Locust Removal Xu Guangqi

Too long, with the original text:

Xu Guangqi's "Locust Removal"

The country does not care about livestock accumulation, and does not prepare for the loss of people due to famine. There are three causes of severe hunger: water, drought, and locusts. The land is high and low, the rain is skewed, and floods and droughts cause disasters. There are still many places that are spared. However, when the drought is extreme, locusts will kill all the grass and trees for thousands of miles, or all the cows and horses, flags and banners. The harm is especially worse than floods and droughts. Those who are. Although the two disasters of floods and droughts may be severe or minor, if one wishes for constant peace, even in the time of Yao of the Tang Dynasty, this was not possible, and it was almost determined by the will of heaven. But locusts are not like that. They have to make preparations in advance, and then repair and save them. If the manpower is exhausted, they will be destroyed without leaving anything behind. This is different from floods and droughts. Although there are hills and valleys from water, and wells and pools from drought, even a solitary man in the cold can save himself with just enough. But this is not the case with locusts. They must rely on the power of the country, they must cooperate with the people, and they must resist the concerted efforts of tens of thousands of people. This is also different from floods and droughts. In short, the locust plague is very serious, and it will be easy to eliminate it. We must unite all efforts to eliminate it, and then the disaster will be easy. The following are listed on the left.

◎ The time of the locust plague

Please note: During the Spring and Autumn Period, when the locust plague occurred in the victorious country, the person who wrote the month was one hundred and eleven, the person who wrote the month was two, the person who wrote the month was three, the person who wrote the month was three. The number in April is nineteen, the number in May is twenty, the number in June is thirty-one, the number in July is twenty, the number in August is twelve, the number in September is one, and the number in December is three. It is most prosperous between summer and autumn, and coincides with the time when Baizi grows and matures, so it causes the most damage. The common people are the worst offenders. If there are locusts in February and March, according to the "History of the Song Dynasty": In February, the locusts reappear in 130 prefectures and counties including Kaifeng Prefecture, and most of them get rid of the stings. According to the Book of Han Dynasty, Emperor An Yonghe's fourth and fifth year's book: summer locusts And in June and March, the book said: locusts are born again where the last year's locusts were, and they are called: locusts. Locusts are the seeds of old age. Locusts are not stinging locusts. An old farmer heard this and said: Locusts are like corns when they are born. After a few days, they spin up like flies and can jump in groups. They are called locusts. After a few days, they fly in groups and are called locusts. Wherever it stopped, its beak kept gnawing, so "Yi Lin" said it was called a hungry insect, and it conceived a child on the ground for several days. On the eighteenth day, the son of the underground will turn into a locust again, and the locust will turn into a locust again. This is how the disease spreads and harms the living beings, so it is widespread. When the autumn moon falls, those who cling to the vegetation will become rotten and unable to survive the winter. However, disasters are likely to occur when the moon sets in autumn, and only one or two in winter and spring. In the third winter, many people will be destroyed by rain and snow. Those who have reported disasters since April are all locusts at the beginning of this year and are not relics. Therefore, by knowing in detail how it arises and how it destroys itself, we can obtain the method of annihilation.

◎ The place where locusts are born

Please note: Locusts must be born at the end of Daze. However, there must be no locusts in Dongting next to Pengli District. Places that suddenly fill and dry up suddenly, such as the counties south of Youzhuo, north of Changhuai, west of Qingyan, and east of Liang and Song Dynasties, have wide-spreading lakes and irregular narrow narrows, which are called dry swamps, and locusts will breed there. Judging from the records of previous dynasties and their ears and eyes, most of them are like this. If a place is hit by a disaster, there will be people who will be affected by it. "Lue Zhao to the Slip" is as recorded in the history of the Yuan Dynasty for a hundred years: the disaster damaged nearly 400 roads, counties, and prefectures, and in the west it was called Pingyang as far as the Qin and Jin Dynasties. Jiezhou and Huazhou are each called Longshan. The river is called Jiangyao, which is the same as Shaanxi, Fenxiang, Qishan, Wugong and Lingbao. The south of the river is called Jiangzhe, Longxing, Nankang, Zhenjiang, and Dantu, each of which is one ear. From the thirty-third year of Wannian, from the north to the first year of Tianqi, and from the south to the south for seven years, there were six locust plagues, but none of them flourished in Dingsi. In the autumn, the envoys of Xia were envoys, and the states were all over the states of Chuan, Shaanxi, Yi, and Qi. The land is covered with locusts. But the natives said: Nothing has happened in a hundred years. People in the south of the Yangtze River did not know what locusts were, but when they arrived in Changzhou in the south, some officials and people tried their best to extinguish them all. Therefore, dry lakes are the origin of locusts. If you want to get rid of locusts, you will find this place.

