Joe's Farming

Gu Feng noticed Qiao Yu's abnormality and asked hurriedly: "Qiao'er, what's wrong?"

Qiao Yu did not answer immediately.

Instead, he asked Gu Heng: "Hengzi, tell Daddy, where did you find the bug?"

Gu Heng pointed to the rice field in front of him and said, "The insects flew out from it."

Qiao Yu just felt that his rice fields were ruined.

Maybe the rice fields are already full of insect eggs!!

Qiao Xing stepped forward and took a look at the locust, and whispered, "Isn't this just an ordinary grasshopper?"

Gu Feng also picked it up and looked at it carefully, then frowned and said, "It's much bigger than a grasshopper, and its antennae are shorter and thicker."

"These are locusts. When the weather gets hot, they reproduce very quickly and eat... a lot. Historically, droughts are often accompanied by locust plagues. Wherever locusts pass, no grass grows. I have to tell Lord Xie about this. While it's not too serious now, we should minimize the damage caused by the locusts."

Qiao Yu said seriously.

When Gu Heng heard that the bug was so bad, he quickly stepped forward and stepped on it twice.

"Bad bug!"

Qiao Yu:......

Qiao Yu asked Qiao Xing to take his younger brother and sister home, and he and Gu Feng got on the carriage and went directly to the county.

When the soldiers guarding the city gate heard that it was Qiao Yu who wanted to see the county magistrate, they opened the city gate.

Thanks to Qiao Yu's persuasion to the county magistrate in the winter, his family was able to repair the roof to withstand the heavy snow.

I guess this must be some big deal.

Qiao Yu and Gu Feng had a smooth journey.

When they arrived at the county magistrate's mansion, Xie Changyu was still in the study handling official business when he heard that Qiao Yu was coming.

My eyebrows were twitching.

I thought, something bad is going to happen again.

Sure enough, Qiao Yu got straight to the point as soon as they met.

"My Lord, a plague of locusts is coming!"

Xie Changyu's expression changed when he heard this.

The locust plague is so terrible that it not only eats crops but also eats grass and leaves.

Historical records show that locusts caused starvation everywhere when they passed through the country.

Qiao Yu presented the locust corpse that had been trampled beyond recognition by Gu Heng.

Xie Changyu couldn't see it, but he knew that Qiao Yu would not exaggerate about such things.

"A... a lot?"

"This is the first one we found. I will have someone check the field tomorrow. If one appears now, there must be countless more behind it."

Qiao Yu said solemnly.

Xie Changyu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.

"I have been the county magistrate of Taoyuan for so many years, but this is the first time I have encountered such a situation. Do you have any good solutions?"

Gu Feng: "I haven't encountered this before. Qiao Er, do you have any solution?"

Qiao Yu said in a deep voice: "Prevention of locust plagues is more effective than control. Logically speaking, the weather was so cold last winter that the locust eggs should have frozen to death.

No, the eggs may not be killed by freezing, they need to be burned."

Xie Changyu: "It's too late to prevent it now."

Qiao Yu: "I have two ideas, but I don't know if they are feasible."

Xie Changyu hurriedly said, "You say."

"The scary thing about locusts is that they are numerous, small, and can fly.

But no matter how vicious it is, it is just an insect. We can raise chickens, ducks and geese in the fields and eat them. "

Xie Changyu nodded: "Maybe it's feasible. But not everyone has so many poultry."

“Well, so I have another idea.

Our snack bar will offer a fried locust meal. The government needs to notify local areas to catch locusts, and we will buy them by the kilogram.”

Qiao Yu said something shocking.

Gu Feng and Xie Changyu both paused.

Gu Feng: "Is it delicious?"

Xie Changyu: "Can I eat it?"

The two asked in unison.

Qiao Yu nodded: "Grasshoppers are edible, and locusts are also edible. Fry them until dry, mix with seasonings, and they will be crunchy and taste great."

