The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang banned ginseng.
Ginseng is not only a medicinal material with high medicinal value, but also a precious nourishing and health-preserving product, which was recorded as early as Shennong Herbal Classic. All previous dynasties attached great importance to the health value of ginseng, and in the Tang and Song Dynasties, ginseng was a tribute to the imperial court.
In the early Ming Dynasty, ginseng was also one of the local tributes to the imperial court. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang heard that ginseng grows in deep mountains and forests, and people who collect ginseng have to go through hardships and even pay the price of their lives to get ginseng. Zhu Yuanzhang could not bear it. So Zhu Yuanzhang specially issued an imperial edict, which said that it was difficult and laborious to collect ginseng, and there was no need to pay tribute to ginseng in the future. Zhu Yuanzhang's kindness to the people is also evident.
Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor born at the grass-roots level. He has lived at the bottom of society since he was a child, and he knows that the life of the poor is not easy. Therefore, after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang implemented a series of preferential policies for farmers to promote agricultural development and improve farmers' living standards. Zhu Yuanzhang could not bear the farmer to take risks to pick ginseng. In order to reduce the burden on the people, he specially prohibited future generations from eating ginseng.
These are the reasons why Zhu Yuanzhang forbade future generations to eat ginseng. To put it simply, Zhu Yuanzhang understood the hardships of farmers picking ginseng, so he ordered the descendants of the royal family to ban ginseng. However, the descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang did not take this rule seriously. Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that eunuchs should not interfere in politics, but they were ignored by future generations, let alone eating ginseng.