Sui and Tang Dynasties: Awakening the Supreme Skills at the Beginning

"really?"

His eyes widened, somewhat unable to believe it.

"As long as you listen to me, you can definitely kill the locusts."

Li Zhen waved his sleeves and said firmly.

Li Zhiyong stopped talking at this time and raised his thumb. "It seems that the boss is a ruthless person. If you don't sell me food, I will kill the locusts and grow food!"

Li Zhen turned to Li Erhai and said, "Erhai, go to town and buy some food, vegetables, rice and noodles."

Zhang Dalian hurriedly stepped forward to stop him, "No need, Master Li, it is a blessing for us that you can come to our village, how can we let you spend money?"

At the same time, he turned to his wife and said, "Mother, go back quickly and stew the old hen at home. We have a distinguished guest coming to visit us today."

The middle-aged woman turned around and was about to leave. Li Zhen looked at Wang Qingshan. Wang Qingshan understood and hurriedly went forward to stop Mrs. Zhang.

In a short while, Li Erhai and others bought back a cartload of rice, flour, meat and vegetables from the street.

The group, along with Zhang Da and his wife, headed straight for Xiaozhang Village, ten miles away.

Half an hour later, the group arrived at Xiaozhang Village.

Xiaozhangzhuang is a small village with only more than 80 households, more than 200 people and more than 600 acres of land.

On the way, Li Zhen and others also met some villagers, but the villagers looked at them as if they had seen the plague god and tried to avoid them as much as possible.

"Sir, they are not afraid of you, but they think you are a government official."

Zhang Dalian hurried forward to explain.

It seems that the common people have always been afraid of cruel officials like a tiger since ancient times. Even during the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it was no different!

If one day, I must turn this situation around.

When Li Zhen saw this situation, he swore secretly.

"In recent years, there have been serious locust infestations in our village. The government couldn't collect all the taxes, so they started arresting people and forcing them to do hard labor. Everyone was afraid of being arrested!"

Zhang Da explained with a wry smile.

Li Zhen didn't say anything. In feudal society, it was the same everywhere. When the common people couldn't pay their taxes, the government would start arresting people.

Some villagers were sharp-eyed. Seeing Zhang Erniu sitting in the carriage, they boldly asked, "Head, did you borrow the money? How is Xiaoniu?"

“I didn’t borrow the money, but the calf’s disease was cured.”

Then, Zhang Erniu pointed at Li Zhen and said to the villagers: "I met a noble man. This gentleman was kind-hearted and gave ten taels of silver to help Xiao Niu cure his illness!"

Unexpectedly, the villager heard this, walked to the carriage, knelt down and kowtowed to Li Zhen, "Thank you, sir. Zhang Da is a good man. The village was hit by a locust plague. If he had left earlier like the others, we would still be a wealthy family now. But he couldn't bear to leave us poor people. He would rather suffer himself than let the people suffer. If it weren't for Zhang Da's help over the years, our village would have disappeared long ago. You saved the calf, so you are our benefactor. I, Zhang Erwa, kowtow to you!"

As he spoke, Zhang Erwa continued to kowtow a few times, then stood up and stepped aside.

The carriage continued to move forward.

Zhang Erniu stood at the front of the car and shouted loudly to the people around him.

"Fellow villagers, we have met a living Buddha. This Mr. Li not only gave money to cure the calf's illness, but also came to our village to help us kill the locusts. Fellow villagers, we are saved!"

When many farmers heard about this, they ran to the front of the carriage, knelt down and kowtowed to express their gratitude to Li Zhen and Zhang Da.

Li Zhen looked at Zhang Erniu with approval in his eyes.

According to his impression, the relationship between the village head and the villagers has basically been in opposition since ancient times, and it is rare to find a village like theirs where the villagers are as close as one family.

It would be better to bring him under your command.

This idea suddenly came into his mind.

Zhang Erniu smiled bitterly.

"I'm not doing this just for them. This position of village chief is inherited from our family. We can lose anything but our ancestral heritage. Unfortunately, I've been cultivating the land for so many years, and the locusts keep invading. It really leaves no way for me to survive!"

Li Zhen comforted him, "Since ancient times, good fortune has been bestowed upon those who work hard. There will be fruitful harvests, and all efforts will not be in vain!"

Zhang Erniu grinned bitterly and said, "Sir, please stop comforting me. You don't know the hardships we farmers are going through!"

"Throughout our lives, we work hard day after day, facing the earth. In a good year, we can still have a full meal. But in a bad year, when the land fails to produce any crops, the government still collects so much tax and grain, and we can only wander around as refugees!"

Looking at the skinny farmers who didn't have any flesh on their bodies, and thinking about the affluent life of the big landlords and high-ranking officials, Li Zhen felt sad. This damn class division, one day, he would make it look new.

A quarter of an hour later, the carriage finally arrived at Zhang Erniu's house.

It was a nice-looking house with large blue bricks and tiles, with as many as eight rooms. One can imagine that Zhang Erniu's family was also a wealthy family in the village back then.

Zhang Erniu's brothers and nephews had already knelt at the door. When they saw Li Zhen and others coming, they immediately knelt down and kowtowed.

After some polite exchanges, Li Zhen asked Zhang Erniu's family to cook, while he and his men followed Zhang Erniu to their newly reclaimed fields.

The fields are covered with khaki soil, occasionally with a touch of green in the middle. Upon closer inspection, you can see colorful gnats crawling on the green.

Most of the seedlings in the fields had already been eaten by midges.

Li Zhen stepped forward, picked up a gnat, and looked at it carefully in his hand.

He waved his hand and said, "Come here, Erniu, look, these are locust larvae, called midges. They can't fly yet, so you can definitely catch and kill them!"

“Can this cure locusts?”

Zhang Erniu looked confused and completely unconvinced.

"Yes, it's that simple!"

Li Zhen looked at the sky and said solemnly to Zhang Erniu.

"Now is the middle of spring, when the locusts have just hatched from the soil and have not yet grown wings and cannot fly. This is a great time to kill them!"

"I have twelve methods to kill locusts here, I can teach them to you."

Zhang Erniu hesitated for a while, then fell to his knees and kowtowed with a plop.

"My Lord, please accept my humble greeting. I will never forget your kindness. Even if I have to work like a slave for the rest of my life, I will repay you for saving my life!"

Li Zhen did not refuse and accepted his greeting calmly.

He needs his own team. Through the various contacts during this day, he has already understood Zhang Erniu's character and feels that he is a reliable person. If he entrusts some tasks to him, the results should be good.

At that moment, Zhang Erniu went to gather people, while Li Zhen and others went around to check the situation of the locust plague.

Half an hour later, Zhang Erniu gathered all the villagers.

At that moment, Li Erniu loudly announced the news of eradicating gnats, and the crowd was in an uproar.

A white-haired old woman came to the front and shouted, "Head, we can't touch this sacred insect. It will bring punishment from heaven. I beg you, even if we starve to death, we must not touch the gnat."

The common people at that time were very ignorant. They believed that locusts were divine insects sent down from heaven and were sacred and inviolable. Anyone who touched the locusts would be punished by heaven.

The old woman's words aroused the response of many people. Before long, most of the villagers knelt down in front of Zhang Erniu and begged him not to touch the locusts.

"Mr. Li, what do you think? What should we do?"

Zhang Erniu was caught in a dilemma. Although he also believed that locusts were divine insects, he believed more that Li Zhen could bring them a good life.

Faced with this situation, everyone was at a loss. Li Zhen pondered for a while, and suddenly his eyes lit up and he had an idea.