Hearing Emperor Jin'an's inquiry, Qi Changrong was not surprised at all, and only asked, "How did my father know?" ”

"In the palace, apart from me, you are the only one who can make the third prince of Chen disappear quietly."

Emperor Jin An breathed a sigh of relief, put the teacup aside, and said, "Let him go, you really won't regret it?" ”

"Why should Erchen regret it?" Qi Changrong did not deny Emperor Jin An's speculation, but asked rhetorically: "In the eyes of my father, hasn't Prince Chen San always been muddy and can't support the wall?" When did his father care so much about his whereabouts? ”

"Although Chen Sansi is not a tiger at the moment, no one can guess what will happen in the future, maybe when, he will open his mind?"

Emperor Jin An paused: "At that time, you will have one more strong enemy." ”

"If he can survive the infighting of Chen Guo and succeed in ascending to the throne, Erchen is willing to respect him as a qualified opponent."

……

Early February.

The Jin Kingdom was quite wealthy, and a locust plague suddenly occurred in the western border.

The locust plague was supposed to occur after a great drought, but there was no drought in the west.

As a result, a large number of crops were destroyed in an unprepared situation, and the sense of panic caused by natural disasters continued to Shangjing.

After receiving the news, Emperor Jin An immediately issued a holy decree to mobilize surplus grain from the national grain depot and other places, and ordered Qi Changrong to deliver it to the disaster area as soon as possible.

Without Jiang Bowen's block, Qi Changrong's actions were very smooth.

It took almost only two months to successfully reach the Western Regions and fight several tough battles with countless locusts.

What to do with the locust carcasses that piled up like a hill became a problem.

The grain delivery officer who was ordered to come with Qi Changrong for disaster relief came tremblingly to inquire about the situation: "Your Highness thinks that it was a fire that burned it clean? ”

Qi Changrong raised his eyes to look at him and asked lightly, "What other way do you have besides the fire accident?" ”

Seeing that the worst of the locust plague has passed, a large number of locust corpses still appear every day, and if this continues, I am afraid that it will rot into piles.

The grain delivery officer smiled shyly and said, "In addition to the fire, there is indeed a way to deal with it, but Ruochen said it, I am afraid that I will offend His Highness." ”

Hearing this, Qi Changrong, who was a little interested, put down the wolf pen and made a deferential appearance: "You talk about it first, whether you are offended or not, Lone will forgive you for your innocence." ”

Hearing this, the grain delivery officer hurriedly replied: "I remember that when I was a child, my family was difficult, and I once sent locusts to the table to fill my stomach...... And it tastes good. ”

Qi Changrong raised his eyebrows and said in surprise: "You mean, eating locusts?" ”

"Exactly." The grain delivery officer nodded and continued: "The locusts eat all the crops we eat, and the locusts can naturally eat them. ”

Speaking of this, the grain delivery officer said quite embarrassedly: "Maybe Your Highness will feel disgusting, but although the western realm has not reached the point where there is no grain of rice, the grain is really not rich, if the locusts are used as one of the food, you should be able to survive this difficulty." ”

Locusts are numerous.

Even though several days have passed, the grain delivery officer can still clearly remember the scene when the disaster occurred.

Countless locusts completely blocked the clear blue sky, like a sudden black cloth, obscuring all the light.

The low atmosphere and the air of despair cast a shadow over everyone's hearts.

Qi Changrong pondered for a long time.

To be honest, she didn't think it was disgusting for people to eat locusts.

That's just one of the many strange foods.

Just when the grain delivery officer was uneasy, Qi Changrong finally gave him a mouthful and instructed: "Since you have eaten, you should know what to do, go and tell the kitchen to prepare one for Gu, and after eating, Gu will naturally give you the answer." ”

As soon as these words came out, Shi Xia, who was grinding ink, hurriedly put down the ink strip in his hand and said in surprise: "Your Highness is going to test the poison yourself?!" ”

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Qi Changrong to answer, Shi Xia frowned, shook his head and said, "This is not good, His Royal Highness's body is related to the country, how can it be regarded as child's play?" ”

"What the little lady said is very reasonable." The grain delivery officer had already prepared a countermeasure, and immediately said: "After the things are ready, the minister is willing to try first, if there is no problem, it can prove that the locusts are not poisonous." ”

"That's pretty much it."

Hearing the light hum at the end of the words, Qi Changrong raised his eyes and glanced at Shi Xia, noncommittal to her statement, and only instructed the grain delivery officer: "Go." ”

"Yes."

The grain delivery officer moved quickly.

In addition, the cooking method of locusts was simple, and soon, a plate of fried locust delicacies was placed in front of Qi Changrong.

