The military competition lasted for ten days. Those who passed were transferred according to their performance. Then each military prince selected troops from the candidate list. Many people chose their old subordinates. This is human nature and there is no need to worry about it.
The selection of soldiers took another ten days, and it was basically completed. Those who were eliminated would naturally not be dismissed directly.
The officials of each county office, the left envoys, the thieves, the servants of Cangcao, and the soldiers of Si Xuan will be the guards of the prisons, the guards of the workshops, the supervisors of the mines, and the patrols of the township pavilions.
, Qiangfu, Xiangzuo, pavilion chief, li chief, leader of the militia, teaching.
There are a lot of gaps.
These people may not be enough.
The previous focus was to expand the army and occupy territory, but now the focus is to control the local area. These people have been around in the army, and their loyalty is still acceptable. They are dispersed according to merit, and Liu Xiang's control of the local area is more stable.
The weather is getting warmer at the end of February, and the retired soldiers will be transferred to various places to take up their posts. The 90,000 yellow scarf old and weak people who stayed in Beixin City and the 10,000 young and strong people who retired before the big competition will also set off. They will move to Guangyang.
Each county in the county divided their fields, and the people in Zhuojun who were not assigned fields would also move to various places to cultivate fields and open up wasteland.
In one month, spring plowing will begin. This winter, not a single snowfall occurred.
This is not a good thing.
If there is no snow, the moisture content for spring plowing will be affected. If the fields are not moist enough, the germination of seeds will be affected, and the yield will be reduced in autumn.
In addition, there will be other hidden dangers, including insect pests and locust plagues. The snow in winter will kill a large part of the insect eggs, and there will be a lot less insect pests in the coming year.
It is said that after a severe drought there will be a locust plague, and a large part of the reason lies in this.
These eggs that are not dead hatch in the spring, eat the seeds and buds, and when they grow up, they form swarms with more and more eggs. When they gather, they will spread all over the sky and eat all the plants in sight.
This is a locust plague. By then, it will be difficult for manpower to stop it.
We have to think of some way. Once the locust plague passes through the country, food production will definitely be cut off, famine will spread all over the land, and people will eat each other.
Every locust plague recorded in history books is full of misery, and every stroke is written about cannibalism.
Some people may be confused, why don’t we eat locusts? There is a misunderstanding here. Locusts can be eaten in ordinary times, not only by modern people, but also by ancient people.
But when locusts swarm to form a locust plague, they will secrete a volatile compound called phenylacetonitrile, which acts as an olfactory warning signal to make their natural enemies strongly repellent. When attacked, they will immediately convert phenylacetonitrile into
The highly toxic compound hydrocyanic acid.
This is the reason why when locusts gather in large numbers, their natural enemies do not like to eat locusts. At this time, not only animals but also humans cannot eat locusts.
The ancients didn't understand this truth. They thought that they could eat it in normal times but not during locust plagues. It must be caused by gods and ghosts.
So there is the legend of the locust god. The locust plague is the gods punishing the world. When people eat locusts, the gods will be angry, punish them, and get sick. The medical conditions in ancient times basically made them dead.
They don't understand that it's not a crime from the gods at all, but they are suffering from food poisoning.
As rumors spread, the name of the Locust God became even more fierce, and the ancients became even more afraid to touch locusts.
Liu Xiang didn't know if there would be a locust plague in Youzhou this year, but he knew that there were many locust plagues in the late Han Dynasty, so he had to be careful and prepared. Now that the signs have been discovered, he had to find ways to prevent and control them. When the disaster comes, it will be too late.
Already.
The question is how to cure it?
It is unreliable to hope for snow. Flooding will kill locust eggs, but there is no need to cultivate the land. Let's all starve to death together.
Chickens, ducks, and birds can eat locusts, but where can we get a large number of chickens and ducks? Even if we can hatch a large number of chickens and ducks, if we raise poultry intensively under the conditions of the Eastern Han Dynasty, we will just wait for the plague to kill them all. We cannot use it as a main method, but we can encourage it.
Raise poultry and assist in pest control.
Only the land is burned down.
Once the fire is over, all the insect eggs in the shallow layer will die. As long as it is reduced to a certain extent, the locust plague will naturally not arise. If the locusts fly in from the outside, then we can only resign ourselves to fate. We cannot do nothing and wait to die on the spot.
Bar.
Liu Xiang could not think of any other way.
In an era without pesticides, how else could he control locusts?
Do your best and listen to fate.
We must burn the wasteland, but how can we let the common people burn the wasteland together?
This is a big project involving all the people. Explain to them the scientific principles of killing insect eggs? Not only do they not understand, but they all panic when the locust plague is mentioned. Liu Xiang is really convinced by the level of superstition of the Han people.
