Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 59: The Locust Plague
After school, Zhao Xing returned to his study and felt overwhelmed when he saw the piles of papers on the desk.

It took more than an hour to finish looking through the day's bundles, and Zhao Xing stretched himself.

"Your Highness, dinner is ready. Please eat first." Sanshui reminded.

"Well, I'm indeed a little hungry. Please have dinner sent to the study. I'll eat here." Zhao Xing said.

"Yes." Sanshui responded and gave the order.

After a while, dinner was brought over. After dinner, Zhao Xing went for a walk in the garden and returned to the study to continue reading.

When Zhao Xing first read the notes, he thought they were all about national affairs.

Later I found out that it was not the case at all.

Local officials have a great deal of autonomy and most matters do not need to be reported to the authorities.

As for matters that need to be reported to the central government for processing, many departments handle them directly.

There are actually not that many things that really need to be reported to the emperor.

After reading this, do many people think that the emperor does not need to read many memorials every day?
In fact, this is not the case. According to the rules, local officials need to get a medical certificate regularly regardless of whether they have something to do or not.

The content of the letter was to report the local situation to the emperor.

At first, Zhao Xing looked at it very seriously, thinking that he could understand the local situation through this method.

But after looking at it carefully, I found that it was not the case at all.

The notes written by local officials basically boast about the good weather and good harvests in the local area and how the people live and work in peace and contentment.

If we only look at these, the Song Dynasty can definitely be said to be a country of peace and prosperity.

But is it possible?

Therefore, he would just glance at the notes later, and would just throw them aside without looking at anything like this kind of statement.

Zhao Xing picked up a bundle and unfolded it. It was from early October last year.

The content seemed to be about officials going on a rural inspection tour. Seeing this, Zhao Xing lost interest. Just as he was about to close the book and throw it aside, he caught two words out of the corner of his eye and hurriedly began to read them carefully.

This note was actually written by Sheng Hong. Of course, the reason why he looked at it carefully was not because it was written by Sheng Hong, but because of the content on it.

The note said that several counties under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou had had almost no rain since the beginning of autumn. The county magistrate went to the countryside for inspection and found that there were too many locusts in the fields. He believed that there would be a locust plague in the coming year, so he requested to implement the locust-for-grain policy in Yangzhou.

Floods, droughts and locust plagues were the most serious natural disasters in ancient times.

These three natural disasters occurred frequently in ancient times and could affect grain production.

Food is the most important thing for people, especially in ancient times when grain production was low.

Therefore, preventing floods, droughts and locust plagues has become a matter of constant practice in all dynasties.

The ancients also had their own unique wisdom. Having been harassed by locust plagues for a long time, they gradually figured out a set of ways to prevent locust plagues.

During the Song Dynasty, people realized that birds, frogs, crickets, moths and even parasitic insects could eat locusts, so they issued a "ban on frog hunting" to protect these natural enemies.

People also found that locusts do not like to approach hemp and various legumes, so they consciously planted more of these crops to fight locusts.

The ancients also knew that summer and autumn are the seasons for locusts to lay eggs. Although the ancient times did not have the advanced technology of later generations, they could not figure out the environment required for locusts to lay eggs.

However, the ancients were able to figure out the general situation based on each locust plague that occurred.

Every time a locust plague occurs, there is little rain or even drought in summer and autumn.

Therefore, the imperial court stipulated that if there was little rain in summer and autumn, officials would go to the countryside to inspect. If there were a large number of locust eggs in the land, they would need to report to the court.

The imperial court would encourage the people to dig locust eggs and exchange them for money and food to curb the occurrence of locust plagues. However, in response to this petition, the Shangshutai replied that the prefectures and counties near Yangzhou had not reported this phenomenon, and it was just an isolated case and would not become a big deal, so there was no need to worry about it.

After my father reviewed it, he only wrote "read".

This kind of reply means that he has read it and agrees with the decision of the gentlemen.

