This year, it seemed that it was not only unfriendly to Wei, but also did not respond to other countries with kindness. Locust plague broke out in Zhao, Qin, Han and other countries. This locust plague was extraordinary. In a short period of time, it quickly swept through most of Qin, and locusts were rampant. In this era, there was really no way to resist locusts. I could only watch the locusts pass by and eat no crops left.

"The seedlings begin to show their ears and enter the grouting period. Soon the grains are hard and mature. There is no grain or weeds in the field. Farmers get rid of heart-eating insects and leaf-eating insects, as well as those root-bite-biting insects, and do not teach the pests to harm my young seedlings! Please pray to the god Tianzu and the Governor to show their compassion and burn the pests to the fire!" This is a sentence in the Book of Songs, and only those who have truly seen such a disaster can only feel that helpless prayer.

When the dense locusts quickly landed on the crops like a scene in a horror film, they ate without restraint. The farmers fled from the cultivated land in horror, and even fell directly on people. This made these farmers even more afraid, and even rolled on the ground crying. After only a moment, the crops became bare, and the locusts flew up again, like dark clouds, quickly looking for other food.

The sky was full of locusts, just like raindrops. To be honest, Zhao Kuo has lived for so many years, and he has never seen such a creepy scene. He looked at the locusts all over the sky, with almost no gaps, and the sound of locusts flapping their wings in his ears. The place he could see was full of the hateful bugs. Zhao Kuo was a little afraid of this little bug since he was a child, but at this moment, he still overcame the fear in his heart.

He stood beside the cultivated land and looked at the crying old farmers kneeling on the cultivated land. The people's eyes were full of helplessness. They kept praying loudly, begging Tian Zunong to burn these pests with flames.

Because there are no pesticides targeting locusts, the people can only pray through witches, hoping that the god of farmers can recover these locusts and not let them eat crops again. Even because they don’t know where the insects come from and where they reproduce, they put a mysterious veil on these pests. On their basis, many mythical creatures appeared, such as flying snakes and tungs, which were originally meant by locusts.

Therefore, the people believed that this kind of locust was sent by gods, and that it was the reprimand of the people by gods because they did not have enough sacrifices. In fact, this statement has been passed down to the later, even in the Song Dynasty, a thousand years later. Some people believed that locusts turned fish and shrimp into locusts and then punished mortals because of the anger of the gods. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that scholars began to truly study the situation of locusts and summarize their outbreak time, source, harm, natural enemies, etc.

And that's something that happened very far away.

In today's era, when a country encounters such a disaster, the king must sacrifice himself, and let the gods forgive their past negligence. In addition, people from all over the world organize and conduct strange sacrifices and rituals to expel locusts. The Qin people and the Chu people are probably the most superstitious countries among the countries, and they also attach great importance to ghosts and gods. Ying Zheng originally wanted to call Wu Chengjun to sacrifice together, but Zhao Kuo did not agree.

Zhao Kuo knew very well that the locusts were not messengers of gods at all, and there was no way to improve these through sacrifices!

Zhao Kuo rushed to various places to observe the situation of locusts, including the plants they like to eat, their work and rest time, their birthplace, and the outbreak time in history. He observed and recorded while recording, while the people in the country were performing sacrifices at this moment. When an official from the Censor's Office reported to Lu Buwei, saying that Zhao Kuo did not participate in the sacrifice and was rude to ghosts and gods. Lu Buwei then noticed that Zhao Kuo had been in the wild all the time.

Of course, the official who impeached Zhao Kuo was almost killed by the King of Qin. If Lu Buwei had not persuaded him repeatedly, he would have been afraid that he would not be able to save his head. But even so, the King of Qin was still very angry. He even decided that he would never participate in these sacrificial activities again. The King of Qin's actions frightened Lu Buwei. Lu Buwei persuaded the King of Qin that the most important role of sacrificial sacrifice was not to expel locusts, but to make the people believe that doing so could expel locusts.

