Locust plague, a species that has plagued human beings around the world for thousands of years, they are as weak as ants and are despised by humans, but for thousands of years, human beings have extinct one species after another, but locusts have never been truly defeated.

Locust plagues are generally born with drought, as the old saying goes, when the drought is extremely high, the locusts are gone, and everything disappears when the sky and the sun are obscured.

The moment he learned the news, Liu Hong gradually knew that even if the dam was opened as planned, the autumn planting in the north this year would be greatly reduced.

Shanxi and Shaanxi are fine, after all, there has been a bumper harvest of potatoes and sweet potatoes, and even if the autumn harvest is lost, it can be dealt with temporarily, but Liu Hong gradually knows that the real disaster must be in Shanxi and Shaanxi.

Locusts tend to be water-loving, and the terrain of the mountains is slightly higher than that of the rivers and mountains, and the locust plagues may migrate to the two places within a month.

This is tantamount to a catastrophe for the two provinces with large populations, and under the roar of Chongzhen, the cabinet urgently discussed and mobilized grain and rice from the south to the north through Cao Yun.

The disaster was even more rapid than expected, and on the third day of September, the locust plague in northern Henan was full of hunger.

Chongzhen was so anxious that he ordered Liu Hongjian to rush to Henan with the first batch of relief grain.

In early September, Liu Hongjian led 500 personal guard cavalry to arrive at Liyangcang, Jun County, Henan, and Liu Yongshan, the magistrate of Jun County, welcomed Liu Hongjian to the county government of Jun County with trepidation.

Jun County is the hardest hit area by the locust plague, almost all of the county has been affected, although Liu Yongshan, the county governor, loves the people like a son, but he can't help, and it will take half a month for the grain transport team to arrive, and even if the grain arrives, it will not be enough to solve the problems of the two provinces.

The population of Ha Nan is too large, the production in the north is reduced, and the rice in the south is simply not enough to cope with such a huge shortfall.

Moreover, the treasury was empty and could not take out more money to collect grain, and what made Chongzhen and Liu Hong increasingly angry was that Zheng Zhilong actually took the opportunity to raise the price of rice and grain to make a lot of money.

Anger is anger, but this account has to be written down first, and one day Liu Hong will gradually let this old miscellaneous hair spit it out with interest.

"Liu Zhixian, go and prepare some locusts for this king, and order a few people from each village and town to be informed, and this king will teach the people something tomorrow."

Liu Hong's strange order made Liu Yongshan scratch his head, but there were many locusts, and he could catch a big basket by pulling a few officials with a net and walking around.

On the morning of the second day, the village leaders from all over the country had already gathered outside the county office, and there were 100 people.

According to Liu Hongji's arrangement, a few large iron pots were set up at the entrance of the county yamen, with oil, salt, sauce and vinegar readily available, and a few stoves of charcoal were burning.

"Folks, Henan was seriously affected, Your Majesty disturbed the people of Henan who couldn't sleep at night, and sent this king to come to the disaster relief, but the food came far away, and today this king summoned you to come here to teach you a little way.

Grasshoppers can eat our food, can't we eat grasshoppers? Liu Hong gradually said in surprise, and as soon as he finished speaking, the people gathered around him blew up the nest.

It was also said that Qin sent food to distribute disaster relief, but I didn't expect it to be a disgusting locust that made them eat, isn't this humiliating to them?

Liu Hong gradually knew that it was difficult to convince the public, after all, the people at this time were not the next generation, the people of the later generations ate too many good things, and they had to try it when they were idle, what scorpions, centipedes, poisonous snakes, grasshoppers, as long as you can think of it, foodies can eat to new heights.

And this group of idle egg-sore foodies threatened that as long as the round-trip expenses were reimbursed, all the oysters from the Netherlands, the carp from country M, and the hairy crabs from Australia would be eaten up for you.

Although the people at this time were simple, they had been eating whole grains for a living since ancient times, but they even ate less meat, so that even if they were hungry and gnawed on the bark of trees during the disaster, they never thought of eating insects.

