Xu Fu in this era, he pseudonym Zheng He, he accepted the order of Ming Chengzu, led more than 240 sea ships, 27,400 crew of a huge fleet of sailing, visited more than 30 countries and regions in the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean, deepened the friendly relations between the Ming Empire and the South China Sea, East Africa, a total of seven voyages, known as Zheng He's voyage to the West.

Zheng He was the pioneer of the Age of Discovery, and Zheng He's voyage to the West was the pinnacle of contemporary navigation, and in the hundreds of years in later generations, almost no one could match. These records all represent the peak of China's seafaring exploration, more than 80 years before the Western explorers Vasco da Gama Columbus and others. At that time, the Ming Dynasty was ahead of the West in the same period in terms of navigation technology, fleet size, long voyage, duration, and fields involved, creating a miracle in the world's maritime history.

The generals Fu Youde, Lan Yu, and Mu Ying defeated Yunnan and captured Zheng He and his cadres, etc., and later they gave Zheng He to Zhu Di, the king of Yan.

One day, Ming Chengzu asked the minister Yuan Zhongche: "I want Zheng He to lead a fleet to visit various countries in the Western Ocean, what do you think?"

At that time, the entire Indian Ocean west of present-day Sumatra was called the Western Ocean, and in terms of navigation technology at that time, the Western Ocean was a dangerous place on land and sea. Yuan Zhongche thought for a while and said, "Whether in terms of appearance or talent, Zheng He is completely competent. ”

Zheng He accepted the special mission of Ming Chengzu, and after full preparation and all aspects were ready, he chose an auspicious day and set sail.

Zheng He made a total of seven voyages, lasting 28 years, each time from Suzhou Liujiagang, Zheng He has reached Java, Sumatra, Sulu, Pahang, Chenla, Guli, Siam, Punggara, Adan, Tianfang, Zhofar, Kurumus, Mugu Dushu and other more than 30 countries, as far as East Africa, the Red Sea, Mecca, and possibly Australia, the Americas and New Zealand.

Zheng He's fleet was large and well-organized, which was unmatched by European long-distance fleets at that time. Although Zheng He did not rewrite human history like the discovery of the New World, it promoted friendship and exchanges between China and other countries in Asia and Africa.

There were sixty-three treasure ships, the largest one was forty-four feet long and fourteen feet long, and the middle one was thirty-seven feet long and fifteen feet wide. It was the largest sea vessel in the world at that time, with a length of 151 meters and a width of 62 meters. The nine masts of the ship can hang twelve sails, the anchor weighs several thousand catties, it takes 200 people to set sail, and a ship can accommodate 1,000 people.

There were 27,670 members of the Western official academy, the banner army, the warriors, the wrestlers, the generals, the people, the compradors, the scribes, and the generals, the 868 officers, and the 26,802 soldiers. There are seven eunuchs, ten young eunuchs, five eunuchs, fifty-three internal officials, one member of the household department, and two commanders. Ninety-three commanders, one hundred and forty members of a thousand households, four hundred and three members of a hundred households, one member of the teaching, one member of the Yin and Yang officials, two sherens, one Yu Ding, and one hundred and eighty medical officers and doctors.

Zheng and the use of the Haidao Needle Sutra combined with the technique of transoceanic star pulling, which was the most advanced navigation technology at the time. Zheng He's purpose in going to the West was to promote the virtue of the Ming Dynasty, to find Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen, to outflank the Timurid Khanate, to develop overseas trade, to attempt to colonize overseas, to sweep Zhang Shicheng's old department, and to solve the problem of military demobilization.

Zheng He's seven voyages to the West did not bring earth-shaking changes to world history like Columbus and other navigators, but he also achieved some tangible results. Zheng He's voyage was the first longest transoceanic voyage in the history of the world, opening up a wide and stable shipping route between the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean, which was indeed a feat of human conquest of the sea.

Zheng He's voyage established regular and friendly ties between China and Asian and African countries, and promoted mutual understanding between China and Asian and African countries. Zheng He's voyage promoted material exchanges between China and Asian and African countries, and also promoted the development of South Asian countries. Zheng He's voyage spread Chinese civilization to Asian and African countries and promoted the progress of civilization in Asian and African countries.

The benefits brought to the Ming Dynasty government by the open policy of Western trade amounted to at least 200,000 taels of gold and 10 million taels of silver, which was more than ten times the income of the Song and Yuan Dynasty cities. In addition, the vassal states that received the Ming Dynasty's survey were able to trade with the three treaty ports such as Quanzhou and Ningbo, and imported Western goods into the Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, the present-day Nanyang region was collectively referred to as the East and the West. The Western Ocean refers to the present-day Indochina Peninsula, the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, Borneo, and other regions, while the Oriental refers to the Philippines, Japan, and other regions. Before the Yuan Dynasty, there was already a division between the East and the West, so why was there such a division? Because at that time, navigation on the sea had to rely on the needle road, and the needle road was divided into the Oriental and Western indicators, so in the geographical term, there were the East and the West, and Zheng He's Western Ocean refers to the current Nanyang Islands.

The history of Chinese going to Nanyang is very early, and it did not start with Zheng He. Long before the Common Era, the political power of the Qin Dynasty had reached the current Vietnam region, and by the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, many areas of the present-day Nanyang Islands had many contacts with the Han Dynasty.

However, a fleet like Zheng He, which was sent by the state, went out tens of thousands of people and dozens of large ships at a time, and these ships were the largest ships in the world at that time, that is, the largest navy in the world at that time, not only to the main countries of the Nanyang Islands now, but also all the way to Africa. Its scale, the number of people, and the scope were unprecedented in history, even after the Ming Dynasty, and such a large-scale voyage had never been seen in the history of the world at that time.

