Wentang

Chapter 484 The Prince's Performance (Third Watch, Ticket Request)
"What's the matter?" Li Shimin said kindly.

Because he saw the locust plague, he became more and more satisfied with Li Chengqian, the prince, and his tone of speech was unprecedentedly good.

Li Chengqian has never seen such a kind father since he became the prince, so he was naturally very excited, but he still kept his sense and said:

"Father, my classmates and I visited the folks and consulted with the teachers of the academy, and got some ways to prevent and control locust plagues. I want to share with you."

"Oh? Tell me quickly." Li Shimin said happily.

"The first way is to raise chickens and ducks. There are thousands of chickens and ducks in the academy. There are almost no locusts around, and even other small insects are hard to see. The reason is that the chickens and ducks eat all these small insects." Li Chengqian said :
"I asked people who raised chickens, and they said that chickens and ducks not only grow faster but also lay more eggs than before after eating small bugs. So I thought that we could encourage people to have more chickens and ducks, and let chickens and ducks eat locusts. This will reduce the incidence of locusts. Quantity, the common people have another piece of property."

"This method is good, we can try to promote it." Li Shimin nodded repeatedly.Even the ministers nodded in approval.

This principle is easy to understand, but no one thought about it in the past, but now Li Chengqian knows the truth with just a few clicks.

"The second method is to use the phototaxis of insects to trap and kill locusts." Li Chengqian said again.

"What is the phototaxis of insects?" Li Shimin asked suspiciously.

"This is the knowledge in Qingshuihou's latest Gewu book, which explains the principle of moths flying to a flame." Li Chengqian talked eloquently:
"Qingshui Hou said that moths are attracted to the flame because insects have phototaxis, that is, they will automatically gather in places with light at night, and even perform the behavior of attacking the flame."

"I thought that locusts should also belong to insects, would they also have phototaxis? So I experimented with my classmates and lit a fire in the wild at night. As expected, the surrounding locusts jumped into the fire and were burned to death."

"Let's check again at dawn. The number of locusts in the hundreds of meters around the fire has decreased significantly. So I thought we could use this feature to light a bonfire at night to lure the locusts to die."

"Is that true?" Li Shimin couldn't help but look at Yue Shan and asked.

Yue Shan listened in amazement, this kid is only 12 years old, how can he learn and use it?This...is too monstrous.Hearing Li Shimin's inquiry, he hurriedly said:

"Hui Shengren, this method is feasible, and it is also the most efficient way to kill locusts at this stage."

"Then why didn't you tell me earlier?" Li Shimin asked.

"This..." Yue Shan was embarrassed, scratched his head and said, "Although I know that insects have phototaxis, but... I was anxious when I learned that there was going to be a locust plague, but I didn't remember it. Thanks to His Royal Highness, otherwise I would be a sinner forever .”

"Hmph... Go read the book you wrote a few times later, so as not to be embarrassing." Li Shimin scorned, then turned to Li Chengqian and said: "Okay, not bad, you can apply what you have learned, and you have not let me down. expectations."

"Thank you father for the compliment. I'm ashamed. It's all taught by Qing Shui Hou." Li Chengqian managed to suppress the pride in his heart, and said modestly.

"Don't underestimate yourself, it should be your credit and it's yours. Well, is there any more?" Li Shimin said with a smile.

"There is another idea, I don't know if it is feasible." Li Chengqian said hesitantly.

"Tell me and listen." Li Shimin encouraged.

"Incentive policies can be adopted to encourage the people to catch locusts, such as a bucket of corn for a basket of locusts. In this way, the people will be more motivated, and it must be more beneficial to contain the disaster." Li Chengqian said cautiously.

Li Shimin nodded in relief and said, "I have already told your mother to let the Royal Commercial Bank come forward to buy dried locusts at a price of one penny per catty."

"It turns out that my father thought of it a long time ago, I was the one who said too much." Li Chengqian said disappointedly.

"No, you didn't say much at all. On the contrary, what you said is very good. Tomorrow I will announce to the world that the crown prince sympathized with the people and wrote a letter to exchange locusts for corn. All people in the world can go to the government offices of prefectures and counties to exchange locusts for food." Li Shimin said .

This is to make the prince famous and win the hearts of the people.

"Ah? Thank you, father." Li Chengqian said excitedly.

"What do you think the prince said?" Li Shimin asked again at this time.

"What the prince said is a good strategy, and I have no objection." Fang Xuanling said.

"I have no objection." Yuwen Shiji, Du Ruhui and others expressed their views one after another.

"Well, Fang Aiqing will trouble you to draw up an order and announce it to the world." Li Shimin said now.

"Here." Fang Xuanling said respectfully.

"Is there anything else you need to do, Zhu Qing? I'll go back if I have nothing to do." Li Shimin said again.

This is actually just nonsense, everyone came to the banquet and no one was going to talk about important military affairs, so after asking, everyone got up and left wisely.

Li Shimin called Yue Shan aside alone, and asked, "Cuilan, tell me honestly, did you teach him what Cheng Qian said?"

"I swear to God, I haven't told Dalang a word about the locust plague." Yue Shan raised two fingers.

Li Shimin stared closely at his eyes, and after confirming that he was not lying, he suddenly lost control of his emotions and laughed loudly: "Haha..." Tears flowed down from the laughter.

Yue Shan had never been a father before, so he couldn't feel this kind of emotion, all he knew was to stand quietly and watch from the sidelines.

It took a while for Li Shimin to recover, patted Yue Shan on the shoulder and said, "Thank you, thank you for teaching my prince so well."

"Hey, Saint, you're being polite. He's my brother-in-law, and it's good for me to teach him well." Yue Shan didn't dare to accept this kind of affection, and deliberately sabotaged the atmosphere.

"You..." Li Shimin was annoyed, "I don't know what's good and what's wrong."

"Yes yes yes, I don't know what is good and what is bad, so do you have anything else to do? I'll go first if I don't have anything to do." Yue Shan smiled heartlessly.

"Go away." Li Shimin waved his hand angrily.

Yue Shan turned around quickly and left, but just after walking a few steps, he heard Li Shimin say: "Wait, I was interrupted by you just now and forgot to ask the business."

"Why did you kill Zheng Yuncheng?"

Yue Shan turned around and said seriously: "Does the sage think that a locust feast can make the officials pay more attention to the locust plague?"

Li Shimin shook his head without thinking, "Impossible."

"Yes, it's impossible. Without personal pain, they won't really take this matter seriously, so they must be scared." Yue Shan said:

"Mencius said that things hurt his kind. Zheng Yuncheng is a fifth-rank official and a son of the Zheng family in Xingyang. He has a noble status. Killing him will make them feel the determination of the saint, and it will also warn people with ulterior motives in the world."

"And Zheng Yuncheng is the envoy of the capital, an official in charge of water conservancy, and killing him will not delay the official affairs of the court. Since he jumped out to be that chicken, it doesn't matter if we help him."

Li Shimin asked again: "But after all, he is a son of the Zheng family in Xingyang. Killing him may cause the family to retaliate. The imperial court will soon use troops against the Turks, and the riots at this time may delay the war."

(End of this chapter)