Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1219 Fried Sky Chicken
"Your Majesty, do you really want to exchange three catties of grain for one catty of locust eggs?"

In the imperial palace, Empress Shan Binbin heard the rumors and couldn't help coming over to ask.

Luo Cheng nodded, "It's not a loss to exchange three catties of grain for one catty of locust eggs, and there are still some to earn. I'm willing to exchange as much as I have. It's absolutely foolish."

Empress Shan reached out her hand to touch Luo Cheng's forehead, "Your Majesty doesn't have a fever, why is he talking nonsense?"

"I think you are ignorant, forgive your boldness." He smiled and patted the Queen's butt.

"Why are my concubines so ignorant, I really don't know what the locust eggs are for!"

"Useful, very useful."

Luo Cheng smiled and told the queen carefully about the inside ways. In fact, although the royal family doesn't have many farms in Gyeonggi, they have quite a few breeding farms.The fields are dead, Gyeonggi has a large population, and the emperor took the lead in not occupying much land, so the Huangzhuang in Gyeonggi, which had taken the initiative early on, was transferred to the frontier.

The borderlands are sparsely populated and the land is vast. One mu of land in Beijing can be exchanged for ten mu of border land. The emperor used slaves to reclaim wasteland and farmland, and the grain produced was sold locally to the frontier soldiers and government officials stationed on the border. Many commodities such as cattle, horses and sheep, furs, and medicinal herbs were transported back to the Central Plains for sale, and then from the Central Plains, commodities such as salt, wine, tea, porcelain, and cloth were transported to the border market, which was very profitable.

Of course, the royal manors in the Central Plains have all been replaced, but the Central Plains still has a lot to do, especially in Gyeonggi, which has a large population, even the surrounding counties have a large population.

Just a capital, the consumption of various materials is also huge, not only food, but also non-staple food consumption, especially pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, eggs, vegetables and so on.

Therefore, in the land of Gyeonggi, the royal family actually established many farms, some of which raised chickens, ducks and geese, and some raised pigs and rabbits.

Luocheng has a large number of royal farms with strong technology, such as hatching chickens and ducks, all of which use heated kang, which greatly increases the efficiency, and even has a special hatchery to provide chickens, ducks and goose cubs for the people of Gyeonggi .

If there are a lot of chickens and ducks, it is impossible to completely free-range. Ordinary farmers raise a few free-range, and they can find some grass and bugs to eat by themselves. If there are too many, it will not work.

The royal farm is not the kind of intensive closed breeding. Most of them enclose a large piece of land, or raise chickens on the mountain to grow fruit trees, or raise ducks and geese to grow grass in the big pond of the reservoir. There is a little bit of ecological farming mode. .

This kind of semi-free-range breeding can reduce the occurrence of diseases, but in ecological breeding, the number is too large, and it is impossible to completely rely on self-foraging, and even some supplements with chaff, etc. are not enough.

Therefore, farms have long begun to supplement by raising worms, such as making maggots to raise maggots, and raising earthworms, etc., all of which are artificially raised to feed these worms to chickens.

These maggots, earthworms, etc. are high in protein, and chickens grow fast after eating them.

Those chickens and ducks that lay eggs eat it, which can increase the production of eggs.

"I have ordered that in places where locust plagues may occur this year, new chicken and duck farms will be added, and a large number of locust eggs and locusts will be purchased to feed chickens and ducks. After the hens and ducks lay eggs, they can be sold for money, and the roosters and ducks can be sold directly. The money will be used to buy food and bring it back, and exchange it for more locust eggs and locusts from the people.”

"Chicken and duck eggs can also be made into preserved eggs and salted eggs and shipped to Gyeonggi or other distant places for sale. Chicken, duck and geese can be sold locally or shipped to other places for sale, and they can also be slaughtered and made into cured chicken or duck. Chicken, smoked duck, etc., are shipped to other places for sale.”

These days, there are fewer non-staple food products, and the market demand for non-staple food products is actually huge, especially in big cities like Luoyang Chang'an, where the demand is even greater, but the supply is in short supply.

