What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
Zheng He went to the West, and everyone knows it. In fact, before Zheng He went to the West, he first went to the East for a bad trip.
Before and after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Wokou were rampant, and border troubles were frequent. In a fit of rage, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang severed Sino-Japanese exchanges and imposed a sea ban. After Zhu Di, the King of Yan, seized the throne, he hoped to reconcile with his neighbors, so he reformed his father's policy and opened the sea ban. Unexpectedly, this time, the Wokou took advantage of the loophole, and the ronin and the sea bandits attacked one after another. The more the Wokou became more and more fierce, the power grew larger, so that the Ming Officials and Troops could not be defeated. Gu Yanwu recorded in the "Book of Diseases of Tianxia County": "In April of the second year of Emperor Wen's Yongle, 11 Kou Chuanshan of Yichuan ships and 100 households ma xing (and war) died. Xunkou Su (Suzhou Province) Song (Songjiang Province) places. "The Wokou slaughtered all the way, raped and plundered, did no evil, and the people abandoned their homes and fled. Feng Menglong has an image of this in "Yang Balao Yue Guo Adventure" in "Ancient and Modern Novels": "Boats and cars squeeze men and women to run. Everyone is frightened, and the sea is rampant; Everyone was shocked, and only hated that the officers and soldiers were unprepared. Helping the old and the young, it is difficult to stop running on two feet; Abandoning his son and leaving his wife, he fled for his life alone. Do not distinguish between rich and poor, and the general rule in emergencies is general; Whoever manages the city's mountains and forests, the hiding place only seeks a piece of land. ”
Emperor Zhu Di was furious and sent troops to attack. The thief is extremely slippery, and when the soldiers arrive, they scatter as birds and beasts; As soon as the soldiers retreated, they came again. The Yongle Emperor decided to adopt the method of "using yi to suppress yi", let his own rulers suppress it, and let his own officials manage his own people, and the results were much better.
As a result, Zheng He was sent to the East. Zheng He's envoy to the East was hand-picked by the emperor. "Ming Shi Rong Ma Zhi": "In the second year of Yongle, Kou Zhezhi ordered the eunuch Zheng He to tell his king Yuan Daoyi." Zheng He was ordered to build a giant ship with strong national strength and advanced shipbuilding technology. In 1404, Zheng He's inspector 100,000 set out from the "Peach Blossom Ferry" near Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, and sailed to Japan by the long wind and breaking the huge waves.
Zheng He only did two things in the East. First, the edict of The Ming Dynasty's ancestors was: "Let them suppress the curse on their own and govern according to the laws of their own country." Yuan Daoyi, intimidated by the strength of the Ming Dynasty, also knew that he was wrong, and immediately arrested the Wukou "Qu Kui", and in order to show the Ming Dynasty, he ordered the execution of the method of "steaming and killing". How about a "steaming" method? Place the prisoner in a large retort, set up a fire underneath, and steam the man alive like a steamed crab.
The second thing Zheng He did was "allow trade." Isn't it the luxury of Chinese silk, porcelain, calligraphy and painting, and assets for repeated offenses? Give it to him, but from now on it can only be taken reasonably and legally, and must not be robbed in a despicable and shameless way. Therefore, the two sides signed the "Kanhe Trade Treaty", "Kanhe", which was a license and visa issued by the Ming Dynasty court. The Japanese could only carry out "tributary trade" with the Ming Dynasty under the constraints of the treaty, and did business in a disciplined manner.
Yuan Daoyi also accepted the Ming Dynasty title, gold seal, crown dress, etc., indicating submission, and submitted the state letter to the Ming Emperor according to the name of the country, Feng Ming Zhengshuo, that is, the "Japanese Quasi-Three Houyuan Daoyi Shangming Emperor's Letter": "Since the opening of the Japanese state, there has been no one who has been employed in The Shangbang. Morality is fortunate to uphold the country, and there is no danger in the sea. Specially follow the rules of the past, and make the fat and rich people vice zu A tong good, offerings: gold thousand two, ten horses, thin sample thousand thes, fan hundred books, three pairs of screens, one collar of armor, one collar of copper pills, ten waists of swords, one handle of swords, one combination of yan, and one of the same wentai. Search for the island drifters and a few people to return. Moral sincerity and fear, the first pause, the words. ”
Zheng He went to the East to use political and military means to "surrender soldiers without fighting", and used economic means to be gentle and pacify people's hearts. The trip to the East was a great success. Of course, the key to Zheng He's success lies in the strength of the country at that time.