HISTORY
Zheng He Ligong: In 1399, Zheng He assisted Zhu Di in defeating the Ming general Li Jinglong at the Battle of Zhengcunba at the Battle of Jingnan.
Between 1405 and 1422, Zheng He, on the orders of Ming Chengzu, led his fleet to six countries and regions along the western Pacific and Indian Ocean coasts, promoting the development of overseas trade and establishing diplomatic relations with many countries.
Zheng He's first six voyages to the West encountered many difficulties and obstacles.
When the first Voyage of Western ships passed through the Old Port (present-day Palembang, a port city in Indonesia), the pirate Chen Zuyi wanted to rob the fleet. In order to paralyze Zheng He, Chen Zuyi sent people to send fresh water and food to the fleet, ostensibly agreeing to submit to the Ming Dynasty.
The fleet itself also had the task of maintaining sea safety and fighting pirates, and Zheng He was not confused by Chen Zuyi. Shi Jinqing, a local Chinese leader, expressed the hope that they would help eliminate the pirate Chen Zuyi.
After Shi Jinqing reported Chen Zuyi's attack plan to Zheng He, Zheng He was determined to design a plan to eliminate the pirates, and deliberately let the fleet pretend to be on loose guard during the day, and at night ordered the fleet to change its formation, take the shape of a pocket, and set up an ambush to wait.
When Chen Zuyi was preparing to attack at night, he found that Zheng He's fleet had turned off the lights, thinking that they had relaxed their vigilance. When the pirate ships approached, Zheng He's flagship suddenly lit a red light, and then the entire fleet suddenly lit up all the lights. Chen Zuyi found that he had entered the encirclement circle.
Zheng He led his officers and men to use firearms and bows and arrows to eliminate most of the pirates. When Chen Zuyi fled back to the old nest with the remnants, he found that Zheng He had already sent troops to capture the old nest. Chen Zuyi was immediately captured alive. After Zheng He returned to China, Chen Zuyi was convicted and executed.
Zheng He fleet and pirate combat model scene
In addition to pirates, some countries also want to rob fleets. During Zheng He's third voyage to ceylon, the king of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) coveted the belongings of the fleet and first pretended to invite Zheng He to the palace.
After Zheng He arrived at the palace with his men, the king avoided him. While asking his son to come forward to Zheng He to ask for money, he also sent people to surround the fleet. After the officers and men of the port fleet came to report that Zheng He's fleet was surrounded, Zheng He immediately prepared to return to the port, but on the way he was blocked by a large tree prepared by the king of Ceylon.
Zheng He realized that the palace garrison of Ceylon must be empty, so he led people into the palace and captured the king. When Zheng He returned home, he took the king back with him. In order to show the magnanimity of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Chengzu ordered the king to be released and asked the Rebbe to negotiate the establishment of another king in Ceylon.
Pirates and the king of Ceylon robbed Zheng He's fleet not to blackmail the Ming Dynasty and blackmail the ransom, but because the fleet was carrying a large number of precious goods, such as spices. When Zheng He's fleet went to various countries, it would trade locally, and spices were the main goods traded by the fleet at that time.
The Southeast Asian country of Manraka (present-day Malacca, Malaysia) was rich in spices, the local king was crowned by the Ming Dynasty, and when Zheng He's fleet visited Manrak, he sent people to the mountains of Manraka to collect agarwood, yellow ripe incense and other spices.
A model of the treasure ship that Zheng He took in the Western Ocean
For the spice trade, Zheng He's fleet once handled disputes between Manja and neighboring countries. Siam was the most powerful country in Southeast Asia at that time, often bullying neighboring countries, intercepting tribute ships from Manlaga, Sumatra (present-day Sumatra, Indonesia) and other countries to the Ming Dynasty, and forcing Mandraga to pay 40 taels of gold every year.
Zheng He's second voyage to Siam (present-day Thailand) severely condemned Siam's oppression of the small country of Manchuria. After being reprimanded by Zheng He, the King of Siam knew that he could not compete with the Ming Dynasty, so he expressed remorse and confessed his guilt, and sent envoys to accompany Zheng He's fleet to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute.
Zheng He's fleet maintained the small state of Manchuria, and in addition to promoting the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty, there were also economic considerations. Because Zheng He's fleet built "official factories" in the local area, it was responsible for the supply of materials and trade for the ming dynasty and tribute ships of various countries. Zheng He relied on Manja to maintain the operation of the "official factory".
