Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 4 Making a Fish Cage
After a while, Sun Xiangfu and Sun Dali caught more than a dozen locusts in the field by the river. Later, he is a graduate student specializing in agriculture, and has a very deep research on insect pests. Judging from the number of locusts in the field and the weather, In the past two years, a large-scale locust plague is likely to break out. The scale of the locust plague in the second year of Zhenguan was so large that it was recorded in the annals of history. It is a pity that Sun Xiangfu is not from the history department. He does not know this history. I just judged some clues through my own experience.

After the locusts were cleaned, they were still strung together on bamboo sticks. With the young sergeant's face in a daze, Sun Xiangfu stuffed the first roasted locust into his mouth.

"Crispy, chicken flavor."

After eating the first locust, Sun Xiangfu only said these six words, and saw Sun Dali also throw a big locust nearly ten centimeters into his mouth with a generous expression.

"Well, it's really a bit like chicken. It would be nice if it was seasoned with a little salt."

Seeing the two of them munching on locusts, the young sergeant believed that locusts, such a loathsome insect, could be eaten. However, Sun Dali mentioned salt, which he had in his luggage, so he untied a locust from his horseback. The small cloth bag comes down.

"Dip a little."

"Well, it's delicious."

Well, the two of them once again refreshed the cognition of several sergeants. They are people who have struggled between life and death. When the march was difficult, they ate snake meat, hedgehog meat, and mouse meat, but they didn't eat it. After passing the bugs, I dipped a little salt in the salt bag tentatively, and the roasted scorched locusts really became a delicacy.

As a result, a dozen or so locusts were quickly eaten by several guys, and the villagers who cut bamboo were also told by them to go to the field to catch locusts. The locusts are big and full, unlike bamboo insects that can only be stuffed Gap between the teeth, so after each person ate more than a dozen locusts, today's lunch was considered a magnificent end.

Of course, not many people present thought of the significance of locusts as food to this society. After all, when there is no locust plague, there are not so many locusts.

"Boy, you are an interesting person, I remember you." The young sergeant picked his teeth with a bamboo stick, said something to Sun Xiangfu, and got on his horse.

"Is this what you call a blessing?" Sun Xiangfu didn't expect this young man to be a man of his word, but he still said unwillingly.

"Boy, being able to be remembered by me is already a great blessing. There are so many people in this world, I really can't remember how many, but I have worked hard for a long time, so I can't give you nothing. I will reward you with a small packet of salt."

As he said that, the boy tied the opening of the small cloth bag and threw it to Sun Xiangfu who was under his horse.

I bought a salt bag, about one catty, enough for a family to eat for a long time. The key point is that the boy’s salt bag is filled with fine salt. Even if it is only one catty, it can be sold for dozens of dollars in the county market. Wen, enough to buy several catties of millet.

In the early Tang Dynasty, although there was a lot of arable land, the output was small. Due to the war, the proportion of people who could not work in agriculture was relatively high, so the price of food remained high. Therefore, even if it is a laborer who does heavy physical work and earns [-] Wen a day, he can only afford two meals a day, and each meal cannot exceed a catty of grain, otherwise your family will Others can't eat it.

Just as Sun Xiangfu was calculating the value of the bag of salt based on the memory of the original owner, a group of several cavalrymen stepped on their horses and left without saying a word. They had spent enough time in this village , there are still many villages and towns waiting for them to go to Xuanfu, but after running for a while, the young sergeant turned his head and shouted to Sun Xiangfu who was a little dazed, "I will come back, and I will get some fresher things then." Entertain me."

This is a rich man who came out to play.

Sun Xiangfu murmured in his heart, but he saw that many villagers had already leaned towards the fire that had not yet burned out, and their hands were roasting locusts or bamboo insects, especially some children, waiting for the soldiers to go away. Only then did they dare to lean over, looking at the fragrant worms grilled by their parents, and competed with the hada sons.

"Every family is short of food, so, Brother Dali, we have to find a way."

In the past, Sun Dali never felt that Sun Xiangfu had any brains, and most of the time, he just fooled around behind his own ass, but today, everything changed, the protagonist of the story suddenly changed from him to Sun Xiangfu.

