The news of Six Connection Village raising ducks to control locusts quickly spread. In just five days, the news spread from Six Connection Village to the entire Xiyang Village.
The nine villages of Xi Yang Village had about 2000 households. Village Head Liu Jinxian led the village officials and cooperated with the officials from the General Locust Control Department to visit every village. They gathered the villagers to watch the event live and dispel their concerns.
Xu Guangqi used his position as a Minister to announce that Great Qin's government would not allow them to raise ducks without a place to sell them. As long as they raised the ducks and took good care of them, they would be able to find a place to sell them after they grew up, and they would be able to earn money.
Xu Guangqi used his own reputation as a guarantee to win the villagers' trust in the government.
To ensure that the news would spread, Sanyuan County Magistrate Chen Siguang personally took part.
Under the leadership of the County Magistrate Chen Siguang, the leaders of the Farmers' Association of each village in Xiyang Village first held a meeting to unify their thoughts. Then, under the leadership of the Village Head Liu Jinxian, they went from house to house to persuade those who felt that there were no horseshoe pests in their fields and that it was too troublesome to raise ducks.
After three days, the news was finally settled. More than two thousand households in Xiyang Village all agreed to raise ducks to control the locusts. Each household raised ten to twenty ducks. The thirty thousand ducks were quickly digested by Xiyang Village.
Chen Jinglun and Chen Zhenlong immediately organized people, starting from Six Connection Village. They taught the villagers how to raise ducks, how to release them into the fields to eat locusts, how to reduce the mortality rate of ducks, and how to manage the ducks well.
There were not many people who knew how to raise ducks at first. Later, Xu Guangqi felt that the speed of promotion was a bit slow. So, he waved his hand and all the officials of the Locust Control Department came to learn from Chen Jinglun and Chen Jinglun.
Xu Guangqi asked the officials to make a summary after they learned it and take it to each village to explain in detail. They were also responsible for following up.
He gave important instructions that the idea of raising ducks to control locusts should be implemented thoroughly. He wanted the villagers to learn how to raise ducks to control locusts. This was to ensure that even after the Locust Control Department was abolished, the people of Guanzhong would no longer have to worry about locusts.
Some of the officials thought that they could sit in the government office and control it. Xu Guangqi waved his hand —
Other than the necessary personnel for daily administration, all available personnel were to go to the countryside! If you don't go to the countryside, immediately report to the Emperor and dismiss you on the spot!
Therefore, all the officials from the Locust Control General Office and even the officials from Xi 'an Prefecture and Sanyuan County were assigned to help out.
Of course, the officials of the various villages were duty-bound to follow suit and learn from him. Then, they ran around to promote and explain to the villagers the importance of raising ducks and controlling locusts.
At the same time, Xu Guangqi brought his men to run around the villages to check for locusts. Every time he found a locusts in a plot of land, he would ask the ducks to come over and clean the entire village to ensure that no locusts would turn into locusts.
During this period of time, the second batch of 70,000 duck seedlings from the capital had also arrived. The promotion had also expanded from Xiyang Village to Daqiao Village. Six of the eleven villages in Daqiao Village had discovered the locusts' nests. The second batch of duck seedlings was prioritized to be sent to these villages to eliminate the locusts.
Xu Guangqi led the officials to run around non-stop. Chen Jinglun and his son commanded the duck army to follow closely behind, eating locusts everywhere. Very quickly, the news spread throughout the Xi 'an Prefecture. Then, the news spread to the entire Guanzhong region.
There was still a month before the autumn harvest. This concerned the entire year's harvest. None of the officials dared to underestimate this matter. They were all on edge and sent people to the Xi 'an Prefecture Office to inquire about the ins and outs of the matter. They wanted to see if they needed to do anything.
If the locusts really started, the Emperor would probably plough through the entire Guanzhong region in his rage. At that time, the first to suffer would be the newly appointed Shaanxi Governor, the head of the Five Tiger Generals of the land reform, Han Xuan.
Han Xuan, who had just finished the land reform and had just gained a foothold in the Guanzhong region, did not want to see such a situation. He did not lose to the landlords, but to lose to the locusts. This was something he could not accept no matter what.
Therefore, after Han Xuan received the news from Xu Guangqi's side as quickly as possible, he immediately urged the various officials to take action. He went down to various places to spread the news, and organized people to immediately go down to the villages to investigate the locusts.
The officials of the various prefectures, counties, and villages immediately took action.
Fortunately, they were all well-trained in mass movements and knew how to contact the masses and guide them. The news was gathered into Han Xuan's hands one by one, and he immediately passed it on to Xu Guangqi, letting Xu Guangqi know the seriousness of the problem.
By the time Xu Guangqi had gathered the news from various places, it was already August. The weather was even hotter, and the movement to raise ducks and control locusts was progressing faster and faster.
After reading it, Xu Guangqi's expression was solemn.
"Look, traces of locusts have been found in the eight prefectures and two prefectures of Shaanxi. A few years ago, there was a drought in Guanzhong and Gansu, coupled with the chaos of war and several wars. As a result, the population was sparse, and the number of wastelands increased. Locusts like to lay eggs on wastelands. Fortunately, we discovered it early and responded in time. Otherwise, when autumn comes and the locusts take off, it will be bad."
Xu Guangqi gave his summary of the map to Han Xuan. After reading it, Han Xuan's expression was also very bad.
"We can fight the evil gentry and tyrants, but we can't do anything to these little locusts. If it wasn't for His Majesty quickly sending over the flock of ducks, I don't know how many disasters we would have suffered this year. But at this rate, there may be a certain scale of locusts this year."
"Yes, this is probably unavoidable."
Xu Guangqi nodded. "Fortunately, potatoes have been planted all over Guanzhong. The locusts cannot do anything to the potatoes, and there is still some food to survive. The harvest of potatoes and sweet potatoes in the Jiangnan area is near. If there is a locust plague here, we will not be completely helpless.
But even so, we must prepare ahead of time. Han Futai, I suggest that you and I write a joint petition to His Majesty as soon as possible. Let His Majesty know that there may be a small-scale locust plague in Guanzhong, but we will do our best to control the plague within Guanzhong and not let the locusts spread to other places. "
Han Xuan nodded.
"You are right, I understand."
Han Xuan looked at the map again. He suddenly raised his head and said, "There is not much rainfall in Jiangbei this year. There is a locust plague in Guanzhong, and there are probably many in other places as well. Right now, raising ducks to control locusts is only in Guanzhong. If there is a locust plague in other places, what should we do?"
"His Majesty has said that using Guanzhong as a test is to ensure that Guanzhong will not be lost. In the next few years, the policies will favor Guanzhong and Gansu. In order to prepare for the Northern Expedition, other places can be put aside appropriately. Organize people to hunt and capture them, and the government will pay to buy them. Now that potatoes and sweet potatoes are widely planted, the situation has eased."
Xu Guangqi slowly responded.
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