As the saying goes, "The people take food as the sky". Only food can prolong life, and only if life can continue, other things have the possibility of completion. Nowadays, with the rapid improvement of living standards, as well as the merits of "hybrid rice" invented by Yuan Longping, people today are no longer worried about being full, and even our Chinese cuisine varieties are thousands, the richness is incredible, eating is no longer people's desire, eating well is people's daily consideration.
However, in ancient times, this was not the case, and in ancient times, the people were worried about food and hunger every day, and the person who saved them was named Chen Zhenlong.
Chen Zhenlong, who was a Confucian in his previous life, read poetry since childhood, and was a middle xiucai before he was twenty years old, but after getting tired of the imperial examination, he abandoned Confucianism to do business, moved his family to Nantaida Daopu in Minxian County, and went to Luzon (present-day Philippines) with the merchants to do business. It is known as the "father of sweet potatoes" by posterity. How did this title come about?
Sweet potato, because it was originally introduced by "outer tomato", so it is also called "sweet potato". Because the underground block is like a melon, the north of our country is also known as a sweet potato. Sweet potatoes have red, white, yellow, purple and other varieties, can fill the hunger, starch, wine. The resulting liquor is called "sweet potato roast" by the locals. Chen Zhenlong can be called the "father of sweet potatoes" because of a story.
In other words, most of the people in ancient times lived on agricultural crops, but the harvest was very small, and the resistance of crops in ancient times to natural disasters and man-made disasters was extremely poor, and it was easy to reduce the harvest, coupled with the limited manpower and effective land, after experiencing the devastation of disasters and paying taxes, it was left to the people themselves, and even to feed the family, so many people died of starvation in ancient times.
Chen Zhenlong, who was doing business in the Philippines, unexpectedly found that there was a local crop, which was not only drought-tolerant and easy to live, but also edible raw and cooked, with "six benefits and eight benefits, and the same five grains". The thought that this crop is so easy to feed and satisfy, if it is brought back to their hometown, then the fathers and villagers will not have to starve every day. So he quickly inquired about how to grow this crop.
However, in the process of inquiring, he was surprised to find that the place at that time was under the control of the Spanish government, and if he did not get his consent, taking the sweet potato out would cause himself to be killed. However, Chen Zhenlong thought of his hometown of "the Mountains and Seas of The Pass of Fujian, the barren soil and the people are poor, the rain is less troublesome, the hunger is saved, the occasional apology is old, and the food is waiting for food" So he ignored the Spanish government's ban on not allowing the export of zhu potatoes, twisted the potato vines into a water absorption rope, and crossed the sea back to Fuzhou for cultivation.
Qing Chen Shiyuan's "Records of Golden Potato Transmission" quoted the "Cailu Minhou Hezhi": "According to the sweet potato seeds, overseas Luzon was planted. During the Ming Dynasty, chen Zhenlong, a Min man, traded his land, obtained vine seedlings and planted them into China. Drought and hunger in Central Fujian. Zhenlongzi was very fruitful when inspector Jin Xue had tried to plant seeds, and could fill half of the grain. It is planted everywhere in the land of self-determination. ”
The introduction of sweet potatoes into Our country has improved the structure and recipes of china's crops and become one of the important foods for the famine relief in the old days of our country. According to ancient records, during the famine years, "the villagers lived in the potatoes seven out of ten" . During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, sweet potatoes were promoted to most parts of the country. And this is thanks to a vine brought by Chen Zhenlong's death, and he has become the savior of hundreds of people, so he is called the "father of sweet potatoes".
How good is sweet potato? In addition to filling the hunger, sweet potatoes also have many benefits.
Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty also clearly recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" that "sweet potatoes supplement weakness, strengthen spleen and appetizers, strengthen kidney yin" and "people in the sea have more longevity, and eat sweet potatoes so they are also".
Even, in order to promote Zhu potatoes, the Qianlong Emperor must eat Zhu potatoes at every meal and praise: "A good sweet potato!" Victory over ginseng! And in the forty-first year of Qianlong, the emperor issued an edict: "Push and plant sweet potatoes, thinking that they are prepared to save the wilderness."
Thanks to the promotion of sweet potatoes, the increase in mu yield, the improvement of water conservancy projects, and the implementation of disaster relief policies, the population of the Qing Dynasty achieved explosive growth. At that time, the population of the Western Han Dynasty had reached 60 million, but until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the population was only 100 million, but in Qianlong it soared to 200 million, and at the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was 40 million compatriots.
In the late Qing Dynasty, China fell into internal and external troubles, and the people at the bottom were burdened with heavy taxes, but fortunately, they did not starve to death and survived the humiliating century of modern times.
It can be said that the introduction of sweet potatoes has brought too many benefits to ancient China, and it has greatly alleviated the serious lack of food for ancient Chinese people and has become a life-saving supply for hundreds of millions of people.
Today, after thousands of years, sweet potato is still active in China and is the ingredient that has developed into many dishes. In gratitude to Chen Zhenlong, who brought sweet potatoes to China, during the light years of the Qing Dynasty, the people of Fuzhou built the "Xianshu Pavilion" on Wushi Mountain to commemorate this successful introduction.
What do you think about that?