MTL - Feng Xing-Chapter 122

This was probably the most embarrassing trip for King Wei in his life.

He has always loved cleanliness and has to take a bath many times a day, but since leaving Beijing, it has become a luxury, especially after entering Shanxi, he can only wipe it once or twice a day with a wet handkerchief.

It's not that there is no water, because of his identity, he can't be short of anyone without him, but seeing that the water that everyone struggles to find every day is only enough to drink, there is really no way to 'waste' it.

At this time, under the service of Dewang, he wiped himself with a wet handkerchief. After wiping, I changed into a light silk silk robe and shoes and socks, and felt much more comfortable immediately.

King Wei didn't feel wronged, but Dewang felt wronged.

"If the concubine finds out, I'll be so heartbroken. Your Highness really doesn't need to bend himself. At worst, let Wang Baihu and the others find more water."

So Dewang can speak, and he also understands the character of King Wei. If the same words did not have the previous sentence, it is uncertain how King Wei would reprimand him, but if he added the sentence "The princess knows that she should feel distressed", King Wei would not do anything Say.

Dewang babbled a few more words, but he didn't say any more, and he also understood the reason why talking too much was annoying. It's just that as a slave, if the master suffers and he doesn't say anything, he will not be far from falling out of favor.

Because of his words, King Wei couldn't help thinking of his family. After he left, King Wei's mansion would inevitably become the target of public criticism. Brother is used to causing trouble, and Brother Xuan is still young, so I don't know if she can handle it.

Then he thought about how she was an idle girl, how could he despise her just because she was silent in the back house for a long time. In fact, King Wei also understands that after Feng Sheng married him, her freedom was restricted, otherwise the sky is high and the sea is wide, and with her ability, she must not be inferior to the man.

After all, the king of Wei was anxious, so he could think wildly. Since he entered Shanxi, what he saw and heard along the way made him uneasy. He even had a premonition that this drought might be rare in a hundred years, and maybe the situation would not get better next year.

Of course, King Wei would not say these words casually, so as not to discourage everyone.

Just as he was thinking, there was a sudden noise outside the tent.

In order to rush on their way, they packed lightly, carrying only necessary supplies, and lightened the load as much as possible, so even the tent where King Wei lived was very simple, and if there was a little noise outside, he could hear it inside.

King Wei lifted the curtain and went out.

It was Shu Yongtai who came in a hurry, but was stopped by people outside the tent.

In fact, Shu Yongtai also forgot the etiquette for a while, how could he break into King Wei's tent.

"Your Highness, I have something to report, please go with me." Shu Yongtai bowed his hands and spoke hurriedly.

For Shu Yongtai, King Wei still has some appreciation. Before leaving Beijing, Feng Sheng specially selected these people. She even reminded King Wei that he could listen to Shu Yongtai's advice, and said that if it was about the imperial examination, she would pick them. These people are definitely not as good as others, but they are very familiar with local people's livelihood and folk customs, and everyone has their own specialties.

After arriving in Shanxi, Shu Yongtai also advised him a few times. Seeing that his words were well-founded and he was very experienced in dealing with victims, the king of Wei couldn't help but look at him differently. At this time, seeing that he was speaking in a hurry, it must have been aimless, so he didn't say anything and just let him go.

The movement here attracted the attention of other people, but because of the presence of King Wei, everyone only dared to look at it from a distance and did not dare to approach it.

"what is this?"

Seeing the white dots on the soil dug out by Shu Yongtai, although King Wei didn't recognize it, he could still tell that it was some kind of insect eggs, but the shape of this insect eggs was a bit special, so he couldn't be sure.

"Insect eggs." Shu Yongtai continued to dig the soil with a fire stick while talking. He dug out several places in a row, and there were dense insect eggs in the soil dug up in each place. You can't feel it alone, but you can see it together. , which makes people feel a little creepy.

"The so-called waterlogging after a long drought, locusts after extreme droughts, these words are local dialects, and they are actually the accumulated experience of the people. I wonder if Your Highness has seen locust plagues?" Before King Wei could answer, Shu Yongtai said again: " The sky covered the sun and filled the sky, and after a large number of locusts rolled over, no grass grew on the land, and everything was eaten up, the weeds on the ground, the leaves on the trees, if people couldn’t escape, they would even eat human flesh.”

He whispered softly, obviously his voice was not obvious, and his emotions were not agitated, but it made people feel like he was actually there. There were a lot of soldiers nearby who were paying attention to the situation here, but after hearing this, the surroundings were instantly quiet.

"I've seen it!" the **** named Han Shuanzi suddenly shouted.

At this moment, he didn't see the joy of eating meat before, but he didn't know what to recall, his face was pale, and there was still fear in his eyes.

"At that time, there was only one pig left in the family. The drought was too long, and all the food that could be eaten was eaten up. There were still many people in the village who ate Guanyin soil. My mother told my father to kill the pig. Everyone would starve to death. What kind of pig is raised, but my father is really reluctant to kill it, so every year he points to raising this pig to add some needles, thread, lamp oil and cotton to the family, especially when the family spent a lot of money to hold this piggy.

"But at that time, the locusts came so quickly that no one in the village was prepared. The family hid in time, but they forgot to bring the pig into the house. When the locusts swept past, such a big piglet would be left with a skeleton. It was too miserable. Yes! But in the village there were even worse things, several villagers were in the field at that time, there was no place to hide, their bodies were bitten to pieces, and several people died."

