Chapter 47 Old Zhu’s eyes are red with anger. If anyone dares to prevent the Ming Dynasty from obtaining this magical fruit, I, Old Zhu, will lead my troops to destroy him!
Just when everyone was full of anticipation and eager to know what could have such magical power.

Pictures of sweet potatoes appeared on the sky screen.

[Risping his own life to take a vine from a foreigner, the Chinese population increased by 3 million. ]

[In Chinese history, there was a man who risked his life to bring back a vine from Luzon.]

【The Chinese population increased from 0.7 million at the end of the Ming Dynasty to 4 million at the end of the Qing Dynasty.】

Yongle period.

In the court, the ministers were discussing the matter.

"4 million compatriots, that is, 4 million people... How could there be such a magical thing in the world that can feed so many people?"

Seeing this terrifying number, Zhu Di, who was sitting on the dragon throne, was also amazed.

You know, famine has always been a difficult problem for emperors of all dynasties.

It is a well-known fact that the common people will rebel if they cannot get enough food to eat and cannot survive.

Especially since Zhu Di was born a rebel and became emperor, he often talked about this matter. Through his words and deeds, Zhu Di understood the truth of this matter very well.

He stood up and put his hands on his waist and said, "In the first year of Yongle, famine broke out in Beijing, Zhili, Shandong, Henan and other places."

"In the second year of Yongle, famine occurred in Songjiang, Jiaxing, Suzhou, Huzhou and other places."

"Since the 35th year of Hongwu, there have been more than 200 famines caused by floods, droughts, and locusts. Many people have been displaced because of insufficient rain and poor harvests..."

Zhu Di looked up at the sweet potato on the sky and sighed: "God is really kind to the people of the Ming Dynasty. He has bestowed grace on me and let me know about this magical object..."

"God bless the Ming Dynasty!"

"God bless your majesty!"

Below the stage, the ministers all congratulated him.

Zhu Gaochi laughed heartily and said, "Your Majesty, the most urgent thing is to call Zheng He immediately and have someone find out the location of Luzon and find this divine Teng."

"Yes, Your Majesty, you should send a fleet to search for this magical object as soon as possible!"

Zhu Gaoxu also said excitedly: "With this magical item, our population will at least double or triple in time! We will have people and food, and more than a million elite soldiers. By then, who cares about the Oirat Jurchens? Our Ming army will sweep all the way and destroy them directly!"

Han Wang Zhu Gaoxu's words immediately caused all the ministers to laugh and nod in agreement.

"From this perspective, my lifting of the Ming maritime ban and ordering Zheng He to sail to the Western Ocean was a good move."

Zhu Di had a smile on his face and looked at Zhu Gaochi meaningfully: "Prince, didn't you always say that I wasted our national strength by sending Zheng He to the West? Now it seems that you, the prince, were wrong."

"Father is right." Zhu Gaochi said with a smile, "It is because I am short-sighted that I do not understand the foresight of Father."

Zhu Di felt quite relieved when he heard this.

In the court, there were many doubts about the voyage to the West, and some people thought that Zhu Di was wasting the country's money.

It turns out that he was right!

Friendly exchanges at home and abroad, being as close as a family, and promoting the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty, which one does not have a far-reaching impact?
Moreover, it was because of his national policy of sailing to the West that the Ming treasure ships and experienced navigators like Zheng He came into being.

Because of this, it is more certain to go to Luzon to look for Shen Teng. Otherwise, it will take several years just to build the treasure ship and train the sailors.

But ordinary people cannot wait, the people in famine cannot wait, and I cannot wait even more!
……

[This story begins in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. ]

[At that time, there was a Fujian scholar named Chen Zhenlong. He was discouraged because he failed the imperial examinations many times. So he simply gave up the imperial examinations and followed his fellow countrymen to Southeast Asia to do business.]

[Chen Zhenlong followed the caravan to Manila on the east coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Here, he saw sweet potato fields all over the mountains. He tasted sweet potatoes for the first time in his life and felt the unique sweet aroma of sweet potatoes and the satisfying feeling of fullness. Sweet potatoes left a deep impression on Chen Zhenlong.]

[Later, Chen Zhenlong learned that sweet potatoes are not only easy to grow, they will grow just by throwing them into the ground, and they are not picky about the soil. They can survive even if there is no rain or fertilizer. They are drought-resistant, barren-resistant, easy to transplant and easy to reproduce. They are rich in nutrients, taste sweet, and have a very high yield.]

