Chapter 794

Grassland is a general term. The grassland referred to by Zhuxia is generally outside Yanmen pass, and often includes Guanzhong and the north of Liaodong.

For a nation that has been threatened by the grassland for a long time, no matter what the country name was before, I don't know how many generations think day and night to cut off the threat from the grassland.

In fact, like the Central Plains, the rulers on the grassland have changed one after another. For a long time, due to the grassland environment and the productivity of nomads, the total population on the grassland rarely exceeded 3 million.

Obviously, there are twenty or thirty million people, or more than twenty or thirty million people, and the productivity is also comprehensively suppressed. However, the Central Plains Dynasty has always lived in the shadow of being harassed and even invaded by grassland nomads, which has quite a lot of complex factors.

"At any time, as long as the emperor of the Central Plains is determined, the nomads on the grassland are not rivals. Unfortunately, the emperor with great determination rarely appears in the Central Plains."

Naturally, Liu Yan would not go out of the grassland with a few people, with 50000 troops and more than 2000 necessary attendants and palace maids. He's not trying to be ostentatious. It's a trip to the grassland. It's definitely not safe.

Junji mountain refers to a widely distributed area. In fact, it is not all mountainous areas. There are large flat grasslands and some places that can be called valleys. To its south is the territory of the Han state, close to the northwest and Hetao. Its north is a swampy terrain, which belongs to the West Gaoche territory dominated by Dingling people. Its northeast is an area of mountains. The mountain peak is not the kind of mountain in the Central Plains, but a kind of generally bare mountain bag.

Of course, there are mountains in the grassland, and it should be said that there are not few mountains, but they are located at a high altitude. The unique geographical characteristics of the grassland are doomed. The mountains at a very high altitude may look like low hills nearby, and the mountains will not be steep. In fact, most of them are hills with flat slopes.

The journey from guzang to Junji mountain is not short. You will pass through some towns along the way. The northwest is at a special moment. Most towns are abandoned due to the outbreak of drought, and even some people in some towns will be less than 23 / 10 of the original.

Natural disasters, especially in the years of drought, but all people with a little vitality will go out to live. Only some people with serious local complex or too old will stay. Whether they can survive depends on when the drought ends. If the drought lasts for more than two years, the remaining people must lose at least half of them, and the other half will also have various problems.

When the inspection team passed through those towns, many locals surrounded them. Among them, there were even people who didn't know that the dynasty had changed. They thought that Zhang, who ruled the northwest, went on a patrol and caused some embarrassment if they didn't deal with it. If they did, it would be even more embarrassing.

In the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty was discussed by the people. He chose not to pursue the ignorant people, and extended the Han law of "the people talk about the innocence of officials and state politics", which is also the origin of "defending the people is better than defending Sichuan". Since Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, there have been no cases in the western and Eastern Han Dynasties where the people discussed state affairs, but scholars and officials did not have this "privilege".

Of course, Liu Yan will not quarrel with the people with closed news. In fact, any wise ruler will not "be serious" with the people. He will also be targeted at some special classes and will generally be more tolerant to the people.

Every time the patrol team passes by, something like that will happen, which is often done by local officials in order to welcome them. According to the rules of the previous dynasties, they do not need to invest in the tour of the rulers. In fact, they welcome the Tour team more to seek "policy".

What is it? That is, the local government will seize the opportunity to vomit bitterness, tell the difficulties encountered in tears, and beg the emperor to give some preferential policies, usually tax exemption and so on.

In the past history, there were not many heavenly sons who would often make patrols. The first emperor visited the world again and again to proclaim power, while Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty selectively became a good money boy.

Don't mention that Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was an out and out boy who was good at money. He often went out to a certain place and was often cried out by the local government. He would announce that the local government would be exempted from taxes and give generous rewards at the same time. So, what the people expected most at that time was that Liu Che, a boy who scattered money, would visit his hometown and enjoy the kindness of the son of heaven.

Liu Yan's tour to the northwest is actually a continuation of the practice of Liu cheguang boonze, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. When he comes to a place, he will appropriately give some preferential policies to the local people, but he will not exempt taxes.

