In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cihong held Mao Yuanyi's "Wubei Zhi" in his hand, and carefully observed the fifth part of Zheng He's sea chart.

Mao Yuanyi, an old thing, has learned a lot, and there are not only records of the art of war, firearms and other ordnance in the book, but even Zheng He's charts are included, but the charts he collected are incomplete, and can only be regarded as scales and claws.

The real Zheng He's charts, with their comprehensive documentation and accurate data collation, can be called the treasures of civilization in the history of human navigation, have disappeared.

Rao is Zhu Cihong ordered to look for it, but he didn't find it.......

Zheng He's voyage to the West was the largest sea voyage in ancient China, with the largest number of ships and seafarers, and the largest series of maritime expeditions in the history of the world.

However, there is great controversy in later generations about the historical facts such as the purpose of Zheng He's fleet, the scope of navigation, and the evaluation of the seven voyages.

There is a theory that it was Zheng He's fleet that first discovered America.

This theory was proposed by the British scholar Gavin Menzies, who claimed that the fleet of Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty in China may have reached the American continent before Columbus and completed the circumnavigation of the world before Magellan.

Menzies, who proposed this doctrine as an officer in the submarine squadron of the British Royal Navy, traveled the world after Columbus and Vasco da Gama, and followed in Magellan's footsteps on a global voyage.

In the course of his research on Zheng He's fleet, Menzies visited one hundred and twenty countries, visited more than nine hundred museums and libraries, and visited every important seaport of the late Middle Ages.

At the beginning of the 21st century, at academic seminars held in London, England, and since then at several academic seminars, Menzies has continuously presented his findings to the public.

First, he found a map from 1459 in Venice showing South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, with a Chinese sailing ship next to it, and Menzies deduced that European nautical charts might have come from China.

It is widely known in historiography that da Gama discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1479, as is also written in junior high school history books.

However, this map was twenty years before da Gama discovered the Cape of Good Hope!

What does this mean? After the Cape of Good Hope, it's the Atlantic, it's the Americas!

Before the opening of the Suez Canal, ships traveling between Asia and Europe passed through the Cape of Good Hope, and since this place can be discovered, it means that before da Gama, someone had already discovered the Americas and made nautical charts!

Zheng He's fleet drew 24 maps of the sea based on his own sailing experience, and some of the accompanying crew members wrote books such as "Zheng He's Navigation Chart" and "Xingcha Triumph", and even published and engraved them.

It is very likely that European navigators took Zheng He's nautical charts for sailing and exploration, discovering new continents, and making round-the-world voyages!

The second piece of evidence is that the wreckage of an ancient Chinese ship was found on the seabed of the Caribbean Sea in the Americas, as well as relics such as stone anchors and fishing gear, whose materials and shapes are consistent with those of ancient Chinese ships salvaged in Philippine waters.

Based on his knowledge of the wind and tides, Menzies deduced that in December 1421 (the 19th year of Yongle), nine ocean-going galleons in Zheng He's fleet sank at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea, and they had been to the Americas!

The third piece of evidence is the naming of "Atlantic", which is not a translated name, but an authentic domestic foreign name.

The name Atlantic was first recorded in the Ming Dynasty, when Matteo Ricci came to China to pay homage to the Wanli Emperor, he said that he was "a native of the Atlantic Ocean west of the Lesser Western Ocean."

The Little Western Ocean, that is, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean were the names of Europe in the Ming Dynasty.

During the Ming Dynasty, the boundary between the east and the west, from the Leizhou Peninsula to Kalimantan as the boundary, was called "Western" in the west and "Dongyang" in the east, so the Japanese were also called "Orientals".

Menzies's astonishing statement has attracted the attention of various news media and relevant academic journals at home and abroad, and has aroused controversy in academic circles.

Some scholars believe that Menzies's collection and mastery of a large number of European documents and archaeological evidence is very convincing.

Moreover, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the country was strong, with advanced shipbuilding technology and navigation technology, coupled with Zheng He's huge fleet lineup, excellent performance of treasure ships, and full of the ability to sail to the Americas.

