Although the people of Anping Village had long been mentally prepared, they still couldn't help but secretly wipe away tears when the moment actually arrived.
They had discussed it beforehand, and to be on the safe side, each household would plant less land this year, so that they could keep some after paying taxes.
The water saved will be used to raise chickens and ducks. If locusts come this year, the chickens and ducks will be easy to raise, and they can be exchanged for grain.
Old Chen suggested that everyone use the saved water to raise more chickens and ducks, especially ducks, so that they could use them to kill locusts and also raise them to be fat, killing two birds with one stone.
Everyone knows that chickens and ducks eat insects, but using them to kill locusts is a bit far-fetched, and people are still skeptical about it.
However, chickens and ducks do eat locusts, so everyone gave it a try.
Nowadays, the chickens and ducklings hatched by the Chen family are fed locust powder, which is made from dried and ground locusts. It is very nutritious, and the chickens and ducks grow very quickly after eating it.
When chickens and ducks are able to peck at their own food, they will go and find locusts to eat. Because they are used to the taste of locusts, locusts have become their staple food.
Seeing how well the chickens and ducks raised by the Chen family grew after eating locusts, everyone started to follow suit.
The Chen family raised a lot of ducks, and people assumed that the Chen family raised ducks for their down, so they started to follow suit.
The idea of using chickens and ducks to kill locusts was proposed by Chen Kai to Old Man Chen. Old Man Chen believed it, so it was brought up at a village meeting.
Actually, the Chen family raised a lot of ducks not for their down, but to kill locusts.
Although both chickens and ducks eat locusts, ducks are more effective at eliminating locusts than chickens.
The first advantage of ducks is their enormous appetite, which is greater than that of chickens.
Although the chickens eat a lot of locusts every day, they eventually get full.
It's definitely not good to force a chicken to eat more than it is full.
Unlike chickens, ducks have a straight intestine, so the food they eat goes directly through their intestines and is excreted. This is why ducks sometimes eat and defecate at the same time.
Therefore, in terms of "daily workload", ducks eliminate more locusts every day.
The second advantage of ducks is that they conduct a thorough search when foraging, unlike chickens.
Because ducks have a large appetite, they will not let go of anything edible when they are foraging for food, and they are also very meticulous when searching for food.
Chickens tend to be picky when searching for food, so even if they kill a lot of locusts, there will always be some that escape in the areas where the chickens pass by, which can cause the locusts to resurge.
The third advantage of ducks is that they like to forage in groups and are docile and easy to manage.
Chickens are rather scattered when foraging, so their effectiveness in eliminating locusts is limited.
But ducks are different. When they forage, they usually move in large groups and are quite obedient, making them very easy to manage. As a result, ducks have become the nemesis of locusts.
In May, Anping Village announced that its ducks could be rented out to kill locusts, with prices negotiable.
Some people found the news hilarious, wondering if using ducks to kill locusts was just wishful thinking.
But some people believed it and started contacting the people of Anping Village because locust eggs had been found in their village. The locust eggs were so numerous that they had to be eliminated, or the consequences would be severe.
Upon receiving the order, the village chief led his "pest-exterminating army"—a total of two thousand ducks—to the scene.
Upon arrival at the destination, many people gathered at the village entrance, and many were discussing the matter, seemingly disbelieving in this method of eliminating locusts.
The village chief ordered someone to take them to the place with the most locust eggs, and told the eldest son to drive the ducks there.
The place with the most locust eggs in this village is the back mountain. It was discovered by villagers when they went up the mountain to cut firewood. They were so densely packed that it was terrifying to look at.
When the duck arrived, it saw the delicious food and charged towards it aggressively, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
In less than a morning, the locust eggs in the back hills were completely eaten by two thousand ducks, and then they were driven into the fields and grasslands within the village area to continue hunting.
The news of ducks being used to kill locust eggs in Anping Village quickly spread.
A few days later, another village discovered a large number of locust eggs and came to Anping Village to rent ducks to kill the insects.
The villagers of Anping Village have been receiving orders one after another. There are not many families in the village that raise more than a thousand ducks. Most of them raise one hundred or one hundred at a time, and the larger ones raise two or three hundred or four or five hundred.
Large-scale duck farmers, with four or five hundred or even over a thousand ducks, have been overwhelmed with orders these past few days.
Many people used to follow the trend of raising ducks, but now that they can rent ducks to kill locusts, everyone has become active, and there are quite a few large-scale duck farmers in the countryside.
As the number of locust eggs increased, a pest control campaign began in their county.
Not only ordinary people, but even the government participated. The county magistrate raised three thousand ducks and, after eliminating the insect eggs in the official fields, began to send people to the countryside to exterminate locusts.
When the news of Anping Village raising ducks to kill locusts reached him, he started raising ducks too, regardless of whether it would work or not, he figured he wouldn't lose money anyway.
Therefore, the impact of this disaster on their county is almost negligible. The locusts were wiped out time and time again when they were still eggs. Now, any locusts that fly over from other places are wiped out as soon as they land by the chickens and ducks that were prepared in advance.
Because the locust-killing campaign in May shocked everyone, many people sensed a business opportunity and immediately started raising ducks.
As a result, a duck-raising craze swept through the county. Now, there is a surplus of ducks, which are being transported in large quantities to neighboring counties to kill locusts and make some money along the way.
The Chen family raised 5,000 ducks. They kept 1,000 in the village and requisitioned the remaining 4,000 to fight locusts elsewhere. They would return the ducks and receive compensation. They would also be compensated if the number of ducks was less than expected.
The livestock that villagers kept in large numbers were also requisitioned.
Old Chen discussed it with the village chief and suggested that they sell the ducks after they had killed the locusts to exchange for grain, instead of herding them back. There were too many ducks, and they wouldn't be able to afford to raise them if they were brought back, as it would waste water.
The village chief thought it was a good idea and mentioned it to the other families. Then he went to the county magistrate and said that the ducks requisitioned from their village would be given to him. He promised to help them find a way to exchange them for grain when they were used up, and that 10% of the harvest would be donated to the government.
The magistrate happily agreed and even bought all the ducklings that would hatch in Anping Village over the next three months. He entrusted the ducklings to him to help fight locusts in various places. The locusts would take several months to eradicate, and once the ducklings were used up, they would all grow up and be ready for market. The profits from the sale would be split 50/50.
Although they were not affected by the locusts, this year's harvest is definitely going to be bad, as the rice seedlings in many places have withered and died due to drought.
The imperial court certainly won't be able to allocate disaster relief grain; in the end, they'll have to rely on themselves. These ducks will be the life-saving food for their county.
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