Chapter 6553 Response

Chapter 6553 Response
Chen Xi was somewhat surprised when he heard this. After continuously burning through money, had the Wang family of Kuaiji finally come up with something outrageous?
The electric magnetic field sounds very cool. I hope it can defeat Huangtian. Anyway, Chen Xi is lying down. Whoever can defeat Huangtian can go ahead. Chen Xi is only providing food and grass support now.

"Speaking of which, what's the current situation in Rome?" Chen Xi asked curiously. The Han Dynasty would at most suffer heavy losses, but there would not be a real famine. After all, Chen Xi had not worked in vain for so many years, and he was also preparing an army of millions to defeat the Kushans with one blow after the southwest passage was repaired, so there was no problem with food reserves.

Besides, Jian Yong has been working on logistics over the years. Now, even if we can't say that we can ensure that materials are efficiently delivered to various villages, at least delivering them to various counties should not be a problem. Therefore, Chen Xi's attitude towards the locust plague is very clear. If he can't defeat them, he will surrender. Anyway, by November, no matter how many trillions of locusts there are, they will all die on their own.

"We are working hard to kill the locusts. Although we notified Rome in advance and asked Rome to take preventive measures, the situation is not very good." Guo Jia handed the information related to Rome to Chen Xi. Recently, Rome has not broadcast anything like fighting Odin, but has been reporting on fighting locusts.

But how should I put it, the battle reports against Odin are basically win, win, win, we won all the way, and we rarely lost. But in the battle reports against Locust Sky, the word win is basically not seen. It's all lose, lose, lose, we lost all the way, and it feels like we are about to lose everything.

"This is really tragic." Chen Xi felt a little sad when he read the description of the locust plague in Rome. When his own family was in a very miserable situation, he saw that other families were even more miserable, and his mentality obviously improved a lot.

Because of the evolution of locusts, the locust storm that attacked Rome was even more outrageous than the situation predicted by the Senate. At least Rome had previously believed that the locust storm would at most kill Egypt, North Africa, and the lower reaches of the Mesopotamian River, and at least leave some food for Rome's European region, so that the citizens would not starve to death.

However, the reality is that after the locust plague broke out in East Africa, they followed the North African route, moved westward to the Atlantic Ocean, then crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and landed on the Iberian Peninsula.

In other words, because of its better quality, larger size and stronger combat capability, Locust Sky successfully arrived in Europe and then showed off in Spain.

It doesn't matter what Tacitus thinks now. The billions of brothers of the Locust Sky Squad have already devoured all of Spain. No matter whether it was the economic crop saffron or the local rice, they were all eaten up. In short, the losses were heavy.

Of course, for Rome, after North Africa, Egypt, and the lower reaches of the Mesopotamian River were all destroyed, the loss of the less important Spain was actually not unacceptable. After all, it had already lost so much and did not care about having more provinces.

"What's unreasonable?" Fa Zheng sneered, "Don't you know that the officers who command the army can borrow the power of the army?"

Just thinking about this possibility, the elders of the Roman Senate were all in a state of panic. There was nothing they could do. Since they had defeated the Celts, the Romans had never suffered such humiliation! Being beaten to Italy? How could the great Roman Empire end up like this?
"Ah, they have already reached the European region ruled by Rome. That means they are doomed. The Roman Empire will definitely be in chaos this year." Chen Xi said helplessly, "This is really tragic. Is this wave of locusts so outrageous? Speaking of which, I have always wanted to ask one thing, how can locusts advance to a new level within a few months of their life cycle? This is totally unreasonable."

"You mean locusts are the same?" Chen Xi thought about it and it seemed to make sense.

"I'm just asking. It's a bit strange. You see, such a large number of locusts is equivalent to the cloud size of millions or tens of millions of humans. It's normal for them to have a collective will. What's more, locusts themselves are collective enough." Guo Jia struggled to explain.

"Speaking of which, how far have Xianhe and Zizhong progressed in mobilizing war supplies from the south to Chang'an?" Chen Xi didn't want to discuss what would happen if something as outrageous as the locust sky really happened. He felt that it was better to be down-to-earth at this time.

What's more, Tacitus was in charge of the Spanish province, which was already unpopular. Now that it had been eaten up, it would reduce the conflicts within the Senate. Besides, things had come to this point, so he could just do what he had to do.

