"Organize experts from the Department of Agriculture to observe the growth habits of locusts and find ways to deal with locusts based on their habits. At the same time, we call on the world to jointly study anti-locust strategies. As long as there are effective strategies, we can reward them with thousands of gold coins." , and then we compiled these strategies into an anti-locust book and distributed it to officials everywhere!"
It was this locust plague that made Xu Wei realize that locust plagues are even more harmful than droughts and floods! Although they may not be used this time, if they encounter such locust plagues in the future, they will not just watch them grow!
Jia Xu nodded and said: "No!"
With the various orders and policies issued by Xu Wei, the entire 30 million people were focused on locusts.
Among them, Xu Wei's policy of purchasing unlimited locusts was the most popular. Originally, there was no harvest in the fields, and many people in Hebei were worried that there would be no harvest this year!
But now locusts have become everyone's harvest. The people of Daqian go out with their whole families. They use gauze to catch locusts in the fields. They can pack a sack a day, and then dry the locusts into dried locusts and sell them to the government. Those who can even One stone of dried locusts can be caught in one day. Many people simply make a living by catching locusts. They go wherever there are more locusts! The income these people earn from catching locusts is actually no worse than farming!
With the joint efforts of the 30 million tribesmen in Hebei, the number of locusts in Daqian has been greatly reduced, and many places have begun to return to normal. Unfortunately, this drought is not over yet. This year, due to alternating locust plagues and droughts in Hebei, the grain harvest has been limited. It is said that there is no production, but it has also plummeted by 60-70%, especially in Yuzhou, Yanzhou in the Central Plains, and some areas near Yongzhou in Luoyang City. These places can be said to have no harvest.
Now Xu Wei somewhat understands why Cao Cao likes to cut off people's food routes. With his temper, if Cao Cao fights for a little longer, he will run out of food. The climate in the Central Plains forces Cao Cao to win by surprise!
In July of the second year of Jian'an (AD 197), Qingzhou!
In this battle in Yuzhou, Lei Gong's offensive was devastating and invincible. He occupied Sili and Yuzhou in less than three months. Although Cao Cao was shocked by Lei Gong's military front, it was a pity that he had no time to pay attention to the situation in Yuzhou now.
In this battle, Lei Gong deployed nearly 300,000 troops and horses in the land of Qingxu. The suppressed Cao Cao did not dare to move. After six months, Jizhou's troops were finally disbanded. Although Cao Cao and the others were surprised by the actions of the Jizhou army, they They were relieved, but it was a pity that within three days of their relief, the overwhelming locusts came flying from Yanzhou towards Qingzhou! Now Cao Cao's people were dumbfounded.
"Has the locust plague spread to Xuzhou?" Cao Cao led Guo Jia and others to check the locust problem on the outskirts of Qingzhou, but the result was not very good. The number of locusts doubled from a few days ago. If this continues, the entire Qingzhou food supply will be destroyed. They will be eaten up by these locusts! The only one they can rely on is Xuzhou!
Man Chong shook his head helplessly and said: "My lord Xuzhou is also in a hurry. The cavalry of the Daqian Army attacked Xuzhou two months ago, which has greatly damaged Xuzhou's vitality. And this time the locust plague also entered Xuzhou from Yanzhou, Langye Kingdom, and Donghai County. , Pengcheng State, Xiapi State, and Guangling County were all spared. It is said that even Yangzhou was affected by the locust plague. That is to say, the land south of the Yangtze River was blocked by the Yangtze River, so it was not affected by the locust plague!
Guo Jia was stunned and said: "The scale of this locust plague is truly unprecedented in a century. Is this because God wants to destroy me, a big man!"
Guo Jia is a native of this world, so he has naturally seen many locust plagues. In the Han Dynasty, locust plagues basically broke out once every five to six months, but there has never been such a large-scale locust plague. The entire area along the Yellow River and Yangtze River was affected. It can be said that These territories are the most elite areas of the Han Dynasty. For Guo Jia, a locust plague of this scale is simply the end of the world!
Cheng Yu said with joy in his pain: "Fengxiao was wrong. Now these lands belong to Thunder God, and it should be Thunder God who should be anxious. A drought of this scale has caused disasters to tens of millions of people. Even though Daqian has a profound background, At least in the next 2-3 years, Lei Gong will not be able to use weapons again, which is also a great blessing among misfortunes!"
In late June, locusts began to be discovered in Langye Kingdom, and then these locusts spread rapidly throughout Xuzhou. Officials in Xuzhou and other counties tried their best to harvest food and prevent the spread of the locust plague, but the results were minimal, and now they have to report To Cao Cao.
