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

"So, that piece of meat from earlier was also?"

Wei Zheng's gaze was slightly dazed; he naturally knew what a jumping nymph was.

"Yes, it is a nymph."

"Even the cakes you just ate were made from flour kneaded with nymph powder."

Li Shimin suppressed his indescribable emotions and addressed the crowd.

Some civil officials immediately began to gag, gagging and trying to vomit the filthy worms out of their stomachs.

"Your Majesty, what is the reason for this?"

Wei Zheng asked, puzzled.

"Set an example by your own conduct, and let your conduct be the law for the world. If I can eat this, then you, my ministers, can eat this, and naturally the people of the world can eat this too."

"According to medical research, nymphs are not only edible, but also extremely nutritious."

"If people can catch locusts for food, they can supplement their nutrition and directly suppress locust plagues."

"Even if there are many locusts, if the people catch and eat them before the plague begins, how could they possibly swarm and darken the sky?"

"There are tens of millions of people in the world today, and there are no less than 100 million in the north alone. Even if the locust plague is spread out on average, each person would only have a hundred locusts, which is just enough for one meal."

"Your Excellencies are not eating locusts today, but the locust plague itself. With you and I setting an example, officials throughout the land will follow suit, and the people will follow suit. If the court then uses incentives to drive them on, how can we not hope to eradicate the locust plague?!"

Li Shimin delivered a passionate speech, but the pampered civil officials were all dry-vomiting and couldn't hear a word he was saying.

On the contrary, Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and others had constantly changing expressions, as they also thought about leaving their names in history.

Since we've already eaten it, wouldn't it be a huge loss if we didn't get this reputation?

Wasn't that a waste of food?!

How can this be allowed?!

The Xuanwu Gate Incident, which forced Emperor Taizong to abdicate, not only drew criticism from Li Shimin in historical records, but also from Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, who were the main instigators of the event.

They also need sufficient merit and virtue to establish their reputation in history books.

This reputation for completely quelling the locust plague was something not only Li Shimin needed, but they also needed it.

Du Ruhui was the most decisive. Without saying a word, he picked up the nymph from the sign with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

Li Shimin was the first emperor to eat nymphs, and he was the first minister to eat nymphs; he accepted this honor!

Fang Xuanling was slightly less capable; he thought a little more and hesitated for a moment before seeing Du Ruhui already putting the nymph into his mouth.

The historian beside him wrote furiously, recording everything he saw.

Upon seeing that the second person to eat the nymph had already been taken away, Fang Xuanling quickly picked up a nymph and put it in his mouth, trying to take the spot of the third person.

History usually only remembers the first few people; if it drags on any longer, Fang Xuanling will only be included in the list of those who come after him.

Without someone taking the lead, it might really be difficult to make a decision.

But now that someone is taking the lead, and no one can resist the temptation of being remembered in history, many officials who value their reputation above all else also held their noses, picked up a nymph, and ate it.

Even if it's disgusting, we have to stuff it in.

After stuffing it in, they also thought of the local officials that Li Shimin had mentioned.

They all ate it themselves, surely no one is trying to escape?

None of these people will escape!

The military officers were slow to react, and it wasn't until the civil officials had almost finished eating that they, after being reminded by Cheng Yaojin, began to eat one by one.

Once they made up their minds, these military officers were much more decisive than the civil officials. Most of them came from humble backgrounds and had eaten all sorts of things when they were young.

It's just an insect; you can eat it with your eyes closed.

This tastes pretty good!

Many people were surprised to find that the disgusting insect actually tasted quite good after eating one.

Recalling the meat porridge and meat patties from before, before everyone knew they were made from locusts, everyone praised the chef's culinary skills.

Aside from being a bit disgusting, it seems alright.

However, they quickly dismissed this idea; they must be crazy to think these insects tasted good.

They swore they would never eat it again.

"Lord Wei, perhaps eating this meat pie will help you understand the hardships of the people?"

"Would you still accuse me of being someone who doesn't eat meat porridge?"

Li Shimin felt a sense of pride and satisfaction as he watched Wei Zheng make a joke.

He used to be criticized by Wei Zheng, but Wei Zheng's words were indeed reasonable, and he himself was upright and honest, standing on the moral high ground.

To demonstrate his magnanimity and openness to diverse opinions, Li Shimin reluctantly listened to Wei Zheng's constant criticism.

It feels so good to have such a great opportunity to make fun of someone!

Wei Zheng was speechless for a moment. This time, he had indeed been prejudiced. Wei Zheng also straightforwardly apologized to Li Shimin and admitted his mistake.

When Li Shimin heard Wei Zheng's apology and admission of wrongdoing, he felt as refreshed as if he had eaten an ice pop on a sweltering summer day, feeling good from the inside out and from top to bottom.

Even the nausea from eating locusts was completely dispelled.

"My dear minister, you are acting in my best interests; what crime have you committed?"

"Rise, but in the future, you should carefully understand the situation before offering your advice."

"Reporting matters based on hearsay is a power of the censors, but if it is abused, it can be very dangerous."

Even if it is eventually proven to be false, the damage to a person's reputation and the harm inflicted on them are irreversible.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Shimin gave Wei Zheng a stern lecture.

Wei Zheng had no choice but to listen to Li Shimin's teachings, since he had indeed made a fool of himself this time.

"My dear ministers, please don't find this jumping nymph disgusting. In fact, it is extremely nutritious."

"It contains several times the nutrients of beef and mutton, making it an excellent nutritional product."

Li Shimin showed off the knowledge he had learned from Emperor Wei, speaking eloquently.

Upon hearing this, many ministers instinctively looked at Emperor Wei.

Wei Zu nodded silently, indicating that these were all things he had told Li Shimin, and that he could trust them and was willing to endorse them.

However, he also knew that even if the insect was extremely nutritious, as long as it didn't reach the level of ginseng and was only a few times more nutritious than beef, these officials from powerful families wouldn't care too much.

They want to mobilize the broad masses of people; how many people are there in aristocratic families alone?

The only way to eliminate the locust plague is to mobilize all the people to participate.

This is why Wei Zu endorsed the matter. With the reputation of the Wei family, it was enough to make the people of the world believe that locusts were edible, breaking the locust god's status in their hearts and turning locusts from an irresistible natural disaster into a delicacy on the dinner table.

However, there is one advantage to gaining the trust of these officials from prominent families.

These powerful families own vast amounts of farmland and tenant farmers. If locusts are indeed highly nutritious, they would certainly not mind feeding these tenant farmers locusts to replenish their strength, as it would be much more cost-effective than using grain.