It is not Liu Yan's stinginess, but the special national conditions of the Han state.

Of course, the "Fu" of the Han Dynasty is a part of the corvee, but most people only need to complete the "share" of the corvee, and the next labor is paid. If he exempts the "Fu" of a certain place, it will damage the interests of the people.

When it comes to "tax", the tax of the Han Dynasty is no different from that of any previous dynasties, but it is not tax collection. Even if it is completed, there will be some policy feedback according to the amount of tax collection, such as arranging the engineering team to the place where the tax is paid for the construction or maintenance of roads or water conservancy facilities.

Is it more than modern feedback? However, Liu Yan didn't do it.

In fact, the Central Plains Dynasty had a relevant "feedback policy" for a long time. Corvee and tax collection in any period will be directly fed back to the local government. Just like some modern "feedback policies", it is one thing to have such a policy, but whether you can enjoy that policy is another matter.

Usually, the times and dynasties have been changing, but the groups that can get the state's feedback have not changed most of the time. For example, some groups have been fattened by the tax rebate policy, and then the construction of roads and water conservancy has been abused by some people for personal gain and only for their own homes.

Yangguan to Junji mountain needs to pass through Yiwu. Today's Yiwu and later generations have not changed much in the landscape of mountains and rivers. At least Liu Yan, who once came to this place, did not see any changes. Of course, he could not see the white skin compatriots among the 56 nationalities, or even no people at all.

"This place has a long history. It is the habitat of the Huns and Qiang people. They graze here and hunt in the mountains and forests." Li Tan must study this place, After all, it belongs to the military jurisdiction of the general who conquered the North: "at the beginning of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Xiongnu people went south, and the Qiang people followed them to the Central Plains. For a period of time, they were occupied by Ding Ling people. The Han Dynasty recovered the central Plains and deterred Ding Ling people from fleeing to the West. The part left behind was cleaned up by the Hussars general, either killed or captured."

Li Tan was originally waiting for Yiwu. After welcoming Liu Yan, he must say something. If he didn't know the local situation in advance, he should also know about it temporarily. Otherwise, it would be more than embarrassing to ask three questions when asked.

Drought is breaking out in the northwest. Naturally, Yiwu seen by Liu Yan will not be a green grassland. In fact, with the continuous decline of the water level in juyanze, the drought is becoming more and more serious in the vast areas that rely on juyanze to extend out of the water system.

Liu Yan raised his hand to block the dazzling sun, looked at the north and asked, "have you found a swarm of locusts in the north?"

Li Tan's expression became very serious and said in a worried tone, "it was the river system north of juyanze that found the locusts for the first time. After those rivers dried up, the locusts suddenly appeared."

It's not that locusts suddenly appear. They already exist, but when there is sufficient water, they inhabit scattered. After the river has no water, driven by the instinct of survival, it completes the "meeting" in the process of looking for new habitats. It's dense when it's waiting to be found.

Liu Yan knew that locusts would break out after the drought. He had discussed with important officials for more than once. Prevention was impossible at all. With plans, he was not sure whether those plans were useful or not.

"The chickens, ducks and geese that can be collected have been concentrated in juyanze." What Li Tan said was one of the solutions to the locust disaster. He said with exaggerated expression and tone: "relying on your Majesty's holiness, they really feed on locusts."

It has to be said that Liu Yan will know that chickens, ducks and geese can resist locusts from novels. More than one historical novel uses this method to resist locusts. It is indeed an effective method to check it out with curiosity. There is no reason not to do so.

The state of Han has been established for nine years. It is a joke to say that it has fully recovered from the war, but some areas have indeed recovered from the war. Shandong, where Liu Yanqi lives, is the best.

Liu Yan started out as a "cooperative commune". In addition to joint labor, he will certainly not let go of poultry farms. At that time, he actually thought of relying on the army of chickens, ducks and geese to deal with the inevitable locust disaster.

This time, the central command was sent to the counties, mainly to mobilize chickens, ducks and geese to the north, with the largest number of counties in Shandong, and some of them from counties in Shandong.

