PFC Chapter 508 Dealing with the Locust Plague
Chapter 508 Dealing with the Locust Plague
Let’s talk about the other side.
The incense gods of Dayu Kingdom were gathering towards a certain place. Li Changxiao felt something, but he was still not nervous. He just looked up at the sky, and then murmured to himself, saying that the world was unpredictable and good and bad were hard to determine. After that, he stretched his body, scratched his butt, and continued on his way.
Tianyu Village was very far away, and it would take four to five days for the group to travel more than ten miles a day. They got up early and went to bed late, and if they came across a small shop along the way, they would go in and rest for a while. Fortunately, they had a safe journey and did not encounter any major troubles.
The apparent stability and prosperity in Dayu was in fact due to Wang Ruyi's good governance, which at least allowed most of the people to enjoy a period of peace.
After only two or three days of walking, Wang Ruyi's legs and feet became sore and her body could not stand the tossing. After all, she was a mortal and a woman. She was sweating profusely while traveling in the scorching heat. It was very tiring. But it was the price of traveling in the martial arts world. It was normal to be a little tired.
When they arrived at Tianyu Village, they stepped on the yellow earth and looked around. They saw a barren land with withered trees. There was a small village in the distance and they saw starving crows on the road. With one step, several yellow-brown locusts were crushed to death. Wang Ruyi, who was known as the Red Sleeves Heroine, looked up, raised her eyebrows, held the sword, and walked to the front in order not to show any fear in front of others. She looked very calm. Li Changxiao did not disturb her and chatted with the two people beside him.
As far as the eye can see, the mountain village in the distance is Tianyu Village. There are 400 people in the village and more than a thousand acres of land. It is not rich but enough for food and drink. Unfortunately, disaster struck from the sky. Once the locust plague became a problem, the villagers left one after another.
When they entered the village, the skinny village chief came out to greet them. He saw that the two villagers who were sent out did not bring back the Three Chongdi Goddess, but only brought back a man and a woman. The village chief was so angry that he felt dizzy and cursed the two villagers.
The villagers felt wronged. It was strange that they could invite gods with such a small amount of money and food. In comparison, they felt that the Red Sleeves Heroine was more reliable. On the way back, Li Changxiao popularized the Red Sleeves Heroine's heroic deeds.
Li Changxiao pushed Wang Ruyi, and she stood in front of everyone, coughed twice, and promoted herself seriously, saying that she couldn't bear to see the suffering in the world, so she came to help everyone solve the locust plague. Although her name, the Red Sleeves Heroine, was not worthy of her reputation, she was an empress after all, and she had held a high position, so her acting skills and means of winning people's hearts were very good.
With just a few words, he completely convinced the villagers. The village chief of Tianyu Village had once passed the imperial examination and was more clever. He said, "Sir, the evil bandits in the mountains are a disaster. You can easily solve them with your sword. But the locust disaster, no matter how powerful your martial arts are, I'm afraid you are powerless, right?"
"It's not something I can do alone. I need your help. With concerted efforts, a locust plague can be dealt with without any problem." Wang Ruyi raised her eyebrows. She did have some experience in dealing with locust plagues.
"Man can conquer nature, it is better to rely on oneself than on others." She paused for a moment and spoke again. The people of Dayu are very dependent on gods and Buddhas. Although it is common for people to pray to gods and Buddhas in despair, what Wang Ruyi or Li Changxiao wanted to teach the people of Dayu is the courage and faith to face difficulties and get out of them.
She never wants her people to just pray to God when they encounter difficulties.
The villagers were completely convinced by this speech. Due to the scarcity of food, the village chief did not hold a large banquet. He just took out a rice steamed bun, broke it in half and gave them to the two men.
Early the next morning, the two men began to act. Wang Ruyi called on the villagers and united all the villages and villagers affected by the locust plague one by one. They gathered hundreds of people, which was not a small number.
Wang Ruyi organized the villagers to go into the fields to kill locusts. Baskets of locusts were burned to death. On the other hand, Li Changxiao was also busy. Helping to eliminate the locust plague was a good deed. Besides that, he had another reason to come here.
He had a vague suspicion in his heart. The suspicion had always been there, but he needed a chance to confirm it. This locust plague was a disaster, but it was also a good opportunity to confirm it. So when he heard what the two villagers said, he rushed to Tianyu Village without stopping.
He climbed up a barren mountain. Due to the locust plague, there were no leaves on the mountain, only dry tree trunks. The lush and vibrant mountains and fields had turned into an old man in his old age. On the tree trunks and branches, there were densely crawling yellow-brown locusts, and their tentacles were densely distributed and swaying. It was frightening to see. Li Changxiao turned around and his sight fell on the fields without any obstruction.
Seeing Wang Ruyi holding a large net bag, working with the people to kill insects, his eyebrows were furrowed, his lips were pursed, and he looked as if he had used all his strength to work hard, revealing a bit of pure sincerity. Seeing this, Li Changxiao chuckled, helping Dayu to protect such a king, even if he lost the tomb of the God of Dreams, it didn't seem too bad.
The emperor's heart, which had suffered so much hardship and experience, could no longer be clouded by desire. If there was a chance, Li Changxiao wanted to take her to see the mountains and rivers of Dayu, and to see the people of Dayu again, from the powerful officials in the court to the beggars begging on the streets.
Li Changxiao pulled himself back to his senses, bent his fingers, and pinched a locust between them. He looked up and down and found that the locust was not small, one finger long and four fingers thick, yellowish-brown in color, with a faint odor, and its mouthparts were visible, which were quite sharp.
Such a swarm of locusts flying towards people is enough to scare them to death, not to mention when they appear in groups. Li Changxiao initially suspected that the locust plague was man-made, but there was no substantial evidence, it was just speculation.
He frowned suddenly and took out the purple gold bowl from the dream space. With a thought, he enlarged the bowl, then pinched the breeze with his hands and blew more than a dozen brown locusts into the bowl for easier observation.
These dozen locusts were not much different in size, and there was a red spot under their wings, making them look like they were artificially farmed.
At night, after a busy day, the villagers returned to the village to rest. They had killed countless locusts. At this rate, it was not impossible to completely kill all the locusts.
Most of the locusts killed were set on fire to prevent the breeding of poisonous gas. Wang Ruyi thought silently in her heart that starting tomorrow, she would not only eliminate the insects, but also take a group of people to look for the source of the locusts. Only by eliminating all the eggs can the problem be solved completely.
Li Changxiao returned late at night and found the village chief's house and asked him about the locust plague. He asked the village chief whether such a locust plague had ever happened before, how many times it had happened, and how long had passed between each plague.
The village chief told Li Changxiao that this was the first time a locust plague had occurred in Tianyu Village, but in the villages farther away, there had been several locust plagues a long time ago. Those villages had long ago invited Sanchongdi back to the village and worshipped her day and night, and it really worked. The locust plagues had obviously decreased a lot, but even so, there were still occasional locust harassments.
The village chief of Tianyu Village was not very clear about the more specific details, but since Li Changxiao asked and wanted to know more clearly, he could ask someone to take Li Changxiao to those villages to ask the village chiefs there in person.