The problem is that the second round of locust plagues will move westward along North Africa, reach the Atlantic Ocean, go north through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Roman European region, and eat up all the Spanish provinces. So when the third wave of real super locust plague breaks out, will it directly eat up Italy?

"If something like this really happens, it will be even more difficult to deal with next. Let's pray that the Roman Empire's mentality does not collapse." Li You said with a sneer. Others may not know what the Roman Empire's mentality is, but Li You knows it very well. If he were in that position, he would have the same mentality. I can't survive anymore, so why should I care about other things?

"If the locust plague really creates a will of the locust sky, we will beat you up first." Chen Xi said very dissatisfiedly, and then looked at Guo Jia seriously, "Let's not discuss other things. Just talking about the scale and size of the locusts, it is actually reasonable to have a collective will."

"That's quite strange. Since there is collective consciousness, why don't hundreds of billions of locusts form such a thing as collective will? Even if the consciousness of locusts is very faint, hundreds of billions of them should have the size of an imperial will." Guo Jia expressed his own doubts on behalf of Fa Zheng. Chen Xi fell silent after hearing this, and the other people in the Council of State looked at Guo Jia. You think the matter is not big enough, right?

"There are hundreds of millions of locusts. The leader draws a little bit of power from the other locusts. When they are combined, their internal energy will leave their bodies or even break through the boundaries. Locusts don't have as many ideas as humans. They just accumulate and grow." Fa Zheng said calmly. "In fact, compared to the boundary-breaking locusts, I am more curious about whether locusts have a collective will?"

"It has been transported to Chang'an by water, and it will be delivered in about half a month. By the way, Zichuan, how did you hoard so much rock sugar?" Zhuge Liang looked at Chen Xi strangely. Although he knew that Chen Xi liked to hoard supplies, this was too much.

"How could there be nothing?" Chen Xi curled his lips and said, "Without this thing, how could the locusts come out together and fly across the ocean to attack the Kushans and us?"

"Ever since Zi Zhong made white sugar, I asked him to allocate some of the raw materials to make rock sugar. After all, rock sugar can have a shelf life of up to ten years under suitable conditions. Isn't it natural to store it for war preparations?" Chen Xi said with a pout.

Having said that, the reason why so much rock sugar can be stored is mainly because Chen Xi ordered Mi Zhu to set aside one-fifth of the sugarcane plantations each year as strategic reserves. In addition, the transportation problem in the south has not been completely solved so far. If it is not transported out specifically, it will be stored there.

After the innovation of agricultural tools in recent years, the area of ​​sugarcane plantations has increased greatly, and the stockpiled war reserve materials, rock sugar, have naturally increased significantly. Chen Xi originally planned to release part of the reserves in two years to suppress the price of white sugar on the market, but before this matter was implemented, the locust plague came. Compared with transporting food to Central Asia, Chen Xi still prefers to transport white sugar. In Chen Xi's opinion, there is no problem with the idea of ​​the three companies in the Persian Gulf. Sugar water plus salt, soaking some dry buns, and preparing some wild vegetables can make a living.

What's more important is that the weight and volume of sugar are much smaller than grains. Without mentioning the addition of oil, salt and other things, 20 grams of sugar can basically reach 100 calories, which is basically equivalent to a bowl of white rice. To be honest, given the situation in Central Asia this year, white rice is good enough with bran, so it's better to get some rock sugar and let this group of people bear it first.

At the very least, sending several thousand tons of rock sugar is equivalent to tens of thousands of tons of grain in terms of survival alone. And in terms of the difficulty and efficiency of transportation, there is no doubt that several thousand tons of rock sugar are much more fortunate than tens of thousands of tons of grain. So it goes without saying what to do at this time.

"Speaking of which, these rock candies were originally intended to be used to build a new factory. Now that the new factory doesn't need to be opened, we should save them up some more and see if we can build a new factory before destroying the Kushan Empire." Chen Xi said with some regret.

Chen Xi had his own plan on how to destroy the Kushans. Once he was determined to destroy the Kushans and sent two million troops, it would be impossible to stop. The issue of logistics would become the biggest problem in destroying the Kushans. Moreover, considering that one must fight in one go in a field battle, once the Kushan blockade was broken through, it would be impossible to stop and one would need to keep advancing.

