The peasant girl who escaped the desert: she cried when she found the cruel prince

Chapter 273 A gamble with God

After flipping through a lot of books, I found a record about locusts in an incomplete record about ancient people's livelihood.

After reading it, I am still very melancholy. There are many ways to control the locust plague, and they are basically undesirable. Things like worshiping the Locust Goddess, raising chickens and ducks vigorously, etc., are not scientific enough from the perspective of future generations. Method.

Regarding prevention and signs, there are no good opinions. They are more based on the experience of old farmers and are not as clear-cut as Wang Youcai's words.

Jingli flipped through it for a while without getting discouraged, and finally found an article on the introduction of the starting varieties of locusts in a book on modern agricultural technology.

But the further down I read, the more frightened I became. The above records about the grassland locust plague, the records before the arrival, are obviously somewhat similar to what we see today.

Excessive grazing on grasslands usually means that after the ecology of one place is completely destroyed, they start to migrate to the next place.

This is exactly the case for the grassland on the other side of the Beishui River. Due to the arrival of tribes such as the Mohu tribe, this originally barren land has become increasingly tired, and there is no time for ecological restoration at all.

With the exile of tribes such as Keha and Chiqi, the deterioration of soil and water has accelerated, and then the soil moisture has been lost, creating a breeding ground for locusts to survive.

This year, we have harvested the fields that Wang Lizheng occupied, which is about a thousand acres of fertile land. We can see that these crops are ready to be harvested. What if there is a locust attack and no harvest is achieved.

Wan Baoquan can no longer buy food when he goes out these days. Although the food stored at home will be enough to last until next year, there are many factors such as war and chaos that must be considered. For this reason, this matter must be taken seriously.

Jing Li thought about it and finally made up his mind, and called Mr. Jing and Mr. Wang Lizheng: "Master, Grandpa Li Zheng, this locust plague is very likely to happen. If we harvest earlier, we can still gain a little bit. If the locusts really Come, there will be nothing left in this land!”

Mr. Jing was so frightened that he almost dropped his pipe: "What? A plague of locusts? How is that possible?"

Lao Wang Lizheng also couldn't believe it: "Nizi, you can't say this nonsense. We farmers, but just pointing to the harvest in this field, if you talk about locust plague, you can't scare people to death!"

Jingli carefully told the two families about the possible signs of a locust plague, especially since there were so many on the grassland today, so this matter cannot be ignored.

The two old men looked at each other in confusion after hearing this. After a long time, Mr. Jing finally said tremblingly: "Ah Li, if you want to say something else, I will listen to you."

"But you don't understand the crops. They are only seventeen years old now, and the corn kernels are not fully filled with pulp. If you want to harvest directly, you will have to reduce the yield by at least [-]%!"

"Yes," Wang Lizheng followed: "In the past, my unsatisfactory nephew occupied the fields of other people in the village. Many families worked hard for a year and still didn't have enough to eat."

"I finally got my land back this year, so I can manage it well. I hope to harvest more food. I see that there will be a bumper harvest in about ten days, but you suddenly asked people to harvest it now. Who would be willing to do this!"

Jing Li said sternly to Mr. Jing, "Master, we still have at least [-]% harvest left. If we wait a few days, we probably won't be able to harvest even a grain of rice."

"We have hundreds of people to eat, and we don't dare to bet with God on this, so we should stop it early!"

Mr. Jing knew what his girl was capable of, and when he saw that she was so sure, he felt a drum in his heart. This matter was almost certain.

Mr. Jing sighed: "Then I'll listen to you. Tomorrow, all the people in the house, the paper shop, the winery, and the construction site will stop working, including the refugees, all will go out to harvest crops!"

Mr. Jing covered his chest and then said to Wang Lizheng: "Brother, my granddaughter doesn't tell lies. Our family business depends on her."

"She never said anything about Wu Ying'er. You should go back and talk to the villagers. It's better to accept it in advance!"

"These days, there is war and chaos outside. When the harvest comes, even if you have money, you may not be able to buy it!" Wang Lizheng saw Mr. Jing speaking so sincerely. He couldn't make up his mind for a while, so he returned home. Discuss with several sons.

His eldest son was silent for a long time before speaking: "Dad, let's just listen to the other side. They are more knowledgeable than us and have more fields than us. They are all willing to give up [-]% of the grain. Why can't we part with it!" "

The second son also followed: "Yes, there are capable people on the other side, so they have done nothing wrong. Let's follow them. Just a little less, it is better than nothing!"

After Wang Lizheng gritted his teeth and made up his mind, he told his sons: "Notify every household to have a meeting at the drying yard after noon."

"We have to talk about this matter. It's up to them whether they listen or not. But as an upright person, if I know and don't say anything, if locusts really happen, I will be held responsible."

After noon, many people were taking a nap when they were woken up by Wang Lizheng's rumble.

The eldest daughter of Wang Dun'er's family ran over sweating profusely and said: "Mom, grandma, Grandpa Li Zheng said that you must go there for the meeting. You can't go if you don't!"

A few old ladies who were rushing to make garments for Wang Dun's daughter-in-law pouted and said, "Why is Mo Qiu banging the gong? It's just delaying people's work and making money!"

After waiting for a long time, the villagers finally arrived at the drying ground. When Wang Lizheng said that there might be a locust plague and the crops would be harvested in advance, they were shocked.

"Uncle Li Zheng, are you okay? What kind of locust plague is happening here? I wasn't even born during the last locust plague!"

"That's right, I still hope to harvest a few more kilos of grain this year and marry my boy a wife later. Seeing that we can harvest it in about ten days, I don't believe the locusts are here right now!"

"Who can say clearly about the locusts? Even experienced men are not sure. Who can say that they will come? If they don't come, who will pay for the loss?"

Wang Lizheng was extremely angry. Who was he doing this for? Each and every one of them acted as if he deliberately did not want others to have a good harvest.

Jing Li stood up and looked at everyone in the palace coldly. Slowly, no one dared to speak anymore.

"I told you about the locust plague. My thousand acres of land will be harvested early!"

"Since we are all from the countryside, I kindly remind you that if you don't want to, I won't force you. Everyone has their own ideas."

"But if any family has no harvest due to the locust plague and comes to beat the autumn wind in winter, don't say that the Jing family is cruel at that time. Even the refugees will help, but the people in the neighboring villages will not help."

After saying this, Jingli didn't even look at the crowd and went to the fields, where the Jing family had already started harvesting.

Wang Lizheng stamped his foot: "It's up to you whether you want to listen or not. My family is going to collect it anyway. Let me borrow a word from that girl. They are all named Wang. Don't say that I, the leader of the clan, don't care about the life or death of the clan members." talk!"

Wang Lizheng and his family were busy going to the autumn harvest.

For example, Wang Youcai, Wang Dun'er and Tian Gengzi had rowed to Beishui Village early. Seeing that the Jing family was starting to harvest, they gritted their teeth and went to the fields with sickles in hand.

Third Aunt Wang sneered: "This is really a flattery. I'm afraid that I won't be able to keep up with Re Hu. I even want to get involved in this kind of thing. I don't think my surname is Wang anymore. I can change my surname to Jing later!"

(End of this chapter)