protect our patriarch

Chapter 12 Signs of the Insect Plague

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There are so many fertile fields in Fenggu Farm alone, and there are two hundred tenant farmers?
Wang Shouzhe watched the fields crisscross the fields, and there were ditches of different sizes crisscrossing them, and he felt a little emotional in his heart. This is the family business that has been passed down for centuries.

"Our Fenggu Farm adopts the traditional winter wheat and summer grain rotation. Now is the busy season when winter wheat is about to mature and summer grain seedlings are cultivated." Wang Shounuo said with a hint of joy on his face, "This spring there is plenty of rain but not enough rain. The flooding, the sun is strong and not burning, is very beneficial to the growth of winter wheat, and it looks like it will be a bumper season."

This time, even Wang Shouzhe was a little happy. There is a big difference between a good harvest and a bad harvest. More grain harvests mean more development funds for the family.

"No, no." Wang Luojing, who was like a little follower, pouted and said, "Third brother, you are wrong, this year's winter wheat harvest will be poor."

What?
Wang Shounuo's smile suddenly stiffened, and he said sharply, "Luojing, you little girl can't talk nonsense. Even grandpa and some old experienced tenant farmers said that nine out of ten will have a bumper harvest this year. You are so young, What do you know? If your grandfather listens to you cursing the poor harvest like this, I am afraid that you will be blamed again."

So frightened by him, Wang Luojing immediately hid behind Wang Shouzhe.

"Third brother, fifth sister is still young, Tong Yan Wuji, what do you care about with her?" Wang Shouzhe touched her head with a smile and comforted her twice.

"Fourth brother, you don't know something." Wang Shounuo smiled helplessly, "Don't you know, our fifth sister is very young, but she is very quirky. She likes to play with all kinds of bugs all day long. When I was two or three years old, I could sit in the yard and watch the ants for a few days. Some time ago, she asked me to help her catch some grass and some insect kings. I caught two~ I was bitten by mosquitoes and covered with bags."

"It's the king of lacewings, and it's recorded in the ancient book of insects." Wang Luojing stuck out half of his head from behind Wang Shouzhe, and seriously corrected Wang Shounuo, "Brother, you are too embarrassing, your handsome head is empty. Empty. Although the Xuanwu family is based on martial arts, its cultural and intellectual heritage is also the foundation of a family inheritance."

Especially the second half of the sentence, that is to learn from Wang Shouzhe's rebuke to them, to bury Wang Shounuo.

No, Wang Shounuo's face turned dark, so he could only say sullenly: "Yes, yes, I don't know. Next time you ask me again, I won't help you catch bugs."

"My fourth brother, help me, the fourth brother is [-] times stronger than you." Wang Luojing pulled Wang Shouzhe's shirt, as if he had found a backer, full of confidence.

This made Wang Shouzhe unable to help but smile. It seemed that he was a little eccentric, but he was just cautious in front of him, and it seemed that Wang Shounuo was so angry that he almost fainted.

"Okay, okay, Luojing, tell me, why is the harvest going bad this year?" Wang Shouzhe asked casually, "Don't be afraid, it doesn't matter if you say it wrong."

With Wang Shouzhe's support, Wang Luojing's courage was much stronger: "Last year's winter was too warm, and only a light snow fell."

Wang Shounuo rolled his eyes immediately: "Although Rui Xue will have a good year, it's just an argument. If it doesn't snow, the harvest will definitely be poor this year?"

"It's not the same." Wang Luojing said very seriously, "Last year it was a warm winter, but this spring's rain is really good. But it hasn't rained for more than ten days recently, and the weather is hot and dry."

"Luojing." Wang Shounuo said indifferently, "We have opened the floodgates in the tributaries of Fenggu to release water, and the winter wheat will not be short of water. Moreover, the sunshine is good, which will help the wheat grains grow full."

"But it also helps the honey bugs grow." Wang Luojing rolled her eyes.

Honey bugs?

Wang Shounuo shuddered, hesitantly said: "Honeyworms are inevitable, honeyworms appear every year, and it is normal to cause some production cuts... Besides, last winter, we also put them in the farmland. Exterminator."

However, when he said this, his confidence was a bit lacking, honey worms were the natural enemies of winter wheat.Small-scale outbreaks are fine, at most, food production will be reduced, and large-scale outbreaks will be a disaster.

In Wang's records, the most serious disaster was the honey bug disaster 73 years ago. The disaster spread throughout Longzuo County. The winter wheat production fell by [-]%, and the price of grain soared in a short period of time.But many freedmen with weak assets will suffer, and there will be more children and daughters.

What's even more terrifying is that the plague of insects lasted until the third year, and even some noble families couldn't bear it.If it wasn't for the Zifu Academy's action, a large amount of food was transferred to Longzuo County, and a large amount of ancient prescription insecticide powder was refined.I am afraid that the entire Longzuo County will starve for thousands of miles and be desolate.

For a while, Wang Shouzhe frowned: "Luo Jing, can you prove what you said?"

Fenggu Farm and Xingsheng Farm are the two major grain production bases of the Wang family. If there is a real aphid outbreak, it will be worse for the current Wang family.

"Brother, try to check a few more grouting wheat ears." Wang Luojing's expression was also a little solemn.

