Chapter 167: The Golden Palace Inspects the Birds

The Golden Palace bird inspection is to let people catch a few birds in the north, open their stomachs in public, and look at the food in their stomachs to know how last year's harvest was. Birds, especially sparrows, like to forage for food in the field, if there is rice in the stomach, it means that the harvest in the field is good, if the stomach is relatively empty, or it is all insects and straw, it means that last year's harvest is relatively poor. But it is obviously unreasonable to inspect the birds in the Golden Palace, because the sparrows fly from the south to the north, and the food in their stomachs must have been changed, and all they know is the harvest in the suburbs of Chang'an.

But there is always a form, and Xu Qing can't escape this time anyway.

---- in front of the Taimiao

Li Yuan led all the clan relatives, Pei Lin led the civil and military officials, and Xu Qing was also here. I don't know why Li Yuan chose such a time, it only snowed yesterday, and now although it has stopped, there is still a lot of snow. The sparrows caught in this way can have nothing but a belly of snow. Of course, as a person who is both civil and military, and as a leader among the younger generation, Xu Qing was naturally placed in the position of "executioner". Along with Xu Qing, there are several other younger generations. The older generation and the high-ranking power will naturally not come, what if they can't catch it when the time comes?

First of all, I sacrificed, Li Yuan reported to the heavens, and I commanded my subordinates to kill birds, it was really for the sake of the people of the world, don't blame me. Then appease the sparrows, don't blame me for your death, you died for the people, I will sacrifice you here with grains, so that you can sleep in peace.

The Son of Heaven must have the virtue of a good life and be benevolent, so it is easy not to move the axe. Of course, these are all face-saving projects, the emperor can fight if he wants to fight, and he can still take care of the little sparrow?

After the sacrifice, catch the sparrows. A group of civil and military ministers sat in the temple and released Xu Qing and a few others. With a rice bag on his shoulder and a net in his right hand, Xu Qing found a corner, swept away the snow, scattered some rice, and then nested aside and waited for the birds to come. In this kind of weather, sparrows can't find food in the fields, even if Xu Qing is so close, they will take the risk to try pecking rice. If there are many birds, then Xu Qing still has a great chance of catching them.

Catching birds, Xu Qing has not done this kind of thing before, but at that time, he used a stick to support the dustpan and hold the rope from afar, as long as the birds pecked the rice, he would pull the rope and buckle the birds inside. Thinking about this now, Xu Qing has never tried it. Despite this, when the rest of the people are not as good as Xu Qing, most of them are children of the big clan, although the martial arts calligraphy and painting are stronger than Xu Qing, but they really have no experience in catching birds.

Seeing that Xu Qing was doing well, they also chose a place, learned from Xu Qing, swept away the snow, put some rice, and squatted aside.

The urn has been set up, just waiting for you to come.

Unfortunately, none of the birds appeared. Also, on such a snowy day, no bird would come to this palace, and nothing could be found in the fields. Even if there are no birds, Xu Qing can't complain, because Li Yuan has already reported to the heavens, the Son of Heaven asked the Heavenly Father to ask for sparrows, if the Heavenly Father doesn't give it, doesn't that mean that the Son of Heaven is not his own? Xu Qing dared to show impatient eyes, then Li Yuan had to peel him, Xu Qing really wanted to sit on the ground.

But at this moment, there was a lot of chirping in the south, and a flock of sparrows flew in the sky!

Xu Qing was overjoyed, moved his body and took a few steps back, trying to make the sparrow feel that there was no danger in eating rice. The sparrows saw the rice on the ground and hesitated for a while, not as if they were not particularly hungry, and did not come down for a long time. Xu Qing waited and waited until he saw a few sparrows fluttering their wings and flying to the ground. But he still jumped around and refused to approach.

At this time, there was an oops, and then there was a loud laugh from behind Xu Qing: "I caught it!" I've got it! Xu Qing looked back and saw a young general holding a live sparrow in his hand. People from several other places also pounced on the sparrows one after another, they were more flexible, they didn't want Xu Qing, only their fingers were flexible.

But this time, the birds are vigilant, and it is even more difficult for Xu Qing to catch birds.

Xu Qing muttered in his heart, why were they able to catch birds? Could it be that this bird hunting still depends on its appearance? Yes, it must be like this, look at the bird they look like, it is very attractive to the bird at first glance, my appearance, sir, that is ...... Just when Xu Qing was depressed, there were also stupid birds flying over, Xu Qing quickly pounced with a big net, and as a result, he pounced on a few bird feathers.

Alas, Xu Qing could hear the sighs of those civil and military ministers in the Taimiao, but he didn't expect Xu Qing to do it at the beginning, but now he is a layman.

But fortunately, the sparrow that Xu Qing threw off a few feathers seemed to have injured its wings, fluttered a few times, and did not fly up. Xu Qing was overjoyed, covered it with a big net again, and then grabbed it and took it out.

The hot, round, fluffy little sparrow was in Xu Qing's hands. Xu Qing shouted in his heart, the little sparrow can't help it, just look for the old man Li Yuan after you die.

Then, the main worshipper offered five grains, let these sparrows eat a few bites, and then caught them back, and asked Xu Qing and a few others to disembowel. No matter how unbearable he was, Xu Qing had no choice but to kill the bird and then find out the bird's stomach and intestines, and open it to see.

The one in Xu Qing's hand, when he saw that there were a few grasses in it, and there was also the husk of the rice, he turned it over, and Xu Qing's one should be rated as "medium". Several other people also gave their birds one after another and rated them. At this time, it should be Li Yuan who expressed his opinion, what to say, the world is still not rich, and hundreds of officials should work hard or something.

But at this time, something fell from the ground, Xu Qing somehow noticed it, and when he looked closely, it turned out to be the leg of a jumping bug. Unbelievable, Xu Qing secretly glanced at the sparrow stomachs of several other people, and what he saw was a belly full of jumping worm limbs and a few grains of millet.

This is terrible, there is rice in the stomach, in fact, it means that the harvest on the ground is good. For a while, because the birds came from afar, they had digested a lot, and secondly, because the birds and birds ate all the food that fell when they harvested grain, and they had gone through such a big winter. Therefore, the chances of birds eating rice are very small. But the chance of eating a jumping fly is also small, a jumping fly is the larvae of a locust, this belly full of jumping flies, is it possible that there is a locust plague?

Unbelievable, Xu Qing felt that this matter had to be reported to Li Yuan.

"Lord Xu? Eh, Master Xu, why are you stunned? Someone reminded Xu Qing that Xu Qing had just come out of his thoughts, but seeing that the ministers of civil and military affairs who were full of people had already rearranged the shifts, they waited for Xu Qing to go in.

Xu Qingxin said, should you report the locust plague to Li Yuan here, or do you want to say it in private? However, Xu Qing thought, these disasters related to agricultural affairs, once they spread, they will definitely cause panic, if there is no locust plague, then wouldn't I be spreading rumors? Again, it's better to say it privately.