This would put a lot of pressure on logistics. To put it bluntly, there was a high probability that logistics support would not be able to be provided. Therefore, Chen Xi, who was hoarding rock sugar, was thinking about how to make compressed biscuits.

Cream, rock sugar, grain, salt and oil are not a problem. The only thing left is to make this thing. As long as this thing is made, when the two million troops attack Kushan, even if Kushan tries its best to build a strong defense and clear the fields, the Han Dynasty can withstand the logistical pressure and directly attack Kushan's hometown.

As long as the Kushan stronghold was destroyed, the army of more than two million would be enough to implement large-scale military control. Then, officers at all levels would be enfeoffed on the spot to maintain stability in the occupied areas, and the problem would be almost solved.

So from a practical point of view, compressed biscuits are actually quite important to the Han Dynasty. It's just that the formula that can preserve them for a long time has not been developed yet, and the white sugar, as an important ingredient, has also been taken away to save lives. Chen Xi is now somewhat helpless.

"But now we can open a small one to test it out. If I had known I would encounter this situation, I should have opened a verification plant earlier." Chen Xi said helplessly.

The formula of super compressed biscuits is indeed a problem, but Han Shi can actually make it while sacrificing a certain taste. After all, Chen Xi's family has a cook with spiritual talents. She can experiment with the raw materials repeatedly, and after making the finished product, she can make the mold. In fact, it is not very difficult, just like making pastries with Liu Tong every year.

"I always feel that Zichuan is doing all kinds of weird things, but it doesn't matter. I'm not in charge of logistics. It's enough as long as the front line is satisfied." Fa Zheng said indifferently.

Chen Xi didn't say anything after hearing this. If he had known earlier that there would be such a serious locust plague, Chen Xi would have started to verify it the year before last. Unfortunately, knowing it earlier is priceless.

"Let's do this for now. If there is any more news about Locust Sky, remember to notify me. I'm leaving first. Don't look for me if it's nothing important." Chen Xi thought about it and felt that there was nothing to worry about. He didn't want to waste time in the Executive Yuan, so he slipped away early.

Not long after Chen Xi went out, a swift eagle swooped down from the sky towards him, scaring him. Fortunately, Han Qiong protected him and he reached out to catch the swift eagle. Then he found that there was a bamboo tube tied to the swift eagle's feet, and he was stunned.

This is the swift eagle that Chen Zhe released at that time. However, Chen Zhe and his group went abroad too early, and the Chen family has never had any major events in the past. The swift eagle that Chen Xi sent a few years ago didn't recognize Chang'an City after it flew back to the Central Plains.

In addition, the geomagnetic field has shifted slightly due to the explosion of South America by Rome's blazing rings last year. There is also a gravitational distortion zone in the first layer of the Nine-Layered Palace in the Weiyang Palace, which has caused the geomagnetic field to deviate a bit too much here. Swift Eagle, which has not returned for many years, can neither rely on geomagnetism to determine its position nor can it remember the Chang'an City. It can only fly around in this area.

It was thanks to the eagle's amazing eyesight and its good luck that it saw Chen Xi today, otherwise this swift eagle would have to fly in this area for at least a few more months.

But the advantage of using a Swift Eagle as a messenger ends here. Even if it flies for a few more months, the Swift Eagle will not starve to death. After all, it is a bird of prey. If it cannot find its exact location, the geomagnetic field and memory both indicate that it is probably in this area. The Swift Eagle will then linger in this area. As for food, it is never a problem for a bird of prey.

"I'm so scared. Why is an eagle suddenly targeting me? What's going on?" Chen Xi asked curiously as he looked at the eagle that didn't even flutter after being caught by Han Qiong.

"It's the Swift Eagle." Han Qiong untied the bamboo tube, handed it to Chen Xi and said.

"Ah, the swift eagle pounced directly on me, whose swift eagle is this? It's so excessive." Chen Xi took the bamboo tube and said with dissatisfaction, but he shut up after opening it. Oh, my swift eagle, I even raised it before, that's no problem, I won't say anything.

"Ah, there are demon crystals in the locusts' bodies, what's going on?" Chen Xi looked at Chen Zhe's secret report with surprise. What was going on? Also, he hadn't seen any of the noble families in Central Asia mention this matter. It was impossible that no one would mention such a big thing. Even if they were all blinded by money, it was impossible for them not to tell him.

Climb, climb, climb, the author's hand speed has further declined, desperate