Zheng he travels. Zheng He - naval eunuch

chinese traveler, naval commander and diplomat, who led seven large-scale naval military-trade expeditions sent by the emperors of the Minsk dynasty to the countries of Indochina, Hindustan, the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.

He professed Islam and, according to some assumptions, acted as an intercessor for his brothers in faith. After the overthrow of the Mongol yoke in central and northern China and the establishment there Zhu Yuanzhang The Ming Dynasty (1368), the mountainous province of Yunnan on the southwestern outskirts of China, remained under the control of the Mongols for several years. Zheng He was taken prisoner and put into service Zhu Di , the son of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. In 1385, he became one of the many eunuchs at the Zhu Di court. It is believed that while at the court of the Grand Duke, he was able to get a better education. Later he participated in the winter campaign of 1386-1387. against one of the Mongol leaders, Nagachu. The young eunuch distinguished himself both in the defense of Peiping in 1399 and in the capture of Nanjing in 1402, and was one of the commanders who were tasked with capturing the capital of the empire - Nanjing. According to some sources, in 1404 he supervised the construction of a fleet to fight the so-called. "Japanese pirates" and, possibly, even visited Japan to negotiate with local authorities about a joint fight against pirates.

After he was awarded the title of "chief eunuch", which corresponded to the fourth rank of official, Emperor Zhu Di decided that he was the best suited for the role of admiral of the fleet and appointed the eunuch head of all or almost all seven voyages to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean in 1405-1433, at the same time raising his status to the third rank. The flotilla under his leadership visited over 56 countries and major cities of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean basin. Chinese ships reached the shores of Arabia and East Africa. The first voyage took place in 1405-1407. along the route Suzhou - the shores of Champa - Java island - North-West Sumatra - Strait of Malacca - Sri Lanka island. Then, having rounded the southern tip of Hindustan, the flotilla moved to the trading cities of the Malabar coast of India, reaching the largest Indian port - Calicut (Kozhikode). The routes of the second (1407-1409) and third (1409-1411) campaigns were approximately the same. The fourth (1413-1415), fifth (1417-1419), sixth (1421-1422) and seventh (1431-1433) expeditions reached Hormuz and the African coast in the area of \u200b\u200bmodern Somalia, entered the Red Sea. The sailors kept detailed and accurate records of what they saw, made maps. They recorded the time of sailing, camp sites, marked the location of reefs and shoals. Descriptions of overseas states and cities, political orders, climate, local customs, legends were compiled. Zheng He delivered to foreign countries messages from the emperor, encouraged the arrival of foreign embassies in China, conducted trade.

To achieve his goals, he resorted to the military. For example, in 1405, during the first expedition, Zheng He demanded that the sacred Buddhist relics of Lanka - the tooth, hair and begging bowl of the Buddha - which were the most important relics and attributes of the power of the Sinhalese kings, be handed over to the Chinese emperor. Having received a refusal, Zheng He returned to the island in 1411, accompanied by a detachment of 3,000 people, broke into the capital, captured the king Vir Alakeshwara, his family members and associates, took them to a ship and took them to China. In the period between 1424 and 1431, after the death of Emperor Zhu Di, sea expeditions were temporarily suspended, and Zheng He himself served as chief of the garrison in Nanjing for seven years. During the last, seventh trip, Zheng He was over 60 years old. He no longer personally visited many of the countries where Chinese ships entered, and returned to China as early as 1433, while individual units of the fleet under the command of his assistants visited Mecca in 1434, as well as Sumatra and Java.

Zheng He's expeditions contributed to the cultural exchange of African and Asian countries with China and the establishment of trade relations between them. Detailed descriptions of countries and cities visited by Chinese sailors were compiled. On the basis of materials and news collected by members of Zheng He's sea expeditions, in 1597, Luo Maoden wrote the novel "Voyages of Zheng He to the Western Ocean" in Ming China.

In 2002, a book by retired British officer and former submarine commander Gavin Menzies was published, "1421: The Year China Opened the World." In it, Menzies assured that Zheng He was ahead of even Columbus, having discovered America before him, he was supposedly ahead of Magellan, the first to circumnavigate the globe.
Professional historians dismiss these theories as untenable. And nevertheless, one of the admiral's maps - the so-called "Kan" nido map "- confirms that Zheng He possessed reliable and reliable information about Europe ...
There is also a point of view that Zheng He's maps served as the basis for European nautical charts during the Great Epoch geographical discoveries.
Zheng He was born in 1371 in the city of Kunyang (now Jinying), in the center of the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, near its capital Kunming. It was several weeks' drive from Kunyang to the coast - a huge distance for those times - so Ma He, as he was called in childhood, did not even imagine that he would become a great naval commander and traveler.
The Khe clan traced its ancestry from the famous Said Ajalla Shamsa al-Din (1211-1279), who was also called Umar, a native of Bukhara, who was able to ascend during the time of the Mongol great khans Mongke (grandson of Genghis Khan) and Kublai.
Actually, the conqueror of China, the great Kublai Khan in 1274, made Umar governor of Yunnan.
It is also known for certain that the father and grandfather of the future admiral Zheng He strictly observed the laws of Islam and made the Hajj to Mecca. In addition, in the Muslim world there is an opinion that the future admiral himself visited the holy city, although in fairness it should be noted that with an informal pilgrimage.
Ma He's childhood was very dramatic.
In 1381, during the conquest of Yunnan by the troops of the Chinese Ming Dynasty, which overthrew the foreign Yuan, his father died at the age of 39, and the rebels took Ma He prisoner, emasculated and gave into the service of the fourth son of their leader Hong-wu, the future emperor Yongle, who soon went to the governor of Beiping (Beijing).

Eunuchs in China have always been one of the most powerful political forces. Some teenagers themselves went on a terrible operation, hoping to get into the retinue of some influential person - the prince or, if fortune smiles, the emperor himself. So, according to the ideas of that time, the "color-eyed" (as the representatives of the non-titular, non-Han nationality were called in China) Zheng He was simply unrealistically lucky ...
Ma He established himself in the service on the positive side, and by the end of the 1380s he had become noticeable in the entourage of the prince, whom he was eleven years younger.
When, in 1399, Beijing was besieged by the troops of the then emperor Jianwen, who ruled from 1398 to 1402, the young dignitary courageously defended one of the city's reservoirs, which allowed the prince to hold out in order to counterattack a competitor and ascend the throne.
A few years later, Yongle gathered a strong militia, raised an uprising and in 1402, having taken the capital Nanjing by storm, proclaimed himself emperor.
At the same time, he adopted the motto of the new reign: Yongle - "Eternal happiness."
Ma He was also generously rewarded: in Chinese new Year - in February 1404 - in gratitude for his loyalty and deeds, he was solemnly renamed Zheng He - this surname corresponds to the name of one of the ancient kingdoms that existed in China in the 5th-3rd centuries BC. e.

Zheng He's first expedition took place in 1405. Initially, the Emperor Yongle himself, who lived in Nanjing, where the ships were built and from where the first voyages started, took a direct part in the project. Later, the arrangement of the new capital in Beijing and the Mongol campaigns will cool the emperor's ardor, and while he personally meticulously delves into all the little things, closely watching every step and direction of his admiral.
In addition, Emperor Yongle put a trusted eunuch at the head of not only the flotilla itself, but also the House of palace servants. This means that he also had to be responsible for the construction and repair of many buildings, and then the construction of ships ...
But the emperor was in a hurry with the construction of ships and special orders to the Fujian province and to the Yangtze horse, consignments were sent for timber for their construction. The beauty and pride of the squadron, the baochuan, which literally means “precious ships” or “treasures”, were built at the “precious shipyard” (baochuanchang) on \u200b\u200bthe Qinhuai River in Nanjing. Therefore, despite their gigantic size, the draft of the junks was not very deep - otherwise they would not have gone out to sea through this tributary of the Yangtze.

The baochuan was 134 meters long and 55 meters wide.
Draft to the waterline was more than 6 meters.
There were 9 masts, and they carried 12 sails of woven bamboo mats.
On July 11, 1405, the following entry was made in the "Chronicle of Emperor Taizong" (one of the ritual names of Emperor Yongle):
"The palace dignitary Zheng He and others were sent to the countries of the Western (Indian) Ocean with letters from the emperor and gifts for their kings - gold brocade, patterned silks, colored silk gauze - all according to their status."
The armada of the first expedition of Admiral Zheng He included 255 ships with 27,800 people on board. The ships went along the following route: East coast of Indochina (Champa state), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Sultanate of Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai, Lamuri, Haru, Palembang sultanates), Ceylon, Malabar coast of India (Calicut) 1.
In all his expeditions, Zheng He went the same way each time: catching the repetitive monsoon winds blowing from the north and northeast at these latitudes from December to March.
And when humid subequatorial air currents rose over the Indian Ocean and, as it were, in a circle turned back to the north - from April to August - the flotilla turned towards home. Local sailors knew this monsoon timetable long before our era, and not only sailors: after all, it also determined the order of agricultural seasons.
Taking into account the monsoons, as well as the pattern of the constellations, travelers confidently ferried from the south of Arabia to the Malabar coast of India, or from Ceylon to Sumatra and Malacca, adhering to a certain latitude.
The Chinese expeditions returned home by the same route, and only incidents that happened along the way make it possible to distinguish between voyages "there" and "back" in the chronicles.
On the first expedition on the way back, the Chinese captured famous pirate Chen Zu "and, who captured Palembang at that time - the capital of the Hindu-Buddhist state of Srivijaya in Sumatra.
“Zheng He returned and brought Chen Zu,” and in shackles. Arriving at the Old Port, he urged Chen to obey.
He pretended to obey, but secretly planned a riot. Zheng He figured it out ...
Chen, mustering his strength, marched into battle, and Zheng He sent troops and took the battle.
Chen was utterly defeated. More than five thousand bandits were killed, ten ships were burned and seven were captured ...
Chen and two others were captured and taken to the imperial capital, where they were ordered to be beheaded. "
So Zheng He protected peaceful migrant compatriots in Palembang and along the way showed for the first time that his ships had weapons on board not only for beauty.
Until today, the researchers have not agreed on what exactly the admiral's subordinates fought on. The fact that Chen Zu's ships were burned seems to indicate that they were fired at from cannons. They, like primitive guns, were already used then in China, but there is no direct evidence of their use at sea.
In battle, Admiral Zheng He relied on manpower, on personnel who were landed from huge junks ashore or sent to storm fortifications. This kind of marines were the main force of the flotilla.