"The poultry army works best." Liu Yan knew it would be useful, but he didn't relax at all. He warned: "don't relax your vigilance. Not only the poultry army should eliminate locusts, but also the army and people should be fully mobilized."

To be sure, poultry that eat a lot of locusts will certainly grow fat and lay eggs will definitely surge. If the locust disaster does not cause serious losses to the country, it will supplement poultry in some ways.

"I'm trying my best to catch it." What Li Tan knows is that the number of soldiers and civilians pulled out is no less than 100000. They are catching locusts all over the mountains every day: "after the captured locusts are killed, they gather together. I heard that they are piled like a hill."

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians are basically local people in Northwest China, but the army is not a standing army. The army is local county soldiers in Northwest China. They were born and raised in Sri Lanka. They may not be very happy about who they were asked to fight, but if they were to deal with the plague of locusts, they would definitely have 120000 passion. Otherwise, if they were to let locusts go deep into the hinterland of the northwest, would they still be from the northwest?

Liu Yan didn't take long to bring Ju Yanze.

When the inspection team came, they welcomed the sound of "long live" from the mountains. The army and the people were excited and moved about Liu Yan's arrival in person.

After all, the outbreak of locust plague can be seen with your eyes. The emperor's coming at such a moment not only shows that the country attaches importance to it, but also means suffering with the people.

Liu Yan didn't do the "grassroots" thing, not unwilling, or for many reasons. He saw with his own eyes the so-called picture of locusts piled up into a mountain, and saw people, chickens, ducks and geese all over the mountain, which are absolutely more than 30 square miles wide.

"Is this the powder ground by locusts?" Liu Yan held some earthy yellow powder in his hand. He smelled that there was no fishy smell. On the contrary, there was meat smell. He touched some and ate it. "If you don't know it's made of locusts, it's like chicken."

When the emperor ate it, the officials on the scene just felt disgusted, but didn't they have to eat some? They dare not show their disgusting side. No matter how far fetched, they have to act like eating some delicious food.

In fact, if you don't know what it is made of, locust powder is not delicious, but it tastes no worse. In fact, it contains abundant nutrition. It can also be used as medicine. It has good effects on cough and asthma, pertussis and bronchitis.

Looking north from the camp, the farther away it is, the more a picture of no grass. If you don't know that it was originally a grassland, you will think it was a desert.

"When locusts pass by, there is no grass." Li Tan didn't know whether to gloat: "general Hussars sent back a message that locusts were rampant in xigaoche."

By the way, ran min went to xigaoche to find Ding Ling again. The reason is that Liu Yan visited Northern Xinjiang and wanted to "offer victory" for Liu Yan with practical actions, but the reason is that he couldn't stay at all.

Locusts are not specifically aimed at the Han region. They are rampant everywhere because of the climate. It is a natural disaster for the Han people mainly engaged in farming. Yes, but it is also a natural disaster for the nomadic people who rely heavily on water and grass!

According to the information sent back by ran min, locusts are rampant everywhere in xigaoche. In the face of the outbreak of locust disaster, Ding Ling people asked wizards to ask God for help. After they found that God had no way to take the locust disaster, one of Ding Ling's tribes was running away.

"A memorial came from the captain's office of Rouran school." Liu Yan confirmed from various intelligence that the first affected area of the locust disaster from north to South was the grassland: "the locust disaster also broke out in Rouran."

Those who say that the outbreak of drought and locusts is God's unwillingness to let Liu Yan rule can shut up. It is not only the outbreak of natural disasters in the Han country, but all the surrounding countries have fallen blood and mold under the sudden change of climate. Compared with the country with at least stable output (farming) such as the Han country, those countries with grazing as the main means of survival have worse resistance under the scourge of natural disasters.

Liu Yan has reason to believe that: "Yu jiulu Bati will not wait until I get close to the Rouran border. He will come all the way."

The Han ruling class, including Liu Yan, was thinking that perhaps this was their opportunity to fully control the grassland.