Chapter 302: Setting Off for the Flower and Bird Market

"Village Chief, thank you."

Bai Wei nodded happily at the Village Chief, turned around, and ran off.

Many locusts in Shiya City had been killed by the fire ignited by the alcohol she had sent.

However, there were still many nearby villages suffering from the locust plague, with swarms of insects still present.

Although she had sent insecticide, it could not eliminate the root of the problem forever; there were always places the spray didn't reach.

She was just worrying about what method to use, even planning to set up an electric grid if nothing else worked.

And now, she had thought of a way!

"Prince, many disaster victims have come from outside the city; they are all from the nearby villages."

"Everyone heard that you killed the locust swarms outside the city yesterday, so they all ran over to seek help, hoping you would send troops to exterminate the insects."

Xiao Moting frowned deeply, listening to his subordinate's report.

The disaster victims from the nearby villages had come to seek help.

However, yesterday's high-proof liquor had been used up, and the insecticide had already been distributed to the soldiers for them to use, but the area covered was far from enough.

At the city gate, hundreds of commoners were kneeling, all sallow and emaciated, so hungry they could barely walk.

Their crops, trees, food supplies, and even the chickens and ducks they raised... had all been devoured by the locusts, and there wasn't a single grain of rice left in their homes.

In a year of famine, the common people truly had it hard.

Xiao Moting said in a deep voice, "Let the disaster victims enter the city first and line up to receive porridge."

Early this morning, Bai Wei had sent over a mountain of white rice, all packed in bags, stacked up like a wall.

She had specifically instructed that this rice be used to feed the disaster victims.

The more than ten thousand Northern Frontier Army soldiers stationed in Shiya City, led by General Liu, still had rations and did not need to worry for the time being.

On the streets of the city, twenty large pots were lined up in a row.

The large iron pots, as wide as bed boards, were filled with white porridge, the fragrance of rice wafting everywhere.

The disaster victims formed lines, crowding to the front to receive their porridge.

Everyone was supporting the old and carrying the young, packed so tightly not even water could pass through.

"Here, hold it steady." Xiao Moting stood behind one of the porridge pots, personally picked up a large iron ladle, and scooped a full bowl of white porridge for an old woman in ragged clothes in front of him.

The piping hot white porridge was thick and emitted the fragrance of new rice.

It was nothing like the thin porridge from the Imperial Court's disaster relief in the past; that kind of porridge was as clear as water, and when served in a bowl, it could almost be used as a mirror.

The disaster victims held the hot porridge, deeply moved.

"This porridge is actually made from high-quality white rice, and it's so thick you can see the grains."

"It's new rice, I can smell it! This rice is so fragrant, even more fragrant than the rice we grow ourselves."

"The Prince of Zhenbei truly has the heart of a Bodhisattva, actually using such good rice to make porridge for us to eat."

The old woman was also so excited she kept wiping her eyes, her hands trembling as she held the bowl.

Her legs went weak, and she knelt on the ground.

"Many thanks to the Prince of Zhenbei, this old bag of bones of mine won't starve to death."

The dense crowd of disaster victims following behind also knelt down one after another.

"Thank you, Prince of Zhenbei!"

"Get up quickly." Xiao Moting signaled to the soldiers beside him to help the old woman up. "Old one, don't worry, porridge will be served in the city for ten days. During these ten days, you can come to receive porridge every day. Once the ten days are over, the locust plague will be mostly under control, and you will be able to return to your village."

Hearing that they could return to their villages, the disaster victims burst into another round of cheers.

But some people asked, "With so many locusts, can they really be killed off? Can we really go back?"

"Yes." Xiao Moting said with certainty, his gaze steady.

Within ten days, Daliang would definitely be able to exterminate the locusts; that was what Bai Wei had said when she sent him the rice.

He believed in Bai Wei.

Just as Shiya City was distributing disaster relief food, Bai Wei had already arrived at the flower and bird market in the city center.

In the flower and bird market, there was birdsong everywhere.

In the cages were thrushes, parrots, pigeons, sparrows... and all kinds of other birds.

Bai Wei looked around and walked to the largest flower and bird shop in the market.

At the shop entrance hung a cardboard sign, with the words "Wholesale Birds" written in thick red marker.

Bai Wei walked to the checkout counter in the shop and asked the middle-aged man sitting inside directly.

"Boss, how many birds do you have here?"

The boss was stunned. "How many birds? How many do you want to buy?"

"I want them all."

This one sentence left the boss speechless for a long time.

The boss stood up and looked Bai Wei up and down.

"You want to buy birds wholesale?"

"Yes." Bai Wei nodded with a smile and looked up to survey the shop. "I want to buy a large quantity of the birds you have here."

After she finished chatting with the Village Chief yesterday, she immediately went home, opened her computer, and looked up information on "using birds to exterminate locusts."

Upon checking, she discovered that it wasn't just chickens and ducks; birds could also eat locusts.

Bai Wei had originally planned to find a chicken and duck farm, buy a large batch, and send them to the ancient times to exterminate the locusts.

But after seeing the news about birds exterminating locusts, she abandoned that idea.

Modern chickens and ducks were raised in farms, their wild instincts long since extinguished. Many had eaten feed since they were small and had never seen a locust in their lives; if sent to the ancient times, their ability to exterminate insects would be too weak.

Furthermore, domesticated chickens and ducks can no longer fly.

But locusts can fly.

Chickens and ducks are fine for eating locusts on the ground, but they are helpless against locusts flying in mid-air.

After thinking it over, Bai Wei decided to use birds that can fly to kill the insects.

Although birds are small in size and cannot eat many insects a day, their advantage lies in the long term!

Birds practice catching insects from a young age, can eat insects in the air, and can provide continuous and stable pest control.

Moreover, compared to chickens and ducks, they have higher survival capabilities.

People in ancient times lacked clothing and food, so live chickens and ducks were simply delicacies to them.

If she sent a large batch of chickens and ducks to the ancient era, perhaps these chickens and ducks would be secretly caught and taken home by villagers to be stewed and eaten before they could catch many insects.

By then, not only would the insects not be wiped out, but a large batch of chickens and ducks would also be lost.

Having thought it through, Bai Wei immediately drove to the bird and flower market.

She had checked online; sparrows, thrushes, pigeons... all eat insects, especially when they are laying eggs and raising their young, they will hunt locusts to increase their own protein intake, and they will also catch insects to feed their chicks.

Fearing that the owner of the bird and flower shop would not believe her, Bai Wei immediately slapped down five bundles of red banknotes.

"This is a fifty-thousand deposit; count up the sparrows, thrushes, pigeons... in your shop."

"Right, I don't want parrots."

The staple food of parrots is plant seeds, things like sunflower seeds and peanuts; their main food source is not locusts.

The people of Daliang in the ancient era don't even have enough to eat themselves; sending parrots to ancient Daliang would only lead to a dead end.

Seeing the five bundles of red banknotes Bai Wei slapped down, the owner immediately acted as if he had been injected with adrenaline, leaping out from behind the cash register all at once.

"Miss, you wait, I'll go count them right now."

A big business deal had arrived!

The owner beamed with joy, turned around, and ran out of the shop to find help.

But after running two steps, he turned back around and looked at Bai Wei ingratiatingly.

"I have a pigeon farm at home, and there are over three hundred adult pigeons; will you take them?"

"Yes." Bai Wei was just worrying about not being able to buy enough birds; having a farm was naturally even better.