How strong was the Ming Navy in history: it had not been defeated for three hundred years
In Japan, the American media took stock of five of the most powerful navies in history, including the Ming Dynasty Navy in the 15th century. At that time, the technology of the Chinese Navy was the most advanced in the world, 1,000 years ahead of Europe. The Ming Dynasty Navy was peaked on the Zheng He Fleet, and we will look at the Daming Navy six hundred years ago through the Zheng He Fleet.
The Ming Dynasty Water Division, also known as the Daming Water Division, was once the world's largest Chinese navy, and its origin was the Chaohu Water Division, one of the two main forces of Zhu Yuanzhang's department at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
In 1420, the heyday of Ming Chengzu, the Ming Dynasty had 3800 ships, including 1350 cruise ships, 1350 warships, and 400 large ships and 400 grain ships stationed at the Nanjing Xinjiangkou base, of which 250 were ocean-going treasure ships, in addition to a large number of guarding and patrolling the river and order ships, it can be said that the prestigious Zheng He fleet was actually just a maritime mobile fleet of the powerful Ming Empire Navy.
From the end of the Yuan Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang's Battle of crossing the river and the Poyang Lake water battle, to Zheng's successful recovery of Taiwan, the Ming Dynasty was founded for nearly three hundred years, but the Ming Dynasty's water division has not suffered a defeat, but unfortunately, the ancient Chinese military has always been heavy on land warfare and light on water warfare, so the glory of the Ming Dynasty's water division was also submerged.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty sailors were indeed the most powerful fleet in ancient Chinese history and even in the ancient history of the world, and zheng He's brilliant voyage to the West was well known, and the battle of Sri Lanka captured its king alive and promoted the national prestige of China. Later, the Ming Dynasty's naval defense was weak, but after Qi Jiguang's rectification, the Ming Dynasty's marine division was rejuvenated.
The Ming Dynasty's navy, that is, the marine division, has undergone the expansion from the inland to the sea, once dominated the coastal and Indian Ocean coasts, and established the Indian Ocean tributary trade circle, but with the decline of the Ming Dynasty and the invasion of nomadic peoples, China's sailors inevitably declined, but they could not hide their former glory. At the end of August 521 (ming zhengde 16), when the Jiajing Emperor had succeeded to the throne, Wang Feng, the then 56-year-old deputy envoy of Guangdong Haidao, was ordered to expel the Flangji. At this time, the Portuguese, led by Alvarez, had occupied the vicinity of "Tuen Mun Island" for several years, and the naval battle (historically known as the Battle of Tuen Mun) in the Tuen Mun area commanded by Wang Feng, the deputy envoy of the Guangdong Sea Route, fought against the Flang Ji (referred to as portugal in ancient Times). Although the initial battle was lost, the Portuguese were defeated in the re-battle. The last three large ships remained, and on September 7, they fled to a nearby island in the dark to hide. After dawn, the wind direction reversed, and the Portuguese used the strong north wind to barely escape the pursuit of the Ming army and flee back to Manchuria, which had been stolen. At this point, China took back the "Tuen Mun Island" occupied by the Portuguese and the often nuisanced "Tuen Mun Hai O" and "Kwai Chung Haeo". It was China's first battle against Western colonialists, ending in the ming dynasty's victory.
In the first year of the Ming Dynasty Jiajing (1522), a naval battle between the Ming Dynasty sailors and the Flange (ancient Chinese refers to Portugal) navy in XicaoWan, Guangdong, ended in the victory of the Ming shuishi, which also caused the Portuguese to gradually abandon the use of force to force the Ming Dynasty to switch trade. In November of the 26th year of the Ming Dynasty (1598), in the Ming Dynasty Wanli War of Resistance against The War of Resistance against The Ming Dynasty, the Chinese and Korean water divisions and the Japanese water division fought a large-scale naval battle in the sea west of Luliang on the Korean Peninsula, known as the Battle of Luliang. In the end, the Japanese fleet was completely annihilated, and this campaign dealt a major annihilation blow to the invading Japanese army, which weakened Japan's national strength for 200 years and played an important role in the formation of the peaceful situation in Korea after the war for 200 years. The battle in which the Chinese veteran Deng Zilong and the Korean Li Shunchen both died.
