Ming Yongle 12th year (1414 AD), Ming Chengzu Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, marking the transformation of the focus of Ming from marine strategy to traditional land strategy. After that, the Ming Dynasty devoted more energy to the northern grasslands. However, due to Zhu Di's strong support, the Ming Dynasty's voyage to the West still did not stop. At that time, the Ming Dynasty made great progress in all four strategic directions (the northern grasslands conquest Ola and Tatar , the Jurchen old place in the northeast was set up in the Jiaozhi province, and the voyage to the West was set up in the old place in Vietnam, and the voyage to the West was reached). The glory of the Ming Dynasty reached its peak.
After that, Zhu Di ordered Zheng He to lead the Ming Navy on May 16, the 15th year of Yongle (May 31, 1417) and the 30th day of the first lunar month of Yongle (March 3, 1421), because the main purpose of these two long-distance voyages to escort envoys from Western countries and conduct routine visits to Western countries. All scales are relatively small, and because the Ming army had previously established strongholds such as Old Port, Mangala, and Guli overseas, the navigation process was relatively dull and smooth.
In the first month of the 22nd year of Yongle (1424), Zheng He passed by the old port Xuanwei Department on his sixth ocean voyage. On his way to his country, Zheng He represented Zhu Di to enthrone Shi Jisun, the son of Shi Jinqing, as the Xuanwei Department of the Old Port Xuanwei Department. Afterwards, he set sail and returned to China. Looking at the prosperous scene of the old port, Zheng He was more full of longing for the Ming Dynasty's maritime career. On the way back to China, Zheng He planned his next voyage. Just as Zheng He was actively planning his seventh ocean voyage, a bad news changed all this.
In July of the 22nd year of Yongle (1424), Zhu Di, who supported Zheng He's ocean-long voyage, passed away. Zhu Di reigned for 22 years, and his founding king of the Ming Dynasty was comparable to that of the Ming Dynasty. He brought the Ming Dynasty to the top. But Zhu Di also greatly overdrawed the national strength of the Ming Dynasty. His strategy of expanding everywhere made the Ming Dynasty's finances stretched. The ascension of the throne, Zhu Gaochi ( Mingrenzong ) did not have Zhu Di's great talent and strategy, so he stopped the voyage to the West and appointed Zheng He as the eunuch in Nanjing. The Ming army leading the voyage to the West to guard Nanjing. As for the huge fleet, they were exposed to the wind and sun at the docks in Taicang and Zhangjiagang.
Zhu Gaochi died after only one year of reign. His son Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne, and he was the Ming Xuanzong . The political forces of the Ming Dynasty underwent a new round of reshuffle, and the internal and external strategies of the Ming Dynasty also made corresponding adjustments. For a time, no one noticed Zheng He in Nanjing and the "invincible fleet". In the third year of Xuande (1428), Zhu Zhanji gave up the Jiaozhi Province (north Vietnam) obtained by the Ming army's bloody battles for 20 years. The Ming Dynasty's power withdrew from the Indochina Peninsula. Because of the Ming Dynasty's defeat in the Vietnam battlefield, the Ming Dynasty's international prestige declined. In addition, the Ming Navy has not appeared in the Pacific and Indian Ocean for many years, and the Western countries have gradually lost tribute to the Ming Dynasty. In order to reshape the image of the Ming Dynasty as a great power and to reverse the unfavorable situation after the Ming Dynasty's defeat on the Indochina Peninsula, Zhu Zhanji decided to restart his voyage to the West.
June 9, the fifth year of Xuande (June 29, 1430), nine years after Zheng He's sixth voyage to the West, Zheng He once again led the huge Ming Navy (the total strength reached 27,550, the highest in history) to start his seventh voyage to the West. During this long voyage, Zheng He not only visited Western countries to repair diplomatic relations with Western countries, but also arrived at the Bamboo Step ( Somalia ). He then traveled south from Zhu Step, and reached the southern tip of Africa as far as the southern tip of Africa, approaching Mozambique Strait . Zheng He tried to cross the Mozambique Strait to continue westward, but his long-term sea life had already overdrawn Zheng He's energy and physical strength. Just when the fleet arrived near Cape of Good Hope , Zheng He died. The sudden death of Zheng He, the supreme commander of the fleet, caused the Ming Navy's plan to cross the Cape of Good Hope to the west to be terminated. Wang Jinghong, who temporarily replaced Zheng He, gave up Zheng He's plan for safety, and led the fleet to return to the Ming Dynasty near the Cape of Good Hope.
In this way, the Ming Navy missed the Atlantic Ocean. Wang Jinghong would never have thought how far-reaching his decision was. Just imagine that if the Ming Navy successfully entered the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean had good hydrological conditions, the Ming Navy would have been able to arrive northward to Europe, and the east and west could have face-to-face communication hundreds of years in advance, while the Ming Dynasty was the proactive side. Let’s get another idea. With the technical level of Zheng He’s fleet at that time, if he continued to sail westward after crossing the Cape of Good Hope, he would be fully capable of reaching the American continent. If this is the case, China would become the first country to discover the New World, and the huge Ming army was enough to conquer the New World (you should know that later, , Columbus, , had only three ships, and conquered the American continent with hundreds of people). But all this could have happened, accompanied by Zheng He's sudden death and Wang Jinghong's return, all became impossible for failure.
In the ninth year of Xuande (1434), Zheng He's comrade-in-arms Wang Jinghong led the Ming fleet to the South China Sea countries such as Sumatra to conduct routine visits and returned at the end of that year. Since then, the Ming Dynasty completely interrupted its voyage to the West, and the Ming Dynasty's navy never walked out of the South China Sea. The Ming Dynasty's "Invincible Fleet" that once traversed the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific decayed in various ports of the Ming Dynasty. The last time ancient China embraced the world and explored the world, which was the largest ocean-going voyage, came to a sigh. When the Chinese Navy appeared on the Indian Ocean again, it was more than 500 years later in the second half of the 20th century.
