Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 63 Sacrifice to the Locust God? Sacrifice Xen Niang!

Wang Qiong was a very obedient person, or rather, most officials in the bureaucracy were very obedient.

Faced with Yang Shaofeng's invitation, Wang Qiong agreed without hesitation, promising to stay in Ningyang County for another ten days or half a month to see the local customs and culture, and at least until the water in Daming Lake was filled before leaving.

Wang Qiong never expected that just as Daming Lake in Liumiao Village was about to be filled with water, and the artificial lake in the east of the city had been dug to a depth of less than three feet, the water flow of the Dawen River and Guang River plummeted, and the air suddenly became scorching hot.

Yang Shaofeng and Wang Qiong stood on the edge of the artificial lake in the east of the city, watching the air in the distance constantly rising and distorting, their faces both extremely gloomy.

The drought eventually came, as was inevitable.

What annoyed Yang Shaofeng, the county magistrate, even more was the locusts that came with the drought, or rather, the locusts in their juvenile stage.

Locusts at this stage are called midges. Their morphology and habits are similar to those of adults, but they are smaller and not yet fully mature, and therefore do not have the ability to reproduce. Hence, they are also called nymphs.

Before completing their five molts, the nymphs cannot fly and can only hop around in groups in the fields. Wheat, sorghum, and millet planted after spring plowing are their favorite foods. Although soybeans are not favored by the nymphs, they will not hesitate to eat soybean seedlings when they are starving.

When a nymph feeds on a crop, it makes a soft rustling sound as its mouthparts bite through the plant's surface. When a large number of nymphs feed on a crop, it creates a rustling sound, like a leaf being rubbed together.

The heads of the eight communities and sixteen villages of Ningyang County, summoned by Lame Wu, stood behind Yang Shaofeng and Wang Qiong. Many of them had expressions of despair on their faces, with only a faint glimmer of hope in the depths of their eyes.

They were hoping that the artificial lake that Magistrate Yang Shaofeng had prepared would come in handy, and they were also hoping that Emperor Zhu Chongba would fulfill his promise in the imperial edict and allocate grain to relieve the drought when Ningyang County could no longer hold on.

After a long silence, Yang Shaofeng suddenly spoke up: "Fimp Fifth Brother, send someone to the breeding farm and bring over all the ducks from there."

Just as Limpy Wu was slightly stunned, Yang Shaofeng pointed to the crops being eaten by locust larvae and said to the heads of the eight communities and sixteen villages: "Locusts eat crops, so I will let ducks eat locusts. You should also organize the children, women and able-bodied men in each community to go to the fields and catch locusts."

As soon as Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, the faces of the village heads and elders changed drastically. Among them, Geng Erdan, the eldest village head of Gengzhuang Village, knelt down in front of Yang Shaofeng with a thud and cried out, "You mustn't do that, Your Excellency! The locust plague is caused by the anger of the Locust God. At this time, we can only go to the Bala Temple to worship the Locust God. We must not kill the locusts, lest we anger the Locust God and make the locust plague worse!"

The other village heads and elders chimed in, "Yes, sir! Why don't we offer sacrifices to the Locust God? If that doesn't work, we can offer sacrifices to the Green Seedling God. We absolutely must not kill the locusts!"

"Offering sacrifices to General Liu is also acceptable!"

"We dare not anger the Locust God!"

"..."

Hearing the village heads and elders chattering about wanting to perform sacrifices for this and that, Yang Shaofeng felt annoyed and suddenly shouted, "Shut the hell up!"

Yang Shaofeng kicked Geng Erdan, the head of Gengzhuang Village, to the ground, and angrily pointed at Geng Erdan, cursing: "You son of a bitch, you want to worship the locust god? Did the locust god give you land, grain, seeds, or farm tools? Worship the locust god? Worship your mother!"

Yang Shaofeng kicked Liu Sanshier again, who was shouting about worshipping the Green Seedling God, and started cursing Liu Sanshier again: "Green Seedling God, my ass! If it weren't for me, the county magistrate, ordering you to dig a lake and store water, these seedlings would have turned yellow long ago! Green seedlings, my ass!"

Kicked down another village head, and Yang Shaofeng continued cursing: "You dog! I, the magistrate, am the one who calls the shots in Ningyang County! Which scoundrel dares to cause trouble in Ningyang County? You can call him over and see how many troops he has!"

After a barrage of kicks and curses, Yang Shaofeng turned his gaze to Lame Wu: "What are you still standing here waiting for? Are you waiting for me to bring a few young boys and girls to sacrifice to the locust god?"

