Why didn't you go to sea to plunder during the Ming Dynasty?

First of all, self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy and foreign trade are unnecessary, not to mention foreign plunder.

Second, Confucianism is precious. There were not many real large-scale foreign invasions in ancient China (of course, its existence cannot be denied), even though the targets of aggression were neighboring countries such as North Korea and Viet Nam.

Third, the awareness of the ocean is not high, and there is little interest and no motivation. China is not a marine civilization in essence (including people's attention to the ocean has increased now, but it has not changed qualitatively.

Fourth, technical restrictions. Shipbuilding was very strong in Ming dynasty, but the information transmission technology was underdeveloped, not to mention GPS. After drifting at sea for several months, there are still many force majeure, and shipwrecks have occurred frequently until now. I have to admit that even in the 2 1 century, human beings are still very strange to the ocean. The ocean is far more mysterious than the land.

Due to many factors, this problem is not unique to the Ming Dynasty. I summed it up myself I hope it helps you.