After Myeongseong's death in 1424, his successor, Akihito, on the pretext of saving financial expenses, ordered the cessation of all activities in the Western Ocean until 1431, when Emperor Ming ordered Zheng He to go to the West for the seventh time.
There has always been much controversy in the historical circles about Zheng He's voyage to the West, including the specific location and time of Zheng He's voyage to the West, as well as the location of Zheng He's death, and historians' controversial real purpose of Zheng He's voyage to the West. In fact, in the "History of Ming", it is recorded that Zheng He's purpose of going to the West is nothing more than to publicize the prestige of the Ming Dynasty and find Emperor Jianwen, but is history really like this?
As we all know, there are several authors of the "History of Ming", but they are all Qing Dynasty officials, so there are many sections in the "History of Ming" that smear the Ming Dynasty and publicize the Qing Dynasty. As one of the Twenty-Four Histories, the History of the Ming Dynasty can be used as a reference, but it cannot be enshrined as a guideline. For example, in the "History of Ming", Zheng He's second and third voyages to the West are confused, and the Qing Dynasty period is already too far away from the Yongle period, so the "History of Ming" cannot be fully believed.
So what was the real purpose of Zheng He's voyage to the West? Is it just to publicize the prestige of the country and show the style of the great tomorrow toward the kingdom? In the 1930s, a Ming Dynasty cultural relic unearthed in Fujian revealed the real purpose behind Zheng He's voyage to the West, which turned out to be very simple.
In the early 1930s, a stone stele was unearthed in Fujian, China, and the author of the stele was the famous Sanbao eunuch Zheng He. This stone stele is named "The Record of Tianfei Lingying", according to the content of the inscription, it was carved by Zheng He before his seventh voyage to the West, in the Tianfei Palace in Changle Nanshan, Fuzhou, the stele is 0.78 meters wide and 1.62 meters high, and 1177 orthographic characters are densely engraved on it, except for 9 of which are seriously worn, the others are complete and clear.
This stele tells the story of Zheng He's seven voyages to the West in the six years from Yongle to Xuande, and is a precious historical material for studying the history of the early Ming Dynasty and Zheng He's deeds. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was sent to Nanping for preservation, and after the war, archaeologists interpreted this inscription in depth, and got the real purpose of Zheng He's voyage to the West.
The first paragraph of the inscription tells the merits of the Ming Dynasty beyond the dynasties and praises the deeds of various countries to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and at the end, Zheng He summarizes the purpose of going to the West in one sentence, that is:
"The money goes to the money, so Xuande is also gentle and far-reaching."
The so-called "money to the money" is to bring treasures and gifts to those small countries, and at the same time bring back some local specialties from small countries. And "Xuande and Rouyuan people" means to appease the people in the distance with the kindness of the imperial court. This sentence seems to be promoting the national prestige of Daming, but in fact it has designed a very famous system, that is, the tributary trade system.
Since the Song Dynasty, China's foreign trade system has been tributary trade, and the state has only opened a very small number of treaty ports to welcome envoys who come to pay tribute. The envoys of these small countries offered their own country's treasures, and the Ming court rewarded them with gold and silver. Generally speaking, the value of gold and silver rewarded by the Ming Dynasty far exceeded the tribute of small countries, so many countries were willing to trade with the Ming Dynasty, the most typical of which was Japan.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, a three-generation shogun of the Muromachi shogunate in Japan, in order to solve the financial crisis, received a large number of rewards by submitting to the Ming Dynasty and paying tribute. And perseverance in this, so why did the Ming Dynasty spend so much money to maintain the tributary trade, this is because small countries want to pay tribute, they must first "call the subject".
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has been doing the dream of a big country with "eight parties to pay tribute, all countries to come to the dynasty", so they did not refuse to come to their younger brothers, the Yongle Dynasty was strong, and the Yongle Emperor was not satisfied with only the Asian little brother, and set his sights on Africa and Europe farther away. Therefore, Zheng He went to the West to carry out tributary trade in Africa and West Asia, in fact, in order to collect a few more younger brothers, even at the cost of a lot of money.
After Zheng He helped the Yongle Emperor to take over his younger brother, he naturally wanted to protect the safety of these small countries, so he preached peace while going to the West, and imposed military sanctions on those countries that relied on the strong and the weak. As a "policeman in the Indian Ocean", Zheng He almost became the patron saint of many small countries in Asia and Africa, in fact, Zheng He's voyage to the West did achieve its purpose, allowing the Ming Dynasty's tributary trade to carry out in Africa, and also brought back giraffes that people were very surprised by at that time.