During the second expedition, which took place in 1407-1409, geographically similar to the first one (East coast of Indochina (Champa, Siam), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai, Palembang), Malabar coast India (Cochin, Calicut)) 1, only one event took place, the memory of which is preserved in history: the ruler of Calicut provided the ambassadors of the Celestial Empire with several bases, relying on which the Chinese could later go even further west.
But during the third expedition, held in 1409-1411. (East coast of Indochina (Champa, Siam), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Malacca), Singapore, Sumatra (Samudra Pasai), Malabar coast of India (Kollam, Cochin, Calicut)) 1, more serious events took place.
Under the date of July 6, 1411, the chronicle records:
“Zheng He ... returned and brought back the captured Ceylon king Alagakkonara, his family and parasites.
During his first trip, Alagakkonara was rude and disrespectful and set out to kill Zheng He. Zheng He realized this and left.
Moreover, Alagakkonara was not friendly with neighboring countries and often intercepted and robbed their embassies on the way to China and back. Since the other barbarians were suffering from this, Zheng He returned and once again showed contempt for Ceylon.
Then Alagakkonara lured Zheng He into the interior of the country and sent his son Nayanar to demand from him gold, silver and other precious goods. If these goods had not been issued, more than 50,000 barbarians would have risen from cover and captured Zheng He's ships.
They also sawed down trees and set out to block the narrow paths and cut Zheng He's escape routes so that separate Chinese units could not come to each other's aid.

When Zheng He realized that they were cut off from the fleet, he quickly deployed the troops and sent them to the ships ...
And he ordered the messengers to secretly bypass the roads where the ambush was sitting, return to the ships and convey the order to the officers and soldiers to fight to the death.
In the meantime, he personally led the two thousandth army by detour routes. They stormed the eastern walls of the capital, taking it in fright, broke through, captured Alagakkonara, his family, parasites and dignitaries.
Zheng He fought several battles and defeated the barbarian army utterly.
When he returned, the ministers decided that Alagakkonar and the other captives should be executed. But the emperor had mercy on them - over the ignorant people who did not know what the Heavenly Mandate to rule, and let them go, giving food and clothing, and ordered the Chamber of Rituals to choose a worthy person in the Alagakkonara family to rule the country ”2.

passed along the route: East coast of Indochina (Champa), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (sultanates of Pahang, Kelantan, Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai), Malabar coast of India (Cochin, Calicut), Maldives, Persian Gulf coast (State of Hormuz) .1
For the fourth expedition, a translator, a Muslim Ma Huan, who knew Arabic and Persian, was assigned.
Later, he would describe in his memoirs the last great voyages of the Chinese fleet, as well as all kinds of everyday details.
In particular, Ma Huan meticulously described the diet of the sailors: they ate “shelled and unshelled rice, beans, grains, barley, wheat, sesame and all kinds of vegetables ... From fruits they had ... Persian dates, pine nuts, almonds, raisins, walnuts, apples, pomegranates, peaches and apricots ... "," many people made a mixture of milk, cream, butter, sugar and honey and ate it. "
We can confidently conclude that Chinese travelers did not suffer from scurvy.
The key event of Zheng He's fourth expedition was the capture of a rebel leader named Sekandar, who opposed the king of the Semuder state in northern Sumatra, Zain al-Abidin, recognized by the Chinese and connected with them by a treaty of friendship.
Sekandar was offended that the emperor's envoy did not bring him gifts, which means that he did not recognize him as a legal representative of the nobility, hastily gathered supporters and himself attacked the fleet of Admiral Zheng He.
But soon he himself, his wives and children got aboard the Chinese treasuries. In his notes, Ma Huan writes that the "robber" was publicly executed in Sumatra, without honoring the imperial court in Nanjing ...
From this expedition, Admiral Zheng He brought a record number of foreign ambassadors - from thirty powers. Zheng He took eighteen diplomats to their homes during the fifth expedition, which took place in 1416-1419.
All of them had with them gracious letters from the emperor, as well as porcelain and silks - embroidered, transparent, dyed, thin and very expensive, so that their sovereigns, presumably, were satisfied.
This time, Admiral Zheng He chose the following route of his expedition - the East Coast of Indochina (Champa), Java (ports on the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Pahang, Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai), Malabar coast of India (Cochin, Calicut), Maldives, the coast of the Persian Gulf (Hormuz), the coast of the Arabian Peninsula (Dhofar, Aden), the east coast of Africa (Barawa, Malindi, Mogadishu) 1. The fleet of this expedition consisted of 63 vessels and 27,411 people.
There are many inaccuracies and discrepancies in the descriptions of the fifth expedition of Admiral Zheng He. It is still unknown where the mysterious fortified Lasa is located, which offered armed resistance to the Zheng He expeditionary corps and was taken by the Chinese with the help of siege weapons, which in some sources are called "Muslim catapults", in others - "Western" and, finally, in thirdly - "huge catapults, shooting stones" ...
Some sources indicate that this city was in Africa, near Mogadishu in modern Somalia,

others are in Arabia, somewhere in Yemen. The way to it from Calicut took twenty days in the 15th century with a favorable wind, the climate there was sultry, the fields were scorched, the traditions were simple, and there was almost nothing to take there.
Frankincense, ambergris and camels per thousand li (li is a Chinese measure of length equal to approximately 500 meters).
Admiral Zheng He's fleet rounded the Horn of Africa and headed for Mogadishu, where the Chinese faced a real miracle: they saw how, due to the lack of wood, the black people build houses from stones - four to five stories high.
The rich inhabitants of those places were engaged in sea trade, the poor threw nets in the ocean.
Small livestock, horses and camels were fed with dried fish. But the main thing is that the Chinese took home a very peculiar "tribute": leopards, zebras, lions and even a few giraffes, which, by the way, the Chinese emperor was completely dissatisfied with ...
The sixth expedition of Zheng He took place in 1421-1422 and passed along the route - East coast of Indochina (Champa), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Pahang, Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai), Malabar coast of India (Cochin, Calicut), Maldives, Persian Gulf coast (Hormuz), Arabian Peninsula coast1. The fleet was reinforced with 41 ships.
From this expedition, Zheng He again returned without any valuables, which really annoyed the emperor. In addition, during this time, criticism of his ruinous wars increased in the Celestial Empire itself, and therefore further campaigns of the great flotilla of Zheng He turned out to be a big question ...
In 1422-1424, there was a significant break in the voyages of Zheng He, moreover, in 1424, Emperor Yongle died.
It was only in 1430 that the new, young emperor Xuande, the grandson of the late Yongle, decided to send another "great embassy."

The last, seventh expedition of Admiral Zheng He, took place in 1430-1433 along the route - East coast of Indochina (Champa), Java (Surabaya and other ports on the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai, Palembang) , the Ganges delta region, the Malabar coast of India (Kollam, Calicut), the Maldives, the coast of the Persian Gulf (Hormuz), the coast of the Arabian Peninsula (Aden, Jeddah), the east coast of Africa (Mogadishu). This expedition was attended by 27 550 people.
Admiral Zheng He, who by the time of departure had changed his seventh decade, before sailing on the last expedition ordered to knock out two inscriptions in the port of Lujiagang (near the city of Taicang in Jiangsu province) and in Changle (eastern Fujian) - a kind of epitaph in which he summed up the paths.
During this expedition, the fleet landed a detachment under the command of Hong Bao, which made a peaceful sortie into Mecca. The sailors returned with giraffes, lions, a “camel bird” (an ostrich, giant birds were still found in Arabia at that time) and other wondrous gifts that were carried by ambassadors from the sheriff of the Holy City.
Five days after the completion of the seventh expedition, the emperor traditionally presented the team with ceremonial robes and paper money. According to the Chronicle, Xuande said:
“We have no desire to receive things from distant countries, but we understand that they were sent with the most sincere feelings. Since they have come from afar, they should be received, but this is not a reason for congratulations. "
China's diplomatic ties with the countries of the Western Ocean were interrupted this time - for centuries. Some merchants continued to trade with Japan and Vietnam, but the Chinese authorities refused from the "state presence" in the Indian Ocean and even destroyed most of Zheng He's sailing routes.
The decommissioned ships rotted away in the port, and the Chinese shipbuilders forgot how to build a baochuan ...
No one knows for certain when the famous Admiral Zheng He died - either during the seventh expedition, or soon after the return of the fleet (July 22, 1433).
In modern China, it is believed that he was buried in the ocean as a true sailor, and the cenotaph, which is shown to tourists in Nanjing, is only a conditional tribute to the memory.
Most of all, it is surprising that Zheng He's expeditions, so serious in scale, were completely forgotten by both contemporaries and descendants at the end of them. Only at the beginning of the 20th century, Western scientists discovered mentions of these voyages in the chronicles of the imperial Ming dynasty and asked themselves: why was this huge flotilla created?
Different versions were put forward: either Zheng He turned out to be a "pioneer and explorer" like Cook, then he sought out colonies for the empire like the conquistadors, then his fleet was a powerful military cover for developing foreign trade, like the Portuguese in the 15th-16th centuries.
Famous Russian Sinologist Alexey Bokshchanin in the book "China and the countries of the South Seas"

gives an entertaining consideration about the possible purpose of these expeditions: by the beginning of the 15th century, relations between the China of the Minsk era and the state of Tamerlane, who even planned a campaign against China, became very aggravated.
Thus, Admiral Zheng He could be entrusted with a diplomatic mission to search for allies across the seas against Timur.
After all, when in 1404 Tamerlane fell ill, already having conquered and destroyed cities from Russia to India behind him, there would hardly be a force in the world that could cope with him alone ...
But after all, in January 1405, Tamerlane died. It seems that the admiral was not looking for allies against this enemy.
Perhaps the answer lies in some kind of inferiority complex in Yongle, who was ascended to the throne in a palace coup. It seems that the illegal "Son of Heaven" simply did not want to wait with folded arms until the tributaries themselves come to him to bow.
Emperor Yongle sent ships beyond the horizon, contrary to the main imperial policy, which ordered the son of Heaven to receive ambassadors from the world, and not send them out to the world.
Comparing the expeditions of Vasco da Gama and those of Zheng He, the American historian Robert Finlay writes:
“Da Gama's expedition marked an undeniable turning point in world history, symbolizing the advent of the modern era.
Following the Spanish, Dutch and British, the Portuguese began building an empire in the East ...
In contrast, the Minsk expeditions did not entail any changes: no colonies, no new routes, no monopolies, no cultural flourishing and no global unity ... The history of China and world historyprobably would not have undergone any changes if Zheng He's expeditions had never taken place at all.
Whatever it was, but the active admiral Zheng He remained for China the only great navigator, a symbol of the unexpected openness of the Celestial Empire

Plan:

1 Biography
- 1.1 Origin
- 1.2 Joining Zhu Di and military career
- 1.3 Zheng He's seven sea voyages
- 1.4 Death of an admiral
2 Appearance
3 Heirs
4 Memory

Introduction

Zheng He (Chinese trad. 鄭和, exercise 郑和, pinyin Zhèng Hé; 1371-1435) is a Chinese traveler, naval commander and diplomat who led seven large-scale naval military-trade expeditions sent by the emperors of the Ming Dynasty to the countries of Indochina, Hindustan, the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.

