Hearing Ma Mingfeng's words, the clerks in Class 3 and Room 6 were all stunned. They did not expect that the first thing the new magistrate did when he took office was to catch locusts, and his attitude was so firm.

Because this matter does not involve disputes of interest, and the new magistrate also talks about the emperor's orders. The most important thing is that the new magistrate clearly stated that if there is any retribution, everything will be with him, so all these people agreed.

So Ma Mingfeng ordered the clerks in three classes and six rooms to make publicity as much as possible, telling them that early the next morning, the new magistrate would lead the yamen runners from the magistrate's yamen to catch locusts in the fields of the eastern suburbs, hoping that the people would follow and take action to preserve the crops in the fields.

Until now, the clerks didn't know whether the new magistrate was an enemy or a friend, but judging from yesterday's performance, they should not target them, so they are now thinking about showing their cooperative attitude. When launching publicity, they worked very hard to mobilize their relatives, friends, and villagers in the village as much as possible and take them to watch the magistrate's locust-killing operation early the next morning.

After hearing this news, almost some people were surprised because they did not expect that the prefect would lead the masses to destroy locusts so boldly. According to the normal process, shouldn’t he go to the Locust Temple to pray for the end of the locust plague early? In this way, he would offend the locust god directly, and it would likely lead to greater revenge.

However, since it was the decision of the prefect, how could these ordinary people be qualified to oppose it? They really want to see if the prefect's method of destroying locusts is effective? What's more, the prefect also said that the prefect will be borne by the prefect alone, so they don't have to worry about it.

So on the next day, many ordinary people spontaneously went to the eastern suburbs to watch the prefect kill locusts. For a moment, the eastern suburbs of Kaifeng became lively, and the onlookers were crowded with people, which was very lively.

Ma Mingfeng led the three squads and six corpses, the servants and the guards under his command came to the eastern suburbs early. When the people gathered, he shouted to the surroundings: "My fellow villagers, before I became the prefect of Kaifeng, I had heard that Kaifeng suffered a disaster, first it was a drought, and then it was a locust plague. When facing the drought, I believe you can still grit your teeth and deal with it, but when facing the locust plague, I feel powerless because all the villagers think that the locust plague is a disaster brought by the emperor and heaven. This is God punishing us. In fact, this idea is wrong. Locusts are also a kind of insect. In the Hetian field

There is no difference between various pests. When facing locust plague, the only thing we have to do is to eliminate locust plague and protect our crops. This has also happened in history, but you don’t know. In this year’s palace examination, I personally proposed to the emperor to eliminate locusts and protect crops. After hearing this, the emperor ordered the trial in the capital. Now the locusts in the capital are no longer afflicted. At least the crops in this season have been preserved. I know that you may not believe what I said, so I personally led the officials in the palace to catch locusts today, so that you can see if you have received retribution for catching locusts."

Ma Mingfeng then ordered the start of construction.

After the order was issued, Ma Mingfeng began to take the initiative to catch the locusts. He used window screens to make a mesh cover to cover the flying locusts, captured the locusts and put them in a container with a lid.

Behind Ma Mingfeng, Yu Zhenlong, Liu Zhaolin, Jiang Pingjie, Ni Zhihua and the guards all followed suit. The busy Zhuo had locusts, and even Liu Zhaoqi was very busy, but the yamen runners in Kaifeng Prefecture were hesitant and just waited and didn't dare to take action.

After a while, seeing Ma Mingfeng and others catching locusts in large quantities without hesitation, Gao Yong from the military room also resolutely joined in and tried his best to catch locusts. Then, in the fast shift, a constable walked in bravely and began to catch locusts in a hurry.

Then other yamen runners joined one after another. However, overall, these yamen runners were not very enthusiastic, and most of them were watching coldly, especially the other clerks in the third and six rooms. They said they were righteous last night, but now they were shrank their necks one by one, for fear that they would involve them.

At this time, Ma Mingfeng had already caught hundreds of locusts. He turned around and looked back, and found that everyone was not very motivated, so he ordered everyone to stop first.

"Did the new prefect retreat when he was in trouble?" Seeing this scene, the yamen runners were all secretly glad that they had not taken action. Otherwise, they would have offended the Locust God and I wonder what kind of retribution they should get?

Even the onlookers were secretly amused in their hearts, as it seemed that the new magistrate finally realized his mistake.

Of course, Ma Mingfeng knew what everyone was thinking, but he did not say what everyone thought, but said loudly: "You only know that locusts are pests, but you don't know that locusts are also a delicious dish, right? Today, I will have a locust feast in front of you!"

"ah......"

"What? This..."

"hiss......"

“…”

When everyone present, including Yu Zhenlong and others, were shocked. They did not expect that the new prefect would be so crazy that they even ate locusts?

However, Ma Mingfeng did what he said. He came to the field, set a fire, put it in a pot, add water, and after it boiled, he threw the locusts into it and cooked it, and then added salt and various ingredients. After it was cooked, he picked up one and tasted it first, and exclaimed loudly: "It's really delicious!"

The people around him couldn't help but feel their stomachs twitch when they saw this scene. They thought that the new prefect was really perverted. Can they bear eating this thing?

Ma Mingfeng then made locust food in a variety of ways, poured the pot and fryed it, roasted it on fire, served it one by one, and ate it for a while, then said to the people who stared at him, "Who will try it? This is a natural and pollution-free delicacy."

As soon as Ma Mingfeng said this, many people immediately started to retching.

Ma Mingfeng shook his head and sighed, "You don't know the benefits of this thing if you haven't tasted it."

At this moment, a prisoner stepped forward and said, "Master, the villain wants to taste the food you cook. I wonder if you have this qualification?"

Ma Mingfeng looked at the prisoner and asked, "Who are you? What crime do you have committed? I tell you, if you commit a serious crime, I won't let you eat this delicious food."

The prisoner lowered his head and said, "The villain's surname is Xu, and his name is Xu Anxin. Because he had no food at home, he went to a wealthy family to steal food in the middle of the night. Anyway, since he was thrown into prison, he has eaten rotten rice for three consecutive days. Even this is the only one bowl every day. Anyway, the villain's life is a rotten one. Is it worse? Since adults dare to eat this locust feast, what are the villain afraid of? Even if this locust is more unpalatable than rotten rice, how can it be eaten?"

After hearing this, Ma Mingfeng smiled and said, "This locust rice can be eaten for you, but you have to remember that you can't eat too much, at most a bowl. If you want to eat it again, you can catch it yourself."

Xu Anxin is just plucking up the courage to find something to eat now. It is probably good to have a few bites. Even if he wants to eat more, it is impossible. So when he heard Ma Mingfeng say this, he agreed without thinking.

Then Ma Mingfeng gave Xu Anxin a bowl of locusts with a smile, telling him not to worry and eat slowly.

Xu Anxin's hands were trembling in that bowl. He felt that the new magistrate was just trying to pretend. In fact, the locust must not be delicious.

But anyway, I have also tried my best to fill my stomach.

Thinking of this, Xu Anxin picked up a locust and stuffed it directly into his mouth. He swallowed it without even chewing it.

However, Xu Anxin immediately felt a delicious taste coming from his mouth and was stunned. Could this locust really taste good?

So Xu Anxin gritted his teeth, picked up another one, closed his eyes and took a bite slowly, and at the same time he planned to spit it out if it tasted bad.

However, he was stunned because the locust tasted really delicious, and it was better than the best food he had ever eaten.

So Xu Anxin shouted "It's delicious", and then ate all the bowl of boiled locusts like the wind storing the broken clouds.
Chapter completed!