Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 1

Volume 02

At first, the people in the disaster areas were unwilling to help catch the locusts. Some even brought home a few larger-sized locusts to raise them, but they died anyways since they weren't well taken care of.

It was not easy for Prime Minister Yao to convince the Emperor and the Imperial Court officials to let him eradicate the locust plague. The work progress at the local area ended up being so slow, and only slight changes were observed after he sent several orders to the local officials to organize manpower. Unfortunately, the locusts were even more numerous after being undisturbed for long periods of time. Thus people worried that they would spread to other prefectures.

Recently, the commoners began to catch the locusts too, but the effect was not great. When Yao Chong was preparing to send down a stricter order, the army of people from the Zhang Manor rushed over, which made him feel quite relieved.

Xiao'hong greeted Ying'tao and several officials, and then she rushed to herd the poultries into the farmlands or the wild fields. Chickens, ducks and geese were herded here in a hurry for the past few days, so they couldn't eat properly. With the leader goose in the front leading them, they all charged into the fields.

The chickens moved their two legs and flapped their wings as they raced forward with their heads lowered to the ground. All the locusts that appeared in front of them were devoured one at a time. The locust disappeared into their stomachs after they moved their beaks and stretched out their necks. They weren't too worried about chasing after the flying locusts since they focused on eating the ones in front of them.

It was completely different for the chickens, ducks and geese since they can directly store the locusts in their stomachs. For those locusts that flew to the front of the poultries and were able to fly away, they were considered to be lucky for the time being. As for those that flew in the wrong direction, they ended up descending in front of their natural enemies. Before they even landed on the ground, they were snatched mid-flight by the clever poultries' raised beaks.

After humans or other animals eat food, they need to rely on stomach acid for digestion, but poultries grind their food in their gizzards. Inside the gizzard was the grit that they swallowed when they ate food, and it helped them digest the food more quickly. Some of them even pooped while they ate.

In particular, when they were herded here in a rush, they were in a constant state of being half hungry so they have lost a lot of weight. Now that there was so much food in front of them, they put all of their effort into eating. They were raised to be free-range so their drive for food almost reached an insane level.

They could eat two-thirds of their body weight or even their entire body weight of food in a day. It was not hard to imagine the number of grasshoppers a chicken that big needs to eat. Some of the more powerful chickens that were able to fly more than two meters above the ground expended a lot of energy just from eating.

In just half an hour, those chickens, ducks and geese became small dots in the distance. There weren't much millet on the crop fields they passed by, but they didn't care since there was so much meat in the front for them to eat.

Wherever they swept through, not a single locust could be spotted anymore. Occasionally, there were a few locust wings that were not swallowed, and they mixed in with chicken feathers and were blown away together by the wind.

The prime minister, the officials, and the people who came to see the commotion were all taken aback by the scene. So many poultry charged over, and in a blink of an eye they ran away again. Not only did they eat the locusts, but they also left behind a lot of manure along the way. The people were happy to see this since they did not have to go through the trouble of adding fertilizer to the fields next year and this can save them a lot of work.

When Ying'tao saw this scene, she thought about her Young Master's orders. She "recruited" some people among the commoners to follow behind the poultries to pick up the eggs under the supervision of the people from the inner courtyard. They got to keep one for themselves after picking up fifty eggs.

The amount could be accumulated too. If they collected 50 eggs, then they were directly given an egg. If they collected a total of 150 eggs over two days, then they can be given several eggs later on, or they can ask to be given something else and Ying'tao would try to fulfill their request.

There were nearly 10,000 poultries, and only a few were male and the rest were females. There were still a lot of roosters on the Manor, but they were not sent here. Usually, they were able to lay more than 6,000 eggs a day, but because their diet was better now, they can break their record and lay seven thousand. The price paid for increasing the quality of the diet was roughly the cost of two hundred eggs.

They had nothing else to do on normal days anyway, so they did not mind following behind the poultries. Even if they were given only one egg every two days, they would have fifteen eggs in a total after a month. In the past, this amount of eggs was not considered to be a lot, but right now, this was a lot. After they heard about the cost of the items that Ying'tao offered in exchange, the commoners chose the eggs. The price offered by Ying'tao was within the usual exchange range instead of the current inflated price of food.

It did not take a long time for Ying'tao to find a hundred people. The people that came late missed their opportunity. If there were too many people, then it would take each person several days in order to collect enough eggs to receive an egg in return. These one hundred people were selected based on the state of their family---whoever's family was having the most difficult times were chosen.

