Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty in 1368, and the next two hundred years were spent in the era of the Ming Dynasty, which was an extraordinary era. For it was in this era that Europeans opened up new shipping routes, discovered new continents, and the Renaissance appeared, changing the pattern of the whole world. This era is also known as the Age of Discovery. With the advent of the age of navigation, some European powers such as Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, and France were called colonizers who conquered the world. However, before the Europeans opened up new shipping routes and discovered new continents, China's Ming Dynasty already had the world's largest fleet, and almost a century before the Europeans started a large-scale seafaring activity. Needless to say, everyone knows that it was Zheng He in the early Ming Dynasty who went to the West. Our protagonist is the world-famous navigator - Zheng He.
Speaking of Zheng He, we must also start from Zhu Yuanzhang's war to unify the whole country. At that time, the Ming army was led by Lan Yu and Fu Youde in Yunnan. There, they attacked the city of Kunyang, which is today the city of Kunming in Yunnan Province. At that time, in the city, there was a Marquis of Dianyang of the Yuan Dynasty named Ma Ha only. Hey - this name is a bit awkward, but when you hear the surname Ma, the name is so strange, you should think about whether it is a Hui person! Congratulations, you guessed right, after all, there are nine horses for ten Muslims! Why are there so many Muslims with the surname Ma! This is because the entire Hui people believe in Islam, and the horse is actually the harmonic pronunciation of the Prophet Muhammad of Islam, in fact, people want to surname Muhammad, translated into Chinese characters, from this harmonic sound - horse. During the Yuan Dynasty, there was a hierarchy in ethnic policy, the first class was Mongols, the second class was The Semu people, the Semu people referred to the Arabs, Turks, Persians, Huarazm people, etc., including people from the Western Regions, Central Asia, West Asia, and even Europeans, who came to China from thousands of miles and settled and lived here, the third class was Han Chinese, this Han people refers to the Han people north of the Huai River and the Jurchens, Khitan people, the fourth class, is the guide people, in fact, the Han people in the southern Song Dynasty jurisdiction. It is not difficult to see that the family of this Mr. Mahab is part of the Semites, because their ancestors migrated from the Arab region.
Since Maha was only the Marquis of the Yuan Dynasty, this war was certainly not spared. When the Ming general Fu Youde entered the Marquis of Dianyang in Kunyang City, the Ma family's disaster was inevitable. As for how miserable the situation was at that time, we do not need to describe in detail, after a bloody rain, Fu Youde found a boy of about ten years old, the difference is that this boy is not alarmed, looks handsome, and verifies his identity, is Ma Ha's second son, called Ma Sanbao. The Ming army was not at all soft on the sons of the nobles and officials of the Yuan Dynasty, and Ma Sanbao was castrated as a small eunuch and brought to Nanjing. After arriving in Nanjing, Ma Sanbao was sent to the palace of Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son, Zhu Di, who was later crowned the King of Yan and went to Beiping to guard the north. Ma Sanbao followed Zhu Di, the King of Yan. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, because the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao cut the domain, it was gradually deprived of the power of these clan kings, and finally provoked zhu Di, the king of Yan, to openly embark on the road of rebellion, which was the historical Battle of Jingnan. Zhu Di, the King of Yan, successfully seized the throne, which is the historical Ming Chengzu. And Ma Sanbao was also the only person around Ming Chengzu Zhu Di who was highly valued and whose identity was a eunuch. Because of his outstanding military achievements in Zhengzhou, Hebei, Ma Sanbao was given the surname Zheng by Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng, and changed his name to Zheng He.
