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

"Sir, have we left the city yet?"

Two carriages slowly drove out of Chang'an City, and Li Chengqian, who was leaning against the carriage window, was somewhat excited.

He rarely left the city, and even when he did, he was always with Li Shimin, because the pressure was too great.

However, when he was with Chen Huai'an, he didn't feel that pressure, so he finally showed some of the behavior a child should have.

Instead of the Crown Prince Li Chengqian in the palace.

"Yes, we've already left the city," Chen Huai'an said gently. "This time, we're going to see the locust plague with our own eyes. Your father asked me to bring you along, and his intentions are self-evident."

"So from now on you'll stay by my side, and ask me any questions you have, understand?"

"Of course... whatever you find interesting, you can have fun with it too. The master's eyesight is sometimes poor, so you have to seize the opportunity."

Li Chengqian's eyes lit up, but he said with a serious expression, "Sir, what kind of person do you take me for?"

"I don't like playing!"

"Is that so?" Chen Huai'an raised an eyebrow, said nothing, and looked at him with a half-smile.

Li Chengqian lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly: "Sir, perhaps you sometimes have hearing problems too?"

Chen Huai'an: "..."

He glared at Li Chengqian with annoyance: "That's enough. When you get back, your father will definitely test you. Don't just play around later."

"Chengqian understands!" Li Chengqian nodded and remembered those words.

There are many counties and villages around Chang'an City, and Zhang Peng's home is in Xiaoxi Village, not far from Chang'an City.

As its name suggests, Xiaoxi Village is named so because there is a small stream next to the village with clear water that glistens in the breeze.

Looking up, several women were washing clothes by the stream downstream.

Logically speaking, when a group of women gather together to wash clothes, they are usually chatting and laughing, or gossiping about someone else's family.

But now everyone has lost that thought, because the area around Xiaoxi Village is swarming with locusts, their flapping wings a constant commotion.

"Sir, we've arrived!"

Wang Bai, who was driving the carriage outside, called out, and Chen Huai'an led Li Chengqian down from the carriage. Zhang Peng followed beside Wang Bai, with two guards behind them.

"So many locusts..." Li Chengqian muttered to himself as he looked around. He had seen locusts the last time he went out with Li Shimin and the others to collect the remains.

But the locusts of that time were nothing compared to the locusts of today.

The grass beside the stream was covered with locusts, which were constantly eating the grass, and a large number of locusts were flying and moving in the sky.

Zhang Peng sighed, "This is already considered a small number. Everyone has been killing locusts these days. At the end of April, the locusts were truly numerous, covering the sky and earth."

"This is still considered low..." Li Chengqian couldn't help but gape, he had never seen such a scene before.

"That's indeed a small number." Chen Huai'an nodded. "During the Wude era, when I came to Chang'an to take the imperial examination, I witnessed a locust plague. The number was countless; the entire sky was densely covered with locusts, and you couldn't see the end of them."

"Compared to other places, this is indeed a small amount."

Zhang Peng puffed out his chest and said, "Yes, the locusts were like this at the end of April, but these days everyone has been catching and killing locusts. One day, we will burn all the locusts to death."

Li Chengqian remained silent.

In just a few words, he gradually understood why even his father, his teacher, and ministers like Wei Zheng took the locust plague so seriously.

He even went so far as to issue an imperial edict ordering the people to kill locusts, and said that if Heaven blamed him, he would bear the consequences alone.

Many things are unimaginable unless you see them with your own eyes.

Just like Li Chengqian knew that the disaster victims were suffering, but he had no concept of it before. It wasn't until the first year of Zhenguan that Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun personally took him to distribute porridge, and he realized how much the disaster victims were suffering.

"Xiao Pengzi, you're back so early today?"

Just then, a middle-aged woman who had finished washing clothes and was carrying a wooden basin walked over, which surprised me.

But upon seeing Chen Huai'an and Li Chengqian, they stopped in their tracks.

She couldn't tell from a distance, but as she got closer, she realized that the two people's attire was beyond ordinary.

He is definitely not an ordinary person.

"Aunt Xiao," Zhang Peng greeted her with a smile, "I had something to do today, so I came back early."

Aunt Xiao looked at Chen Huai'an and Li Chengqian hesitantly, then pulled Zhang Peng aside and asked in a low voice, "Little Peng, who are these two? They don't look like ordinary people. What are you doing here...?"

"Aunt Xiao, this is Minister Chen!" Zhang Peng quickly introduced, "He's the Minister Chen who ordered the land reclamation and sent Uncle Zhang to do it. This is His Highness the Crown Prince."

"Didn't you always say that your family's life improved thanks to Minister Chen? Now that Minister Chen has come, why don't you recognize him?"

"What?!"

Aunt Xiao was stunned. She stared blankly at Chen Huai'an, who returned a smile and said, "Hello."

She spoke very softly, but Chen Huai'an's hearing was exceptional, so he heard everything she said.

Chen Huai'an didn't seem to care. This aunt didn't look like a bad person; she was probably just worried that something might happen to Zhang Peng.

"Ouch!"

Aunt Xiao slapped her thigh, and the wooden basin she was holding instantly fell to the ground, spilling the freshly washed clothes inside and covering them with dust.

"You silly child, why didn't you tell me sooner that Minister Chen was coming?! How would a peasant woman like me know Minister Chen?!"

After saying that, she quickly came to Chen Huai'an and said excitedly, "Minister Chen, please come inside. Xiao Pengzi is still young and doesn't know any better. Please don't blame him if he has offended anyone."

"Don't be nervous," Chen Huai'an said gently. "I came here today to ask Zhang Peng to show me the way. I heard that the locust plague in your area was originally very serious, but recently the locusts have been killed and the number has decreased a lot. I wanted to come and see for myself."

"Okay, okay, take a look... take a look, I'll show you right now... no, no, I'll show you right now." Aunt Xiao was very nervous and was already somewhat incoherent.

Li Chengqian watched from the side and roughly understood that Aunt Xiao was very grateful to the gentleman.

Most ordinary people are afraid when they see high-ranking officials, but this woman was different; she was only excited.

Chen Huai'an said, both amused and exasperated, "No need, just have Zhang Peng show me. Your clothes are undone, so wash them again. Don't delay things."

"No problem, no problem." Aunt Xiao quickly shook her head and pulled Zhang Peng over. "In that case, let Xiao Peng show you around. You must be hungry after your long journey. I'll prepare some food for you."

"I have some cured pork at home. Wait here, I'll go make it for you right away."

As she spoke, Aunt Xiao quickly instructed Zhang Peng to lead the way carefully and not to delay Minister Chen's business, and then she immediately ran off.

As he ran, he shouted, "Everyone, come out quickly! Minister Chen has come to our village! Everyone, bring out whatever you have to entertain Minister Chen properly!"

Chen Huai'an: "..."

"......"