Spring ploughing is the time to officially start the war against locusts.
There are only a few fields with good water conditions, but fortunately it is easier to eliminate locust eggs in other fields.
As the saying goes, "If you plow the ground an inch deeper in spring, pests will have nowhere to hide." As long as you plow the ground an inch deeper, you can turn up the locust eggs.
Farmers pick up locust eggs as big as their little finger joints and crush them. They smash the remaining smaller eggs directly with a hoe. Then they flatten the land with rolling stones and plow deeply on one side to kill all the locust eggs in the field.
Although the steps for killing insect eggs are simple, the labor is very large and tiring.
The farmers gritted their teeth and worked hard, not daring to relax at all.
Fortunately, King Zichu of Qin ordered the Qin soldiers who had attacked other countries to return to the fields, otherwise the labor force in the fields would not be enough to complete the task of killing insect eggs during the spring plowing period.
Locusts don't just lay eggs in fields. There are more locust eggs in the wild.
Young and strong farmers have already used up all their energy and time to kill locust eggs in fields and villages, and it is difficult for them to take care of locust eggs in the wild.
The elderly, the weak, women and children were organized by officials to go to the tidal flats and wastelands to search for locust eggs.
The barren tidal flats that have been exposed due to continuous drought are now covered with densely packed spawning holes.
There were so many locust eggs that they were piled up in layers on the ground and rocks, making people's scalps numb.
Fortunately, when dealing with locust eggs in wasteland, there is no need to worry about damaging the soil, and the workload is slightly less.
In places where lime water is available, locust eggs are scalded to death with lime water; in places near water, boiling water can also scald locust eggs to death; in relatively low-lying flat land, people first bury the locust eggs with soil, and then burn firewood on the soil to smother the locust eggs...
After killing locust eggs for several months, at the end of May, locust nymphs crawled out.
The second and most important stage of the locust war has arrived.
Later studies have shown that if the locust density reaches ten locusts per square meter, the locusts will mutate and become more suitable for long-distance flight, turning into a locust plague.
Once the locusts start to fly, with the current level of technology, there is little that can be done. So we must eliminate most of the locusts before they start to fly.
King Chu of Qin issued an edict, and the Qin troops and a large number of prisoners from all over the country gathered and waited for orders. In the court, some ministers and generals led the troops, some returned to their fiefdoms, and some returned to their hometowns, each of them taking charge of a region.
There are basically no locust laying grounds south of the Huai River, but the main locust laying grounds are north of the Huai River, especially on the mudflats in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
Ying Xiaozheng did not expect the five countries to control the locust plague. He ordered the Qin army to gather on the south bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Huai River, ready to light bonfires at any time to kill as many locusts as possible that flew across the Huai River.
Generally speaking, the area south of the Huai River was least threatened by the locust plague. Moreover, Ying Xiaozheng was worried that when the five eastern countries were hit by the locust plague, refugees and troops would attack the Qin border.
After some consideration, Ying Xiaozheng ordered Li Mu and Wang Jian to lead 20,000 Qin troops each to the north and station in Taiyuan and Changping counties. While helping the two counties to eliminate locusts, they also tried their best to prevent the locusts in the east from coming to Qin.
Li Mu and Wang Jian took the prince's order and went back to Xianyang to meet King Zichu of Qin first.
Qin Prince Chu joked to Li Mu and Wang Jian: "Why did Zheng'er send you back? Does he want to seize the throne?"
Cai Ze scolded: "Say less."
Lin Zhi also said: "Do you think everyone knows you as well as Cai Ze and I do? Aren't you afraid that Li Mu and Wang Jian will take it seriously and scare themselves into insanity?"
Wang Jian was so frightened that his heart started beating faster.
Li Mu is fine.
The last time he went back to Xianyang with Zhu Xiang, he already understood what kind of person King Zichu of Qin was. He was the same as when he was a prince and a crown prince, and they both loved to joke around.
Li Mu said, "Your Majesty, if the Crown Prince wanted to seize the throne, he would have immediately restrained Xue Ji to prevent her from being beaten. Xue Ji is busy with the summer harvest and is not under house arrest by the Crown Prince, so the Crown Prince has no intention of seizing the throne."
Wang Jian, who was sweating profusely, asked: "?"
Qin Prince Chu nodded: "That makes sense. It seems that the prince has no intention of treason."
Cai Ze: "Sir, can you please shut up?"
Lin Zhi: "You two are still acting?"
After making a few jokes that would scare others to death, King Zichu of Qin officially issued an edict to Wang Jian and Li Mu, asking them to rush to Taiyuan and Changping.
