While seriously ill, Ma Chao still came to Chang'an City. It's just that this time, he didn't ride the long-spirited and noble elephant dragon Xiaohei alone, but reluctantly sat in the carriage accompanied by Cai Yan, Diao Chan and other women.

"In the Sili area, the chickens and ducks that are stocked all over the mountains are still there?" Ma Chao lay in the carriage, occasionally opening the window to observe the disaster outside. At this time, the carriage had just left Weiyang Palace, and it had not yet reached the outside of the city where the locust plague was infested.

"It's still there, it's still there" Chen Haojie was naturally not really killed by Diao Chan, Ma Chao was personally treated by Hua Tuo, and after waking up, he asked Chen Haojie to take him to the disaster area outside the city. When the order for pardon was given, Chen Haojie's neck was only a few inches away from the knife

"Since the Sili area has been stocked with chickens and ducks according to my orders, and millions of victims have also captured locusts under the call of the Ma family, why is the locust plague still breaking out?!" Ma Chao said weakly, he has always believed that man will win the day. And this time, he also felt that his precautions were already in place.

"There is no other reason, it is because there are too many locusts" Diao Chan waved his hand to let Chen Haojie, who was driving outside the window, drive with peace of mind, and Chen Haojie saw Diao Chan, as if a mouse saw a cat, panicked and with a sense of relief, and quickly escaped from Diao Chan's sight: For this woman who is not like a woman, I saw that when we met for the first time, Chen Haojie was already scared to the core.

Diao Chan shook her head with a wry smile, and she naturally saw the happy eyes of Chen Haojie when she fled. It's just that she is now full of worries, and she is still sick. She patted Ma Chao's hand, wanting to use some relaxing words to relax Ma Chao's mood: "The chickens and ducks all over the mountains, these days eating locusts have eaten locusts and their legs are fighting, and they are almost dying."

"Oh" Obviously, Diao Chan's words did not alleviate Ma Chao's worries. After Ma Chao listened, he muttered, "There are so many? ”

Ma Chao has not personally experienced the locust plague, but in his previous life, as a technician at the agricultural base station, he had seen some locust plague materials. I think back to the slides that covered the sky and the sun, full of pits and valleys, all that stuff. Ma Chao couldn't help but feel a little creepy, thinking about the scene where the locusts flew up like a sandstorm, how spectacular and terrifying it was!

"Let the locusts come harder! The life and death of the Ma family may be in this battle!! Ma Chao gritted his teeth and said this, raised his head and asked Liu Yue again: "Those chickens, ducks and geese, as well as the cattle and sheep from the last auction, as well as the pigs purchased by the Ma family Rangguan and Li, are still there?" ”

"It's all there" Liu Yue understood what Ma Chao meant by asking this sentence, and comforted Ma Chao: "Although the locust plague may gnaw all the grain in the Sili area, these poultry and livestock can still support it for a while." If they can catch up with the grain harvest in Yongzhou, then the Ma family will be able to survive this difficulty. ”

"It is true that we can survive this difficulty, but in this way, the Ma family will not have any seeds to cultivate next year. The inventory and harvest in Yongzhou, I know Yue'er better than you, you don't have to comfort me. Ma Chao waved his hand, as if he was feeling a little tired. But after he closed his eyes, he spoke again: "Tell the household department to let them hand over all the goats and cows to the military department." If the situation is indeed out of the control of the Ma family, then the Ma family can only regress to the initial stage, relying on tens of thousands of dairy sheep and cows to fight guerrilla warfare."

When Ma Teng started his home, he relied on 30,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalry to fight in action. Even in the first year of Ma Chao's occupation of Fufeng County, when he was marching north to the outside of the Saiwai, he also relied on driving cattle and sheep to fight guerrillas. The crop yield in the northwest is not as good as that in the Central Plains, but they have a lot of research on animal husbandry. Cow's milk and goat's milk is their best food, and they drink it full, which is more than grain.

For the people of the Northwest, cattle and sheep are the source of their food and clothing, and the people of the Northwest cherish them tightly. Although there are hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep grazing, they rarely eat meat, most of them eat barley flour mixed with cheese, and only eat meat when they are feasting on guests or when the cattle and sheep die of old age. It wasn't until Ma Chao later received the first harvest of Fufeng County that the situation of cattle and sheep fighting with the army gradually began to move away.

