In the spring of the second year of Zhenguan, locusts broke out in Guanzhong.

These insects flew out of the fields, the riverbanks and wastelands, ate all the plants they encountered, and gathered densely to cover the sky and the sun.

Even if the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty had made preparations early, it was still powerless in the face of a locust plague of such a scale.

Just when the people were panicking and the family gate valve was about to take the opportunity to attack, Wang Xiao stood up.

He said that he was willing to buy locusts at a price of one penny and one pound without restrictions, and he would collect as many as he wanted.

Moreover, Wang Xiao also took the initiative to show the net for catching locusts, a large net with fine mesh, which can cover a large area at a time when opened.

Wang Xiao said he has a lot of these nets, which he can rent for free to people who are willing to catch locusts.

As for anyone who says that locusts are angels, they can't catch anything. Naturally, there will be people from the government to help 'persuade'.

Wang Xiao himself has money, and his eldest grandson Wuji has paid for shares. No matter how many tens of thousands of catties of locusts he caught, he could afford to buy them.

"Is this thing really edible?"

The eldest grandson Wuji, who took out a huge amount of money to participate in the shares, looked at the locusts that were constantly rustling and wriggling in the big cloth bag in front of him, and he only felt a burst of nausea, and he really didn't understand how this thing could be eaten in his stomach.

Wang Xiao rolled up his sleeves and led the guys in the wine shop to deal with the locusts, pinching his head and pulling the thread to clean it. Wrap in white flour and fry it directly.

Amid the sizzling sound, a scent began to fill the air.

"Here, let's see what it tastes like." The freshly fried locusts were put on a plate and handed directly to the eldest grandson Wuji.

"Don't dare, don't dare." Tang Zai waved his hand again and again, he didn't dare to eat this kind of thing.

"I'll try it."

Li Er, who was dressed in gorgeous clothes, walked into the kitchen with his hands behind his back, and without the slightest hesitation, he reached out and pinched a fried locust and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, no! ”

The group of civil servants who followed in were acting online, and they were playing a dissuasive drama with emotion. It's just that although everyone stretched out their hands, none of them really stopped them.

After all, there must be a solution to this locust plague.

If you can eat it best, if you can't eat it, whether it is the emperor or the prime minister, someone has to come forward and carry it down.

"How does it taste?" Wang Xiao also asked him with some curiosity.

"Not bad." Li Er's face was a little distorted, and he felt that the taste was not what he said.

Wang Xiao brought another plate of salt and a plate of soy sauce to "dip some sauce and try it." ”

Li Er glared at him, dipped soy sauce and salt without saying a word, and ate all the fried locusts on this plate.

"One more pot." Li Er glanced at the onlookers around him with malicious intent. Of course, this kind of thing can't just make him unlucky.

Wang Xiao naturally didn't care, he came to a pot of fried locusts again, and then handed it over to everyone to eat.

"Why don't you eat it?" Looking at the people around them who were gritting their teeth and eating locusts, Li Er asked curiously about Wang Xiao, who was watching the excitement.

Wang Xiao put his palm to his mouth and whispered, "Poisonous." ”

Li Er's eyes widened.

"Don't be afraid, after dealing with only a trace amount of toxins, you can't eat the dead."

Compared with the people who frowned, Wei Zheng, the only one who ate locusts and his face did not change, asked, "This thing is indeed edible." But I wanted both flour and oil, and I added so much salt and sauce. How many people can afford it? ”

Wheat is expensive, and the price is several times that of millet.

Although soybean oil is already available, the price is not very cheap.

Coupled with salt and soy sauce, it's not easy to eat fried locusts.

"It's a dish, not a staple food." Wang Xiao beckoned and motioned for everyone to follow him.

Coming to the courtyard at the back, Wang Xiao pointed to the huge steamer in front of him, "This is the place where a large number of locusts are really needed." ”

Locusts are considered high in protein, so they are treated with flour, oil, salt and sugar and then pressed. can be made into the most basic military rations.

Throwing away the brick-like military rations in his hand, Wang Xiao poured water into the pot, threw a piece into it and boiled it for a while before it became a batter.

"You can just eat it with water." Wang Xiao put the batter on a plate and handed it to Li Er and his ministers.

Li Er, who had eaten half of the plate, felt that the taste was not bad, and his stomach was also full.

"You're going to sell this to the people?"

"Where did the people get the money to buy this?" Wang Xiao pointed at Fang Xuanling with a smile, "Of course they were sold to the imperial court." ”

"What is the use of the imperial court?"

"Now the locust plague in Guanzhong can be bought to help the victims. In the future, when the army goes north, it can also be carried with it as military rations. ”

Li Er narrowed his eyes, and the army went north or something, and it said to his heart.

"How do you sell this thing?" Li Shimin was very interested in this.

Wang Xiao rubbed his hands, "For the sake of the court, then the price is lower, and it will be regarded as our contribution to the court." It doesn't take much, just ten pennies a pound. ”

"What?!"

