The valley is full of dense locusts, perhaps because they are extremely hungry, they do not care about human culling, the chewing sound of locusts is like thunder, making a rumbling sound, at the same time, locusts eat and pull at the same time, in addition to the rumbling chewing sound, there is also the sound of rattling droppings, deafening.
In the autumn of 1942, in Shangcai County, Henan Province, the villagers prostrated their heads for several days in order to ask for rain, but instead of raining, a black pressure "dark cloud" appeared in the sky. The villagers, who had never seen such a spectacle, came out to watch, the sound of the whistling wind in their ears, and soon after, the locusts that covered the sky followed.
The locusts fell on the branches of the trees, squeaking, and then the crops were damaged, and in a short while, the corn, millet, and sorghum were all eaten without a trace, and after eating, the locusts flew away in search of another food.
Beginning in 1942, Henan was barely dripping, but this was not a bad result, and soon after, the locust plague came, and the few crops left fell into the stomach of the locusts.
According to the old man Cai Jia Jingwu recalled, when he had sores on his legs, lying on the east side of the village, one afternoon in June, the sky in the west became cloudy, but it was not the same as the usual dark clouds, and within ten minutes after observing the dark clouds, the locusts were approaching, making a whistling sound in the air, and the locusts covered the sky.
Jia Jingwu was unable to move, but his mother and two younger brothers were not idle, and seeing that the crops were eaten by locusts, they ran to the valley with bamboo poles and used all their strength to kill the locusts.
Because the locusts were so numerous and the sound of grazing on crops was so frightening that they made a rumbling sound, and the locusts ate and pulled, and the sound of rattling and defecation followed.
In less than ten minutes, the acre and a half of the valley that the mother and son tried their best to protect were eaten by locusts. Jia Jingwu's mother sat on the ground and cried, without food, the family had no food to eat, and if it lasted for a long time, it would starve people to death.
The family dragged their heavy steps back home, but they had to face locusts everywhere, in pots, bowls, beds, walls, and all corners.
A few days later, the locusts finished eating their crops and left Jia Jingwu's village, and then locusts began to appear in the valley, locusts are locusts that have not yet matured, at this time the locusts are slightly smaller, can not fly but can only jump, but their number is very amazing.
The remaining millet poles in the valley have been eaten away by locusts, and a large number of locusts are like running water and rolling balls, squirming on the ground, as long as you step on one foot, it is juice splashing around, and the sandalwood splashes all over your legs, this scene if you are timid, you will be frightened to lie down.
Locusts like to lay eggs in the soil, the best is the soil with a moisture content of 10%-20%, and the locust plague is most likely to occur in times of drought, which is because the moisture content of the soil at that time happens to be the favorite of locusts.
In the right environment, the number of eggs laid by locusts will also increase significantly, with each egg block containing 50-80 eggs, and at most, there can be nearly 5,000 eggs per square meter, which shows the number of eggs reproduced.
In 1938, in order to resist the Japanese attack, the Yellow River levee at the mouth of the garden was blown up, and a large area of yellow pan area appeared. Four years later, in 1942, the drought began, and the soil with a low water content at this time happened to be the best breeding ground for locusts to multiply, and the locust infestation was roughly the result.
After the arrival of the locusts, the county and district officials called on the common people to hunt and kill the locusts, and proposed that each person and every day hand over 3 catties of locusts in exchange for the same amount of grain. In fact, the authority of Henan officials at that time had long been discredited, and due to the unfavorable disaster relief, the victims had long since distrusted their lies.
Of course, hunting locusts still needs to be done, after all, these locusts threaten the lives of the people of Henan, and those locusts are the easiest to catch and kill, because they are not adult insects, many of them cannot fly, people sweep them together, they can be packed in sacks, and then, they are buried in a centralized manner, or burned off by fire.
Some villagers can catch 100 catties a day, and the number of locusts can be imagined.
For the flying locusts, there are also several methods, some villages set up mobile sentries, once the locusts come, they call on everyone to take action, there are flags to support the flag, there are gongs to knock up, this gong and drum noisy scene, it is likely to make the locusts afraid, do not dare to land.
If the locusts had landed, the killing effect would be much worse, because there were too many locusts, and even if everyone took brooms and rakes into battle, they would lose a lot of crops. At night, a campfire is lit, and some of the locusts can be killed because of their phototropism.
In 1942, locust plagues spread across 40 counties in Henan, affecting an area of more than 1 million mu, and only one county in Shangcai caught 2 million catties of locusts.
The loss caused by locusts is very large, without crops, many ordinary people in Henan will be starved to death, but there is another way to survive here, that is, to eat locusts.
The locusts ate the grain, and the people could use the locusts to fill their hunger, so why didn't the people in Henan eat the locusts at that time? The terrible famine of 1942 led to the starvation of 3 million people in Henan, and the people were forced to eat elm bark, goose dung, and even Guanyin soil, compared to these, locusts are not many times better, but in fact, few people eat locusts.
At that time, in Henan, the road often saw such a scene, two people carrying a very small palanquin, the palanquin placed in a shrine, on which was written "enshrined in the god seat of the grasshopper lord".
At the front of the line, two people with gongs opened the way, followed by four people, each holding a dragon flag in their hands, and at the end were drummers, who blew and beat the streets, and once they stopped, many villagers knelt down and prostrated.
Sometimes, in the face of rampant locusts, villagers do not go to hunt and kill at the first time, but kneel down and prostrate their heads, and pray that "Grandpa Grasshopper" can leave them some food. In other words, although grasshoppers can eat, if they eat grasshoppers, they will annoy grasshoppers, and once grasshoppers want revenge, how can it be good?
Most villagers in Henan have this idea, although the number of locusts is large, but few dare to eat locusts.
According to the recollection of li xingwu in Gongyi Station Street, his mother was starved to death in this disaster. In 1942, Li Xingwu was only 12 years old, there was no food at that time, Li Xingwu ran to the grain factory on the street as an apprentice, and the biggest advantage of working here was that he could eat a meal a day, even if he did not have enough to eat, but he would not starve to death.
In other words, Li Xingwu belongs to the kind of people who are luckier. At that time, after the locust plague appeared, there was less food, and some people were extremely hungry, so they roasted and ate the locusts, but they were pointed out by the old people, saying that doing so would offend the heavens, so most people were hungry enough to eat Guanyin soil and goose dung, and did not dare to eat locusts.
On the side of the road, there are large pits everywhere to bury locusts, and hundreds of pounds of locusts are buried in the soil, but no one dares to eat them. Li Xingwu's mother was starved to death in this environment. Afterwards, it turned out that a small number of people who ate locusts did not receive any curse and still lived well, and after that, Li Xingwu often chanted:
"If you ate grasshoppers at that time, maybe your mother would have survived!"
In the Great Famine of 1942 in Henan, millions of people were starved to death, and the number of displacements was even more numerous, far more tragic than the average person imagined. Forgetting the past means betrayal, and we must not forget this catastrophe of 1942! (Text/Nine Fish Pavilion)