Although private Chinese merchant ships ply between South China and Southeast Asia almost unceasingly since the Song dynasty, and during the Mongol Yuan dynasty, military-diplomatic expeditions to the countries of Southeast Asia and even to Sri Lanka were made, as the scale of Zheng He's expeditions and the high importance attached to them by Emperor Zhu Di was unprecedented. These expeditions, at least formally and for a short period (several decades), made numerous kingdoms of the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and South India vassals of the Minsk Empire and brought to China new information about the peoples inhabiting the shores of the Indian Ocean. It is believed that the influence of the expeditions of the Chinese fleet on the historical development of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java was more long-term, since they could be among the factors that gave a new impetus to the emigration of Chinese to this region and the strengthening of the role of Chinese culture there.

Even during the time of the main patron of Zheng He, Emperor Zhu Di, Zheng He's expeditions were severely criticized by many members of the Confucian elite in China, who considered them unnecessary and expensive imperial ventures. After the death of Zheng He and Emperor Zhu Zhanji (Zhu Di's grandson), these isolationist views prevailed at all levels in the government of Ming China. As a result, state naval expeditions were terminated, and most of the technical information about Zheng He's fleet was destroyed or lost. Official "History of Ming", compiled in XVII-X VIII centuries, spoke about his voyages in a critical way, but for many people in China, and especially in the Chinese communities that formed in Southeast Asia, the eunuch-naval commander remained a folk hero.

At the beginning of the 20th century, during the rise of the movement to free China from foreign dependence, the image of Zheng He gained new popularity. In modern China, Zheng He is regarded as one of the most prominent personalities in the country's history, and his voyages (usually regarded as an example peaceful China's policies towards its neighbors) are opposed to the aggressive expeditions of the European colonialists of the 16th-19th centuries.

1. Biography

1.1. Origin

The childhood of the future navigator was spent in Cunyang, near Lake Dianchi

At birth, the future navigator received a name Ma He (馬和). He was born in Hedai Village, Cunyang County [approx. 1] . Kunyang County was located in central Yunnan, on the southern shore of Lake Dianchi, near the northern end of which is the provincial capital of Kunming.

Ma's family came from the so-called sam - people from Central Asiawho arrived in China during the Mongol rule and held various positions in the state apparatus of the Yuan Empire. Most sam, including the ancestors of Zheng He, were of the Muslim faith (it is often believed that the surname "Ma" itself is nothing more than the Chinese pronunciation of the name "Muhammad"). After the fall of the Yuan dynasty and the ascension to the throne of the Ming dynasty, their descendants assimilated into the Chinese environment, mainly into the ranks of the Chinese-speaking Muslims - the Huizu.

Not much is known about Ma He's parents; almost everything we know about them dates back to a stele erected in their honor in their homeland in 1405 at the direction of the admiral himself. The father of the future navigator was known as Ma Hadji (1345-1381 or 1382 [note 2]), in honor of his pilgrimage to Mecca; his wife was named Wen (温). The family had six children: four daughters and two sons - the eldest, Ma Wenming, and the youngest, Ma He.

It is not known for certain how Zheng He's ancestors came to China. According to family tradition, the father of Ma Haji (that is, the grandfather of the future admiral), also known as Ma Haji, was the grandson of Said Ajal al-Din Omar, a native of Bukhara (in modern Uzbekistan), one of the commanders of Khubilai Khan, who managed to conquer Yunnan province and become its ruler. It is not entirely certain, but it is likely that Ma's ancestors actually came to Yunnan along with the Mongols.

Zheng He, like his ancestors, professed Islam and, according to some assumptions, acted as an intercessor for his brothers in the faith, despite the fact that at the beginning of the reign of the Ming dynasty, Muslims were treated with suspicion. The reason for this was that during the Yuan dynasty, many of sam served as tax collectors. However, Zheng He, for all his adherence to Islam, respected other religions, such as Buddhism (he even had the Buddhist nickname Three Jewels - Sanbao) and Taoism, which are one of the main in China, and, if necessary, willingly took part in the corresponding rituals. It is also assumed that his adherence to Islam played an important role in the decision to appoint him admiral of the Golden Fleet, which, among other things, was to visit Arabia and Africa, places in which Islam was one of the dominant religions.

1.2. Joining Zhu Di and military career

After the overthrow of the Mongol yoke in central and northern China and the establishment there by Zhu Yuanzhan of the Ming Dynasty (1368), the mountainous province of Yunnan in the southwestern outskirts of China remained under the control of the Mongols for several years. It is not known whether Ma Haji fought on the side of the Yuan loyalists during the conquest of Yunnan by the Ming troops, but be that as it may, he died during this campaign (1382), and his youngest son Ma He was taken prisoner and fell into the service of Zhu Di , the son of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who led the Yunnan campaign.

Three years later, in 1385, the boy was castrated [approx. 3], and he became one of the many eunuchs at the court of Zhu Di, who held the title of Grand Duke of Yan (Yan Wang) and was based in Beiping (future Beijing). The young eunuch got a name Ma Sanbao (馬三寶 / 马三QL) that is Ma "Three Treasures" or "Three Jewels". According to Needham, despite the undoubtedly Muslim origin of the eunuch, this title served as a reminder of the "three jewels" of Buddhism (Buddha, dharma and sangha), whose names are so often repeated by Buddhists. ...

It is believed that while at the court of the Grand Duke, Ma Sanbao was able to receive a better education than he could have achieved if instead of Peiping he went to Nanjing, to the court of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang himself, who had a strong distrust of eunuchs and strove, if not completely prohibit teaching them to read, then at least as much as possible limit the number of literate eunuchs.

As the Grand Duke of Yansky, Zhu Di had significant military forces at his disposal and fought against the Mongols on the northern border of the empire. Ma Sanbao participated in his 1386/87 winter campaign. against one of the Mongol chiefs, Naghachu.

The first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang planned to transfer the throne to his first-born son Zhu Biao, but he died during the life of Zhu Yuanzhang. As a result, the first emperor appointed Zhu Biao's son, Zhu Yunwen, as his heir, although his uncle Zhu Di (one of the youngest sons of Zhu Yuanzhang) certainly considered himself more worthy of the throne. Having ascended the throne in 1398 (the motto of the Jianwen reign), Zhu Yunwen, fearing the seizure of power by one of his uncles, began to destroy them one by one. Soon between the young emperor in Nanjing and his Peking uncle Zhu Di civil War... Due to the fact that Zhu Yunwen forbade eunuchs to take part in the government of the country, many of them supported Zhu Di during the uprising. As a reward for their service, Zhu Di, for his part, allowed them to participate in solving political issues, and allowed them to rise to the highest levels of political careers, which was also very beneficial for Ma Sanbao. The young eunuch distinguished himself both in the defense of Peiping in 1399 and in the capture of Nanjing in 1402 and was one of the commanders tasked with capturing the empire's capital, Nanjing. Having destroyed the regime of his nephew, Zhu Di ascended the throne on July 17, 1402 under the motto of Yongle's rule.

In the (Chinese) new year 1404, the new emperor, as a reward for faithful service, granted Ma He a new surname Zheng... It served as a reminder of how in the early days of the uprising, Ma He's horse was killed in the vicinity of Beiping in a place called Zhenglunba.

According to some sources, in 1404, Zheng He oversaw the construction of a fleet to fight the so-called "Japanese pirates" and may even have visited Japan to negotiate with local authorities about a joint fight against pirates.

1.3. Zheng He's seven sea voyages

The 12 rudders of the ship, a sculptural group at the Nanjing Treasure Shipyard Park, is one of the many monuments commemorating Zheng He's voyages

After Zheng He, for all his services to the emperor, was awarded the title of "chief eunuch", which corresponded to the fourth rank of an official [approx. 4], Emperor Zhu Di decided that he was the best suited for the role of admiral of the fleet and appointed the eunuch head of all or almost all of the seven voyages to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean in 1405-1433, simultaneously raising his status to the third rank. The fleet consisted, apparently, of about 250 ships, about 27 thousand crew on board. The largest of the ships in this fleet might have been - according to the official Ming History - the largest wooden sailing ships ever to exist.

The flotilla under the leadership of Zheng He visited over 56 countries and major cities in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean basin. Chinese ships reached the shores of Arabia and East Africa. The first voyage of Zheng He took place in 1405-1407 along the route Suzhou - the shores of Champa - Java island - North-West Sumatra - Strait of Malacca - Sri Lanka island. Then, having rounded the southern tip of Hindustan, the flotilla moved to the trading cities of the Malabar coast of India, reaching the largest Indian port - Calicut (Kozhikode). The routes of the second (1407-1409) and third (1409-1411) campaigns were approximately the same. The fourth (1413-1415), fifth (1417-1419), sixth (1421-1422) and seventh (1431-1433) expeditions reached Hormuz and the African coast in the area of \u200b\u200bmodern Somalia, entered the Red Sea. The sailors kept detailed and accurate records of what they saw, made maps. They recorded the time of sailing, camp sites, marked the location of reefs and shoals. Descriptions of overseas states and cities, political orders, climate, local customs, legends were compiled. Zheng He delivered emperor's messages to foreign countries, encouraged foreign embassies to come to China, and conducted trade.

To achieve his goals, he resorted to the military. For example, in 1405, during the first expedition, Zheng He demanded that the sacred Buddhist relics of Lanka - the tooth, hair and begging bowl of the Buddha - which were the most important relics and attributes of the power of the Sinhalese kings, be handed over to the Chinese emperor. Having been refused, Zheng He returned to the island in 1411, accompanied by a detachment of 3,000 people, broke into the capital, captured King Vir Alakeshwara, his family members and close associates, took them to a ship and took them to China. During the fourth trip during the usual visit to the state of Pasay on this route (also known as Samudra) in the north of Sumatra, apparently on the way back from Hormuz to China, the crew of the main fleet Zheng He had to take part in the ongoing struggle between the monarch recognized by China (Zain al-Abidin) and a challenger named Sekander. The Chinese fleet brought gifts from Emperor Yongle for Zain al-Abidin, but not for Sekander, which angered the latter, and he attacked the Chinese. Zheng He managed to turn what had happened to his advantage, defeat his troops, capture Sekander himself and send him to China.