Ming Chengzu Zhu Di had a very respected teacher, named Yao Guangxiao, who single-handedly promoted Zhu Di's change from King of Yan to Emperor. However, it was Zhu Di's most trusted adviser. One day, Zhu Di found his mentor Yao Guangxiao to consult with him and said, "In the past two years, I have ordered the coastal provinces to build hundreds of warships, enough to build a huge water division of 20,000 people. When Yao Guangxiao heard this, he asked the emperor, "Your Majesty, what is the use of you forming such a huge water division?" Ming Chengzu Zhu Di smiled, and he said embarrassedly, "My nephew Zhu Yunjiao is nowhere now, and the chuanguo jade seal is nowhere to be found, and folklore says that he may have fled overseas with the jade seal, so I want our fleet to go to the West, if he really has to run to an overseas Western country, it is better to get him back." "What's going on! It turned out that Zhu Di's throne itself was not the right one, he was not the heir to the throne determined by Zhu Yuanzhang, and the real heir to the throne was his nephew Zhu Yunjiao. It was precisely because of the mistakes of the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao that Zhu Di gave Zhu Di the opportunity to become Ming Chengzu. However, when the army of Zhu Di, the King of Yan, attacked Nanjing during the Battle of Jingnan, the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao had already set up a fire in the palace and set himself on fire and died. However, there are many such statements in history, many people say that self-immolation can not identify the body at all, how to know that it is Zhu Yunjiao's body. Maybe he just ran overseas. What the hell is going on? We should not be historians, let them study it.
As soon as Yao Guangxiao heard it, he immediately understood. He said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, if Emperor Jianwen really had to run to a certain domain in the Western Ocean, I am afraid that if he heard that our fleet had arrived, he would run farther." His Majesty's labor and loss of money in this way should have other purposes. Zhu Di listened, and knew that he could not hide anything from the teacher!" Hurriedly said, "Right, right, the teacher has a sharp eye, and he has seen through the painstaking heart of Yuan!" "Most people can see it in the clouds when they hear it. Actually! The reason is also very simple, because there are still many theories about the rebellion of zhu di in the world and the seizure of the throne, and quite a few people say that Zhu Di is not in the right position, he is a traitor, and more people are crying for Emperor Jianwen! Ming Chengzu Zhu Di wanted to send a fleet overseas, to deter the world, to make those vassal states come to pay tribute, and to create a scene of the Ming Dynasty and all the kingdoms coming to the dynasty, in order to show that Zhu Di was not inferior to Zhu Yunjiao, but much stronger than him, so that the world could identify with its orthodox status. Speaking of this, Yao Guangxiao no longer questioned Zhu Di's painstaking heart. The emperor then said, "If such a large contingent of sailors is handed over to an ambitious general, it is enough for him to build a powerful country in the West to resist Daming, and if it is handed over to a literati, he cannot command these thousands of troops and horses, so we must find a person who is both loyal and talented to be competent!" ”
Yao Guangxiao listened, thought about it carefully, and said to Ming Chengzu Zhu Di: There is a person who has just returned from the East ocean to take on this responsibility. Zhu Di also laughed when he heard it, "Master En and I think are one person!" "Who are they talking about?" It turned out that the person who had just returned from an envoy to the Orient, which is today's Japan, was Zheng He. The purpose of Zheng He's going to Japan was to publicize the national prestige at the same time, to capture the rampant Wokou along the Coast of China, that is, pirates from Japan, and also personally escorted to Japan, executed in accordance with Japanese law, the whole process not only allowed Japan to see the national prestige of daming, but also respected the dominance of the Japanese shogunate, it can be said that Zheng He is also an outstanding diplomat. The two men hit it off, and the heavy responsibility of leading the fleet to the West this time fell on Zheng He's head.
In July 1405, Zheng He set out from Liujiagang with a large fleet and began an expedition into the depths of the ocean. Legend has it that Zheng He's treasure ship is very large, how big is it? Ming history records: The modern unit of measurement is 150 meters long and 60 meters wide, which is equivalent to a medium-sized aircraft carrier today. A large ship could carry more than 1,000 people and was the largest wooden sailing ship in the world at that time. The anchors, rudders, and sails on the ship are all more than 1,000 pounds, and it takes two or three hundred people to move them at a time. In addition to the army, there are also various teams of cooks, doctors, craftsmen and so on. In front of it, there are big ships to open the way, and behind it are grain ships, horse ships, living goods ships, etc., just like a sea kingdom. Zheng Hehao crossed the East China Sea and the South China Sea and sailed westward through the sea breeze. No matter where this team docks, it is estimated that the local people will think that it is a heavenly god soldier!
