You know, locusts are very heat-resistant. They can lay eggs in dry land. The high temperature caused by drought not only does not kill them, but also helps their growth and development.

If there are only a few locusts, it is not a problem. But if there are a lot of locusts and they gather together, it will cause a locust plague. The fields where the locusts fly over are in ruins.

"Master Feng, take a few people to have a careful look to see if there are any locust larvae in our fields. It seems to me that these locusts flew in from somewhere else."

Feng Shuangxi and his men walked away quickly, squatting down from time to time to carefully inspect the fields under their feet. Half an hour later, Feng Shuangxi ran to Hua Lei and said.

“Sir, we haven’t found any locust larvae in this field yet, but I’ll still have my men expand the area and continue checking.

There aren't that many of these flying locusts. They should have come from the neighboring Xining Prefecture, where they were blown away by the smoke. Sir, we must take preventive measures." Feng Shuangxi's voice was a little anxious.

"Has a similar problem happened here before? How did you prevent it?" Hua Lei was also a little anxious. There were no pesticides here, and she didn't seem to know how to prevent the locust plague.

"Use fire, use smoke, sir, pile straw between the fields. When there are many locusts, the smoke and fire can drive away some and burn some to death." Judge Wan Tong was also anxious.

"Okay, then we'll use this method. Issue a notice and ask the people to prepare more straw and guard their own fields in units of villages. All the yamen runners in the government office will guard the official fields." Hua Lei nodded.

"Do you have a net bag? If you do, it should be able to catch part of it, right?" Rong Jin asked Feng Shuangxi on the side.

"We need to go to the warehouse to check the net bag. It was used a few years ago. I wonder if it can still be used now?" Feng Shuangxi replied.

“Send someone to inform all the officials below to lead the people to do their utmost to prevent and kill the locusts, which will surely save more crops.

The provincial capital below has also sent people down, husband, the guards are fast, you should send a few more guards out." Hua Lei said, looking at the locusts in the air.

Rong Jin nodded, and Feng Shuangxi and a few others hurried to the warehouse to look for nets for catching locusts. Fortunately, after searching the warehouse for a long time, they found quite a few nets, but unfortunately some of them had holes in them.

"Ziyun, go to my warehouse and see if there is any linen. If so, take some out and make some cloth bags imitating these net bags." Hua Lei instructed Ziyun beside her.

"Let the people look for things they can use at home. Also, prepare some rice straw and wheat straw."

As the notice went out, in the next few days, the people of Xichang Prefecture, both adults and children, were wandering around the fields, holding either net bags or cloth bags in their hands.

Two people worked together, holding up a net bag, trying their best to catch the locusts close to the crops. Many people also made torches out of straw and waved them in the air.

The locusts in the air were lit by the torches, and some were turned into ashes, while others had their wings broken and fell to the ground.

Some were crushed to death by running children. Some were driven away by the smoke. However, soon after, the flying locusts were attacked again by cloth bags, net bags, and torches.

In this way, all the people worked day and night, guarding the fields in the village in groups, constantly killing, burning, and fumigating. After about ten days of hard work, the locusts in the air slowly disappeared.

Looking at the slightly damaged fields, Hualei breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, fortunately, there was no major damage. However, the straw ash left over from burning straw in the fields would occasionally blind Hualei's eyes.

So, these few days, Hua Lei has been taking Mu Li out, but after walking around the fields, the straw dust all over his head and body is still too much to look at.

However, compared to the crops that were saved, these were minor problems. There was no major loss in Xichang Prefecture, but the prefect next door, Cheng, was in tears.

The crop yields in several prefectures under the jurisdiction of Xining Prefecture were extremely low due to drought.

Now, the locusts have bitten us again. We can’t say that all crops have been lost, but only one out of ten has survived, which is a huge loss.

This year, not only will Xining Prefecture be unable to collect tax grain, but the people may not even be able to afford food and clothing, and will need the court to issue grain as disaster relief.

As for Xi'an Prefecture to the northeast of Xichang Prefecture, perhaps because Xichang Prefecture's locust culling was very effective, not many locusts flew to Xi'an Prefecture.

Therefore, only Anren Prefecture, which is adjacent to Xichang Prefecture, was troubled by locusts, while the other prefectures were basically unaffected. Prefect Bao stood by the cornfield, smiling happily.

Because of the drought and the sudden locust plague, Prefect Cheng's apology letter flew to Emperor Shengwu's study at the fastest speed, ten days later. Emperor Shengwu's face looked a little dark.

Five days later, the memorials from Hua Lei and Prefect Bao also reached Emperor Shengwu. After reading the memorials from Xichang and Xi'an, Emperor Shengwu's tense face relaxed a little.

Thus, a series of orders were issued one by one. In Xining Prefecture, the people affected by the disaster this year were exempted from paying the autumn tax.

As prefect, Cheng was negligent in his work and poor in management, so he was fined one year’s salary. Several local officials under him were fined half a year’s salary.

Xi'an Prefecture, Bao Zhifu, did not do anything good or wrong during the locust plague, and received no reward or punishment. However, he was diligent in his work and worked for the benefit of the people.

He actively promoted corn planting in Xi'an Prefecture and was verbally commended by Emperor Shengwu. If the corn harvest was good, he would be rewarded again.

Xichang Prefecture, Hua Zhifu, actively responded to the locust plague incident, handled it properly, and saved the people from the plague. He was rewarded with 100 taels of silver, and the following people who participated in it were rewarded with a certain amount of silver each.

In addition, Xichang Prefecture’s tax grain this year will still be collected twice a year. The court will not collect tax grain for the additional late rice, and all proceeds will belong to the people.