Of course, many scholars do not agree with this statement at all, and they feel that although Zheng He's fleet was capable of reaching the Americas, it did not take the initiative to go on a sea expedition.

As for the ancient Chinese ships found in the Caribbean, it should be a sub-fleet of Zheng He's fleet that encountered a storm during the voyage and was blown all the way to the Americas.......

Some scholars directly denied it, saying that from the existing historical materials and documents, there is no clear record that Zheng He's fleet had been to the Americas, and the above is just speculation and cannot be regarded as historical facts.

Others directly said that Zheng He's fleet did not have the ability to cross the ocean at all in terms of navigation technology, and could only go to the ocean near the sea......

In fact, it was not Menzies who first proposed that the Chinese first arrived in the Americas, but the 18th-century French scholar Sinologist Cheni, who put forward this idea in 1761, which caused heated discussions in the academic community at that time.

Discussion is discussion, and the issue has never been resolved and no consensus has been reached.

Hong Kong scholar Lee Siu-leung took over Menzies's banner and continued to verify the claim that Zheng He's fleet had discovered America.

In 1994, someone accidentally dug up a gold medal (not made of gold) in southeastern North America, which was engraved with the six characters "Daming Xuande Weixi".

After the analysis of metal composition and the age test, it was found that the zinc content of the copper coins of the Jiajing and Longqing dynasties was consistent, indicating that this gold medal was at least equivalent to the smelting technology in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and it was indeed a genuine product during the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, and was called the "Xuande Gold Medal".

This type of gold medal is a gift given to Fanbang by the Ming Emperor after he ascended the throne, and it will be withdrawn after his death, and the gold medal of the new emperor will be re-issued to Fanbang.

Therefore, some people speculate that this was brought to the Americas by Zheng He during the Xuande Dynasty's seventh and last trip to the West, and thus completely stayed overseas.

Li Zhaoliang also found through research that some Cherokee people, the aborigines of North America, use two flags, "Wen and Wu", and each flag uses seven five-pointed stars, which are arranged in a way that is named after China as the "Big Dipper".

The probability of "civil and military" is a Chinese cultural element, and the Big Dipper Flag is also the imperial flag throughout Chinese history.

In the major sacrificial activities held by the emperor, there will also be the Beidou flag.

Sima Qian wrote in "Historical Records?? The Book of Heavenly Officials wrote: Dou is the emperor's car, transported in the center, the four townships of the temporary system, divided into yin and yang, built four times, all five elements, shifting the knots, and setting the disciplines, all of which are tied to the bucket.

The Chinese nation, the descendants of Yan and Huang have a long culture, the so-called totems, I am afraid that only Beidou has the most extensive and far-reaching influence, which is also the most fundamental Han belief.

However, the Beidou flag actually appeared in the tribes of the native Americans of North America, which is worth pondering.

In any case, due to the loss of Zheng He's charts, (the extant fragment of Mao Yuanyi's Wubei Zhi), Zheng He's discovery of the American doctrine still has no strong evidence to prove it.

Just like Zheng He's second trip to the West, neither the "Ming Shilu" nor the "History of the Ming Dynasty" recorded that Yongle's five to seven years of going to the West is based on the inscription of "The Gods of the Heavenly Concubine".

The phrase "Heaven and Heaven, no concubine" comes from this inscription.

This is the eve of Zheng He's seventh mission to the West, the fleet anchored in Changle and waited for the monsoon to set sail, and was engraved after rebuilding the Tianfei Palace and Sanfeng Pagoda Temple in Changle Nanshan and building a new Sanqing Treasure Palace.

How could it not be that Zheng He sent someone to write this inscription, the local government kept it during the Anti-Japanese War, and it has not been destroyed for five or six hundred years, maybe history is different.

.......

This chapter cites a lot of content, originally I didn't want to write it, because recently I saw many netizens express their opinions, greatly underestimating the navigation ability of the Ming Dynasty, so I finally wrote it, so that more people know this statement.

At that time, Magellan was able to complete the round-the-world voyage with five broken ships, and Zheng He's fleet had more than 200 ocean-going ships and more than 20,000 officers and soldiers, including many giant treasure ships, so why couldn't he sail to the ocean?