【Thinking of the disasters that had hit his hometown over the years, the people suffered from famine, food shortages, and hardship, Chen Zhenlong immediately decided to bring the sweet potato back to his hometown to promote it so that everyone could have enough to eat and no longer suffer from hunger. 】【However, at that time, Luzon regarded the sweet potato as a "national treasure" and strictly prohibited its export. 】

[Faced with strict inspections at various ports, Chen Zhenlong and his son learned how to grow and raise sweet potatoes from local people, asked for advice from local people, and waited for the opportunity.]

[In the 21st year of the Wanli reign, Chen Zhenlong hid sweet potatoes in a box for the first time. After being discovered, the customs confiscated the sweet potatoes.]

[The second time, he wove the sweet potato vines into the rattan fence, but it was still discovered. Chen Zhenlong was beaten severely and almost thrown into prison. Fortunately, he used all his connections and spent a large sum of money to escape successfully.]

[Chen Zhenlong, unwilling to give up, decided to try again. This time he came up with a clever trick: wrap the sweet potato vines around the boat's water-absorbing rope and deliberately dirty the rope to cover it up.]

[With careful disguise, Chen Zhenlong finally managed to evade customs inspection and embarked on the journey back to his hometown in Fujian. ]

【After seven days and seven nights of sailing, we finally brought the sweet potatoes back to Fujian safely. 】

[After returning home, Chen Zhenlong immediately started to try growing sweet potatoes near his home.]

[There was a severe drought that year, and the harvest was poor. Chen Zhenlong asked his son to write a letter to the governor of Fujian. The government adopted Chen Zhenlong's suggestion and promoted the planting of sweet potatoes on a large scale.]

[Sweet potatoes are extremely cheap. During the Wanli period, it was recorded that one pound cost less than one cent, and two pounds was enough to fill a stomach. It was precisely because of the emergence of sweet potatoes that countless lives were saved.]

[At that time in Fujian, many old people and children were able to survive the famine by eating sweet potatoes, and all this was thanks to Chen Zhenlong who risked his life to bring sweet potatoes back to China.]

[As the scale of cultivation increases, sweet potatoes have been given many names. Because it looks like a melon but grows underground, some people call it sweet potato. And because it comes from foreign countries, it is also called sweet potato. ]

[The large-scale planting of sweet potatoes gave the people the confidence to face famine, and the population of China began to grow rapidly, from 7000 million in the late Ming Dynasty to million in the late Qing Dynasty.]

[During the Anti-Japanese War and for quite a long time after the founding of the People's Republic of China, sweet potatoes played an extremely important role. ]

【Chen Zhenlong is also known as the father of sweet potatoes in my country. 】

……

'It's easy to grow, it grows as soon as you throw it in the ground, it tastes sweet and it has a very high yield.'

"The price is extremely low, less than one cent per pound, and even the elderly and children can survive on sweet potatoes during famines..."

Hongwu period.

Looking at these words, Lao Zhu's eyes turned red!

"Divine fruit! This is simply a divine fruit!"

"If China had such a magical item, my parents and my elder brother would never have starved to death!"

Old Zhu excitedly grabbed Zhu Biao's arm and said, "Biao'er, pass on my order and send someone to Luzon immediately to bring this magical fruit back to Ming!"

"Father, please don't worry."

Seeing Zhu's impatience, Zhu Biao comforted him, "Father, in my opinion, our first task is to find out the location of Luzon, then lift the maritime ban, announce it to the world, offer high positions and generous salaries, and recruit people with lofty ideals to go out to sea to search for it."

"Secondly, the imperial court built treasure ships and trained the navy. Since Luzon regards the sweet potatoes as a 'national treasure', it shows how much they value them. If they refuse to hand over the sweet potatoes, we can use the Ming navy to deter them and negotiate with them."

"That makes sense, but there is no need to negotiate with a tiny country like Luzon. If they dare to prevent the Ming Dynasty from obtaining this divine fruit, I, Zhu, will directly lead my army to destroy them!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said domineeringly.

Sweet potato sweet potato.

A fruit owned by a vassal state.

In Zhu's opinion, Luzon had such precious fruits but did not want to pay tribute and secretly kept them, which was a way to his own death!

Don’t think that Lao Zhu is overbearing, this is his usual style.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, Japanese pirates have begun to harass the coast of China. In the first year of the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese pirates invaded Pengzhou, not only robbing property but also killing civilians.

(End of this chapter)