In the period between 1424 and 1431, after the death of Emperor Zhu Di, sea expeditions were temporarily suspended, and Zheng He himself served as chief of the garrison in Nanjing for seven years. During the last, seventh trip, Zheng He was over 60 years old. He no longer personally visited many countries where Chinese ships entered, and returned to China as early as 1433, while individual units of the fleet under the command of his assistants visited Mecca in 1434, as well as Sumatra and Java.

Zheng He's expeditions contributed to the cultural exchange of African and Asian countries with China and the establishment of trade relations between them. Detailed descriptions of countries and cities visited by Chinese sailors were compiled. Their authors were members of the Zheng He expedition - Ma Huan, Fei Xin (en: Fei Xin) and Gong Zheng (en: Gong Zhen). Also, detailed "Maps of the sea voyages of Zheng He" ("Zheng He han hai tu") were compiled.

On the basis of materials and news collected by the participants of Zheng He's sea expeditions, in 1597, Luo Mao-den wrote the novel "Voyages of Zheng He to the Western Ocean" ("San bao tai jian Xi yang ji") in Ming China. As the Russian Sinologist A.V. Velgus pointed out, there is a lot of fiction in it, but in some of the descriptions the author definitely used data from historical and geographical sources. The new routes laid out by Zheng He and his team were later used by European sailors, who by the time of Zheng He's expeditions had not even rounded the Cape of Good Hope and had no idea about the East coast of Africa.

In The History of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He's naval expeditions are of great importance: "The chronicles say that Taijian Sanbao's campaigns in the Western Seas were the most remarkable event at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty."

1.4. Death of the admiral

Tomb (cenotaph) of Zheng He on Nyushou Hill near Nanjing

According to the tradition passed down by the heirs (through his nephew; see below) Zheng He, the admiral himself died on his way back to China during his seventh voyage (that is, in 1433), and his body was buried at sea. Soon after his death, in Semarang, Java, a ritual of "absentee funeral" was performed, which relies on the absence of the body of the deceased ("Janaza bil gaib"). The admiral's shoes and a lock of hair (according to another version, clothes and a hat) were delivered to Nanjing and were buried there near the cave Buddhist temple.

Since the historical sources that have come down to us do not contain any mention of Zheng He's activities after the seventh journey, most historians tend to agree with the version of the admiral's relatives. However, the Chinese historian Xu Yuhu (徐玉虎) in his biography Zheng He suggested, based on an analysis of personnel changes in the state apparatus of the Minsk Empire, that in fact the naval commander safely returned to Nanjing, served as military commander of Nanking and the commander of his fleet for two more years and died only in 1435. A similar point of view is shared by the Russian researcher A. A. Bokshchanin.

On the southern slope of Nyushou Hill near Nanjing, a Muslim tombstone was erected for Zheng He. However, according to the stories of local residents, when in 1962 treasure hunters dug up the grave in search of valuables, they could not find any remains or anything else.

In 1985, for the 580th anniversary of Zheng He's maiden voyage, the cenotaph was restored ( 31.910278 , 118.728611 31 ° 54'37 ″ s. sh. 118 ° 43'43 "in. etc. / 31.910278 ° N sh. 118.728611 ° E etc. (G) (O)).

On June 18, 2010, during construction work on the nearby Zutang Hill (祖堂山), another early Ming tomb was discovered, also declared the tomb of Zheng He. However, a few days later, after reading the remains of the epitaph, Nanjing archaeologists decided that in fact this grave belonged to another eunuch-admiral, Hong Bao, who commanded a separate squadron during Zheng He's seventh voyage.

2. Appearance

Copies of monuments from the voyages of Zheng He that have come down to us. In the center - a stele on a turtle, erected in Nanjing in honor of the goddess Matsu to commemorate the maiden voyage; on the sides there are steles installed by the admiral in Lujiagan, Changle (Fuzhou), Galle (Sri Lanka) and Calicut (India)

Eunuchs who were castrated prior to puberty and therefore considered “clean” (童净, tong jing), often enjoyed the favor of the ladies of the court, to whom, among other things, were likened to behavior. In adulthood, their voices usually became high and shrill, their mood was unstable, and their feelings were violent, which was often expressed in fits of anger and profuse tears.

Zheng He, although he was a eunuch, did not fit this stereotype. Although Zheng He's lifetime portraits have not survived, according to the recollections of his family members (whose objectivity, however, can be questioned), he was “seven chi and was in the belt about five chi in girth "(usually one chi of the Minsk era is considered equal to 31.1 cm, but in some areas, and chi shorter length, from approx. 27 cm). “His forehead was high, his cheeks did not appear to be droopy, his nose was small. His teeth were white and perfectly shaped, his eyes were clear, and his voice was deep and strong, like the sound of a bell. He knew military affairs well and was accustomed to battle. "

Another source of information about Zheng He's appearance was a document in which a dignitary of the imperial court recommended 35-year-old Zheng He to Emperor Zhu Di for his first appointment as commander of the fleet. According to this document, his skin was "tough like an orange peel." The distance between the eyebrows, according to which the Chinese tradition prescribed to define luck and happiness, was "wide", which in turn predicted a successful career. “His eyebrows were like swords, and his forehead was wide, like a tiger's,” which in turn should have indicated strength of character and ability to control. His mouth was "like the sea," from which eloquent words poured. His eyes "shone like light reflected in a fast river," which was a sign of energy and vitality.

3. Heirs

Peter Pan, one of the descendants of his brother Zheng He, with a statue of his great- ... -uncle (near his cenotaph grave in Nanjing)

As a eunuch since childhood, Zheng He had no children of his own. However, he adopted one of his nephews, Zheng Haozhao, who, unable to inherit his adoptive father's titles, was nevertheless able to retain his property. Therefore, to this day there are people who consider themselves "descendants of Zheng He".

4. Memory

Almost forgotten in the first centuries after their completion, the voyages of Zheng He's fleet now occupy an important place in the historical memory of mankind.

For the Chinese, this is one of the episodes of the country's heroic past, demonstrating both the former greatness of the power and its early technological achievements, as well as the (relatively) peaceful foreign policy of the country, in comparison with the colonial policy of the Europeans.

Many Chinese communities in Malaysia and Indonesia regard Zheng He and Wang Jinghong as founding figures, practically as patron saints. Churches and monuments have been erected in their honor.

Due to its scale, its difference from the previous and subsequent Chinese history and its external similarity with the voyages that several decades later began the European period of the great geographical discoveries, Zheng He's voyages became one of the most famous episodes of Chinese history outside of China itself. For example, in 1997 the magazine Life in the list of 100 people who provided greatest influence on history in the last millennium, placed Zheng He in 14th place (the other 3 Chinese on this list are Mao Zedong, Zhu Xi and Cao Xueqin).

Notes

Nowadays, Kunyang (у) county is called Jinning, but the name Kunyang (лось) remained behind the county center.
Levates gives 1381 as the date of Ma Haji's death, but at the same time quotes the text of the stela, which claims that he died (translated into the European calendar) on August 12, 1382.
According to Levathes 1996, p. 57-58, Ma He was taken prisoner in 1382 and made a eunuch three years later, in 1385; however, according to Dreyer 2007, p. 16, 201, both events took place in 1382.
In the era of the Ming Empire, there were 9 official ranks, each of which was of two categories - basic (senior) and equivalent (junior). Certain official posts could only be held by officials of the rank corresponding to this post.

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Throughout its centuries-old history, the Chinese Empire did not show much interest in distant countries and sea \u200b\u200btravel... But in the 15th century, her ships sailed seven times across the Indian Ocean, and each time the squadron of giant junks was headed by the same person - the diplomat and Admiral Zheng He, who was not inferior to Columbus in terms of the scale of his expeditions.

After the liberation of China from the Mongols and the proclamation of the Ming Empire in 1368 under the rule of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang main task the new government was to "restore China's international prestige as a sovereign state and end invasions from outside." The new emperor Zhu Di (Yong-le, ruled from 1403 to 1424), striving to strengthen the international position of the Celestial Empire, decided to organize a huge fleet, the purpose of which would be to demonstrate the power of the new empire and demand obedience from the states of the South Seas.

However, this version, although the most common, is not the only one. In the same "History of the Ming Dynasty" it is indicated that the emperor sent the Zheng He expedition across the sea, allegedly to search for the Emperor Hoi-di who disappeared without a trace in 1403. This version is the least convincing, since the emperor knew that a relative was burned in the palace during the assault on Nanking, but he did not dare to publicly confirm this, preferring not to refute rumors of his secret salvation.

Sources not as official as "Ming Shi" reflected the economic goals of the expeditions. Ma Huang, the chronicler of Zheng He's expeditions, for example, says that these voyages were equipped to cross distant seas in order to trade with foreigners. The fact that Zheng He had not only to present gifts to foreign rulers, but also to trade, is also said in "Shu yu zhou zi lu". However, thanks to the philosophical and ethical concepts of the assessment of trade as a low and unworthy occupation, accepted in medieval China, these goals were not properly reflected in most sources.

Perhaps the clue lies in a certain inferiority complex of Yong-le, ascended to the throne by a palace coup. It seems that the illegal "Son of Heaven" simply did not want to wait with folded arms until the tributaries themselves come to him to bow.

Zheng He

Zheng He was born in 1371 in the city of Kunyang (now Jinying), in the center of the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, not far from its capital Kunming. Nothing in the childhood of the future naval commander, who was then called Ma He, did not foreshadow the upcoming romance with the ocean: in the 15th century, it was several weeks away from Kunyang to the coast. The surname Ma - a transcription of the name Muhammad - is still often found in the Chinese Muslim community, and our hero was descended from the famous Said Ajalla Shamsa al-Din (1211-1279), also nicknamed Umar, a native of Bukhara, who was promoted during the Mongol great khans Mongke (grandson of Genghis Khan) and Kublai. It was the conqueror of China, Khubilai, who appointed this Umar governor of Yunnan in 1274. It is known that the father and grandfather of the future admiral strictly adhered to the codes of Islam and performed the hajj to Mecca. Moreover, in the Muslim world there is an opinion that the future admiral himself visited the holy city, albeit with an informal pilgrimage.