◎ The locust-born 縁

It must be by the big swamp, and you can see it. Ten thousand men, Gengxu, Teng and Zou all say that it originated from Lümeng Lake in Zhaoyang. Ren Qiu's people said: Locusts rise at the entrance of Zhaobao, or they come from the reed field, and the reeds are born at the end of the water. There is no doubt that locusts are a species of water. In other words: it is transformed from fish roe. But the position is arbitrary and what is wrong with the boss? All insects, scale insects and feather insects can change their phases, such as a borer becoming a midge, a beetle becoming a cicada, and a water maggot becoming a mosquito. If scale insects can transform into alien species, it has never been seen before. This is a proof. "Erya" Yi says: The turtle is good at swimming and leaping, and the fly is also good at jumping. These two symptoms are that although things change their phases, most of them shed their shells. Therefore, there are many similarities. If the shape of a locust is very similar to that of aurium, its body, its head, its veins, the taste of its meat, and its offspring are all those of aurantium. These are the three certificates. And the silkworm turns into a moth, and the child turns into a silkworm again. "Taiping Yulan Yan" In good years, locusts turn into aurium, and it is known that aurium also turns into locusts. These are the four signs. There are various types of aurium. The white ones with soft shells are scattered in early summer, and the red ones with hard shells are scattered in late summer. Therefore, locusts are born sooner or later. South of the river, no matter how much water there is, there will be no locusts. The lakes will accumulate water and grass will grow on them. Farmers in the south often use aquatic plants to block their fields, which is not the case. However, the lake water is always full and the grass is always in the water. If the grasshoppers are attached to it, it will turn into grasshoppers. That’s all. When the lake in the north is full, it overflows, and the grass follows the water. When it dries up, the grass flows to the edge, and the grasshoppers cling to the grass. There is no water, and the spring and summer are steaming. They take advantage of the hot and humid air and turn into locusts. This is a natural situation. . Therefore, it is known that locusts are born in aurium, and the aphrodisiac seeds are called locusts because of the accumulation of water and grass.

◎ Examine the ancient methods of controlling locusts

There are many records in the books, the most author is Yao Chong of the Tang Dynasty, and the most severe one is the Chunxi Edict of the Song Dynasty. "Chongzhuan" says: In the fourth year of Kaiyuan, there was a big locust in Shandong. The people offered sacrifices and worshiped them, but they sat back and watched the seedlings without daring to catch them. Chongzong wrote a poem that said: If you hold on to the locusts, you will be rewarded with fire. Guangwu of the Han Dynasty issued an edict: "Mian obeys the current affairs and advises the governor of Nongsang to go away from the locusts and thieves. This is the edict to eliminate the locusts." Locusts are afraid of people and are easy to drive away, and every field has an owner, so they will not hesitate to work hard to save their land. Please set up a fire beside it at night and burn it until it is all gone.

