章 12: Signs of the Pest Disaster
編集者: Atlas Studios
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There were so many fertile farms in Bountiful Farm alone, and two hundred tenant farmers?
Wang Shouzhe looked at the crisscrossing roads among the fields and the intersecting gorges of varying sizes. He felt a little wistful. This was the clan legacy that had been passed down for a hundred years.
"Our Bountiful Farm adopts the traditional wheat in winter, grain in summer crop rotation method. Now is the busy season when winter wheat is about to mature, and the summer grain seedlings are being cultivated." Wang Shounuo's expression was slightly happy as he said, "This spring, the rain is abundant and not overflowing. The sun is strong and not scalding. This is very beneficial to the growth of winter wheat. Looks like it will be a season of bountiful harvest."
At this moment, even Wang Shouzhe was a little overjoyed. There was a huge difference between abundant harvest and poor harvest. Having more food meant that the family would have more development funds.
"No, no." Wang Luojing, who was like a little follower, pouted and said, "Third Brother, you're wrong. This year's winter wheat might be a poor harvest."
"What?"
Wang Shounuo's smile froze for a moment. He said sternly, "Luojing, you little girl, don't spout nonsense. Even Grandfather and some experienced tenant farmers say that there's a high chance of a bountiful harvest this year. What do you know at such a young age? If Grandfather hears you jinxing the harvests like this, he'll probably reprimand you again."
At his intimidation, Wang Luojing immediately hid behind Wang Shouzhe.
"Third brother, Fifth Sister is still young. Children's words mean no harm. Why are you taking it so seriously?" Wang Shouzhe smiled and patted her head to comfort her.
"Fourth brother, there are some things you don't know." Wang Shounuo smiled helplessly. "You don't know. Although our Fifth Sister is young, she's very eccentric. She likes to play with all kinds of insects all day. When she was two or three years old, she could even squat in the yard and watch ants for a few days. Some time ago, she even asked me to help her catch some kind of lace or bug king. If I didn't go, she would cry and roll around. I had to search everywhere for four or five days before I could catch two. I was bitten by mosquitoes and bugs and covered in bumps."
"It's the Lacewing King. It's recorded in the ancient Book of Insects." Wang Luojing stuck out half of her head from behind Wang Shouzhe and corrected Wang Shounuo seriously. "Brother, this is too embarrassing. Your handsome head is empty. Although the Arcane Martial Clans established ourselves through martial arts, its culture and knowledge are also the foundations of a clan's inheritance."
The second half of the sentence, in particular, mocked Wang Shounuo with an imitation of how Wang Shouzhe had reprimanded them.
Wang Shounuo's face darkened. He could only say unhappily, "Yes, yes, yes, I'm ignorant. The next time, no matter how much you beg me, I won't help you catch bugs again."
"I'll ask Fourth Brother to help. Fourth Brother is ten thousand times stronger than you." Wang Luojing tugged at Wang Shouzhe's clothes. She seemed to have found a pillar of support and was full of confidence.
Wang Shouzhe could not help but smile. It seemed like she really a little mischievous and eccentric. She was just reserved in front of him. Wang Shounuo was so angry that he was almost about to faint.
"All right, all right. Luojing, tell me. Why would there be a poor harvest when the weather is smooth this year?" Wang Shouzhe asked casually, "Don't be afraid. It's fine even if you say something wrong."
With Wang Shouzhe's support, Wang Luojing became much bolder. "The winter last year was too warm, and there was only a light snow."
Wang Shounuo immediately rolled his eyes. "Although heavy snow signifies a bountiful year, that's just a saying. If it doesn't snow, will there definitely be a poor harvest this year?"
"It's different," Wang Luojing said very seriously. "The winter last year was warm. The rain this spring was indeed quite good. But it hasn't rained for more than ten days recently. The weather is dry and hot."
"Luojing," Wang Shounuo said indifferently, "we have already opened the floodgates of Bountiful Tributary to release the water. The winter wheat will not lack water. Moreover, the sunlight is good, and it can help the wheat to grow and fill up."
"But it also helps the aphids to grow." Wang Luojing rolled her eyes.
Aphids?
Wang Shounuo shuddered and said hesitantly, "Aphids are unavoidable. Aphids appear every year, so it's normal for some production reduction to occur… Moreover, we also put insecticide powder in the farmlands last winter."
However, when he said this, his confidence was somewhat lacking. Aphids were the natural enemy of winter wheat. It would be fine if there was a small-scale eruption. At most, food production would be reduced. If there was a large-scale eruption, however, it would be a disaster.
In the Wang Clan's records, the most serious disaster was the aphid disaster 73 years ago. The disaster spread throughout the entire Longzuo County. Winter wheat production was reduced by 80% in the year, and grain prices rose rapidly in a short period of time. Some noble clans could still rely on their grain storage to survive. However, many freemen with weak assets suffered. There were many who sold their children.
What was even more terrifying was that the pest disaster lasted until the third year, and even some noble clans could not hold out anymore. If not for the Violet Palace Academy's help in transferring a large amount of food to the Longzuo County and refining a large amount of insecticide powder from ancient recipes, the entire Longzuo County would probably be filled with corpses for thousands of miles and become uninhabited.
For a moment, Wang Shouzhe frowned. "Luojing, do you have any way to prove what you said?"
The Bountiful Farm and the Prosperous Farm were the two major food production bases of the Wang Clan. If aphids really broke out, it would only make matters worse for the current Wang Clan.
"Brother, try checking a few more filling wheat ears." Wang Luojing's expression was also a little solemn.
