Zheng He's real name is Ma Sanbao, and he was from Yunnan. When he was young, the Ming army captured Yunnan and became prisoners of war, but was brutally castrated in the Ming army camp. Later, he was valued by Zhu Di and became a guard of the Yan Prince's Mansion. When Zhu Di was plotting against the throne, he offered advice and suggestions for him, which brought the situation to a turning point and was appreciated by Zhu Di. After seizing the throne, Zhu Di appointed him as the "Internal Official Supervisor" and later gave him the surname "Zheng", so he changed his name to Zheng He.
Zheng He's ancestors were Semu people who came to the mainland in the early Yuan Dynasty. They believed in Islam for generations. His grandfather and father had been to Mecca, the holy land of Islam, so they have been influenced by them since childhood and have also known foreign countries.
In the third year of Yongle, Zhu Di, the Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, sent him to a foreign tour. On the surface, he was going to Guli to pass the imperial edict, but in fact he was secretly searching for Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen who disappeared after the war. When Zhu Di was at the city, because he was infatuated with the infamy of usurping the throne, he did not directly lead his troops into the palace, but waited for Zhu Yunwen to take the initiative to give up the imperial power. But in the end, he only waited for an unknown fire in the palace, but when he arrived, Emperor Jianwen was gone.
So this became his inner demon, and he had to find the former emperor. If Zhu Yunwen suddenly comes back one day, as the orthodox emperor, he will definitely respond to it. How should he deal with it then? Zheng He also had another purpose for voyage to the West, which was to search for Zhu Yunwen's whereabouts along the waterway.
At that time, Zheng He's fleet was extremely strong, with more than 200 ships in total, the largest one being as high as three floors, with a total of as many as 27,800 people. Such a grandeur made the countries he visited along the way show goodwill frequently, and many countries are willing to come to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute. Of course, there must be a lot of things to be given out.
He was also involved in military conflicts on the way, and more than 170 crew members were killed when passing through Java. Faced with this situation, Zheng He did not immediately launch an attack, but calmly sent an envoy to negotiate and reveal his identity. This move not only avoided unnecessary casualties, but also allowed Java to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty every year. Zheng He always maintained a peace-oriented attitude, which made the Ming Dynasty increasingly close relations with its surrounding neighbors, and also showed the open diplomatic environment of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition to voyage to the West, Zheng He was also ordered to travel east to Japan. In the second year of Yongle, due to the repeated invasion of the coastal areas by Japanese pirates, Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty sent Zheng He to command 100,000 naval troops to Japan and announced an order to "suppress the bandits by themselves." At that time, the Japanese shogunate Ashikaga Yoshiman sent envoys to offer the captured Japanese pirates to the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, the two countries established diplomatic relations and signed a trade treaty.
Zheng He has made amazing achievements in the history of Chinese diplomacy. His sailing journey has passed through more than 30 countries, and has visited the Antarctic continent and the Americas, which has made the Chinese realize for the first time that there are black people in the world. It is said that he also mapped the routes along the road at that time. More than 70 years later, navigators such as Columbus also admitted to owning Zheng He's map.
He was already sixty years old when he last voyage to the West. He died in Guli due to overwork when he returned from the cruise at the age of sixty-two.