At the time of the boy's birth, the Middle Empire was still under the rule of the Mongols, who favored his family. But the beginning of Ma He's life was quite dramatic. In 1381, during the conquest of Yunnan by the troops of the Chinese Ming Dynasty, who threw off the foreign Yuan, the father of the future navigator died at the age of 39. The rebels captured the boy, emasculated and handed over to the service of the fourth son of their leader Hun-wu, the future emperor Yong-le, who soon went as governor to Beiping (Beijing).

It is important to note one detail here: eunuchs in China, as well as, for example, in Ottoman Turkey, have always remained one of the most influential political forces. Many young men themselves went on a terrible operation, not only in essence, but also in terms of technique, hoping to get into the retinue of some influential person - the prince or, if they were lucky, the emperor himself. So the "color-eyed" (as the representatives of the non-titular, non-Han nationality were called in China) Zheng He was just lucky according to the concepts of that time. Young Ma He performed well in the service. By the end of the 1380s, he already stood out clearly in the environment of the prince, who was eleven years younger. In 1399, when Beijing was besieged by the troops of the then emperor Jianwen (reigned from 1398 to 1402), a young dignitary staunchly defended one of the city's reservoirs. It was his actions that allowed the prince to hold out in order to counterattack the opponent and achieve the throne. A few years later, Yong-le gathered a powerful militia, raised an uprising and in 1402, having taken the capital Nanking by storm, proclaimed himself emperor. Then he adopted the motto of the new government: Yong-le - "Eternal happiness." On the Chinese New Year on February 11, 1404, Ma He was solemnly renamed Zheng He in gratitude for his loyalty and deeds - this surname corresponds to the name of one of the ancient kingdoms that existed in China in the 5th-3rd centuries BC. e.

As for the appearance of the future admiral, “becoming an adult, they say, has grown to seven chi (almost two meters), and the girth of his belt was equal to five chi (more than 140 centimeters). His cheekbones and forehead were wide, and his nose was small. He had a sparkling look and a voice as loud as the sound of a big gong.

The Treasury of Admiral Zheng He

The ruler was in a hurry - the armada was built in great haste. The first order to create ships was issued in 1403, and the voyage began two years later. Special high orders were sent to the fishing parties for timber - in the province of Fujian and in the upper reaches of the Yangtze. The beauty and pride of the squadron, baochuan (literally "precious ships" or "treasures"), were built at the so-called "shipyard of precious ships" (baochuanchang) on \u200b\u200bthe Qinhuai River in Nanjing. It is this last fact, in particular, that the draft of the junks, with their gigantic size, was not very deep - otherwise they simply would not have passed into the sea through this tributary of the Yangtze.

Historians and shipbuilders cannot yet reliably determine all the characteristics of the ships of Zheng He's armada. A lot of speculation and discussion in the scientific world is caused by the fact that scientists know how similar junks were built before and after Zheng He. However, the South Seas and the Indian Ocean were sailed by specially built vessels, about which only the following is certain (taking into account the calculations made on the basis of the excavations of the ruder post in the Nanking shipyard).

The length of the large Baochuan ships was 134 meters, and the width was 55. The draft to the waterline was more than 6 meters. There were 9 masts, and they carried 12 sails of woven bamboo mats. Baochuan in Zheng He's squadron at different times ranged from 40 to 60. For comparison: the first transatlantic steamer of Izambar Brunel "Great Western", which appeared four centuries later (1837), was almost half the length (about 72 meters).

The measurements of the medium ships were 117 and 48 meters, respectively. There were about 200 such junks, and they are comparable to ordinary Chinese ships. The crew of such a ship, which carried Marco Polo to India in 1292, consisted of 300 people, and Niccolò di Conti, a Venetian merchant of the XIV-XV centuries who traveled to India and Hormuz, mentions five-masted junks with a displacement of about 2000 tons. The admiral's fleet consisted of 27-28 thousand personnel, which included soldiers, merchants, civilians, officials and artisans: in terms of quantity, this is the population of a large Chinese city of those times.

Chinese ships were built in a completely different way than European ones. Firstly, they did not have a keel, although sometimes a long beam, called lungu ("dragon bone"), was built into the bottom to soften the impact on the ground when docking. The strength of the ship's structure was achieved by adding wooden fortifications-wels on the sides along the entire length at or above the waterline. The presence of bulkheads stretching from side to side at regular intervals was very important - they provided protection of the ship from flooding in the event of damage to one or more of the premises.

If in Europe the masts were located in the center of the ship, built into the keel with the base, then in the Chinese junks the base of each mast was connected only with the nearby bulkhead, which made it possible to "spread" the masts along the deck regardless of the central axis of symmetry. At the same time, the sails of different masts did not overlap each other, opened like a fan, the windage increased, and the ship received correspondingly greater acceleration.

Chinese ships, designed to operate in shallow waters, differed in proportion from European ones: their draft and length were proportionally inferior to their width. This is all we know for certain. The translator of the notes of Ma Huang, companion of Zheng He, John Mills supplements this data with the assumption that the Baochuan had 50 cabins each.

First expedition

Cheng-tzu's first decree on equipping the expedition was given in March 1405. By this decree, Zheng He was appointed head of the expedition, and the eunuch Wang Jihong his assistant. The preparations for the expedition, apparently, had already begun earlier, since by the autumn of the same year the preparations had been completed.

The ships were built at the mouth of the Yangtze, as well as on the shores of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, and then pulled to the anchorages at Lujiahe, where the gathering of the flotilla was appointed.

The flotilla included sixty-two ships, on which there were twenty-seven thousand eight hundred people. The largest ships reached forty-four zhang (one hundred and forty meters) in length and eighteen zhang in width. The ships average size respectively had thirty-seven and fifteen zhangs (one hundred eight and forty-eight meters). The numbers are even more surprising when you consider that the longest caravel of Columbus' first expedition "Santa Maria" did not exceed eighteen and a half meters, with a maximum width of 7.8 meters.

According to the Ming Shih, Zheng He brought 62 large ships on the maiden voyage. However, in the Middle Ages in China, everyone big ship accompanied by another two or three small, auxiliary. Gong Zhen, for example, speaks of auxiliary ships carrying fresh water and food. There is information that their number reached one hundred and ninety units.

Leaving Lujiajiang, the fleet sailed along the coast of China to Taiping Bay in Changle County, Fujian Province. The ships stayed here until the winter of 1405/1406, completing their preparations and waiting for the beginning of the northeastern monsoons. This season lasts from mid-November to February, but usually the flotillas did not set sail after the beginning of February. It must have been December 1405 or early 1406, filling the holds with food, fuel and fresh water, the flotilla entered the open sea and headed south.

From the shores of Fujian, Zhang He's fleet sailed to Champa. After passing through the South China Sea and rounding about. Kalimantan from the west, through the Karimata Strait approached the east coast of about. Java. From here the expedition headed along the northern coast of Java towards Palembang. Further, the path of the Chinese ships lay through the Strait of Malacca to the northwestern coast of Sumatra to the country of Samudra. Having entered the Indian Ocean, the Chinese fleet crossed the Bay of Bengal and reached the island of Ceylon. Then, circling the southern tip of Hindustan, Zheng He visited several wealthy shopping centers on the Malabar coast, including the largest of the bottom - the city of Calicut. A rather colorful illustration of the Calicut market is given by G. Hart in his book "Sea Route to India": "Chinese silk, fine cotton fabric of local production, famous throughout the East and Europe, calico fabric, cloves, nutmegs, their dried husk, camphor from India and Africa, cinnamon from Ceylon, peppers from the Malabar coast, the Sunda Islands and Borneo, medicinal plants, ivory from the interior of India and Africa, bundles of cassia, sacks of cardamom, heaps of copra, coconut fiber ropes, heaps of sandalwood, yellow and mahogany." The wealth of this city makes it clear why Zhu Di sent the first expedition there.

In addition, on the maiden voyage on the way back, the Chinese expeditionary forces captured the famous pirate Chen Zui, who at that time captured Palembang, the capital of the Hindu-Buddhist state of Srivijaya in Sumatra. "Zheng He returned and brought Chen Zu" and in shackles. Arriving at the Old Port (Palembang), he called on Chen to obey. He pretended to obey, but secretly planned a riot. Zheng He realized this ... Chen, gathering his strength, set out into battle, and Zheng He sent troops and took the fight. Chen was completely defeated. More than five thousand bandits were killed, ten ships were burned and seven were captured ... Chen and two others were taken prisoner and taken to the imperial capital, where they were ordered behead. ”This is how the metropolitan envoy protected peaceful compatriots-migrants in Palembang and at the same time demonstrated that his ships carried weapons on board not only for beauty.

Second expedition

Immediately after returning from the campaign in the fall of 1407, Zhu Di, surprised by the outlandish goods brought by the expedition, again sent Zheng He's fleet on a long voyage, but this time the flotilla consisted of only 249 ships, since a large number of ships on the first expedition turned out to be useless. The route of the second expedition (1407-1409) basically coincided with the route of the previous one, Zheng He visited mostly familiar places, but this time he spent more time in Siam (Thailand) and Calicut.

The Chinese expeditions returned home by the same route as before, and only incidents on the way make it possible in the chronicles to distinguish between voyages “there” from the return ones. During the second voyage, geographically similar to the first, only one event took place, the memory of which has been preserved in history: the ruler of Calicut provided the ambassadors of the Celestial Empire with several bases, relying on which, the Chinese could later go even further west.

Third expedition

But the third expedition brought more interesting adventures. Under the date of July 6, 1411, the chronicle records:

“Zheng He ... returned and brought back the captured Ceylon King Alagakkonara, his family and parasites. During the first trip, Alagakkonara was rude and disrespectful and determined to kill Zheng He. Zheng He realized this and left. Moreover, Alagakkonara was not friendly with neighboring countries and often intercepted and robbed their embassies on the way to China and back. Since the other barbarians were suffering from this, Zheng He returned and once again showed contempt for Ceylon. Then Alagakkonara lured Zheng He inland and sent his son Nayanar to demand from him gold, silver and other precious goods. If these goods were not handed out, more than 50,000 barbarians would have risen from cover and captured Zheng He's ships. They also sawed down trees and set out to block the narrow paths and cut Zheng He's escape routes so that separate Chinese units could not come to each other's aid.