Wang Shounuo was a little nervous from her words. He walked towards the field and casually grabbed a random ear of wheat. There were some green dots on the ear of wheat that had just begun grouting.
He flipped through a few ears of wheat in succession. There were a little more on some and a little less on others, but without a doubt, they were all aphids.
Wang Shouzhe was at the advanced stage of the sixth level of the Qi Refining Realm. His physical fitness and vision were far superior to that of ordinary people. At a glance, he realized that the green dots were all fat little insects. He was slightly stunned. They seemed to be aphids, right?
Wang Shouzhe had very little knowledge in this aspect. He could barely manage to guess that these were some kind of aphids. He was not interested in agriculture, so those apps with powerful algorithms naturally would not promote related contents.
"There are indeed more aphids this year than in the previous years," Wang Shounuo said doubtfully. "But that does not mean there'll be a pest disaster, right? It can be treated by mixing some insecticide powder with wood ash water. At most, there'll be slightly less harvest than last year."
"Brother!" Wang Luojing stomped iand said, "I already said that there's a huge problem with the climate. There are too many eggs from last year retained in the soil. As soon as tomorrow or the day after, or in three or four days at most, many aphids will break out of the soil. There's a high possibility that a second wave will erupt after seven or eight days."
"The few of you, come here." Wang Shouzhe said to a few tenant farmers who were working not far away. "Pull out this small patch of wheat and turn over the soil."
"This… Young Master Shounuo…" The tenant farmers shrunk their heads and looked at Wang Shounuo doubtfully. They did not dare to, and were also a little unwilling to take action. This wheat can be harvested in about ten days, and it's all precious food.
"Listen to the patriarch." Wang Shounuo did not dare to offend Wang Shouzhe. He personally stepped forward and pulled out the wheat.
The few tenant farmers also carried hoes and began to turn the soil.
Before long, the small patch of wheat was pulled out, and the soil was turned over.
"This…" Wang Shounuo carefully examined the roots of the wheat that had been pulled out. His expression gradually became grave, then shocked." How can this be? How can this be? "
There were many ghastly white dots on those roots. Moreover, they were on most of the wheat roots. It was only a matter of how many.
Furthermore, if one looked carefully in the soil that had been turned over, they would discover that there were many small white dots.
Wang Shounuo's heart skipped a beat. An ominous feeling rose in his heart. "Quick, call Grandpa over."
"Quick, inform Grandpa and all the tenant farmers to quickly soak the accumulated wood ash." Wang Shounuo had learned agriculture from his grandfather for two years and more or less had some basic skills.
The tenant farmers began to get busy.
Not long after, the Fourth Old Master, Wang Xiaozhi, arrived to meet up. His expression was extremely grave. "How could this be? How could there be so many aphid eggs growing in the ground? After the autumn harvest last year, it was clearly the same as usual. We plowed the earth and scattered the insecticide powder. Could there be a problem with the insecticide powder?"
"Grandpa, the winter last year was warm…" Wang Luojing reminded him cautiously at the side.
"Little girl, I've been a farmer my entire life. You think you know better than me?" Wang Xiaozhi reprimanded her angrily as if she had touched a sore spot. "Ten years ago, the winter was also warm, and the weather was exactly the same as this year. In the end, Longzuo had a bountiful harvest, and warehouses were filled with grain! In my opinion, the problem lies with the insecticide powder. That damn Qian's Trading Company must be selling fake insecticide powder. To think that I even hoarded a large batch of it at a low price!"
As they spoke one after another, Wang Shouzhe also recalled some scattered knowledge. He could not help but frown and say, "Qian's Trading Company is distributed throughout Longzuo, and has always paid attention to their business reputation. If a pest disaster occurred in Longzuo because they sold fake insecticide powder, they likely wouldn't be able to withstand the consequences. Could there be such a possibility? In their repeated confrontations with the insecticide powder, some aphids with strong resistance survived and gradually developed large-scale drug resistance?"
In his previous life, although Wang Shouzhe did not interact with agriculture, he knew that be it bacteria, viruses or other organisms, they would all undergo continuous genetic mutation and evolution. There was almost no pattern to speak of for this evolution, but most would be eliminated by nature.
It was reasonable that some aphids that evolved in the direction of drug resistance, survived repeated confrontations with the insecticide powder, and gradually multiplied.
However, Wang Xiaozhi could not understand anything about biological evolution. He only frowned and said, "Shouzhe, don't spout nonsense here. The insecticide powder used was still working fine before. How could it be useless this year?"
"Grandpa, I think what Fourth Brother said makes sense," said Wang Luojing. "Grandpa, have you forgotten that you've always been complaining during the recent years about how it seems like the insecticide powder is becoming less and less effective, and how there are aphids every year?"
Wang Xiaozhi's expression froze, and it became more and more unsightly. In recent years, especially since the bountiful harvest ten years ago, there had been a gradual increase in the number of aphids. However, as they were generally still within acceptable limits, he only felt frustrated.
Wang Shouzhe was almost certain that the drug-resistant aphids had already proliferated. The warm winter last season had also allowed most of the eggs to survive. In addition, the weather this year was suitable for the growth of the aphids, which was how this scene before them had occurred.
This was a huge problem. Even Wang Shouzhe could not help but feel his scalp tingle. He did not have the ability to concoct a new "pesticide"…
When it rains, it pours! With this disaster, the Wang Clan's days would only get harder, right?
"Fourth Brother." Wang Luojing pulled Wang Shouzhe to the side and said in a low voice, "I have a way to deal with the aphids, but I'm scared of Grandpa. I don't dare to say it!"
What?
Wang Shouzhe was stunned and looked at her in disbelief.
…
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