Zheng He's voyage to the West was the largest ocean voyage in ancient Chinese historyThe well-known voyage of Columbus was even half a century later than Zheng He's voyage to the West, and in terms of the size of the fleetThe first few voyages in the West were also far inferior to Zheng He's fleet.
It can be said thatZheng He's voyage to the West was a groundbreaking activity in the world at that timeAlthough it did not expand or do business through the seas like the West, its significance to China was also quite huge.
However, at that time, the West had not even discovered the New World, and there was still a long way to go before the first industrial revolutionThe invention of the steam engine was completely out of nowhere, and how did that mighty fleet manage to make seven ocean voyages?
Don't underestimate the wisdom of the ancientsThe power that Zheng He used in his voyage to the West was quite common, but it was the most admirable thing about being able to use this power so freely
Chinese civilization has originated inland since ancient times, and even after thousands of years of development, it was still a land power country by the time of the Ming DynastyThe desire to annex the land is always far greater than the desire to explore the sea.
ButWhy did the Ming Dynasty suddenly begin such large-scale ocean exploration? Later generations speculated in combination with the political environment of the Ming Dynasty at that timeThere are probably three reasons for this, prompting Ming Chengzu Zhu Di to make such a decision when he had just ascended the throne for three years.
The first reason is the most obvious, which is to promote the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty to other neighboring countries. Zheng He went to the West seven times that year, the first six of which were carried out during Zhu Di's reign.
As we all knowZhu Di is a very ambitious and ambitious hero, and after ascending the throne, he wants to make a career that surpasses his predecessors, so he can't just limit his vision to land, but to carry forward the prestige of the Ming Dynasty to a farther place, so this super-large-scale ocean-going voyage was organized.
WhileZheng He, who presided over this voyage, was originally a celebrity around Zhu Di, Legend has it that Zheng He's original surname was Ma, and he was called the eunuch of Sanbao, becauseHe made great contributions in the Battle of Jingjing, and since then he has become a eunuch who is deeply trusted by Zhu Di.
Therefore, when Zhu Di selected the leader for the implementation of the feat of going to the West,Zheng He, who was loyal and in the prime of life, became his first choice, so he gave Zheng He a name and let him take on the important task of promoting the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty
In addition to this most obvious reason, posterity speculatedThere is another reason why Zhu Di is very persistent, that is, to find the whereabouts of Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen.
After the Battle of Jingjing, Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen was like evaporating from the world, and no one was alive or dead, and some people said that Zhu Yunwen escaped from the palace during the Battle of Jingyan and fled overseasAlthough there is no obvious evidence for this statement, Zhu Di will also look for it according to this statement in order to implement Zhu Yunwen's whereabouts.
This statement has been questioned by many people becauseWhen Zhu Di first ascended the throne, he looked for Zhu Yunwen to ensure that his throne was secure, but by the time he went to the West for the sixth time, Zhu Di had already completely secured the throne, and there was no need to do it again
But this speculation is also one of the reasons for going to the WestMaybe Zhu Di no longer cares about Zhu Yunwen later, but focuses on promoting the national prestige of the Ming DynastyThis shift in purpose is also possible.
The third reason was to unite other countries against the kingdom of Timur, which occupied Central and West Asia at that time.
At that time, although there was no conflict between the kingdom of Timur and the Ming Dynasty, butThe Timurid kingdom was huge, and even the Ming Dynasty felt some threats, so Zhu Di wanted to unite the countries of the South Seas to fight against the Timurid Kingdom, so as to show the prestige of the Ming Dynasty.
But this speculation is also unreliable, becauseAccording to the evidence, when Zheng He went to the West, Timur had already died, and the Timurid kingdom had clearly shown a first-class situation, and the heirs of the Timurid kingdom had an obvious friendly attitude towards the Ming Dynasty
So the time difference between the two proves this speculationIt is very likely that later generations will be seconded according to historical events at a similar point in time at that time, without much credibility.
In short, with Zhu Di's order, Zheng He began to carry out the great feat of mankind in the Western Ocean with a vast number of people and fleets.
But some people are curious, at that time, the steam engine had not yet been invented, let alone other power machines? WhileIt is said that one of the Zheng He treasure ships that Zheng He took to the West was nearly 150 meters long and 50 meters wide, with an area equivalent to the size of a football field and a displacement of more than 10,000 tons
Such a behemoth was quite difficult to drive even later when there was a steam engine, thenIn that era of backward power, what power did Zheng He's treasure ship use to drive? It can't be done by hand, right? That voyage would have exhausted thousands of sailors.
In fact, the driving power is very simple, although Zheng Hebao's ship is huge, but its power is the same as that of a sailing ship, that is, it relies on wind power to sail.
During the Ming Dynasty, China's shipbuilding technology had reached its peak in the long-term historical accumulationThe sea ships of the Ming Dynasty not only had the ability to sail long distances, but even the supporting facilities on the ships were quite exquisite, and their comfort and safety far exceeded the shipbuilding technology of any country in the world at that time.
And in order to drive such a large ship with complete supporting facilities and even livestock breeding on board,The craftsmen also put a lot of effort into the sails
Modern archaeology has found giant masts with a length of more than 11 meters at the dock sites in Guangdong and FujianIt is conceivable that the length of the treasure ship used by Zheng He when he went to the West at that time was only longer than this, so the ability to capture wind was also better.
After a few hundreds of square meters of sails are raised, even the ocean voyage can be successfully completed by relying on the wind at sea.
But the wind is not controllable, so how did Zheng He's fleet ensure that it was the right time to meet the wind when it set sail? In fact, this was not a difficult thing for the ancients who accurately grasped the laws of climate.
Everyone knows that the wind direction is regular, especiallyIn winter, northerly winds prevail in the south, the northerly wind of the west farther south blows more vigorouslySo Zheng He's fleet took advantage of this law and waited for winter to come whenever it set sail, so that it could travel to the West with the help of the wind
And when Zheng and the others returned, they would wait until summer to set sail again, when southerly winds prevailed on the ocean, so the fleet took advantage of this wind and adjusted the sails, and it was easy to be pushed all the way back to Daming in the northeast direction.
The accumulation of complete navigation experience during the Ming Dynasty also assisted Zheng He to go to the Western OceanAt that time, the compass technology at sea was quite mature, ensuring that Zheng He's fleet would not lose course, and Zheng He went to the West many before thatThe experience of fishermen in the Liangguang region is also quite advanced
**10,000 Fans Incentive Plan Conclusion.
Zheng He's voyage to the West was a great diplomatic event in Chinese history, butThere are quite a lot of very advanced technologies in the world at that time, and it is with the guarantee of these technologies that Zheng He was able to complete such an arduous achievement as seven trips to the West.