Unfortunately, however, when Zheng He arrived in the Nanyang region, when he first arrived on the island of Java, a big thing happened. Java is the island of Java in present-day Indonesia, and there was a country on the island at that time, which was not much hostile to foreign fleets. But Zheng He did not come at the right time, the country was fighting a civil war, the eastern and western half of the island was occupied by two kings, and the two sides were fighting inextricably. On this day, Zheng He's fleet came to a place on the island of Java, and originally, Zheng He also came to the shore to meet the local king of the domain, give some gifts given by emperor Daming, convey emperor Daming's condolences to them, and establish friendly contacts. Buy some local food! Daily necessities or whatever, will leave. However, when several ships of Zheng He's fleet had just docked, they were attacked by armed troops stationed at the port. It turned out that the place where Zheng He's fleet was going to dock was precisely the territory controlled by the Western King, which occupied the western part of the Ma Qiao Ba Xie Kingdom, and they thought that the Eastern King had sent troops to attack their ports, so they did not say anything and launched a crazy attack on the advance ships of Zheng He's landing.
Of course, this was a misunderstanding, they thought it was their enemy Dongwang who sent a water army to attack them. See these strangers come ashore, the soldiers defending the harbor, firing arrows and cannon stones. The advance team members who had already landed were unlucky, because they didn't expect it! I wanted to go ashore, so I quickly went to the locals to ask, what is this place, and who is your boss? Where are the restaurants? Where is the market? Is there a place to put a horse? But what awaited them was the clarion call of death. The first group to come ashore collapsed in a pool of blood. When Zheng He heard the news, he immediately mobilized his fleet to concentrate at the site of the incident, and each of the main warships lined up their guns to prepare to meet the enemy. We want to explain that in the Ming Dynasty, because artillery was more common on the battlefield, Zheng Hebao's ships were equipped with a large number of artillery. The Javanese soldiers stationed at the port looked at it and were completely dumbfounded, so—that—what was on the sea? Haven't seen it, they really haven't seen it.
The Zheng He treasure ship is divided into 8 floors. In order to ensure the smoothness of the ship, the bottom layer is all placed with sand and gravel, commonly known as the pressed warehouse. The upper two floors of 2 and 3 are two large cargo compartments with a length of 80 meters, a width of 36 meters and a height of 2 meters, which are used for carrying goods, food and water. The 4th floor is the one next to the deck, which has 20 gun positions along the sides of the ship. The 3,280 square meters of space in the middle is where the soldiers and junior officials on board live. Above that is the deck. The activity space on the deck is divided into two parts, front and rear, and the bow has a front cabin on the first floor, which is mainly where more than 100 sailors live and work on the ship. The "brain" of the entire fleet is on the rudder tower at the stern of the treasure ship. This rudder building has four floors, the first floor is the helmsman's operation room and the medical officer's infirmary; the second floor is called the official hall, which is where Zheng He and other middle and high-ranking officials and envoys from various countries live and work; the third floor is a shrine hall used to enshrine the Mazu god, and there are 4 yin and yang officials specially managed. At the top of the rudder tower are the sites of command, meteorological observation, signal liaison and so on. In addition to the artillery and the sail winch on the deck between the front and rear buildings, there are also two basketball court-sized spaces reserved for practice activities.
Oh my God! A ship is a city on the sea! So many ships, a sea fortress, pressed down on the harbor. Frightened, these Javanese soldiers threw away their armor and fled, so why not be cannon fodder here! Just a few ships came, and now how did a large piece of meat grinder fall from the sky! No, this Eastern King's army could not have such a position! Bad, this is certainly not the army of the Eastern King, so who are they? Oh - no matter how much, let's report that our king is important! So they ran to report their boss. But the officers and men of Zheng He's fleet stopped working and ran away--what you think is beautiful! When we came ashore, we were attacked by you, and more than 100 people died at once! No, go ashore, the whole team, first collapse the harbor, set fire to a blitz, and then shoot the cavalry ashore and capture their old nest in one fell swoop. Everyone shouted and killed. However, at this time, Zheng He maintained a high degree of calm, he first stabilized the fleet and did not act rashly, and then sent someone to contact the West King in the local area and asked the West King to deal with it.
