Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 125 The Legend of the Locust God

There's a saying that goes, "When you tell a lie, you'll fill it up with ten lies."

Gao Ming is in this situation now, facing Li Shimin's sharp eyes, he can only bite the bullet and continue to lie.

"It's not that the locust is poisonous, but the punishment of the locust god, but the probability of this punishment is very small, it can be said to be one in a million!"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Li Shimin frowned immediately.

"One in a million..."

While talking to himself, Li Shimin walked out of the East Palace. After a while, Liu Bing ran back and asked Gao Ming how to fry locusts. After asking clearly, he also ran away, leaving Gao Ming confused.

"What are they doing here?"

Just when Gao Ming was wondering, suddenly his sleeve was pulled twice, he looked down, and immediately found that Li Mingda was looking at him pitifully.

Seeing this scene, Gao Ming put aside all the doubts just now, and then lightly touched Li Mingda's small head.

"What's wrong? Who bullied my little son?"

As soon as Gao Ming finished speaking, Li Mingda pouted his lips.

"It's Brother Six, he took away all the fried locusts from Sizi!"

After speaking, Li Mingda took out the empty little cloth bag and shook it in front of Gao Ming, indicating that it was empty.

Seeing this scene, Gao Ming suddenly couldn't laugh or cry.

"Damn it, Li Yin is such a foodie, he even wants to grab his own sister's things!"

Gao Ming cursed with a smile, and then quickly comforted Li Mingda.

"It's okay, it's okay, don't you just order fried locusts, big brother has them here!"

As he said that, Gao Ming took the small cloth bag from Li Mingda's hand, poured all the fried locusts on the table into it, and then returned the small cloth bag to Li Mingda.

Seeing that his small cloth bag was full again, Li Mingda immediately showed a happy smile.

"Hee hee, thank you big brother!"

Gao Ming was immediately infected by her smile, and immediately stretched out his hand to pamper her little head.

"You're a snack too!"

"Hmm... Big brother hates it, messing up Sizi's hair..."

While Gao Ming and Li Mingda were chatting and joking, Li Shimin had already returned to the imperial study room and gave Qian Niuwei an order.

Catch the locusts!

Although this order made Qianniuwei's soldiers feel very strange, since it was issued by Li Shimin, they naturally had to obey it. That afternoon, hundreds of horses ran out of Chang'an and ran to the farmland outside Chang'an city. Go catch locusts.

Qianniuwei made a big move, which immediately attracted many people to watch. Watching the grand scene of "hundreds of people catching locusts", the people began to discuss one after another.

"Am I not mistaken, are these officials catching locusts?"

"That's right, that's right, you see they put all the locusts in cloth bags."

"Oh, it's really strange. What are they going to do to catch this locust?"

"That's right, that's right, yesterday, a boy from the official family brought his younger sister to catch locusts, and asked us to help him catch them, ten locusts for a penny!"

As soon as this person finished speaking, the people around fell silent. After a long time, someone asked in disbelief, "Ten locusts can be sold for a penny?"

Seeing his unbelievable expression, the person who spoke at first immediately laughed.

"Haha, I wasn't the only one. Liu Er's family, Zhao Shan's family, and Zhang Dahua's family all went. You can ask them if you don't believe me."

After listening to his words, the surrounding people looked at the more than 100 Qianniuwei who were catching locusts, and their eyes were completely different from before.

"It turns out that they thought the money they gave yesterday was too high, so they sent soldiers to arrest him!"

It has to be said that misunderstandings often arise in this way.

The soldiers of Qianniuwei didn't know what the people around them were thinking, they were just serious about catching locusts.

Unfortunately, last year's weather was very cold, with several snowfalls, most of the locust eggs were frozen to death, so even if there were hundreds of Qianniuwei catching them together, when it was dark, they could only catch them. Weighed less than ten catties.

Watching the sky gradually darken, the leader Qianniuwei Xiaowei immediately waved his hand.

"Retreat, return to the palace!"

"Yes!"

With an order, hundreds of Qianniuwei immediately stepped on their horses, and their figures disappeared in less than a cup of tea, leaving only the dust in the air to prove that they had been here.

After all the Qianniuwei soldiers had left, a voice suddenly sounded from the crowd.

"You said, if someone pays to catch locusts tomorrow..."

Before he finished speaking, a group of people rushed to the field with a lot of yelling.

"Master, go back and get the torch!"

"Okay!"

"Get out of the way, this field belongs to my family, and the locusts in it also belong to my family, you are not allowed to take it!"

"Hahahaha, I caught one!"

"..."

Suddenly, the whole field became lively again.

When the people in the outskirts of Chang'an were busy catching locusts, more than 100 Qianniuwei had already returned to the palace with the locusts they had caught. Pinch off the head and feet and clean it, and finally fry it in a frying pan.