Out of habit, today Sun Dali maintained a slightly skeptical attitude about Sun Xiangfu's saying that bamboo insects can be eaten and that locusts can be eaten. In other matters, Sun Dali still obeyed Sun Xiangfu's words, just like Sun Xiangfu used to It's the same as listening to him.

Of course, Sun Xiangfu only did these two things today, and both of them were questioned by Sun Dali, and then his doubts were shattered by the facts. Therefore, when Sun Xiangfu said to find a way at this moment, Sun Dali He took it for granted that as long as they were still in this village, there was nothing they could do. This was his third question about Sun Xiangfu.

"If I can think of a way, I won't be stuck in this small village every day. I think it's better to take advantage of the large number of locusts in the field. Let's catch more, and I can deal with it at night, or I will be caught by these starving ghosts in a while. It's all gone." Sun Dali pointed to a group of villagers who were roasting locusts around the fire.

"That's all you pursue? You can't eat locusts for a lifetime."

Looking at the small river winding down the slope of the village, Sun Xiangfu suddenly had an idea. It is summer and the time when the fish is the most abundant. Although the small river down the slope is not too deep and not too wide, it has a long history and is the Weishui River. There should be a lot of fish in the tributaries of the river, and the fishing level of the ancients was very limited, such as rice field eels and loaches, which are hard to catch, it was difficult for the ancients to catch a large number of them.

Sun Xiangfu of the later generation grew up in the countryside, and later went to the Agricultural University, and then went to the countryside for internships and research. It can be said that he basically spent more than [-] years in the countryside, and explored a lot of fishing methods in his spare time. It is a means to add a bowl of vegetables to the table and make a lot of extra money at the same time.

"Well, Brother Dali, I remember you can split bamboo strips and weave bamboo baskets!"

"Hey, that thing, who can't do it, haven't you made something yourself, if you want to make a frame, if you go to the market to sell it, you can save it! You can't sell it for a few pennies, so you can save it. After running for more than ten miles, all the food in my stomach was wiped out."

"No, what I want to make up is a novelty, which is specially used for fishing. The river in front of our village is so long, I don't believe there are no fish in it."

"Fishing?" Sun Dali was moved when he heard the words.

"Yes, I'm going to fish. First fill my stomach, and then think of other ways. Let's drag the chopped bamboo back home, split the stalks, and weave bamboo cages."

Just do what you say, after Sun Xiangfu told Sun Dali his thoughts, the two of them dragged a few big bamboos back to their house to split bamboo strips. strips.

As for the fishing cage, there is actually no secret, that is, the opening at the end that can only enter but not exit must be made well, the size of the main body can be arbitrary, and there is an opening at the top that can pour out the fish, and seal it with a wooden plug. It is best to tie some earthworms and the like, the smell is strong, and the bait that fish like to eat is in it. As long as there are no fish in the river, such a bamboo cage can catch some fish in the water, and it is loach There are mostly eels.

When Sun Xiangfu got home, he found that the two bowls of millet porridge he had left behind had been secretly eaten by his younger siblings. They thought that they would not be able to eat any more this afternoon, so they had to exercise when they were full. Digested, so Sun Xiangfu found the shovel at home and asked the two little guys to dig some earthworms, while he and Sun Dali concentrated on chopping bamboo shoots and weaving cages.

At dusk, after weaving a dozen fish cages of different sizes and filling them with earthworms, four people, two big, two small, and four people carried a dozen cages to the small river in front of the village, looking for places with more aquatic plants. Start serving.

"Remember, a part of the cage must be left on the water surface, and the stake in front of the cork must be inserted into the hard soil, so as not to prevent big fish from entering the cage, breaking free from the cage to the middle of the river, and being washed away by the water."

The four of them were a little excited when they got into the fish cage for the first time. Due to the problem of weaving level, they only made a dozen or so in one afternoon, so after a while, all the fish cages were put into the water.

"Come and pick it up tomorrow when the sky is getting dark, there will definitely be fish."

With good wishes, the four started their return journey. At this time, Sun Xiangfu and Sun Dali, who had been busy all afternoon, started to growl again.

"How about, let's catch some locusts and roast them!" Sun Dali suggested.

"Don't worry, catch the locusts when it's dark. Now let's go back and prepare. Tonight, we will surely catch the locusts that we can't eat all day tomorrow." Sun Xiangfu said confidently.

(End of this chapter)