What did Zheng He do when he went to the Western Ocean?

From the first year to the fourth year of Ming Taizu Judy's reign (1399- 1402), she launched the "Battle of Jingnan" and finally captured Yingtian (now Nanjing), the capital of China. Zhu Yunwen, the emperor during his reign, burned down the palace and disappeared.

In the Ming Dynasty, Gu Jieyuan quoted others as saying that Wen Jian fled overseas, and Judy sent Zheng He to the Western Ocean in search of the emperor Wen Jian. Zheng Xiao, Shen Defu and others also have this doubt.

Since then, this statement has been included in Cha Jizhuo's Record of Criminal Evidence, Fu's Shu Ming, Zheng He's Biography and Biography. Modern scholars such as Xu Liqun and Fan Wenlan have also adopted it.

This statement has been criticized a lot. Zhu Guozhen, an Amin, thinks that Wen Jian is "different people have different opinions". Even if he fled abroad before his death, he would no longer pose a threat to Judy's throne.

Some researchers pointed out that Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas were many times and long, and Judy's throne had been firmly established in the process, so it was impossible to visit Wen Jian every time.

In addition, this statement also lacks reliable historical data as a support, and there are contradictions in Ming history. Nevertheless, it does not rule out that finding the Emperor Wen Jian is a possible motive.

Step 2 promote weeds

If the search for the whereabouts of Emperor Wen Jian is mainly based on speculation, then there is a historical basis for promoting the theory of national prestige. There are many interpretations that promote Wade in academic circles.

First, I think the purpose of going to the Western Ocean is to "communicate with other countries and keep people away" and to practice China's traditional political ideas, and I think the so-called "showing off force to the outside world" should be revised.

Secondly, it is believed that this is fundamentally due to Ming Chengzu's own ambition, that is, pretending to be a country in China, which made barbarian countries afraid of Wei Huaide and lost their sincerity in paying tribute. Third, I think that the purpose of going to the West is not to "boast more and fight more", but to promote virtue.

3. Military purposes

Some people think that Zheng He's voyage to the West was an action against the Timur Empire, including contacting India to fight against Timur. But at the beginning of Zheng He's voyage to the West, Timur himself had died, and his successor had a friendly relationship with the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the country has begun to split, and the Timur Empire no longer poses a threat to the western Shu of China.

In addition, Zhu Guozhen believed that Zheng He's voyage to the Western Seas had the intention of avoiding Zhang Shicheng's old army and communicating with Japan. Zheng Yijun further pointed out that the transportation of grain from the south to the north in the early Ming Dynasty was by sea, but in Yongle, it was changed to sea-land combined transportation and one-way water transportation, so that seafarers who were no longer responsible for transporting grain joined Zheng He's fleet, which could not only solve their outlet problem, but also prevent them from taking risks and colluding with the Japanese.

But at the same time, he believes that these are just the positive effects of Zheng He's voyages to the West, not his motives. Li Xinfeng, on the other hand, combined the relationship between the voyage to the West and the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, and speculated that Judy might lack trust in the water army with the sergeant on the southern tour as the main body. Therefore, when the emperor left Beijing for the Northern Expedition, he tried his best to send the navy abroad to eliminate hidden dangers.

Extended data:

I. Background of the event

1, economic background

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, due to the efforts of Zhu Yuanzhang for thirty-one years, the agricultural economy recovered. Handicraft industry has also developed greatly: mining and metallurgy, textiles, ceramics, paper making and printing have all been improved to varying degrees than before.

In addition, there was a considerable marine shipbuilding industry in Jiangnan area at the end of Yuan Dynasty, and a large-scale official shipbuilding industry was established at the beginning of Ming Dynasty. Besides Nanjing Treasure Shipyard, there were official factories in Suzhou, Songjiang and Zhenjiang.

The recovery and development of industry and commerce in the early Ming Dynasty, the development of China's overseas trade since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the increase of foreign immigrants all prepared a solid economic foundation and material conditions for Zheng He's voyage to the West.

When Ming Chengzu gained the throne through the battle of Jingnan, the Ming Dynasty had been established for more than 30 years, and agriculture and people's lives were affected by this coup. At this time, coastal metropolises such as China and Guangzhou developed very prosperously.

After good economic development, it is very urgent to develop overseas transportation and overseas trade. China's silk and porcelain are welcomed by western countries and have won a high reputation. China also has a great demand for spices and other things that cannot be produced by itself.

2. Scientific and technological conditions

The development of shipbuilding industry, the use of compass, the accumulation of navigation experience, the training of a large number of sailors and the increase of navigation knowledge (1389 Ming Taizu's Mixed Map of Daming is an example) provided the necessary conditions for Zheng He's voyage to the West.