In ancient times, when those who could not be eliminated were defeated, special people did not have to kill them. Instead, they sent out censors as envoys to catch locusts and killed the locusts in separate lanes. Ni Ruoshui, the governor of Bianzhou, said: Those who eliminate natural disasters should use virtue. In the past, Liu Cong failed to get rid of the locusts and the damage became even worse. He refused to obey the censor's orders. Chong Yishu said: "Cleverness and hypocrisy are the main virtues, and they cannot defeat the demons. Now the demons cannot defeat the virtues." In ancient times, good people kept locusts away from their surroundings, saying that by practicing virtue, they would be able to avoid them, which would lead to lack of virtue. What is the virtue of sitting back and watching Shitiao endure without saving him because he has no years to spare? If the water is afraid of Naiqi, when the locusts are captured and 140,000 stones are caught, the deputies are noisy, and the emperor is doubtful and asks Chong again, saying: The vulgar scholars do not know how to change the clay text, and things are inherently contrary. . In the past, during the Wei Dynasty, the locusts in Shandong could not be eradicated and even ate people. In the Later Qin Dynasty, there were locusts, all the grass and trees were gone, and the cattle and horses came to eat each other's hair. Nowadays, the locusts are full of locusts, and there is no home in Henan and Hebei. If they are not caught, they will be displaced, and their safety will be at stake. Moreover, the locusts cannot be exhausted, and the remaining troubles will not be cured by raising them, but the Emperor is willing to do so. Huangmen Supervisor Lu Yishen said: All natural disasters can be controlled by manpower, and if there are too many locusts, they will be violent and harmonious. I hope you will think about it. Chong said: In the past, the king of Chu swallowed leeches and fell ill. Shu Ao cut off the snake and was blessed. Fortunately, the locusts can be driven away now. If the grains of the grass are all gone, how can the people kill insects and save people? The disaster will be attributed to Chong, and it will not be a burden to the public. The locust plague is over. Chunxi of the Song Dynasty issued an edict: When locusts are first born, if they fly down, the landlord and his neighbors hide in silence, and the elders fail to urge them to eradicate them in time, each of them will be given a hundred sticks. If someone reports to the official, but the report is not accepted, if the person accepts the report but does not come to eliminate it in person immediately, or if he fails to eliminate all the evidence but makes a false claim, two grades will be added. When the deserted fields and pasture lands pass by locust settlements, Zuoying is ordered to send out people to collect and dig up the insects. If they cannot collect all the insects and cause hair growth the following year, they will be given a hundred sticks. If the locusts sprout and fly down and leave behind their offspring, but cannot dig them all up, and cause them to reappear, the landowner and the elders will each have a hundred sticks. Those who are scattered to catch insects and locusts in the grain and reduce their losses are as follows: officials, people, villagers, and writers collect taxes and beg for property and materials. Workers who swarm and dig up locusts and beg for people's property are like being paid a lot of money. Workers are ordered to beg for their jobs because of their duties. If there are locusts infestation and they don't leave their home area even though they have been sent out, this is like locusts. On crime. And when he was in office, he issued an edict: Those who damage the weed seeds due to digging and beating will be deducted from the tax and the price will still be calculated. The amount of money the officials gave to the landlords could not exceed one hectare. In addition, there are two methods. One said: Exchange millet for locusts. In the seventh year of Tianfu's reign in the Jin Dynasty, the people were ordered to hunt locusts and pay for them with a bushel of millet. This was called "eating locusts". In the summer of the first year of Zhenyuan of the Tang Dynasty, the locusts swarmed out and ate them with their wings and legs removed. I would like to note: Ni Ruoshui and Lu Yaoshen’s statement is absurd if the locust plague does not stop. He could not endure the locusts but endured the hunger of the people and died. To protect the people from disasters is to comply with the principles of the scriptures, and why should we violate the scriptures and go against the Tao? There is no conflict between cultivating virtue and cultivating punishment. Enemy thieves are more harmful to the people than locust plagues. Ning Yun's cultivation of virtue can overcome everything, but the method of arresting and curing is abandoned and not used. Chunxi's edict was first issued, and there were rules and regulations for reporting, exterminating, and excavation. Today's officials and people have never heard of it. It seems that they should follow suit and apply strict rules, and classify them as meritorious crimes and issue armor orders. There are only two or three records about the locust-eating incident. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty swallowed locusts and thought he was suffering for the people. It has been passed down through the ages. It was used as a regular food in Jinan, today's Eastern Province, and served on a plate. I tried to manage the fields in Tianjin, but when this disaster happened, the people in the fields, regardless of the locusts, were ready to cook food. In the city, there are people who use it to give gifts to each other, and there are also those who are familiar with it and do it, and they work in the city. Then a few pennies can easily be exchanged for a bushel, and after eating, every household hoards them as winter storage. The texture and taste are the same as dried aurium. Those who do not eat this regularly in the morning and afternoon are fine to this day. At the same time, I saw that the people in Shanxi were still confused about worshiping, and they took the injury as a warning, saying that it was edible and they became frightened. In the eastern province of Jinan, since we know clearly that aurium is the same thing, it is aurium in water and locust on land, that is, eating locusts all year round is the same as eating aurium, so we no longer have any doubts.

◎ Now we plan to eliminate it in advance

I secretly said: Now that we know the origin of the locusts, we should put them in their original places and plan to make Shandong, Henan, and North and South Zhili have divisions, Yamen, wherever there are lakes, puddles, or stagnant water, after frost and precipitation, we will personally inspect the areas where the water has hit this year. Today, there are many aquatic plants at the edge of the water. We gathered together to mow the water. , gather it in a high place, expose it to the wind and the sun, wait for it to dry, and use it as fuel to burn. If it is no longer useful, burn it on the spot, so that it can be completely purified. This requires care and supervision, the Taoist government is responsible for it, and the state and county magistrates all work together to be beneficial. If one party is negligent, it will spread to the other party. Yao Chong said: There is no need to kill those who cannot be exterminated. If in the spring and summer months, residents catch one stone of Zi'an from Po Lake, minus a hundred stones of locusts. One stone of dry adenium is reduced by a thousand stones of locust. However, the people are informed of this principle and should not bother themselves about it.