When Zheng He realized that they were cut off from the fleet, he quickly deployed the troops and sent them to the ships ... And he ordered the messengers to secretly bypass the roads where the ambush was sitting, return to the ships and pass the order to the officers and soldiers to fight to the death. In the meantime, he personally led the two thousandth army by detour routes. They stormed the eastern walls of the capital, taking it in fright, broke through, captured Alagakkonara, his family, parasites and dignitaries. Zheng He fought several battles and utterly defeated the barbarian army. When he returned, the ministers decided that Alagakkonar and the other prisoners should be executed. But the emperor had mercy on them - over ignorant people who did not know what the Heavenly Mandate to rule, and let them go, giving food and clothing, and ordered the Chamber of Rituals to choose a worthy person in the Alagakkonara family to rule the country. "

It is believed that this was the only case when Zheng He deliberately and decisively turned away from the path of diplomacy and entered the war not with the robbers, but with the official government of the country he arrived in. The above quote is the only documentary description of the actions of the naval commander in Ceylon. However, besides him, of course, there are many legends. The most popular of them describes the scandal associated with the most revered relic - the tooth of the Buddha (Dalada), which Zheng He either was going to steal, or really stole from Ceylon.

The story is this: as early as 1284, Khubilai sent his emissaries to Ceylon in order to get one of the main sacred relics of Buddhists in a completely legal way. But the Mongol emperor - the famous patron of Buddhism - was still not given a tooth, compensating for the refusal with other expensive gifts. This was the end of it for the time being. But, according to Sinhalese myths, the Middle State did not secretly abandon the coveted goal. They generally claim that the admiral's voyages were undertaken almost specifically to steal a tooth, and all other wanderings were intended to divert eyes. But the Sinhalese allegedly outwitted Zheng He - they "slipped" a false relic into his prisoner instead of the real tsar, and hid the real one while the Chinese were fighting. The compatriots of the great navigator, naturally, hold the opposite opinion: the admiral nevertheless got the priceless "piece of Buddha", and he, even in the manner of a guiding star, helped him safely get back to Nanjing. What really happened is unknown.

Fourth expedition

Later, Zheng He's fleet visited even more remote countries: during the fourth expedition (1413-1415) they reached the city of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

Fifth expedition

During the next (1417-1419) - we visited Lasa (point in the area modern city Mersa Fatima in the Red Sea) and a number of cities on the Somali coast of Africa - Mogadishu, Brava, Chzhubu and Malindi.

The sixth and seventh voyages of Zheng He are the least studied. There are practically no sources left of them. Not so long ago, the book "1421: The Year China Discovered the World" appeared in print. It was written by a retired British officer, commander of a submarine Gavin Menzies, who assured that Zheng He was ahead of even Columbus, having discovered America before him, he was supposedly ahead of Magellan, circling the globe. Professional historians reject these constructions as untenable. And nevertheless, one of the admiral's maps - the so-called "Kan" nido map "- testifies at least to the fact that he had reliable and reliable information about Europe. The search for the truth is greatly complicated by the complete destruction of official information about the last two voyages, which, most likely, were the farthest. Did the Chinese get to the Mozambique Channel in East Africa? Researchers also know the testimony of Fra Mauro, a cartographer monk from Venice, who wrote in 1457 that a certain "junk from India" had swum two thousands of miles deep in the Atlantic It has also been argued that Zheng He's maps served as the basis for European nautical charts during the Age of Discovery Finally, the final mystery: In January 2006, a 1763 map was presented at an auction, allegedly a replica of the 1418 map. The owner, a Chinese collector who bought it in 2001, immediately correlated it with Menzies's speculation, because it featured outlines I of America and Australia, and with Chinese transcriptions of the names of the aborigines there. The examination confirmed: the paper on which the scheme is made is authentic, of the 15th century, but doubts remain about the ink. However, even if this is not a fake, then, perhaps, just a translation of some Western source into Chinese.

Sixth expedition

During the sixth voyage (1421-1422), Zheng He's fleet again reached the coast of Africa.

The sixth journey of Zheng He is the least highlighted in the sources, since the attention of the chroniclers was riveted to the death of the emperor, because of which, perhaps, the navigator was forced to urgently return to his homeland. The purpose of the trip, according to Genvin Menzies, in addition to geographical discoveries, was also the delivery of ambassadors and foreign rulers home after their visit to the opening ceremony of the Forbidden City. As before, the first destination of Zheng He's fleet was Malacca, where the Chinese established a transshipment base for ships carrying spices from the Moluccas, or the Spice Islands.

The Chinese, in addition to their especially patronized Malacca and Calicut on the southwestern coast of India, created and, one way or another, maintained an extensive network of smaller port cities, covering Southeast Asia and the countries of the Indian Ocean basin. Zheng He used these ports as bases for his Golden Fleet, where his ships could stock up on food and fresh water all the way from China to East Africa. After replenishing provisions and water in Malacca, the Chinese sailed for five days and anchored at Semudera, where the admiral divided his army into four fleets. Three of these great fleets sailed under the command of the Great Eunuch Hong Bao, the eunuch Zhou Many, and the eunuch Zhou Wen. Zheng He left the Fourth Fleet under his command. All 3 fleets first of all had to deliver the foreign nobles and ambassadors on board to their homeland - to the ports of India, Arabia, and East Africa. After that, the fleets were to meet off the southern coast of Africa in order to begin the second part of the emperor's order - to sail through "unexplored waters to the end of the earth."

According to the ancient Chinese map "Mao Kun", this is exactly how this segment of the route looked. Having assembled in Calicut for trade, the Golden Fleets again split up to deliver ambassadors to their homeland. After the envoys were delivered to their native land, according to the Mao Kun map, all the ships gathered at Sofala (modern Mozambique). Since the map was cut off on this segment of the journey, Menzies was forced to look for a new source of information, which for him became the map of the Venetian cartographer Fra Mauro, drawn by him in early 1459. The researcher was attracted by how detailed and accurately the Cape of Good Hope was drawn on the map, given the fact that the cartographer himself did not travel the world and was an armchair worker. Fra Maro pointed out that information about the cape and junks was provided to him by the Venetian ambassador da Conti, who at that time was living in Calicut and, at Menzies's suggestion, could return to Italy in a Chinese junk and possess the information provided by the Chinese. In August 1421, the Chinese, driven by the South Equatorial Current, rounded the West Horn of Africa, and, finding themselves in the zone of the Senegalese Current, moved north to Cape Verde. There, near the village of Janela Menzies, he discovered a carved slab with ancient inscriptions (called local residents Ribeira di Peneda), as a result identified as the writing of the Malayalam language, a common language in Kerala (of which Calicut was the capital) since the 9th century.

As proof of the Chinese visit to the New World, Menzies cited the medieval map of Piri Reis, on which you can trace the contours of the western coast of South America and Antarctica. The author of the sensational book claims that the Ottoman cartographer relied on material collected by the Chinese. The purpose of the Chinese journey to the inhuman lands of Patagonia, the writer explained by the search for a guiding star that could replace the pole star south of the equatorial line (Canopus and the Southern Cross).

According to Menzies' hypothesis, having established the geographic latitude of Canopus, the fleets of the admirals of the Golden Fleet Zhou Manya and Hon Bao separated and, independently of each other, moved along a given latitude to China. Since Zhou Man's fleet did not deliver a single envoy to China, the researcher concluded that the naval commander moved westward to explore and map the Pacific Ocean, he returned to his homeland through the Spice Islands. Admiral Hon Bao's fleet moved towards Antarctica to establish the exact position of the Southern Cross, and then returned home, advancing east through the waters of the southern seas, visiting Malacca and Calicut. Based on maps, including such ancient ones as the map of Admiral Piri Reis, the Chinese sailing pilot Wu Pei Chi, etc. Menzies proves that the Chinese fleets reached not only the New World, but also Antarctica and Australia, and were the first to travel around the world.

However, an unprofessional approach to criticism of sources, pulling up the facts to fit the dictated necessity were clear evidence that the creation of the British sailor is in many ways just a supply generated by market demand. Menzies was criticized for his "irresponsible way of looking at evidence," which led him to hypothesize "without the slightest proof." Collaboration with the publishing house that published the work of Dan Brown was the reason for drawing corresponding analogies.

Seventh voyage

However, in reality, contrary to Menzies's assertion, Zheng He's sixth voyage was not the last expedition of the Chinese admiral. Like the previous voyages, the seventh expedition of Zheng He (1431-1433) and the subsequent expedition of his closest assistant Wang Jianghong were crowned with success. The ambassadorial ties of the South Sea countries with China revived again, and the rulers of these countries arrived from Malacca (1433) and Samudra (1434) to the imperial court. However, the situation that had developed at the beginning of the 15th century was never restored. By this time, at the court of the emperor, the group of close associates of Zhu Di was increasingly strengthening, who insisted on reducing expeditions and returning to a policy of isolationism. After the death of Zhu Di, under the influence of such court sentiments, the new emperor insisted on the termination of the expeditions, as well as the destruction of all evidence of their conduct.

Value

Description of the expeditions Zheng He compiled in 1416 by his companion and translator Ma Huan, from the Dinlins. Ma Huan's book is notable for its accuracy in observing the customs of the peoples inhabiting the shores of the Indian Ocean.

Zheng He's travels were perhaps the first page in the history of the great geographical discoveries. He did not set himself the task of consolidating in the southern seas and creating a durable trading empire, which is why Chinese influence in the countries he visited did not last even half a century. Nevertheless, the information he received about the southern and western countries led to the intensification of trade with Indochina and to the growth of Chinese emigration to these regions. The trends that began with the voyages of Zheng He continued until the 19th century.

On all voyages, the grandiose armada was sent from the South China Sea. Through the Indian Ocean, ships sailed towards Ceylon and southern Hindustan, and recent voyages also covered the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa. Zheng He walked along the "rolling" path every time: catching the repetitive monsoon winds that blow from December to March at these latitudes from the north and northeast. When humid subequatorial air currents rose over the Indian Ocean and, as it were, in a circle turned back to the north - from April to August - the flotilla accordingly turned to the house. Local sailors knew this monsoon timetable by heart long before our era, and not only sailors: after all, it also dictated the order of agricultural seasons. Taking into account the monsoons, as well as the pattern of the constellations, the travelers confidently crossed from the south of Arabia to the Malabar coast of India, or from Ceylon to Sumatra and Malacca, adhering to a certain latitude.

