The day after Fengzhou defeated the locust plague, Duan Xiushi received an urgent eagle letter from Guo Song. Guo Song told him in the letter that locusts were afraid of the smell of sulfur. Fengzhou used thick smoke, fire and sulfur to defeat the locust plague and save Jiuyuan County.
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At this time, Duan Xiuzhen was suffering from the raging locust plague. Nearly half of the wheat fields around Lingwu County were infested with locusts. Farmers were swatting in the wheat fields, but it had no effect. They watched the pieces of wheat being eaten up and were filled with hatred.
Farmers simply set fire to the wheat, burning the immature wheat and the locusts to death.
Guo Song's letter made Duan Xiu feel like he had found a treasure. He immediately ordered a large amount of sulfur to be taken out from the army warehouse, and ordered the soldiers to crush it into powder and sprinkle it around and in the wheat fields where locusts had not yet entered.
The effect was indeed good. Although the locusts were not completely stopped, the number of locusts in the wheat fields was significantly reduced. A few days later, the locusts in Lingzhou flew across the Yellow River and flew to the pasture at the foot of Henan Mountain in the west.
Duan Xiushi immediately wrote to Shuofang and the states in the Guan area where locust plagues occurred, promoting Fengzhou's experience in killing locusts. For a time, the price of sulfur in various places soared. Businessmen saw business opportunities and purchased sulfur everywhere to transport to the disaster areas.
It cannot be said that Toyoshu's experience is necessarily applicable to all places, but sulfur is indeed effective. By spreading sulfur powder to drive away locusts, each state has saved at least 20 to 30% of its food supply.
In late September, Yan Zhenqing, the pacification and inspection envoy, accompanied by Duan Xiushi, the governor of Shuofang, made a special trip to Fengzhou to learn about Fengzhou's experience in fighting locusts.
At this time, the wheat fields have turned yellow, and the harvest season will be in half a month. Yan Zhenqing's journey was full of devastated farmland, but when he arrived in Jiuyuan County, he saw endless golden wheat fields with undulating wheat waves, which made people feel particularly special when walking in them.
Feeling relaxed and happy.
"The golden wheat color is so eye-catching and makes me feel ten times better."
Yan Zhenqing smiled and said to Duan Xiushi: "I praised Lingzhou for its good food protection before, but compared to Fengzhou, Lingzhou is still far behind. There is no sign of locusts coming here at all."
Duan Xiushi did not take away Guo Song's credit. He said calmly: "Without Fengzhou's experience, farmland across Lingzhou would be equally barren. In fact, as far as I know, Fengzhou's experience is far from discovering that sulfur can be used to drive away locusts."
So simple."
"oh?"
Yan Zhenqing asked Guo Song next to him with great interest: "Can Guo Shijun give us a brief introduction to Fengzhou's locust extermination experience?"
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "Actually, Fengzhou's experience is three points. It is very simple. Of course, the details are very rich. To put it simply, the first is to be well prepared, the second is to mobilize the people and brainstorm, and the third is to focus on the big ones and let go of the small ones.
Manpower and material resources will be provided to protect key areas."
After a pause, Guo Song continued: "This time we in Fengzhou have gathered all the people and soldiers from Jiuyuan County, Feng'an County, Yulin County and Hebin County in Shengzhou. Thousands of acres of pine tree branches have been cut down.
Two lines of defense were established in the east and west of An County. Although we did not hold the first line of defense, we killed at least 30% of the locusts. In the second line of defense, we discovered the effect of sulfur in repelling locusts, and finally used sulfur to defeat the locusts.
We controlled the locusts and forced them to fly to the northern grasslands, thus preserving the fertile farmland in Jiuyuan County."
"Then how did you discover that sulfur can drive away locusts?" Yan Zhenqing asked again.