Once the water and grass are gone, there will be no hair left on the grass attached to the aphrodisiac. If the aurium seeds are on the ground, they will be resurrected next spring and summer when they get the air of water and soil. It must be temporarily arrested and treated. There are three methods. One: I saw the residents by the lake saying that locusts are easiest to control when they are first born. Over time, they mutate and turn into locusts jumping around randomly, which is unstoppable. The law is in time: when the residents are old, they will pay more attention. If they see soil veins rising from the grave, they will immediately report it to the officials and gather the crowd to put it out. At this time, it is easier to take measures and it will be twice as effective. It has already become a locust jumping action, so it is necessary to dig ditches. Beat and arrest. The method is: to see where the nymphs will be, dig a long ditch in advance, two feet deep and two feet wide, and make a pit about ten feet apart in the ditch to bury multiple groups. Gongs, some holding beating instruments, or shovels, each of fifty people used one to sound the gong. After that, the hawks heard the golden sound and jumped hard. They made or stopped and gradually approached the ditch. When they approached the ditch, they kept hitting hard, and the cockroaches were startled and fell into the ditch. In the middle, the momentum is like pouring water, and everyone works hard. Those who sweep will sweep themselves, those who pounce will pounce on themselves, and those who bury themselves will bury themselves until the trenches and pits are full. This is the case in the front village, and it is the same in the back village. If one city is like this, other cities will be like this again, and they should be completely pure. If the locusts are as big as beans and are not yet edible, but they are more than an inch long, the people of Yan and Qi will return home with baskets full of locusts, and then cook and dry them for food. Third: Vibrating feathers can fly, which can cover the sky and cross water. The treatment failed.

Then, depending on where it falls, gather people to collect it in rope bags and store it in cloth bags. Lawsuits were settled with millet, and most of them were killed and buried by locusts for one stone of millet. However, there is a saying about the millet change: Confucianism once said: To save famine, don't get too close. They pretended that the villagers went to the city for dozens of miles to carry locusts to change rice, and it took two days to go back and forth. I saw locusts in full bloom, covering the sky and the ground. Once they fell, they would cover the fields for several miles and be several feet thick. They would travel for two or three days before they were all gone. At this time, locusts are very easy to come by, and there are only a few grains available, so people can go back and forth. If you approach them with money, people will exchange them for you, and you will give them as you go. Even if you can exchange a few coins for a locust for a stone, the people will still encourage you to do so. . Or they say: Sending officials to the countryside to hang out will inevitably encroach on ordinary people's households, so we must avoid it. I think otherwise. At this time, to eliminate troubles for the people, you can donate your skin and hair, and even lead people to cannibalize them. This can be called an official. For this reason, Zuo Er, the official is safe. For this reason, the official is in peace. Unlike this generation, if you create a police officer and punish hundreds of people for being choked and deprived of food, then there is no official that cannot be abolished, and there is nothing that cannot be done. Moreover, there is no lack of righteous people in a county or a town. If you are a gentry, if you are a Bian, if you are a green man, the righteous people will choose the good ones. , everything can be done, and there are people who voluntarily donate money, so why should they be officials? If you give millet, you will get locusts. The difficulty is the difference, so there is no need to predetermine.

