Chapter 132 The Locust Plague Appears, Everyone Worry About Me Laughing Alone
Ever since he was hit by Xi Zhicai once, Zhu Han has completely learned his lesson and no longer thinks about what is there and what is not. Every day he is either studying his sand table or wandering around the city to see various projects under construction.
Workshop to learn about the latest progress and plan tasks for the next stage.
Time always flies by when we are busy, and in the blink of an eye, we have reached the time point of late spring and early summer.
The hot weather makes people less enthusiastic about work, and the construction speed of workshops throughout Jingxian County has also been slowed down.
On this day, Zhu Han took Dian Wei, Xi Zhicai and several guards to Zhangshui in the west of Jingxian County to check the drought situation.
The huge Zhangshui River is now close to drying up.
Seeing such a scene, Zhu Han felt a mixture of emotions.
"Zhicai, how many days has it been since Tianqian?"
Zhu Han squatted down, grabbed a handful of sand beside the river, felt the dry and moist feeling, and asked.
"It's been half a month! If it doesn't rain, the crops in the fields will wither!" Xi Zhicai wiped the sweat from his face and carefully replied: "During this period, various villages have begun to appear.
Villagers are robbing water sources! Not long ago, two villages fought over uneven distribution of water sources, resulting in several deaths and injuries!"
"Alas! Leave it to Ma Yuan to deal with it! Where is the well? Didn't I ask you to dig a well? Why does this happen again?"
Zhu Han was a little angry. He jumped directly to the river bed, and when the water submerged his feet, he suddenly felt a sense of crisis.
"My subordinates have asked Tingfeng Pavilion to handle it. According to the current progress, the yamen has drilled three wells in each village, but... there are too many monks and too little rice! Sir, you are the county magistrate who took over from August last year.
We have been digging wells since the beginning of the month, and now seven months have passed. It is not easy to dig so many wells that can produce water!"
Xi Zhicai saw Zhu Han sitting there talking without pain in his back, and complained directly: "It's just that we have too few masters in drilling wells, and many wells can't produce water! It's a waste of labor and time."
"Forget it, send an order to Zhang Liao and ask him to arrange soldiers to guard every reservoir outside the city. We must manage these waters in a unified way and not let the people mess around, otherwise we won't be able to survive the autumn!"
Zhu Han looked up at the cloudless sky and ordered.
"promise!"
Xi Zhicai quickly took the order.
"Dian Wei, give me your hand and pull me up!"
After Zhu Han was pulled up, he looked around and saw that everyone had a sad look on his face. He smiled and said: "Look, the water in Zhangzhou has dried up, which is the perfect time for us to build dams and canals! So,
Ah, we can't just think of the worst in everything!"
"Zhicai, please quickly organize people to survey the terrain and issue a report on dam construction and canal excavation as soon as possible. The content must be detailed, preferably down to how many meters can be excavated every day, how many people can be employed, and how many stones can be used for food!
Then we will meet up to study and study. This matter cannot be delayed and must be resolved as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will be blind when we encounter the Heavenly Stem! This year will be like this. We will send more people to go among the people to boost the morale of the people.
Send me all the people who can be sent out, cooperate with the people in watering the crops, and reduce the death of the crops as much as possible! If anyone dares to give me a pick at this juncture and show his temper! Just leave the Yamen and never do it again.
Accepted!"
After Zhu Han thought for a while, he told Xi Zhicai: "This is our top priority and must be treated with caution. Whether the people can have enough to eat depends on these few months!"
"As you command!"
Xi Zhicai quickly bowed and accepted the order.
"Let's go! Let's go see the condition of the crops in the fields!"
After a while, Zhu Han and his party came to a piece of cultivated land. They saw some children scooping water with wooden ladles and carefully watering the crops. There were people on the ridge carrying water from a distance. Although
The sun was scorching and they were sweating profusely, but after the people picked up the water, they took the empty buckets and continued to fill them without any hesitation.
Zhu Han walked up to an old farmer and asked with a familiar smile: "Old man! I see that all the crops in the field are gone. Are you afraid that you won't survive?"
The old farmer was scooping water for the children by the ridge. Suddenly he heard a sound and was startled. He turned around and saw Zhu Han and others dressed in extraordinary clothes. He quickly replied: "Little old man, come back."
Sir, the crops in this field are still alive and may not wither!"
"Oh? Why?"
Zhu Han didn't mind being dirty, so he sat down on the ground and asked.
"This is all thanks to our county magistrate! If he hadn't dug wells and reservoirs in advance, these crops would have withered away!"
Seeing that Zhu Han was easy to talk to, the old farmer relaxed and replied.
"But I heard that there aren't many wells! How can we satisfy so much land? In the end, some crops will wither!"
After Zhu Han greeted the old farmer to sit down, he saw that the old farmer's lips were chapped. He quickly asked Dian Wei to get a water bag and handed it to the old farmer. He said with a smile: "Old man, there is some wine in this. You can drink some to moisten your throat and relieve your pain."
Relieve fatigue!"
"I don't dare to ask for it, I don't dare to ask for it! Please take it back, sir! Just drink some water from the bottom of the bucket to quench your thirst later!"
The old farmer didn't dare to answer, so he quickly waved his hand and replied.
"Take it! It's just a bag of wine, not worth a few bucks!"
After Zhu Han forced the water bag into the old farmer's hand, he pointed at the children who were watering the fields and asked: "Isn't the county magistrate planning to set up a school? Have these children signed up? Listen.
You said you don’t want any money yet?”
"Yes, we are lucky to have such a county magistrate who sincerely cares about the people. Our children have all signed up, but I heard from people at the school that they have to wait until September to study. They are here
If we have nothing to do at home, we have nothing to do, so just let them follow us to the fields and do something."
