Section 29: The wise and the foolish

The situation at home was very strange. When the old lady looked at Yun Ye, she lowered her head and laughed twice. Auntie and auntie always made clothes for him endlessly, and they were always thinking about how to make him look more beautiful.

Every day, he went to let the pigs out. Gradually, there were things jumping around on the meadow, from a little black dot to gradually turning yellow. Several of them could even fly a few steps. Yun Ye’s mood was getting worse and worse.

He hadn’t received any news from Zuowei’s army for a long time, and he didn’t know whether Cheng Chumo and the others were good or bad. Had they arrived there? Had they encountered any battles? Had they been injured? Yun Ye didn’t know!

How is Li Jing going to use 3,000 men to attack Xie Li? It’s already May, is he waiting for winter to come? Yun Ye doesn’t know!

Where are the potatoes planted? Who will plant them? Who is Li Er going to use the locusts to fight against? Who is the exact target? Yun Ye doesn’t know!

Marginalized! This is the most correct answer that Yun Ye gave himself in his heart.

A person cannot be too outstanding, because if he is, he will be isolated from the group. People will subconsciously keep their distance from you. There is a famous saying in the future: a person who takes half a step further than the masses is generally called a genius, one who takes one step further is called a god, and one who takes two steps further is only a madman.

Yun Ye felt that he was now being isolated as a madman.

Lao Cheng hasn’t written for a long time, and neither has Lao Niu. They no longer have any problems to ask Yun Ye about.

Yun Ye could imagine that Li Er’s hands, which pointed east and then west, were controlling everything. From the last time Li Chengqian hesitated to speak, he knew that all changes came from the highest power center.

I am a fool. This is how Yun Ye sees himself. The courtiers want Yun Ye to be a fool. This is the result they are striving for. Yun Ye must be a fool. This is the verdict in Li Er’s heart.

Since we are all fools, we must do what only fools can do.

So in order to eat pork, Yun Ye had all the farmers in the village raise pigs, and if he liked egg soup, he had all the farmers in the village raise chickens. If he liked pigs, he would personally go out and let them loose.

In this way, everyone is happy. No one accuses Yun Ye of being undignified, and no one discourages this perverse behavior. They all wait for Yun Ye to make a fool of himself and burst out the funniest joke.

Standing on the top of the Jade Mountain, Yun Ye faced the wind, tore open his clothes, and let the cold mountain wind blow across his chest. He used all his strength and shouted loudly towards Chang’an, “You are all a bunch of idiots, waiting to see my joke. Wait another thousand years.”

After getting dressed and coming down the mountain, he resumed his smiling and amiable appearance, constantly greeting the villagers and talking about the poultry and livestock at home.

The villagers found that raising pigs was not a big deal, except that it was a bit more labor-intensive. The chickens laid eggs all the time, and every day the children chased the chickens, ducks and geese, carrying a small basket. The ducks had the bad habit of laying eggs all the time, so they had to be careful. , they would go to the Yun family to pay the rent. When the wheat was harvested, the eggs and duck eggs would replace the rent for the year, and they would be able to save enough grain for the whole year. This was something they had never dared to dream of before. They would also have eggs and duck eggs to eat from time to time, and the children had been looking forward to it for many years.

Seeing the farmers working in the fields day and night, Yun Ye really wanted to tell them that it was useless. When the locusts in the fields grew up, they would not have the harvest they hoped for, and everything they did would be in vain.

I heard that several princes’ families have bought a lot of grain. The Changsun family, the Fang family, and the Du family have also bought a lot. At this time of year, merchants usually release a large amount of grain to make room for new grain in their warehouses.

This year is very strange. Instead of releasing old grain, the price of grain has increased.

Everyone, except the common people, is waiting for the arrival of the locusts to achieve their own different goals.

The Yun family had already made preparations. The residents of Zhaoguo Square had bought enough grain from grain merchants a year ago, with 300 jin for you and 500 jin for me, without attracting attention. Because of the long preparation time, it did not arouse anyone’s suspicion. It was said that the poor people in Zhaoguo Square had a little money and bought grain, because they were so hungry. The Cheng and Niu families were also well prepared. They just didn’t sell last year’s grain.