The other people who weren't selected didn't complain even though they were unhappy since Ying'tao and them came from so far to help, and they picked people who suffered the most, so they couldn't scold anyone even if they wanted to. They also had their own way so it was fine if they couldn't collect eggs. They all started to catch locusts elsewhere, and even the children in the family insisted on helping.

Some crops that obviously did not have grains forming on them were cut down and made into simple chicken coops. They found Ying'tao and the others for a discussion. They said that at night, the poultries could sleep in the coops, and they would also provide them with locusts as a midnight snack.

Xiao'hong, Ying'tao and the others were puzzled as to why these people were so enthusiastic. One of the people from the inner yard understood what was going on and stepped out to explain. The person explained that these people were aiming to collect the poultries' manure to use as fertilizer. Since it was certain that this year's harvest was going to be bad, many families had no choice but to sell their livestock to earn some money to survive.

People ate less, and consequently, the accumulated fertilizer in the local area was going to be greatly reduced this coming year. In order to have a good harvest next year, they had to find a way to save up manure so that they can use it as fertilizer for the land.

Even though Xiao'hong, Ying'tao and the others came over here to offer some help and earn some money, after they heard this, they also felt sorry for the local people. Ying'tao was the first person to work for Zhang Xiao'bao, and she was a brave and responsible person. She immediately ordered,

"Get someone to return to the Manor on a quick horse, and use a carriage to transport all of the egg-laying poultries from the residents over to here as soon as possible. Bring the young chickens here too. Tell the residents that they will be compensated with eggs---give each person an egg every two days."

A person in the inner courtyard who heard Ying'tao's orders felt that the Master family had paid too much. That person also knew that not all of the poultries were brought here in the first place because it was too difficult to properly calculate who pays what. The Zhang and Wang manors had a total of 244 households, and there were 196 households raising chickens, ducks and geese, all of which were hatched from eggs tended by Ying'tao. By now, the first two batches were ready to lay eggs.

"Follow my order. I'll take full responsibility for all of the consequences. That's not how it should be calculated. The residents raised the chickens to get eggs, not to save fodder, so they must be compensated. Hire a carriage, and go fast. There is still a lot of land here but the number of chickens and ducks we have right now is simply not enough."

When Ying'tao arrived here, she had the highest authority', so no matter what decision she made, the others had to obey it unconditionally. Even if she said to kill all of the poultries, the others had to comply. If she did something wrong, it was up to the Young Master to decide what will happen to her, but whoever dares to not obey orders will be beaten up first and then brought back to the Master house.

The person from the inner courtyard couldn't dissuade her, so he had to follow her orders. That person found a few horses and took another person along with him, and rode back to the Manor. The two of them had a headache when they thought how each household had around 200 chickens, ducks and geese in total. How do they even find enough carriages to transport them?

Yao Chong noticed the swift movements and skillful horse riding techniques of the two people from the Zhang Manor, and he glanced at the guard next to him. The guard immediately said, "Master, those two must be of military background. Look at his movement when he mounted the horse just now; he must have been trained for at least ten years. Judging by how he maneuvers the horse, he must have been on the battlefield before."

"Yes. I heard from Magistrate Cheng that the Zhang Manor had later hired more people to work in the inner yard. It seems that these two people were hired then. This kind of people would usually do some miscellaneous chores, but when critical times come, they can charge into the battle. When we go back, investigate which locations have soldiers that have resigned. These two people are still not old, so someone must have been bribed."

He spoke to the secretary next to him, "Remember this. Tonight, I am going to make a report to praise the Zhang and Wang Manors in Tu'qiao Village, San'shui County, Bin Prefecture. I'll fulfil the wish of that old man from the Zhang Manor. They gave grains, brought the poultries, and put in so much effort. All of the local officials are watching, so I can't hide this even if I wanted to."

Yao Chong really couldn't understand why the Zhang Manor valued their one hundred household fiefdom so much. But since that was the case, it was actually much easier for him to handle. It's just a small matter, so they can have it. If he didn't award them, then he would truly lose the heart of the people. Now, the surrounding prefectures knew the usage of the 10,000 chickens, ducks and geese and they even sent people over to invite the poultries to their place to eat locusts.

"My lord, I think that the Zhang Manor deliberately did this. They created such a large commotion to force you to accredit them. Maybe it's better to put it off for now." The secretary also knew how troublesome this matter was. The Zhang and Wang Manors used "righteousness" to pressure them, so it was a given that this put them on the spot.

"Nonsense. They got into action before I even arrived here. Everything will depend on what that person I sent to investigate the matter says when he returns." Yao Chong's doubts were even greater now.