Ming Dynasty Yongle prosperity was founded by Ming Chengzu during Zhu Di's reign. Zhu Di has made many achievements in economic, military and political aspects. For example, Zhu Di has personally conquered the northern part of the desert many times, completed the achievements of leding the stone Yanran, improved the civil service system, established the prototype of cabinet , etc.
Zhu Di's achievements are among the top among all emperors. When it comes to Zhu Di's measures to promote his power and virtue, I personally believe that arranging Zheng He's voyage to the West has the greatest impact. This move greatly enhanced the Ming Dynasty's influence in the world.
However, it is confusing that Zheng He brought a large number of old women and midwives during several voyages to the West. Since it has violated the convention and brought a female Shanghai ship, why didn’t Zheng He bring some young women? What is the reason for Zheng He to do this?
The purpose of Zheng He's voyage to the West
First, let's discuss the purpose of Zhu Di's order to voyage to the West. The Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di ascended the throne through an uprising. To put it bluntly, he robbed his nephew Zhu Yunwen and his throne through rebellion. Therefore, after Zhu Di came to power, there was a very important problem that needed to be solved, that is, the lack of legitimacy of his throne.
Tang Taizong Li Shimin also faced this problem. He cut off the prince's brother and drove his father off the stage. The throne was not obtained through formal channels. Li Shimin's solution to this problem is simpler and more difficult, and that is to achieve some results, such as the civil and military skills far exceed those of his father Li Yuan.
Obviously Li Shimin succeeded. When later generations mentioned Li Shimin, he thought he was a wise monarch and an emperor of the ages. As for killing his brother to usurp the throne, it seemed that it was not worth mentioning. However, it was not easy for an emperor to do a few achievements that everyone in the world would recognize. Therefore, after Zhu Di ascended the throne, he also wanted to do some civil and military achievements of the Ming Dynasty .
The part that Zhu Di is good at is naturally fighting. As the horse emperor, after ascending the throne, Zhu Di personally marched to the north of Mobei many times, fighting the various tribes of Mobei so hard that they could not raise their heads. He made great achievements in martial arts. As for the civil governance, Zhu Di chose to ask Zheng He to voyage to the West to promote the power of the Ming Dynasty and declare to overseas countries that Zhu Di was the orthodox Ming Dynasty.
Of course, there are rumors that Zhu Di ordered Zheng He to voyage to the West to find the disappearing Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen. In historical records, when Zhu Di attacked the palace, a fire broke out in the palace where Zhu Yunwen was. Zhu Yunwen was likely to be buried in the fire, but there is also a saying that Zhu Yunwen became a monk and became a monk.
In short, no matter what the statement is, Zhu Yunwen is missing, and Zhu Di can't find it no matter how he looks for it in China. Zhu Di has reason to think that Zhu Yunwen has escaped overseas. Because Zhu Yunwen had too much influence on Zhu Di's throne, it is not ruled out that Zhu Di was willing to spend huge manpower and material resources to let Zheng He go overseas to find Zhu Yunwen.
eunuch Zheng He
Zheng He's early experience is unknown. It is speculated that he entered the Yan Palace to serve Zhu Di around the 18th year of Hongwu . Zhu Di has been stationed in Peking for a long time and is not willing to be a prince of peace, especially when the prince died, Zhu Di is even more eager for the throne.
Then Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne and reduced his vassals, staring at Zhu Di. Zhu Di had to pretend to be crazy and stupid to win time for rebellion. During this period, Zheng He was always loyal to Zhu Di. Zheng He also made military achievements in Jingnan Battle , and was given the surname "Zheng" (formerly Ma).
Zhu Di won the victory in the Jingnan Campaign, but his throne was stolen from his nephew after all, and his reputation was not right and dissatisfied. In order to clear away his suspicion of "usurping the throne", Zhu Di began to whitewash wildly. After ascending the throne, he led troops to expeditions to the north of the Mo River many times, and ordered Zheng He to lead the Ming Dynasty treasure ship to voyage to the West to promote the power of the Ming Dynasty (or look for Emperor Jianwen).
From Zheng He's first voyage to the West in the third year of Yongle to Xuande Eighth 7H 11H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 12H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H 13H
1407, on his first trip to the West, Zheng He ordered people to recruit the famous pirate leader Chen Zuyi. Chen Zuyi was admitted to the revenge on the surface, but in fact he became greedy for the wealth of the ship in Shanghai, so he secretly mobilized a large number of pirates to prepare to attack Zheng He's fleet.
The pirate leader Chen Zuyi was a terrible name since the Hongwu period. During his peak, he had nearly 10,000 pirates under his command. He repeatedly hijacked Ming merchant ships and even raided the coastal towns of Ming . made Zhu Yuanzhang very annoyed. He once offered a reward of 500,000 taels of silver to capture him. During the Zhu Di period, the reward amount was increased to 7.5 million taels, but Chen Zuyi was not caught in this way.
Zheng He surrendered Chen Zuyi for helpless action, and he was also prepared for it. Sure enough, Chen Zuyi just pretended to surrender. Zheng He decisively took the lead in taking Chen Zuyi and others. During the subsequent voyage, Zheng He continued to wipe out more than 5,000 pirates along the way. In the end, Chen Zuyi was captured and returned to Nanjing for execution, and a major disaster on the Ming Dynasty was eliminated.
does not bring young women to bring old women
More interesting is that Zheng He also brought many old women on the boat on his way to the West. In fact, when the ancients went to sea, they were very taboo to bring women on board, because women are heavily yin and it is unlucky to take women on board. But is Zheng He taking these old women because he is not superstitious? In fact, these old women have great uses.
A large part of these old women are tailors. Vacation to the West is a huge project. has to use hundreds of sea boats every time, and there are as many as tens of thousands of people accompanying it. The time for drifting on the sea is also calculated in years. During this period, the clothes, shoes and socks of soldiers and crew members will inevitably be damaged, and they will need to be repaired if they are broken. These thick men are okay to shout and kill, but some fine needlework can't be done.
So it is reasonable to ask some women who are good at needlework to accompany you. As for why you don’t bring young women, it is easy to understand. is placing some young and beautiful women to "tempt" the soldiers while wandering on the boring sea. Isn’t that intentionally causing internal conflicts? Instead of causing disputes with too many monks and fewer meats, it is better to just stop the possibility of this happening directly.
Others are experienced midwifes. Zheng He's voyage to the West not only should he preach the strength of the Ming Dynasty to overseas countries and carry out overseas trade, but also to educate and educate overseas so that all the "barbarian" countries understand etiquette and are willing to accept the kingdom.
, and Zheng He found that the medical skills of Western countries were very backward, especially in terms of childbirth, which led to a very high death rate of Western infants and young children. In order to show kindness to the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He would take his midwife to teach the locals how to deliver their children everywhere. Zheng He's actions won a lot of good reputation for the Ming Dynasty.
Conclusion
The wisdom of the ancients should not be underestimated. Zheng He’s contribution to the history of world navigation exploration is immeasurable, and he has made indelible contributions to the development of Ming Dynasty diplomacy and overseas trade. Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty almost never opened sea ban after Zheng He. The grand scene of ,000 countries coming to pay during the Yongle period will always become history.
(The picture is from the Internet, please delete if infringes)