Taiyuan and Changping are both located in present-day Shanxi Province.
After the soil erosion in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, Shanxi will become a severely affected area for locust hatching.
The vegetation in Shanxi is in good condition now, and there are not too many locust eggs. However, Shanxi is adjacent to Zhao and Wei, and these two countries do not know how to control locusts. Locusts will definitely cross the border from Shanxi into Qin.
Zhu Xiang has already rushed to Taiyuan County and Changping County, guarding the front line of the locusts crossing the border.
After the formal meeting, Zichu privately welcomed Li Mu and Wang Jian.
He smiled and said, "After Zhu Xiang was granted the title of Lord Changping, this was the first time he lived in his fiefdom for a long time, except for occasional tours of the fields. Isn't it funny that Lord Changping is not in Changping County?"
Li Mu said, "It does sound interesting that Lord Changping is not in Changping County."
Wang Jian once again had a big bubble of doubt in his head.
What are you talking about? It sounds so confusing.
Lin Zhi and Cai Ze gave Li Mu a look of admiration.
Not everyone can take Zichu's jokes. How could Li Mu find it funny
They were very worried that Zheng'er would not inherit Zichu's talent for "jokes".
They didn't care and were not scared. However, other ministers would probably be frightened by Zheng'er's jokes and live in fear all day long, thinking that Zheng'er was criticizing them. Zheng'er was even puzzled, "Why don't you laugh? Aren't my jokes funny?"
Zichu looks like this now.
Many ministers privately said that Prince Chu of Qin was scheming and suspicious. Lin Zhi and Cai Ze knew that Prince Chu of Qin was indeed scheming, but not suspicious. Most of the time, he was really joking, but others just couldn't tell what he was joking about.
Wang Jian felt envious when he saw that Li Mu and the King of Qin were having a pleasant conversation.
He thought about whether he should be more natural, but when he listened to Li Mu and Zichu talking about "funny or not", he couldn't think of what was funny at all, so he could only drink and eat meat in silence.
He should have earned the King of Qin's appreciation and favor by performing meritorious deeds on the battlefield. He was not good at chatting.
Zichu only kept Wang Jian and Li Mu for one day and then asked them to lead their troops to help Zhu Xiang.
After Wang Jian and Li Mu led their troops away, the Qin court officials learned that Crown Prince Zheng had sent troops to Xianyang without authorization, and they were terrified.
When King Zichu of Qin told them that Wang Jian and Li Mu had already gone to Taiyuan and Changping, they were speechless.
It should be a very serious matter for the Crown Prince to send troops north without authorization. Can you, King Qin, be more serious
They once again deeply felt that this father and son were indeed different from ordinary monarchs and princes. Prince Chu of Qin really doted on Prince Zheng too much.
The two famous generals Wang Jian and Li Mu returned to the north, and the five countries that had been ready to take action when they saw Qin being invaded by locusts immediately calmed down.
Zhu Xiang had been collecting information from the other five countries and sent envoys to persuade them to join the locust eradication campaign.
The result disappointed him greatly.
What does it mean that Qin was hit by a locust plague
Severely salinized tidal flats are the main locust-laying grounds. Therefore, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the coastal tidal flats between the Yellow River and the Huai River are the worst locust-infested areas. Especially after the flood on the north bank of the Huai River, the wasteland after the flood waters recede is the best breeding ground for locusts to lay eggs.
These places are all within the borders of the five countries!
The State of Qin began to recuperate in the later years of King Zhaoxiang of Qin. During the past decade or so, it had been building water conservancy projects and reclaiming wasteland everywhere, destroying the best hatching environment for locust eggs. Therefore, the State of Qin was actually the country with the fewest locust egg gathering areas.
Your disaster will be more serious. Why are you celebrating the locust plague in Qin and turning a blind eye to the locust plague in your own country
When Zhu Xiang found that he could not persuade the king at all, he sent people to visit important ministers and officials in various countries.
No minister in Qi State took the locust plague seriously.
Qi State had convenient sea salt supply, and the nobles had accumulated a lot of wealth through business. The country was extravagant and had to buy food. The few nobles' fields were in places with good irrigation conditions and there were no locust eggs.
Are you asking the nobles to kill locusts for the common people? How absurd!
A few ministers of Yan State were persuaded, but Yan State was at war with Zhao State, so it did not have the extra manpower and resources to do these things.
These ministers could only write to the King of Yan and request him to issue an imperial decree to allow the common people to prepare for the locust plague themselves.
At least it's better than doing nothing.
