Horses with sores on their backs are timid, and those with ills are weak-hearted.

- Mongolian proverb

On July 17, 1402, Zhu Di abolished the Jianwen era name, renamed the 4th year of Jianwen to the 35th year of Hongwu, and officially ascended the throne of the Ming Dynasty and became the Yongle Emperor, holding the highest power of the country. Judging from the year name, he did not inherit the throne of his nephew Zhu Yunwen, but inherited his father, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di listened to the advice of Gong Jialu, a capable cadre, and implemented the "five laws" in political management: all restored the laws and official systems formulated by Emperor Taizu who were changed during the Jianwen period, and restored the official positions derogatory during the Jianwen period; all reforms during the Jianwen period were abolished; All laws and regulations that were contrary to Taizu made during the Jianwen period were abolished. He wanted to use this to show that the purpose of his army was to restore the ancestral teachings, which was legally legitimate and legal.

Maybe it's because the grudge is too deep, or maybe it's the outbreak of pressure, Zhu Di's brutal killing and vain introduction of plants stretches like a melon vine, so it is called a melon vine.

Shi Jingqing, a veteran of the old minister, was dissatisfied with Zhu Di's seizure of the throne, and tried to assassinate Zhu Di when he was in the last court, but was subdued by the quick-eyed Ma He rushing up.

Zhu Di was furious, ordered the extermination of Shi Jingqing's nine clans, bulldozed his ancestral grave, traced his hometown, and climbed each other, causing the whole village to be killed by Zhulian. The village also lay in ruins.

In order to consolidate his power and strengthen social management and economic construction, Zhu Di adopted a series of political and economic measures.

He ordered Ma He to lead people to search for more than 50 people, including Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, the ministers of the old dynasty of Emperor Jianwen, to implement a complete change of dynasty; rebuild the Fengtian Temple, which was burned down by Zhu Yunwen; re-engraved jade seal; named his favorite princess Xu as the queen; Attach importance to the role of the supervisory body, set up a system of dispatching imperial historians to patrol the world, and encourage officials to tell each other; using eunuchs to send envoys, levies, supervise the army, and sub-towns to spy on the secrets of ministers and ordinary people; set up the town guard ministers and the Dongchang Yamen, and restored the Jinyi Guard abolished by Zhu Yuanzhang; Improve the civil service system, select bureaucrats with less seniority to join the cabinet to participate in machine affairs, solve the vacancy in the administrative organs after the abolition of the Zhongshu Province, and gradually form the prototype of the cabinet system; The use of the imperial examination system and the compilation of books to encompass landlords and scholars, propagate Confucian ideas, changed the early Ming Dynasty's excessive exaltation of Buddhism and Taoism, and selected officials to strive to use them according to their talents; Pay attention to the restoration and development of the social economy, and believe that "the family gives people enough" and "the people are well-off" are the foundation of peace in the world; vigorously develop and improve the military cantonment system and the rules for salt merchants to ensure the supply of military rations and border salaries; control the water in the south of the Yangtze River and dredge Wusong; In all parts of the Central Plains, we should encourage the cultivation of idle land, and implement methods such as relocating people to wide townships and supervising people to cultivate to promote production; Attention was paid to measures such as the exemption of alms to prevent the peasants from going bankrupt, ensuring the conscription of servitude, and laying the ideological and organizational foundation for the political, economic, military, and cultural development at that time.

Through these measures, the state's fiscal revenue during the Yongle period reached the peak of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di was strict with authority over the royal children who threatened his position. In the early years of Yongle, he successively restored the old titles of King Zhou, King Qi, King Dai and King Min. When his throne was more secure, he deposed the kings as concubines or sent them to the frontier regions.

He demoted Emperor Jianwen's three younger brothers to the county king, and abolished two of them as concubines and imprisoned them in Fengyang, leaving only one for Zhu Biao to worship.

In August 1403, Zhu Di ordered Xie Jin, Yao Guangxiao, Wang Jing and Zou Ji to revise large-scale books and compile the "Literature Dacheng", which was later known as the "Yongle Dadian". "Yongle Grand Canon" is a large-scale book compiled in ancient China, the included books are not deleted, is the precious cultural heritage of the Chinese nation, is the largest encyclopedia in ancient China, and is also the largest encyclopedia in the world at that time, more than 300 years earlier than the "Encyclopedia Britannica" and "Encyclopedia of France" published in the middle of the 18th century.

With the basic stability of the overall situation of the country, Zhu Di's hanging heart relaxed slightly. On the first day of the first lunar month in 1404, Zhu Di expressed his reward and favor to meritorious officials by bestowing his surname.

