At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the court was corrupt, the royal family was extravagant, the Mongolian rulers continued to coup for the throne, the Mongolian aristocrats and Han landlords in various places carried out land mergers, seized the peasants' land, and then anti-rented the peasants for cruel exploitation. , provoking upheaval. First, Zhao Chou in Xizhou, Henan fought the Red Turban Army under the banner of Maitreya Buddha. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang led his brothers to defeat the peasant armed forces from all over the country, attacked the capital of Yuan Dynasty, and the Yuan Emperor fled north. Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty.
He was worried that the remnants of the local armed Fang Guozhen's maritime forces and Japanese pirates would jointly invade the Ming Dynasty, so he ordered Pian Fan not to go to sea and ordered other adult princes except the eldest son Zhu Biao to guard the border for the feudal king. After the death of Zhu Yuanzhang, the eldest grandson Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne and began to cut down on the four uncle Zhu Di to mutiny and attack Nanjing. Zhu Yunwen ordered the palace to be set on fire and escaped by boat through the secret passage to the riverside. Zhu Di proclaimed the emperor, and became the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty.
Zheng He, formerly known as Ma He, was born in the fourth year of Ming Hongwu (1371) and was the second son of Maha. In the winter of the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1381), the Ming army attacked Yunnan. Ma He was only ten years old. He was taken away by Lan Yu, the deputy commander of the Ming army, to Nanjing. Monk Yao Daoyan accepted Ma He as a disciple of the Bodhisattva Precepts, and the Dharma name was blessed and auspicious. In the Jingnan Incident, Ma He made military exploits for Zhu Di, the King of Yan, in Zhengzhou, Hebei. In the second year of Yongle (1404), Ming Chengzu Zhu Di gave the surname Ma and Zheng in the Nanjing imperial calligraphy "Zheng" to commemorate the military exploits, and was promoted to the eunuch of the internal official supervisor. Zheng He was wise and strategic, and he knew how to fight, and Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty trusted Zheng He very much.
Zhu Di abolished the policies promulgated by Zhu Yunwen and restored the ancestral system. Zhu Di continued Zhu Yuanzhang's foreign policy of peace, but he also wanted all countries to come to the DPRK, so he ordered Zheng He to lead a fleet of six voyages to the West, giving gifts to various countries, conducting official trade, educating foreign countries, promoting national prestige, and letting foreigners come here to consolidate their rule. Status and finding Zhu Yunwen's whereabouts. Zheng He did not disgrace his mission, visited many countries in Asia and Africa, many envoys, and even the king of the royal family returned to the Ming Dynasty and presented gifts to the Ming Dynasty.
However, this move was costly and was strongly opposed by ministers and the royal family. In 1424, Zhu Di died on his way back to his division in the expedition against Mongolia. Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne, stopped his voyages to the West, and gave the people a rest. In 1425, Zhu Gaochi died, and Zhu Zhanji succeeded him as Emperor Xuanzong. Zhu Zhanji was loved by Zhu Di since he was a child, and Zhu Di's last words made him carry forward the national policy of Zheng He's voyages to the western seas and trade to find Taixi. Therefore, in the fifth year of Xuande (1430), Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty ordered Zheng He to go to the West for the seventh time. The scale of this voyage to the West is the largest in history. After intensive preparations, the fleet officially set off from Xiaguan, Nanjing on January 19 of the following year, and spent a short time in Changle, Fujian. The number of people who went to the West this time has reached as many as 27,550.
The voyage passed through Champaign, Java, Sumatra and Guri. Zheng He had planned to sail all the way to the southern straits of Africa, bypassing Cape Storm and looking for Taixi. However, when the fleet arrived at Guri on the west coast of India, it was caught by the Han King Zhu Gaoxi (Zhu Zhanji'sUncle) rebelled, and Zheng He's fleet also had Han King's men ready to mutiny to seize the ship, Ming Xuanzong ordered Zheng He to return, and he fell ill.