Han Shuanzi spoke with lingering fear, and the others seemed to be listening to rural chatter. Some people wanted to say how could it be so scary, so it can be seen that Master Shu and Han Shuanzi are not like deceiving people, so they shut their mouths after a few murmurs.

King Wei frowned: "Then what is the relationship between this thing and the locust plague? Could it be the eggs of locusts?"

Even if King Wei is not stupid, he got in touch soon.

Shu Yongtai also didn't care to immerse himself in the memories, and said: "At that time, my subordinate went to Shaanxi with a boss to take office. It was also that the boss was unlucky. There was a drought in the first year, and it was hard to survive with the relief of the court. In the summer, locusts plagued us. Everyone said that the weather must have been good that year, but no one knew where the insects came from. The entire county's ungrown crops were eaten up by the insects.

"It was only later that I realized that if the drought was severe in the first year, there would be a great possibility of locust plagues in the second year, because locusts would lay their eggs in the ground, and they would lay their eggs very deeply. After a winter of cultivation, the weather would When it gets warmer, it starts to become an adult insect, first a locust gnat, and then an adult insect. After it molts a few times, this thing will fly, and it has the ability to gather crowds. Wherever it flies, it will eat up everything there.”

After listening to Shu Yongtai's words, King Wei's eyebrows could not be stretched for a long time.

"Since you mentioned it on your own initiative, there must be a way to exterminate locusts, but is there any way to solve these things?"

"Dig the ground before winter, dig deep, and freeze the eggs to death. In the spring and summer of the following year, we will gather people to catch insects. As long as the number decreases, it will not cause harm. But the biggest problem now is not next year. But right now—looking at this, I’m afraid there will be a riot this year before winter, if we don’t reduce the number of these insects before the disaster, we will definitely not be able to rely on digging the ground and catching insects next year.”

At this time, Wang Baihu also came up and reported to King Wei roughly the number of locusts that Han Shuanzi and his group had caught just now. In such a short period of time, so many were caught, presumably the number is already amazing.

In fact, when Han Shuanzi and the others were eating fried locusts, some soldiers couldn't bear the greed and ran to catch them. It happened that a few people walked over with a bag of locusts, and Shu Yongtai walked over and grabbed a bag of locusts from inside. Just watch.

After a few glances, he hurriedly walked towards King Wei, and said anxiously: "Your Highness, order to break out of the camp and go to the night. This thing will shed its skin once more, and it will be able to fly. It will definitely cause harm when the time comes, so we have to hurry up." to Taiyuan."

Even Wang Baihu was a little hesitant when he heard that the camp was being pulled out now.

There are also those soldiers who have never seen the locust plague at all. Don’t look at what Shu Yongtai and Han Shuanzi said. They thought it was terrible, but they have never seen it. If they haven’t seen it, they don’t know if it will happen. , and being hungry and tired and rushing through the night, everyone would hesitate.

It was King Wei who was very decisive, and ordered to make a meal quickly, and then hurried on the road overnight after eating.

The king of Wei has given orders, and other people dare not speak out even if they have opinions, but everyone has some opinions on Shu Yongtai's alarmist words, so I won't elaborate on this matter.

There is not much to say, just being pressed by the King of Wei to rush on the road, the original two-day journey was shortened to one day.

The local officials in Taiyuan were completely caught off guard, so they ushered in the imperial envoy.

Some of their buttocks were not wiped clean, and they were secretly worried, and some of them had other intentions, which appeared to be invisible on the surface, but in fact, they didn't mention all kinds of cares. All in all, despite the fact that there are already hungry people eating tree bark outside, Taiyuan City, which belongs to the capital of a province, is still calm. At most, the price of food in the market is extremely high, and there is no more food to buy.

Seeing this situation, Wei Wang's eyebrows beat endlessly.

He is also considered a member of the "Zhu Men Smelly Wine and Meat", but just walking all the way, comparing the various tragedies he saw along the way, and looking at the "whitewashing peace" in front of him, he couldn't help but curse a silverfish in his heart.

The governor's yamen is in Taiyuan City. As the highest local official in the province, it is natural for the imperial envoy to stay here.

For a while, the governor's yamen was full of high-ranking officials.

Hu Demao, the governor of Shanxi, Zhao Tianfang, the prefect of Taiyuan, Qi Bihe, the chief minister, and He Longcheng, the commander of the Shanxi capital, were all on the list. There are also the Zhouhui of the Chief Grain Officer of the Shanxi Food Superintendent, An Rongbin, the inspector of the Shanxi Road, and several county magistrates under the Taiyuan Prefecture. .

Originally, as soon as King Wei arrived, Zhao Tianfang said to arrange a rest first, and then talk about business after the rest.

The general practice is the same, there are few imperial envoys who can endure hardship, let alone the prince, and they have to be careful in serving them, but they were refuted by the King of Wei, making Zhao Tianfang embarrassed.

King Wei was also decisive, he ordered people to report the current situation in various places on the spot, and everyone said everything they wanted to say.

Of course, because we haven't figured out King Wei's thoughts and routines yet, everyone is hiding something, and everyone knows it well.

King Wei also understood, he glanced at the people with different faces, frowned, then relaxed, stood up and said: "Well, there is no rush, let's arrange for the king to rest first."

This sudden feint shot made everyone's eyes flicker, and they couldn't figure out what this master wanted to do for a while.