The emperor and the noble lords had their way.

A strong horse carrying a messenger with a red flag on his back brought them the long-awaited news: locusts had swarmed over Tongguan, covering the sky and destroying crops and vegetation everywhere they went.

“The court is buying up locusts, three jin for one coin. The court is opening up its granaries to feed the people.”

The court was calm and collected, and Wei Zheng was a little surprised at the court’s efficiency, especially when several senior officials seemed to be relieved and even had a look of joy on their faces.

As the horses arrived in the capital one after another, the map of the entire region was covered with yellow flags of disaster, from Tongguan, Fufeng, Huaxian, Fengxiang, Jingyang, Sanyuan, to Qishan, Zhouzhi, and then to Chencang. No one could laugh anymore, not even Li Er.

The disaster was too great, far exceeding Li’s psychological defense. He did not react at first, which was his biggest mistake. Yun Ye had said that it would be a great disaster, but he didn’t care. Last year’s locust plague only appeared in two states, and this year he was prepared for the disaster in five states.

Now, it’s twenty-seven states!

“Xuan Yanyu is entering the capital!” Li Er punched the armrest of the dragon throne, and blood oozed out. The eunuch was about to call out, but Li Er’s wolf-like eyes forced the words back into his stomach.

“Your Majesty, General Yun has taken leave, saying that he is following Sun Simiao to the depths of the Qinling Mountains to collect medicine. Now he is nowhere to be found.” The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel stepped forward to report.

“Find him, even if you have to dig up the ground three feet, find him for me.” Li Er’s face was furious.

In the depths of the Qinling Mountains, the ancient trees are thick and dense, and unknown vines entwine the pines, blocking the sky tightly. Squirrels jump around in the trees looking for food, and from time to time they run to the ground to pick up last year’s pine cones and carefully check to see if they are still there. A clear voice breaks the silence of the forest. The little squirrel quickly climbs up the tree trunk and hides in the tree hole to listen to this strange sound.

“You’ve always been lazy, but this time you actually went into the mountains with the old master to collect herbs. I’m afraid there’s something wrong. What are you hiding from?” A middle-aged man in a Taoist robe appeared under the pine tree.

“I thought the Taoist priest wouldn’t ask questions, but I didn’t expect you to hold back for five days. You finally couldn’t help yourself.” Yun Ye was wearing the same clothes, carrying a bow and quiver on his back, a horizontal sword at his waist, and a wooden stick in his hand that kept poking at the grass.

Zhuang San, Liu Jinbao and the other three guards were wearing leather armor, holding bows, and fully armed. Every time they stopped, they protected Sun Simiao and Yun Ye in the center.

“What is it? This time you urged the old Taoist to enter the mountain. Don’t use me as a pretext. Let’s get it clear so that I don’t feel uneasy.” Sun Simiao took out a water bottle and drank some water, then asked.

“The kid lit a bunch of fires to remind everyone to be careful of fire and not get burned, but it backfired. Some people thought fire was a good thing, so they brought a lot of firewood to the fire, and now the fire is out of control. The kid is powerless to put it out, so he’s just running away.”

“What fire?”

“Locusts. A huge plague of locusts. I can talk about it now. I was dying of suffocation. The emperor forbade me to talk about it, but now it’s okay. The locusts are flying all over the world. There’s no way to hide them.”

“Are there locusts outside the forest now?”

“Yes, it’s covering the sky, filling the valleys and the fields. The whole area is full of them. Just imagine, the locusts flying up like a sandstorm, how spectacular it is! Let the locusts come more violently! I’m warning you, everyone is trying to make a profit, waiting to get rich, waiting to make a profit, go to hell, I don’t care, I’ve prepared 15,000 strings of cash to buy locusts, three jin for one string, which can buy 45 million jin, I’m waiting for you to catch so many locusts, as long as you can catch them, I’ll take them as pants!