The salted fish couple is fleeing famine

Chapter 141 Locusts and rumors
Entering midsummer, the weather is getting hotter day by day, and spring wheat and peppers are growing at a high speed.

Queen Gao's 7-month-old belly was so hot that she was sweating all over her body. This baby must have been born in the hottest weather.

After Xia Hongdi asked the imperial physician, Empress Gao was not allowed to use ice. It was all up to the maids to play fans to cool off the heat. For the sake of the child in her stomach, Empress Gao decided to endure it.

Heiwa’s Dongcheng construction site has to cook dozens of large pots of summer soup every day. The house has been repaired more than half, and the two uncles are darker than him. One person can’t wait to break it into eight pieces to use. .

I thought this year should be a bumper harvest year, but news of locust plagues came from the south one after another.

This kind of pest that reproduces quickly and is extremely destructive to farming can really change the color of those who hear it. The old saying: locusts cross the border, and no grass will grow. It is not an exaggeration at all.

The fast horse at the post station ran into the capital from the south, but no matter how fast the information was, it couldn't compare to this winged guy.

A few days after the arrival of the one from the south, the locusts had already crossed the river quickly and headed north.

In the great court, the emperor asked the courtiers to come up with countermeasures.Looking through the past records, there are countermeasures such as slapping, smoking, burning, burying, and killing larvae.

However, these methods cannot keep up with the reproductive ability of locusts. By the time the farmers react, the crops will have been gnawed bare.

Provoking the emperor to scold the officials, at the critical moment, these guys are useless at all!
Hei Wa and his wife had no good idea, Cuihua thought for a few days before coming up with a bad idea: Arrest them manually.

Her reason is that if locusts can be turned into food, even people who don’t grow crops at home can catch them. If they can be exchanged for copper coins, their enthusiasm will be doubled!

Many locusts have been artificially raised in modern times, and they have become a dish on the plate. The protein is quite high, and the price is not cheap.

Regarding the recipes of locusts, I have collected a lot.

Such as: dry-dried locusts, fried locusts, grilled locusts, and the simplest one is to scald the locusts to death with hot water, dry them into dried locusts, and then fry or fry them before eating.

The natural enemies of locusts, in addition to humans, chickens and ducks can also fight!The locusts were eaten as feed, and their eggs were super large.

Looking at the locust extermination plan sent by Uncle Zhongqin, Xia Hongdi relaxed his brows a little.

Although it seems that this method is labor-intensive and requires a lot of chickens and ducks, it is better than doing nothing and waiting.

People copied tens of thousands of locust recipes provided by Mrs. Zhongqin and posted them in various villages.

Along with the recipes posted on these posters, there are also some techniques for encircling and suppressing locusts.

After the villagers in the suburbs of Beijing got the news, they were so nervous that they couldn't sleep. The wheat is heading, so don't be harmed.

The nobles and the landlords are also worried, who doesn't have hundreds of thousands of acres of Zhuangzi, but now, there may be no harvest.

Butler Li was so worried that his hair turned gray a lot, and the pepper seedlings are just blooming!Cuihua told him not to worry about money, but to hire someone to mobilize the enthusiasm of the villagers.

In the three villages of their family, 20 copper coins are given out for catching locusts a day, and children over six years old are counted, and the locusts caught belong to themselves.

Half-sized or adult chickens and ducks are given 2 copper coins a day, and they can be put into wheat fields and pepper fields to eat locusts.

Not only paid money, but also distributed a lot of gauze for mosquito nets to the villagers of the three villages, and used them to make fishing nets. Everyone was ready, just waiting for the locusts to come and do a big job.

Households that raise a lot of chickens and ducks will be a favorite, and they can't wait to make them hungry and wait for the locusts to come.

The locusts did not disappoint the chicken and duck owners, and came faster than they thought.

In broad daylight, when the sun was covered by dark clouds, the villagers blew their horns to warn them, and the whole family of the villagers went out, wearing hats to cover their faces, grabbed the big nets and sacks and rushed out.

This is meat, meat that doesn’t cost money!They can still make money, anyway, most of them are renting the land of the master's family, which will definitely save the master's family first.

Crazy catches one after another, in the field, densely packed crowd, chickens and ducks are eating happily.

Compared with pests, it takes time and manpower. People with intensive phobia will get goose bumps when they see these locusts.

Everyone worked tirelessly, and they didn't return home until they caught too much in the sacks. That night, the smell of locust meat was wafting over every house.

No one thought that the dried locusts would be so fragrant, and the common people did not have much oil. Most of them chose to dry them with superheated water or directly bake them with low heat.

Seeing the children stuffing them into their mouths one by one, chewing deliciously, the adults who are half dead from exhaustion feel that they can do it again.

Fortunately, the locusts are active during the day, so everyone can breathe.

On the first day, the villagers on the outskirts of the capital showed their formidable fighting power, arresting more than [-] catties of locusts, and wiped out seven or eight of the locusts that were leading the charge.

After receiving this information, Xia Hongdi's anxious mood eased a little. Hearing that every household was eating locusts, he smiled and asked Empress Gao if there was any imperial dining room, and he wanted to taste it too.

Empress Gao was speechless, who would dare to make locusts for the emperor to eat!

On the second day, the sky was bright, and many poor people who lived in the capital and had no land flocked to the suburbs. They had heard yesterday that the locusts were delicious and had a meaty taste, so they wanted to catch them too.

Cuihua asked Steward Li to arrange the people who catch the locusts, but don't go too far to catch the locusts. If you ruin the crop, it would be putting the cart before the horse.