Zhao State had the foundation left by Pingyuan Jun and Pingyang Jun, and had a high degree of trust in Zhu Xiang. In addition, Zhao State was also a locust-stricken area, so they actively responded to Zhu Xiang's call.
But King Yan of Zhao was very dissatisfied with Zhu Xiang's interference in Zhao's internal affairs.
Moreover, he had just sent Pang Nuan, who had been released, to attack the State of Yan. For a monarch, the best achievement was to conquer cities and win battles one after another. Although there was no benefit in attacking the State of Yan now, King Yan of Zhao was obsessed with the vanity brought to him by the surrender and gifts from the State of Yan from time to time.
King Yan of Zhao was asked to give up attacking the State of Yan and shift manpower and resources to exterminating locusts, but he refused.
If there is a locust plague in Zhao, then we can just go and rob Yan of its food. Didn't Lian Po do this? If Lian Po could do it, my generals can do it too.
The ministers of the State of Zhao had no choice but to send people to their fiefdoms and hometowns to organize the locust extermination.
Their reputation among the people increased, while King Yan of Zhao's reputation among the people decreased.
Guo Kai said to Zhao Wangyan: "They are using your reputation to gain fame for themselves, just like what Zhu Xiang did to our late king. Your Majesty must be on guard!"
King Yan of Zhao therefore hated those ministers who had privately exterminated the locusts, and wrote down their names one by one, preparing to settle the score with them in the future.
Many middle and low-level officials and scholars in Wei State had connections with Lord Xinling. Zhu Xiang relied on Lord Xinling's reputation and many people were willing to cooperate with Qin State's locust eradication campaign.
But the King of Wei was still ill, and the Crown Prince of Wei was a mediocre and incompetent person who did not dare to make any big decisions on his own, so there was no movement in the upper echelons of the Wei court.
In Wei, as in Zhao, the middle and lower class scholars acted on their own, while the upper class nobles and the king watched coldly.
However, Wei did not resort to war, so it had more financial and material resources. Its land area was small, and most locust eggs gathered on both sides of the Yellow River, so it was more efficient in cleaning up than Zhao.
Zhu Xiang finally heard some slightly better news.
As for the State of Chu, it was the place that Zhu Xiang was most disappointed with.
Although Qi did nothing, it had always been like that and was far away from Qin, so Zhu Xiang had no hope.
The current territory of Chu is sandwiched between the Yellow River and the Huai River. The Huai River has flooded once, making it the country most seriously infested with locust eggs.
Chu once had scholars like Qu Yuan and Chunshen Jun, and there should be people with noble character in the scholar-official class. Now there is a famous general like Xiang Yan who is good at leading troops and has good organizational skills.
Zhu Xiang originally thought that the Chu court would pay more attention to this matter.
But the King of Chu still did not care about the matter. Prime Minister Li Yuan was only concerned with fighting for power. Other aristocratic families such as the Qu family were engaged in political struggles with Li Yuan and ignored the reminders from the Qin State.
Zhu Xiang sent an envoy to meet Xiang Yan, but Xiang Yan not only refused, he also killed the envoy sent by Zhu Xiang.
After learning that the envoy had been killed, Zhu Xiang was stunned for a long time.
With the previous experience of Chunshen Jun, Xiang Yan did not dare to have too close a relationship with Zhu Xiang, let alone do anything for the common people without authorization.
The envoy was very angry and sneered at Xiang Yan, saying that Xiang Yan appeared to be eager to serve the public but in fact he could not advise the king, nor sympathize with the common people. He was not as good at fighting as Changping Jun who had never been to the battlefield. He was like a monkey in clothes who was just imitating the appearance of a human.
Xiang Yan became angry and killed the envoy.
Zhu Xiang put his hands over his eyes and remained silent for a long time.
In order to convince the scholars and officials of various countries as much as possible, he sent envoys whose ancestral homes were all local people.
The envoy killed by Xiang Yan was a Chu person.
The envoy's hometown was within the present-day territory of the State of Chu. He volunteered to persuade the ministers of the State of Chu to exterminate the locusts.
His hometown was once the fief of Chunshen Jun. Although he never followed Chunshen Jun, he admired his words and deeds.
Zhu Xiang guessed that the envoy probably knew that he would be killed if he angered Xiang Yan in this way, but he still couldn't hold back the anger in his heart.
After Chunshen Jun's death, Xiang Yan once had the momentum to replace Chunshen Jun's title.
Especially after Zhu Hai brought Xinling Jun's coffin to ask Yan and Chu to withdraw their troops, and Xiang Yan threatened to take responsibility and make the Chu army withdraw, his reputation for righteousness continued to rise.