Xie Changyu was shocked: "You can eat grasshoppers?"

Qiao Yu smiled and said, "Master Xie, you haven't eaten it before? It doesn't matter, come to the store when the time comes, I'll treat you."

Xie Changyu was just about to say no.

Qiao Yu said seriously: "Thank you, sir, for coming to taste it in person, it will definitely attract more people to buy it.

The more people come to buy, the more money I make, and the more locusts I want to buy.

There will be more people making money by catching locusts..."

Xie Changyu reached out to stop him from saying anything further: "I understand, I will go."

What was originally a very serious matter became easy for Qiao Yu when he finally dealt with the food.

But all three people present knew it.

It remains unknown whether these two methods can control the locust plague.

-

Early the next morning, the people of Ueda Village began to look for locusts under the leadership of the village chief.

However, after searching for a whole morning, we only caught dozens of them.

Qiao Yu couldn't help but feel that her Gu Heng was really a little koi.

This means that the locusts are still in the hatching stage and have not yet erupted.

Although locusts in the larval stage have a large appetite, they cannot reproduce.

At this time, using chickens and ducks might be enough.

Qiao Yu happily asked the village chief to tell everyone to throw the chickens and ducks at home into the fields to find locusts to eat.

At first, everyone was not happy about it because they were afraid that the chickens and ducks would peck at the vegetables in the fields, and they were also afraid that they would run away to other homes and be caught by others.

But when he saw that Qiao Yu's family had released hundreds of them, he realized the seriousness of the problem and followed suit.

When other counties began to be swarmed with locusts.

The locusts in Taoyuan County have become a buffet for chickens, ducks, and geese, as well as a dish for the people of Taoyuan.

When people in Taoyuan County heard the word "locusts", they didn't think "Oh no, my crops", but "Great, we can catch them and exchange them for money" and "Great, we have something to go with wine tonight."

Except Qiao Yu's snack bar which is purchasing locusts.

Xu Yuan’s Yipinxuan is also being acquired.

Originally, Xie Changyu was worried that this method would not work.

But he underestimated the lower class's desire for money and food.

No matter how small or difficult to catch the locusts, as long as they can be exchanged for money and eaten.

Countless locust catchers emerged and hid in the mountains and fields every day, working from sunrise to sunset.

Among them, children account for a large proportion.

Qiao Yu and Xu Yuan made almost no money from this.

All the money from the sale of fried locusts is used to purchase locusts.

This saved the imperial court a lot of money on disaster relief.

Not only that, the method of deep-frying locusts in Taoyuan County also spread to the provincial capital.

Fried locusts are delicious, and even though they look scary, there are always people who are interested in them.

Soon this delicacy became popular throughout Qingzhou.

However, the crops in areas previously ravaged by locusts have already been damaged, and it is a fact that there will be no harvest in the fall.

Xie Changyu didn't feel lucky.

The people in other counties are also people.

He had previously presented methods for controlling the locust plague, but it seemed that the other county magistrates did not actually follow them.

There are no businessmen like Qiao Yu and Xu Yuan who care about the people in other counties.

Taoyuan County escaped unscathed from the locust plague this time, which attracted the attention of higher authorities.

Among a pile of memorials requesting money and food, the Emperor of Dayan found the only memorial from Qingzhou that dealt with the locust plague.

“Fried locusts…”

The emperor hummed.

The King of Qi beside him was puzzled and asked, "Why do you suddenly want to eat this? Are you upset about the recent locust plague?"

The emperor handed the memorial to his idle youngest brother.

"Aren't you bored in the capital? Why don't you go and see for me what's different about the Taoyuan County Magistrate?

I remember that when Qingzhou suffered a snowstorm last year, it was Taoyuan County that was fine.

There are also potatoes from two years ago, which were also tribute from Taoyuan.”

The King of Qi's eyes lit up: "It's that Taoyuan. I will set off tomorrow."