When the Western King of the Eight Kingdoms was overwhelmed, he suddenly heard the emissary say that Zheng He's fleet had been sent by Emperor Daming. I'm so scared that I can't be possessed! My heart said it was broken and broken, but I attacked the fleet of the Heavenly Dynasty for no reason, and if I didn't get it right, my life would be difficult to protect! What about now? You can only bow your head and admit your mistake first, and see if people will let you go. So he prepared 60,000 catties of gold, sent emissaries to see Zheng He in person, explained the misunderstanding, asked for punishment, and was willing to compensate 60,000 catties of gold. Zheng He showed considerable restraint, because he knew that his task was to visit various countries in the West, not to fight, and it would be easy to destroy them here, but then to go to other countries and not treat you as a guest, but as an enemy. Therefore, he said to the messenger: Since it was a misunderstanding, today I will pass on the holy grace of Emperor Daming and will not pursue this matter any further. When the King of the West heard Zheng He's decision, he let out a long sigh of relief and immediately took a stance and sent emissaries to the Ming Dynasty to see the Heavenly Son. And pay tribute every year. In this way, Zheng He used his high political sensitivity and outstanding diplomatic talent to recover the Nanyang Domain.
Next, everywhere Zheng He's fleet went, the monarchs of all countries welcomed them with the highest etiquette. Moreover, he took envoys from various countries to follow Zheng He's fleet back to Daming to meet Emperor Daming. It can be said that it is a full harvest. When Zheng He was preparing to return home together this time, Zheng He sent someone to the old port first. The Old Port is palembang, the capital of today's Indonesian province of Sumatra. If you open the map, you will know that this place is located on the main traffic route of the Strait of Malacca. That has been a place of pirates since ancient times. What did Zheng He send people to the Old Port for? It turned out that there was a very famous pirate here, called Chen Zuyi. Chen Zuyi was originally a native of Chaozhou, Guangdong, and during the Ming Hongwu period (that is, in the process of Zhu Yuanzhang's unification of the world), his family fled to Nanyang to enter the sea as a pirate. Occupying Malacca for more than ten years, it became one of the leaders of the world's largest pirate group at that time, with more than 10,000 members and nearly 100 warships at its peak. It operates in East Asia, The South Sea and the Indian Ocean region. This pirate group has robbed tens of thousands of merchant ships, captured more than fifty coastal towns, and even some countries in the South China Sea pay tribute to him every year. This is a robber who harms one side, and it is a big robber. The Ming court once offered a reward of 7.5 million taels of silver to arrest him, and it can be said that this robber is the most wanted criminal in human history. Zheng He sent someone to find him, and the purpose was very clear, that is, to appease him. Chen Zuyi is now very powerful, if you fight hard, everyone will inevitably be damaged, if you use the emperor's kindness, it is also a good strategy to recruit the king of the overseas domain!
If Chen Zuyi could accept the solicitation, he would be able to transform into a legitimate vassal state on the island of Sumatra, and be canonized and protected by the Ming Dynasty, which was not much better than being a pirate. However, Chen Zuyi was not concerned with the attitude of the Ming court, but with the fact that he saw Zheng He's fleet. He thought that this Zheng He had gone to so many countries, he must have collected all the rare treasures from all over the place, and the things on this ship were worth a lot of money. Hey — pirates are pirates, and Chen Zuyi has almost no political intelligence, but wants to rob Zheng He's fleet. However, Zheng He's fleet is too big, and it is really impossible to fight! So he had a plan. The emissary who told Zheng He said, "I also had the intention of surrendering to the Heavenly Dynasty, but I didn't have the opportunity. Now, there is such a good opportunity, of course, I can't ask for it! I am willing to submit to the Heavenly Dynasty. Chen Zuyi was very cunning, he wanted to deceive Zheng He's trust, secretly attacked Zheng He, and took Zheng He's fleet and property for himself. However, to make such a big move, it is impossible not to tell your subordinates to make some preparations first. Therefore, Chen Zuyi's plan was known to a man named Shi Jinqing in the old port, who was also a Guangdong man who had broken into Nanyang, and had not been bullied by Chen Zuyi before, and it was he who told Zheng He the news. Zheng He had already taken sufficient precautions against Chen Zuyi, and after knowing that Chen Zuyi was preparing to attack his plan, he decided not to rush back to the dynasty first, and wanted Malacca to destroy Chen Zuyi now.