He gave the most powerful cadre Ma He the surname Zheng, and at the same time, promoted Zheng He to the eunuch of the internal official, which is equivalent to the official of the fourth grade, and is known as the eunuch of the Three Treasures in history.

He also promoted Gong Jialu to the rank of general in charge of national defense affairs to protect his imperial cause.

Although Zhu Di held a large-scale state funeral for Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen, the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen have always been unknown. Some people say that Emperor Jianwen escaped from Yingtianfu through the tunnels of the imperial palace and became a monk in Yunnan and Guizhou. Some people say that Emperor Jianwen fled overseas by boat.

Because Zhu Di seized the throne of Emperor Jianwen, he always had a cloud of illegality in his heart, for fear that Emperor Jianwen would make a comeback with the old forces. In order to eliminate this major suspicion in his heart, he specially sent people to visit Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Yunnan and Guizhou, but he did not find out the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen.

He and Gong Jialu thought about it for a long time, and finally came up with a good solution. He claimed to have sent Zheng He to visit Western countries, but he was actually searching for the traces of Emperor Jianwen.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty was bounded by Borneo (today's Brunei), with the east of Borneo called the East and the west of Borneo called the West.

The reason why Zhu Di chose Zheng He to lead the fleet to the Western Ocean was because Zheng He knew the art of war, had strategy, and was brave and good at fighting, and had military command talents. Zheng He served in the army as a teenager, and later transferred to the Yanwang Mansion to serve Zhu Di. Zheng He withstood the test of war after becoming an adult, followed Zhu Di to participate in the Battle of Jingyan, transferred to the north and south, was born and died, experienced several major battles, and had rich practical combat experience.

Zhu Di conferred the rank of eunuch on Zheng Heqincha, and handed over more than 20,000 officers and soldiers to him with full command.

In order to train his son Gong Chengxiang, who had just turned 15, Gong Jialu sent him to Zheng He's ocean-going fleet, hoping that his old friend could train his son.

Zheng He looked at Gong Chengxiang's white skin, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his appearance was quite similar to that of a Huiren, and he liked it very much, so he left him by his side as a personal guard.

On July 11, 1405, Gong Chengxiang followed Zheng He, the chief envoy of the Ming Dynasty, and Wang Jinghong, the deputy envoy of the Ming Dynasty, on 62 ships 138 meters long and 56 meters wide, loaded with more than 28,000 people, including official schools, flag soldiers, warriors, wrestlers, tongshi, people, compradors, scribes, eunuchs, teachings, yin and yang officials, medical officers, medical officers, officials and soldiers, from Liujiagang (today's Taicang Port) in Suzhou, and sailed along the west coast of the East China Sea to Fujian.

Gong Chengxiang and his fleet practiced in Fujian for more than half a year, and then set sail from Wuhumen on the Minjiang River in Fuzhou. They first reached Champa on the western coast of the South China Sea (present-day south-central Vietnam) and then sailed in the direction of the wind towards the island of Java.

On June 30, 1406, in the waters off the island of Java in present-day Indiania, an ocean-going fleet from the Ming Dynasty sailed to the port. Zheng He's fleet landed in the coastal city of Java (present-day Semarang, Indonesia).

Gong Chengxiang walked out of the cabin with Zheng He, the supreme commander of the fleet, and met cordially with the king of Java to trade with the local people.

Gong Chengxiang suddenly went out of the country and came to the West like a dream. The exotic nature and customs were an eye-opener for him, and he was overjoyed.

Zheng He said to Gong Chengxiang kindly: "You and the sailors of the caravan go around together, and take the opportunity to visit the beautiful scenery of Java." ”

As soon as Gong Chengxiang heard Zheng He's words, he pulled his legs and was about to chase after the sailors who had already set off, but he didn't raise his feet after thinking about it.

Gong Chengxiang said to Zheng He seriously: "Lord Zheng, my duty is to defend you. I'll go wherever you go! ”

Zheng He saw that this child was very sensible, and said happily: "Okay." I'll take you to their palace in a moment. ”

At that time, there was a civil war between East Java and West Java, and the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty did not know the specific situation, so they went straight to East Java to do business after getting off the ship.

Unexpectedly, the army of West Java suddenly rushed into the territory of East Java and inexplicably killed people who were trading in the market, including more than 170 soldiers under Zheng He.

Zheng He was furious when he heard the news and immediately dispatched troops to prepare to attack West Java.

The king of West Java knew that his soldiers had killed the envoys and merchants of the Ming Empire by mistake, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly brought 60,000 taels of gold and ran to personally present it to Zheng He as compensation for the dead soldiers.