The boys in the mansion couldn't bear it anymore, they all raised their fists, and they also wanted to catch the locusts.

Xiao Liu huffed: "Mom, that's the Doudou we planted, catch the bad bugs!"

Xiao Wu squeezed his small fist, nodded, and said that he also wanted to do a big job.

Hei Wa looked at them amusedly, these little brats had planted seeds once, and they were addicted to it. He planned to take a few days off and take the little brats back to the village to catch pests.

There is a tacit understanding with the children, and there is also the brother Yuan Wenjie who is a companion in the palace.

They brought their followers, gathered together a group of six, and huh-la-la went to catch the locusts together.

Cai Hanwen, Gao Qianli, and Gao Wanli brothers have grown so big, but they have never seen what a locust looks like, and they are so excited.

After taking the locust extermination equipment prepared by Uncle Zhongqin's mansion, he ran to the field screaming.

When Qin Ke left, he said, "Auntie, when I come back from catching the locusts, you have to cook something delicious for us!"

Cuihua laughed loudly: "Go, go, as many as you catch, I will make for you!"

Perhaps the locusts have never imagined that human beings can go so insane in the face of the temptation of food that even a three-year-old doll will not let them go.

The child is small, short in stature, and has good eyesight.

Xiaowu's slender hand, pinch it accurately, and pinch it to burst, it's only so cruel.

This stinky boy thinks pinching locusts is too much fun, and no insects will be left behind wherever they pass.

The army of locusts had a bad start yesterday. They wanted to rest for one night and then go up and down again, but they didn't expect that there were more people catching them on the second day than on the first day.

The guy who came here with a sack on his back was overwhelmed by the smell of locust meat last night, wishing he could eat locusts as a meal, it's extremely hateful!

The boys from the Yuan Mansion finally brought back a total of about ten catties. Their craftsmanship was still not good enough, and Cuihua was not good at dampening everyone's enthusiasm, so they bought a hundred catties from the villagers.

For these locusts, cut off the head, limbs and wings, leaving a fat belly, fry them in a low-fire oil pan, and sprinkle some salt and pepper before they come out of the pan, it will be crispy.

While Cuihua was frying, the children kept coming into the stove to catch them, eating them faster than she was frying.

"Wow, this locust is too delicious, I bet, this thing is not too popular to drink with!" Qin Ke was the first to express his opinion.

"Yeah, my grandpa must like it very much. Auntie, can I bring some back to my grandpa?" Cai Hanwen was still a little embarrassed, but it was really hard to resist this kind of artifact, he felt that his skin must have thickened.

"Okay, okay, you can eat as much as you want, if you don't have enough, buy some for the villagers, this method is so simple, I will ask the cook to fry it non-stop in the afternoon, and bring some more for you all!"

The majestic Aunt Cuihua said: What is this?Isn't it just a waste of oil!

Before Cuihua and her husband came to Daxia, the common people knew about locusts, but no matter how poor they were, they heard that someone ate them!

No one expected that from the beginning of this extermination of locusts, these two couples added such a strange ingredient to Daxia.

After the news that people in the capital ate locusts spread, officials in various places who had not been affected by locusts also followed the example of gourds and encouraged the people to catch insects and eat them.

Slowly, these messages were actually accompanied by a rumor, an expert revealed that the reason why the common people of Great Xia suffered such an indiscriminate disaster was due to a disaster from heaven.

Locust Tonghuang, this is the birth of a disaster prince.

Not to mention, there are quite a few people who believe it. Everyone is discussing in private that this disaster star has disturbed the people and caused famine before it was born. If it is born, will it be worth it?

A lot of ignorant village women are still praying to gods and worshiping Buddha everywhere, hoping that God will take this disaster star back to the sky, so that he will not come out to harm the world.

Xia Hongdi's intelligence organization quickly learned of these rumors, and was so frightened that he hurriedly sent information to the emperor.

Xia Hongdi jumped into a rage, and a cold voice came from between his teeth, "Check it out, find out who passed it on, and I will punish him!"

His poor second son, before he was born, received such a great deal of malice, he didn't believe the bullshit rumors, the calamity, being able to give birth to his family and be his son, could this be the fate of the calamity?

Thinking that the prince is not too young, Xia Hongdi asked someone to call the prince, told him this message, and said:

"I'm most worried about your mother. During this time, you should spend more time with her, and don't let people take advantage of the loopholes and spread these vicious rumors to your mother's ears."

The prince was so angry that his eyes were red: "Father, you have to decide for the queen mother. This emperor's brother has not yet been born. These people are too vicious. How can they talk empty teeth and slander an unborn baby!"

"It's up to you to say! When I find out, I can't spare him!"

The father and son agreed to conceal, completely conceal, it has been more than seven months, and they dare not be sloppy.

Next, several waves of locusts flew over. Poor thing, after working hard for half a month, when they arrived in the capital, they were dismembered before they could find anything.

The common people tasted the sweetness, people ate it, chickens and ducks ate it, and chickens and ducks laid eggs for others to eat, so they were very happy.

After finally arriving in Fuyue, which is the hottest season of the year, Empress Gao has been having nightmares every night recently, dreaming that she is having a difficult labor. She, who has always been strong, even asked Xia Hongdi for an order to let her mother come to the palace to accompany the delivery.

Xia Hongdi couldn't be unhappy, Mrs. Gao entered the palace the next day, seeing her daughter's haggard face, the old lady felt distressed and even more worried.

She is a person who knows that rumors are harmful to everyone, and the scope of spread is too wide. It will happen in a short while, so it is not difficult to check!
(End of this chapter)