Liu Honggradually wants to change their thinking, telling them that as long as the Chinese are willing to use their brains, they will definitely not let food be difficult, grasshoppers eat our food, we will eat grasshoppers, dust to dust, soil to soil, come out to mix, always have to pay back.

Regardless of the people's complaints, Liu Hong gradually began to gather lunch, and several large net pockets of fresh grasshoppers were piled up next to the cauldron.

At this time, the crops are pesticide-free and pollution-free, and the grasshoppers eat pure natural and pollution-free weed crop seedlings, which only need to be washed back and forth in the water a few times before they can be put into the pot.

The grasshoppers that have been rinsed are dipped in cornmeal, white flour, mung bean flour and other multigrain batter, and put them in a hot oil pan, and the yellow-orange-orange oil is shiny and shiny after only a few moments.

Then sprinkle with salt, pepper and other flavors, and in a short time a pot of fried grasshoppers will be freshly baked.

The people have long since lost their noise when the aroma of fried grasshoppers is overflowing, and even their taste buds have been aroused by the aroma, and they have not eaten a full meal for a long time, let alone meat.

All the people held their breath and stared at the imperial court's Qincha, or stared at the fried grasshoppers in the bamboo basket, and even Liu Yongshan, the magistrate, swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Liu Hongjian was not pretentious, he directly pinched a fried grasshopper, looked at it facing the sun and put it in his mouth.

"Uh-huh! Everyone can try it, the chicken tastes like it, it's crunchy, and the protein content is four times that of beef! Liu Hong gradually began to sell melons and boast about herself.

It's not a lie, in fact, the taste is really good, but the people's ideas can't be changed for a while.

A few villagers were bold enough to come forward and pinch one with its eyes closed and put it in their mouths as if they were executed, but after only two chews, they opened their eyes, and their eyes were still glowing.

"Delicious! Delicious! Wang Er Mazi, Li Er was stunned, I also tasted it, I didn't lie to you." The man then grabbed a handful from the basket and filled his mouth to the brim at once.

There was a person who started his head, and the first pot of fried grasshoppers was eaten up in an instant, and the people were a little unsatisfied.

"How's it going, does it taste okay?" Liu Hong gradually asked the people in a circle with a smile on his face.

"Medium, delicious, energetic!" Several villages are still unsatisfied, but there are also people frowning.

"It's just Lord Qincha, grain and oil are expensive, and we are all poor people, where is there so much oil to fry this grasshopper." One of the villages plucked up the courage to say.

"Well said, this king will teach you another trick today." Liu Hongjian immediately ordered, and several county officials took out a bundle of thin bamboo sticks and began to string the grasshoppers and smoke them on a charcoal fire.

While smoking, soy sauce and other ingredients are smeared on it, and after a while, the aroma of meat comes again.

"This is a roasted grasshopper, if it is really poor, it only needs to be smeared with salt water, if there is no salt, the king is in charge, and each family can come to the county government every day to receive three dollars of green salt."

There are many ways to eat grasshoppers, which can be fried, smoked, steamed, vinegared, and even made into grasshopper sauce, which is smeared with grasshopper sauce, and the taste is even more delicious.

Liu Hong gradually watched the people of Jun County comment on the happiness of eating, and suddenly felt a lot more comfortable.

It is conceivable that within a few days, the news that grasshoppers can eat and eat will spread, and it is even more conceivable that it will not be long before the hard-working people will catch grasshoppers and eat them in the fields.

Yes, grasshoppers eat our food, why don't we eat grasshoppers?

The disaster relief food arrived as scheduled, but the salary was not enough at all, and the imperial court was short of silver and could not make ends meet.

A year ago, Liu Honggradually proposed that Chongzhen reduce the national land tax to relieve the pressure on the people, and now it seems that he has broken his teeth and has to swallow it in his stomach.

But Liu Hongjian didn't regret it at all, Zhumen's wine and meat stink, there were frozen bones on the road, it was not terrible for the court to be poor, and the officials would not die of hunger anyway.

After inspecting Henan for half a month to find out the disaster, Liu Hong gradually took his personal guards to the capital.

The silver is there, and he knows in whose hands it is.

Since they are unwilling to hand it over obediently, this time, Lao Tzu will definitely let you wait to kneel and sing conquest!