Zheng He's voyage to the West was 87 years before Columbus discovered the New World, 83 years before Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope, 93 years before Osda Gamma discovered the New Sea Route, 116 years before Magellan arrived in the Philippines, and earlier than all the world's famous navigators. It can be said that Zheng He is the earliest, greatest, and most accomplished navigator in history.

The question is why China was able to send such a large seafaring fleet in the early fifteenth century, and not at any other time? Ming Chengzu fought from Beijing to Nanjing, seized the throne of his nephew Emperor Jianwen, Emperor Jianwen was the grandson of Ming Taizu, after he became emperor, he listened to the opinions of Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng and others, to eliminate the power of some of his uncles Ming Taizu Feng's princes, in order to strengthen the centralization of power.

He relieved some princes of military power, some were imprisoned, and some were deposed as concubines. So King Yan rebelled, fought for several years, and finally reached Nanjing. The fire in the palace started, and the emperor didn't know what to do, because there was a fire in the palace at that time, and all the people in the palace were burned to death, and the burned corpse couldn't tell who it was, so there was a mystery case of whether Emperor Jianwen was dead or not.

If he hadn't died and had run out, then it would have been possible for him to reorganize the army to overthrow Ming Chengzu's rule. Judging from the situation in the country at that time, there was this problem, because Emperor Jianwen was the successor of his grandfather Ming Taizu, and all parts of the country obeyed his command. Although Ming Chengzu achieved military victories, he did not destroy the entire military force of Emperor Jianwen, and his military strength was only along the railway line from Beijing to Nanjing today, and other places were still the original forces of Emperor Jianwen.

Therefore, Ming Chengzu had to consider whether Emperor Jianwen was still there, and if he escaped, where did he flee to? He had to find a way to arrest Emperor Jianwen. So he sent the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Hu Hu, nominally to all parts of the country to find immortals, at that time it is said that there was an immortal named Zhang Sanfeng, in fact, to find Emperor Jianwen, before and after twenty or thirty years.

Hu Hu reported to Ming Chengzu every time he found it, the last time he reported to the emperor, Chengzu was in the army, Hu Hu said nothing others could not hear, I saw that Ming Chengzu was very happy after he spoke, and the last report this time may be that Emperor Jianwen is dead. In addition, Ming Chengzu was afraid that Emperor Jianwen would not be in China and went abroad, so when he sent Zheng He to the West, he asked Zheng He to pay attention to this matter abroad. This is possible, but this is not the main purpose of Zheng He's voyage to the West, which was mainly due to economic reasons.

The successive generations after Ming Chengzu also attached great importance to the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, and Emperor Wanli once talked to his teacher about this issue and asked Emperor Jianwen where he had gone? Why it was still unclear after more than 100 years. At that time, there were many books about Emperor Jianwen, which told how Emperor Jianwen escaped from Nanjing, through some places, and where he fled to.

Some books say that he went to Yunnan and became a monk, and those who fled with him also became monks, and there are more and more legends like this. In addition, there are more and more books recording the deeds of Emperor Jianwen, and what does this mean? It is a political issue. During the reign of Emperor Jianwen, he changed some of the practices of his grandfather Ming Taizu, and he believed that some of the systems set by Ming Taizu should be changed after decades.

At that time, some of the people around Emperor Jianwen were Confucian scholars who lacked practical experience in struggle, and some of their own methods were not clever. Despite this, Emperor Jianwen's move was supported by many people. But Ming Chengzu raised troops against him, in Ming Chengzu's view, all the systems stipulated by Ming Taizu were perfect, and he did not allow Emperor Jianwen to change the things of his ancestors.

Therefore, the struggle between Ming Chengzu and Emperor Jianwen was a struggle to maintain or change the old system set by Ming Taizu, and Emperor Jianwen lost in this struggle. After Ming Chengzu became the emperor, he restored all the things that Emperor Jianwen had changed, and it remained unchanged for more than 200 years until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

Under these circumstances, there were quite a few intellectuals who were dissatisfied with Ming Chengzu and dissatisfied with his rule. In what way did they express this dissatisfaction? It was not possible to oppose it openly, so they expressed it through their nostalgia for Emperor Jianwen. They affirmed Emperor Jianwen and praised Emperor Jianwen, but in fact they opposed Ming Chengzu, so there are more and more legends about Emperor Jianwen.

The ruins of the so-called Jianwen Emperor can be found everywhere in Sichuan and Yunnan, and there is a temple that says that Emperor Jianwen lived, and there is a temple there with a few trees in it, and it is said that it was planted by Jianwen Emperor.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there was a literati named Qian Qianyi, who was very bad politically, and he wrote articles on this issue. At that time, many books said that when Nanjing was surrounded by Yan soldiers, the city gate could not be opened, so Emperor Jianwen shaved his hair and ran out of the water gate of the sewer with a few followers.

Qian Qianyi said that this was unreliable, the water gate of the Nanjing sewer could not go out of the city at all, he was the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites at that time, and he was very familiar with the situation in the palace. In addition, there are many unfactual legends, which he refutes one by one.

In the end, he explained that if Emperor Jianwen really ran out, the area ruled by Ming Chengzu at that time was only near the communication line from Beijing to Nanjing, as long as Emperor Jianwen called for it, all parts of the country would respond to him, and he could continue to fight. But it didn't turn out that way. This can lead to a conclusion that Emperor Jianwen died in the palace. But at that time, he couldn't be completely sure, what if he ran away, so Ming Chengzu sent someone to find it.