Wei Zheng was furious: "When you buy these locusts, you only give a penny for a catty." ”

"I also paid for labor, technology, and ingredients." Wang Xiao shrugged his shoulders and motioned to the eldest grandson Wuji on the side, "This is my partner, you can talk to him about the price." He said as much as he wanted. ”

Eldest Sun Wuji's smile was very embarrassing.

Don't say this kind of thing in front of Li Er!

He is the big money-payer, but he is still the prime minister of the imperial court. At this time, how do you ask me to negotiate the price, you cheat me again.

Under Li Er's seemingly indifferent gaze, the eldest grandson Wuji silently bled in his heart and negotiated a price with Fang Xuanling and the others that were not satisfactory to both sides.

A pound of locust powder sells for three cents.

If you calculate the various expenses, you can basically do a free day job, and you don't make much money at all.

The eldest grandson Wuji, who wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money, was angry and couldn't eat enough for a few days.

Millions of people in Guanzhong began to capture together after the golden locusts were broken. In just one or two months, the locust swarm has almost been extinguished before it even has time to form a scale.

Countless locusts were sent to various estates on the outskirts of Chang'an, where they were made into locust powder.

The locust powder was then stored for military rations.

As for disaster relief or something, there is still a lot of grain in the regular closing warehouse. Moreover, this locust plague is not so serious, it has not had time to form a scale and disappeared, but there is not much need for disaster relief.

A new spring ploughing has begun, and this time it has changed dramatically from previous years.

First of all, before the land is cultivated, the fields are used with diluted lime powder to kill insects.

Then, when ploughing the ground, a curved plough was used to efficiently reclaim the field.

The Tang Dynasty sold a large number of glass products to the surrounding areas, and exchanged a large number of cattle, sheep and horses from the Turks and Tuguhun people.

The horses were sent to the army, and the sheep were killed for meat. Cows, on the other hand, were trained to become ploughing cattle.

The large increase in ploughing cattle has made it easier to plough the land.

Needless to say, the fertilizer made by the original soil method was released and used in the fields.

These fertilizers are used in batches and in conjunction with waterwheels to significantly increase the yield of the farmland.

In the summer, drought struck again.

However, the large-scale popularization of waterwheels has greatly alleviated the drought. The impact on the autumn harvest was not significant.

A large amount of grain was harvested in this autumn harvest, and Li Er also stored a large amount of copper coins and cloth by selling glass.

Now, it's time for him to avenge himself.

Wang Xiao formed a caravan, a very large one. He received from Li Er the work of transporting grain and grass and military supplies to the border of Beidi.

Historically, Li Shimin sent troops to the Eastern Turks in Zhenguan for three years, but this time he had to start a year in advance.

As for the reason, it is naturally because of Wang Xiao's miraculous operation, which greatly improved the national strength of Datang and gave Li Er the capital to do it.

The reason for war or something, and the so-called Weishui Alliance or something, no one will believe this kind of thing. Just tear it off when you want to.

Wang Xiao launched an investment campaign to recruit merchants from all over the city to join his caravan.

The merchants are also very enthusiastic, even if it is just the owner of a roadside stall, they are willing to join in.

Anything that pays money, people, cars, and goods can be counted as shares, and Wang Xiao does not refuse to come.

As for why so many people are actively participating, it is naturally not because of how much they love Li Tang and are willing to dedicate themselves to the country.

The real reason is that Wang Xiao put forward the concept of guarantee.

No matter what you put in, it can be converted into money. Then Wang Xiao used all his belongings as a guarantee, and he could get more than double the guaranteed income for any investment.

The guarantor for Wang Xiao is the eldest grandson Wuji, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty.

Wang Xiao's money and wealth, plus the identity of the eldest grandson Wuji. Of course, the merchants in Chang'an City can be trusted, so Wang Xiao's caravan is very large.

When the autumn harvest was over, Wang Xiao personally led this huge team to transport tens of thousands of stones of grain and other materials to the north to Mayi.

Mayi is a very famous place.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once set up an ambush here, trying to lure and ambush the Xiongnu army that came to attack.

After that, Huo Qubing and Wei Qing also sent troops north to the grassland from Mayi many times.

At this time, there is an elite army of Datang stationed here. The commander of this army is the famous Li Jing.

Wang Xiao went north with a huge caravan and came to Mayi through the land of Sanjin.

By the time the caravan arrived, snow was already falling in the sky.

Wang Xiao met the legendary god of war Li Jing here.

Li Jing was born as a general, and he chose to protect himself when he was in Xuanwumen. Neither participated in Li Shimin's team, nor did he support Li Jiancheng.

To put it simply, it's wall grass.

For either side, wallgrass is the least desirable existence.

But even so, Li Jing still relied on his strong strength to get Li Shimin's reuse.

Li Jing led 15,000 Tang troops stationed in the small Mayi, of which 4,000 were elite cavalry units.

"Well done." Li Jing looked at the many carts piled up in the barracks and expressed his satisfaction with Wang Xiao, "With these military funds, it is enough to survive the winter." ”

Wang Xiao smiled and asked, "General, maybe you need my help." ”

Li Jing looked at him suspiciously, "How can you help?" ”

"I can help you find out where Jieli is." chaptererror();

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