◎ How to prune them off afterwards

Principle: Chunxi ordered the insects to be dug up. The History of Yuan Dynasty's "Shi Huo Zhi" also says: Every October, a member of Lingzhou County's official patrols the territory and finds areas where locusts have left their offspring, and tries to eliminate them in various ways. Note from the minister: When a locust leaves its son, it must choose a high place with strong black soil and plant it with its tail into the soil. Less than an inch deep, there are still holes left, and they are born together and fly in groups to eat. They will all be in the same terrain at the same time, just like a bee's nest that is easy to find. A locust lays more than ten seeds, which are shaped like beans. The white juice stops and gradually fills up, so they are divided into pellets. There are more than a hundred fine particles in one pellet. Or it is said: Ninety-nine sons in a lifetime, otherwise. The son of Xia Yue is easy to be born. If it rains within eight days, he will die. Otherwise, locusts will appear on the eighteenth day. It is difficult to become a son in the winter moon. In spring, flies will appear, so if it encounters snow and spring rain, it will not be born, and it will not be able to penetrate a thousand feet into the earth. This kind of inheritance can lead to a thousand stones from one stone, so excavation is particularly urgent in the winter months, and the farm power is free so that the search can be carried out leisurely. In a lawsuit, a few pebbles of millet are exchanged for a pebble, but it is not worth the expense. It is difficult to get a son, and the appropriateness of receiving millet varies greatly. Considering that he will be exposed to the severe cold, he should be given generously so that the people can be happy and do what they want. Note: All the above-mentioned tasks require collective efforts. No one person, family, city, or county can achieve success alone. That is to say, one hundred actions and one strike are enough to accomplish the task. In the summer and May of the fourth year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty, the envoys of the imperial edict inspected the prefectures and counties in detail. The diligent and lazy people were known for their reputation. This was the reason why the locust plague did not lead to severe famine for consecutive years. I therefore said: I am in charge of every care, I am diligent in every prefecture, and I do my best to serve the people of each prefecture. What I regret is that the northern land is idle and sparsely populated. Whenever there is a disaster, locust formations are like clouds. The barren fields are like the sea, and the gathered tenants are like the morning stars. After all efforts to eliminate a hundred, they can't get enough of one, which is just sad and miserable. In the past, locusts arrived in Changzhou and were gone in a few days. Even though the officials were diligent, the people thought about it, and it became more and more difficult for the people to be equalized.

Chen Longzheng said: Locusts can be cooked with wild vegetables. Seen in "Fan Zhongyan Shu", it is also revealed that rice can be used as a substitute for glutinous rice. Try your best to catch it to eliminate harm and provide food. Why not do it? However, in the northwest, people are willing to eat it, but in the southeast, people are unwilling to eat it. This is also because there are less locusts in the water area. , not accustomed to seeing and hearing. In the Xinsi period of Chongzhen, Jiahu drought locusts, the people caught locusts and fed them to ducks. The ducks became fat very easily, and people and pigs in the mountains could not buy food. So they tried to feed them with locusts. The pigs initially weighed twenty kilograms, and in ten days they became fatter to more than fifty kilograms. , it can be seen that the nature of things in the world is suitable for birds and animals to eat, but it may not be suitable for humans to eat. If humans can eat it, there is no reason why birds and animals cannot eat it. It's no wonder that locusts can feed pigs and ducks, but I'm afraid it won't stop there, so I'm going to show it out.

Chen Fangsheng said: Before the locusts attack, we must practice virtue to kill them. Once the locusts attack, we must kill them and kill them. Although the things are different, the Tao is the same. The gangrene has appeared on the back, and then he goes on to regulate the vitality and say, "What's the matter with me?" I know that with the knife and needle, the vitality has not been adjusted, but the poison has attacked the heart and lungs internally and killed me. Ni Ruoshui and Lu Yaishen saw that those who have lost their vitality at the moment of gangrene are like despicable, lazy and cowardly people, who regard the life and death of the people and the survival of the country as having nothing to do with themselves, and are afraid of my slightest blow. If there is a ghost, disaster is about to come, so the imperial court issues an order: "Locusts will be on guard at the beginning." If the order is not exhausted, the people will be harmed. Seize his position and confiscate his home to prepare for relief. Then the fear of misfortune is even more intense, and the locusts can be wiped out. It seems that Chunxi's edict was not strict enough. If the disaster that covers the world is easy to spread, it must be controlled at the beginning. Then it will be easy and the harm will not be great. But I will not try my best to do it unless the disaster is imminent. Therefore, Yu said: The order to catch locusts must be strict in order to supervise them. It is better for Gai Yi's family to cry all the way, because he is a good official, and no locusts will enter his territory. It's shameful to have something to do with arrest now. If the person is caught but unable to recover, then he has no conscience. Is it wrong to punish him severely even if he is punished severely?

The biggest fear when sailing on a river is strong winds. When the wind blows in winter, the wind gradually increases from light to strong, so boaters can be prepared in advance. However, midsummer winds often burst out in an instant, often causing boaters to be unprepared and encounter disasters. I once heard that merchants in water towns have a way to avoid such disasters.

Generally speaking, the wind blows in the afternoon in summer, so those who want to travel should get up at the fifth watch. If the weather is clear, the stars and moon are clearly visible, and there are no clouds rising around the sky and earth, you can travel safely. , docked at noon. This way you can avoid the storm. Li Yuangui of the Imperial Academy said: "I used this method to travel across the rivers and never encountered a storm in my life.

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