Chapter 6531 Strategic Resolution

Chapter 6531 Strategic Resolution
It is not possible not to give this thing. What the Han Dynasty is doing now is no longer the so-called helping others to the end, but more realistic. If you don't help the other party, they will definitely drag you down.

After all, a locust plague occurred in East Africa. According to the historical routes of locust plagues, half of the hundreds of billions of locusts rushed into Africa, and the other half went through the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and even South Asia.

Even though, due to the distance and because some of them got lost during migration, the number of locusts arriving in South Asia is only about half of the number when they set out, it is still at least tens of billions or even nearly hundreds of billions.

This is also why when the locust plague occurred in East Africa a few years ago, India and Pakistan each experienced a reduction in production of more than 30%.

Locusts are very strange creatures. Before their numbers increase, their combat effectiveness is very low, their flying altitude is unlikely to exceed 100 meters, their flying speed is not very fast, and they are non-toxic. After being fried, they taste good, and the various rations they consume in a day are not too much.

But when locusts gather together and their numbers reach a certain level, they will be disturbed by pheromones and their combat effectiveness will soar significantly, their color will change, their toxicity will increase dramatically, and their flying height will easily exceed 300 meters. Some outrageous locusts can even soar to an altitude of 3,000 meters. Their flying speed will also increase dramatically, and their appetite will increase from that of normal creatures to one that can eat food equal to or even exceeding its own weight every day.

This is also the reason why normally East African locusts cannot fly over the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, but after becoming a locust plague, East African locusts can take off from Africa and rush to South Asia, flying nearly 200 kilometers a day. What kind of elite military force is this? How can they not have any idea?

What Chen Xi is most worried about now is that due to the alienation of the essence of heaven and earth, the size and flying speed of the locusts will further increase. In the real world, the locust army eats and flies at the same time. They can fly 150 kilometers a day. At this speed, they can reach South Asia. If the flying speed is doubled, Chen Xi thinks it is not impossible for these things to rush to Chang'an along Xinzhou.

However, no one can be sure of the migration speed of the locust army at present. After all, such a large-scale locust plague has never occurred in East Africa before, or it has appeared locally, but the three non-local empires did not pay attention to it, so that now when it is critical, the Han Empire is also at a loss.

Under this premise, letting Roma take the blame first is something that we have to do.

"Let me ask." Annaus suggested, and the others did not stop him. After all, it would be more reasonable for an agronomist to ask about this matter.

"It's like this. There are some problems with our Roman agricultural level. If we follow the Han Dynasty's sowing method, we may only need a small amount of seed grain. But in Rome, the seed grain you need to provide must be at least five times the seed grain of the Han Dynasty on the same scale." Annaus explained to Gan Jing.

"Yes, it will mature in 102 days, and it has a full growth cycle. If we only count the growth stage, we can definitely harvest it within three months." Gan Jing said expressionlessly.

"Rice will mature in 102 days." The senators in the Senate looked at each other. Although not many of them were farmers, they still knew how long it would take for rice to mature.

However, as of now, the situation is still not very good. When the third wave of locusts passed through Central Asia, it was basically July. Unless the locusts had just passed and the small-scale locusts left in the local area had not been eliminated, the major families started to grow this thing. Otherwise, there would be some time pressure.

"This is the rice cultivated by Master Qu." Annaus said, then nodded to Pompianus, indicating that this thing was real.

Therefore, what the Han Dynasty can do now is to give Rome some scientific data, so that Rome will feel that if they try their best to reduce the scale of the locust plague, they should be able to reduce the size of the second and third rounds of locust plagues.

As for the last wave of 200 billion, this is really a conservative estimate. The impact of the use of the Seraphic Ring on the climate of the entire planet last year was too serious. The alternation of dry season and rainy season in East Africa perfectly matches the development of locusts. Moreover, the three empires discovered it too late, and the locust plague had already taken shape. Before it took shape, they organized hundreds of thousands of people to dig up all the places where locust eggs gathered, so that they could suppress it.

For the major families today, they can choose not to eat rice if it tastes bad, but they cannot live without it. Now it is life-saving. When they came to Central Asia, this group of people found a place to grow upland rice. On the one hand, it was for testing, and on the other hand, they cultivated the seeds they were allocated to ensure that they could sow quickly when they were really needed.

On the contrary, Rome did not have this problem. After all, the Roman Empire was large enough. There were indeed many places where locusts were rampant, but there were also many places that were not hit by locusts, such as northern Italy, Frankia, the Black Sea, and even Eastern Europe along the Don River. In short, if the Roman Empire did not consider time, it could sow seeds now and plant two crops this year. Even if it was limited by scale and production, it would still be a great supplement. No matter how bad this stuff tastes, it is still rice, and it is better than tree bark and grass roots.

Now the first round of locust plague has taken shape. Although East African statisticians said that there are about 1 billion locusts flying north, it is not as outrageous as Chen Xi estimated. The problem is that Chen Xi doesn't know how the locusts fly. He is only counting one direction. If he is unlucky, the locusts flying north are the smallest detachment. The overall scale of the locust plague in East Africa may have exceeded 5 billion.

