amaotonovel Chapter 1218 The Vanguard Enters the Valley
Chapter 1218 The Vanguard Enters the Valley
The wind is blowing.
At the fork in the road leading to the locust-attracting channel, Jiang Zhiming gripped his sweat-soaked binoculars tightly, his gaze fixed on the dark cloud that was about to reach him.
Even the wind smells bad.
"They're here..." The buzzing sound grew closer, and Jiang Zhiming didn't dare to breathe, each word squeezed out of his throat was extremely hoarse: "Everyone... get ready!"
The locust-attracting team members all straightened their arms and secretly adjusted the direction of the bronze mirror, afraid that their negligence would affect the overall situation.
In just a few breaths, tens of thousands of vanguard soldiers had arrived at the crossroads by following the wind direction.
The stench grew even stronger.
The once bright intersection suddenly became dark.
The locusts are facing a choice.
To the west, there is the scent of rice that is etched into their very bones and brings them peace of mind.
On the east side, however, lay food that was completely unfamiliar to them.
Their instinct to find food drove them to the west, but the wind seemed to want to carry them to the northeast.
Do they move based on their foraging instincts, or do they migrate with the wind?
Xin Shunyun actually saw hesitation in the locusts.
"Father, why have they stopped moving?" Xin Ji asked anxiously, sweat beading on his nose. "Lord Jiang, shouldn't we do something about this?"
Jiang Zhiming pressed his trembling right hand down with his trembling left hand, his eyes fixed on the intersection: "No, wait a little longer... Lord Shen said it's best to let them make their own choices, so that they will actively release 'pheromones' to guide the locust army behind them."
"Pheromones?"
Xin Ji had no idea what "pheromones" were. He only knew that several locusts were already eager to fly northeast to find out what was going on!
"They're all going to pass by!" This was the first time Xin Ji had faced such a scene, and her voice began to tremble.
Large beads of sweat dripped from Jiang Zhiming's forehead. Remembering Shen Zheng's instructions, Jiang Zhiming persisted, "Wait a little longer. They've never eaten high-yield rice before, they definitely, definitely won't choose that side..."
No sooner had he finished speaking than dozens of locusts landed on the high-yield rice.
Everyone's heart was lifted by an invisible hand.
"Don't eat it, don't eat it, it doesn't taste good..." Jiang Zhiming clasped his hands together, unable to stop praying.
Xin Shunyun stared intently at the dozens of locusts, his cheeks clenched tightly.
Within Yanzhou Prefecture, only a few public fields were planted with high-yield rice. The incident happened so suddenly that he didn't have time to investigate. He didn't know if it was true, as Shen Zheng said, that locusts would choose ordinary rice as their food source when food was plentiful.
Everyone was on edge, waiting for the locusts to make their choice. It should have been just a fleeting moment, but the tension made it feel incredibly long.
"One of them is gone!" Suddenly, someone said.
In an instant, the dozens of locusts that had landed on the high-yield rice flapped their wings and flew away without hesitation in the opposite direction.
The vanguard among the vanguards made the choice.
"They're in! They're in! They've entered the locust-attracting channel!" Xin Ji's voice became hoarse with excitement.
Once there's a first one, there's a second one; once there's a second one, there are countless others.
Tens of thousands of vanguard soldiers have made their choices.
Like turbid waves breaking through a dam, they surged into the locust-attracting channel in a dense, nauseating swarm.
The familiar scent lured them forward, and so, step by step, they embarked on the path of no return that Shen Zheng had carefully prepared for them.
"It's done...it's done!" Jiang Zhiming's back suddenly relaxed, and he staggered and leaned against the tree trunk behind him.
Before the joy arrived, tears streamed down my face.
He did it.
He did not hold Lord Shen back.
He was a qualified prefect, not the "good-for-nothing" or "good-for-nothing" that some people described.
The able-bodied men of the locust-attracting team also let out suppressed cheers.
Although only tens of thousands of vanguard soldiers have entered the locust-attracting path at this moment, as the saying goes, once there is one, there will be two. As long as there is a good start, the rest will not be too bad.
They could almost see the locust army swarming into the locust-drawing channel.
After watching the last few vanguard locusts enter the locust-attracting tunnel, Xin Shunyun breathed a long sigh of relief and shouted to the Locust Lock Valley, "The locusts are here!"
"Good!" came the response from the top of the valley.
Soon, the swarm of insects arrived at the valley entrance along the locust-attracting channel.
Just when everyone thought they would plunge into the valley, they all stopped moving and ceased their advance.
Shen Zheng frowned slightly.
As expected, locusts are naturally drawn to open spaces and avoid confined spaces; they will not voluntarily enter valleys unless there is sufficient temptation.
"Pour the grains!" Shen Zheng shouted to the top of the valley as he pressed the "talk" button on the walkie-talkie, "Don't be stingy, just pour them all out! The more the better!"
As long as the vanguard can be led into the valley, even if the locust army hesitates, it will eventually follow the scent of its own kind into the valley.
Grains of rice fell softly from the top of the valley. Shen Zheng turned around and shouted again, "Shattered Mirror Team, raise your mirrors and aim them into the valley!"
Almost as soon as Shen Zheng finished speaking, dozens of people at the valley entrance raised their bamboo poles high, with shattered glass mirrors stuck at the top of the poles.
The specks of light reflected from the mirror flickered in the valley, but to the locusts, this was a light and shadow signal that "their kind are moving ahead."
At the mouth of the valley, the hesitant locusts began to move.
Shen Zheng pressed the "call" button again and shouted towards the top of the valley, "Fall down again!"
"Swish swish swish swish—" The grains fell, and the dust filled the air.
Tempted by the abundance of food, and with the faint signals of their own kind, the vanguard finally disregarded their hesitation and flew into the valley.
“They’re in…they’re in…” Zhong Shushan watched the vanguard disappear into the valley, his limbs trembling. “Lord Shen, if they find that there’s a dead end ahead, will they…will they turn back?”
“They won’t be able to fly back.” Shen Zheng’s eyes were fixed on the valley entrance. “There’s so much delicious food, they’re too busy eating to even think about escaping.”
The wages of avarice is death.
These locusts ate her food, so naturally they had to pay the price.
She, Shen Zheng, does not accept any form of freeloading.
Even if the vanguard in the valley noticed something amiss before the locust army arrived, she had other ways to keep them.
In short, it boils down to this: once they go in, there's no chance they'll ever come out.
Seeing the certainty in Shen Zheng's eyes, Zhong Shushan finally realized belatedly that they had succeeded.
They successfully trapped the vanguard in the valley!
Before he could savor this joy, the sky in the southwest suddenly darkened, followed by a deafening buzzing sound.
"Coming, coming..."
Zhong Shushan looked up at the southwest sky and saw a huge black cloud rolling and surging across the horizon, heading straight for them without hesitation.