A logical question arises: why was the planet discovered, explored and populated by the Portuguese, Spaniards and the British, and not the Chinese - after all, the voyages of Zheng He showed that the sons of the Celestial Empire were able to build ships and provide for their expeditions economically and politically? The answer is simple, and it boils down not only to the difference between the ethnopsychology of the average European and the average Chinese, but also to the historical and cultural situation of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. Europeans always lacked land and resources to maintain their thriving economy, they were driven to seize new territories by cramped conditions and an eternal lack of material goods (gold, silver, spices, silk, etc.) for everyone who thirsted for them. Here you can also recall the free spirit of the heirs of the Hellenes and Romans, who since ancient times have sought to populate the Mediterranean, because they went to conquer new lands even before the first dhows and caravels left the stocks. The Chinese also had their own problems - overpopulation and land hunger, but despite the fact that only narrow straits always separated them from the tempting adjacent territories, China remained self-sufficient: the subjects of the son of Heaven spread across Southeast Asia and neighboring countries as peaceful settlers. not as missionaries or hunters for slaves and gold. The incident of Emperor Yongle and his admiral Zheng He is the exception, not the rule. The fact that the baochuan were large and that there were many of them did not mean that China sent them to distant countries to seize lands and establish overseas colonies. The brisk caravels of Columbus and Vasco da Gama beat Zheng He's giant junks in this regard on all fronts. It was this disinterest of the Chinese and their supreme power in the outside world, their self-concentration that led to the fact that the grandiose passionary outburst of the times of Emperor Yongle did not find a continuation after his death. Yongle sent ships over the horizon, contrary to the main imperial policy, which ordered the son of Heaven to receive ambassadors from the world, and not send them out to the world. The death of the emperor and the admiral returned the Celestial Empire to the status quo: the shell doors that had opened for a short time slammed shut again.

Used materials from the site: http://www.poxod.eu

The Chinese empire, throughout its centuries-old history, showed no particular interest in distant countries and travel. However, in the 15th century, the Chinese fleet went on long expeditions seven times in a row, and all seven times it was led by the great Chinese admiral Zheng He ...
In 2002, a book was published by a retired British officer, a former commander submarine Gavin Menzies "1421: The Year China Opened the World." In it, Menzies assured that Zheng He was ahead of even Columbus, having discovered America before him, he was supposedly ahead of Magellan, the first to circumnavigate the globe.
Professional historians dismiss these theories as untenable. And nevertheless, one of the admiral's maps - the so-called "Kan" nido map "- confirms that Zheng He possessed reliable and reliable information about Europe ...
There is also a point of view that Zheng He's maps served as the basis for European nautical charts during the era of the great geographical discoveries.
Zheng He was born in 1371 in the city of Kunyang (now Jinying), in the center of the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, near its capital Kunming. It was several weeks' drive from Kunyang to the coast - a huge distance for those times - so Ma He, as he was called in childhood, did not even imagine that he would become a great naval commander and traveler.
The Khe clan traced its ancestry from the famous Said Ajalla Shamsa al-Din (1211-1279), who was also called Umar, a native of Bukhara, who was able to rise during the time of the Mongol great khans Mongke (grandson of Genghis Khan) and Kubilai.
Actually, the conqueror of China, the great Kublai Khan in 1274, made Umar the governor of Yunnan.
It is also known for certain that the father and grandfather of the future admiral Zheng He strictly observed the laws of Islam and made the Hajj to Mecca. In addition, in the Muslim world there is an opinion that the future admiral himself visited the holy city, although in fairness it should be noted that with an informal pilgrimage.
Ma He's childhood was very dramatic.
In 1381, during the conquest of Yunnan by the troops of the Chinese Ming Dynasty, which overthrew the foreign Yuan, his father died at the age of 39, and the rebels took Ma He prisoner, emasculated and gave into the service of the fourth son of their leader Hong-wu, the future emperor Yongle, who soon went to the governor in Beiping (Beijing).

Eunuchs in China have always been one of the most influential political forces. Some teenagers themselves went on a terrible operation, hoping to get into the retinue of some influential person - the prince or, if fortune smiled, the emperor himself. So, according to the ideas of that time, the "color-eyed" (as the representatives of the non-titular, non-Han nationality were called in China) Zheng He was simply unrealistically lucky ...
Ma He proved himself in the service on the positive side and by the end of the 1380s he became noticeable in the circle of the prince, who was eleven years younger than him.
When, in 1399, Beijing was besieged by the troops of the then emperor Jianwen, who ruled from 1398 to 1402, the young dignitary courageously defended one of the city's reservoirs, which allowed the prince to hold out in order to counterattack a competitor and ascend the throne.
A few years later, Yongle gathered a strong militia, raised an uprising and in 1402, having taken the capital Nanjing by storm, proclaimed himself emperor.
At the same time, he adopted the motto of the new reign: Yongle - "Eternal happiness."
Ma He was also generously rewarded: on the Chinese New Year - in February 1404 - in gratitude for loyalty and exploits, he was solemnly renamed Zheng He - this surname corresponds to the name of one of the ancient kingdoms that existed in China in the 5th-3rd centuries BC e.

Zheng He's first expedition took place in 1405. Originally Emperor Yongle himself, who lived in Nanjing, where they built ships and from where the first trips started, took a direct part in the project. Later, the arrangement of the new capital in Beijing and the Mongol campaigns will cool the emperor's ardor, and while he personally meticulously delves into all the little things, closely watching every step and direction of his admiral.
In addition, Emperor Yongle put a trusted eunuch at the head of not only the flotilla itself, but also the House of palace servants. This means that he also had to be responsible for the construction and repair of many buildings, and then the construction of ships ...
But the emperor was in a hurry with the construction of ships and special orders to the Fujian province and to the Yangtze horse, consignments were sent for timber for their construction. The beauty and pride of the squadron, the baochuan, which literally means "precious ships" or "treasures", were built at the "precious ships shipyard" (baochuanchang) on \u200b\u200bthe Qinhuai River in Nanjing. Therefore, despite their gigantic size, the draft of the junks was not very deep - otherwise they would not have gone out to sea through this tributary of the Yangtze.

The baochuan was 134 meters long and 55 meters wide.
Draft to the waterline was more than 6 meters.
There were 9 masts, and they carried 12 sails of woven bamboo mats. 2
On July 11, 1405, the following entry was made in the "Chronicle of Emperor Taizong" (one of the ritual names of Emperor Yongle):
"The palace dignitary Zheng He and others were sent to the countries of the Western (Indian) Ocean with letters from the emperor and gifts for their kings - gold brocade, patterned silks, colored silk gauze - all according to their status."
The armada of the first expedition of Admiral Zheng He included 255 ships with 27,800 people on board. The ships went along the following route: East coast of Indochina (Champa state), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Sultanate of Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai, Lamuri, Haru, Palembang sultanates), Ceylon, Malabar coast of India (Calicut) 1 .
In all his expeditions, Zheng He went the same way each time: catching the repetitive monsoon winds blowing from the north and northeast at these latitudes from December to March.
And when humid subequatorial air currents rose over the Indian Ocean and, as it were, in a circle turned back to the north - from April to August - the flotilla turned towards home. Local sailors knew this monsoon timetable long before our era, and not only sailors: after all, it also determined the order of agricultural seasons.
Taking into account the monsoons, as well as the pattern of constellations, travelers confidently crossed from the south of Arabia to the Malabar coast of India, or from Ceylon to Sumatra and Malacca, adhering to a certain latitude.
The Chinese expeditions returned home by the same route, and only incidents that happened on the way make it possible to distinguish between voyages "there" and "back" in the chronicles.
On the first expedition on the way back, the Chinese captured the famous pirate Chen Zu "and, who captured Palembang at that time, the capital of the Hindu-Buddhist state of Srivijaya in Sumatra.
“Zheng He returned and brought Chen Zu back.” Arriving at the Old Port, he called on Chen to obey.
He pretended to obey, but secretly planned a riot. Zheng He figured it out ...
Chen, mustering his strength, marched into battle, and Zheng He sent troops and took the battle.
Chen was utterly defeated. More than five thousand bandits were killed, ten ships were burned and seven were captured ...
Chen and two others were taken prisoner and taken to the imperial capital, where they were ordered to be beheaded. "
So Zheng He protected peaceful migrant compatriots in Palembang and simultaneously showed for the first time that his ships had weapons on board not only for beauty.
Until today, the researchers have not agreed on what exactly the admiral's subordinates fought on. The fact that Chen Zu's ships were burned seems to indicate that they were fired at from cannons. They, like primitive guns, were already used then in China, but there is no direct evidence of their use at sea.
In battle, Admiral Zheng He relied on manpower, on personnel who were disembarked from huge junks ashore or sent to storm fortifications. This kind of marines were the main force of the flotilla.

During the second expedition, which took place in 1407-1409, geographically similar to the first one (East coast of Indochina (Champa, Siam), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai, Palembang), Malabar coast India (Cochin, Calicut)) 1, only one event took place, the memory of which has been preserved in history: the ruler of Calicut provided the envoys of the Celestial Empire with several bases, relying on which the Chinese could later go even further west.
But during the third expedition, which took place in 1409-1411. (East coast of Indochina (Champa, Siam), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Malacca), Singapore, Sumatra (Samudra Pasai), Malabar coast of India (Kollam, Cochin, Calicut)) 1, more serious events took place.
Under the date of July 6, 1411, the chronicle records:
“Zheng He ... returned and brought back the captured Ceylon King Alagakkonara, his family and parasites.
During the first trip, Alagakkonara was rude and disrespectful and determined to kill Zheng He. Zheng He realized this and left.
Moreover, Alagakkonara was not friendly with neighboring countries and often intercepted and robbed their embassies on the way to China and back. Since the other barbarians were suffering from this, Zheng He returned and once again showed contempt for Ceylon.
Then Alagakkonara lured Zheng He inland and sent his son Nayanar to demand from him gold, silver and other precious goods. If these goods were not handed out, more than 50,000 barbarians would have risen from cover and captured Zheng He's ships.
They also sawed down trees and set out to block the narrow paths and cut Zheng He's escape routes so that separate Chinese units could not come to each other's aid.

When Zheng He realized that they were cut off from the fleet, he quickly deployed his troops and sent them to the ships ...
And he ordered the messengers to secretly bypass the roads where the ambush was sitting, return to the ships and convey the order to the officers and soldiers to fight to the death.
In the meantime, he personally led the two thousandth army by detour routes. They stormed the eastern walls of the capital, taking it in fright, broke through, captured Alagakkonara, his family, parasites and dignitaries.
Zheng He fought several battles and utterly defeated the barbarian army.
When he returned, the ministers decided that Alagakkonar and the other prisoners should be executed. But the emperor had mercy on them - over ignorant people who did not know what the Heavenly Mandate to rule, and released them, giving food and clothing, and ordered the Chamber of Rituals to select a worthy person in the Alagakkonara family to rule the country ”2.