Qi Changrong frowned slightly, and looked at the black thing in front of him that couldn't see the prototype rather speechlessly: "...... This is the locust? ”

"Exactly." The grain delivery officer pressed the impatience in his heart, and explained with great interest: "This is to first remove the head and tail of the locust, then remove the wings, pull out the internal organs, and then fry them in oil, which tastes fragrant and crispy, and is extremely delicious. ”

Seeing that the grain delivery officer subconsciously swallowed his saliva, unable to hide his salivating expression, Qi Changrong suddenly smiled: "In this case, Liu Qing can do it himself." ”

Hearing this, as if a switch had been turned on, the grain delivery officer was immediately excited, and he didn't care about maintaining his demeanor in front of the prince of the East Palace, so he took the jade chopstick next to him and stretched out to the porcelain plate.

He's really been hungry for this stuff for a long time.

One bite, two bites, three bites......

Vaguely, Qi Changrong seemed to be able to hear the crunchy sound of chewing in the mouth of the grain delivery officer.

Shi Xia on the side subconsciously swallowed his saliva.

When there was only the last one left in the porcelain plate, Shi Xia took a deep breath, and stopped the grain delivery officer who was still planning to continue with his eyes shining, and said to him with an unchanged face:

"I'm a half-doctor, how about leaving this last one for me to taste?"

"Since the little lady is interested, she can."

The grain delivery officer withdrew his hand regretfully, and was about to say something, when he saw Shi Xia take out a small burden from his long sleeves, and then took out a silver needle from the baggage, solemnly tested the poison, and carefully put the locusts on the silver needle into his mouth and chewed it slowly.

Shi Xia didn't think it was disgusting.

After all, she studied under the previous medical saint, and even centipedes and scorpions had eaten, so how could she be afraid of this little bug?

After eating, Shi Xia returned to Qi Changrong and said, "Your Highness, this thing is indeed non-toxic, and the taste is excellent. ”

Hearing this, the grain delivery officer on the side subconsciously twitched the corners of his mouth.

If it was poisonous, he would have eaten a large plate, wouldn't he have died of poison a long time ago?

Qi Changrong smiled and said the voice of the grain delivery officer: "If it is poisonous, the first one to be poisoned is Liu Qing." ”

After that, she didn't give Shi Xia a chance to refute, and gently tapped her slightly curled fingers on the table: "This thing is edible, so let the news out." ”

"For the first three days, in this small city, the locusts were uniformly produced by the yamen and distributed to passers-by on the streets."

Qi Changrong thought very carefully.

In the beginning, few people would have dared to say anything about it, let alone have the heart to clean it up and cook it carefully.

In this case, the yamen will make the things and bring them to their mouths, and then see if they can withstand the temptation of free food.

After all, until now, the yamen has not made a move to open a granary to give porridge.

The grain delivery officer took the order and left.

The people in the yamen heard the wind and moved, and within a few hours, a large pot of fried locusts was placed in a wooden basin and served on the street.

Pedestrians were attracted by the scent.

The yamen was surrounded by a small crowd.

"What is this, it looks dark, but it smells good?"

"I don't know, it looks like fried soybeans."

"Soybeans look like this? I'm afraid you're blind! ”

There was a commotion in front of the yamen, Qi Changrong walked out of it, looked at the group of people who had not recognized her identity for the time being, and did not have the idea of concealing the facts, and explained truthfully in a calm tone.

"This thing is the culprit that has been ravaging the city during this period of time, causing a disaster."

Due to the insect plague, there were very few pedestrians on the streets, and the people who finally came out to take advantage of the temporary departure of the locusts to release the wind soon gathered in front of the yamen.

When they heard that the contents of the basin were locusts, many people couldn't help but be frightened and took several steps back.

One of them was horrified: "How can bugs eat? It's disgusting to think about! ”

"Why can't you eat it?"

In the face of everyone's fear and doubt, Qi Changrong raised his eyebrows, and casually took out a relatively small one from the plate and put it in his mouth to taste it.

After swallowing it, she said: "When the famine comes, and every family is short of food, this thing is an excellent source of food, not to mention, when people are about to starve to death, there is nothing that cannot be eaten." ”

Hearing this, a middle-aged man immediately said indignantly: "Although my western border is not as rich as Shangjing, but the annual harvest is surplus, and the yamen granary is still full, why doesn't the yamen open the granary to put grain, but let us eat such a disgusting thing?!" I'm not convinced! ”

"If you are not convinced, you can naturally not eat."

Qi Changrong quietly looked at the middle-aged man who opened his mouth to stir up trouble, with a little oppression in his eyes, and said coldly: "But today, the words are put here, these fried locusts are the first batch of grain released by the yamen, and those who dare to eat can use it to fill their stomachs, and those who dare not eat will go home to eat and store grain." ”

"Moreover, even if the yamen opens a warehouse to release grain in the future, it will also be in the way of soup kitchen, if you want to directly take the rice home to cook, then break this idea as soon as possible."

Inexplicably, the middle-aged man only felt a chill on his back, and under Qi Changrong's gaze, he unconsciously felt a sense of fear in his heart, and took a few steps back in fear.

Under the deterrence of many officials, no one dared to make trouble in front of the yamen.

After finishing speaking, Qi Changrong ignored them anymore, and Shi Shiran returned the same way.