During the Ming Dynasty, the merchant surnamed Chen in Fujian could not have imagined that the treasure he "stole" from Luzon would rewrite the fortunes of the country, directly leading to the population explosion at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and in the agricultural era, the "demographic dividend" was of course the most valuable resource in the geopolitical game.
In the age of great navigation, the Spaniards began to expand their territory overseas, and after Columbus discovered the American continent, he found a large number of agricultural products from the new colonies that had never been seen in Europe, including sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes can be eaten raw, can also be roasted to eat, if not too troublesome can also be ground into powder, the most important thing is that sweet potatoes almost do not pick the land, saline land, sand can be planted, the yield is frightening, after several turns, the colonists sent sweet potatoes to various trading points to try to plant.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, taizu Zhu Yuanzhang set a ban on the sea almost lost its enforcement value, coastal officials of course understand that overseas trade is more money than farming, at that time, the courage to open up the Fujian people almost traveled to Southeast Asian countries, they sold porcelain, tea, to the colonists, and then exchanged for domestic needs of materials, that year, Chen Zhenlong came to Luzon with his son, Luzon is one of the ancient countries of the Philippines, here, the father and son are destined to become the "thieves" in the annals of history.
The first encounter with sweet potatoes, Chen Zhenlong was stunned, sweet potatoes taste crisp and sweet, soft and delicious after cooking, mu yield is ten times that of rice, remembering the drought in Fujian over the years, it is simply a gift of heaven for grain, but this plant has been taken by the Spanish colonists as their own, want to take away? There are no doors.
The Chen father and son were not reconciled, they postponed the date of return, quietly waiting for the opportunity, and finally one day, Chen Zhenlong took advantage of the Spanish people's lack of attention to "steal" back the sweet potato vine, the huge rhizome wanted to deceive the customs, still need to do some homework.
Chen's father and son woven sweet potato vines and cables together overnight, and then wrapped them in mud, so they were confused, sweet potatoes came to Fujian the following year, but there is no policy for products, in the promotion process, Fujian Inspector Jinxue has played an important role.
That year in the drought in central Fujian, Chen Zhenlong wrote to the government office, asking for the promotion of the cultivation of sweet potatoes he brought back, Inspector Jin Xue was struggling to wait for rice to be cooked, heard that the sweet potato production was extremely large, so he ordered pilot planting, four months later the first batch of sweet potato harvest, he was overjoyed, immediately ordered to increase the scale of planting, sweet potatoes in the East on the stage of history, the following hundred years, gave birth to the world's superpopulation.
The population at the beginning of the Wanli Calendar was only more than 60 million, and before chongzhen's fall, the population of China exceeded 100 million, although the Xiaoice river period and the war superimposed, but the cultivation of sweet potatoes did not stop, continuing to the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese mouth has reached 400 million.
The so-called "Qiankang Prosperous World" is based on sweet potatoes, and the contribution of Chen Zhenlong's father and son to Chinese civilization is far greater than that of the "Ming Jun" of successive dynasties and dynasties, and is worthy of eternal praise by future generations.