The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The foreign ships traveling to and from Yuegang brought their national flags, which let the Ming people know that ships sailing on the sea rely on flags to identify them, so the Fujian government made this flag as a symbol of Ming ships.

69𝓈𝒽𝓊𝓍.𝓃ℯ𝓉】

After all, in the past, the ships sailing in this sea area of ​​East Asia were all made by their respective countries and had distinct national characteristics.

For example, the ships of Middle Eastern countries traveling to and from the Ming Dynasty were used by Arabs and Persians, and they used Arab sloops.

The shipbuilding technology of Japan was relatively backward. The bottom of the sea-going ships it built was flat, and the cloth sails were hung in the middle of the masts. The masts had to be turned frequently, which was only suitable for sea-going ships sailing in the wind.

The main reason why Japan's sea-going ship technology was so poor was that it was closed to the outside world. Even the Tokugawa shogunate issued a "ban on the construction of large ships", prohibiting Japan from building ships of more than 500 stones.

The situation in Korea was similar. The technology was not advanced, and most of them were ships operating near the coast.

However, because the East Asian countries are relatively close, it is safer to sail along the coastline.

Compared with Europe, the Ming Dynasty's seafaring technology is actually backward. It can only be said that it is the best in East Asia. The best seafaring ship is naturally a large Fuzhou ship, but whether it is a merchant ship or a warship, it is obviously not as good as the various ship types developed in Europe at this time.

Because there are only a few ships active in Asian waters, the country to which they belong can be roughly determined based on the ship type.

Most of these seafaring ships go out to sea and fly their own flags. There is no need to display the country name, so there is no need for a national flag.

It should be said that Fujian equips merchant ships that go out to sea for trade with the sun and moon flags mainly for easy identification. After all, ships flying the sun and moon flags generally have ship guides, and the Ming army navy can also make a preliminary judgment when they encounter them.

The three large Fuzhou ships quickly approached the port. Although the course was slightly deviated, after visually seeing the mainland, they quickly adjusted their course based on some reference objects and headed towards the port.

On the dock, countless laborers in shorts and shorts gathered near the dock when they saw the boat coming, hoping to find a job and earn money to support their families.

Soon, the boat approached the dock, and the sailors threw the ropes onto the dock, and the people on the shore quickly fixed the ropes on the boat squatting at the berth.

"Bang"

The big Fu ship had already lowered the sails, and the last distance was to approach the dock by inertia. A collision sounded, and the ship was steadily on the dock.

Several more ropes were thrown down from the boat, and the people on the shore helped to fix the boat firmly. Several gangplanks were quickly set up, and the master of the big ship got off the boat first, followed by several followers.

"Go back and tell the master, and ask them to come and count the goods."

He turned around and told someone beside him, and after that person quickly ran to Yuegang, he looked at the other two Fu ships from a distance.

The big Fu ship over there had also put up the gangplank, and someone on the boat got off and soon came to him.

At this moment, three men on the boat, who were dressed differently from the other sailors, hurried down the gangplank. Without saying a word, the leader just exchanged glances with the steward, and left with the other two.

The laborers in the distance took a few steps towards this side, but did not dare to rush over. They could only stand far away and wait for the steward to call them over to help unload the boat.

The three strong men quickly passed through the surrounding laborers and ran towards the town, and soon disappeared in the crowd.

Their departure did not attract the attention of the people around them. After all, for those who sell their labor to make money, the stewards who come down from the boat are their parents who provide them with food and clothing. Whether they can make money today depends on their faces.

In less than half an hour, two fast horses galloped away from Yuegang and headed towards Fuzhou, regardless of the fact that it would soon be dark.

"Open the door quickly, the master is back."

In the capital, Nanxunfang, the side door of Wei Mansion, a sedan chair stopped at the door, and the entourage began to knock on the door.

Soon, the door opened and the sedan bearers carried the sedan chair in.

Soon, Wei Guangde, who was already drunk, was helped out of the sedan chair by two followers and walked to the backyard. The housekeeper Zhang Ji had already hurried over to greet him.

"Master, are you okay? I'll have someone boil some water."

Zhang Ji saw that Wei Guangde was drunk and said hurriedly.

"Well, boil more water. The master needs to take a bath before resting."

Wei Guangde said casually.

Soon, the group arrived at the backyard. At the gate of the courtyard, the two followers withdrew and were replaced by the maids in the backyard.

The maids in the Wei Mansion were the first batch to come here with Xu Jianglan. Most of them were older. Wei Guangde didn't like them and betrothed them to others.

The maids in the mansion now were all newly bought by Xu Jianglan in the capital. They were trained for half a year before being arranged to serve in the backyard.

"Let Xia He serve the master to bathe."

After entering the backyard, Wei Guangde gave an order and walked to the bathroom.

Xia He was also Xu Jianglan's maidservant who came with her as a dowry. Together with her personal maidservant, she became Wei Guangde's concubine. Not long ago, she was given a separate courtyard. She was considered a concubine and half the owner of the Wei Mansion.

