Han Xuan nodded at Xu Guangqi's words.
"No wonder the land reform in Guanzhong is needed first."
"Protect Guanzhong and lay the foundation for the Northern Expedition. The experience in Guanzhong can also be spread to other places. I heard that His Majesty has already set up locust control offices in Tianjin and Jiangnan. He plans to spread the strategy of raising ducks to control locusts to the whole country after we see results here."
Xu Guangqi said slowly, "But His Majesty also said that raising ducks to control locusts is like mending the pen after the sheep have been lost. If we want to eradicate the plague of locusts, we must build irrigation works to prevent the locusts from laying eggs. If we don't build irrigation works, the plague of locusts will continue and the people will suffer."
"His Majesty is really kind and loves the people …"
Han Xuan sighed.
The policy of raising ducks to control locusts in Guanzhong was strongly supported by the government. Starting from Han Xuan, they directly held the people below them accountable. They blamed the highest administrator wherever the problem occurred and didn't ask anyone else. They forced the highest administrator to work hard for the implementation of the policy.
This accountability system was well established. From the Inspector-General level to the Farmer's Association Chairperson level, each level would be in charge of the next level. If something were to happen, no one would be able to escape. Everyone would be held responsible, and no one would be able to shirk their responsibilities. The only way was to bury their heads in work.
Starting from Sanyuan County, the method of raising ducks to control locusts was gradually implemented in many places. Xiao Ruxun tried his best to send enough ducks for the local government to use, to ensure that Guanzhong would not be lost and to make the recently stabilized Guanzhong even more stable.
But it wasn't as if there were no locusts in other places. The tidal flats in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River were all locust hotspots. Xu Guangqi had followed this route all the way to Xi 'an and made a complete report to Xiao Ruxun.
There wasn't much rain since the beginning of spring, at least not as much as last year. That was why the locust plague last year was only in a small part of the area. The intensity was very low. The local government organized people to fight the locusts, paid for them, and mobilized the harvest of potatoes and sweet potatoes from other places.
This year, there was not much rainfall in the north, and there was not as much rainfall in the south as last year. Therefore, the officials that Xiao Ruxun had sent out to patrol all came back and said that there might be a locust plague of a certain scale in Jiangnan and Jiangbei this year. The government needed to be prepared to deal with the locust plague.
Xiao Ruxun started to make preparations. Even when he was promoting his country's prestige, he didn't stop the transportation of supplies. However, time was too tight, so he didn't make enough preparations.
After careful consideration, Xiao Ruxun decided to ensure that Guanzhong would not be lost. Then, he could only use a certain scale of control in other places. He could not launch a full-scale attack like he did in Guanzhong. Fortunately, there was no major drought last year or this year. Even if the locusts arose, they would not be large.
There were not enough people. No matter how many central government officials were recruited, or how much they expanded the size of the government, it was futile. There was always a feeling that there were not enough people. The moment a new batch of people arrived, they would be transferred away. Controlling the locusts was a national problem, and there would be no results in a year or two.
Xiao Ruxun could only choose to protect the important areas with all his strength and plan slowly. And the reason why he was so short of manpower was not only to deal with the locusts. Jiangnan's schistosomiasis had also become Xiao Ruxun's biggest worry.
In the fourth month of the second year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun was planning to divide South Zhili into three parts — Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shang Haizhou — when he received a report from Taiping Manor that made him frown.
This was the report submitted by the new Taiping Prefecture's Dantu County Magistrate after he suddenly fell ill with abdominal distension and blood in his stools.
He said that after he took office, he investigated the previous County Magistrate's medical records. According to the testimonies of his entourage and doctors, he found that the previous County Magistrate had gone to a small village to investigate and came back sick. Three of his entourage had also fallen ill, and one of them had died.
The new County Magistrate felt that something was strange and decided to go on an inspection tour. When he arrived at the small village, he found that there was a funeral going on in the village, and it was a cremation. He watched the funeral and found that the body that had not been burned was as thin as a stick, but the belly was especially big.
He felt strange and went on an inspection tour of the village. He found that there were seven or eight families in the village that all had big bellies, but the rest of the body was as thin as a stick of firewood. He remembered that the doctor said that the entourage of the previous County Magistrate also had a swollen belly before he died, so he asked the villagers about this.
The locals explained that this was a disease called Big Belly Disease. They said that this disease had existed since they could remember. Doctors came wave after wave, but some people could be cured, and some could not. Those who could not be cured died within a month, and some took many years to die.
The County Magistrate felt strange and asked the old people in the village. He found that the old people in the village also said that when they were children, Big Belly Disease was like a shadow following them.
And one of the old people recalled that when he was young, his grandfather also said the same thing. Anyway, from generation to generation, Big Belly Disease was like a curse that never left this small mountain village.
People who got Big Belly Disease would cough blood and have blood in their stool. Their bodies would be very thin, and they would die very miserably. Some people were different. Some people could get better after coughing and getting a fever, as if nothing had happened, but some people soon died because of Big Belly Disease.
And those who got better later, although they would occasionally have a relapse in the future, some of them lived to more than 50 years old before they died.
He went on an inspection tour of the village and asked the villagers. He found that more than half of the people in the village had symptoms of fever and coughing blood. Some people slowly got better after drinking the medicine prescribed by the doctor to reduce swelling and expel evil spirits, and some died. Only a few people said that they had never had such a situation.
The ancestors of this village also passed down a rule that said that people who died of Big Belly Disease should be cremated, and not directly buried.
The County Magistrate felt even more strange, so he asked the local doctor. The local doctor also said that he knew about this disease, but it was very difficult to cure. Some people seemed to be cured, but they would relapse later. The County Magistrate went to the local files and local records, and found that there were records of this Big Belly Disease in the previous dynasty.
More than a month after that, an official who followed the County Magistrate to the village for research suddenly had a high fever, chest tightness and headache, and had to ask for leave. The County Magistrate immediately realized that the situation was not right, and immediately found a doctor to diagnose the official. At a glance, the doctor determined that it was Big Belly Disease, and quickly gave the official medicine.
The doctor gave the official a Ferula Pill. After the official took it, the high fever gradually subsided, and the abdominal swelling gradually subsided. The doctor also found some long worms in his feces, and explained that it was a worm disease.
Then the doctor said that people like this were common, and the official was lucky to be cured. Many people either couldn't find a reliable doctor to treat them, or they didn't have the money to treat them, so they could only wait for death.
There were also a few doctors who said that they had seen such patients in the neighboring counties, and there were quite a few of them. However, they felt that this disease had never been rampant in the past few years, and there were not many people who died of the disease every year. It was much less than the number of people who starved to death, so no one cared.
The County Magistrate felt that this was a serious matter, and after thinking about it, he wrote a report and sent it to Taiping Prefecture, and then Taiping Prefecture sent it to the capital.
Later, this matter was noticed by Ye Xianggao, and Ye Xianggao felt that the inexplicable death of an official was not a small matter, and worried that it might be the early stage of a plague outbreak, so he sent this report to Xiao Ruxun.
In Xiao Ruxun's era, schistosomiasis had already been eradicated. He only knew about this terrible parasitic disease that had wreaked havoc in China for more than two thousand years through reading history books.
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