Locusts covered the sky, the sky became dark, the sun turned blood red, thick smoke filled the air, and the air was filled with the smell of smoke and burnt locusts.
Millions of locusts came in waves one after another. Although the smoke was billowing, they were still unstoppable. They rushed through the smoke densely, crackling and hitting people. The people fought bravely to kill the locusts, and there were tanks after tanks of locusts.
After being burned and dumped, the locust corpses were piled up to an inch thick on the ground. Children and women kept screaming, probably because the locusts hit their eyes or faces.
Most of the first pine branches were burned, but the smoke gradually died out, and the locust corpses piled up so much that the fire was suppressed.
On the high platform, Guo Song had a serious look on his face. He knew that the locust swarm was huge, but he did not expect it to be so large. The locusts flew for more than half an hour and did not stop.
"Your Majesty, the locusts have broken through the defense line and entered the wheat fields!" a soldier shouted.
Guo Song also realized that if they did not retreat, once the locusts finished eating the wheat fields in Feng'an County, they would pounce on Jiuyuan County. If they retreated too late, they would not be able to build defenses in time, and it would be all over.
Guo Song immediately ordered, "The soldiers and young men are ordered to withdraw westward immediately, and other women, children, old and young will also follow suit!"
'Dang! Dang! Dang!'
The retreat bell rang, and six thousand soldiers and six thousand young men quickly retreated to the west. In this case, women, old and young did not need to be taken into consideration. They had to rush to establish the defensive front of Jiuyuan County.
The second line of defense is located between Jiuyuan County and Feng'an County, about 60 miles away from Feng'an County. It will take a day to get there, and it will also take a day or two for the locusts to finish eating the wheat fields in Feng'an County. They just have time to deploy new troops.
Of course, this is not a coincidence, but a carefully calculated plan by everyone.
Tens of thousands of people didn't even bother to clean up their tents. Each of them took only a little dry food and a water bottle and hurried to the second line of defense sixty miles away. Large carts filled with women, children and the elderly marched westward.
Although the locusts do not hurt people, the smoke and pungent smell are still unbearable for many elderly people.
Jiuyuan County's defense line is stronger than Feng'an County. Not only are hundreds of thousands of pine branches piled up, but thousands of large trees are also directly dragged in. The width of pine branches in Feng'an County is more than ten feet, while the pine branches and pine trees in Jiuyuan County are
The width is more than forty feet.
This is Fengzhou's last line of defense. Once the locusts break through this line of defense again, the entire wheat field in Fengzhou will be completely gone.
When this line of defense was built, it was still quite controversial. Many people believed that the manpower and material resources spent on the second line of defense were too great. In the end, it was Guo Song who made the decision to build the second line of defense to the maximum extent possible at all costs.
Only after personally experiencing the locust plague that covered the sky and the sun, everyone realized how wise it was to strengthen the second line of defense.
Six thousand soldiers and six thousand strong men arrived at the second line of defense first. They quickly deployed. Soldiers transported hundreds of loads of sulfur from the warehouse in Jiuyuan County, pounded it into powder on site, and sprinkled it on the pine branches.
This is a lesson learned in the defense of Feng'an County. The fire in Feng'an County's defense line is too weak to stop the locust swarm. Only by making the locust swarm afraid will they change their route.
The number of people defending Jiuyuan County has been reduced. Children under the age of thirteen and elderly people over sixty have all returned. Including young and strong men, there are about 20,000 civilians in Jiuyuan County to drive away locusts. Although the number is small, but
Actions will be more orderly.
The command platform was also cancelled. Amidst the thick smoke, everyone could not see the command flag on the platform clearly.
At noon the next day, several soldiers galloped over on horseback and reported loudly to Guo Song: "I am reporting to you, the locust swarm has taken off, but half of it is still eating the wheat fields. It is estimated that they will divide into two groups."
Fly here."
Guo Song was overjoyed. This was the best situation. The locusts were dispersed, which would greatly ease the difficulty of exterminating them.
Guo Song immediately ordered: "No need to light the pine branches in the back road, save them to deal with the second batch of locusts!"
A quarter of an hour later, that strange sound came from the sky again. Now everyone knows that it was the sound of locusts flapping their wings.
The sky has only become slightly darker. From the sound and the change in color of the sky, everyone can realize that there are much fewer locusts coming today than yesterday morning.
In fact, this is inevitable. They have eliminated 30% of the locusts in Feng'an County, and the remaining 70% came in two batches. Of course, the first wave they faced was much smaller than yesterday.
"Light the fire!" Guo Song gave the order.
Thousands of torches were thrown into the pile of pine branches, and the fire rose into the sky. Sulfur powder was sprinkled inside, which ignited at a moment's notice. The fire burned extremely quickly, and thick smoke billowed, forming a seemingly dense wall of fireworks in an instant.
