While he was seriously ill, Ma Chao still came to the outside of Chang'an.
However, this time, he did not ride alone on the powerful and noble elephant dragon Xiao Hei.
Instead, he had no choice but to sit in the carriage accompanied by Cai Yan, Diao Chan and other women.
"In the Sili area, chickens and ducks are still roaming all over the mountains and plains."
Ma Chao lay in the carriage, occasionally opening the window to observe the disaster outside.
At this time, the carriage had just left Weiyang Palace and had not yet reached the outside of the city where the locust plague was infested.
"It's still there, it's still there."
Of course, Chen Haojie was not really killed by Diao Chan.
Ma Chao was treated by Hua Tuo himself, and when he woke up, he asked Chen Haojie to take him to the disaster area outside the city.
When the pardon order was issued, Chen Haojie's neck was only a few inches away from the knife.
"Since chickens and ducks have been released in the Sili area according to my instructions, and millions of victims have also been catching locusts at the call of the Ma family, why will the locust plague still break out?"
Ma Chao said weakly.
I have always believed that man can conquer nature.
And this time, he felt that his preventive measures were already in place.
"There is no other reason, it's because there are too many locusts."
Diao Chan waved her hand to let Chen Haojie, who was driving outside the window, to drive safely.
When Chen Haojie saw Diao Chan, he seemed to be like a mouse seeing a cat.
He panicked and fled quickly with a sense of relief.
Diao Chan caught Diao Chan's gaze: Chen Haojie was already scared to his core when they first met for this shameless woman.
Diao Chan shook her head with a wry smile, and she naturally saw the happy look in Chen Haojie's eyes when he escaped.
However, she is now worried about her condition.
She patted Ma Chao's hand gently, trying to use some light words to relax Ma Chao's mood: "The chickens and ducks all over the mountains and fields are eating locusts these days, their legs are shaking, and they are almost exhausted."
"Oh" Obviously, Diao Chan's words did not ease Ma Chao's worries.
After listening to this, Ma Chao murmured: "There are so many."
Ma Chao has not personally experienced the locust plague, but he was a technician at an agricultural base station in his previous life and has read some information about the locust plague.
Thinking back to the slideshow, it was all filled with that kind of thing.
Ma Chao couldn't help but feel a little creepy, thinking about the sight of locusts flying like a sandstorm, how spectacular and terrifying it was.
"Let the locusts come more violently.
The life and death of the Ma family may depend on this battle."
Ma Chao gritted his teeth and said this.
He raised his head and asked Liu Yue: "Those chickens, ducks, geese, and the cattle and sheep that were auctioned last time?"
, as well as the pigs purchased by the Ma family, Guan and Li, are all still there."
"They are all still there."
Liu Yue understood what Ma Chao meant and comforted Ma Chao: "Although the locust plague may eat up all the food in the Sili area, these poultry and livestock can still sustain themselves for a while.
If they can By catching up with Yongzhou's grain harvest, the Ma family will be able to survive this crisis safely."
"It is true that we can survive this difficulty, but as a result, the Ma family will have no seeds for farming next year.
I know the stocks and harvests in Yongzhou better than you, Yue'er, so you don't need to comfort me."
Ma Chao waved his hand.
Seems a little tired.
But after he closed his eyes, he said again: "Tell the Ministry of Household Affairs and ask them to hand over all the dairy goats and cows to the Ministry of War.
If the situation is really out of the control of the Ma family, then the Ma family can only retreat to the stage of starting up, relying on Driving tens of thousands of goats and cows to fight guerrillas."
When Ma Teng started his career, he relied on 30,000 Xiliang cavalry to travel and fight.
Even in the first year after Ma Chao occupied Fufeng County, when he marched north beyond the Great Wall, he still relied on guerrilla warfare by driving cattle and sheep.
The crop yields in the northwest are not as good as those in the Central Plains, but they have done a lot of research on animal husbandry.
Cow's milk and goat's milk are their best food.
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Drinking a full belly is more filling than grain.
Cattle and sheep are the source of food and clothing for people in the northwest, and they cherish them very much.
Although there are hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep grazing, they rarely eat meat.
Most of them eat highland barley powder mixed with cheese.
They only eat meat when entertaining guests or when the cattle and sheep die of old age.
It was not until Ma Chao later received the first harvest from Fufeng County that the situation of cattle and sheep accompanying the army in battle gradually began to move away.
But this locust plague might really bring the Ma family back to the initial stage of guerrilla warfare.
Ma Chao smiled bitterly.
He really didn't want to believe that after three years of stealing and looting, a catastrophic disaster brought him back to where he was before liberation.
"My husband, who relies on cattle and sheep to accompany the army as a source of military food, do you mean that the Ma family army will use force again?"
