Chapter 55 The Commonality between Locusts and Humans
The old Taoist looked at Ye An as if he were looking at a fool: "Although it is a bit dry now, it is not impossible to grow food. Even if there is a famine, it will only be the farmers who will be unlucky. What about Wang Daguan's Zhuangzi?"
What's the relationship? We can pay taxes in the summer and grow crops in the autumn. What can you do?"
"What if it's a locust plague?"
"Locust plague?!" The old man's hand trembled. The locust plague is more terrifying than floods and droughts. These inconspicuous creatures have great destructive power. The most important thing is that floods and droughts can be saved, but once there is a locust plague,
, there is no way at all, the locusts are flying over, and almost nothing will be left!
Even houses will be bitten by locusts and collapse, but the autumn grain that has just been planted is the target of locusts.
The old Taoist who had experienced the locust plague changed his face. He held Ye An's arm tightly and said, "When the drought is extreme, there are locusts. When the drought is extreme, there are locusts! Although the drought is not extreme right now, how do you know that?"
Ye An shook his head: "Because these locusts did not appear here in Yangcheng County, but flew from farther away. When the drought is extreme, locusts come, but locusts tend to water and like puddles. Locust plagues and droughts go hand in hand. They are caused by drought.
The land moved in droves to low-lying areas prone to waterlogging.”
The old Taoist's face became more and more ugly, but Ye An did not stop, but continued: "Right now, Yangcheng County is their route. I just saw migratory locusts in Wang Daguanren Zhuangzi. I guess the locust swarm will not
The arrival is too slow, of course the refugees should have arrived in Yangcheng County soon."
Ye An's words made Xuan Chengzi change his expression, and said coldly: "Did you know about the locust plague and buy such a large amount of grain? This is unkind and unjust, and it is extremely shameful!"
Ye An shrugged his shoulders and said: "What I value is the value of the commodity and the benefits it can bring me. If I can use this food to gain a good reputation, even if I sell it to the Yangcheng County Government Office at a fair price, it will be the same."
OK."
The old Taoist breathed a sigh of relief. What he was most worried about was that Ye An would use his talents and knowledge that he didn't know where to earn to earn this ill-gotten wealth.
Ye An patted Xuan Chengzi on the shoulder: "I never planned to do such an unscrupulous thing from the beginning. If there is a locust plague, I will use this food to gain a good reputation; if not, I will use it to make wine and sell it.
"
Xuanchengzi sighed and said, "You must never tell others this."
Ye An took out a handful of dried rice from the sack and rubbed it in his hands. Soon the fragrance of the grain appeared. He chewed it in his mouth and looked at Xuanchengzi's nervous expression and said, "I won't say that.
Get out, if you hadn’t always felt that I was at a loss, I wouldn’t have told you!”
Xuan Chengzi laughed and scolded: "You bastard with no rules!"
After saying that, like Ye An, he took out a handful of grain from the sack beside him, but what he held was not rice but wheat. He followed Ye An's example and put it in his mouth, chewed it and nodded:
"The farmers on this village are still in good condition. They are dried in the sun and there is no moisture!"
The wheat that has not been ground into flour can be ground directly into flour with the skin to make wheat rice. Looking back, it really reminds Ye An of the Yuqian wheat rice in his childhood. Every bite of it tastes like spring!
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Locusts are extremely tiny creatures with strange habits. Ye An has seen the dangers of locust plagues and understands that these little things are actually timid insects that like to live alone and have limited harm.
But once the density increases and a certain part of the hind legs is touched, the locusts will change their original solitary habits and become more like to live in groups.
Maybe there are just a few locusts at the moment, but in a short time more locusts will appear, until they cover the mountains and fields, overwhelming the sky and forming a storm!
Locusts are very much like humans in this way. When a group of timid and cowardly people are forced to survive by famine or other things and gather together, they have the ability of locusts.
In order to survive, their habits have changed drastically. The weak "creatures" at the bottom of society who were squeezed to the core and would not resist have transformed into the most terrifying existence. They form groups and arm themselves to plunder everything, no matter what they are subjected to.
The suppression will not stop.
People who were once aloof and did not dare to invade will be "eaten" by them. Being honest and responsible, they even have the power to overthrow a dynasty!!
With more and more food, the old Taoist became more and more uneasy. Although he only spent a short time with Ye An, he knew what kind of person Ye An was and would not do such mindless things.
If there is a locust plague, there is really nothing wrong with him hoarding grain and selling it at a price. Grain merchants often do this kind of thing. But if there is no locust plague, what will happen to the hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain here?
He didn't believe that Ye An knew how to make wine. It was a technical job and a winemaker's heirloom, and it was more important than his lifeblood!
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Wang Hao obviously didn't want to owe Ye An anything. He not only gave Ye An all the food from Wangjia Village, but also bought food from surrounding villages to Ye An.
After two days of hard work by the Wang Gang, the grain in the warehouse may be as much as 200,000 kilograms. This amount is enough to be equivalent to the scale of disaster relief.
Xuan Chengzi was very surprised by Wang Hao's "generous deal" and was slightly dissatisfied with Wang Hao's indifference. It seemed that he was trying his best to compensate Ye An, but in fact he just wanted to make the transaction between the two parties equal, but this was not a good thing.
If Wang Hao is looking for trouble in the future, he can naturally use the extra food to evade the incident and speak righteously... After all, Wang Hao doesn't want the Wang family to bear Ye An's favor.
Wang Daguan's village is quite exquisite. It looks rough on the outside, but there is something special inside. Not to mention the garden with the flower hall, even the guest rooms are excellent.
Ye An fell asleep smelling the scent of sandalwood. He had a very peaceful sleep. Ye An actually slept until dawn without having any dreams. Whether in his previous life or in this era, he rarely had such a deep sleep.
Naturally, it was not easy to wander around in other people's houses, so Ye An went out and walked along the river, observing the drought here. In fact, the drought here was not serious, just slightly dry.
The river still flows there with no more or less water, the water line is very obvious, and the dry place is still as high, neither increasing nor decreasing.
This also made Ye An more sure of his previous guess. Of course, he was not a fool. He had planned to exchange for food from the beginning. If there was a locust plague, the food could be exchanged for a lot of wealth. If there was no locust plague, it would not matter. These
Some of the grain can be sold to stop losses, and the rest can be used to make wine. Anyway, the old man has to figure out the brand of wine.
It is not impossible to make your own wine. Before going down the mountain, I had already asked Senior Brother Jingde clearly that Laojunguan can make its own water, which is a "reward" given by the imperial court.