It's just that this locust plague may really make the Ma family return to the initial stage of guerrilla warfare. Ma Chao smiled bitterly, he really didn't want to believe that he had been stealing and robbing for three years, and a catastrophe made him return to before liberation

"Relying on cattle and sheep to accompany the army as a source of military food? Husband, what do you mean, Ma Jiajun is going to use force again? Diao Chan heard Ma Chao say this, and couldn't help but ask again. Although she also knew that Ma Chao might not answer her question.

But this time, Ma Chao glanced at Diao Chan, and saw the brightness and worry in Diao Chan's eyes, as well as that trace of longing. He softened his heart and said: "I asked you to arrange for Xiao Tian and Mu Yuanfeng to investigate the news of Yuan Shu, just to leave a good way back for the Ma family, if it really can't hold on, the Ma family will let Yuan Shu do it"

"Why Yuan Shu?" Diao Chan was puzzled, at this time, Yuan Shu was still a predator entrenched in Yuzhou, and compared to the Ma family, it was not much better. Diao Chan couldn't figure out why Ma Chao chose this hard bone.

"Because" Ma Chao just wanted to explain, but suddenly felt that he seemed to hear the roar of the plane taking off in his ears, from far and near, he was wondering if he was hallucinating, to see if anyone else was sent to the Three Kingdoms by the plane, and when he went to welcome him, he heard Chen Haojie outside the window howl miserably: "Lord, master and mother sit down quickly, the locusts are coming!" ”

Diao Chan hurriedly lifted the window to check, only to see that the carriage had already reached the outskirts of Chang'an, and there was a yellow cloud on the horizon in the distance quickly rushing towards them, and millions of finger-long locusts spread their wings and danced quickly in the air, converging into a huge roar similar to that of an airplane taking off, covering the sky like an overwhelming one.

In the face of natural disasters, Ma Chao, whose heart was like gold and iron, suddenly felt that his heart was hit by a heavy hammer, and Diao Chan, Liu Yue, Cai Yan and other women were even more disgraced in an instant.

"Let the horse go!" At the critical moment, it was Ma Chao who reacted first and shouted: "Hide in the car and cover the doors and windows!" ”

When Chen Haojie heard this, a trace of determination flashed in his eyes, at this moment, he remembered that he was Ma Chao's personal guard. He knew that if the horse was frightened and fled at this time, the people in the car would definitely be severely affected. He rolled over, let go of the wagon, and stabbed the horses twice in the buttocks, allowing the four panicked horses to gallop away in the way there were no locusts.

Ma Chao in the car ripped off the placket of his clothes, wrapped his head and face layer after layer, leaving only his mouth and eyes, and wrapped strips of cloth around his hands, and then tied the neckline, sleeves, and trouser legs tightly, so that the panicked women did the same. And Chen Haojie also plunged into the carriage at this time, didn't care about anything else, and put down the curtain when he came up, covering it tightly!

It seems that in the next moment, everyone only felt that the whole body seemed to be in the center of the sandstorm, and the outside of the car seemed to be constantly knocked by the thick stones, which made people feel terrified, and everyone knew that it was a locust crashing into the car, and the timid Fu Shou was so frightened that he didn't even dare to open his eyes.

But this could not stop the invasion of locusts at all, and many locusts seemed to want to see the people in the car. couldn't help but get in through the gaps in the car curtains and windows, causing the women to scream in shock, and Chen Haojie was even more anxious to punch and kick when he saw this, eager to bite the locusts that got into the car to death.

The impact lasted for half an hour before it gradually subsided. After hearing that there was no longer a feeling of impact on the car, Ma Chao opened his eyes, asked Chen Haojie to tear off the car curtain, and laughed miserably at the unfamiliar land.

In half an hour, the whole earth seemed to be covered with a yellow coat, and there were wriggling locusts everywhere, and broken branches fell from time to time on the tall canopy, and the fat branches that fell into the air quickly lost weight and became thinner, and when they landed, only bare branches without bark remained.

In the fields on both sides of the road, there was a rustling sound of spring silkworms nibbling mulberry leaves, but the sound was much louder, and the gnawing was much more powerful than that of silkworms, which made people creepy.

Several locusts climbed on each crop, and the tender green veins disappeared in an instant, and large areas of farmland with a good harvest in sight became a feeding ground for locusts.

Ma Chao stretched out his sick hand tremblingly, as if he wanted to grasp something. In the end, he put it down, and in his pale lips, he gently spit out a sentence: "Is the sky going to kill my Ma family?!" ”

PS: Sorry for the late update, although it's usually not early. But this time, after writing this chapter, I found that the mobile phone was in arrears and the network was disconnected, and it took me half a day to pay the phone bill, which delayed everyone, sorry.