Confucius was a clever man.
Judging from his words and actions, he was not the kind and amiable old man in the painting, explaining the principles of life to you in a pleasant manner.
The records showed Confucius' wisdom. He was intelligent and understood human nature. His observation of many things was thorough and he could see through the essence of things.
For example, the State of Lu issued a decree stating that people who were rescued from other countries as slaves could go to the government office to collect the money they had spent. Confucius' disciple did not collect the money after rescuing a person from the State of Lu. Instead, he proudly showed off in front of Confucius.
Confucius was furious.
'Do you think everyone is as rich as you and likes to fish for fame? ' 'They all care about their own benefits! ' 'Who would do something without benefits? '
'If you don't collect the money, people will praise you. But if someone collects the money, people will criticize them. Slowly, will there still be people willing to rescue their countrymen? '
Confucius' wisdom and understanding of human nature was evident.
But then again, if Confucius was not wise, would he have been able to establish Confucianism in that era of war?
He probably had a deep understanding of the superstition of ghosts and deities. He saw how the people only knew how to pray when faced with natural disasters but did not know how to find reliable solutions. They only knew how to pray passively but did not know how to actively seek solutions. That was why he sighed.
However, due to the limitations of that era, Confucius still believed in the existence of ghosts and gods even though he advocated keeping a respectful distance from them. He wanted to focus on his own subjective beliefs and not be dominated by ghosts and gods. The theory of Heaven-man Interaction had been around since the Pre-Qin Dynasty, and Confucius agreed with it.
Then, Dong Zhongshu carried it forward for political purposes.
These miscellaneous thoughts and the worship of ghosts and deities were the biggest obstacle to many of the policies that Xiao Ruxun was about to implement. If China wanted a new life, they had to get rid of the superstition and worship of ghosts and deities.
The people had to know that everything was created by their own hands. It had nothing to do with evil spirits. All along, they had been fighting against the natural disasters caused by climate change. It was not the God's punishment caused by people's evil deeds. Evil spirits did not exist at all.
These thoughts had a long lasting effect and had to be eradicated. The people had to know that their own hands and legs were more reliable than any ghosts and deities.
Because they could not exterminate the locusts, they built temples to worship the Locust God, trying to move the Locust God away from their crops.
Ridiculous and pathetic.
If they couldn't solve anything, they would confer the title of a god and sacrifice the other party. They never tried to find a solution themselves. They just blindly prayed to the gods and worshipped the Buddha. This was the consequence.
This was also why it was important to dispel such superstitions.
Locusts were a huge headache for every dynasty. No matter how they tried to control them, they couldn't do anything about it. That was why the people were forced to build temples and pray to the heavens for protection.
However, the previous dynasties did not just give up without a fight. It was not that they did not find other ways to deal with the locusts. They only knew how to sacrifice.
Since the Han Dynasty, the government had been buying locusts for the people to fight against. In the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of Tang personally took the lead in eating locusts, which led to the custom of eating locusts among the people. People discovered the edible and medicinal value of locusts and tried their best to fight against the locusts, but to no avail.
Not to mention the ancient times, even in the modern era with such advanced technology, there was still no good way to eradicate the locusts because their reproduction ability was too strong.
Although it was impossible to eradicate the locusts, it was still possible to reduce the frequency of locust plagues through various means.
It was just that no one had ever come up with a reliable strategy to control the locusts. No one had taught these methods to the people. Once a locust plague occurred, the people could only watch the locusts wreak havoc.
Some people were naive enough to think that eating locusts could eradicate the plague of locusts and even feed the victims. If something as simple as that was possible, then Emperor Taizong of Tang would not have had a locust plague in the future.
The speed at which the locusts devoured the crops was too fast. They would only stay for one or two days before eating all the edible plants. After that, they would immediately take to the sky and move on to the next area. How many locusts could they kill in one or two days?
How many locusts could the farmers eat after all the crops were eaten? Would they be able to eat until the next crop was ready?
It was true that locusts were high in protein and nutrition, but they were low in calories and digested quickly. It would not even be enough for the victims to eat for a few days. Then, what could the victims do when they were faced with a mess?
Therefore, if one wanted to deal with a locust plague, spending money to buy locusts and getting the people to eat the locusts were all actions taken after the fact. In reality, it was not a cure, but a cure. Moreover, the cure was very limited. If one wanted to control the locusts, one had to start from the root.
The ancients were not fools. Although they were restricted by Heaven's Perception, they did not just sit and wait for death. Since the development of printing technology in the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were many locust-control techniques left on paper. The locust-control strategies that people were familiar with today were all recorded in ancient books.
But first, the country's mobilization power was not enough. The officials' execution was not enough, and the people's understanding was not deep enough. It was difficult to form a sufficient force to control the locusts.
Therefore, every time the locusts grew wings and started to wreak havoc, people could only sit and wait. They could only watch as the locusts covered the sky and devoured their crops. Other than praying and crying, there was nothing they could do. Then, batches of people starved to death.
When Xiao Ruxun sent people to investigate the changes in the climate, he also sent a group of capable young officials to retrieve the books on locust-control from the storeroom. From them, they found ways to control the locusts. They also gathered information on the locusts' occurrence patterns and main locations, as well as the main areas where they would wreak havoc.
After a month's time, the locust control team came up with the most common locations, times, and patterns for locust plagues.
They concluded that locust plagues usually broke out on a large scale after a drought. Most of the locust outbreaks were in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, far more than the Yangtze River basin and the south of the Yangtze River. The outbreak time was usually from May to August, which was between summer and autumn.
The summer locust was at its peak from the middle of May to early June, and the autumn locust was at its peak from early to mid August. The June and July of the lunar calendar were the periods when the locust plagues occurred simultaneously. The locusts were very clever. They were born when the crops were at their peak and were about to be harvested. They would eat up the people's hard work and food for a year before leaving.
The locusts did not eat the crops, they ate the people.
The locust control team further concluded that the locust plagues were most common in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, especially in Hebei, Shandong, and Henan provinces. The locust plagues decreased to the south of central China, and there was almost no locust plagues in the southeast coast.
According to the ancient records, the locust plagues occurred when there was a drought. The locust control team believed that the locusts needed to grow in a relatively dry environment. Places with abundant rainfall and humid climate were not suitable for the growth of the locusts. Therefore, the Yellow River basin was plagued by locust plagues every time there was a drought.
The ancient records also stated that the locusts grew from larvae to larvae in the soil, and from larvae to locusts. Therefore, the locust control team believed that the locusts laid their eggs in the soil to grow. They preferred drought. Summer and autumn were long, so they preferred warmth.
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