Guo Song smiled and said: "It was accidental to discover that sulfur can drive away locusts, but it is inevitable when you think about it. We initially lit pine branches to drive away locusts, but too many locusts died and put out the fire directly. In order to increase the intensity of the fire, we
, they sprinkled flammable materials such as bean straw and sulfur powder on the second line of defense. Unexpectedly, the burning smell of sulfur made the locusts very afraid. They did not dare to cross the fire and smoke as if they were hitting a wall.
, turned around and flew north, only then did we discover the locust repelling effect of sulfur."
Yan Zhenqing nodded happily and said: "That's very good. I would like to ask Ambassador Guo to write a detailed report and let me bring it back to the court. Maybe the court can summarize its experience and promote it to other places."
"If the Prime Minister needs it, we are willing to do our little bit for the court."
Yan Zhenqing laughed and said, "Okay! I'm looking forward to your report so that I can explain it when I go back."
When everyone came to the military field, Yan Zhenqing was shocked by the endless military field. After a while, he asked: "How many acres of wheat fields are there here?"
"There are about 150,000 acres of wheat fields and tens of thousands of acres of black bean fields that have already been harvested."
"How much is the yield per mu?" Yan Zhenqing asked.
"About three hundred pounds!"
Yan Zhenqing quickly estimated in his mind, and he was shocked. This was 3.78 million shi of grain! The army could not use so much. He immediately had an idea in his mind. It happened that the court's grain could not be transferred, so he would use grain from Fengzhou.
Isn't this the best solution to provide relief to the victims?
Guo Song saw Yan Zhenqing's thoughts and pointed to the farmers busy in the wheat fields and said: "These farmers busy in the military fields are people from Hebin County and Yulin County. They also have a large number of women, children and the elderly shelling beans in the city.
, I promised them before that all their food losses will be compensated by military grain."
"The compensation won't be much, at most 30,000 people! And what about the thousands of hectares of farmland owned by the people? Don't be so stingy, help the court, and the court will not forget you."
Guo Song simply said: "It's okay to help the court, but I want something practical. My conditions are very simple. Increase the number of troops in Fengzhou to 15,000, so that we can independently deal with Xue Yantuo's army."
"Then how much food can you provide?" Yan Zhenqing asked.
"There are also 1,500 hectares of wheat fields in civilian fields, and the harvest is about 300,000 shi. In addition to the nearly 100,000 shi of grain stored in our warehouse, I can support the court with 400,000 shi of grain. What about, can the court give me another 9,000 shi of troops?
"
Yan Zhenqing pondered for a moment and said: "I can't agree to you immediately, but I will fight for it to the imperial court. The imperial court is also interested in profit. With the food interests of 400,000 shi, I believe that the imperial court and the emperor will consider your request."
Duan Xiushi shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I'm disgusted. The Shuofang Army has always only had 6,000 people. I have applied for it for many years to no avail. You have been in office for less than a year. Will the court agree? Exchanging benefits alone is not enough. The key is
Or you have to have a good reason."
"There is indeed a good reason for the humble position. Please Yan Xiangguo and Jiedushi come with me."
Guo Song led the two of them to the south and walked for about twenty miles. They came to the Yellow River. Yan Zhenqing and Duan Xiushi's eyes lit up at the same time. There were two large ships moored in the Yellow River. They could see that the newly built ships were at least
There are two thousand stones.
Yan Zhenqing rushed forward and found that the ship had not yet been fully launched, and the craftsmen were busy painting it.
"Shijun Guo, are you building a ship?" Yan Zhenqing asked in surprise.
"Obviously yes!"
Guo Song laughed and said: "Yan Xiangguo forgot? The imperial court once approved us to build docks, warehouses and shipbuilding yards, as well as build roads from the docks to the county town. In fact, we plan to build ten ships first, and we have prepared the wood. In addition,
We also plan to start construction of warehouses and docks as soon as possible."
Guo Song pointed to the warehouse in the distance that had been painted with white lines with lime, and the dock where the wooden piles were to be driven into the water, and continued: "When it freezes in winter, we will continue to mine stones from Daqingshan in the south.
Come here and start building the warehouses and docks in earnest after spring."