Zhao Xing looked through the bundles of documents sent by the prefectures surrounding Yangzhou around this time, and sure enough, none of them mentioned this.

If we judge only from these knots, it does seem to be an isolated case.

But he is a time traveler, and Zhao Xing remembered clearly that when Sheng Hong first arrived in Beijing to attend the morning court, it was indeed mentioned that there were signs of locust plagues in several states in the south of the Yangtze River.

"These people really deserve to be killed!" Zhao Xing was very angry.

Yangzhou reported it, but the nearby provincial governments did not. It was obvious that those officials did not conduct rural inspections as required by the court.

It is even possible that those officials were aware of it but did not report it.

Because it was the time of the three-year examination, once the locust plague was confirmed, the officials in these areas could not be transferred.

Because they are familiar with the local area, they can do a better job of preventing locust plagues.

If we transfer an official who is not familiar with the local area at this time, how can he be in charge of preventing locusts?

Regardless of whether they were dereliction of duty or concealed the matter for the sake of promotion, in Zhao Xing's opinion, these people deserved to die.

Jiangnan is an important grain-producing area of ​​the Song Dynasty. Once a locust plague occurs, it will be fine if it is controlled in time. If it is not controlled, it will lead to a large-scale reduction in grain production, and the problem will be very serious.

If the palace gates were not closed, Zhao Xing would have been ready to enter the palace.

Because of this incident, Zhao Xing couldn't sleep at night.

After getting up the next day, he washed up and took the document into the palace.

……

"Your son greets you, father!" Zhao Xing bowed.

The emperor waved his hand and said, "Today is not a day off, why are you coming to the palace so early in the morning?"

"Father, I read a letter last night and couldn't sleep. So I came to the palace early in the morning to ask to see you," said Zhao Xing.

"Zhazi?"

The official was stunned. He thought about it carefully, but couldn't remember any major events that had happened recently.

"Father, please take a look at this document." Zhao Xing handed over the document in his hand.

The emperor took it and looked at it, then smiled and said, "I thought it was something else. At that time, the Yangzhou Tongpan was still in Bianjing reporting on his work, and this letter was reported to him by the county magistrate under him. He didn't dare ignore it, so he wrote a letter to report it. I looked at the letters from the prefectures near Yangzhou, and there was no such thing. I think the county magistrates under Yangzhou handled this situation for the first time and made a fuss about it, and the Yangzhou Tongpan didn't know the situation."

"Your Majesty, the locust plague cannot be taken too seriously. I think we should send people to Yangzhou and nearby prefectures to inspect. It's not spring yet, and the people haven't started their spring farming yet. If there really are signs of a locust plague, we can call on the people to eliminate the locusts," said Zhao Xing.

"Fuer, this is a bit of an exaggeration. Yangzhou is rich, and many people raise chickens and ducks. Even if there are more locusts in Yangzhou, chickens, ducks, birds, frogs and crickets all feed on locusts, so they won't be able to make a big difference. If we really do as you say, it will not only be a waste of money and time, but the people will also be ignorant and unaware of the situation, which will cause panic." said the official.

"Father, even if you don't send anyone to inspect, you should order officials from Yangzhou and nearby prefectures to inspect and report the situation," Zhao Xing said anxiously.

Although he knew that there was a locust plague in the south of the Yangtze River, he had no way of telling his father about it.

"Okay, I know what's going on with this matter. Calculating the time, there is only half a month left before the Yangzhou Tongpan arrives in Beijing to take up his post. Sheng Qing should arrive in Beijing soon. When the time comes, I will summon him to ask about the situation." The emperor said nonchalantly.

Zhao Xing opened his mouth. Since Sheng Hong was about to arrive in Bian Jing, the news of the locust plague in the south of the Yangtze River should be reported soon, so there was no need to rush.

Doudou’s Doubi, Shuitian Wuyue, Shuyou 2021…7570 monthly ticket support.

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(End of this chapter)