Seeing Cao Cao asking for the reason, Li Mu did not try to be mysterious like a sour scholar. He answered truthfully,"My lord, do you know that since April, there has not been a single day of rain in Guanzhong. All the crops in the fields have withered. Up to now, a bushel of rice is worth 500,000 yuan.”
Cao Cao nodded." I've heard about the drought in Guanzhong. White bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles. He also heard that His Majesty had already ordered the granaries to be opened to relieve the people, allowing the rice beans in Taicang to be used by the poor. But what did this have to do with Xianmou's plan? Although there was little rain in Yanzhou, it would not cause the crops in the fields to die.”
Li Mu gently unfolded his folding fan, displaying a refined air."Although His Majesty has a benevolent demeanor, his imperial orders cannot even leave the palace. Using Taicang's rice and beans as food for the poor would only make the officials fill their own pockets, and the number of disaster victims would not decrease.”
" Without food, the disaster victims can only gnaw on tree bark, dig up grass roots, and catch birds, insects, and fish. They eat whatever they can. Although they are all trying to survive, because the scale of the disaster victims is too large, their means of survival will cause a change in the population of another species.”
"What do you mean by the change of another species?”Cao Cao was unfamiliar with these terms.
Li Mu tried his best to explain in a way that Cao Cao could understand,""In a year of drought, locust plagues are accompanied."
"Locusts are originally solitary insects, but in a year of great drought, the vegetation will wither, and food will become scarce. They will also be captured by the disaster victims, forcing the locusts to live in groups.”
"Locusts that live alone do not have much deterrence, but locusts that live in groups will become a natural disaster because there are too many of them.”
"Since ancient times, when locusts pass by, not a single blade of grass will grow. When the number of hungry locusts reaches a certain level, it is no longer something that can be easily dealt with by human strength.”
"And the locusts that live in groups are mostly poisonous. The disaster victims don't dare to eat them, so we can't directly use locusts to solve the problem of the disaster victims being full.”
"The disaster victims don't dare to eat locusts, but they catch birds that eat locusts. This makes the natural enemies of locusts almost extinct.”
" Humans don't dare to eat locusts, and the birds that dare to eat locusts are hunted down. The number of locusts will become larger and larger, so large that the food for the locusts will not be enough.”
"Be it humans, birds, insects, fish, or beasts, they will go crazy when they are hungry.”
"Without food in the pass, the locusts will fly out of the pass!”
"It's just like how one million Yellow Turbans from Qingzhou came to Yanzhou to fight for food.”
Cao Cao did not believe in ghosts and gods.
When he was the prime minister of Jinan, the officials of Jinan built temples to worship all kinds of ghosts and gods. It was a waste of money and people's hearts. Cao Cao was furious.
No matter what kind of sacrificial temples were built by the powerful, they were all destroyed by Cao Cao, forbidding officials from carrying out messy sacrifices.
Cao Cao also did not believe the necromancer's statement that the locust plague was the punishment of heaven.
When he heard the term locust plague, Cao Cao's pupils clearly changed.
Li Mu's unique understanding of the locust plague also made Cao Cao feel refreshed.
"In a year of great drought, a locust plague is accompanied. So there's still this layer of factor!”
"So Xianmou's top, middle, and bottom three strategies are all to deal with the upcoming food crisis in Yanzhou?”
"But I can understand the best and worst plans. The middle plan of raising more chickens and ducks still makes me puzzled.”
"Don't tell me that when there's no food, we'll let the people eat chickens and ducks? How many chickens and ducks do you have to eat to be enough!"
Not only Cao Cao, but also Xi Zhicai and Xiahou Dun did not understand how the impending food crisis in Yanzhou was related to chickens and ducks.
The management of locust plagues had been a difficult problem since ancient times.
Any method of dealing with locust plagues had its limitations.
Li Mu closed his folding fan and chuckled.""My lord, locusts that live in groups are poisonous, but their lifespan is limited.”
"Generally speaking, locusts live for two to three months. Those who live longer will not live more than half a year.”
"When locusts die, they will probably find a place to lay their eggs. This is also the time when the locusts are at their lowest toxicity.”
"There is no locust plague in Yanzhou. When this group of locusts from Guanzhong arrived in Yanzhou, they had basically reached the end of their lives.”
"Although they will devour a large number of plants and crops, these locusts are not as difficult to deal with as they were in the early stages.”
"Just like how Caogui talked about soldiers, he did it over and over again.”
"This is the best food for chickens and ducks!"
"After the chickens and ducks eat the locusts, my lord's troops will have more meat to eat.”
There were limitations to the methods of dealing with locust plagues because the cause of each locust plague was different.
As for the locust plague in Yanzhou, Li Mu was certain that it was not caused by the drought in Yanzhou, but by the drought in Guanzhong.
If they were in Guanzhong, let alone raising chickens and ducks, the disaster victims would have to eat the chickens and ducks first.
Even if the disaster victims didn't eat them, the locusts, chickens, and ducks wouldn't dare to eat them!
Raising chickens and ducks to control locusts was not effective in Guanzhong.
However, Yanzhou was different. A group of locusts that had come from Guanzhong and had reached the end of their lives was just a delicious meal that the chickens and ducks competed to eat.
"We are invincible!" Xi Zhicai suddenly stood up and clapped his hands in praise."Xianmou integrated the art of war into disaster control.”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。