Everything went according to the original plan, Chen Zuyi came to surrender, wanted the minister Zheng He not to pay attention, and launched a surprise attack. Zheng He also proceeded according to the original plan, leaving the army ambushed on the shore, the gunners in place, and the cavalry ready to pursue the fleeing opponents. Things are also going well, everything that is going to happen is the same as making a movie, Chen Zuyi rebelled on time, Zheng He suppressed on time, Chen Zuyi failed without suspense, and Zheng He sent people to catch up with him alive without suspense. In this battle, Zheng He's army killed 5,000 enemy ships, burned 10 enemy ships, captured 7 enemy ships, and destroyed the old nest of Chen Zuyi's pirate group in one fell swoop. Malacca can calm down. Next, Zheng He appointed Shi Jinqing as the new master of the old port, and Shi Jinqing also sent people to follow Zheng He into the capital to pay tribute. In October 1407, Zheng He's fleet returned to Daming after 2 years and 3 months away from the Ming Dynasty. But this time he did not come back by himself, but the emissaries who brought the countries along the way to pay tribute to the Capital, as well as Chen Zuyi, who was captured alive. After listening to Zheng He's report, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di was overjoyed, and he immediately did three things, first, to forgive the crime of accidentally injuring the Heavenly Dynasty Sailors by the Western King of the Eight Kingdoms of Ma Jiao; second, in front of the envoys of various countries, he publicly beheaded Chen Zuyi and his henchmen; and third, rewarded and commended the soldiers who had made meritorious contributions in the Battle of the Old Port.
However, when everyone is celebrating lively and lively, Zheng He is not idle, he knows! These emissaries were brought to Daming by themselves from all over the world, and the people still want to go back, but without such an advanced ship as Daming, how can you let people go back? The next thing Zheng He prepared was to send these emissaries back to his country. At the same time, he led the Ming Dynasty delegation to conduct an in-depth friendly visit to these countries. Therefore, the scale of this trip to the sea is not very large. At the end of that year, Zheng He was once again ordered to set out and return to his country with emissaries from various countries. Along the way, Zheng He visited Champa (present-day Vietnam), Siam (present-day Thailand), Java (i.e., the kingdom of MachoPatra), and sumatra, where the fleet sailed again into the Indian Ocean, reaching the kingdoms of Kochi and Guri on the southwest coast of India. Here, the envoys of the Ming Dynasty officially crowned the King of Guli on behalf of the Son of Heaven. The fleet also made a stop in Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka), and Zheng He went to the local monastery to give alms, and carved stone tablets in the local area to commemorate it. The stele has been preserved to this day and is treasured in a museum in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.
In October 1409, Zheng He set out again, and this time Ming Chengzu Zhu Di appointed Zheng He as the envoy, Wang Jinghong and Hou Xian as the deputy envoys, led forty-eight ships, and set sail from Taicang with a team of more than 27,000 people, and began the third voyage to the West. This time they wanted to go further, and the whole process was nothing more than every place they went to, crowning the king of the domain, giving rare treasures, and showing the virtue of the Ming court. Therefore, it is not only welcomed by all countries, but also paid tribute by various countries. Zheng He's fleet began in The Kingdoms of Champa and Sulu in Southeast Asia, traveled throughout Southeast Asia and India and its surrounding countries, and also reached as far as Persia and Arabia. There is a place near Siam called Manrak, which is rich in a valuable thing - agarwood. This kind of thing is also found in other places, but it is not as much as in this place of Manja, and it is very fragrant, and it is a very valuable wood. It is also a medicinal herb that can cure many kinds of diseases. However, Manjaa was a Siamese dependency and had been plagued by Siam. This time, Zheng He took the crown and robes and the seal of the king given by Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng, and it was the local tribal leader who was crowned the king of Manchuria, and it was the state of Manchuria that was established. Since then Siam has never dared to offend Mandala. The King of Manchuria later went to the Ming Dynasty to meet the Emperor Daming himself. This time, Zheng He was also not polite, and at the invitation of the king of Manchuria, he sent people into the mountains to harvest agarwood, and brought six agarwood trees to the ground to see, and the agarwood with a diameter of more than one person was returned to the emperor to offer.