After walking a few steps, Wei Guangde felt footsteps behind him. He looked back and saw that it was Zhang Ji following behind him.

Wei Guangde stopped immediately and asked, "What's the matter?"

In the past, at this time, Zhang Ji would leave at the gate of the backyard and go to the front.

After all, it was so late, and it was not the rule to come to the back.

Of course, following behind Wei Guangde was another matter.

"Master, there is a letter from Governor Yu of Zhejiang. Seeing your condition, I..."

Zhang Ji said hesitantly.

Wei Guangde understood. Although he was a little drunk, his brain was still clear. He knew that Zhang Ji was worried that he would give him the letter and then he would lose it somewhere.

"Wait for me in the study."

Wei Guangde ordered.

Not far from the inner courtyard, near the corner of the wall was Wei Guangde's study. Zhang Ji agreed and turned to the study.

After half an hour, Wei Guangde washed comfortably. He wanted to rest, but suddenly remembered that Zhang Ji was still in the study. He put on a coat and went to the study first.

When Wei Guangde pushed the door in, he asked the maid serving at the door to make a pot of strong tea and bring it in.

Yu Dayou's letter, Wei Guangde's brain was a little short-circuited at this moment, and he didn't know what it was.

"Master, this is a letter from Governor Yu."

Zhang Ji handed a thick envelope to Wei Guangde with both hands. Wei Guangde reached out to take it, glanced at the seal of the letter carelessly, and then tore it open and took out the letter from it.

Zhang Ji went over to flick the candlelight, and also moved the candlestick next to it to the desk to make the light brighter.

With the light of the candlelight, Wei Guangde began to read the words on the letter carefully.

Soon, Wei Guangde understood that the letter was actually about him asking the Nanyang Navy to investigate the situation of the Xuanwei Office of Jiugang.

Jiugang is located in the eastern part of Sumatra Island in Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia in later generations, about 2,400 kilometers away from Hainan Island, China.

Although the distance is far, at least in the Yuan Dynasty, a large number of Chinese had begun to migrate to the surrounding areas of Sumatra.

By the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, a considerable scale of Chinese settlements had been formed around Jiugang.

Although there were already a large number of Chinese settlements here at that time, the Chinese were still newcomers in the local area and were under the rule of the local Hindu Srivijaya Kingdom.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, because it focused on unifying the Central Plains and preventing counterattacks from the Mongolian tribes, it was unwilling to use military force against the surrounding maritime countries. Therefore, in the 28th year of Hongwu, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang specially issued the "Huang Ming Zuxun", which clearly listed 15 countries that would not be conquered, including Srivijaya.

However, although the Ming Dynasty promised never to conquer Srivijaya, Srivijaya could not escape the fate of being destroyed soon.

In the 30th year of Hongwu, just two years after the release of "Huang Ming Zuxun", Srivijaya was destroyed by Majapahit, another Hindu kingdom from Java, Indonesia today.

After destroying Srivijaya, Majapahit failed to establish effective rule in the old place of Srivijaya, and the area around the old port soon fell into chaos.

In this situation, more than a thousand local Chinese supported Liang Daoming, a Chinese from Nanhai, Guangdong, as the new King of Srivijaya.

For almost ten years thereafter, Liang Daoming led the local Chinese to resist the invasion of Majapahit and gained a high prestige. During this period, a large number of Chinese from surrounding areas came to join him, and even tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians from Guangdong and Fujian crossed the sea to come here.

At this time, after Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty ascended the throne, there were different opinions about the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen. Some said that he was buried in the sea of ​​fire, and some said that Emperor Jianwen fled overseas. Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di immediately ordered Zheng He to go to sea to pursue him, and also to take this opportunity to show off military power to show the strength of China.

On June 15, the third year of Yongle, Zheng He and Wang Jinghong were ordered to go to the West for the first time. Their fleet had a total of more than 27,800 people, divided into 208 ships.

Among them, the largest sea ship was 44 feet long and 18 feet wide, and the second was 37 feet long and 15 feet wide, which was the so-called treasure ship.

The fleet crossed the sea from Liujiahe, Suzhou to Fujian, and set sail from Wuhumen, Fuzhou, starting a long voyage lasting more than two years.

The fleet first arrived at Champa, then sailed south to Java. In the fifth year of Yongle, Zheng He returned from the West. When passing by Jiugang, the pirate Chen Zuyi pretended to surrender and attempted to rob the fleet.

Chen Zuyi's ancestral home was Chaozhou, Guangdong. He must have committed a crime in his hometown in the early Ming Dynasty. After that, he fled to Southeast Asia with his family and became a pirate.

Chen Zuyi may have some leadership skills, so his pirate gang was rapidly expanded soon. At its peak, the number of members even exceeded 10,000, and he also owned nearly 100 warships.