Wang Shounuo was a little uneasy when he was told, he walked to the field, grabbed a wheat ear and turned it over, only to see some green dots on the wheat ear that had just started grouting.

I turned over several ears of wheat one after another, some more and some less, but there was no doubt that they were all honey bugs.

Wang Shouzhe is at the sixth level of the Qi Refining Realm. His physical fitness and eyesight are far beyond that of ordinary people. At a glance, he finds that those tiny green dots are all chubby little bugs.
For this knowledge, Wang Shouzhe has accumulated very little, and he can only guess that this is some kind of aphid.He is not interested in agriculture, and those apps with powerful algorithms will naturally not push this content.

"This year, there are indeed more honey bugs than in previous years." Wang Shounuo said with doubts, "but it doesn't necessarily mean that there will be a pest disaster, right? It can be cured by mixing some plant ash juice with insecticide powder. At most, the yield is slightly reduced compared to last year. ."

"Brother!" Wang Luojing paused and said, "I said that the climate is a big problem, there are too many last-year-old worm eggs left in the soil. And out, after seven or eight days, it is very likely that a second wave will break out."

"Come here," Wang Shouzhe said to a few tenant farmers who were working not far away. "Pull out this small piece of wheat and open the soil."

"This...Master Shounuo..." The few tenant farmers shrank their heads and looked at Wang Shounuo suspiciously.These wheats can be harvested in ten days, and they are all white flowers.

"Listen to the patriarch." Wang Shounuo didn't dare to offend Wang Shouzhe, so he personally went up to pull out the wheat.

Several tenant farmers also carried their hoes and began to turn the soil.

In a short while, the small piece of wheat was pulled out, and the land was turned over.

"This..." Wang Shounuo carefully inspected the roots of the wheat that had been pulled out, and his face gradually became so dignified that he was shocked, "How can this happen, how can this happen?"

On those roots, there are many thin white spots, which are shocking.And most of the wheat roots have it, but the number is only there.

There are also those open soils, if you look carefully, you will find a lot of white fine spots.

Wang Shounuo's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition arose: "Quick, go and call Grandpa over here."

"Quick, notify grandpa, and notify all the tenant farmers to soak the accumulated plant ashes quickly." Wang Shounuo studied agronomy with his grandfather for two years, and he has some basic skills.

The tenant farmers began to get busy.

Not long after, the fourth grandfather, Wang Xiaozhi, had come to meet, his face was extremely embarrassed: "How could this be the case, how could so many honey bug eggs grow in the land? After the deep ploughing of the heavens and the earth, the insect-killing powder was scattered, is there something wrong with the insect-killing powder?"

"Grandpa, last year was a warm winter..." Wang Luojing reminded cautiously.

"Little girl, grandpa has been a farmer all his life, can you understand better?" Wang Xiaozhi rebuked angrily, as if he had been stepped on his tail, "Ten years ago it was a warm winter, and the climate is exactly the same as this year. As a result, Longzuo has a high yield and the warehouse is full of grain. From my point of view, the problem is with the insecticide powder. Damn Qian's firm, it must be selling fake insecticide powder, but I also stocked up a lot of insecticide powder at a low price!"

Following their words, Wang Shouzhe also remembered some scattered knowledge, and could not help frowning: "Qian's firms are all over Longzuo, and they always pay attention to goodwill. I'm afraid I can't bear such consequences. Is there such a possibility, aphids, no, in the confrontation between the honey bugs and the insecticides again and again, some honey bugs with strong drug resistance survived, and gradually formed a large area resistance?"

Although Wang Shouzhe in his previous life had no contact with agriculture, he also knew that whether it was bacteria, viruses or organisms, they would constantly undergo genetic mutation and evolution. This evolution is almost irregular, but most of them will be eliminated naturally.

It is also reasonable for some honey bugs that have evolved towards drug resistance to survive repeated confrontations with the insecticides and gradually multiply.

But Wang Xiaozhi couldn't understand biological evolution at all, so he just frowned and said, "Shouzhe, don't talk nonsense here. The previous insecticide was used just fine, why doesn't it work this year?"

"Grandpa, I think what the fourth brother said makes sense." Wang Luojing said, "Grandpa, you forgot, I have been listening to your complaints over the past few years, it seems that the insecticide is becoming more and more useless, why are there honey bugs every year? "

Wang Xiaozhi's face stiffened, and his face became more and more ugly.In recent years, especially since the beginning of the high yield ten years ago, there has been a gradual increase in honey worms, but because the general is still within the acceptable range, it is just an annoyance.

Wang Shouzhe was almost certain that the aphids with strong drug resistance had proliferated and spread.The warm winter last season also allowed most of the eggs to survive, and this year's climate was suitable for the growth of aphids, and this happened.

This wave of trouble is big, and even Wang Shouzhe can't help his scalp tingling. He doesn't have the ability to formulate new "pesticides"...

It is the house leak that happens to rain overnight!Under this disaster, will Wang's life become more and more difficult?

"Fourth brother." Wang Luojing took Wang Shouzhe aside, and she whispered, "I have a way to solve the honey bug, but I'm afraid of grandpa and dare not say it!"

what?
Wang Shouzhe was taken aback and looked at her in disbelief.

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(End of this chapter)