It is reasonable to say that Zheng He's fleet has become famous in this South And Indian Ocean region, and no one knows it. There should be no other force that will be disrespectful. Oh – there are people who are not afraid of death. This country is Ceylon, which is today Sri Lanka. Turning the map, we can see that Ceylon is an island country located in the south of India across the sea. The location is special, because the merchant ships basically have to pass through here. Therefore, the king of Ceylon also had a bad heart. That is, for merchant ships, protection fees are charged. If you don't give, I'll take the boat down. At that time, That Chen Zuyi was a pirate, Ming Robber. But this king of Ceylon is also a pirate by nature, and he is legitimately robbed. When Zheng He first went to sea, he suffered this loss when he passed through Ceylon, because he did not bring enough gold and silver to hand over to the ceylon country, and the Ceylonians refused to let them dock. Zheng He was very angry, but in order not to affect the next mission, he swallowed his anger and did not get angry, and when he passed here for the second time, he brought enough protection money to Ceylon to pass the pass. But this time it was different, the Ceylon state did not appreciate the holy grace of the Emperor Daming, and dared to extort money from the Daming fleet. Well— King of Ceylon, you can't eat and go!
After Zheng He's fleet basically completed its mission, it set sail back and passed through the kingdom of Ceylon, and the king of ceylon sent his son out to meet Zheng He's troops. Zheng He, on the other hand, ordered his men to wait on the shore and went ashore with two thousand men to meet the prince. But not long after Zheng He landed, before he saw the prince, the fleet he left on the shore was surrounded by the prince's 50,000 troops, and the prince blocked Zheng He's retreat with cut wood. It seems that the pirate nature of the king of Ceylon has not changed, and seeing how much money Zheng He's fleet has, he wants to go next. I'm in charge of my turf anyway. However, Zheng He had long planned to get rid of this king of Ceylon, although he was raided by the other side, but he was calm and calm, and carefully analyzed: Now, you surround my fleet, originally the ceylon kingdom is not large, fifty thousand troops besieged me, that is to say, your royal city must not have many troops to guard at present, well, you can't imagine that I will sneak up on your royal city! Zheng He's trick is the trick of catching the thief first. It seems that Zheng He did not delve into Sun Tzu's art of war. On this dark and windy night of this month, Zheng He personally led two thousand officers and soldiers to silently touch the royal city where the king of Ceylon lived. Most of the defenders in the city also went out to deal with Zheng He's fleet, and there were not many guards. Therefore, Zheng He quickly broke through the city and entered. The king of Ceylon, Ariel, never dreamed that a heavenly soldier descended from the sky and arrested him, and after being captured, he was still wondering, whose army is this, and where did it come from? Zheng He won this battle and returned to Daming with a group of prisoners of the King of Ceylon. In order to show emperor Weide, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di did not kill the king of Ceylon, but ordered that another able monarch be selected in Ceylon.
In 1412, Zheng He was again ordered to lead more than 27,000 people to the sea, this time not only to go to sea himself, but also to bring a large number of officials, the purpose is to use the national prestige of Daming to intimidate the world's feudal states, with the emperor's grace to impress the people of the world. This is also The fourth time That Zheng He has gone to the West. This time in Sumatra, Zheng He carried out his third military conquest in the course of his voyage to the West. Zheng He did not go everywhere and was both enwei and shi, generally did not use force, and could be said to be a messenger of peace. Unless, of course, you want to count me, or you don't listen to Emperor Daming, I'll take care of you. This time, in Sumatra, he met again. It turned out that in the early years, sumatra and neighboring countries broke out in war, and the old king was shot by a poisonous arrow from the enemy and died on the battlefield. At that time, the prince Suganla was too young to preside over the overall situation, and the princess could only recruit talents throughout the country, promising that if a warrior could defeat the enemy army and save the sumatra country, he would marry the warrior, and the sumatra country was the dowry of the princess. What do you mean? That is, whoever can save the country is the new king. Under the heavy reward, there will be a brave man, an elderly fisherman Mao Mao, who volunteered to lead the Sumatran army to defeat the orphan country and defuse the crisis. The Princess of Sumatra kept her promise, married the fisherman, and led the hundred officials to honor the fisherman as the new King of Sumatra. However, when Prince Suganla grew up, he could not stand being the king of others, and he launched a coup d'état, killed the fisherman king, and ascended the throne himself.