, everything can be associated with gods and ghosts.
At that time, people will be crazily offering sacrifices to the Locust God and offering various sacrifices. There may even be boys and girls. Don’t think that they can’t do anything. In the face of survival, they have to stand aside in everything.
When sacrificing to the Locust God, various scapegoats are also found, whoever made a mistake and angered the God, and then beat him to death. In the TV series, putting two green fruits and a plate of shortbread snacks is not called sacrifice.
What kind of sacrifice is it if you don’t kill any living beings?
If we can't let them cause chaos, then there's nothing to do.
So, the next day, Liu Xiang said he had a dream.
In the dream, a god told me that the locust god was passing by and had accidentally leaked some of the plague energy, which could only be removed by starting a prairie fire. Remembering that he loves the people, he often practices benevolence and righteousness, and he cannot bear to have disasters under his rule.
If an epidemic occurs, I'm here to tell you.
This is his old trick. Only magic can defeat magic, and only superstition can resist superstition.
He told the dream to Shi A and Zhao Yun, both of whom had solemn expressions on their faces. The locust plague was no joke. No matter how much attention was paid to it, they both said that they would rather believe that it existed than that it did not exist.
Konoe Zhao Jing stood aside with a look like "I know the truth of the matter, but I can't tell it." He already had the answer in his heart. The Lord is from the lower realm of heaven and man. This time he must be a sweetheart from heaven. Come to give him the answer.
He warned.
He also called all the officers above the rank of marquis and told them about the dream again. The faces of all the generals changed drastically and they felt uneasy in their hearts.
It is said that warnings from gods and men should not be ignored, and it is best for the general to act accordingly.
Liu Xiang nodded and said in a deep voice: "I have thought about it over and over again. This matter is not a trivial matter and cannot be taken lightly. It is difficult to burn the five counties with fire. We can only burn the fields and pastures. Spring is the time of mountain fires.
When there are frequent attacks, you must be careful and on guard.”
He took the command arrow and ordered: "Wang Xing led the left army to Yuyang County, Yang Qian led the right army to Youbeiping, and went down to the counties in units of Qu to guard against mountain fires, drive away wild animals, and supervise the burning of wasteland."
"The last general takes orders."
Yan Rou was ordered to be in charge of western Liaoning, and Cui Yi controlled the rear army to be in charge of Guangyang.
Zhuojun is personally responsible for it.
An order was issued to inform all counties of the gods' warning to prevent fires and deforestation, and ordered each ranch and the Hu people under his command to collect fodder and increase their stockpiles.
After pondering for a moment, he decided to report to the imperial court. He did not mention the warning from the gods, but said that the weather was not right and a locust plague was about to occur. He also ordered messengers to go to the surrounding states and counties to inform them of the locust plague.
Order the caravan under his command to go to Qingzhou, Jizhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and wherever possible, and do everything possible to purchase grain and grass, regardless of the cost.
At the same time, a large number of Tiqi were sent into the surrounding areas in disguise, spreading rumors that there was a warning from a god, and the locust god was passing by, and the fire could be a solution. The wilderness must be burned early, otherwise the locust plague will start.
He also sent an order to Wuyan and Kebi Neng, ordering them to ride out of the fortress and burn the pastures along the Great Wall in the north of Saibei. Within two months, they would burn at least three hundred miles.
The barbarians under Liu Xiang's command are all inside the pass, and they are all enemies outside. It doesn't matter how many of them are burned to death.
As for whether you will get beaten? If you are weak, the barbarians will beat you, there is no other reason. If you are strong, the barbarians will obey you, there is no other reason.
The season of early spring is when the grassland is at its weakest. Horses and livestock have just survived the cold winter. The Hu people are in a hurry to graze their livestock and have no time to fight. If they don't find food for their livestock at this time, they will starve to death one by one. They cannot afford to lose.
Therefore, this season is the best time for the Han people to go out to conquer the barbarians.
After autumn, when the grass grows fat and the horses are fat, it is the season for the barbarians to attack the Han people. At that time, the Han people have to worry about the autumn harvest and their resistance will be relatively weak.
Therefore, everyone will look for opportunities to fuck each other. It is not surprising. It is not the first time that the Han people went out to burn pastures and kill barbarians.
The most important thing is that Liu Xiang does not have to worry about the imperial army's conquest. He has the strength to deal with the Hu people and he is not afraid.
Finally, another order was issued, and the entire population was mobilized to burn the five counties.
He actually thought about sending troops to pretend to be thieves and go to various places to burn mountains and forests, but this kind of behavior was too crazy and he really didn't dare to take action, so in the end he had to let it go.