However, the King of Qin was extremely stubborn, and Lu Buwei could not tell him at all. The Prime Minister hurriedly sent a warrior to find Zhao Kuo, hoping that Zhao Kuo could come back soon and convince the stubborn young man.

When Zhao Kuo returned to Xianyang again, he looked a little tired, and the carriage he was accompanied was filled with paper. Zhao Kuo returned home like this. After meeting his family, he hurriedly took out the paper he recorded and started to sort it out. Halfway through the sorting, he fell asleep on the desk. Yi couldn't bear to disturb him, so he stayed by his side. It was not until the next day that Zhao Kuo woke up.

After using the meal prepared by the art institute, Zhao Kuo continued to write, while Shan sat in his arms and watched his father write obediently. Shan can walk around now, but unlike her brothers, she is very clingy, sticking to her parents all day long, and she acts coquettishly. She is the darling of the whole family. Zhao's mother knitted a lot of clothes for her, and she is also very obedient. She accompanied her father without saying a word, but just widened her eyes, ate, and watched her father organize the writing.

"I heard that stupid people place their hopes on ghosts and gods, hoping to rely on ghosts and gods to solve their own affairs. Xunzi once said: The way of heaven will not change because of human emotions or will, and they will completely indifferently regarding human good and evil... Moth is not a messenger of ghosts and gods, it is just a hateful pest. This pest lives in the lowlands and overwinters with eggs in the soil... The eggs are yellow-brown, long tube-shaped, slightly bent in the middle, slightly thin on the upper part..."

"They usually reproduce near the water lake... and then grow into nymphs... When drought and flood disasters occur, when large wastelands appear, they frequently come out to harm the other side... They are afraid of birds and poultry, and these can be hunted... They will not bring disaster upon people, and they will not kill them, and they will not be messengers who kill the gods."

"The way to resist locust plague is to build water conservancy and ensure that there is no drought and flood. We must reclaim wasteland and plant locust habitat, raise more poultry, and protect birds... We can raise fish and shrimp in the water lake and eat locust eggs..."

When Zhao Kuo was busy in the inner room, Lu Buwei's warrior finally learned that Wu Chengjun had returned to Xianyang. The warriors hurried to Zhao Kuo and wanted to invite him to the palace. However, before entering the inner room, Zhao Kuo told Zhao Fu that no one was allowed to disturb him. Therefore, these warriors did not go in. Instead, Ying Zheng came here once, and he did not know the news of his father's return.

Sitting in the courtyard, the King of Qin looked at the uneasy warriors in the distance, and then asked: "What is my father busy with?"

Yi said: "It's the locust matter. He is very tired recently and hasn't had a good rest for several days..."

Ying Zheng sighed helplessly and said, "The problem of locusts is probably impossible to solve. The Prime Minister said: We need to collect food to help the people in various places... Because of the previous construction of channels, there is insufficient food in the country and we need to convene them with the people. However, anyone who pays food can get a first-level title and pay voluntarily. In this way, it should not be considered a violation of the benevolent government that my father said."

While they were chatting, they saw Zhao Kuo walking out of the inner room with his daughter in his arms. Zhao Kuo looked very tired, with dark eyes and pale face. He said to Ying Zheng, "Take the paper I put in the inner room into the carriage!" Ying Zheng immediately got up and walked into the inner room. Then he walked out with difficulty in holding the paper. When he saw the warriors standing beside him, he said unhappily: "Don't you help yet?"

The warriors hurriedly followed him to carry paper. Zhao Kuo knelt on the ground, drinking water, while Yi was kneading his shoulder with distress.

Ying Zheng sat in front of Zhao Kuo panting and asked, "Father, what are these?" Zhao Kuo said in a daze: "The way to resist locust plague... No, I have to go to see the Prime Minister." As he said, he stood up hurriedly. Ying Zheng naturally followed him. The father and son sat in the carriage. Ying Zheng looked at his tired father, "Father, you should rest at home for a few days. The Prime Minister has found a way to save the people..."