The Southern Chu State was destroyed, and the King of Chu was in fear every day. Ling Yin Li Yuan also felt the pressure from the Qin army and was willing to share power with Xiang Yan, the only famous general in Chu State who could fight. So Xiang Yan returned to the top class of the nobles of Chu State.
At this time, Xiang Yan began to respect wise men and keep many retainers, like Chunshen Jun and Xinling Jun. The people of Chu also regarded Xiang Yan as the next "Four Lords of the Warring States Period", who was only short of the title of a lord.
Xiang Yan followed the example of Chunshen Jun and Xinling Jun because he wanted to get this title.
Although he had fiefdoms, the upper class of the Chu State was controlled by nobles of the same surname as the King of Chu, and the title of feudal lord was rarely granted to nobles of different surnames.
Chunshen Jun and the King of Chu supported each other in Qin for ten years, and Chunshen Jun helped the King of Chu return to his country to inherit the throne, so that he could become a feudal lord of Chu.
Xiang Yan believed that the safety of the Chu State now depended on him alone, and he should also be given a formal title of lord to elevate the Xiang family to a higher level.
The envoy's words not only angered Xiang Yan, but also angered the Xiang clan members.
Although Xiang Yan was angry, he actually wanted to let the envoy go. However, a group of young Xiang clan members surrounded the envoy and hacked him to death.
The Xiang clan has been arrogant and domineering since Xiang Yan came to power, and the Chu people are also very irritable. How can they tolerate their head of the family being insulted
They killed the Qin envoy who insulted their master, which was also in line with the morality of this world.
When Xiang Yan found out, it was already too late, and he had to take the blame.
Zhu Xiang covered his eyes with his hands for a long time, and said in a hoarse voice: "You said he just couldn't hold back his anger, so he insulted Xiang Yan even though he knew it might anger Xiang Yan. But you all can escape back, how could he not escape back?"
Those who escaped back knelt on the ground without saying a word.
Zhu Xiang laughed hoarsely and said, "It's not that he couldn't help himself, he was deliberately seeking death to ruin Xiang Yan's reputation."
The man who escaped back clenched his hands in his sleeves, no longer pretending to be frightened, and gnashed his teeth and said, "He, Xiang Yan, assisted Zhou in his tyranny and sent people to surround and kill Chunshen Jun. He even shamelessly compared himself to Chunshen Jun? If he could do the same thing as Chunshen Jun, it would be fine. Now he knows that Chu is in trouble but dares not to take action. My Lord Father is just telling the truth!!"
Zhu Xiang said, "Yes, he told the truth. If Xiang Yan didn't save his hometown, he would have ruined the reputation Xiang Yan wanted most. Sir, you are very righteous."
Zhu Xiang put down his hand, his eyes red: "I will avenge you, sir."
The man kowtowed vigorously and then burst into tears.
This time he was not pretending, he really vented the sadness and anger that had accumulated in his heart.
This person is from the same hometown as the envoy.
Their hometowns were all in Chunshen Jun's original fiefdoms, which is why they were able to meet Zhu Xiang and be employed by him.
Chunshen Jun's fief was in Huaibei, adjacent to Qi State, which was the place where the locust plague was most serious.
"I will send someone to lobby the local county magistrate. The county magistrate also has the power to organize the common people to kill locusts." Zhu Xiang said, "Please don't take the risk to enter Chu again."
The retainers of the murdered envoy took over the appointment as new envoys and rushed to the State of Chu again.
Li Mu was the commander-in-chief on this trip with Wang Jian. Of course, he sent Wang Jian to Taiyuan and went to Changping County himself.
As soon as he arrived, he learned about this and consoled him: "When I destroy Chu, I will place Xiang Yan's head before the envoy's tomb."
The envoy was hacked to death in Chu by members of the Xiang clan, and his body could not be retrieved.
It would be impossible for them to find the envoy's body in the future, so they only built a cenotaph for him.
Zhu Xiang forced a smile: "Then I will wait for your good news."
Zhu Xiang sighed and said, "If Chunshen Jun knew that his fiefdom was plagued by locusts, I wonder how sad he would be."
Li Mu patted Zhu Xiang on the shoulder and said nothing.
Now any words of comfort are pale. They can only do what they can.
Zhu Xiang was depressed for only a few days before he quickly cheered up.
He encountered too much sadness and anger in this era, and if he immersed himself in it, he would not be able to move forward.
Changping County finally had Changping Jun. From officials to common people, everyone was as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood, and they wanted to search every inch of land.
Zhu Xiang met his old acquaintance Bofu.