But Guo Jia shook his head and said: "It's meaningless. It will be difficult for our army to make a qualitative change in 2-3 years. We are still no match for Lei Gong. This is just a desperate struggle for us. It just depends on how Lei Gong deals with it this time." Xuzhou, in the next battle, Lei Gong’s hundreds of thousands of troops will definitely surround us from three sides, and just one Mount Tai is not enough for us to stop Lei Gong’s attack!”
Cao Cao also had a dark look on his face. This time he only sent 10,000 cavalry to attack Xuzhou's 50,000-strong army, which dared not leave the city. When Lei Gong really wants to annex him, he only needs to send tens of thousands of cavalry to Xuzhou to cut him off from the imperial court. Contact, and with his strength it is impossible to defeat Lei Gong!
Seeing the solemn atmosphere, Xun You immediately said: "My lord, now is not the time to think about this. If we can't survive this locust plague, I'm afraid there will be nothing to do in 2-3 years! According to the experience of previous locust plague outbreaks, those who came to Qingzhou and Xuzhou The locusts must have flown from both sides of the Yellow River in Ji and Yan. This wave is the vanguard of the locusts. I am afraid that more locusts will enter Qingzhou in the future. If we cannot find a way to deal with the locusts, we are afraid that this year Qingxu and Qingxu will have nothing to gain."
Guo Jia immediately said: "Ask how Lei Gong dealt with the locusts. The locusts flew here from Yanzhou. I'm afraid that the locust plague in Yanzhou and Jizhou is more serious than ours now. Lei Gong will definitely find a way to eliminate these locusts!"
Cao Cao and others looked at Man Chong.
Man Chong said: "Because of the locust plague, Lei Gong has stopped the battle in Yuzhou and led his army back to the Central Plains. Then Lei Gong organized hundreds of thousands of poultry to Yanzhou, hoping to use poultry to cull the locusts!"
Cao Cao nodded and said: "Poultry naturally eats locusts, this is a good idea!"
But Xun You smiled bitterly and said: "We can't learn this method. There are hundreds of thousands of poultry in Hebei, but we don't know if there are tens of thousands of poultry in Qingzhou. In the face of so many locusts, our poultry is of no use at all!"
Man Chong continued: "Leigong also issued an order for counties and counties in Hebei to purchase unlimited amounts of dried locusts. A pound of dried locusts can be sold for one penny! It is said that within a month of this order being issued, Hebei spent 500 million yuan to purchase these dried locusts. !”
Cao Cao said with a bitter look on his face: "As expected of Lei Gong, he is indeed rich and powerful. We in Qingzhou can't compare with him!"
Cao Cao and others found that they could not learn this policy. Lei Gong could spend 500 million yuan to buy dried locusts, but Qingzhou could not afford such a lot of money!
Cao Cao, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Xun You and other Qingzhou officials, although they do not have the financial resources to buy locusts, it is imperative to organize the people to cull the locusts in Qingzhou. At the same time, Qingxuzhi's grain and grass must be harvested now, although in the fields The grain is not yet mature, but if it is not harvested now, it will only be eaten by locusts. Harvesting now can at least reduce some losses and minimize the losses of this disaster. If the locust plague can end after the autumn harvest, they will Xu Di Di can also replant a season of winter wheat to reduce some losses.
Cao Cao sent Cheng Yu, Man Chong and other officials to rush to several counties in Qingxu that were affected by the disaster. While instructing the people to grab grain, he also began to instruct the people to hunt and kill locusts. At the same time, Cheng Yu also quietly did a very embarrassing thing. They were He dried the locusts he killed in the land of Qingxu, dried them, and sold them to merchants in Daqian at half the price paid by the Daqian court. Because they did not pay for these locusts, Cao Cao and the others actually made tens of millions. Money, this can be considered a windfall.
As the land of Qingxu suffered such a severe disaster, Cao Cao naturally thought of the Xiangyang court. He asked the Xiangyang court for help in a low voice, and the main material for help was food. As long as the people of Qingxu can be fed, Cao Cao will lose. Got this face.
And Liu Bei in Jingzhou is not completely unaffected. Although the main force of these locust plagues is in the Central Plains, Jiujiang County has lost all harvests due to drought and the outbreak of locust plagues. Liu Bei is now also thinking of ways to actively rescue the people of Yangzhou!
A locust plague interrupted this Central Plains War, and all the forces in the world had to target the enemy locusts!
Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Xu Wei are people with very strong execution ability, and Liu Bei and Cao Cao can also copy Xu Wei's work. After Daqian spent 3 billion yuan, tens of billions of locusts were culled, and Xu Wei arranged for hundreds of thousands of people to Around the beaches of the Yellow River, all the locust eggs buried in the ground were dug out and exposed to the sun to eliminate the locust larvae from the source. This wave of locust plague was finally wiped out quickly. People in Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Jizhou and others could no longer see the locusts flying in the sky. The whole world soon calmed down!
Mid-September, Youzhou, Jixian!