The old farmer opened the water bag and carefully took a sip. His eyes suddenly opened wide and he said in surprise: "This wine is so delicious!"
"If it tastes good, just take it!"
Seeing that the old farmer wanted to return the water bag to him, Zhu Han immediately smiled and said.
"This can't be done! The little old man drank your wine, young master, and it can be regarded as taking advantage of you. Young master wants to ask anything, but it doesn't matter. The young master will definitely tell the young master everything he knows. But this wine, little old man
You really can’t accept it! You can’t do this in front of your children and grandchildren, lest these babies look at you!”
The old farmer put the water bag next to Zhu Han and replied.
"Old man, what's your name?"
Such an old farmer actually knew each other in this way. Zhu Han suddenly wanted to make friends. He picked up the water bag and handed it to Dian Wei and asked with a smile.
"My little old man's surname is Liu, and his name is Tree. Master, just call me Lao Liutou!"
Old Liu Tou said with a simple smile.
"Old Liutou, do you think we can survive this time of Heavenly Stem?"
Zhu Han asked after silently writing down the name.
"Disaster!"
Old Liu Tou sighed, as if he couldn't bear it, but he still replied truthfully.
"Although there is not much water, it can save many crops. Why can't we survive?"
Zhu Han wondered.
"Young master, you don't know something. Today's drought and floods may not necessarily destroy the crops. In previous years, we people would find ways to carry water from far away to irrigate. It is a bit difficult, but it can still save the crops.
Come on, now our county has drilled so many water wells. Although it is a bit tiring to carry water from a distance, it can still ensure that the crops will not wither. What the little old man said is the locust plague after the severe drought!"
Old Liu Tou's eyes were full of fear, and even his speech became trembling.
"Locust plague?"
Xi Zhicai was shocked when he heard this. During this period of time, he always felt that he had overlooked something, but he could not remember it. Now after hearing what Old Liu Tou said, he realized that he had missed something crucial.
Important questions.
"locust?"
Zhu Han asked with a frown.
"That's right! Not long after a severe drought every year, the locust plague will come. By then, the land will be so overwhelming that we can't even fight them all. Wherever they go, not even a blade of grass will grow!"
Xi Zhicai replied with an ugly expression.
"Is there any good way to prevent it?"
Although Zhu Han has never seen a locust plague, he has seen scenes of locust invasion on TV.
"We have no choice. We can only wait until the locust plague is over, count the losses, and then the government will release grain so that the people can save food, and maybe they can survive the next autumn harvest!"
Xi Zhicai was secretly annoyed and replied bitterly.
"Don't you use some nets to catch locusts? Those are good things!"
As Zhu Han listened, he began to get greedy unkindly.
"What's the use of catching them? Besides, it won't take long for the locusts to die on their own. They die just as quickly as they come! Together with the locust plague, it's overwhelming. Every time there are tens or millions of locusts, let alone crops.
I'm afraid even people will have to be chewed clean. Over the years, whenever there is a locust plague, the people can only consider themselves unlucky and hide at home until the locust plague has passed before they dare to go out."
Xi Zhicai replied with a wry smile.
"Are you saying that no one has ever taken the initiative to catch locusts?"
Zhu Han was amused by Xi Zhicai's words and replied angrily: "They are just bugs. If you are afraid, you can wear thick clothes!"
"Sir, have you never seen the horror of locust plague? They are everywhere on the ground, covering the mountains and plains, flying into the sky and blocking out the sun, and they can really bite people. Locusts have eaten people before. So, as long as the locust plague comes,
, we ordinary people can only stay at home and take shelter until the locust plague is over before we can go out."
Old Liu Tou said with lingering fear: "Old man, I have seen many locust plagues in my life. Sometimes there are tens of thousands, and sometimes there are hundreds of thousands or even millions. They are so densely packed, let alone people, even if they are
Large cattle will also be attacked by them. Old man, I have personally seen people and livestock bitten by locusts."
"Old man, have you ever seen anyone bitten to death?"
Zhu Han's scalp was numb when he heard that hundreds of locusts could give him goosebumps, let alone hundreds of thousands of locusts. Just thinking about it, he felt that locusts could eat people.
Eighty-nine times it's true.
But that kind of bug should be like an ant. If you don't mess with it, it usually won't attack humans. Even if it crawls onto humans, their first thought should be how to get away.
"I have never seen the old man, but I have only heard from people of the older generation, and those who have been bitten by locusts, the wounds are not serious. As long as you quickly get something to drive them away, or light a torch, the locusts will usually avoid them.
.”
Old Liu Tou explained.
"Business is here, business is here, Zhicai, hurry up and ask the people in the clothing workshop to work overtime to get to the net bag. It's the kind you need to catch fish with a stick. The hole in the net should be as small as possible. Make it the size of a sack."
That’s it, the opening needs to be folded and sewn up so that the rope can be threaded. When the locusts come, we will catch the insects.”
Zhu Han rubbed his hands and swallowed his saliva before ordering.
It stands to reason that locusts are about the same size as grasshoppers. Although they have wings, they cannot fly high and can only jump. In his previous life, he had eaten fried locusts. They tasted similar to grasshoppers and were crispy and fragrant.
Crisp and fragrant, not only that, the nutritional value of locusts is much higher than that of grasshoppers.
"Sir, are you planning to use a net to catch locusts? Why are you catching them?"
After Xi Zhicai heard this, he raised his eyebrows and asked.
"What else can we do? Eat!"
Zhu Han rolled his eyes and replied matter-of-factly.