The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

"Mmm...it smells so good, this carp...grass carp smells so good."

Soon, around a campfire, everyone sat together, eating grilled fish and rabbit. Chen Huai'an talked as he ate.

This left Li Shimin speechless.

Isn't it enough that you know it yourself?

You still insisted on saying it.

Du Ruhui and the others suppressed their laughter and buried their heads in their food.

"Your Majesty's skills are truly excellent. I must catch a few more grass carp later," Chen Huai'an seemed to be remarking.

Li Shimin, finally losing his temper, said: "Enough! You son of a bitch, can't even eat fish shut you up?"

"If you can't stop it, I'll have someone sew it up for you!"

"Haha." Chen Huai'an chuckled, broke off another rabbit leg, looked at it for a while, and then happily started gnawing on it.

Li Shimin muttered a few words, but didn't continue.

For him, this was the most relaxing moment in a long time.

You don't have to think about anything, you don't have to care about anything, and you don't have to worry about politics.

Go fishing with your men, hunt some wild game, and roast what you catch on the spot. Occasionally, Chen Huai'an will be a little mischievous or get angry, and everyone will be happy. Isn't that great?

This is such a rare and fortunate event.

Li Shimin sighed inwardly, smiling as he looked at the people around him, who were immersed in this beautiful moment.

Zhang Anan's exclamation broke the silence.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, locusts... so many locusts!"

locust?

Upon hearing those two words, everyone became agitated. Chen Huai'an finished slurping the rabbit leg in one go, his face grim, and looked in the direction Zhang Anan was pointing.

In the distance, a large number of locusts appeared in the grove of trees.

There's no overwhelming presence; it's just that it catches people's attention at first glance.

If that were all, it certainly wouldn't be worth Zhang Anan's exclamation.

Looking at it now, the number of locusts is indeed not large, far from reaching the level of a locust plague, but more and more locusts are jumping out of the grove and eating the leaves.

Clearly, this is a harbinger of an impending locust plague. Before long, more and more locust eggs will hatch, and then the locusts will multiply.

Until it reaches an overwhelming scale!

"They've really come..."

Li Shimin sighed, "It's only been a little over three months, and the locusts have already reached a considerable scale. It's hard to imagine how severe the locust plague will be in another month or two."

"Your Majesty, it's time to return to the palace!" Du Ruhui became serious. "The locust plague is beginning to show; you must go back to take charge."

"If it is not dealt with in time, given its current scale, the disaster it could cause in a month or two would probably exceed that of last year's famine."

"Alright, return to the palace!" Li Shimin immediately ordered.

Chen Huai'an glanced at the locusts from afar. To be honest, the ancient ecology destined the locusts to breed.

In this regard, he really didn't have any good solutions. All he could do was take precautions, try to minimize the impact of the locust plague, and take care of the people affected by the locust plague as much as possible.

Without further delay, the group quickly packed their things, mounted their horses, and headed towards Chang'an.

Li Shimin's expression was not good throughout the journey.

Although they had already learned from Chen Huai'an that there would be locusts, and even dug up a lot of locust eggs last year.

But the locust plague still weighed heavily on his mind.

Firstly, the scale of the locust plague far exceeded his expectations.

Last year, Li Shimin personally witnessed Chen Huai'an ordering the reclamation of wasteland and, incidentally, having people dig up locust eggs.

The locust eggs that were dug up were mostly frozen to death in the winter.

Even so, it's only March now, and the locusts have already begun to swarm in large numbers.

Li Shimin dared not imagine how terrible this year's locust plague would be, given that Chen Huai'an had not discovered it in time last year and had not dug up and eliminated so many locust eggs.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there are locusts all over the world, would it?

The famine from last year had just begun to ease, and now this year there's a locust plague. Li Shimin is almost numb to these successive natural disasters.

At this point, everyone was in a hurry to get on their way, so they rode horses instead of carriages.

Chen Huai'an, mounted on his horse, glanced at Li Shimin, seemingly guessing what he was thinking, and said, "Your Majesty, locust plagues are more likely to occur during droughts. When the weather is dry and water is scarce, riverbanks and wastelands are exposed, which is just right for locusts to lay their eggs. The eggs are not easily killed by rainwater, so they multiply over time."

"Therefore, there has been a saying since ancient times that a great drought is followed by a great locust plague."

"But it's alright, we have made plenty of preparations, the national treasury is full of money and food, the locusts cannot defeat us."

Chen Huai'an paused for a moment and said, "Do you remember what I said?"

"We must know that human determination can overcome nature!"

Li Shimin glanced at him: "You seem to have a very open-minded attitude."

"It's not that I'm easygoing, it's just that this thing is unreasonable." Chen Huai'an shrugged. "No matter what, the locusts that are meant to come will still come. Heaven won't target anyone, nor will it pity anyone."

"Only continuous self-improvement is the true path."

Du Ruhui nodded repeatedly: "That's right, Mr. Chen is right, Your Majesty. We have no choice but to strive for self-improvement."

Instead of worrying, think about how to minimize the losses.

Fang Xuanling said in a deep voice: "The most urgent task is to issue the second edition of the imperial gazette as soon as possible, and the wider the coverage, the better. Ideally, we should organize the people to kill locusts and protect the grain. At the same time, we should release the news that the imperial project will not stop, and that we will continue to recruit manpower, pay wages, and provide food to stabilize public sentiment."

"With money and grain in their hands, the people will have no worries about survival, and naturally there will be no chaos."

"Exterminate locusts?" Li Shimin's head throbbed at the mention of this. "Xuanling, you know perfectly well that the common people regard locusts as 'heavenly insects,' saying they are a punishment sent down by heaven. Who dares to exterminate them?"

"There was a locust plague last year, but it was smaller."

"At that time, local officials reported that the people were burning incense and worshipping, and watched helplessly as their crops were devoured, yet no one dared to do anything about it."

"How can you expect the people to eradicate the locusts?"

"Your Majesty, things are different now," Chen Huai'an said. "The past is the past, and the present is the present."

"Our purpose in publishing the court gazette is not just to target the various powerful families, but more importantly, to disseminate information."

Chen Huai'an had already thought of this problem.

The reason why locust plagues were so devastating in ancient times was not only due to the backward prevention and control methods, but more importantly, because the people were superstitious and believed that locusts were divine insects, so they dared not kill them.

Some people were even accused of defying nature by the local authorities for killing locusts.

He just couldn't understand it. The locusts ate the grain, leaving the people with nothing to eat, which was tantamount to taking their lives.

How can killing locusts still be considered defying the heavens?

"What are your thoughts?" Li Shimin asked solemnly.

"It's very simple, I certainly have the means, but..."

Li Shimin suddenly had a bad feeling, but now that things had come to this, he couldn't care less: "But what? What's your solution? Hurry up and tell me, stop dawdling like a woman."

Chen Huai'an coughed lightly: "However, my method... may require some effort from Your Majesty."

Li Shimin: "..."

Are you making me suffer again?

Is this never going to end?

"..."