Shen Feng was also worried about the locust plague. The crops had only been planted for a short time, and the seedlings had just begun to grow when the locusts arrived, devouring all the crops. While there was still a chance to replant, the locusts had not left since entering Sichuan Province.
The locusts flew everywhere, devouring crops and constantly laying eggs. In twenty days or so, new locusts would emerge from the soil.
For a while, Shen Feng had been discussing with the people of Yuzhou how to completely solve the problem caused by the locusts.
Even during meetings, Shen Feng wore a white cloth tied around his head. Generally, funeral rites had been simplified. In ancient times, mourning lasted for three years. Later, with changes in customs, the three-year mourning period was too inconvenient, so the duration was shortened, usually to three to seven days. Even if it was longer, half a month was generally sufficient for the arrangements. However, Shen Feng had decided to mourn for at least half a year.
Chang Jianyi could not stop him, as she understood Shen Feng's grief. The sudden departure of a close relative from this world was difficult for anyone who was grateful. Shen Feng only wore mourning attire daily and would not affect Yuzhou's future plans.
In the meeting, many people had smiles on their faces because they had received good news recently: many cities in Sichuan Province had sent requests to join Yuzhou. This was because these cities had almost no grain reserves left, and if they did not receive more grain, they would face famine. Their fate would then be even more tragic.
Originally, everyone thought that it would not be easy for Yuzhou to take over Sichuan Province. However, the sudden appearance of the locusts had brought benefits to Yuzhou. This was because Yuzhou had not suffered any disasters in recent years and had considerable grain reserves. Although Sichuan Province was vast and had more plains than Yuzhou, it also had a large population and often needed to sell grain to other regions. Therefore, Sichuan Province's grain supply was just enough to sustain itself, far from having reserves. Now that the crops were eaten by locusts, Sichuan Province was the first to be unable to cope.
Shen Feng leaned back in his seat and said calmly, "Although we can gain territory in Sichuan Province without shedding blood, do not forget that Yuzhou's grain reserves are also not abundant. If we mobilize grain to Sichuan Province, what about Yuzhou?"
Yang Chang appeared very optimistic, saying, "Although we have missed the best planting season, we can still replant crops now. The harvest may be greatly reduced, but we will not have nothing to harvest, right?"
"Replanting crops is easy, but what about the locusts? The locusts are still emerging from the soil. What if the locusts make a comeback? Then the crops will be gone again," Cao Fuliang said from the side. Planting crops was still too simple when the locusts had not yet been dealt with.
"Produce insecticides with full force and kill all these locusts. Isn't that enough?" Yang Chang said as a matter of course.
Modern agriculture has simple methods to deal with locusts, which is to spray pesticides directly, killing any insect. After spraying the insecticide, the locust crisis can be resolved.
However, Li Keyi said calmly at this moment, "I'm afraid it won't work. The effectiveness of insecticides against locusts has weakened. Firstly, the size of the East Asian migratory locusts has more than doubled, and their resistance to toxins has increased. Secondly, the locusts have mutated and have specifically evolved resistance to pesticides, so the dosage used previously needs to be five to six times higher. This dosage of insecticide is sufficient to cause harm to humans."
When Li Keyi said this, everyone couldn't help but frown. After mutating, the locusts' resistance to pesticides had also increased. If this was the case, dealing with locusts would not be easy. At the very least, using insecticides against locusts would be ineffective.
"Since the effectiveness of pesticides is limited, why don't we be more direct and mobilize the people to kill locusts by hand? If everyone works together, it will definitely be effective," Qi Lingshan said at this moment.
"Your suggestion is even more unreliable. If humans could fight locusts, locusts would have been extinct by humans long ago," Li Keyi immediately objected to such a statement.
Tu Xuhuai was silent for a moment, then suddenly looked at Shen Feng and said, "For professional matters, we should consult professional people more. City Lord, discussing here is useless. Why don't we go to the research institute and find scientists to brainstorm together? Even if they cannot provide a concrete solution, they can give us some suitable suggestions."
Shen Feng nodded and said to Li Keyi, "Yiyi, quickly contact the research institute and find some entomologists to come here for consultation."
Li Keyi then left the meeting room, while Shen Feng did not idle. He said to the others, "Taking advantage of these opportunities, we need to quickly take over other cities in Sichuan Province. Next, we need to discuss a candidate to be stationed in Rongcheng. Normally, I will still be in Yuzhou and cannot always be in Rongcheng, so who do you think is suitable to guard Rongcheng?"
Upon hearing Shen Feng's words, everyone became excited. Being stationed in Rongcheng at this time would be equivalent to being a high-ranking official. Especially now, Yuzhou was in urgent need of personnel. Not to mention the children from the orphanage, even the young people recruited by Yuzhou were basically not enough. Therefore, going to Rongcheng next would allow them to develop their own teams. This was a great opportunity.
Everyone quickly discussed and finally decided to let Guo Pinming lead the army to Rongcheng. For civilian personnel, Zhou Xiaoxiao would be responsible for handling matters, and the most important task was to ensure the smooth operation of the railway between Rongcheng and Yuzhou.