But now that it's taken shape, we can only bear it.

"Can the breeding time of rice be shortened so much? It has been reduced by nearly half." Pompeianus looked at Annaus in surprise. After all, in the entire Senate, only Annaus was a real agronomist. To be honest, the others were all trash.

This thing was considered a very precious treasure even in the Han Dynasty. The major families said that how could their brothers have fallen to such a state, but after Cookie made this thing, every family still took some and planted a few crops as seed food to prepare for possible famine.

Locusts lay 80 to 120 eggs at a time. If there are no natural enemies during a locust plague and possible rainfall provides enough food, the second round of locust plagues can reach a scale of hundreds of billions.

Even if a nuclear bomb is used, the explosion point will be within a range of several thousand kilometers, which is ridiculous.

This is not nonsense. The level of agricultural technology in the Roman Empire was actually quite poor, relying entirely on the Mediterranean climate. If we really talk about the grain planting ratio, it was a very scary data. After Annaus returned from the Han Dynasty, he worked hard to carry out agricultural reform, which improved the grain planting ratio to a certain extent, but Annaus was only one person after all, and could not comprehensively optimize the country's grain planting.

So now Rome must pay close attention. Even if it cannot crush the locust plague, at least it must reduce its scale. Locust plagues consisting of trillions of locusts have occurred in history. To be honest, when a locust plague breaks out and spreads across thousands of kilometers, there is really no other way except to wait for the locusts to die of exhaustion.

"No problem. This is the rice that Master Qu has been researching for a long time." Annaus nodded. When he was in the Central Plains, Annaus and Qu Qi studied for a long time, mastered a lot of agricultural techniques, and worked hard to popularize them in Rome, achieving an overall increase in production to a certain extent.

If you want Rome to take the blame, you cannot let Rome be finished. At least give the Roman Empire some hope and let the Roman Empire and the locusts fight hard first.

Even though no one objected because of Annaus's status, the Roman citizens had no intention of taking the initiative to improve their farming methods in the absence of a food crisis. They just planted crops blindly. Anyway, as long as they planted, they would have a harvest in the Mediterranean climate. Why bother to be so particular?

So overall, the current plant-to-grain ratio of the Roman Empire is still a big problem. In other words, the seeds prepared by Gan Jing are not enough to deal with the disasters in Rome.

"Five times?" Gan Jing looked at Annaus in disbelief. Because of the climate, the grain output of one acre of land in Rome was not much different from that of one acre of land in the Han Dynasty. However, the seeds sown on one acre of land in Rome were several times more than those sown on one acre of land in Han Dynasty. If the Han Dynasty sowed one kilogram, Rome would have to sow eight kilograms, or even more.

Gan Jing didn't know much about this, but Annaus couldn't possibly talk nonsense about this. This was a bit too outrageous. The Han Dynasty prepared 10 million kilograms of seeds, which should be enough in Gan Jing's opinion. But Annaus meant that 50 million kilograms were needed? Are you kidding me?

"I'm not kidding. Due to climate issues, the Roman Empire did not conduct in-depth research on agricultural technology. Most of the time, they just sowed seeds randomly on a piece of farmland." Annaus said helplessly. After he returned to Rome, the first thing he did was to optimize agricultural technology. Apart from anything else, the practice of Roman citizens sowing twenty or thirty kilograms of seeds on the ground was not considered a problem before he went to the Han Dynasty. After going to the Han Dynasty, he just felt it was too outrageous.

Annaus' previous idea was to cure this problem first, reducing the amount of seeds sown per acre of land by 80%. With the agricultural area of ​​the Roman Empire, this alone would be enough to feed millions of people.

As a result, promotion is very difficult. So far, this has only been achieved in the newly reclaimed farms in the western part of Rome and on the Don River. Although the scale of seed sowing has decreased overall due to Annaus' constant running around, it is still far more than that of the Han Dynasty.

"Too much, too difficult to transport, and I'm not sure if the Han Dynasty has so much rice seeds." Gan Jing frowned. He had thought of all kinds of situations, but he had never considered the possibility that his own seeds would not be enough to feed the Romans. Even in this situation, you don't even know how to optimize the farming methods. Logically speaking, 10 million jin should be enough anyway.

In Gan Jing's impression, after Chen Xi received the seeds and grains from Cookie, he asked the Yangzhou farm to plant a few crops, and then he seemed to have heard nothing about it. After all, there is no point in planting too much of this stuff.

"You go and communicate with the Han Dynasty first. If this thing is possible, we can purchase 100 million kilograms of seed grain." Annaus looked at Gan Jing and said.

One hundred million kilograms of seed grain. Considering the current situation Rome is facing and Annaus's increased voice, he forced the optimization of Roman agricultural farming methods and the promotion of intensive farming, which means a farming volume of 10 million acres. This is a life-saving scale. In addition, the huge impact caused by such a wave of planting should also allow Roman citizens to abandon the stupid extensive farming method.

"I can only say that I'll try my best." Gan Jing said helplessly. He really didn't understand this.

"Then, are there any other edible vegetables and crops in the Han Dynasty that have high yields and short growing periods?" Annaus looked at Gan Jing and asked.

