During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the land of Fujian suffered a severe drought, the grain was not harvested, hundreds of people were hungry and wandering, and the whole society fell into a turbulent situation. Jin Xue, the governor of Fujian, had a headache, and this situation continued, not to mention the official position, and too many people starved to death to explain to the imperial court.
On this day, Governor Jin, who was at a loss in the Yamen, received a letter, which was like a lightning bolt in the darkness, which made Governor Jin's eyes light up. The letter, written by a local businessman, Chen Zhenlong, and his son, Chen Jinglun, contained a proposal on how to save the famine.
Chen Zhenlong, a native of Changle County, Fujian, was admitted to Xiucai at the age of 20, and if the imperial examination went well, the Ming Dynasty would have one more mediocre bureaucrat. But fate took a turn after Chen Zhenlong won Xiucai, he tried and failed, and finally broke off the idea of entering the office. At that time, the sea ban in the Ming Dynasty was not as strict as later, and some of Chen Zhenlong's fellow villagers followed the merchant ships to and from Luzon to make a lot of money at sea, and Chen Zhenlong joined this industry.
At that time, Luzon was a Spanish colony, and the business was very developed, and cultural people like Chen Zhenlong quickly started business and became rich. He discovered that the local staple food, called the sweet potato, tasted sweet and soft, was satiety, and had a high yield, and it was not only the root of the sweet potato, but also the leaves. Chen Zhenlong thought that if his hometown of Fujian could also grow this thing, then the people would not have to starve, so he wanted to buy some and bring them back to China.
However, the locals did not sell it to him, because the sweet potato was delicious and easy to grow, and the yield was high, and the local people relied on this to solve the problem of food shortage, which was a national treasure in the local area, and the Spanish colonists also regarded it as a strategic material, strictly forbidden to export, and the smugglers may even lose their lives.
Chen Zhenlong was unwilling and smuggled sweet potatoes back to China three times. The first time he cooked the sweet potato, mixed it with some raw, and carried it in the baggage to prepare for the boat, but it was quickly checked out, the cooked can be taken away, and the raw one is left, in view of the fact that it is a first offense, Chen Zhenlong was not punished.
The second time, Chen Zhenlong didn't bring sweet potatoes, but brought a few sweet potato vines, braided them in a vegetable basket, and put other things in the basket to hide people's eyes. However, the inspection officers and soldiers in Luzon were not vegetarians, and this trick could not deceive them, and they were found out again. This time it was not so easy to pass the test, he was beaten violently and put in prison, if it weren't for the money and the efforts of his fellow villagers to rescue him, Chen Zhenlong might not have been able to get out this time.
After being released from prison, Chen Zhenlong still did not give up, and when he was recuperating from his injuries, he lay on the bed and meditated, and finally came up with a good solution. It is said that it is a good way because it has succeeded, but in fact, the risk is still very high. He braided sweet potato vines with the cables of merchant ships and covered them with mud on the outside. Probably because it was "dark under the lights", the inspectors checked the boat up and down, but no one paid attention to the cables. Finally, this time Chen Zhenlong "stole" the sweet potato vine back to Fujian.
After coming back, Chen Zhenlong did not do business, concentrated on planting sweet potatoes, and finally harvested the first batch of sweet potatoes after 4 months, so Chen Zhenlong ordered his son Chen Jinglun to the governor to write "Offering Potato Vine Seed Law Ceremony", Jin Xue was overjoyed after learning the origin of this sweet potato, and ordered it to be promoted, "Teach the people to plant it as grain food." Because of the red skin of sweet potatoes, it is also called sweet potato.
After summarizing the planting experience, Chen Jinglun, the son of Chen Zhenlong, wrote the "Law of Teaching Seed Potatoes". Not only do they give potato seedlings, but they also teach their compatriots how to plant them.
Since then, Chen Zhenlong's descendants have been engaged in sweet potato cultivation, and his descendants have promoted sweet potatoes to all parts of the country. Through the efforts of seven generations of Chen Zhenlong's descendants, by the time of the "Kangqian Prosperous Era," the Chinese population had increased by 300 million.
Chen Zhenlong's great-grandson, Chen Yizhu, popularized potato seeds and planting techniques from central Fujian to the Yangtze River Valley. During the Qianlong period, Chen Shiyuan, the fifth grandson of Chen Zhenlong, together with his friends Yu Ruiyuan and Liu Xi, introduced sweet potatoes to Shandong and promoted them in various parts of the north. The compilation published China's first sweet potato monograph, "Golden Potato Biography", which preserves the historical data of sweet potatoes introduced from abroad and promoted to all parts of the country, and is a valuable historical document of agricultural science.
Therefore, people call Chen Zhenlong the "father of sweet potatoes". The locals also built a "first potato pavilion" to commemorate Chen Zhenlong, and thank him for risking his life to bring potato vines back to the motherland, saving hundreds of millions of compatriots, and promoting sweet potato cultivation for generations. The couplet on the first potato pavilion reads:
Attracting potatoes is far away from Dezhen Mazu
Saving the people from famine is better than Shennong
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