HLnovel Chapter 987 Drought Leads to Locusts
Chapter 987 Drought Leads to Locusts
It's no wonder Xiao Hu was so alarmed; having grown up in the countryside, he naturally knew how devastating locust plagues could be.
At this time, farming is a matter of living at the mercy of the weather. Ever since they can remember, the older generation has often talked about how terrible locust plagues are.
When locust plagues arrive, they darken the sky and destroy all vegetation wherever they go, leaving corpses strewn along the roads. This is far more severe than floods or droughts, and as word spreads, farmers naturally develop a deep fear of locusts.
Since his birth, over the past few decades, thanks to favorable weather, Little Tiger has never encountered a particularly large locust plague.
Moreover, he had another concern: "After all, the area near the capital is under the emperor's nose, and the various estates are well managed. If anything happens, it's not too difficult to deal with. But I'm afraid that these locusts flew in from the south. There's so much land planted back home, and we have so many relatives and family members. I don't know how they are doing. I think I should write back as soon as possible to let them know and tell them to keep an eye on things. If necessary, they should harvest early to avoid being affected by the locust plague and losing everything!"
Zhang Ping'an's expression remained solemn. He had read more books than Xiao Hu. Throughout history, there have been more than 800 recorded locust plagues, all of which ended tragically.
The disaster was so severe that starving people caught locusts to eat, but when that failed, they resorted to cannibalism.
Drought is the primary catalyst for locust plagues, and the wastelands such as riverbanks and lakeshores formed by alternating periods of drought and flooding become breeding grounds for locusts.
He remembered that last winter, just before the Lunar New Year, he had specifically mentioned this matter to Minister Fan, who readily agreed and said he would make the necessary arrangements.
However, after Minister Fan fell from power, he was no longer in the Ministry of Revenue, and with so many other matters to attend to, it is unclear how the matter progressed.
Now that Li Chong is the newly appointed Minister of Revenue, he will be the first to know if there are disasters in various places. It seems that we still need to ask him and report to the court.
The only saving grace is that it's only the end of April, so things can be big or small.
Ancient locust plagues exhibited a significant seasonality and were closely related to climate and agricultural seasons.
The locusts that Xiaohu discovered this time were probably the earliest and most damaging batch of summer locusts. They hatched from overwintering eggs, and the temperature was suitable at the time, resulting in a very high hatching rate, coinciding with the wheat grain filling and autumn seedling growth period.
Besides summer locusts, there are also autumn locusts, which cause less damage. They are mainly caused by the hatching of eggs laid by adult summer locusts. If the summer is dry and the autumn is warm, an outbreak is likely to occur, which will damage late autumn crops.
Therefore, if the summer locusts are not completely eradicated, the autumn locusts are very likely to return.
Even if the imperial court can provide some disaster relief, it is ultimately the common people who suffer.
Thinking of this, Zhang Ping'an immediately stood up. "Xiao Hu, you did a great job this time. You discovered it in time. We need to notify our hometown. You can write the letter and send it to them on their behalf."
However, once the locust plague starts, it is very likely to be large-scale, and no one can remain unaffected. Ultimately, we must address the problem at its source. I will first go to my colleague in charge of this matter to understand the situation and then see how to report to the imperial court.
Although we still don't know where these locusts came from, based on the direction you mentioned, the most likely place to be affected is the Central Plains region, including Shandong and Kaifeng. We can't be careless!
Xiao Hu knew what was important and nodded repeatedly, "Okay, okay, Brother Ping An, you go ahead and do your thing. I'll write a letter back home. We really can't be careless about the locust plague."
Watching Zhang Ping'an's retreating figure, Xiao Hu felt both envious and admiring. Perhaps only someone as smart and capable as Brother Ping'an could accomplish great things, just like the songs on the stage, saving the common people from suffering!
I'm afraid I can only look up to them and envy them from afar for the rest of my life!
After Zhang Ping'an came out, he immediately instructed the coachman to go directly to the Li residence. However, halfway there, he suddenly remembered something, changed direction, and had the carriage turn around and head to the Ge residence.
After finishing his meal, he sat to the side and listened with some surprise, but didn't ask anything.
Today was a day off, and when Zhang Ping'an arrived with his men, Green Bean Eyes happened to be out too. Hearing the servant report, he was a little puzzled as to why an invitation hadn't been sent out earlier, since it was already past noon.
The two were close, and the man with the beady eyes personally came out to greet them from behind the screen wall.
He chuckled and said, "What wind blew you here? You didn't even send someone to deliver an invitation beforehand. Luckily, I didn't go out, or you would have made a wasted trip. By the way, shouldn't my godson be heading back to his hometown to visit relatives by now?!"
"They've already set off; I personally saw them off at the dock," Zhang Ping'an said succinctly.
Then he raised his head and gestured to go to the main room to talk.
Seeing Zhang Ping'an's expression, the man with the beady eyes knew that what he was about to say was not something that outsiders could hear. He waved his hand lightly, signaling the servants not to follow.
After the two sat down in the main room, Zhang Ping'an didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point: "I remember you told me last year that your family's caravan had already set out to collect grain in various places. Do you know how things are going now?"
The girl with the beady eyes was a little confused when she heard this, not knowing why she was suddenly asked about it, but she didn't hide it from him.
"As you know, our family has been imperial merchants for generations, so we're never short of money. The old man has long hoped that someone in the family would become a scholar and enter the imperial court as an official. Ever since I entered officialdom, he hasn't let me get involved in the family business. Now, my cousin is mainly in charge, and I only handle the year-end profit sharing. But I haven't received any letters from home recently, so I assumed there wasn't anything seriously wrong. Why are you suddenly asking about this? Is something the matter?"
"Today, a member of the clan who is in charge of managing my estate in the suburbs came to report that a lot of locusts have been found in the fields. It's not to the point of causing a plague, but there are many more than usual, which is obviously abnormal. I guess they flew over from somewhere else, and I'm afraid that there will be locust plagues in other places later. I thought that since your family is in business, you are always well-informed about people's livelihoods, so I came to inquire in advance."
When the topic of locust plague came up, even the usually easygoing man with green eyes put away his smile and said seriously, "Regarding the locust plague, I haven't received any letters from my family that mention it, so it shouldn't have spread on a large scale yet."
"But locusts in April mean the land is barren. This is no joke. If it really is a locust plague, we need to have the Ministry of Revenue come up with a plan to kill the locusts in advance, including a series of disaster relief measures that may be affected later. People not having enough to eat is the easiest way to incite public resentment and unrest. Moreover, there was indeed very little rain last winter and the snow came too late. According to the experience of the older generation, there is indeed a possibility of locusts this year."
At this point, the man with the beady eyes got a little angry. "Logically speaking, given the situation last winter, the Ministry of Revenue should have already come up with a solution. Are their people just sitting around doing nothing?!"
Zhang Ping'an's face was tense. "I mentioned this to Minister Fan last winter. He agreed readily at the time, but as you know, things changed later. Didn't they change the person in charge? Alright, don't make a fuss about this yet. It would be bad if it was a misunderstanding. I'll go ask Li Chong first!"
"Alright!" The beady-eyed man nodded, and Zhang Ping'an was not invited to drink tea in this situation.
After everyone left, his face darkened, and he ordered his servants, "Summon the head steward!"