Chapter 127

As for Qin Su, ever since she obtained those ten ducks, she has had palace servants carefully raise them.

She herself took it very seriously, going to see the ducks with Ye Yan every day, often petting and feeding them.

Ducks grow very quickly. In April, they are still little ducklings that can barely walk, but by the beginning of June, they are already quite big.

Every day, as Qin Su walked through the palace, these ten ducks would line up behind her, quacking loudly.

Now, Emperor Jingxi doesn't need anyone to announce his arrival; he can tell his daughter is coming just by hearing the quacking of the ducks.

He rubbed his forehead, put down the memorial, and began to doubt his initial decision.

Perhaps it would be better to let Qin Su raise a rooster. A rooster can't possibly make as much noise as ten ducks, right?

When Qin Su heard Emperor Jingxi say that the ducks were too noisy, she said angrily, "They only greet you because they like you, Father. You don't understand duck language, so you complain that they are noisy."

Emperor Jingxi: "...I don't understand duck language, but do you think you can?"

Qin Su said, "I don't understand either, but the ducks can understand what I'm saying."

Emperor Jingxi didn't believe it, so Qin Su pulled him under the eaves, squatted in front of the ducks, and made a "shh" gesture.

She said earnestly, "Duck soldiers, listen to me, be quiet."

Emperor Jingxi looked at his childlike daughter squatting with several fluffy ducks, all about the same height and equally cute and endearing, and couldn't help but laugh. The irritability brought on by the heavy affairs of state dissipated considerably.

He was about to pick up his daughter and say, "Okay, I believe you," when he was surprised to find that after Qin Su finished speaking, the ducks actually all shut up and stopped quacking. The lead duck even ran to Qin Su's feet and rubbed against her.

Qin Su proudly tilted her head back and said, "Father, see? I told you the ducks are smart."

Emperor Jingxi found it quite strange: "The ancients often said that all things have a spirit. It seems that this duck has been with people for a long time and has also come to understand human nature."

Even though it was a compliment to the ducks, Qin Su was as happy as if it were a compliment to herself, and patted each of the ducks' heads as if it were a reward.

The ducks were very cooperative, obediently nudging her with their heads.

"Go on," Qin Su said to the duck soldiers. "I'm going to have a lesson with my father. You should go to the battlefield."

Ever since Emperor Jingxi taught Qin Su about court affairs, he started a one-on-one mini-lecture series on court matters. Unless Emperor Jingxi was extremely busy with political affairs, he would bring Qin Su to the imperial study every two days to talk to her about the latest political decrees and state affairs.

Liang Danxin also warned all the palace staff in the Imperial Study to keep their mouths shut and not to mention the matter even in their sleep.

Qin Su couldn't bring the ducks into the Imperial Study, so she had the palace servants take them away.

Emperor Jingxi teased her, "Why are ducks going to war? Are you declaring war on the white goose?"

"Not yet," Qin Su said cautiously. "My duck army isn't fully trained yet, and the war with the white goose will have to wait. Right now, the duck army has a more important mission."

Emperor Jingxi laughed until his stomach hurt when he saw her so serious: "Oh? What important task is it? Tell me so I can hear it too."

Qin Su said a little angrily, "They're just annoying bugs! Qingmei said they're specifically designed to harm crops. The plot of land that Ye Yan and I planted was finally growing so well, but these bugs ate up so much of it. Luckily, Ya Jun was there and helped us eat the bugs."

Ye Yan sent people to look for phosphorus, but they haven't found it yet. It's not feasible to start working on fertilizer for the time being. However, Qin Su is interested in grain, so Ye Yan accompanied her to plant a plot of land in the Imperial Garden, and even divided it into different areas to treat them differently.

Emperor Jingxi heard from palace servants that the two children called it the "experimental field," which was quite strange.

Those simple rice seedlings looked so out of place among the exotic flowers and plants that it hurt his eyes to look at them, so he avoided that area and didn't know anything about it.

Hearing Qin Su say this, he was stunned for a moment, and a thought flashed through his mind, but he couldn't quite grasp it.

The duck soldiers were taken away by the palace servants, and Qin Su obediently attended a lesson with Emperor Jingxi for an hour.

Emperor Jingxi felt very gratified at these times.

Don't let my daughter's mischievous and naughty nature fool you; she's never ambiguous when it comes to serious matters.

In high spirits, after telling Qin Su his story, he wanted to spend some more time with his daughter and said, "Come on, let's go see the results of the duck army's battle."

The ducks had long since finished their battle and were now digging up and eating insect eggs under the watchful eyes of the palace servants.

Emperor Jingxi hadn't paid much attention at first, happily watching his daughter play with the ducks, but as he watched, his gaze suddenly sharpened.

"What's that?!" He strode forward, pointing to a worm that had been bitten in two by a duck's beak.

Seeing that Emperor Jingxi's expression was not right, Liang Danxin quickly snatched the food from under the duck's beak, picked up the insect, put it on a handkerchief, and handed it to him.

He had always followed the emperor, so of course he knew what the important events in the court were recently.

“Your Majesty, these appear to be locusts,” Liang Danxin said hesitantly. “It seems the locust plague in the capital has been severe recently, and they have all flown here.”

Emperor Jingxi murmured, "Locusts..."

No wonder when he heard Qin Su say outside the Imperial Study that the insects ducks eat are specifically designed to harm grain, he felt something was wrong. Now that he thought about it, aren't locusts the ones that specifically harm grain?

Can ducks eat locusts?

How much can it eat?

Emperor Jingxi was deeply shaken and circled the small "experimental field" several times.

Liang Danxin was confused, anxious, and worried.

He knew that the locust plague had been severe in early summer, and memorials from all over the country pleading for forgiveness, aid, and disaster relief were constantly being sent to the emperor's desk. His Majesty was furious about this and had already punished many officials in court, but surely he wasn't so angry that he was confused. Why was he still circling around a bunch of ducks?

Qin Su was also confused: "Father, what are you doing?"

The more Emperor Jingxi observed, the more delighted he became.

These ordinary ducks caught locusts so cleanly and efficiently, not even sparing the eggs, effectively wiping out the entire locust colony.

It's important to understand that the most troublesome aspect of controlling locust plagues is that locusts reproduce extremely quickly, making them very difficult to eradicate by human effort.

Surprisingly, while humans can't, ducks can.

It's only ten ducks, yet it has such a good effect. What if there were hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of ducks?

Emperor Jingxi had already made up his mind. He turned around, picked up Qin Su, and hurriedly went to the Imperial Study. He instructed Liang Danxin, "Quickly summon officials of the third rank and above to the palace."

Liang Danxin replied blankly, "Yes."

"Oh, right." Emperor Jingxi pointed to the swaying ducks, his eyes shining brightly, "Invite the princess's duck army as well."

Liang Danxin: ? ? ?

Is Your Majesty going to follow the common people's practice of inviting male prostitutes into the Imperial Study?

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P.S.: The use of ducks to control locust plagues has a verifiable history. It really happened in ancient times and also in modern times. The most well-known example is probably in 2000 when a major locust plague occurred in northern Xinjiang. 100,000 ducks were transferred from Zhejiang to control the locusts, which not only protected the ecological environment but also had a very good effect.