A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Then I thought about the temptation of making a name for myself in history. It's just locusts, right? I'll just eat them!

Moreover, as the first person to openly eat locusts, he will surely be recorded in history books.

Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty ate the first locust, thus beginning a new chapter in controlling locusts by eating them.

History books will record:

In the first year of the Zhenguan era, a great locust plague struck Guanzhong, devouring crops across the fields, causing widespread panic and impending famine.

When the emperor visited the imperial garden, he saw locusts covering the fields. He was persuaded by the heir apparent of the Prince of Yan, Zu, and said to those around him, “The people depend on grain for their lives, and you eat it. If the people have committed any wrongdoing, it is all my fault. If you have a spirit, you should eat my heart and not harm the common people.”

Very well, order someone to bring several hundred locusts, cook them, and eat them.

When the officials and the common people heard this, they were all greatly shocked and moved. Since the emperor had eaten the locusts himself, the people of the world no longer feared the locusts, and all knew that the locusts were not monsters, but food.

From then on, people followed suit, catching locusts, exposing locusts to the sun, grinding locusts into powder, pounding locusts into dried meat, and using methods such as frying, deep-frying, steaming, baking, making soup, and curing locusts to gradually evolve. Over the course of a hundred years, our ancestors developed more than a hundred ways to eat locusts.

The government and the people also issued orders to catch locusts, and officials and civilians worked together to catch them. Some used locusts to fill food supplies, some used them to relieve famine, and some used them to exchange for firewood and rice in the market.

Locusts, once a scourge in years of disaster, have become a delicacy for ordinary people and a resource for famine relief. With the people actively eliminating them, locusts no longer swarm in the fields, and the pests no longer exist.

Later, the wild locusts were insufficient to meet the needs of banquets in the city and delicacies of wealthy households, so villagers built sheds and established feeding grounds to artificially raise locusts. Such a strange phenomenon was unprecedented in ancient times.

From then on, the Central Plains were free from locust plagues, and historical records no longer mentioned "locusts devouring crops and people eating each other in great famine." The locust scourge that had plagued the Central Plains for a thousand years ended only after the Zhenguan era.

"I'll eat!"

Li Shimin envisioned the praise in the history books, and his desire to be remembered in history overwhelmed everything else. In the face of such merit, what did eating a locust matter?

Later generations will only remember Li Shimin as a wise ruler who eliminated the locust plague, but will not remember that he came to power through the Xuanwu Gate Incident.

As long as he can achieve this goal, he'd be willing to eat anything, even raw insects, let alone cooked ones.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Seeing Li Shimin's decisiveness, Wei Zu was somewhat impressed. No matter how nicely it was said, locusts are still insects, and eating insects is somewhat of a challenge to one's taste buds.

For ordinary people, having anything to eat is already a blessing, but for someone like Li Shimin, who was born into a noble family, he was used to eating the finest and most exquisite food. He had never eaten anything so disgusting before.

"Nowadays, people are superstitious, and some even believe in the Locust God. Although the situation has improved greatly thanks to the propaganda of the imperial court and farmers, there are still some stubborn elements."

"However, with His Majesty setting an example, these people are not a concern."

"Your Majesty's contribution to eradicating the locusts is indispensable!"

Wei Zu praised.

"At that time, Your Majesty should invite the three elders from various regions to attend the ceremony, and at the same time announce to the world that all officials in the country should hold locust banquets to set an example and promote the consumption of locusts."

"allow!"

If even the emperor ate it, how could those officials possibly escape?

Not a single one can escape!

This is something he can't do alone; it's better to share happiness than to enjoy it alone.

He believed that since the officials in the imperial court had all taken the bribes, they would certainly not let the officials in various regions escape unscathed.

He did this so that the locust plague could be resolved more quickly, and the information that locusts were edible and highly nutritious could be spread among the people more quickly; it was by no means a perverse act.

Even so, the people will still be skeptical; Your Majesty should use incentives to persuade them.

"When the locust plague begins, the people will be afraid and hoard grain. Your Majesty can exchange grain for locusts, one pound of grain for one pound of dried locusts. In this way, the people will be eager to catch them, and even if they don't eat them, they will send them to the government."

"The government can order people to grind the dried locusts into powder and use it as reserve grain, which can be stored for several years without spoiling."

"If it happens in a year of disaster, it can be used for disaster relief. It has extremely high nutritional value and is very effective in disaster relief."

"good."

Li Shimin stroked his beard and smiled, his fear of the impending locust plague vanishing completely.

On that day, Li Shimin ordered that he invite all his ministers to the palace three days later, where he would host a banquet for them and the three elders.

These three days are for collecting locusts and researching how to cook them to make them taste better and look more appealing.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and many court officials arrived at the palace in small groups to attend the banquet.

The emperor hosted a banquet for his officials, a first since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. Everyone hoped to catch Li Shimin's eye at this banquet, so that promotion and titles would not be far off.

Upon arriving at the palace, the courtiers, led by eunuchs, took their seats.

In another direction, the three elders from around Luoyang were also invited and sat in their designated seats.

"Prime Minister Fang, do you know what joyous occasion has occurred? His Majesty has actually hosted a banquet for all his ministers and the three elders?"

Dai Zhou leaned closer to Fang Xuanling and asked curiously.

"I don't know either."

Fang Xuanling was also puzzled. Being able to host a banquet for officials and elders in the palace must mean that a great event had occurred, but he, as the prime minister, had not received any news about it.

"Could it be that they expanded their territory to the west and destroyed the Great Xia?" Dai Zhou guessed.

"If there is any urgent military situation, you absolutely cannot bypass me."

Fang Xuanling shook his head. He had thought about it for three days but still couldn't come up with a solution.

"Speaking of which, it is indeed worth celebrating that he has agreed to come to court. However, isn't it a bit late? He has already been in court for several months."

Du Ruhui stroked his beard and joined the discussion; he hadn't figured it out in the past three days either.

"Indeed, so much time has passed, it shouldn't be that."

"Could it be that the royal family and the Wei family are forming a marriage alliance?"

Cheng Yaojin has been racking his brains lately over his son's marriage.

They would try to link even the smallest things to this kind of thing, but when he said it like that, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui thought it was quite possible.

"If the Crown Prince marries the eldest daughter of the Wei family, that would be truly remarkable."

The group whispered amongst themselves, completely unaware of what awaited them.

"I don't think so. The Wei family has been established for so many years, and there has never been a case of a legitimate daughter marrying into the royal family. The Wei family has just severed ties with the royal family, how could they possibly get involved again?"

Several high-ranking officials of the imperial court had gathered together, and Gao Shilian raised his objections.

"In my opinion, this must be an auspicious omen, and it might even be the reappearance of the Nine Tripods."

"In the past, during the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu obtained one of the Nine Tripods and changed the era name to Yuanding. At that time, he also held a grand banquet for his officials."

Wei Zheng also stepped forward to join the discussion and offered his guess.

His guess was accepted by many people. Compared to the westward expedition to present a victory report and the marriage alliance with the Wei family, this possibility was indeed higher.

"Although the Nine Tripods have great symbolic significance, they cannot compare to the Wei family's entry into the capital after a century. After all, the Nine Tripods are just inanimate objects, while the Wei family symbolizes the hearts of the people."

"Only by annexing another great empire can we surpass the Wei family and enter the capital; otherwise, where will the Wei family's face be?"

Qin Qiong snorted coldly; in his heart, military merit was the most important thing.

The founding military heroes and former generals of the Crown Prince's mansion all echoed his sentiments.