Chapter 603 Locust Plague
Qiping Prefecture was located in the southwest of the Tang Dynasty, adjacent to Xiangyi Prefecture. To the south of Qiping Prefecture was the newly established Taoist Kingdom.
Although Xiangyi Prefecture suffered during last year's drought, under the leadership of Prefect Shen Wansheng, some drought relief efforts were made. Furthermore, Zhao Bingzhao's dedicated disaster relief efforts, coupled with the subsequent renovation of official roads under the government-run carriage system, helped Xiangyi's people, despite the disaster, to live a more or less comfortable life.
In comparison, Qiping Mansion is far inferior.
The late spring cold snap after the beginning of spring was even worse in Qiping Prefecture than in Xiangyi Prefecture.
In Xiangyi Prefecture, Old Master Xu made the Xu family rice shop's grain affordable, successfully suppressing the skyrocketing trend of grain prices in Xiangyi Prefecture.
But in Qiping Prefecture, the government did nothing.
It is no exaggeration to say that people's lives are in dire straits.
The late spring cold snap has finally passed, but with no rainfall, a severe drought seems foreseeable.
But the people of Qiping Prefecture still worked diligently, facing the earth and back to the sky, struggling to survive.
But soon, the people of Qiping Prefecture discovered something was wrong.
A large number of locusts appeared out of nowhere, swallowing up the green between the sky and the earth, and quickly grew larger, expanding across the sky.
The locust plague is coming!
The local officials of Qiping Prefecture panicked and reported the incident hastily.
But once the locust plague broke out, it could not be eradicated all at once. There was a natural disaster before the New Year, and a late spring cold snap after the New Year. In order to survive, the people of Qiping Prefecture no longer had any chickens or ducks in their homes.
Furthermore, with the overwhelming locusts, it is certainly impossible to fight off the plague with only the chickens and ducks raised by the people.
The people were waiting for relief from the imperial court, but how could the local officials care? They had already formed ties with the local aristocratic families and were planning to seize the opportunity to expand the people's land. How could they possibly act so early?
The people, who had no way to survive, finally rose up in rebellion under the instigation of the disciples of the Jieyun Dao.
In just half a month, the entire Qiping Prefecture had fallen, local officials were killed, and aristocratic families were looted and exterminated. In order to survive, the people erupted in unprecedented fighting power.
Coupled with the defection of the Qiping Prefecture garrison, this civil uprising quickly became uncontrollable.
After the civil uprising in Qiping Prefecture, the Human Dao Kingdom of Jieyun Dao took action.
The Holy Son Zhang Yi brought the Jieyun Dao soldiers and transported a large amount of rice into Qiping Prefecture, reaching a consensus with the rebel army.
Jieyundao provided food and weapons to the rebel army, but they needed to march towards Xiangyi Prefecture.
Why Xiangyi Prefecture?
Nature is destiny!
The Jieyun Dao's founding relied on the little bit of national luck left by the Jieyun Dao Saint, who was a descendant of the royal bloodline of the previous dynasty. This little bit of national luck was not enough for the Jieyun Dao to survive forever. If the Dao was to survive forever, it also needed dragon veins.
Unfortunately, the dragon vein they cultivated with great effort actually flew away.
So far, the Taoist Master of Disaster can only confirm that this unformed dragon vein is lurking in Xiangyi Prefecture, but he cannot determine its exact location.
However, unprecedented good fortune has occurred in Xiangyi Prefecture over the past year, especially the unique family of Wucheng Hou Xu Huaiyi. If there is no reason, the Lord of Disaster would never believe it.
After reaching a consensus with Song Dahu, the leader of the uprising army in Qiping Prefecture, Zhang Yi returned to Jiannan Prefecture to pay a visit to the Lord of Disaster.
"Master, the locust plague in Qiping Prefecture has already moved towards Xiangyi Prefecture. After the locust plague is over, even without Song Dahu and his men, we can occupy Xiangyi Prefecture on our own. Why did you send Song Dahu and his men to Xiangyi Prefecture? Isn't this a superfluous move?"
"Where the dragon vein is, there must be something different."
"The locust plague may not affect Xiangyi Prefecture!"
The Lord of Disaster sighed.
"Leave the affairs of Xiangyi Prefecture to Song Dahu and his men. To outsiders, this is a normal thing refugees do to survive. But if we, Jieyundao, take action, then people will inevitably think too much."
"There are so many smart people in this world!"
"Look at the Tang Dynasty today. Local aristocratic families have the ability to control a prefecture or even several prefectures. But do they dare to openly rebel?"
"It's not that they don't have the ability to rebel, they just don't dare!"
"Without dragon veins and national destiny, the ultimate result of their rebellion will inevitably be destruction."
"Master, you said that the Saintess carries the destiny of the previous dynasty, so I can establish a country through the Way of Robbery. Then, if we help those aristocratic families seize the destiny of the Li royal family, can they also establish a country?"
Zhang Yi's idea was not sudden, but he had been thinking about this for a long time.
The fact that they were able to establish a nation and not be attacked by the imperial court was purely because the current situation made it impossible for the imperial court to intervene.
After all, their move to establish a country was a consensus reached with many prominent families.
With the Dao Kingdom of the Jieyun Road at the forefront, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty had to restrain himself no matter how dissatisfied he was with the aristocratic families. After all, if the Tang Dynasty was in turmoil, the Dao Kingdom of the Jieyun Road, the northern barbarians, and even the wild people in the northern border could lead to the complete destruction of the Tang Dynasty.
In a sense, the Dao country they were robbing was a bandit raised by aristocratic families.
This move can be called nurturing the enemy to protect oneself.
"cannot!"
"The method of seizing luck does not last long."
"Those noble families are all very clear about this."
"Furthermore, if they knew that our Dao Nation's fortunes would not last forever, they would probably rush over immediately and completely destroy us, thus showing their loyalty to the court!"
This method of establishing a nation itself has many shortcomings. However, the Jieyun Dao Master was also helpless. He felt that if he followed the original plan, first destroying the dragon veins of the Tang Dynasty and then controlling the dragon veins they had secretly cultivated, then he didn't know whether he would be able to establish this human kingdom in his lifetime.
There was no other way, he could only give it a try.
"Master, what if we spread the news that there is a dragon vein in Xiangyi Prefecture?"
"This is a very bad idea!"
The Taoist Master of Disaster simply shook his head.
"Anyway, let Song Dahu and the others give it a try first. If they can find the dragon vein, our Jieyun Dao will have a real foundation in this world."
"If there is really no hope, then spread the news."
"By then, the Tang Dynasty will be shattered, and the dragon veins will inevitably be broken. I, the Path of Destiny, may have to go through the path of swallowing a dragon to attain enlightenment!"
"Disciple understands!"
Zhang Yi responded respectfully, then took his leave.
…
Then, Du Qingruo, the Saint of the Dao of Disaster, and now the Queen of the Dao Kingdom, saw Zhang Yi who had left the Dao Lord of Disaster, and naturally knew about the conversation between Zhang Yi and the Dao Lord of Disaster.
Although Du Qingruo and Zhang Yi have not officially married yet, to outsiders, they are already like a couple.
I don’t know if it was because of the previous Duanchenyuan that made Zhang Yi feel something, or for other reasons, but his attitude towards Du Qingruo was very unusual.
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(End of this chapter)
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