Why is it said that without Zhu Yuanzhang, perhaps today would be even more desolate?

Suddenly, it’s Arbor Day again. On this day, vigorous afforestation has aroused people's attention to the increasingly severe ecological and environmental problems.

Many times at this time, we don’t care about the harvest, we just plant the form and plant the hope. I have spent many festivals like this.

I wonder how much was planted and how much survived? Maybe it's a big number. But the deterioration of the ecological environment far exceeds our compensation for nature.

The natural environment presented to us is a bit desolate, but looking at the history, we are actually a little relieved, even scared.

Because, if it weren’t for this person, perhaps today’s ecological environment would be even worse.

This person is Zhu Yuanzhang. For a long time, mountain forest resources were owned by the dynasty. All dynasties made certain contributions to the protection of forest resources, but none of them were as great as Zhu Yuanzhang's contribution. Judging from his contribution to afforestation, he can be said to be the best in history.

Zhu Yuanzhang led a massive afforestation movement in the early years of the Ming Dynasty. According to records, in the 23rd year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the planting of 50 million sycamore trees and lacquer trees around Nanjing. The next year, residents who immigrated to the Huaihe River area were ordered to plant 200 mulberry trees, 200 jujube trees and 200 persimmon trees for each family. Later, the order to plant mulberry and jujube trees was extended to the whole country. It is required that "all farmers with five to ten acres of land should plant half an acre of mulberry, cotton, and cotton, and twice that amount for those with more than ten acres." Those who use open land to plant trees will be exempted from tax, and those who fail to complete the task of planting trees will be punished, and those who cut down trees will be punished. Some experts estimate that the total number of trees planted by the Ming Dynasty during the Hongwu period alone was around 1 billion.

Given Zhu Yuanzhang’s extremely serious and harsh style, these 1 billion trees must have to live. So many trees are roughly equivalent to planting one for every person with working ability in the country. There is no doubt that planting so many trees was indeed a waste of people's energy at the time, but from today's perspective, Zhu Yuanzhang's almost paranoid policy, or order, played a decisive role in protecting the ecological environment for future generations.

The face of history is strange and changeable, and what is left to future generations is often a mess. When we touch their coldness in the chaos, we often lament their limited understanding of history.

But when we accidentally picked up a trace of warmth they left to future generations intentionally or unintentionally, we found that this warmth is infinitely precious. It is not the glitz and glamor we pursue in pursuit of quick success, but the green home we rely on to survive.

Xie Xiaowen: commentator, writer, strategic scholar. Mainly commenting on current affairs, business, railways, and culture.