Compared with Feng'an County, the fire here is larger, the black smoke is thicker, and the blocking effect will be better.
At this time, the overwhelming migratory locusts rushed in, as dense as raindrops and very fast. However, compared with the large array of locusts yesterday morning, the number was significantly reduced and the momentum was much weaker.
The black smoke had its effect. Before they got close to the fire, the dense locusts turned around and flew north, forming an obvious big turn, as if they had hit an invisible wall. Seeing this, the soldiers and people suddenly cheered.
stand up.
Guo Song could see clearly that the locust swarm turned around before getting close to the thick smoke. They should not have been smoked, and they were afraid of a certain smell. Burning pine trees can only smell of rosin. Yesterday morning, the smell of rosin was also very strong, but why did the locusts
Not afraid?
At this time, Guo Song suddenly smelled a strong smell of sulfur, and he suddenly realized, sulfur! Locusts are afraid of the smell of sulfur.
He immediately rushed forward and asked loudly: "How much more sulfur is there?"
Liang Wu cupped his fists and said, "It has all been broken into powder and sprinkled on the pine branches."
"How many more are there in the warehouse?"
"There are about two hundred dan left!"
"Bring it all in, break it into powder, and sprinkle it on the second pine branch. The locusts may be afraid of the sulfur smell."
In fact, not only Guo Song, but also many people discovered it. At this time, Xue Changshou rushed forward and shouted: "Your Majesty, locusts are afraid of sulfur!"
Guo Song nodded, "I also discovered this secret. I asked Liang Wu to transport all the sulfur in the warehouse."
"There are many of them in people's homes and shops. I have seen them before."
This is possible. There is a sulfur mine over there in Daqing Mountain.
Guo Song immediately ordered people to find the county magistrate Xie Changzhi and said to him: "Go and tell the people of Jiuyuan County that if you have sulfur at home, take it out quickly. The government will buy it at a high price. The locusts are most likely afraid of sulfur."
"I understand the humble position!"
Xie Changzhi immediately galloped away.
With the smoke wall blocking the way, soldiers and young men took the initiative to attack. They went around to both sides to drive away the locusts and prevent them from bypassing the smoke wall.
The migratory locust formation lasted for a quarter of an hour. Nearly a million migratory locusts left corpses all over the place and flew towards the north.
The victory in the first battle and the results encouraged the soldiers and civilians of Fengzhou, but they had no time to celebrate. The migratory locusts that had eaten the wheat fields in Feng'an County would soon fly in with murderous intent. That would be their final decisive battle.
Two hours later, soldiers arrived from the county town transporting thousands of loads of sulfur, and one merchant who specialized in selling sulfur brought out 600 loads.
Thousands of soldiers and a large amount of bean stalks were brought together and piled on the second line of defense of pine branches. The first batch of 500 dans of sulfur had no time to crush it and was sprinkled directly into the pine branches.
It was almost dusk that day, and the fire intensity at the first line of defense a mile away had weakened significantly, with only hundreds of pine logs still burning.
At this moment, a rapid horn sound came from the distance, "woo woo"
The second batch of locusts finally arrived. The second batch of locusts was much more numerous than the batch at noon. They covered the sky and the sun and made a huge "buzz! buzz!" sound, which was spectacular.
However, the soldiers and civilians of Fengzhou also went all out, and fires were set off on the second line of defense. Thick smoke billowed and the smell of sulfur became even stronger.
The locusts were flying in as densely as a storm. There was no sulfur in the first line of defense, and the fire was too small to stop the invasion of locusts. They passed through the line of fire and came in dense numbers.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians fought against dense locusts in a long open space one mile wide.
The soldiers and civilians of Fengzhou have made a desperate effort to break through the last line of defense, and the locusts will fly into the endless wheat fields.
Nearly a thousand soldiers continued to throw pine branches, bean stalks and sulfur into the fire to maintain the intensity of the fire and the thick smell of sulfur.
Guo Song and all the officials had their hearts in their throats, wondering whether the sulfur was working or not.
Locusts came roaring one by one. When they got close to the thick smoke, there was a sudden chaos, as if they were hitting transparent glass. They all turned and headed north. This is the sensitive nature of locusts. To the south is the vast desert, and to the north is the vast desert.
The endless grassland and the smell of green grass lure them, making them instinctively fly to the north.
Guo Song raised his fists high and shouted excitedly. Several officials nearby hugged each other in excitement and jumped up and down.
The sulfur worked. The strong sulfur smell made the locusts dare not fly westward and turned around to fly north.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were jubilant. Although Fengzhou also suffered huge losses in Yulin County and Feng'an County, they finally defeated the locust plague and saved the most important Jiuyuan County.