——Outside the door

Jia Xu was waiting for Ma Qiang with a stack of telegrams. When Ma Qiang came out, he said politely, "Ming Gong, there are reports of locust eradication in various places. Please take a look at it."

When he heard the news that it was locusts, Ma Qiang immediately took it over, looked at a few pictures and said with a smile, "Not bad, the work of burning the fields is going very smoothly. The news from our patrol team and the Jin Yiwei came back with the same news. From this point of view,

Next year's locust plague will be much better."

"Ming Gong, this is another separate telegram. It is from a village in Licheng. It organized the excavation of insect eggs. It only took one day to dig out a coffin of insect eggs. After identification, they were all locust eggs."

"A coffin?"

What kind of measurement unit is this? Are the customs in Licheng so strange?

Ma Qiang took the telegram, read it for a while, and murmured, "In one day, more than a hundred people dug a coffin...how many locust eggs are there..."

"Although there will definitely be a lot of sand and soil mixed in, the amount will not be small. Ming Gong, you can see the leopard at a glance. This year's locusts have left a lot of trouble!"

Jia Xu's words made Ma Qiang unable to remain calm. Of course he knew the reproductive capacity of insects. There were already so many locusts this year that he could kill several with one kick. If the number increased several times next year, he would have to stop harvesting.

You know, what he lacks most now is food.

After the 21st century, most Chinese people have forgotten what food shortage is. It seems that there is no end to the rice in supermarkets. People are so nutritious that various gyms have opened in droves.

But for thousands of years before the 21st century, food shortage was the theme of China.

Even if there is no shortage of food one year, you don’t know what the next year will be like, so no one dares to waste food rations. Therefore, in most future generations, the elderly in the family can fight with their children about throwing away leftovers.

, there is no way, their generation is really hungry and scared.

At this time, Qingzhou has basically no grain reserves except in the plains. Next year, according to Ma Qiang's plan, it will have to rely on trade support with Xuzhou and other places. If the locust plague breaks out next year, it may not be able to recover in the next three years.

"...Wen He, we have to make two plans." Ma Qiang walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "Is there any news about Zilong in Donglai?"

The Yellow Turban Army in Beihai was quickly quelled with Guan Hai's surrender, but the main force in Donglai was pirates and clan pirates, so it was not easy to pacify.

"Everywhere in Dongnae County saw our troops marching in, and they all stopped. They were worried about attracting our troops' attention, and the pirates also temporarily retreated."

"Where are the sect thieves?"

"The clan thief has naturally become a good citizen again...but whether he becomes a good citizen or not depends on the implementation of the government decree."

What exactly the clan thief refers to is controversial in later generations. In the annotation of Li Xian, Prince Zhanghuai of the Tang Dynasty, he believed that the clan thief was a clan, a large clan that formed a stronghold to protect itself in troubled times. When they joined, they served the people.

, he was a thief when he came out, and he became a soldier if he was an official. For example, Xu Zhu, Li Tong and others who later followed Cao Cao were all representatives of this group. This was naturally because the Tang Dynasty royal family who had just emerged from aristocratic family politics knew too well

The power of a large clan.

But at the same time, there is another type of clan thief, the Zi thief. This Zi is the Zi people. They are an ancient minority group like the Shanyue people. They are active in Jingyang, Bashu. The clan thieves there are often called Zi people.

What Ma Qiang was talking about at this time was naturally the clan thief in front of him, that is, the powerful local nobles who formed a stronghold to protect themselves.

"If there is a problem with food next year, we will have to ask for food from the sea!"

To the north of Qingzhou is the Bohai Sea, and to the south is the Yellow Sea, both of which have a large amount of marine fish resources. In this era when it is difficult to get to the sea and there is insufficient preservation capacity, fresh seafood cannot leave coastal towns at all, and most of them are sold in the form of dried fish.

Traveling to various places, even so, due to the difficulty of fishing, while fishing with one's life, one still cannot afford to eat.

"Ask for food from the sea?" Jia Xu repeated to make sure he heard correctly.

"Yes! The sea is the origin of all life and the mother of all things. Now that we are short of food, we can only ask her for it!"

After Ma Qiang finished speaking, he walked a few steps, thought for a while, waved and said, "Power Quanzhou! Let Quanzhou immediately organize ship craftsmen to accompany all the warships to Le'an and stand by."

He sent out the electronic dragon and ordered Zilong to lead his army to clear the surrounding areas of the county. Lin Hai led his army to Laoshan.

The power was generated in Donglai County, and the order of the Qingzhou Governor was passed on. The county was placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Qingzhou Governor's Office and was renamed - Qingdao!"

Jia Xu took a pencil and quickly wrote it down on the paper, and said with a smile, "Is Ming Gong planning to use the Quanzhou navy to deal with the pirates?"

Ma Qiang nodded and shook his head, and continued, "The Quanzhou navy has never been in battle. It is not easy to deal with pirates. Moreover, if you want to ask for food from the sea, you won't be able to build this ship for a while, so you have to rely on this

Where are the pirates?"

"Xu is from Liangzhou, so he doesn't know much about shipbuilding." Jia Xu shook his head and said without fear of embarrassment.

"Over in Quanzhou, I have actually been asking Zhang Sheng to try to build sea-going ships. If it is a small ship, it can be built at any time, but if you want to build a big ship, you must use giant shade-dried wood. This kind of shade-dried giant wood is not easy to find, but if you don't

The huge trees are dried in the shade, and the big ship will deform soon after entering the water, so it is called the Centennial Navy..."

"A century-old navy??" Jia Xu tilted his head and muttered this word that he heard for the first time.

Ma Qiang nodded. In order to compete for maritime hegemony, Britain in later generations promulgated the "Tree Planting Act" as early as 1501 to encourage the planting and protection of high-quality wood such as oak trees that can be used for shipbuilding. Even the Royal Navy's military song is called "Heart of Oak"

", and more than a hundred years later, relying on the large amounts of high-quality shipbuilding timber saved by our ancestors, we were able to build a maritime army that could rival the Invincible Fleet, laying the foundation for an empire on which the sun never sets.

The British emphasis on wood is even more reflected in Canada. As a British colony, Canada planted a large number of trees in the 18th century to serve as a source of materials for the British fleet. Unfortunately, in the 19th century, ironclad ships were born.

, Canadian wood can only be used to make furniture.

Interestingly, although the material is no longer wood, modern precision components cannot be used immediately after processing. They have to be placed there to relieve stress. This time often takes several years. Of course, if you really

If you need it urgently, just find someone with good skills and give it a small hammer and it will work.

"Ming Gong is right. It is best to use the shade-dried giant wood used for shipbuilding for more than ten years to ensure that the inside is completely dry. Otherwise, the ship will be scrapped within half a year!"

A man came over and continued what Ma Qiang was saying. When Ma Qiang saw it, it was Guo Jia, and he couldn't help but smile and said, "Have you become familiar with Fengxiao these days? I didn't expect you also know how to build ships?"
Chapter completed!