Three hundred and thirtieth chapters have been hungry and drowning
"In the past, Chu Zhuang swallowed leeches and became sicker, and Uncle Sun killed snakes and gained blessings." Zizhi Tongjian, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty in the third year of Kaiyuan.
"Geng Jixing sent me several letters." Su Ze sipped the bean soup and said slowly, "Because the matter involves the country and the content is secret, even he dare not discuss it casually...the same is true for the entire Imperial Academy."
Ma Chao snorted and said, "We are so serious about reviving the country and restoring the country, but Xiaoxiao took the opportunity to spread rumors and slander! If I were the captain of Sili, I would have to capture and kill all these people."
.”
He has also made a lot of progress in Taixue in the past two years. Naturally, he knows that today's imperial court is no longer what it used to be. If Ma Teng and his son had just returned to the imperial court, they were still thinking of defecting to Liangzhou at any time. At this time
All of them have been wiped out. Now all that is left is that Ma Chao is more eager to gain the emperor's trust and favor and return him to serve in the army. Therefore, knowing these rumors at this time, Ma Chao naturally stood on the court's side.
Go up and speak for the emperor.
"This matter interferes with the dignity of the country. The imperial court will definitely not take it lightly. It is inconvenient to happen now, so of course everyone has their own reasons." Su Ze was calm. There was still some bean soup left in his bowl, but he could no longer drink it.
Went down. Just as he was about to put it aside, he saw a five- or six-year-old boy holding an empty bowl that he had licked clean in his hand. He looked at the leftovers in his bowl eagerly. Su Ze handed it over.
He gave it to the other party, then turned around and slowly said to Ma Chao, "I have no official position now, so it's better to do the things at hand well."
"What's at hand?" Ma Chao looked at the child holding a bowl and eating with gusto, something suddenly occurred to his mind, and he kept saying, "I just have an idea."
Seeing that the child was enjoying the food, Su Ze simply gave the child all the cakes and bait in his hand to him. After hearing this, he couldn't help but curiously asked, "What's your idea?"
"I only found out about this today." Ma Chao said mysteriously, "I have a younger brother named Ma Dai, who is now serving as a guard under the guard order Wang Zhong, patrolling the palace every day, and occasionally I can see His Majesty in the front hall.
. Today he sent me a letter, saying that the country and the public were worried about the drought locusts the day before yesterday. They went to their fields to inspect the seedlings. Unexpectedly, a few locusts suddenly jumped out of the farmland. The country was furious at the time and killed them with their own hands.
He caught him and said, "Li Shu regards the grain as his life. If you eat it, how can you eat my lungs and intestines? The fault of heaven is only mine. If you have a spirit, please eat my heart and do not harm my people."
, and then opened his mouth to eat."
Su Ze was really startled, moved and surprised in his heart, and couldn't help but said, "How can this be done? Locusts are dirty and evil things. If you eat them, you may be harmful to your body. Didn't you advise me?"
Ma Chao rarely saw the other party's worried look, and felt proud, so he spoke more energetically, "I tried to persuade him, but the country has always been arbitrary, so how could he listen? He immediately ate the locusts and said, 'I want to accept it on behalf of the people.
If misfortune is brought upon me, even if I fall ill, why should I fear it?"
Su Ze was silent for a long time, then suddenly stood up and bowed solemnly in the direction of Chang'an, saying softly, "The benevolent kings in ancient times were like Yao and Shun, but they were nothing more than that, right?"
"It didn't take long for this incident to spread throughout Chang'an. All the common people in the city shed tears of gratitude, especially those who had been affected by the locust plague and had to go to the city to beg for food. After hearing this, they even went to prison.
Kneel down and cry in front of the grain relief shop. I think it won’t be long before the people of the three auxiliaries will praise the country’s benevolence.” Ma Chao said, and stood up in the eyes of the onlookers who were confused, and symbolically walked to Chang’an.
I paid my respects.
He suddenly thought that after this incident, even if there were any more rumors in Guanzhong, the emperor's deeds of eating locusts and the suffering of the people would be enough to offset most of the adverse effects. Perhaps this was the emperor's counterattack against these public opinions.
, after all, Li Shu only looks at reality, and only those scholars would use such illusory things as heaven's moral destiny as a cover. As long as the emperor treats the people wholeheartedly and does some face-saving work, Li Shu will naturally know who to follow.
No matter how sincere the emperor was in doing this, Ma Chao thought he could not learn from the emperor's courage and determination to dare to eat locusts alive.
Su Ze also thought of this, and his excited mood slowly calmed down. He looked at the farmers who were still sitting on the ground and looked at each other. "It seems that these rumors in Gyeonggi must come to an end."
Ma Chao nodded and said, "Yes, but that's not all. There are rumors about how to eat locusts in the capital."
"How to eat locusts?"
Su Ze immediately thought of the 'matter at hand'. As locust hunters for the imperial court, although it was a temporary job with no integrity and no order, it would be a great achievement if done well. In addition to leading a people's organization to collectively extinguish the locust plague, Su Ze immediately thought of it.
, but also to break the fear of locusts in the hearts of the people. Now the first point is easy, but Su Ze has never had a clue how to do the second point. In fact, if he and Ma Chao's family backgrounds were not prominent enough to frighten the people,
Otherwise, it will be quite difficult to get them to actively participate in locust extermination.
If the people can take the initiative to eat locusts, wouldn't it be possible to eliminate locusts and break their fear of locusts?
Su Ze hurriedly asked, but even Ma Chao knew very little about the details. He only knew that the locusts must be dried in the sun, and the heads, wings, and feet must be removed before they can be eaten. Or they must be cooked with wild vegetables.
Or it can be used to raise chickens, ducks, pigs and other animals.
"These methods are said to have been developed by the Taiguan, and there are many instructions from the country behind them. However, once this method was introduced, few people were willing to eat it." Ma Chao frowned, obviously he was also worried about eating locusts.
Su Ze disagreed. Once this method came out, it not only improved prestige in form and reduced the negative impact of rumors, but also substantively solved the locust plague. After understanding the ins and outs, he could say that he had great admiration for the emperor, "The country can still control the locusts."
Eat it raw, how about cooked food? I think it won’t be long before the country will use it itself.”
Ma Chao vaguely felt that this was an opportunity, and nodded and said, "What I think is that instead of waiting for the news to come, we might as well implement it first and let the common people cook the locusts and eat them, which can also solve the temporary hunger."
So the two did what they said, and soon organized people to catch dozens of locusts and burned a bonfire by the river embankment.
After everyone finished eating their bean soup, they were all a bit unsatisfied. When they saw two distinguished locust hunters sending people to do this and that, they were all curious and gathered around them.
I saw Su Ze instructing a peasant woman to remove the wings, legs and heads of the locusts, wash them with water, then skewer a few locusts with a twig, and bake them on the fire.
"I have only eaten sheep roast and deer roast in the Qiang region before, but this is the first time I have eaten this 'insect roast'." Ma Chao said to Su Ze with a smile as he watched the peasant woman turn the noodles skillfully.
The people around him could hear it clearly, and they immediately became uproar and changed their colors.