This quote is the only documentary depiction of Zheng He's deeds in Ceylon. But nevertheless, besides him, of course, there are many legends, and the most famous of them tells about a scandal that is associated with the most respected relic - the tooth of Buddha (Dalada), which Zheng He either intended to steal, or in fact stole from Ceylon.
And this story is ...
In 1284, Khan Khubilai sent his emissaries to Ceylon to obtain one of the primary sacred relics of the Buddhists in a completely legal way. But the Mongol emperor - the famous patron of Buddhism - still did not give the tooth, compensating for the refusal with other expensive gifts.
According to Sinhala myths, the Middle State did not secretly abandon the desired goal. These myths claim that the expeditions of Admiral Zheng He were undertaken almost with the intention of stealing a tooth, and all other campaigns were for a diversion.
The Sinhalese, however, allegedly outwitted Zheng He - they "slipped" a false relic into his prisoner instead of the true king, and hid the real one, while the Chinese were fighting.
The compatriots of the great admiral, of course, are of the opposite opinion: Admiral Zheng He still received an invaluable "piece of Buddha", and he, even in the manner of a guiding star, helped him safely return to Nanjing.
But what really happened is unknown ...
Admiral Zheng He was an extremely broad-minded man. A Muslim by birth, he discovered Buddhism at a mature age and was distinguished by great knowledge in the intricacies of this teaching.
In Ceylon, he erected the sanctuary of Buddha, Allah and Vishnu (one for three!), And in a stele erected before the last voyage to Fujian, he expressed gratitude to the Taoist goddess Tien-fei - "divine wife", who was revered as the patroness of sailors.
To some extent, the admiral's Ceylon adventures most likely became the pinnacle of his overseas career. During this dangerous military campaign, many soldiers died, but Yongle, assessing the scale of the feat, generously rewarded the survivors.
In mid-December 1412, Zheng He received a new order from the emperor to take gifts to the courts of overseas rulers. This fourth expedition of Zheng He, which took place in the years 1413-1415, passed along the route: East coast of Indochina (Champa), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (sultanates of Pahang, Kelantan, Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai), Malabar coast of India (Cochin, Calicut), Maldives, Persian Gulf coast (State of Hormuz). 1
For the fourth expedition, a translator, a Muslim Ma Huan, who knew Arabic and Persian, was assigned.
Later, he would describe in his memoirs the last great voyages of the Chinese fleet, as well as all kinds of everyday details.
In particular, Ma Huan meticulously described the diet of the sailors: they ate “shelled and unshelled rice, beans, grains, barley, wheat, sesame and all kinds of vegetables ... From fruits they had ... Persian dates, pine nuts, almonds, raisins, walnuts, apples, pomegranates, peaches and apricots ... "," many people made a mixture of milk, cream, butter, sugar and honey and ate it. "
We can confidently conclude that Chinese travelers did not suffer from scurvy.
The key event of Zheng He's fourth expedition was the capture of a rebel leader named Sekandar, who opposed the king of the Semuder state in northern Sumatra, Zain al-Abidin, recognized by the Chinese and connected with them by a treaty of friendship.
Sekandar was offended that the emperor's envoy did not bring him gifts, which means that he did not recognize him as a legal representative of the nobility, hastily gathered supporters and himself attacked the fleet of Admiral Zheng He.
But soon he himself, his wives and children got aboard the Chinese treasuries. In his notes, Ma Huan writes that the "robber" was publicly executed in Sumatra, without receiving the honor of the imperial court in Nanjing ...
From this expedition, Admiral Zheng He brought a record number of foreign ambassadors - from thirty powers. Eighteen diplomats of them Zheng He took to their homes during the fifth expedition, which took place in 1416-1419.
All of them had with them gracious letters from the emperor, as well as porcelain and silks - embroidered, transparent, dyed, thin and very expensive, so that their sovereigns, presumably, were satisfied.
This time, Admiral Zheng He chose the following route of his expedition - the East coast of Indochina (Champa), Java (ports on the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Pahang, Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai), Malabar coast of India (Cochin, Calicut), Maldives, the coast of the Persian Gulf (Hormuz), the coast of the Arabian Peninsula (Dhofar, Aden), the east coast of Africa (Barawa, Malindi, Mogadishu) 1.

The fleet of this expedition consisted of 63 ships and 27411 people.
There are many inaccuracies and discrepancies in the descriptions of the fifth expedition of Admiral Zheng He. It is still unknown where the mysterious fortified Lasa is located, which offered armed resistance to Zheng He's expeditionary corps and was taken by the Chinese with the help of siege weapons, which in some sources are called "Muslim catapults", in others - "Western" and, in the end, in thirdly - "huge catapults, shooting stones" ...
Some sources indicate that this city was in Africa, near Mogadishu in modern Somalia, others are in Arabia, somewhere in Yemen. The way to it from Calicut took twenty days in the 15th century with a favorable wind, the climate there was sultry, the fields were scorched, the traditions were simple, and there was almost nothing to take there.
Frankincense, ambergris and camels per thousand li (li is a Chinese measure of length equal to approximately 500 meters).
Admiral Zheng He's fleet rounded the Horn of Africa and headed for Mogadishu, where the Chinese faced a real miracle: they saw how, due to the lack of wood, the black people build houses from stones - four to five stories high.
The rich inhabitants of those places were engaged in sea trade, the poor threw nets in the ocean.
Small livestock, horses and camels were fed with dried fish. But the main thing is that the Chinese brought home a very peculiar "tribute": leopards, zebras, lions and even a few giraffes, which, by the way, the Chinese emperor was completely dissatisfied with ...
The sixth expedition of Zheng He took place in 1421-1422 and passed along the route - East coast of Indochina (Champa), Java (ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Pahang, Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai), Malabar coast of India (Cochin, Calicut), Maldives, Persian Gulf coast (Hormuz), Arabian Peninsula coast 1. The fleet was reinforced with 41 ships.
From this expedition, Zheng He again returned without any valuables, which really annoyed the emperor. In addition, during this time, criticism of his ruinous wars increased in the Celestial Empire itself, and therefore further campaigns of the great flotilla of Zheng He turned out to be a big question ...
In the years 1422-1424, there was a significant break in the voyages of Zheng He, moreover, in 1424 Emperor Yongle died.
It was only in 1430 that the new, young emperor Xuande, the grandson of the late Yongle, decided to send another "great embassy."
The last, seventh expedition of Admiral Zheng He, took place in 1430-1433 along the route - East coast of Indochina (Champa), Java (Surabaya and other ports of the northern coast), Malacca Peninsula (Malacca), Sumatra (Samudra Pasai, Palembang) , the Ganges delta region, the Malabar coast of India (Kollam, Calicut), the Maldives, the coast of the Persian Gulf (Hormuz), the coast of the Arabian Peninsula (Aden, Jeddah), the east coast of Africa (Mogadishu). This expedition was attended by 27 550 people.
Admiral Zheng He, who by the time of departure had changed his seventh decade, before sailing on the last expedition ordered to knock out two inscriptions in the port of Lujiagang (near the city of Taicang in Jiangsu province) and in Changle (eastern Fujian) - a kind of epitaph in which he summed up the paths.
During this expedition, the fleet landed a detachment under the command of Hong Bao, which made a peaceful sortie into Mecca. The sailors returned with giraffes, lions, a “camel bird” (an ostrich, giant birds were still found in Arabia at that time) and other wondrous gifts that were carried by ambassadors from the sheriff of the Holy City.
Five days after the completion of the seventh expedition, the emperor traditionally presented the team with ceremonial robes and paper money. According to the Chronicle, Xuande said:
“We have no desire to receive things from distant countries, but we understand that they were sent with the most sincere feelings. Since they have come from afar, they should be received, but this is not a reason for congratulations. "
China's diplomatic ties with the countries of the Western Ocean were interrupted this time - for centuries. Some merchants continued to trade with Japan and Vietnam, but the Chinese authorities refused from the "state presence" in the Indian Ocean and even destroyed most of Zheng He's sailing routes.
The decommissioned ships rotted away in the port, and the Chinese shipbuilders forgot how to build a baochuan ...
No one knows for certain when the famous Admiral Zheng He died - either during the seventh expedition, or soon after the return of the fleet (July 22, 1433).
In modern China, it is believed that he was buried in the ocean as a true sailor, and the cenotaph, which is shown to tourists in Nanjing, is just a conditional tribute to the memory.
Most of all, it is surprising that Zheng He's expeditions, so serious in scale, were completely forgotten by both contemporaries and descendants at the end of them. Only at the beginning of the 20th century, Western scientists discovered mentions of these voyages in the chronicles of the imperial Ming dynasty and asked themselves: why was this huge flotilla created?
Different versions were put forward: either Zheng He turned out to be a "pioneer and explorer" like Cook, then he sought out colonies for the empire like the conquistadors, then his fleet was a powerful military cover for developing foreign trade, like the Portuguese in the 15th-16th centuries.
Famous Russian Sinologist Alexey Bokshchanin in the book "China and the countries of the South Seas" gives an entertaining consideration about the possible purpose of these expeditions: by the beginning of the 15th century, relations between the China of the Minsk era and the state of Tamerlane, who even planned a campaign against China, became very aggravated.
Thus, Admiral Zheng He could be entrusted with a diplomatic mission to search for allies across the seas against Timur.
After all, when in 1404 Tamerlane fell ill, already having conquered and destroyed cities from Russia to India behind him, there would hardly be a force in the world that could cope with him alone ...
But after all, in January 1405, Tamerlane died. It seems that the admiral was not looking for allies against this enemy.
Perhaps the answer lies in some kind of inferiority complex in Yongle, who was ascended to the throne in a palace coup. It seems that the illegal "Son of Heaven" simply did not want to wait with folded arms until the tributaries themselves come to him to bow.
Emperor Yongle sent ships beyond the horizon, contrary to the main imperial policy, which ordered the son of Heaven to receive ambassadors from the world, and not send them out to the world.
Comparing the expeditions of Vasco da Gama and those of Zheng He, the American historian Robert Finlay writes:
“Da Gama's expedition marked an undeniable turning point in world history, symbolizing the advent of the modern era.
Following the Spanish, Dutch and British, the Portuguese began building an empire in the East ...
In contrast, the Minsk expeditions did not entail any changes: no colonies, no new routes, no monopolies, no cultural flourishing and no global unity ... The history of China and world history would probably not have undergone any changes if the expeditions Zheng He never took place at all. "
Whatever it was, but the active admiral Zheng He remained for China the only great navigator, a symbol of the unexpected openness of the Celestial Empire to the world ...

Sources of information:
1. Wikipedia
2. Dubrovskaya D. "Treasures of Admiral Zheng He"