In the thirtieth year of the Wanli Calendar (1602), the Dutch established the East India Company and began to compete for the eastern colonies. In the second year of the Apocalypse (1622), the Dutch fleet occupied Penghu, and the Ming Court ordered the Fujian inspector Nan juyi to drive the Dutch out of Penghu and launched the Battle of Penghu. However, dutch warships blockaded the mouth of Zhangzhou, and the Ming sailors could not move. In November of the third year of the Apocalypse (1623), NanJuyi deliberately invited the Dutch to Xiamen to negotiate, imprisoned the Dutch delegation at the banquet, and took the opportunity to attack and burn the Dutch warships that invaded the Coast of the Ming Dynasty. In February of the fourth year of the Apocalypse (1624), Nan Juyi, the governor of Fujian, personally took a boat to Kinmen and ordered the Ming army to cross the sea to retake Penghu. However, the Dutch army relied on strong fortifications and warships to resist, and Penghu could not be captured for a long time. In July, Nanjuyi sent another fire reinforcement force to support, and the Ming army launched a general offensive, all the way to the Red Mao City of the Wind Cabinet Boy, and then the two sides formed a stalemate. In August, the Ming army once again divided into three routes and approached Yicheng, and the Dutch were exhausted and had to evacuate Penghu, which had been occupied for two years. The Ming Dynasty won the Battle of Penghu and successfully recovered Penghu. In July 1633, putmans, the Dutch governor of Taiwan, led thirteen Dutch warships and launched a surprise attack on the Ming coast. The Dutch proposed that the Chinese side immediately stop trade with Spain, Portugal and other countries, and can only trade with the Dutch alone, otherwise the war will continue, this unreasonable demand was rejected by the Ming Dynasty, and the 9 Dutch fleets that participated in the war and more than 50 pirate fleets recruited by the Netherlands were completely destroyed. The Battle of Luowan was an unprecedented defeat for the Dutch in the Far East, when Zheng Zhilong's sailors eventually seized all East Asian sea control from Japan to the South China Sea, and all ships sailing in East Asia at that time had to spend money to buy Zheng Zhilong's flag, otherwise they would be robbed. Since then, the Dutch have paid a tribute of 120,000 francs per year to the Ming fleet to ensure safety in the waters of the Far East.
In March of the fifteenth year of the Southern Ming Dynasty (1661 AD), Zheng Chenggong, a famous general of the Southern Ming Dynasty, personally led 25,000 soldiers and generals, divided into 100 warships, and set out from Kinmen. They braved the wind and waves, crossed the Taiwan Strait, and after a few days of rest in Penghu, they took Taiwan directly. In the sixteenth year of the Southern Ming Dynasty, in 1662 AD, the Dutch leader in Taiwan was forced to go to Zheng Chenggong's camp and signed the surrender letter. Taiwan has returned to the embrace of the motherland.
The naval influence of the Ming Dynasty continued from its establishment to its demise, and in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, China had a navy of 3500 warships, which carried out large-scale cruises every spring and summer, and in 1373 and 1374 the Ming sailors pursued the Wokou to the Ryukyu Islands twice, and defeated Vietnamese pirates in the Beibu Gulf in 1409. During Zheng He's Sixth Maritime Expedition, a Chinese squadron bypassed the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Atlantic Ocean as far as Southwest Africa. Another squadron entered the Pacific Ocean via the Solomon Islands and reached the east coast of Australia. In the Strait of Malacca, Sri Lanka and Sumatra, challenges to China's maritime authority were crushed, envoys from thirty-six countries submitted to the Ming Empire, and China became the most powerful maritime power of its time. As a result, a Ming overseas empire was formed consisting of the trading fortresses of the Northern Indian Ocean, the Malay Peninsula and the South Sea Islands, and the Sulfur Ball Islands.