His fleet had robbed in Southeast Asia, the southeast coast of China, Japan, and the Indian Ocean. In total, he robbed tens of thousands of ships and captured more than 50 coastal towns in various countries.

Moreover, Chen Zuyi's robbery of ships was indiscriminate. He did not let go of Chinese ships just because he was Chinese. Therefore, his looting behavior also caused heavy losses to the Ming Dynasty, so that when the Ming Taizu was in power, he offered a reward of 500,000 taels of silver to capture him.

There is even a view that the maritime ban policy introduced by Zhu Yuanzhang during his reign was also related to the huge losses caused by pirates such as Chen Zuyi.

Chen Zuyi's existence has always been a serious threat to the Chinese regime in Jiugang, and he seems to be very eager to compete for the leadership of the local and surrounding Chinese communities.

Zheng He and Liang Daoming cooperated to send troops to capture him, which revived the country.

The fleet continued to travel west, passing through Sumatra, Nampari, and Ceylon, and arrived at Zuoli. Zheng He erected a monument here, which read: The country is more than 100,000 miles away from China, the people and things are the same, and the customs are the same. The stone is engraved here to show it forever.

This huge fleet returned from here and returned to China in September of the same year.

Subsequently, Liang Daoming returned to the country to pay tribute, and the ruling power of Jiugang was transferred to his deputy Shi Jinqing.

Zheng He brought Chen Zuyi back to Nanjing and beheaded him in front of envoys from various countries.

Six days after Chen Zuyi was executed, he represented the Srivijaya Chinese regime and met with Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di announced the establishment of the Old Port Propaganda Department on the spot. Liang Daoming was unwilling to leave the Ming Dynasty, so he appointed Shi Jinqing as the Old Port Propaganda Department. In this way, the Chinese regime in Srivijaya officially became the Old Port Propaganda Department established by the Ming Dynasty government. .

In the following decades, the Xuanwei Division in Old Port also became an important transit station for Zheng He's voyages to the West. Basically, all of Zheng He's subsequent voyages to the West passed through the Xuanwei Division in Old Port.

After that, the Ming Dynasty officials no longer listed the Old Port Xuanwei Department alongside other Southeast Asian regimes that came to pay tribute. Instead, they listed it separately and always called it the "Old Port Xuanwei Department."

Later, there were disputes caused by Shi Jinqing's son Shi Jisun and daughter Shi Erjie both intending to inherit his official position. With Zheng He's intervention, it was decided that his daughter Shi Erjie would succeed him as the Propaganda Ambassador of Old Port.

After the death of Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaochi, Emperor Renzong of the Ming Dynasty, changed his national policy of actively going to sea and exerting important influence around the Western Ocean. Zheng He's fleet to the Western Ocean was permanently suspended, and his influence on Southeast Asia gradually weakened.

Beginning in the reign of Emperor Xuanzong and Zhu Zhanji of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty adopted a comprehensive strategic contraction, stopped its overseas voyages, withdrew its troops from Jiaozhi, and even the Nurgan Dusi and others were abolished.

As the Ming Dynasty's power at sea disappeared, the isolated Jiugang Xuanwei Division also lost its biggest backer and became increasingly weak.

During this period, the Xuanwei Department of Jiugang was under increasing pressure from the Majapahit regime and was forced to surrender to Majapahit at the same time.

After this continued for more than ten years, Jiugang Xuanwei Division was completely annexed by Majapahit around the fifth year of Zhengtong. This overseas territory of the Ming Dynasty finally became history.

Orthodox five years

"well."

Wei Guangde looked at the time mentioned in the letter and couldn't help but think of the documents he saw in the Ministry of War documents, and he couldn't help but sigh deeply.

Later generations may only know the history of Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen being captured in embarrassment after his failure in Tumubao, but they do not know that during the Ming Yingzong period, he once wanted to change the national policy, end the contractionary policy started by Ming Renzong, and once again actively expand his power outwards. .

In the eighth year of Zhengtong, Ming Yingzong ordered Guo Yan to supervise the construction of the ships needed to sail to the Western Sea, and planned to send him and Pandu to command Ma Yun to lead the fleet to the Western Sea again.

But at this time, widespread riots occurred in the coastal areas and the pace of the voyage to the West had to be slowed down.

As a result, after this release, Ming Yingzong was captured during the Tumubao Incident. Even after re-assuming the throne through the Seizing the Gate Incident, Ming Yingzong still wanted to form a fleet to sail to the Western Seas again, but in the end he was strongly opposed by officials such as Zhang Zhao And had to give up.

At this time, Ming Yingzong had lost some of his vigor after years of house arrest, and his opinions on ministers were not the same as when he first became emperor.

As a result, the voyage plan was forced to stop, and the Xuanwei Department of Old Port was never restored, and disappeared forever from the Ming Dynasty's documents.

"Majupa Yi. Tammu Sultanate."

Wei Guangde murmured in his mouth.