However, the Ming Dynasty did not approve of this coup, so Zheng He had another task to go here this time, that is, to hold the emperor responsible for usurping the throne. Su Ganla, who had just ascended to the throne through a coup d'état, was ashamed and angry, and he said in his heart, This country was originally our family, my father died fighting for the country, and I should be the legitimate heir. The Ming court not only did not support me, but said that I was an anti-thief. Okay, then I'll show you. Therefore, he poured all his strength into sending a large army to intercept Zheng He's fleet, but he only knew that he was angry, but he did not know the balance of strength between himself and Zheng He. As soon as the two sides engaged, Su Ganla knew that he was wrong, and his army was a ragtag crowd in front of Zheng He's fleet. Su Ganla was defeated and retreated, and finally Zheng He pursued him to the territory of the State of Boli before capturing him alive.
Well, all was well, and Zheng He continued to send westward missions to various countries, this time bypassing the Arabian Peninsula and reaching eastern Africa. Now we can still see a lot of traces left by Zheng He's fleet passing by. For example, there are many temples and place names commemorating Zheng He in Southeast Asia, stone carvings that record Zheng He's fleet can be seen in South Asia and West Asia, there are tombs buried here when Zheng He sailors died in Africa, and even zheng he villages left behind after Zheng He sailors left in Africa, among them are the descendants of the sailors of Zheng He's fleet. This time, the envoys of various countries still took the local rare treasures, rare birds and animals to follow the fleet to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute. However, among the treasures of this tribute, there is a very special tribute, which is a strange-looking divine beast. Ming officials hadn't seen it anyway. I saw this divine beast, how tall it was, covered with macular fur, with a long neck, resembling an elk, and like a horse's hoof and an ox's tail. Ming Chengzu Zhu Di looked at it, and didn't know what kind of divine beast it was, so he asked everyone, but no one knew! Can't even be named. At this time, the people in the DPRK shouted again: Long live Your Majesty, this is the life of the Qilin Dynasty. Originally, there was a saying in ancient China that in the prosperous times, there would be unicorns in the mortal world. The unicorn is a sacred beast in ancient legends. But no one has seen it either. This time, when he saw this divine beast, he said that he had become a unicorn. When this sound came out, everyone fell to their knees and shouted long live. Zhu Di was of course happy to hear it, and it seems that under my rule, the Yongle dynasty has never been seen before.
He immediately ordered someone to paint the scene of the kingdom of the domain entering the Qilin offering, and also asked Hanlin Scholar to write a "Ode to the Ruiying Qilin" on this painting. This painting has also been passed down to this day. Did this unicorn really come to earth? Ancient books record this, modern people are also very strange ah! So someone found the painting and wanted to see what the unicorn looked like, but it was still a little mysterious without looking at it, and it almost laughed out of our big teeth when they looked at it. This divine beast was unknown to the Ming Emperor at that time, the ministers did not know it, nor did the Hanlin scholars, but now, the three-year-old children around us should all know it. What kind of unicorn is this, it is clearly a giraffe. It was from Africa that he traveled thousands of miles across the sea to the land of Daming. Since then, when Zheng He went to the West for the fifth and sixth time, when the wind and waves were calm, there were more animals and beasts that paid tribute, such as lions, golden leopards, West horses, ostriches, and so on.
However, Zheng He's voyage to the West was a face project of the Yongle Emperor Ming Chengzu Zhu Di's desire to come to the dynasty from all sides. Every time the various feudal states came from thousands of miles to pay tribute, they brought many treasures, but the emperor often rewarded them with dozens or even hundreds of times the tribute. Zheng He's fleet was 20,000 or 30,000 people per operation, which required a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources. This also added a great burden to the Ming court. In 1424, when Zheng He returned to the capital from the ocean for the sixth time, he learned that Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng, had died, and this plan to go to the West and hurt the people and money was also suspended. It was not until six years later that Zheng He sent his last mission to the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and reached the very southern region. On his way back to the Ming Dynasty two years later, the navigator, who had spent almost his entire life dealing with the sea, died of illness. At the age of 64, due to the hot weather, his subordinates could not transport Zheng He's body back to the capital for burial. So he was buried in Semarang, Indonesia today.
Zheng He is a great navigator in human history, he went to the West seven times, visited more than 30 countries in Asia and Africa, was the earliest intercontinental voyage in human history, and created a pioneering move in the history of human exploration. He further pioneered the Maritime Silk Road connecting East and West. He left us a legend with his own actions, a legend of the sea that Chinese.