Chapter 223: Picnic Locusts

"No, no, no, your majesty, this locust, you have to eat it, the minister can eat it with you, no problem." Xu Qing said with a smile: "This locust, when the minister was wandering outside, he also ate it, and it tasted better than chicken, juicy and delicious. ”

Li Yuan looked at Xu Qingdao in surprise: "Are you serious?" Let's just say that this one in your hand, how to eat it? ”

"Well, this one is not good, so let them go to the field and catch some locusts." Xu Qing threw away the worms in his hand and said to Li Yuan: "Although there is no locust plague around Chang'an, there are still locusts. ”

Li Yuan hesitated for a moment, then summoned a rider and said, "Go, catch a hundred locusts for me, right?" ”

The rider was about to take the order and leave, but Xu Qing stopped him and said, "Slow, take this hanging money, you go outside and hire people to catch insects." The price should be raised high, and a locust will be fine for a penny. If you have less money, you pay it in advance, and then go back to the official, no, the court will make up for you. ”

Li Yuan was puzzled: "Xu Qing, why did you let the people catch this worm, are you afraid that my flying horse won't be able to catch the worm?" ”

Xu Qing bought a pass, but said: "Your Majesty, you can take a good look at it, this money is definitely worth it." ”

Chang'an suburbs:

Every household sat on the ridge and chatted, looking at the sad faces. It is said that good things do not go out and bad things spread thousands of miles, and the locust plague has not yet arrived in Chang'an Mansion, which has already made the farmers in Chang'an very afraid. They are all discussing, will this locust fly here, and how to live when this green and yellow is not harvested, Yunyun.

But when he saw a farmer stepping on a worm on the ground, he stamped it hard and said, "Hmph, this locust should be trampled to death, as much as I come, I will step on it." ”

An old man hurriedly stopped him and said, "Young man, don't say this, if the locusts hear it, maybe they will recruit locusts to eat all our crops." ”

Zhuang Hu was about to refute, another Zhuang man pointed to the distance and said: "Hehe, you see, where is not the forbidden army in Chang'an City, it is a cavalry, that horse, it is really big, if I have one, I will not borrow the ox of the landlord of the king to plow the field." ”

The old man was startled and said, "Don't stare at it, the forbidden army is all fierce and vicious, and if you find you staring at him, he may whip you." Hurry up, let's go farther. ”

"Well, I said, why are you so cowardly?"

But at this moment the cavalry went and drove his horse to the households. The old man slapped his thigh and called him unlucky, and several other farmers were also scared. But they didn't dare to walk, their legs were half weak, and even if they walked, they couldn't go far. I saw that the cavalry was in front of him in the blink of an eye. Condescendingly, he looked at the crowd: "You guys are here to do the fields?" ”

The old man was still well-informed, and came out and said: "Master Jun, the villains are here to make fields." I don't know what the military master commands? ”

The cavalryman laughed a little, and then said to the crowd: "Today, I will give you an errand that even the general would envy." Oh, go to the fields and look for locusts, and if you find them, I'll have a penny here. ”

"Buzz." The old man was confused when he heard this, and asked, "Master Jun, what did you say?" ”

The cavalry was also unhappy, and said with a straight face: "Hmph, you old fool, you can't hear what the general said?" Go and find locusts, and they will live, for a penny. ”

"No, no, no, Master Jun, you want chickens, ducks, it's okay to say for a penny, this locust, uh, the little old man doesn't dare to ......"

Usually, there are indeed many people who go out of the city to buy things in people's homes, but they are generally forced to buy and sell, and buy at low prices, such as selling charcoal, which is this kind of thing. No wonder the old man was so scared. The cavalryman was speechless and explained a few more times, and these Zhuang men really believed it, and scattered to find locusts.

For a penny, five locusts can cut a pound of meat, buy a bucket and a half of rice, go to the ground, and plant a fart field, and the crops can't run by themselves. In a short time, hundreds of locusts were caught in front of them, still holding baskets. The cavalry threw out more than 300 dollars and went back with locusts.

Those Zhuang men held the copper coins in their palms, and they couldn't believe their eyes. Although those locusts didn't count the money one by one, the handful of money in front of them couldn't earn even if they worked odd jobs for a month. After a long time, these people were satisfied with their money and put it in their personal pockets.

First went to the grass market to buy a little pig, carried it on his shoulder, and blew it when he met people, and today he got the favor of the imperial court, a locust for a penny, and went to the blacksmith shop to order a new hoe. He went home with a smile and blew all the way, and the next day there were many Zhuang men, secretly staring at the locusts in the fields.

Outside the Xuanfu Gate, Xu Qing had already lit a fire in the morning and brought spices. The locusts were sent in baskets, and Li Yuan sat on the ground with a black face and watched Xu Qing tinkering. Xu Qing broke some branches on the tree, cut them and put them next to the fire, roasting off some of the sap from the trunk. Locusts eat grass, their digestive tract is short, and their stomachs are basically undigested grass, and the digested ones have already been discharged. Therefore, there was no need to pinch off anything, but the locusts were skewered one by one, brushed with sesame oil, and roasted on the fire.

The locusts on the fire sizzled, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and soon the smell of roasted meat was heard. Li Yuan closed his eyes and sniffed it, and he was still slightly tingling with the bottom of his tongue, but when he opened his eyes, he still felt a little disgusting. looked at Xu Qing, and said in his heart, this child was wandering when he was a child, and he actually had this ability. Unexpectedly, a little worm in his stomach when he was a child could save the court today. It seems that it is still necessary to take the children of the poor family, although they do not know how to give birth to piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and do not have pastimes, but they have many ideas and are honest.

In fact, this locust was eaten by Xu Qing when he went on a trip, and he only ate a bunch at that time, knowing that he could eat it.

After a final brush of oil, the first string of roasted locusts came out. Xu Qing knew that Li Yuan's psychological obstacle was relatively large, so he tasted one himself.

"It's chirping, it's crunchy, and the chicken flavor is ......," Xu Qing said a famous quote from Bei Ye. Then, he ate another one, and then handed it to Li Yuan and said, "Your Majesty, it tastes good, you can try one." ”

"What?" The eunuch next to him was frightened, and hurriedly asked Xu Qingdao: "Lord Xu, don't be joking, don't you eat this thing yourself, but for the emperor?" ”

When Xu Qing and Li Yuan were talking, no eunuch heard them, they thought that Xu Qing was fond of eating this locust, so they never asked. And now, if you want to give it to the emperor, it won't work.

Li Yuan watched Xu Qing eat two, and the rejection in his heart actually went a lot. He stopped the eunuch, took the locust, and looked at it on both sides. Looking at the roasted golden and oily locusts, and smelling the disgust of the roasted locusts, at this time, Li Yuan's heart only had the five words "color, flavor, and flavor". Well, for the sake of the common people in the world, for the sake of the country, I am open.

Just as he was about to take a bite, the eunuch snatched it up and said, "Your Majesty, let the old slave try it for the emperor, woo woo ......" The eunuch swallowed a string of locusts into his stomach as soon as he instigated his mouth. Xu Qing scolded, this will be placed in the future generations, that is, "string tyrant"!