Chapter 115 Whose Credit Is It?
County government office.
Magistrate Shen, Clerk Yuan, and the registrar were all present, essentially holding a small meeting.
They visited three or four of the thirty-six villages under the jurisdiction of Ping'an Town. There were many locusts flying around, but they were still scattered and not densely packed. They were not as frightening as last year's locust plague, but they were still enough to make people's hearts skip a beat.
Master Yuan said, "At this time last year, the locust plague had already broken out."
The registrar's face was grave: "I think if we wait two or three more days at most, the locusts will swarm and cause a disaster, and there will be no way to salvage the situation."
The clerk sighed deeply: "We finally managed to resolve the drought, but now we've been hit by locusts again. Years of disasters have left us unable to collect taxes, the treasury is empty, and the court will likely hold us accountable..."
Several people sighed one after another, and Magistrate Shen felt his head was spinning.
With incidents occurring in Ping'an Town for two consecutive years, it seems his term as county magistrate is coming to an end.
At this moment, a yamen runner rushed in: "Reporting, Zhao, the village head of Dahe Village, requests an audience."
When they were searching for water sources and digging ditches last time, Magistrate Shen and Village Head Zhao spent four or five days together, and the two got along quite well.
We never saw each other again after that parting.
His intuition told him that Zhao Lizheng's visit must be about the locusts.
Magistrate Shen ordered his yamen runners to bring the person in.
Besides Zhao Lizheng, another young man walked in. He was wearing a blue robe and looked like a scholar. He also looked vaguely familiar.
"This humble subject pays his respects to Your Excellency, the County Magistrate."
Zhao Lizheng and Cheng Zhao knelt down.
Magistrate Shen waved his hand: "There's no need for such formalities with me. Get up."
Zhao Lizheng got up from the ground and went straight to the point: "Sir, I have come here today because of the locusts. Although the locusts have not yet become a plague, in my experience, they will definitely gather in less than three days, just like last year. A large swarm will fly in and eat up all the crops in the fields in less than half a day."
His speculation coincided with the registrar's thoughts, and the registrar stood up and said, "Then what insightful opinions do you have for me today?"
Zhao Lizheng spoke up honestly: "Four or five days ago, Dahe Village was researching ways to exterminate locusts. Heaven rewards those who persevere, and they have finally figured it out. Cheng Zhao, hurry up and present the results."
Cheng Zhao stepped forward and presented a thick stack of Xuan paper with both hands.
The registrar took the item, turned to the first page, and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "What beautiful handwriting! It's vigorous and powerful, with sharp strokes. It's impossible to write such beautiful characters without putting in a lot of hard work."
A stack of papers was placed in front of Magistrate Shen, and the heads of the registrar, clerk, and secretary all crowded around.
At first, the group was completely confused, as it was all numbers and they couldn't understand what to do. But after reading the preceding text, they came to a conclusion.
Artemisia argyi can repel locusts, and Lantana camara can kill locusts instantly. The amount of water needed to boil one pound of Lantana camara, as well as the boiling temperature and time, are all recorded. On the next page, there is the campfire trapping method, along with ducks to kill locusts, ditch burial, and Lantana camara spraying... The number of locusts killed after combining these methods is also recorded, along with descriptions of the fields, and even simple brush drawings, as if one can see the scene of locust extermination in Dahe Village.
The last few pages contain instructions on how to operate the equipment, precautions, how to protect the land, and how operators should protect themselves.
After reading it, Magistrate Shen and the others were dumbfounded.
Master Yuan was the first to come to his senses: "Is everything written here true?"
The village head gave up his home field.
Cheng Zhao cupped his hands and said, "What is written on the paper is a true record of what I have seen and heard these past few days. All the data was counted before it was written down, and there is absolutely no falsehood."
Magistrate Shen was taken aback: "You...you are Cheng Zhao?"
His son was studying at Nanfu Academy. He had been to Nanfu Academy several times and heard people mention the name Cheng Zhao, saying that he was sure to pass the imperial examination at the county level.
The provincial examination is next year, so why would Cheng Zhao be out of bed taking notes on these things?
Master Yuan lowered his voice: "I heard that Cheng Zhao was expelled from Nanfu Academy for cheating, and it's caused quite a stir..."
Standing below the hall, Zhao Lizheng, unaware of the whispers among the people above, introduced, "This is Cheng Zhao, Er Gouzi's cousin. Er Gouzi's mother is Cheng Zhao's aunt. Cheng Zhao has been staying in our Dahe Village for the time being."
They didn't mention Chengjia Village at all, since Cheng Zhao was staying there and could temporarily represent Dahe Village.
Magistrate Shen remembered that when he met Er Gou Niang in town last time, Cheng Zhao was with Er Gou Niang. No wonder he looked somewhat familiar.
This young man writes beautifully. As the saying goes, one can see a person's character and integrity through their handwriting. Someone who can write such beautiful handwriting could never have cheated.
His son, on the other hand, has terrible handwriting; it would be great if he could learn more from Cheng Zhao.
However, we still need to send someone to find out the specifics of the cheating.
Magistrate Shen neatly arranged the stack of papers on the table: "If this method can truly eradicate locusts, I will record a great merit for you."
Cheng Zhao raised his head and said, "This method was devised by my second aunt. If the magistrate wants to award credit, the credit should belong to my second aunt, to Zhao, the village head of Dahe Village, and to every villager in Dahe Village who participated in the locust eradication. Without them, there would be no data recorded by Cheng Zhao..."
Zhao Lizheng was utterly incredulous.
He did nothing, so how can he get credit?
And those men and women in the village, they were fighting locusts just to protect their own rice fields, how could they have the face to claim credit?
Magistrate Shen waved his hand: "We can discuss the merits later. Right now, we need to promote this method. Clerk Yuan, please give the order to have all the village heads come to the county office."
He paused, then continued, "Zhao Lizheng and Cheng Housheng, you two don't need to leave yet. You'll need to verbally explain the specifics of how to handle the locust eradication to the other village heads."
"Yes, Your Excellency!"
Zhao Lizheng and Cheng Zhao stayed behind.
The village heads of all the villages in Ping'an Town were summoned to the county government.
The news of locust eradication spread like wildfire, reaching every corner of Dahe Village.
"Have you heard? The county magistrate has requisitioned our locust-killing methods. Guihua Village, Chengjia Village, and Lijia Gou are all copying us."
"If you ask me, we have to thank Aunt Dashan for this. If it weren't for her discovering Lantana, we would all be sitting on the ground crying like last year."
"We also have to thank that young man from the Cheng family. He's a scholar, yet he personally went to the fields to help us fight the locusts. It wasn't easy for him."
"I just find it strange, why doesn't Cheng Tongsheng go back to Chengjia Village?"
“He was able to study thanks to his mother, Da Shan. He hasn’t been close to this second aunt for many years. He’s probably staying here now to save money for his trip to take the imperial examination next year.”
"You're going to Huzhou to take the imperial examination, right? It'll take more than half a month to get there, and the journey will probably cost a lot."
"I don't know how long he'll stay in Dahe Village. I'm thinking of sending my son there to learn a few words, and the tuition fee I pay can also be used as travel expenses for Cheng Tongsheng."
A group of women chatted casually, discussing everything from locust eradication to reading, until they reached the gate of Cheng Wanwan's courtyard.
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