"Helping the people? Of course this is a good thing, but the problem is that helping the people is only a post-disaster relief, not a way to resist disasters... What's more, although the disaster in Qin State has ended, the disaster in Zhao State and South Korea continues... What's more, who can ensure that there will be no such disaster in the future?" Zhao Kuo said, and he looked at Ying Zheng again, and then asked: "Did you hide something from me?"

Ying Zheng lowered his head and said in a panic: "Of course not...I..."

"Tell me, what happened?"

Ying Zheng hesitated and had no words.

"What did you do wrong?"

"no.."

"That's what's wrong. You take care of me and refuse to say it? Is it Zhao State? What happened to Zhao State?"

"No, father... Xinlingjun... Xinlingjun has passed away." Ying Zheng said in a low voice. He didn't want to tell his father such bad news at this time, but he dared not hide it. After all, this is not a trivial matter. Zhao Kuo was stunned and stunned for a moment before asking: "What did you say?"

"Xinling Jun died of illness... Father, please don't be sad, I..."

"Well... I understand." Zhao Kuo said, and then he became silent. Ying Zheng looked at him worriedly and said, "Father... are you okay?" Zhao Kuo nodded, but still didn't say anything. When the carriage arrived at the Prime Minister's Mansion, there were warriors coming out to greet him. Zhao Kuo looked a little dazed. Ying Zheng called out before he realized that he asked the warriors to walk into the mansion with the paper.

The Prime Minister naturally came out to greet him in person. Among the people who were accompanying him, Ying Zheng even saw Di. Di was very happy to see them. However, Zhao Kuo just nodded to him dullly, but did not say anything.

Sitting in front of Lu Buwei, Zhao Kuo took out the things he recorded, and then talked about his own opinions. From the habits of locusts, their understanding of locusts, to the means of resisting locusts, Lu Buwei widened his eyes. It can be said that this is the first time that this detailed introduction to locusts has been made. No one has ever done this. Lu Buwei looked at the information seriously and couldn't help but nodded. He smiled and said, "It's great, I'll let all places copy it tomorrow..."

"I will also do it, including what you said about raising poultry and so on... Wu Chengjun? Wu Chengjun?" Lu Buwei called twice, and Zhao Kuo then reacted. He nodded and said, "Of course this is the best." Lu Buwei frowned. He felt that Zhao Kuo was a little absent-minded, or rather, he looked a little dazed and didn't know what he was thinking. He looked at Ying Zheng beside him and then said, "King, please help Wu Chengjun back. He is probably too tired. Let him rest for a while."

Zhao Kuo then stood up and said, "No need, I'm fine. I hope you can stop sacrificing sacrifices in various places and let the officials organize local people to expel locusts. Locusts are definitely not messengers of gods... Even if they are killed, it doesn't matter. You must promote it in time. By the way, if possible, please copy these papers and give them to South Korea and Zhao. Their disaster has not stopped yet..."

"I see..."

After explaining the locusts, Zhao Kuo was about to go back. Di stopped him with some concern and asked, "Head of the family, what happened?" Zhao Kuo looked at him, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Xinling Jun died of illness..."

"You just knew it today?" Di asked back, and just felt that this sentence was a bit inappropriate. He just sighed and said, "I still like Xinlingjun very much. When he was in Zhao State, he pestered me and asked me to drink with him... It's a pity that the head of the family... is fine, sooner or later we will meet." Zhao Kuo did not say anything. He left Lu Buwei's mansion, then got on the carriage and rushed towards his home.

Zhao Kuo probably didn't know how he got home. When he woke up, his family sat beside him and everyone was having a meal.

Zhao Kuo didn't say a word, but just lowered his head and ate the meal.

Everyone in the family probably knew that he was in a bad mood. Shan and Kang were stuck by his side, wanting to make Zhao Kuo happier. Looking at Shan who was constantly making faces, Zhao Kuo still smiled, then picked her up, let Kang sit on his knees, and then told them stories.

At night, Yi coaxed the children. When she walked into the inner room, she saw Zhao Kuo sitting beside the bed, covering her head with her hands, and sobbing in a low voice.

Yi squatted in front of him and wiped the tears from his face.
Chapter completed!