From Yongle in the third year (1405) to 7 in the seventh year of Yongle (1409), in four years, Zheng He led a huge Ming fleet to voyages from the West Asian coast three times, and arrived at Arab Peninsula on the coast of West Asia. Along the way, Zheng He followed the principle of peace and friendship to establish friendly diplomatic relations with the countries along the way. Many countries and regions also admired the prosperity and prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, and took the initiative to demand to pay tribute and become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. The popularity of the Ming Dynasty was spread thousands of miles away.
If you are friendly to the Ming Dynasty, there will be unfriendly. For those countries and organizations that are enemies of the Ming Dynasty, or those who violate the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty and challenge the vassal system of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty suppressed it with iron fist. The so-called "Practicing the heart of the Bodhisattva with Thunderbolt means". The Zheng He fleet defeated Chen Zuyi's Pirate Group and Zheng He captured King Ceylon alive (the Battle of Ceylon) is the best interpretation.
In November of the tenth year of Yongle (1412), in the third year after Zheng He's third voyage to the West, Zhu Di appointed Zheng He as the commander-in-chief (commander-in-chief of the fleet), and Wang Jinghong as the deputy envoy (deputy commander-in-chief of the fleet) to command more than 27,000 soldiers and more than 300 warships (including 40 large sea ships), and launched the fourth voyage to the West.
Zheng He's fleet's first stop was chosen to visit Chameng (an ancient kingdom south of the Indochina Peninsula ). The reason why Chameng was chosen was related to a major military operation in the Indochina Peninsula at that time. At that time, the Ming army had already set up the Jiaozhi Province in the former place of Vietnam , and sent a large number of Ming troops to guard the area. However, the remaining Vietnamese resistance forces retreated to Chameng and continued to deal with the Ming army with favorable terrain. Because of the long front line and poor logistics supply, the Ming army could not effectively strike the remaining Vietnamese forces entrenched in Chameng for a while, but if they were left alone for a long time, once they recovered their vitality, it would inevitably shake the stable situation of the Jiaozhi Province. Therefore, Zhu Di planned to open up the "second battlefield". He ordered Zheng He to go to Chameng to persuade the Chameng king to cut off ties with the remnants of Vietnam, preferably to attack from the north and the south.
with Zhu Di's mission, Zheng He's fleet was anchored in Chameng Harbor. Zheng He personally landed in Chameng and met with Chameng King. Chameng King looked at the cannons on Zheng He's fleet, agreed to the Ming Dynasty's request with conscious opinion, and took the initiative to call the vassal of the Ming Dynasty. Zheng He represented Zhu Di to reward Chameng King's crown belt. After that, Chameng took the initiative to cut off contact with the remnants of Vietnam. The Ming army's chief general Zhang Fu took the opportunity to clear the resistance organizations in Jiaozhi, and the situation in Jiaozhi was stabilized.
After leaving Champa, Zheng He led the fleet to continue sailing. When he arrived at Sumatra (an ancient kingdom on Sumatra Island, Indonesia), a coup happened in the area. As the "world police", the Ming Dynasty naturally had to ask. On behalf of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He strongly condemned the despicable behavior of the local powerful minister Suganla to kill the throne, and refused to recognize the legitimacy of Suganla, and asked Suganla to choose the right person in the Sumatra royal family to inherit the throne. Suganla was angry at Zheng He's "mediation in other people's business", so he led a large army to intercept Zheng He's fleet. Since the Battle of Ceylon, Suganla was the first person to dare to use a knife on the head of the Ming Dynasty. This is amazing. If Suganla didn't look at it, he would really not know what his surname was. Besides, the cannon on the Ming army warship had long been hungry.
So, Zheng He led the Ming army and local troops (after all, not everyone is as brainless as Suganla) to launch an attack on Suganla's troops and taught Suganla a military lesson. After the battle, it was completely a massacre of the Suganla army by the Ming army. Suganla was defeated and fled to the Nanboli Kingdom with a few troops. The Ming army pursued all the way to the Nanboli Kingdom and finally captured Suganla alive.
After the "Suganla Incident", Zheng He led the fleet to rest for a month at Semarang (Mingjun base on Java Island ).After that, Zheng He led the fleet all the way west, and bypassed the Arabian Peninsula for the first time, sailing to Malindi, East Africa (now Kenya ). The local chief admired the strength of the Ming Dynasty and took the initiative to ask to go back to the Ming Dynasty with Zheng He and offer the divine beast Qilin (actually a giraffe) to show sincerity.
7
July 8, 13th year of Yongle (August 12, 1415), Zheng He led the fleet back to the voyage and brought Suganla back to Beijing (at that time, Zhu Di had moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing). In September, Zheng He and others offered prisoners to Beijing. Zhu Di killed Suganla in front of envoys from various countries and rewarded the soldiers who made meritorious service. The "Suganla Incident" marked a new height for the Ming Dynasty's communist status. Since then, no country dared to challenge the international order established by the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty used cannons and swords to maintain peace and order