"Three catties of grain are exchanged for one catty of locust eggs, and they are used to feed chickens and ducks. Isn't that too expensive?"

"What's the price, chickens and ducks are very expensive, and eggs are also very expensive."

Simple calculation, is food more expensive or eggs and meat more expensive?Of course, eggs and meat are more expensive. In fact, the Central Plains has been relatively stable in recent years, and the roads are smooth, so grain reserves are still sufficient, and grain prices have always been relatively low.

With a stable life, consumption will naturally increase, especially in big cities like Chang'an and Luoyang, where the demand for meat, eggs, etc. is higher.

"Not only do I want to buy locust eggs, but when the locusts come out, I also want to buy jumping locusts and migratory locusts."

"Is it also used to feed chickens and ducks?"

"Not only can it be used to feed chickens and ducks, in fact, this locust is edible, and it even tastes good. In some places, this locust is even called a sky chicken."

"Heavenly chicken?"

"Well, the locust is as delicious as the chicken flying in the sky."

Queen Shan was a little disgusted.

"How is it possible, locusts are bugs."

"What's the matter with the bugs? There are many barbarian tribes in the south, and they like to eat all kinds of bugs. The locusts, soak them in water, soak them, and then steam them. After they are steamed, they can be dried and ground into powder, or they can be wrapped directly. Flour-fried, or even skewered and grilled directly, adding a little salt and soaking in oil is also delicious.”

The queen didn't believe it.

"Remove the wings and thorny feet, and you can make all kinds of delicacies. When the locusts come out, I will definitely use these locusts to make his one hundred and eight dishes, and I will also have a whole locust feast. Upstairs in Wufenglou, we invite civil and military officials, aristocrats and ministers to enjoy it together, and we also invite military, civilian and business representatives to taste it together in Wufenglou Square."

"Your Majesty also wants to eat this locust?"

"Of course, if they dare to eat the crops of my people, I will eat locusts."

"Your Majesty, absolutely not. It is said that locusts are the messengers of the locust god, and eating locusts will anger the locust god."

"I am the Son of Heaven, all locust gods, insect kings, monsters, monsters, ghosts and snake gods, all must be swept away."

Queen Shan couldn't take it anymore.

One hundred and eight whole locust feasts, thinking about the scene, it is estimated that there will be countless ministers who will not talk about it.

"Actually, locusts are a good thing. Steamed and dried locusts, and then ground into powder, can even be used as medicine. Eating this thing can also cure the inability to see clearly at night, it can cure children's night crying, and even prevent Effects such as wind disease, such as my previous stroke, in fact, I should eat more of this."

To put it bluntly, this thing contains a lot of protein. For many people in this era, they are actually short of protein, so eating it is of course good.

But for the emperor, it was actually a dispensable thing, because there was no shortage of high-quality protein in the emperor's diet.Of course, ordinary people must be lacking, especially many ordinary people, who cannot even guarantee three meals a day, let alone often eat meat and oil, and the serious shortage of non-staple food makes many people in this era suffer from night blindness.

Ordinary people's intake of fish, meat, poultry and eggs is too little, but this locust powder actually sounds bad, but after eating it, it can also have the same nutritional supplement price as fish, meat, poultry and eggs.

Of course, it might not be easy for people to accept this behavior of eating insects. After all, in the eyes of the Central Plains people, only those barbarians would eat insects.

Luo Cheng plans to publicize it well. Not only will he hold a locust banquet, but he will also take the lead in eating locust powder. He even plans to ask Sun Yaowang of the military hospital to write a few soft articles and publish them in the most popular newspapers in Daqin. Let's spread the word, when he will take the lead in serving locust powder again, it is estimated that some people will be willing to eat it.

Well, you can also think of a way to package this locust powder, such as soaking some flour in it, or adding some sugar and salt, and then adding some packaging to make a health-care locust powder with various magical effects, which tastes good. It's very good, and it's advertised that even the emperor drank it every day. Luo Cheng didn't believe it, and he couldn't lead a wave of people taking locust powder!
(End of this chapter)