Diao Chan couldn't help but ask again when she heard what Ma Chao said.
Although she also knew that Ma Chao might not answer her question.
But this time, Ma Chao glanced at Diao Chan and saw the brightness and worry in Diao Chan's eyes, as well as the trace of desire.
He relented and said: "I asked you to arrange for Xiao Tian and Mu Yuanfeng to investigate Yuan Shu's news, just to leave a good escape route for the Ma family.
If they really can't hold on, the Ma family will let Yuan Shu take action."
"Why is it Yuan Shu?"
Diao Chan was puzzled.
At this time, Yuan Shu was still the big crocodile entrenched in Yuzhou, and he was no less generous than the Ma family.
Diao Chan couldn't figure out why Ma Chao would choose this hard bone to bite.
"Because" Ma Chao was about to explain, but suddenly he felt as if he could hear the roar of a plane taking off in his ears, approaching from far away.
He was wondering if he was hallucinating, and wanted to see if anyone else had been sent to the Three Kingdoms by plane. , when he went to greet him, he heard Chen Haojie howl outside the window: "Master, mistress, sit down quickly, the locusts are coming."
Diao Chan quickly opened the window to check, and saw that the carriage had already reached the outskirts of Chang'an.
On the distant horizon, there was a yellow cloud rushing toward them quickly.
Millions of finger-long locusts spread their wings in the air.
They danced rapidly and gathered into a huge roar similar to that of a plane taking off, covering the sky and the earth like a blanket.
In the face of the natural disaster, Ma Chao, whose heart was as strong as gold and iron, suddenly felt his heart being hit by a heavy hammer.
Diao Chan, Liu Yue, Cai Yan and other women's faces turned pale in an instant, and the bodyguard Chen Haojie wanted to bury his head in it.
As they entered the soil, the draft horses kept neighing, being dragged by the carriage and unable to move, and kept tapping their hooves in place.
"Let the horse go!"
At the critical moment, Ma Chao was the first to react and shouted loudly: "Everyone hide in the car and cover the doors and windows."
When Chen Haojie heard this, a trace of determination flashed in his eyes.
At this moment, he remembered that he was Ma Chao's personal guard.
He knew that if the draft horse was frightened and fled at this moment, everyone in the carriage would definitely be seriously injured.
He turned over, resolutely let go of the stop on the carriage, stabbed the draft horses twice in the buttocks, and let the four panicked horses gallop away in the direction where the locusts had not come.
Ma Chao in the car pulled off the placket of his clothes and wrapped his head and face tightly layer by layer, leaving only his mouth and eyes.
He also wrapped strips of cloth around his hands, and tied up his collar, sleeves, and trouser legs.
Tightly, let the panicked girls do the same.
Chen Haojie also jumped into the carriage at this time.
He didn't care about anything else.
He lowered the curtain when he got up and covered it tightly.
It seemed that in the next moment, everyone felt as if they were in the center of a sandstorm.
The outside of the car seemed to be constantly being hit by thick stones, which made people's hair stand on end.
Everyone knew that it was locusts hitting the car.
The timid Fushou I was so scared that I didn't even dare to open my eyes.
But this can't stop the invasion of locusts at all.
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Many locusts seem to just want to see the people in the car.
He couldn't help but get in through the gaps in the car curtains and windows, causing the girls to scream and scream.
When Chen Haojie saw this, he was so anxious that he punched and kicked them, wishing to bite the locusts that got into the car to death without even realizing his hatred.
The impact lasted for half an hour before gradually easing up.
After hearing that there was no more impact on the car, Ma Chao opened his eyes, let Chen Haojie pull off the car curtain, and looked at the unfamiliar land and laughed miserably.
In half an hour, the entire earth seemed to be covered with a yellow coat, and there were squirming locusts everywhere.
Broken branches fell from the tall tree crowns from time to time.
The plump branches that fell into the air quickly lost weight and became thinner.
When they landed, Only bare branches without bark remained.
The rustling sound of spring silkworms gnawing at mulberry leaves could be heard from the fields on both sides of the road, but the sound was much louder and the bites were much more powerful than those of silkworms, which made people's hair stand on end.
There are several locusts climbing on each crop, and the green leaf veins disappear in an instant.
Large tracts of farmland where a bumper harvest is expected have become locust feeding grounds.
Ma Chao stretched out his sick hand tremblingly, as if he wanted to grab something.
Finally, he put it down slumped, and softly uttered a sentence from his pale lips: "Is God going to destroy my Ma family?"
s: Sorry for the late update, although it’s usually not too early.
But this time, after I finished writing this chapter, I found that my mobile phone was disconnected due to arrears, and I struggled for a long time to pay the phone bill.
I'm sorry for delaying everyone
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