Fengtian Hall, court meeting.
The monarch and his ministers report to each other, and after discussing the daily affairs of state that need to be dealt with.
Zhu Di raised the important topic of opening martial arts competitions.
The officials below looked at each other, why are they about to start a martial arts test?
However, important ministers like the Minister of Finance did not express their opinions immediately.
No one knows what the purpose behind His Majesty’s words is?
Is he really going to start a martial arts competition, or is he going to take this opportunity to kill some people who oppose him.
They suffered several losses before, but now they have learned a lesson.
The civil servants did not express their opinions, but the generals expressed their support.
The four words "Your Majesty's Holy Ming" were really deafening in the Fengtian Temple.
Seeing that the civil servants were still waiting and watching, Zhu Di did not argue with them, and directly issued an order to inform the world and launch a military exercise.
At this time, some civil servants still wanted to object, but it was already too late.
Because Zhu Di has announced his resignation.
The news that the imperial court held martial arts competitions quickly spread throughout the world.
The starting time is set after the spring plowing in the seventh year of Yongle.
Such a long time is left for those who are preparing to participate in martial arts to prepare and travel in advance.
After all, the Ming Dynasty had a large territory, and many people wanted to come to the capital from the north, and it would take a month or two to travel.
Those with wealthy families can ride horses or carriages faster.
In short, the martial arts matter was settled.
In this matter, Prince Zhu Gaochi also held a supportive attitude.
…
In late September of the sixth year of Yongle.
A fast horse enters Beijing.
It set the entire capital on fire.
Zheng He...is back.
He has been away for more than two years, and Zhu Di thinks about him every day, and all the officials in the court have not forgotten him.
Many civil servants and censors were gearing up, waiting for a big fight.
If the harvest from this trip to sea is not enough, then don't blame them for being ruthless.
After all, the cost of this trip to sea exceeded one million taels of silver!
This does not include the value of the goods carried.
You must know that the total fiscal revenue of Ming Dynasty is only more than 10 million taels per year.
In the Hongwu Dynasty, it was only about 10 million taels. Sometimes disasters would cause financial revenue to decrease.
However, with development, fiscal revenue has gradually increased.
But he couldn't bear the loss of more than one million taels of silver.
This time, there were more than 60 treasure ships alone for this trip to sea, and the cost of building a treasure ship was about 5,000 taels, totaling about 300,000 taels.
The construction of other ships, as well as the repair and maintenance of the ships, cost about 200,000 to 300,000 taels.
There are more than 27,000 people going to sea, and their two-year salary is about 600,000.
These add up to 1.2 million taels.
(The data comes from Baidu. I don’t know if it’s true or not. Handsome guys and pretty girls can just refer to it.)
Therefore, the activity of sailing to the West is really not something that ordinary countries can afford.
The fleet stopped at Liujiagang.
After all, the fleet is too large and can easily cause congestion in the Yangtze River.
Zhu Di personally went to Liujiagang to greet Zheng He, leaving Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi to supervise the country in the capital.
Zheng He carried Zhu Di's expectations for overseas. He could only understand something superficially by reading Zheng He's letters. Zhu Di needed to see it with his own eyes.
What is the harvest from this ocean trip?
In the past two years, he has been under too much pressure.
Yang Xuan, Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaosui and others accompanied Zhu Di by boat down the Yangtze River and arrived at Liujiagang a few days later.
The first thing you see is the endless ocean-going fleet.
It is so majestic that in this era, only the Ming Dynasty can produce such a huge ocean-going fleet.
The port was busy with people coming and going.
With the arrival of Zhu Di, martial law has been imposed here.
The rest of the crowd was separated by tens of feet.
"My minister Zheng He went to sea under the order in the fourth year of Yongle. He has been on this trip for more than two years. Now he is back and returns the order to your majesty!"
Zheng He and navy officials saluted Zhu Di.
"Thank you for your hard work, please stay safe!" Zhu Di suppressed the excitement in his heart and said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zheng He and others stood up.
Afterwards, Zhu Di boarded the treasure ship surrounded by everyone.
Zheng He was beside him talking about his experience of this trip.
When they heard that more than a hundred people were killed when the fleet passed through Java, Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaosui and the officials from the capital were immediately angry.
Yang Yan must teach this Java a lesson.
Zhu Di stopped them and asked Zheng He how he handled it.
Considering the overall situation, Zheng He did not send troops, but sent envoys to negotiate.
There were two kings in Java at that time, the 'Eastern King' and the 'Western King', and it was the 'Western King' who took action against the Ming Dynasty.
When the 'King of the West' heard that his men were killing people from the Ming Dynasty, he was frightened to death on the spot.
This time he also came to Daming with Zheng He's fleet, and brought 10,000 taels of gold that he had collected in the country to apologize.
There was no way, they only had a small amount of territory, and the entire country could get ten thousand taels of gold.
Therefore, it is said that you should think twice before you act. The consequences of some things are not something you can afford.
After all, with Ming's strength, destroying this 'Western King' would be like crushing an ant.
Zhu Di was very satisfied with Zheng He's handling method.
This trip to sea was mainly to open up shipping routes and do business.
If we directly lead troops to destroy Java, what will the countries behind think?
How else to do this business?
Zhu Di met the so-called 'King of the West', accepted the ten thousand taels of gold, and warned him to be more honest in the future. If he touches someone from Ming Dynasty again, he will directly send troops to destroy him.
'The King of the West' repeatedly said that there would never be a next time.
If the Ming Dynasty's fleet passes by in the future, he will definitely entertain them.
Seeing that the 'West King' had a good attitude towards admitting his mistake, Zhu Di didn't care anymore.
On the spot, an order was issued to distribute all these 10,000 taels of gold to the families of the more than 100 people who died. In addition, the court also provided pensions.
After all, 10,000 taels of gold sounds like a lot, but converted into silver, it's 60,000 taels.
It can be divided into more than 17 families, each with less than 400 taels.
Of course, more than three hundred taels of silver would be enough for these more than 170 families to have enough food and clothing for the rest of their lives. It might even be able to cultivate a few scholars and completely change their lives.
In addition to this incident, Zheng He fought with the pirate Chen Zuyi in Srivijaya and captured him alive.
In the Nanyang area, Chen Zuyi's reputation is not bad.
Many passing merchant ships were robbed by him.
Nanyang has been suffering for a long time.
To say that Chen Zuyi is also a capable person, he is from Guangdong, Chao, and Shantou. He committed a crime during the Hongwu period and ran overseas.
He became a general with Srivijaya. Later, when the king died, he gathered a group of pirates and proclaimed himself king.
I have to admit that China is full of capable people.
An ordinary person can do a great job overseas.
It’s just that this career is somewhat replicable!
…