When the fried locusts came out of the pan, Liu Bing immediately invited Li Shimin over. Seeing the fried locusts turned yellow, Li Shimin nodded immediately, and then took one and put it in his mouth.

"Crackling...yes, that's the taste!"

After finishing speaking, Li Shimin nodded towards Captain Qianniuwei next to him.

"Scatter these fried locusts to all the guards in the palace, one for each, if anyone feels unwell after eating it, or if there is any abnormality, bring them to me immediately!"

"Yes!"

Lieutenant Qianniuwei left with a large bowl of fried locusts, and he came to the imperial study to report to Li Shimin in the early hours of the morning.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, there are a total of 410 Qianniu guards on the left and right of the palace, and none of them showed any abnormalities, but..."

Seeing his hesitation, Li Shimin frowned suddenly.

"Say!"

As soon as Qianniuwei heard Li Shimin's words, he immediately knelt down on one knee, and then clasped his hands towards Li Shimin.

"It's just that a few soldiers were greedy and ate a few more. The last general ordered someone to take them down. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me!"

As soon as his words fell, Li Shimin immediately burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha, what should I do? It turned out to be this. What crime can I have for eating a few locusts? The locusts devoured the food of my people, but now my thousand cattle guards eat it. This is God's will. Not guilty!"

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

After Li Shimin laughed a few times, he immediately pointed to the basin on the ground, and then nodded to the captain Qianniuwei.

"Leave a few of these locusts, and share the rest with the soldiers!"

When Captain Qianniuwei heard Li Shimin's words, he immediately saluted Li Shimin.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward!"

After finishing speaking, he left a small half in the basin, and went out happily with the rest of the fried locusts. After he went out, Li Shimin smiled and shook his head.

"Even this locust has become a reward!"

As he said that, Li Shimin also took one out of the basin and threw it into his mouth, and began to eat it "creaking".

"Well, it is indeed delicious, but what is the one-in-a-million locust god punishment my son mentioned?"

Li Shimin has always had to solve any doubts in his heart, so when he went to the court the next day, the ministers were surprised to find that there were two more rows of guards in the court today, and they all held a plate in their hands. .

"How is this going?"

Just when everyone was wondering, Li Shimin came and waved his hands to the ministers in the voice of "Long live, long live, long live".

"Dear dears, in recent years, the weather in my Tang Dynasty has been smooth and the people have been able to recuperate, all thanks to the credit of your dear dears."

Hearing Li Shimin's words, the officials said they dared not dare, but seeing this scene, Li Shimin laughed again.

"I know that it is the season for sowing, so yesterday I ordered someone to catch some locusts from the field and bring them to the palace, and then ordered them to cook them. The food I ate was very delicious, so I rewarded more than 2000 thousand cattle guards in the palace. This morning, I suddenly thought of the great contributions you have made to the country, so I asked someone to prepare some and give them to you as a token of my heart."

After finishing speaking, Li Shimin waved to the side, and a guard immediately came to him with a plate, and the plate in his hand was fried locusts!

Li Shimin took one out of the plate and put it in his mouth, then "crunched" and ate it. While eating, he waved his hands to the two teams of guards next to him with a smile on his face.

"Divide this deep-fried locust among your loves!"

"Yes!"

Under Li Shimin's order, the two teams of guards immediately brought the dishes to the civil and military officials. Seeing this scene, most of the officials looked at each other in dismay.

However, there are also those who are more happy, and that is the military officers. In their view, aren't they just locusts? The emperor has eaten them, so why dare not eat them?
Immediately, one by one picked up the fried locusts on the plate and threw them directly into their mouths, and then ate them with a "crunch".

Compared with them, the civil servants enjoyed less wine, except Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling, some of them didn't take it, and some did not dare to eat it.

Seeing this scene, Li Shimin suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha, dear dears, this is my good intention, not to force you, and I heard that if some people eat this locust, they will be punished by the locust god within an hour, just like being poisoned, everyone It’s okay to not eat if you have such concerns!”

As soon as Li Shimin finished speaking, Cheng Yaojin's loud voice rang out.

"I think what your Majesty said is reasonable. You can eat whatever you like, and if you don't eat it, give it to my old Cheng. My old Cheng is not afraid of the punishment of the locust god!"

As soon as Cheng Yaojin said this, the whole court fell silent.

If what Li Shimin said just now made it hard for civil servants to ride a tiger, then Cheng Yaojin's supplementary knife can be described as very sharp. It is very fatal for civil servants who are "chaotic gods".

As a result, many civil servants who were still hesitating closed their eyes immediately, and then threw the locusts in their hands into their mouths, "crunching" and chewing, but as they chewed, the expressions of many of them suddenly changed. , became a little surprised.

Um?I didn't expect this thing to be delicious!
(End of this chapter)