(1) shipbuilding technology

Before Zheng He's voyage to the West, China's shipbuilding technology had made great progress. Around the Tang Dynasty, China people invented watertight compartments, vehicles and ships, balance rudders and perforated rudders.

From the perspective of ship types, in Song and Yuan Dynasties, the ship types of China seagoing ships have been finalized, among which the most famous ones are Fu Ship, Sha Ship and Guang Ship, which are regarded as the three major ship types in ancient China, among which Fu Ship is the most widely used and has the greatest influence.

On the hull structure of seagoing ships, China seagoing ships adopt the overlapping method to form a "fish scale" structure (also known as "staggered armour method" structure), so that the hull plates are closely connected, the overall strength is high, and water leakage is not easy.

The carrying capacity of the ship is also considerable, reaching more than mangoku in the Southern Song Dynasty. As far as passenger capacity is concerned, this seagoing vessel can carry 1000 passengers. In terms of the living environment on board, the seagoing vessels in China can achieve complete living facilities, equipped with washing facilities, elegant rooms for family members and abundant food. Even pigs, vegetables, herbs, wine, bonsai for viewing.

(2) Navigation technology

According to Zheng He's nautical chart, Zheng He's use of hydrological needle (24/48 azimuth compass navigation) combined with star-pulling (astronomical navigation) was the most advanced navigation technology at that time.

Zheng He's fleet navigated with a compass during the day and kept its course by observing the stars and the water compass at night. By reasonably solving the problems of fresh water storage, ship stability and anti-sinking, Zheng He's fleet was able to "keep the Yun Fan high and the stars gallop day and night" under the sinister conditions of "Hong Tao meets the sky and the waves are like mountains", with few accidents.

During the day, flags of various colors are hung and waved in the agreed way to form corresponding semaphores. At night, lanterns are used to reflect the sailing situation. In case of fog and rain with poor visibility, gongs, horns and horns are also used for communication.

In astronomical navigation technology, China can determine the position and navigation direction of ships by observing the sun, moon and stars long ago. Zheng He's fleet combined the astronomical positioning of navigation with the application of navigation compass, which improved the accuracy of determining the position and course of the ship. People call it "picking stars".

Use the method of "pulling the star board" to observe and locate, and judge the position and direction of the ship by measuring the height of the sky, so as to determine the course. This technology represents the world advanced level of astronomical navigation in that era.

In the aspect of geographic navigation technology, Zheng He's geographic navigation technology on his voyages to the West is based on marine scientific knowledge and nautical charts, and uses navigation instruments such as navigation compass, log and bathymeter to determine the navigation route of ships according to the records of nautical charts and needle books. When sailing, the navigation route is determined, which is called needle track. The error of the compass shall not exceed 2.5 degrees.

With regard to nautical charts, Joseph Needham of Britain pointed out in his book "History of Science and Technology in China" that Mills and Bladden made a detailed study on the accuracy of China's nautical charts. Both of them are familiar with the entire coastline of Malay Peninsula, and they spoke highly of the accuracy of China's nautical charts.

Second, Zheng He opened up air routes.

/kloc-At the beginning of the 5th century, Zheng He's voyages to the West pushed China's ancient marine industry to the peak of development and made important contributions to human marine civilization. Mainly manifested in:

First, the Asian-African intercontinental route was opened, paving the way for westerners to sail in Asia and Africa. When Portuguese navigator Da Gama reached the east coast around the Cape of Good Hope along the west coast of Africa, the locals told us that China people had visited several times decades ago. With the help of Arab navigators, they successfully reached India along the route opened by Zheng He's fleet.

Secondly, I made some marine expeditions to the western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and collected and mastered a lot of marine scientific data. Zheng He's nautical charts were drawn through a large number of marine surveys. This kind of marine exploration activity is more than 400 years earlier than the earliest marine survey recorded by British Challenger (1872- 1876).

The third is the strategic layout of the navigation area. According to his mission and marine knowledge, Zheng He chose Zhancheng, Malaga, Jiugang, Guli and Hulumos as the key areas for marine development, which is conducive to expanding the scope of overseas transportation and trade.

The distance and complexity of Zheng He's voyages to the West are epoch-making in the history of world navigation. Although due to historical conditions and limitations, the historical mission of geographical discovery could not be completed by Zheng He's fleet, but the routes they experienced were in such a wide range;

The criss-crossing maritime traffic between Asian and African coastal countries and regions is developed, which has communicated and strengthened the ties between the countries along the western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and made great contributions to the development of world civilization.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Zheng He's Journey to the West

Baidu Encyclopedia-Zheng He