Two months ago, he learned from Li Mengyue that there would be a locust plague in the next year.

He did not blindly believe it, but conducted serious research and found that the weather conditions in Wuning County were indeed abnormal.

Not only is there a long period of drought, but the temperature is also relatively high, making it suitable for locusts to grow and reproduce.

Since he didn't know much about agriculture, he specially asked people to find experienced farmers and elderly people who had experienced locust plagues.

They all agreed that the possibility of a locust plague was very high.

The reason why he was willing to come to Wuning County to be the county magistrate was, on the one hand, to escape the suffocating environment at home and stay away from the bad people and things; on the other hand, he also wanted to make a career and prove his ability.

When he came to Wuning County and saw the real living conditions of the people with the surname Wu, he was deeply shocked.

He never knew that for him it was just the money for a meal, which could keep his family well fed and clothed.

In his eyes, the wild vegetables on the ground and the coarse grains that make his throat ache are not worth mentioning, but they are the food that ordinary people of the Zhou family need to survive.

There are also many children of school age who, although they are old enough to go to school, have to imitate adults and do housework clumsily.

Children who are a little older are considered the labor force of the family and work in the fields with the adults.

These were within his psychological expectations and not difficult to accept.

But there are still many people who can't even afford to eat coarse grains.

At first he still had doubts. After all, they farmed the land. Even if they didn't eat the harvested crops, they could probably exchange them for coarse grains.

Later he realized how naive his idea was.

It turned out that the per-acre grain yield was very low. By the harvest season, after working hard to bring the grain home and pay the tax, there was not much left.

Even if they were all sold to buy whole grains, it would still be far from enough for the family to eat.

Although he lost his mother when he was young and was not loved by his father, he was not treated unfairly in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation. He naturally understood how difficult the life of the lower class was.

I don't know when his mentality changed drastically.

He wanted the poor people of Wuning County to live a good life, have enough food and warm clothes every day, and never have to worry about going hungry again.

But just as he was working towards this goal, a sudden locust plague slapped him hard in the face, as if mocking his own arrogance.

But he believed that man can conquer nature, so he shamelessly got more than 100,000 ducklings from Li Mengyue.

Although most of them were distributed to other counties, only more than 30,000 were left in Wuning County.

He was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the more than 30,000 ducklings.

He didn't know the exact number of locusts that could be eaten in a day, but because of this, there were not many locusts in the entire Wuning County. On the contrary, there were not enough food for the ducks.

Perhaps it was because of the little duck that he had the illusion that the locust plague, which people were so afraid of, was not that serious.

Even when he submitted a memorial to the court, pointing out the possibility of a locust plague, he did not take it seriously when he received no reply.

He never expected that when he stopped worrying about the locust plague and was thinking of ways to increase his family's income, Li Mengyue unexpectedly came to the county government quietly and told him that a locust plague had come.

He didn't believe it at first, but when he saw the locusts flying around on the streets of Qingshan Town, he no longer dared to hold on to any hope.

However, when he saw the locusts on the street, they were not so dense that they covered the sky and the sun. He wondered if the area of ​​this locust plague would be relatively small and would not cause much damage.

How could Yang Zhijin, who was secretly rejoicing, have thought that these were just the vanguard of the locusts, and the army was moving from Yongkang Prefecture to Qingshan Prefecture with an unstoppable momentum.

On the way to Xinghua Village, Yang Zhijin was surprised by what Zhoujia Village, Meihua Village, Guihua Village, and Shitou Village did.