sovbooks Chapter 81 Curing Natural Disasters
Chapter 81 Curing Natural Disasters
Chapter 81 Curing Natural Disasters
"Duck?"
Little Sizi tilted his head and thought for a moment, "Feeding vegetable leaves! And—and earthworms! Ducks love worms the most, every time they see one they run as fast as they can, quacking as they rush over!"
Su Mu snapped his fingers: "That's right."
He looked at Li Shimin and said, "In the water towns of Jiangnan, there are plenty of ducks. One duck can eat more than two hundred locusts a day."
If you send tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of ducks over, that's a massive pest control army.
"Duck—a duck?"
Wei Zheng's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Send ducks to help with disaster relief?"
This is simply unheard of!
Throughout history, disaster relief has relied on either food or soldiers, or even sacrifices; I've never heard of relying on a bunch of hairy beasts!
"Don't underestimate these hairy beasts."
Su Mu spat out the dry grass in his mouth. "They eat insects much more efficiently than humans."
No need to bend over, no tools required, and no toxicity concerns.
Moreover, ducks grow quickly, eat locusts, lay eggs, and their meat is edible.
This way, the insects were eliminated and meat was provided for the disaster victims. Why not do it?
Li Shimin was stunned on the spot.
Suddenly, an image flashed into his mind: a vast army of ducks quacking as they rushed towards the swarms of locusts, a scene that, though comical, was surprisingly brilliant upon closer examination!
"Wonderful! Wonderful!"
Li Shimin slapped his thigh hard, the force of which stung, but he couldn't suppress the joy on his face. "This duck can be eaten! This is a brilliant plan that kills two birds with one stone—no, three birds with one stone!"
"besides."
Before Su Mu could finish speaking, he said, "Relying solely on ducks won't work. At night, we need to build bonfires in the fields and burn those damp firewoods that produce a lot of smoke."
Locusts are attracted to light; they fly towards fire and are stunned by smoke. So, under that pile of fire, there will be a layer of roasted locusts—that's truly effortless roasting.
Smoke and fire, a vast army of ducks.
This combination of measures, while not eradicating the locusts, will definitely suppress the spread of the disaster!
Li Shimin jumped to his feet and excitedly spun around twice.
The feeling of being overwhelmed by the natural disaster, which had been suffocating me, finally eased.
"Xuancheng! Did you hear that? Ducks! Bring ducks from Jiangnan!"
Li Shimin grabbed Wei Zheng's shoulder and shook him, "There's still a bonfire! I'll go back to the palace right now and have the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue join forces. Even if we have to pull it by boat or push it by cart, we have to get this army of ducks to Henan!"
Wei Zheng, his face flushed, nodded repeatedly: "Your Majesty, I will draft the decree immediately! If this method succeeds, Su Mu will be credited with the greatest merit!"
"Alright, stop making empty promises."
Su Mu waved his hand and yawned. "It will take quite a few days to transport the ducks. You should focus on getting the grain delivered first. It would be a joke if the ducks arrived while the people were starving."
Li Shimin agreed wholeheartedly and nodded solemnly.
Looking at the young man in front of him, who reeked of cooking oil and looked completely indifferent, the urge to drag him back to the imperial court surged up again.
But he also knew that such a master was likely to run away if pushed too far.
"I will remember this feast of flying shrimp today."
Li Shimin took a deep breath, picked up the plate of fried locusts along with the winnowing basket, and said, "I'll take this with me. I'll let my family members have a taste when I get back, so they'll know what it means to have a way out."
After saying that, he disregarded all imperial dignity, carrying the winnowing basket in one hand and holding the little ox's hand, who still wanted to linger a little longer, and strode out.
"Goodbye, Guoguo! I'll definitely order that crunchy flying shrimp duck again next time!"
Little Sizi kept turning back to look at Su Mu, her big eyes glued to him, and in the end, Li Lizhi managed to coax and trick her away.
Su Mu leaned against the door frame, watching the group's hurried figures disappear into the alleyway, and shook his head.
"The duck army — I hope these ancient people can take good care of these ancestors."
He turned and went back into the house, looking at the half-eaten pot of oil, feeling a little heartbroken. "Tsk, what a waste. This oil could have been used to fry two batches of stinky tofu."
The lights in the Taiji Hall stayed on all night.
Minister of War Li Jing, Minister of Revenue Dai Zhou, and Fang Xuanling, these bigwigs, were dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, each with dark circles under their eyes, listening to His Majesty the Emperor's "Duck Raising Plan" with a bewildered expression.
"Your Majesty, this—will this work?"
Dai Zhou held the unstamped imperial edict, his hands trembling slightly. "Jiangnan is a long way off. Transporting tens of thousands of ducks will be incredibly expensive—"
"It cost me money!"
Li Shimin waved his hand and slammed the unfinished winnowing basket onto the imperial table. "Look at this!"
These are locusts! Even if it means emptying the national treasury, I will accept it as long as there's a way to wipe them out!
Several ministers leaned over to take a sniff, and the domineering aroma of the oil, even when cooled, scared away all their drowsiness.
-
Fang Xuanling was bold; he picked one up, tasted it, and his eyes widened immediately.
The following morning, urgent imperial edicts were dispatched by fast horses, rushing out of the Mingde Gate of Chang'an City and heading in all directions.
On the official road leading to Henan, grain carts rolled and dust flew everywhere.
Further south on the waterways, countless merchant ships that originally carried grain and silk were requisitioned. Instead of gold and silver treasures, their holds were filled with cages of quacking ducks.
Henan Road, disaster area.
With his mouth full of blisters, Governor Wang Yuanzheng looked at the yellowish-brown insect clouds flying all over the city and was so desperate that he wanted to take off his belt and hang it on the city tower.
"My lord! My lord! The imperial reinforcements have arrived!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Yuan's cloudy old eyes instantly lit up: "How many troops have arrived? How much food have they brought?"
"Not many soldiers."
The messenger had a strange expression. "Well—well, a lot of ducks have come."
"Duck?"
Wang Yuan almost couldn't catch his breath.
Before he could react, he heard a deafening creaking sound coming from afar.
The combined sounds were even louder than the flapping of locust wings!
On the horizon, a dark mass surged in.
They were neither cavalry nor infantry, but a group of strutting ducks with their heads held high and their gait swaying!
The ducks were clearly starving from their journey, and when they saw the locusts hopping all over the ground, they were like hungry wolves eyeing meat.
Without needing to be herded, it squawked and charged into the swarm of insects.
The scene was nothing short of a one-sided massacre.
A duck stretches and retracts its neck, and a locust is gone.
Where thousands of ducks passed by, the once dense layer of locusts instantly became sparse.
Wang Yuan lay on the crenellations of the city wall, watching this scene, tears streaming down his face.
"A divine duck—a divine duck has descended from the heavens!"
On the ridge of a field not far away, several piles of freshly lit, damp firewood were billowing thick smoke.
The locusts flying in the sky were smoked by the smoke and fell down like rain. Before they even hit the ground, the ducks guarding below caught them in their beaks.
On this day, the people of Henan Province discovered for the first time that this despairing locust plague was not insurmountable.