Zheng He's face was pale, and his two thick black eyebrows stood upside down. Resisting the grief of losing hundreds of soldiers, he sternly condemned the king of West Java and ordered him to set aside a good plot of land for the solemn funerals of the victims, and to compensate for the consequences of his recklessness and stupidity.

The king of West Java did not dare to delay, and immediately did everything to calm down the incident. Since then, the state of West Java has sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty every year to pay tribute, and the attitude is very humble.

Gong Chengxiang looked at the rows of graves of the victims, and couldn't help but sigh secretly: Fortunately, he didn't follow the caravan to East Java, otherwise he would have gone to the west long ago.

After dealing with the aftermath, Zheng He commanded the fleet to leave Java and arrive at the old port of Sriwijaya (present-day Sumatra, Indonesia).

Shi Jinqing, a local leader of the Guangdong diaspora, heard the news and came to report to Zheng He: "The pirate Chen Zuyi is fierce and tyrannical, endangering the township, and asks Lord Zheng to eliminate harm for the people." ”

As soon as Zheng He heard the word pirate, he was furious, and immediately sent someone to recruit Chen Zuyi.

Chen Zuyi played a trick, pretending to agree to surrender on the surface, but behind the scenes, he planned to rob Zheng He's fleet.

Zheng He found that Chen Zuyi did not sincerely surrender, and quietly ordered his subordinates to prepare for battle.

When Chen Zuyi led the pirates to attack rashly, Zheng He commanded the main force to chase and fight fiercely, exterminated more than 5,000 thieves, burned 10 thief ships, captured 5 thief ships, captured Chen Zuyi and other pirate leaders alive, put torture tools and shackles on them, and locked them in the ship for labor reform, which removed a major disaster for the Nanyang countries and opened up the trade channel between the countries.

Local overseas Chinese flocked to the port one after another to warmly welcome their relatives from the motherland and thank the Ming army for eliminating violence and peace for the people. They brought daily necessities such as rice, fruits and vegetables from local production to the fleet.

Zheng He led the fleet to continue westward on the vast sea.

Gong Chengxiang often saw Zheng He sitting by the window of the cabin alone after he finished his work and deployment, silently looking at the vast sea.

Gong Chengxiang had heard his father talk about Zheng He's unfortunate family history before, and felt sorry and unfair for the ordeal suffered by this outstanding talent. He never dared to mention these things in front of Zheng He, pretending that he didn't know anything.

He looked at Zheng He's lonely and lonely appearance, and guessed that his heart must be very bitter. Is he missing his deceased family, or is he missing Kunyang, which is like spring all year round? Probably neither.

Zheng He's fleet passed through Sumatra and successively reached Manchurian (present-day Indonesia, Malaysia, Malacca, Singapore), Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), and Guri (present-day Calicut, India).

Everywhere the fleet went, Zheng He would meet with the kings of the local countries, offering gorgeous silk presented by the Ming Emperor, embroidery from Suzhou, blue and white porcelain from Jingdezhen, etc., to elaborate on the Ming Dynasty's inclusive policy and publicize the country's beautiful scenery and splendid cultural history.

He privately sent officers and soldiers disguised as merchants to inquire about the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen in the name of business.

Zheng He shoulders the heavy responsibility of declaring the country's image. He dealt with foreign kings and officials, his attitude was neither humble nor arrogant, he was polite and courteous, and he spoke eloquently, and was warmly welcomed and respected by all countries.

Whenever this time, Gong Chengxiang always sat on the side and thought: It's a pity that Lord Zheng is a eunuch. His talent is enough to be a minister of the imperial court, and it is more than enough to be a prime minister.

In the coastal kingdom of Guli in the Indian Ocean, Zheng He on behalf of the Ming Dynasty gave the king of Guli a silver seal, and also built a Chinese-style stele pavilion there, engraved on a stone tablet "Go to the Ming Dynasty for more than 100,000 miles, the people and things are salty, the bustle is the same wind, the stone is carved in Z, and the eternal world is revealed."

On October 2, 1407, Zheng He led the fleet back to Yingtianfu safely. He secretly reported the details of his travels to the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, and also handed over the pirate Chen Zuyi and others to the imperial court.

Zhu Di was very happy, widely rewarded the meritorious soldiers who captured the thieves, gave Shi Jinqing as the consolation envoy of the old port, and ordered Chen Zuyi and other criminals to be beheaded.

Gong Chengxiang happily returned to his home in Yingtianfu, visited his family members who had not seen each other for almost two years, and told them about the strange things of Western countries, which made everyone very happy.