kingnovel Chapter 1202 Locust Plague
Chapter 1202 Locust Plague
Jiang Zhiming braced his hands on the table, his fingertips turning white, his whole body trembling uncontrollably, the teacup on the table rippling slightly.
"Lord Jiang, what exactly happened?" Shen Zheng had a bad feeling. Suppressing her anxiety, she poured Jiang Zhiming a cup of tea and then gestured for him to sit down. "Don't panic. Whatever it is, sit down and we'll discuss it together. Please sit down..."
Jiang Zhiming's face was ashen, and he sat down shakily, holding onto the chair arm. His hands instinctively reached for the teacup in front of him.
“Yan…Yanzhou…” Jiang Zhiming’s eyes were fixed on the tea in his cup, and he forced out a sentence through gritted teeth: “Yanzhou is probably already destroyed…”
"Yanzhou?"
Shen Zheng lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment.
Yanzhou Prefecture is located in the southwest of Fuzhou Prefecture, bordering Fuzhou Prefecture. The area is mostly low-lying and swampy, and overall it cannot be considered prosperous.
"How could Yanzhou be destroyed?" Shen Zheng's first reaction was that war had broken out in Yanzhou Prefecture, and she quickly asked.
Jiang Zhiming, his hands trembling, took out an urgent report from his robes and handed it to Shen Zheng with both hands. "Lord Shen, this is an urgent report from Yanzhou. Please take a look..."
Shen Zheng was annoyed by Jiang Zhiming's pathetic appearance and snatched the urgent report away.
When my fingertips touched the paper, I could feel a slight dampness, like sweat.
Under the solemn gaze of everyone, Shen Zheng opened the urgent report. When she saw the first line of text, her pupils shrank and her body swayed uncontrollably.
"Lord Shen!" All the officials stood up upon seeing this, only then realizing that it wasn't Jiang Zhiming who was cowardly, but rather that the matter reported urgently was truly extremely serious. "Lord Shen, what has happened in Yanzhou...?"
Shen Zheng mustered all her strength to suppress her trembling and forced herself to read the last word of the urgent report.
When she spoke, her voice was already hoarse beyond recognition: "Yanzhou... has been hit by a locust plague."
"Crack—" Huo Tao was so startled that he dropped his teacup, shattering it across the table and splashing tea everywhere. He seemed oblivious, his face ashen: "Yanzhou didn't do well in terms of revenue last year, resulting in a lot of abandoned land. If this year is another..."
Huo Tao dared not think any further.
"Not only that..." Ning Bufan looked out the window. It was clearly a bright sunny day, but he seemed to see locusts swarming over the city, the sky so dark it was suffocating. "Our Liuyang Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture are only separated by Fuzhou Prefecture. If the locusts migrate towards us, wouldn't our tens of thousands of acres of high-yield rice be..."
If the high-yield rice in Liuyang Prefecture is devoured by locusts, the Great Zhou will lose not just tens of millions of catties of rice, but the entire nation's grain reserves for next year...
This would not only render a year's worth of effort in Liuyang Prefecture futile, but would also postpone the Great Zhou's grain production increase plan by two or three years, and could even trigger turmoil in the imperial court...
Such severe consequences are simply beyond what Liuyang Prefecture can bear.
"No, we can't let the locusts come to Liuyang Prefecture!" Yi Mingli's eyes were filled with fear as he subconsciously said, "We must keep them trapped in Fuzhou Prefecture and never let them fly into the territory of Liuyang Prefecture."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhiming looked up in disbelief: "Are you even speaking human language?"
You can't eat the rice from Liuyang Prefecture, but you can eat the rice from Fuzhou Prefecture?!
Yi Mingli's face stiffened. "That's not what I meant. I just wanted to protect the rice paddies in the manor..."
"We also planted some high-yield rice in Fuzhou Prefecture!" Jiang Zhiming shouted and cried, "If we trap locusts in Fuzhou Prefecture, what will happen to the people of Fuzhou? No, no, this won't do... I've only just taken office, how can I withstand this kind of turmoil? Life was just about to get better, but who would have thought..."
"Alright! Lord Jiang, listen to me." Shen Zheng's voice wasn't loud, but it instantly suppressed Jiang Zhiming's wailing.
"Snapped--"
Shen Zheng slammed the urgent report on the table and read it aloud word by word: "Seven days ago, locust nymphs first appeared in the swamp west of Yanzhou City. Within three to five days, they formed swarms. Once they became adults, they covered the sky and the southwest wind spurred them to fly away from the plants. All the rice paddies in the area were completely devoured, and there was no reed or weed left."
As she spoke, Shen Zheng pointed to the urgent report, "Southwest wind. Gentlemen, if the wind direction does not change, neither Fuzhou Prefecture nor Liuyang Prefecture will escape this calamity."
Everyone was horrified, their faces showing fear.
Southwest wind...
The southwest wind blows towards the northeast, and Fuzhou Prefecture is located northeast of Yanzhou Prefecture, while Liuyang Prefecture is located northeast of Fuzhou Prefecture.
Could it be that even the heavens can't bear to see Liuyang Prefecture prosper, and are deliberately blowing southwest winds?
Yi Mingli suppressed his shock and counted the days on his fingers. "Locusts can migrate a hundred miles a day. It would only take them a few days to fly from Yanzhou to Liuyang Prefecture. If food is scarce along the way, they might arrive even faster..."
"In any case, I believe we must prepare for the worst and have the counties begin the harvest season." Xu Yunyan stood up, leaning on the table, and looked at Shen Zheng, seeking her opinion.
Shen Zheng immediately nodded: "Go and order the garrison to go to the twelve counties immediately and inform the county magistrates of this matter. As for Tong'an County... I'll have to trouble you, Lord."
After saying that, Shen Zheng looked at Jiang Zhiming again: "Lord Jiang, has the Fuzhou Prefecture started the harvest?"
Although Jiang Zhiming was currently in Liuyang Prefecture, the prefectural magistrate of Fuzhou and other officials were still stationed in the Fuzhou government office. Given their experience and authority, they should be able to make a decisive decision on such an urgent matter concerning people's livelihood.
Jiang Zhiming paused for a moment upon hearing this, then nodded: "It's begun, but... but even if we mobilize all the able-bodied men in the prefecture, we can only harvest 60% of the rice paddies at most before the insect infestation arrives. It's simply... simply not enough time. And..."
As he spoke, Jiang Zhiming looked at Shen Zheng, his gaze wavering: "If the harvest in Fuzhou is completed, it will accelerate the migration of locusts, and they will arrive in Liuyang Prefecture even faster. At that time... Lord Shen, what will happen to the high-yield rice in Liuyang Prefecture?"
It has to be said that Jiang Zhiming is a very conflicted person.
One moment he was saying, "We can't let the locusts get trapped in Fuzhou," and the next he was worried about Liuyang Prefecture.
Shen Zheng's eyes were fixed on the urgent report, and in an instant, countless solutions flashed through her mind.
rush in the harvest?
Harvesting is possible, but as Xu Yunyan said, this is the worst-case scenario. Not to mention whether the harvest can be completed in time, the locusts' passage alone will severely damage the farmland ecosystem and increase the difficulty of subsequent farming.
A hard block?
With locusts in such large numbers, old methods like banging drums and setting fires to smoke them out can only provide temporary relief and cannot stop the swarm's attack. In fact, they may even burn down farmland, so this is not a good strategy.
So, is trapping the locusts in Fuzhou really the only feasible solution?
Meeting Jiang Zhiming's cautious gaze, Shen Zheng simply couldn't make this decision.
The people of Fuzhou are just ordinary people too.