Having never seen Yang Shaofeng so angry, Lame Wu was startled. Hearing this, he quickly bowed and accepted the order: "Your Excellency, please calm down. I will go and have someone bring the ducks over right away!"

After the lame man hurriedly left, Wang Qiong tentatively said to Yang Shaofeng, who was panting heavily, "Magistrate Yang, can ducks kill locusts? What if we don't offer sacrifices to the locust god and the locust plague starts again...?"

Yang Shaofeng knew that Wang Qiong meant well—if the locust god was worshipped, the locust plague, no matter how big or small, could no longer be blamed on Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate. However, if the locust god was not worshipped and ducks were used to catch locusts, and the locust plague was not eliminated, then the people might blame Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate.

However, Yang Shaofeng did not intend to accept Wang Qiong's persuasion.

What the hell is this Locust God?

The Yuan Dynasty government did offer sacrifices to the Locust God during locust plagues, but when the people could not survive because of the locust plague, they rose up in rebellion, stormed the county government and treasury, and hung the magistrate's head on the city gate tower to dry in the wind. What the hell was the Locust God doing then?

Besides, who are you trying to provoke by worshipping the locust god?

Zhu Chongba—according to the theory of the interaction between Heaven and Man, whether it is a flood, drought, locust plague, earthquake, or even a solar eclipse, it is all a warning from Heaven to the world. As the "Son of Heaven," the emperor is naturally the first person responsible for any unusual celestial phenomena.

When Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, swallowed locusts, it was partly to call on the people to eliminate locusts, but it also subtly acknowledged that he was primarily responsible and hoped that Heaven would spare the people.

If Magistrate Yang Shaofeng held a grand ceremony to worship the locust god shortly after Shandong was recovered, it would be tantamount to telling the world: Look, Shandong has just been returned to the Ming Dynasty and a locust plague has occurred. We still have to worship the locust god to suppress it!

What would Emperor Zhu Chongba think?

Even if Emperor Zhu Chongba had to swallow his pride and bear it for the sake of unity and stability in Shandong, Henan, and the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, who could guarantee that he wouldn't hold a grudge against Yang Shaofeng, the instigator?

Therefore, Wang Qiong's advice to Yang Shaofeng to worship the locust god was well-intentioned, as it was a tradition. However, this good intention might backfire, causing Emperor Zhu Chongba to hold a grudge against Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate.

After pondering for a while, Yang Shaofeng simply went to the edge of the field, picked a foxtail grass, removed the leaves and tail of the foxtail grass, leaving only the relatively stiff stem, and then went into the field to catch two nymphs, which he strung together with the foxtail grass.

Back on the ground, Yang Shaofeng had someone get some thin, dry twigs, lit them with a lighter, and slowly roasted the nymphs over the fire.

Soon, a faint, slightly smoky aroma of meat wafted through the air.

After the nymphs were cooked, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng put the fragrant, charred nymphs into his mouth, chewed them a few times, swallowed them, and then said with a smile, "See? I've already roasted and eaten the locust larvae. If there really is some locust god, let him come and ask me for an explanation."

Seeing the bewildered village chiefs and neighborhood leaders, as well as the completely dumbfounded Wang Qiong, Yang Shaofeng simply looked up at the sky and shouted, "Locust God! I've eaten your children and grandchildren! If you're a real man, show me your power! If you don't, I'll just treat your children and grandchildren as food for the people!"

Perhaps it was because Magistrate Yang's insults were too vulgar and his attitude too arrogant that even when Magistrate Yang Shaofeng's neck started to ache, the sky remained clear, showing no sign of the locust god appearing.

Yang Shaofeng turned to look at the group of commune leaders and village chiefs, smiled, and said, "Look, the Locust God has agreed to treat his descendants as the people's food."

The village heads and elders looked at each other, when Liu Sanshier, the village head of Liumiao Village who had just been kicked to the ground by Yang Shaofeng, suddenly shouted, rolled over and stood up, yelling, "The Locust God didn't give me any land! The Locust God didn't give me any seeds! The Locust God's descendants are eating my grain! I curse the Locust God!"

After calling out, Liu Thirty-Two imitated Yang Shaofeng, rushing to the edge of the field to break off some foxtail grass, then rushing into the field to catch nymphs. After stringing them together with the foxtail grass, he returned and roasted the nymphs over the still-burning fire.

"fragrant!"

Liu Thirty-Two chewed on the roasted nymph with a vicious glint in his eyes: "The master is right, this is a gift from heaven! We might as well eat it!"