Xu Wei led hundreds of his bodyguards, who were tired of their journey, and led the army to Jixian County.
The entire Daqian senior management personally went out of the city gate to greet Xu Wei.
Xu Wei saw Niu Gui and the others laughing and said, "Thank you for your hard work!"
Niu Gui said: "In terms of hard work, governing is the hardest. Not to mention fighting in the south and north, we also have to find ways to cull the locusts in the Central Plains. It was our failure to prepare the logistics that made the Yanzhou locust plague outbreak a huge disaster. So much so that it affects the battle on the ruling front!”
After saying that, Niu Gui knelt down and apologized to Xu Wei!
But Xu Wei pulled him up and said: "What kind of guilt is this? Our original strategic target was only Sili, but now even Yuzhou has been captured. It is already an unexpected surprise. It is too much to still think about occupying Jingzhou in one battle." You are greedy, Liu Bei is not that easy to fight."
Then Xu Wei continued: "What you have to do now is to reopen the imperial examination. This time we occupy 2 states. We need at least 2,000 officials and arrange a dozen experienced governors. These things It’s not easy!”
Niu Gui smiled and said, "My subordinates have already prepared the arrangements for the officials. After the Battle of Yuzhou, Jixian held an imperial examination and recruited 2,000 officials. Now they are all arranged to study and handle government affairs in various places." , Sili and the officials in Yuzhou can make arrangements within a month at most!"
Xu Wei said with a smile: "That's good! Now Sili and Yuzhou are completely empty. There are no powerful gentry and powerful gentry to hinder our great power. It is the time to establish our great law."
Then Xu Wei walked to Old Man Wang and thanked him: "Thanks to my old man for helping me keep my home safe! I can fight on the front line with peace of mind!"
Old Man Wang smiled and said: "Old man can only help the governor look after the house!"
Then he whispered to Xu Wei: "Xiangkai has great ambitions in governing. He has been trying to win people's hearts over the years, and now he actually wants to change our national policy! You have to be careful of him!"
Xu Wei asked curiously: "Did Master Xiangkai do anything to offend me?"
Jia Xu, who was following Xu Wei, was shocked when he heard this. Xiangkai had offended Daqian's senior management. He immediately began to wonder if this would affect him. After all, he was also recommended by Xiangkai. According to Dahan According to the tradition, he can be regarded as Xiangkai's disciple and former official. If Xiangkai is attacked by the Tengjia system, he will definitely be affected.
Old man Wang said: "Xiangkai has been helping businessmen like Zhen'an speak for themselves over the years. It's okay to want to win over businessmen, but now he is actually deeply loved by the farmers and herdsmen of our Dagann army. Our Dagann army is invincible." It is relying on the two classes of farmers and herdsmen! His current behavior can be said to be that he wants to rebel!"
"Rebellion! Is it so serious?" Xu Wei's face became serious!
At this time, Old Man Niu also said: "This year there is no longer a plague of locusts in the Central Plains, there is also a drought in the desert. The entire tribe of Dagan is not doing well this year, and this Xiangkai proposed to improve the fields in the hands of our tribe , the previous thirty acres will be changed to one hundred acres, and the pasture will be changed from 1,000 acres per household to 10,000 acres per household! Xiangkai is not trying to win people's hearts, what is it doing!"
After Wang Laohan and others saw it, even if they wanted to expand the fields and pastures in the hands of the tribe, such a proposal should be made by Xu Wei, the ruler, and not Xiangkai, an outsider. He did not want to use his power to do it. Land and pasture are used to win people's hearts. This is not about rebellion!
Niu Gui also said: "Master Xiangkai really doesn't care about the overall situation of the court at all. He just wants to please the people. This year, because of the battle in Yuzhou and the locust plague and drought, the financial expenditure to help the people in the Central Plains has exceeded 200 yuan." Hundreds of millions of dollars, if by the end of the year, I'm afraid the excess will be even greater, the court is in such difficulty, and he actually wants to reduce the court's income!"
The current territory of Xu Wei's Daqian court alone is twice as large as that of the Han Dynasty. If the Western Regions are included, it will be one of the top two countries even in modern times. Such a large area of land is naturally vast and boundless. There are tens of thousands of people in the desert, occupying The pastures of the Han Dynasty are only 5-6 billion acres, which is not even 30% of the desert grassland. There is still a large amount of grassland in the hands of Dagan, and the same is true for the land. The majority of Dagan has 30 acres, and each state of Dahan still has half of it. Daqian's land is Daqian's farm. Relying on these pastures and farms, Daqian has tens of billions of fiscal revenue. It is only with these materials that Daqian's prices can be stabilized in troubled times.
And now Xiangkai's proposal is to distribute Dagan's most important assets to the tribesmen, which naturally arouses dissatisfaction among the entire Dagan senior management!