Although Bofu was born into a commoner family, he had already held the high position of the commander of Changping County, married a wife with whom he had a good relationship, and had a pair of intelligent children.
Li Mu once asked Bofu if he wanted to join his army, but Bofu refused.
Bofu stayed in Changping County and was responsible for examining and arranging the refugees who fled to Changping. After becoming the commander of Changping County, he managed all the city defense troops in Changping County.
These refugees were mostly from Zhao. They had heard of the reputation of Lord Changping, and without a map, they relied on word of mouth to find the location of Changping County and came to Changping County to seek a way to survive.
Most of the initial residents of the newly built county town of Changping County were soldiers and their families from the State of Zhao who had stayed in Changping. Some people came to Changping County when Zhu Xiang left Zhao State and wanted to continue to follow him.
Bofu always considered himself as Zhu Xiang's retainer, and he wanted to help Zhu Xiang settle down the Zhao people who came to Changping County. This must be what Changping Jun wanted.
Under the leadership of Zhu Xiang, the officials and people of Changping County dug trenches on the ground and lit fires every night to lure locust nymphs into the trenches, burning many of the nymphs to death.
The nymphs are not poisonous. Zhu Xiang also led the army and the people to catch some nymphs, dry them, grind them and mix them with grain to make cakes or porridge, which could reduce some of the food pressure.
Another two months passed, and the locust's wings finally grew out.
They flew up.
Farmers held nets and pitchforks and piled up firewood. They waited anxiously for the crops in the fields to mature while preparing for the arrival of the locust army.
King Chu of Qin ordered the entire country of Qin to enter a state of war, and almost all the ministers in the court were already stationed in various counties.
King Zichu of Qin also came to Changping in person, and the prime minister and the chancellor were also in the area where the locust plague was most serious.
"Zhu Xiang, can we win?" asked Prince Chu of Qin.
Zhu Xiang said, "When it comes to survival, it doesn't matter whether you can win or not. We have to fight anyway."
Qin Wang Zichu rolled his eyes at Zhu Xiang and said with a cough, "I know, I just asked you to say something nice."
Zhu Xiang said: "We will definitely win. Can you still hold on?"
Qin Wang Zichu said: "We have to hold on even if we can't."
Zhu Xiang was silent for a while, then looked up into the distance: "Yeah."
In September of the eighth year of Qin Prince Chu in 243 BC, the locusts matured.
The locust plague in Qin did not gather into a large disaster. Scattered locust swarms appeared in various counties and prefectures, and they were quickly extinguished under the strict organization of the Qin people.
The farmers killed the locusts while harvesting the crops, working day and night to snatch food from the locusts' mouths.
The weapons in the hands of the Qin army became fishing nets. Even though they only had daily food and salary subsidies and it was not counted as military merit, none of them cheated or acted slyly. They were more focused than fighting on the battlefield.
The locust plague in Qin's homeland was brought under control, but the disaster had just begun.
In October, locusts came from the east, covering the sky and the sun.
Beacons were burning everywhere along the Qin border.
The beacon fire was not intended to warn of an enemy attack, but to use fire and smoke to drive away the locusts and prevent them from moving further west.
The Qin people put some smelly dry grass and branches into the beacon fire, and the smoke rose to the sky, entangled with the locust swarm. The sun in the sky was completely obscured by the locust swarm and smoke, and the world seemed to have fallen into hell.
Seeing this scene, every Qin soldier guarding the border was so shocked that he was speechless.
They have tried hard enough, and the locust plague in Qin has been almost under control. But the locusts are coming from the east, what can they do? What can they do? !
Qin Prince Chu had a cold expression and sneered, "I might as well give up saving the people and just wipe out the five kingdoms."
Zhu Xiang said: "Stop talking nonsense and get to work."
Together with Zichu, he personally guarded a beacon fire on the hillside, adding firewood and smelly herbs to the beacon fire.
Locust swarms can fly at altitudes of more than a thousand meters. Flames cannot stop them from flying, but their phototaxis will make them actively fly towards a fire at night.
Locusts flew into the fire, making it burn more vigorously.
Although the swarms of locusts in the sky still covered the sun, it seemed that the "clouds" had become a little thinner.
Swarms of locusts flew across the Qin border.
Then, the second and third beacon walls were connected, and beacons were lit in all the counties.
The Qin scholars sang "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Datian" by the beacon fire, and the soldiers and common people sang along with them.
"It is both square and black, both hard and good, neither weeds nor tares.
Get rid of the borers and other pests, and don't let them harm the young plants in my fields.
The ancestor of the field has a god who holds fire."
Tian Zu has a god, who is responsible for the fire!
(End of this chapter)