Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 150 Locusts Like a Black Sun
“The locusts are coming!”

The swarm of insects followed the sun eastward. The long-term drought caused the number of locusts in various places to be several times or even dozens of times more than in previous years. Wherever the swarm of insects went, these local locusts would join in and roll forward.

The scale of the locust plague even exceeded Xia Lin's expectations at the time, and it even began to radiate to the Jingchu area. The area that could be sprayed with pesticides was simply not enough. Now, unless there is a sudden drop in temperature, it may become the largest locust plague in human history.

Now it is just after the Mid-Autumn Festival and the crops have not yet grown well. Even if the wheat is harvested in time and can be grown as green wheat, the rice is doomed and can basically only be used to feed livestock. As for other crops, forget it. You know, there will be no harvest at all.

People in the disaster-stricken areas tried every possible way to defend against the locusts. In the end, only the places where pesticides were used suffered relatively small losses, while other places were already facing a doomsday scene.

It’s over, it’s over, the sky has really fallen.

The locusts advanced triumphantly all the way to Yimeng Mountain and Taishan Mountain, where they were intercepted and stopped. At this time, the young prince who was in Hangzhou had been summoned to Jinling City to be scolded.

That day in the court, Gao Shilian and other people bombarded him with attacks. Why? Because they lost money. A large amount of funds were invested in grain purchases. They were all cash. Once the grain was lost, it would be no different from a broken capital chain.

All the officials in the court followed suit and had their businesses stockpile some grain. The national treasury had a surplus of 130 million jin of grain, and these officials' homes could have 500 million jin of grain. Even if all 8 million people along the Yellow River were affected by the disaster, they could do nothing but eat the food for half a year, and even if they were a little frugal, they could eat for a year.

The ministers were extremely distressed about the money, and everyone was filled with resentment, so they stood there and complained one after another, saying that the young prince was worthless, and even that his words had risen to the level of bringing disaster to the country and the people, and misleading the public.

Faced with such accusations, the young prince could not actually pass the blame to Xia Lin in the court, because as a crown prince regent, it was allowed to make mistakes, and there was no one in the world who was perfect at making mistakes. But if people knew that he made the mistake because he listened to the slander of a seventh-rank official, that would not work, and he might even lose his qualification as crown prince.

So now the young prince can only use his head to take Gao Shilian's meteorite technique in the court, and he cannot hesitate or argue when his head is hit by a bang. It is wrong and he has no choice but to take the responsibility!

"Your Majesty, the Prince of Lin'an's misjudgment caused the national treasury to lose more than 10 million taels. Not only that, but it also caused panic among the people in various places. He is truly to blame."

"Your Majesty, since the founding of the country, I have never heard of anyone who could know in advance that a locust plague was coming. Now that all places are short of food due to rumors, it is ridiculous to say so. The price of grain is high, and I think the Prince of Lin'an is suspected of hoarding goods. I hope to investigate thoroughly."

……

At this moment, the young prince stood there with his scalp tingling, but he could not say anything, because the locust plague did not happen, at least it had not happened when he set out for Beijing. Now his biggest hope was to end it quickly, accept the punishment himself, and then send Xia Daosheng to the bitter cold land of the far north to guard Goguryeo.

The emperor on the dragon throne frowned. He knew in his heart that the ministers were forcing him to punish his eldest son. This sign meant that these ministers did not agree to make Jing'er the crown prince, so they must have their own candidates.

There are nineteen royal princes. Apart from a few who are really insignificant, there are nine who can participate in the fight for the throne. Since ancient times, the princes of all dynasties have been most afraid of this battle for the throne. At the very least, the dragon veins may be damaged, and at worst, the dynasty may be overthrown.

But the most troublesome thing now is that Jing'er made a big mistake this time...

Just as they were entangled with each other, suddenly the bell outside the palace rang, and the 800-li express arrived! And it was a continuous 800-li express, a total of 36 rings, which meant that six fast horses were heading straight for the imperial city.

"Report! Locust plague in Chang'an, no harvest!"

"Report! Locust plague in Luoyang, no harvest!"

"Report! Urgent news from Yuzhou, locusts are everywhere!"

"Report! Urgent news from Caozhou, locust plague has caused a complete crop failure!"

"Report! Urgent report from Xiangyang, the locust plague has arrived and the damage is severe!"

"Report! Urgent report from Langya, locust plague has caused disasters in many places!"

A series of urgent reports were like sledgehammers hitting Emperor Hongbao's heart, and the court became silent.

At this moment, the big rock in the little prince's heart that was originally intended to be used to smash Xia Lin to death finally fell to the ground. Not only did he not want to smash him to death, but he wanted to kiss him hard.