"I don't know about that. I'm not in agriculture. I'm in climate and astronomy. Although there is some overlap with agriculture, most of the information I give is to inform farmers about the climate this year so that they can be prepared. As for which things are high-yielding and have a short growing period, I'm not too sure." Gan Jing said very sincerely. He really didn't know, and when Chen Xi came, he only asked him to bring the rice and didn't mention anything else. So even if he knew, Gan Jing wouldn't say anything nonsense, not to mention that he didn't know yet.

"I see." Annaus expressed his understanding.

After the Roman Empire sent Gan Jing to the embassy, ​​the Senate began a closed-door meeting. The current situation is very bad, but not so bad that Rome has to say goodbye to the world. It is still possible to survive, but it is quite uncomfortable. Therefore, no one talked about using the Blazing Ring to blow up East Africa.

"Annaus, aren't you also doing agricultural research? Are there any high-yield grain crops like the 102 early rice?" Ulpian asked tentatively.

As Ulpian asked, everyone else also looked at Annaus. There was nothing they could do. Rome had not paid much attention to agriculture before. They could make a living anywhere, so they didn't pay much attention to it. As a result, after being beaten this time, Rome finally realized the importance of agriculture.

"There are some, but they are different from the real rice that Master Qu has." Annaus said with some respect, "The most reliable ones I have at the moment are Agaricus bisporus and radish. The former takes about 60 days and can be harvested in batches, while the latter only takes a month. The problem is that the former is not enough to eat, and the latter can only be used as a supplement."

"It's good enough to have something to eat. Assign a group of people to grow these two things." Pompeianus said unhappily. The locust plague was coming soon, and there were many smart people in the Roman Senate. How could they not know what it meant for the Han Dynasty to use its own capital to stabilize Rome?
Isn't this because they are afraid that Rome will go crazy and then everyone will be doomed? Therefore, the Roman elders who knew the situation thanked the Han Dynasty and were also glad that their own strength was strong enough. If there were a little problem with their strength and it did not threaten the safety of the world, the Han Dynasty would not have behaved like this.

"Well, the Agaricus bisporus strain is not a problem, although it is a little less, but it is barely enough. The radish seeds are a problem. The latter have just been cultivated." Annaus said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Give some of the fungus strains to the Han Dynasty, as well as some of the radish seeds," Sergio said. "In addition to the idea of ​​returning a favor, the Han Dynasty can also grow them locally. Their agricultural technology is far superior to ours, and they grow them much faster than we do. Moreover, these are supplementary foods that can be harvested in a short time. After a few crops, the Han Dynasty will have a large seed supply, so we can just go and borrow some more."

To be honest, although Sergio is the acting patriarch who was compromised when the Claudius family had not yet been unified, he is indeed capable to be in this position. To be honest, he is quite good. At least he has a strong sense of the overall situation and the ability to judge.

"It's not good to owe others things. Although if you owe a lot you become a big shot, it depends on your own ability. No matter what the Han Dynasty thinks this time, it really helped us. We can hold on if a few million barbarians die, but if tens of millions die, and more barbarians fall into famine, we Rome will also fall into chaos." Sergio glanced calmly at the elders present.

"It's better to repay the favor as soon as possible. Although Agaricus bisporus and radish are not as good as the early rice seeds given by the Han Dynasty, they can mature in such a short time and are very valuable. Also, how do they taste?" Sergio asked with some doubt.

"It tastes very good." Annaus replied quickly. It really tastes very good. Whether it is Agaricus bisporus or radish, all the ones cultivated by Annaus are delicious.

"Send a copy to the Han Dynasty. Don't say it's to repay a favor. Just say you need their help in cultivating the seeds." Sergio said calmly. There are some things that when you do them, others will acknowledge your goodness. After all, they are not blind.

"Claudius' private treasury has allocated 500,000 gold coins to Annaus for agricultural improvement and high-yield crop research. Does anyone else have any objections?" Sergio said to the elders present. Compared to asking the national treasury to approve the money, just going through the procedures and extortion are enough to make life difficult. It is better to go through the smuggling treasury. With a single order from Claudius' private treasury, the money will be in Annaus' hands on the same day.

The senators looked at each other and nodded. After all, it was Claudius' family that paid for it, so who cares? Moreover, after being beaten this time, they did realize that there were major problems with Roman agriculture. They needed to think carefully about the layout of grain-producing areas. They could no longer only consider grain-producing areas such as Upper Egypt, the eastern border counties, and the Mesopotamian basin as before. They also needed to develop the northern Mediterranean.

"Then there is the issue of land reclamation. Now that the locust plague has taken shape in East Africa, the original grain-producing land in Upper Egypt, the eastern provinces, and the Mesopotamian region will fall into famine. However, in places that have not fallen into famine, there are still farmlands. Where should we choose to reclaim land?" Sergio crossed his hands and spoke with some caution. Every order now was stained with human blood. One mistake might result in hundreds or thousands of skeletons, so Sergio had to be cautious.

"The rice is planted directly on the Eastern European coast of the Don River, and it should be planted now!" Annaus gave a direct answer.

　I really can't get up in the morning, miserable
　　(End of this chapter)