Upon arriving in Donghai Town, Gu Lili and the village headman went straight to the county government office.
Inside the county government office, Magistrate Yang's voice suddenly rose.
"Gu Lizheng, County Princess, are you telling the truth?"
The village head quickly repeated what Gu Lili had told him that day to Magistrate Yang.
“Your Honor, look, these are golden apple snails.” The village head said as he handed the snails he had scooped up from the rice paddy to Magistrate Yang.
Magistrate Yang took the snail from the village head and examined it carefully. Li, the clerk, also came over to look.
"Gu Lizheng, aren't you exaggerating a bit?" Master Li said with a disbelieving look.
However, some small snails are not likely to eat the rice as the village head said.
Upon hearing this, the village head immediately became agitated.
“Master Li, if you don’t believe me, come with me to the rice paddies and you’ll see!” the village head said, glaring at him.
He had just witnessed with his own eyes in the rice paddy that a small number of rice seedlings had already been poisoned by the golden apple snail.
Magistrate Yang put down the golden apple snail in his hand and said, "Gu Lizheng, don't be in a hurry. Let's go to the rice field and see what's going on."
After looking at it for a long time, Magistrate Yang could only tell that the apple snail was slightly larger than other snails, but otherwise it was no different.
So, they immediately decided to find a rice paddy to see what was going on.
The group immediately agreed and set off to check out the nearby rice paddies.
“Master Li, look, I didn’t lie to you!” The village head pointed to the rice seedlings in front of him, where a golden apple snail was attached to one of them.
Upon closer inspection, Master Li realized that the creature was indeed eating rice seedlings, and his expression changed.
"Sir, what Gu Lizheng said is true!" Master Li said with lingering fear.
Because, after only a few glances, he spotted several golden apple snails.
If we really let them eat it, they will probably devour all the rice seedlings.
That would be terrible!
Magistrate Yang nodded, his expression somewhat grave, and said, "Yes, we need to find a way to get rid of these snails. I don't know if these things are everywhere, or just in our Donghai Town."
If the entire country were to fall victim to the magic of the golden apple snail, then the Southern Yue Kingdom would be doomed.
"The spread of the golden apple snail is through water. May I ask, Your Excellency, if you have a map of Donghai Town? If we take a look at the map, we can at least find out how many villages and towns use the same water source."
Gu Lili only knew that the stream in front of her house flowed down from the mountain, but she didn't know where its source was.
For some reason, Gu Lili felt that this matter was not simple.
It felt like it was man-made, because neither the village head nor Magistrate Yang recognized the apple snail.
That means it's very likely that someone did it intentionally.
Magistrate Yang nodded quickly and said, "Yes! Let's go back to the county office and take a look."
So the four of them returned to the county government office.
Gu Lili opened the map and examined it carefully.
The source of this stream is actually in Jiangbei Prefecture, and it is divided into two tributaries.
One tributary leads directly to Donghai Town, and another tributary leads to Mingyue Town, before branching off to Pingshui Town and Tianning Town.
When Gu Lili saw this, her face turned deathly pale.
Because the stream originates from a river.
"Magistrate Yang, where does this river lead?" Gu Lili asked tentatively.
After asking the question, I prayed in my heart that it wouldn't be the answer I wanted to hear.
Magistrate Yang then took another map from the bookshelf and spread it out in front of the group.
Gu Lili gasped when she saw it.
The source of this river is a snow-capped mountain.
Looking at the map, this river flows through one-third of the Nanyue Kingdom.
In other words, in the worst-case scenario, one-third of the rice paddies in Nanyue Kingdom would be infested with golden apple snail shells.
That shouldn't be underestimated.
Magistrate Yang's face also darkened; he understood what Gu Lili meant.
“Princess, your Baiweixuan restaurant also sells snails, and they taste quite good. Why don’t you publish the recipe for these snails? If everyone eats snails, this problem will be solved.” Master Li patted his head and said with a look of surprise.
Upon hearing what Li the clerk said, Magistrate Yang couldn't help but give him a thumbs up.
Why didn't he think of that?
The reason why ordinary people don't eat snails is because they don't know how to cook them.
If Gu Lili could reveal her method, it would indeed solve this problem.
Gu Lili shook her head and said, "If this snail is edible, I will definitely reveal the recipe without waiting for you two to speak. Eating this snail will cause illness at best and death at worst, so it is absolutely forbidden to eat it."
After Gu Lili finished speaking, the expressions of Master Li and Magistrate Yang became serious again.
“However, these blue crabs are the natural enemy of golden apple snails. Perhaps, people could raise blue crabs in rice paddies. I would be happy to publish how to raise blue crabs,” Gu Lili continued, expressing her thoughts.
Upon hearing this, the three of them were delighted once again.
However, Magistrate Yang's words plunged the village head and Master Li into despair.
Magistrate Yang sighed and said, "But where are we going to find so many blue crabs?"
Previously, when they were eating at Baiweixuan Restaurant, Magistrate Yang had asked Gu Lili where the blue crabs came from.
Gu Lili said that it was done by people going under the stone slabs to catch them.
It takes several people half a day to catch just a few.
With so many rice paddies in the entire Jiangbei Prefecture, by the time the crabs are caught and released into the paddies, the rice seedlings will probably have already been devoured by the golden apple snails.
Gu Lili thought about it and decided to go all out.
“I know a friend who’s in business; maybe he knows where I can buy mud crab seedlings,” Gu Lili said.
The friend that Gu Lili was talking about was actually herself.
In her trading space, as long as you have silver, you can have as many crab seedlings as you want.
Gu Lili's concern for the rice seedlings was not because her family had planted so many.
Rather, it was because if there were problems with the rice in the Southern Yue Kingdom, it would inevitably lead to famine.
Famine leads to riots and wars.
Gu Lili herself can hide in her spatial dimension to avoid all disasters, but what about her family and friends?
She couldn't stand by and watch her family and friends get hurt.
Magistrate Yang quickly stood up, cupped his hands towards Gu Lili, and said, "Princess, then I'll trouble you to inquire with your friend. I'll also go and verify how many places have been affected by golden apple snails. We'll discuss what to do then."
Gu Lili nodded and agreed.
Magistrate Yang, accompanied by his advisor Li and a group of yamen runners, hurriedly left the house.
Gu Lili originally planned to take the village head home, but the village head refused.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com