"My lords, how is it now? Am I still hoarding goods at a high price? Am I still spreading lies to mislead the people?" The young prince turned around with his hands behind his back and looked around at all the officials in the court: "This time the locust plague has swept across the Central Plains. Many places along the Yangtze River have lost a grain of harvest. I have done my best to provide disaster relief. No one in the palace can even take out a hundred taels of silver. Now it depends on you." As he said this, he was finally able to throw out the account book of disaster prevention materials he had purchased from various places. Most of them were bought from Fuliang, including blankets, mattresses, animal skin tents, canned food, pesticides, etc., totaling as much as one million taels.

Emperor Hongbao asked Tian En to take the account book and read it carefully, and at this moment the young prince continued to say: "If you don't believe it, you can check it."

When the ministers heard the news, they no longer had the heart to stay with him. They were the people who most hoped for a locust plague. Now that they had discovered a locust plague over such a large area, they were extremely happy.

"Your Majesty, the whole court must unite as one and start to resist the locust plague." Gao Shilian took the lead and said, "The scale of this locust plague is unprecedented. It will be fine for a while, but locust plagues have been competing with people for food since ancient times. Your Majesty should plan disaster relief."

After saying that, Gao Shilian took a deep look at the prince and smiled at him gently. The meaning of this smile was so profound, it not only meant "you escaped a disaster" but also some meanings that were difficult to express.

Emperor Hongbao naturally had to make corresponding arrangements in the court, but what else could he do when faced with a natural disaster? All he could do was to do his best and leave the rest to fate.

As for the young prince's strategy of surrounding three sides and leaving one behind, it is still somewhat useful, but not many places have been saved now. According to the current situation, there are probably two million victims. Even with proper disaster relief, the number of victims can reach 200,000 to 300,000, or even 400,000.

Even though many people in the court had no idea what 400,000 people meant, in fact, when 400,000 people gathered together, it would be an extremely terrifying thing.

The imperial court has now almost stopped all work arrangements and started disaster relief work across the board. Even the little prince has been assigned a place, which is the disaster relief work in the hard-hit area of ​​Huaibei.

The other six departments were also responsible for the management, and all the officials in the court showed concerns. However, after the court session, they gathered around Gao Shilian again in the name of disaster relief.

Gao Shilian assigned them tasks at the beginning, and emphasized one sentence in particular: "If there is not much food, you can purchase grain from private grain merchants."

Everyone understood this sentence. How much grain was there in the imperial granary? Even if all of it was shipped out, what problem would it solve?
The sentence "grain can be collected from the people" fully illustrates the attitude of Gao Shilian and even the cabinet. If people like Zeng Ming said something, they could naturally use the excuse that human life is as important as heaven to get away with it.

At this moment, Emperor Hongbao and the young prince were walking in the imperial garden. Emperor Hongbao sighed and said, "Jing'er, you are naturally strong-willed. Don't start a dispute with them at this time."

"Father, I know this."

"Also, how did Xia Lin know there would be a locust plague?"

The young prince was stunned when he heard this, then he paused for a moment: "Father...how do you know it was him?"

"That little bastard, huh... He's so cunning. I saw that every item on your account seemed to be specially prepared for the locust plague. How could I not know that? But never mind. He deserves to earn this money."

"Father, I think this Xia Daosheng is a little weird."

"That's right." Emperor Hongbao laughed and walked forward: "Both auspicious signs and evildoers are very evil. Some people are auspicious signs if you can use them, and evildoers if you can't. This person is a treasure I intend to leave for you. When I am here, he can only be a county magistrate. When you succeed to the throne, you can promote him to the center, and he will be your sword. Just like Minghuai is my sword, but in the end you still have to control it yourself. When I am here and Minghuai is here, your uncle Teng Wang is here, he is a piece of splendid beauty. If one day we are gone, if you can't control him, you will be hurt by him."

"In that case... why did Father say he would leave him to me?"

"What else? Who will be left for you? Li Shimin? Or Hou Junji? Can you control these noble families? Besides, only those who are mediocre are willing to be mediocre. Such a natural monster naturally needs a wise master to subdue it. Otherwise, just wait, he will eat you up without leaving even a bone."

These words were both an exhortation and a warning. The young prince pursed his lips and said nothing for a long time. He was indeed a little scared.

While they were chatting, the price of grain suddenly began to soar, from 900 catties per tael of silver last year to 200 catties per tael of silver, and then in less than an hour it became 180 catties per tael of silver, and then it continued to soar rapidly, and finally settled at 135 catties per tael of silver. A large amount of the grain that was sold was eaten up by the grain merchants. Although their costs were nearly five times higher, as long as they could hold on for another month or two, they would make back the money with interest.

As the price of grain skyrocketed, the prices of other daily necessities also began to soar. Overnight, starting from Gyeonggi Province, all kinds of bulk commodities began to rise in price like crazy. Although the court was also trying to control grain prices, it always set the official guidance price at around one tael of silver per seven hundred kilograms.

But... there is not a single grain of rice left in the official market. It was all sold out long ago.

(End of this chapter)