Speaking of this, Guo Song said to Yan Zhenqing: "The development of Fengzhou will become more and more intense. Starting next year, a large number of military family members will move into Fengzhou, but Xue Yantuo's army will always be a sword hanging over our heads. Once
Xue Yantuo's army arrived in a surprise attack, and Shuofang's army was beyond reach. Our troops were small and could only retreat into the city. Who would protect the families of the soldiers scattered across Fengzhou? How to protect the docks, warehouses and various facilities and materials outside the city? Is this what we are asking for?
The best reason to fight?"
Yan Zhenqing nodded for a while and said: "At least you have passed my test. I believe that Han Huang and Liu Yan are both reasonable, and the prince will support you. The only one who is difficult to talk to is Chang Gun, but if Chang Gun objects, Cui Youfu will definitely support you."
, the two of them always have different opinions, so I think your request is very hopeful to succeed."
Yan Zhenqing entered the city, but unexpectedly found that tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the city were busy building the city. This made him startled and asked Guo Songdao: "Are you going to rebuild Jiuyuan City?"
Guo Song shook his head, "It's not about rebuilding, but about heightening and strengthening the Jiuyuan City wall, and then building an inner city wall. We will try to complete it before next spring!"
Yan Zhenqing became interested and stepped forward to take a closer look. He saw carriages carrying large hewn bluestone strips to the city. The craftsmen and laborers on the city top were as busy as ants. The craftsmen mixed lime and flour to make mortar.
It is used to build city walls. After the mortar dries, even a knife cannot be inserted into it, making it extremely strong.
The foundation of the inner city wall has been dug, and it seems that many houses have been demolished. Yan Zhenqing pointed to the inner city wall and asked: "Since the city wall has been heightened and strengthened, why do we need to build another inner city wall? Is it necessary?"
Guo Song explained calmly: "Although the land in Fengzhou is fertile and suitable for farming, there are too many foreign enemies and it is easy to be invaded. Therefore, there must be a strong fortress to give the people the last refuge. Jiuyuan County is the best."
Choice, and when Jiuyuan County was built, the city was very large. The city wall had a circumference of 42 miles, which was enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. However, the actual population was less than 20,000, so even if the city wall was reduced to 30 miles in circumference, it could still accommodate two or three people.
One hundred thousand people will not have much impact on the people."
"How many houses have you demolished and how will they be resettled?" Yan Zhenqing asked, pointing to the remains of the demolished houses.
"Reporting back to the Prime Minister, the area around the city wall was originally mainly vegetable fields. In fact, only 120 houses were demolished. Some of them moved to the countryside outside the city, and some moved into the inner city. They were all compensated at twice the price of the demolished houses.
Everyone has no objection to the homestead. As for the vegetable plot, we will use the land outside the city to compensate, and we will use the space between the inner and outer city as a military camp in the future."
"Where did you get the money to build the city wall?" Yan Zhenqing hit the nail on the head and hit the nail on the head.
Guo Song hesitated and said: "We mainly use work-for-relief to give food to the victims, but they have to work, that is, to quarry stones and build city walls."
Yan Zhenqing shook his head, "You can't fool me. Can you build a city wall with just a little food? I know that the imperial court has allocated part of the money to build docks and warehouses to Fengzhou, but I haven't seen any signs of construction of docks and warehouses. Tell the truth.
, was it appropriated to build the city wall?"
Guo Song had no choice but to nod, "The dock and warehouse can be repaired later. Ensuring safety is the first priority."
"Hey! I don't even know what to say to you. What you did is a serious violation. If someone wants to use this matter to impeach you, you really can't keep your official title."
Guo Song said after a while: "I just want to do something practical for the people and have a clear conscience. As for my personal career, I don't value it very much."
Yan Zhenqing was helpless, so she could only glare at him and urge her horse to go into the city.
Duan Xiushi patted Guo Song on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Don't worry! If something happens, the two of us will handle it together."
Guo Song bowed deeply and said, "Thank you so much for your kindness, Commander-in-Chief Jiedu!"