"This year's crop is doomed!"

Wang Tianxing's words caused a sigh, as long as you have long eyes, you know that this year's crop failure is settled, isn't this nonsense?

The young man did not know what it was like to be sad, and a few bear children were playing in the shade of the trees, in stark contrast to the sad peasants.

There was not much water in the riverbed, but fortunately, it rained heavily, and the dry soil in the riverbed was gone.

When Zhen Qian approached, he found that in addition to a few frogs that had not run far away, there were dozens of locusts caught by bear children under the tree, tied to their legs with small grass, as if they were fighting locusts under the tree just now, and there was a small fire next to it, and several locusts were skewered on it by a branch, and they were almost roasted.

"Locusts can eat it too?" Wang Tianxing blinked his lips and said in disbelief.

Zhen Qian asked, "Remember what you have eaten before, how does it taste?" ”

"The taste is ok!"

Wang Tianxing remembered the scene where he and Zhen Qian knew about the barbecue, the taste was really good, and it tasted very crispy.

"The taste of roasted locusts is also good, but the best way to eat locusts is to fry them, they are crispy and delicious, if you sprinkle a little more pepper and salt, the taste is simply amazing, and it is also a good medicinal material", Zhen Qian said and swallowed a mouthful of spit, the locusts he had eaten before were all raised, and he had not eaten them all.

"Pests are also medicinal herbs?"

Zhen Qian's words completely subverted Wang Tianxing's three views, his sister's will not be joking, let's play by myself! Wang Tianxing knew that Zhen Qian sometimes liked to laugh, but he usually didn't lie with his eyes open, but asked very cooperatively: "What is the curative effect of locusts, and what diseases can they treat?" ”

"Locusts have the effect of warming the stomach and ribs, strengthening the spleen and eliminating food, dispelling wind and relieving cough. I used to read a miscellaneous book on medicine, locusts can be used alone, or in combination with other medicinal materials, can treat many diseases, such as tetanus, children's convulsions, fever, asthma, swelling, chilblains, tracheitis, etc. For example, you can take ten decoctions internally, or fry them and grind them into powder to treat chilblains, etc., and then use sesame oil to prepare and apply them to the affected area after frying and grinding them into powder, which has a good effect! ”

Wang Tianxing was surprised, and the people around him also looked at Zhen Qian with the same expression, and for a while, they couldn't associate pests with life-saving medicinal materials.

Zhen Qianyu was not shocked, and continued: "You don't know, these locusts can be eaten as food, or as medicinal herbs, we bow our heads from the field to catch some back, and when we catch them, they must be alive, and then washed with water, and then salted, and cooked by various cooking methods, the taste is extremely delicious, I don't believe we can give it a try!" ”

Immediately, a few people vomited, feeling panicked, their chests were stuffy, their mouths were a little nauseous, they covered their chests with one hand and their mouths with the other, and hurriedly turned their heads and didn't dare to listen any more.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi said: "The master's words are right, I remember eating locusts when I was a child, and at that time there was no meat at home, so I could only find some insects to roast and eat, and the taste was really good!" Saying that, he left a few bear children and the locusts that were about to be roasted on the fire again, put them in his mouth and ate them, "Quack, Quack" a few times, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ate a bunch of locusts and there was no one left, and Wang Tianxing was disgusted for a while.

Zhen Qian felt that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was putting on a show, but this was good, knowing that observing words and feelings, the persuasion would be stronger, and locusts were still fried and delicious, so he would not lead by example now.

Locusts are pests, each time they lay a lot of eggs, especially in an arid environment, it is more beneficial to locusts to reproduce, grow and develop, in the drier season, the soil is solid and has less water content, which is most suitable for them to lay eggs, and drought makes locusts multiply and grow rapidly.

In dry years, as the water level drops, the soil becomes firmer, the water content decreases, the ground vegetation is sparse, and the number of eggs laid by locusts increases dramatically, sometimes from 200,000 to 400,000 eggs per square meter.

In addition, in drought years, the water surface of rivers and lakes shrinks and low-lying land is exposed, which also provides more suitable places for locusts to lay eggs. Drought can also cause locusts to migrate and form larger swarms, leading to large locust infestations.

However, the ancients did not know much about locusts, but there was a saying that the locust god had to worship the locust god in case of locust plague. There is also a saying that locusts are transformed into fish eggs, saying that when the drought dries up, the fish and shrimp turn into locusts, so there are many fish and trillion years. It is also said that locusts fly into the sea and turn into fish and shrimp.

According to official historical records, during the Qin and Han dynasties, locust plagues broke out on average once every eight * nine years. By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, it broke out once in about five years, and once in three and a half years in the two Song dynasties, once in one and six years in the Yuan Dynasty, and once in two and eight years in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Locust plagues have occurred one after another, and most of the affected areas are concentrated in the three provinces of Hebei, Henan, and Shandong in the Central Plains. It is also distributed in the Jianghuai and Jianghan regions, and when it is severe, it will also erupt in the Guanzhong area, and even spread throughout the Loess Plateau.

The most vulnerable place to the outbreak of locust plague is the Yellow River, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the basin, where every time a major flood is followed by a severe drought. The alternating occurrence of floods and droughts will lead to the emergence of many large areas of barren beaches and abandoned lands along lakes, coastal areas, river floods, and waterlogged areas.

Locust plagues are actually worldwide, and not only in ancient China, which were plagued by locusts, but also in other parts of China, large-scale locust plagues have been recorded.

Far from it, in 2004, a massive locust plague occurred in Eilat, a city on the Red Sea coast of Israel, where millions of locusts destroyed a large number of crops and flowers in southern Israel's cities.

Russia is also a hard-hit area of locusts, especially the steppes and arable land, which have reached a record density of 10,000 locusts per square meter in some areas.

Therefore, in May and June of every year, the local plant protection department will have to worry about the prevention and control of the summer locust plague, and in a few months, it will have to worry about the prevention and control of the autumn locust plague.

There is a locust plague in the Tang Dynasty, and there is also a locust plague in the Wa Kingdom, and the locust plague can be regardless of nationality.

These are all common knowledge that later generations have long heard and heard, but for most of the ancients of this era, they could not understand the cause of locusts. I just blindly think that locusts have no rules at all, and they are punishments from heaven, etc., and I don't dare to take the initiative to kill locusts, but blindly burn incense and pray for God's forgiveness, hoping that locusts will leave a mouthful of food for the ancients for the sake of prayer and piety.

(End of chapter)