Shen Feng was also very confident in Guo Pinming because Guo Pinming was the least greedy person. After he went to Rongcheng, he could ensure that he would not have any other intentions. Moreover, in addition to Guo Pinming in Rongcheng, Jin Zijue also had more than a dozen ability users under his command, and they had also chosen to stay in Rongcheng. Jin Zijue became the captain of the next Ability Administration Bureau.
After Shen Feng discussed this matter with everyone, Li Keyi happened to bring entomologists and agronomists into the meeting room, and everyone continued to discuss the locust problem.
Professor Zhang slowly sat down and then said to Shen Feng, "City Lord, in fact, insect mutations are limited by oxygen. As long as the oxygen concentration on Earth decreases, the size of locusts will continue to shrink, and it will be impossible for other insects to continue mutating. This can solve the problem of mutated insects once and for all."
"Professor, what we want to know now is how to solve the locusts within our borders. If the locusts within our borders are not resolved, worrying about other mutated insects in other places is unnecessary worry, because in a few months, we will also face famine," Shen Feng said quickly.
When Shen Feng said this, Professor Zhang also realized that now was not the time to consider insect mutations, but rather how to solve the crisis caused by locusts in a short period.
Therefore, after pondering for a moment, Professor Zhang said, "Firstly, it is not easy to completely curb the locust disaster. It has only taken decades to completely eliminate locust disasters in China, and it took the hard work of several generations to achieve this. This process involved several stages. The first is manual killing, which is the most foolish method. Whether it is digging up locust eggs or catching locusts and frying them, the efficiency is very low. Then there is pest control with machinery, which simply means spraying pesticides. This method has the best effect. The best way to kill locusts is to spray pesticides, but it cannot be used now."
Everyone in the meeting room listened quietly. Many people in the meeting room had never experienced a locust disaster because they were all too young. Many of them were under thirty years old. The older generation could still remember these things, but for these young people, they were not very clear about how to deal with locusts.
"The final method to completely control locusts in China is source control. In fact, it is to transform the habitat of locusts. Although locusts are everywhere, they also have a source. As long as the habitat of these locusts is transformed, locusts will not be able to cause widespread disaster," Professor Zhang said slowly.
"Then where is the source of the locusts?" someone immediately asked, wanting to know how to successfully control locusts.
Professor Zhang said, "Basically, they are all in the north, in the North China Plain, the Guanzhong Plain, and the lower reaches of the Yellow River. These are historical sources of locust disasters. Reservoirs and artificial water conservancy facilities were built to change the habitat of locusts, so locusts could not form large swarms. However, ten years have passed since the end of the apocalypse, and these water conservancy facilities have been abandoned, so the locusts have returned."
"Well, there's no way now. The locust habitats are all in the north, and it's impossible to transform them," Lu Kaiyang said, spreading his hands. If it were peacetime, transforming the locust habitats in the north might have been possible, but now the north has become a desolate place, and large-scale transformation of locust habitats is also impossible.
Professor Zhang quickly said, "I'm not saying this for nothing. In fact, locusts have already laid eggs in various parts of Sichuan and Yuzhou. These places where eggs are laid can be considered locust habitats. As long as Sichuan and Yuzhou are transformed into places unsuitable for locust survival, they will naturally disappear."
Shen Feng immediately asked, "How do we transform them?"
"No need to transform! Because theoretically, locusts are suitable for widespread breeding in the south, unless there is a drought in the south as well. Now, as long as we wait for rain in Sichuan and Yuzhou, that will be enough. Once the rain comes, the locusts will naturally disappear without a trace," Professor Zhang gave this answer.
The people in the meeting room couldn't help but shake their heads after hearing this suggestion because they all felt that they had heard something pointless. According to Professor Zhang, they didn't need to do anything and just wait for the rain, as the locusts would disappear once it rained.
"If that's the case, then we don't need to do anything. We just need to wait for the heavens to rain. Isn't that entirely dependent on the mood of the heavens?" Chu Chaoyan couldn't help but ask.
"But this is the best suggestion. I'm not talking nonsense. This matter is of great importance, and I must have thought it through before saying it. Firstly, locusts are grasshoppers. They are called locusts only when they swarm. There are many types of them. These locusts breed and spread in large numbers during droughts because locusts dislike humid environments. Coincidentally, the rainfall in the south is higher than in the north. As long as it rains in Sichuan and Yuzhou, locusts cannot adapt to the humid environment and will naturally perish," Professor Zhang said earnestly.
Everyone felt that Professor Zhang's words were useless. They had invited him to give suggestions, but now he was telling them to wait for the rain. What was the point of having him?
Shen Feng was enlightened by this statement. He knew of a way to make it rain: as long as a typhoon formed and could penetrate inland, it could make Sichuan and Yuzhou rain successfully.
"I understand. This is a very important suggestion. If it doesn't rain, I will have to take action," Shen Feng said afterward.