Chapter 970 1059 Old Port Is Gone

The Yi ships coming and going in Yuegang brought their national flags, which made the people of Ming Dynasty know that ships sailing on the sea relied on flags to identify them, so the Fujian government made this kind of flag as a symbol of Ming ships.

After all, in the past, the ships traveling in the waters of East Asia were all manufactured by their respective countries and had distinctive national characteristics.

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

The shipbuilding technology of Japan was relatively backward. The ships they built had flat bottoms, cloth sails hung in the middle of the rafters, and the rafters had to be rotated frequently. They were only suitable for seagoing ships sailing in the wind.

The reason why Japan's sea-going ship technology was so poor was mainly due to its isolation from the country. The Tokugawa shogunate even issued a "large ship building ban", prohibiting Japan from building ships with a weight of more than 500 koku.

The situation in North Korea is similar. The technology is not advanced and most of them are ships operating in offshore waters.

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

The Ming Dynasty's sea-going ship technology is actually lagging behind that of Europe. It can only be said that it is the best in East Asia. The best sea-going ship is naturally the large Fu ship, but whether it is a merchant ship or a war ship, it is obviously not as good as Europe. Various ship types developed at this time.

Since there are only a handful of ships operating in Asian waters, the country can be roughly determined based on the ship type.

Most of these sea-going ships fly their own flags when they go to sea. There is no need to use the national name at all, and naturally there is no need for a national flag.

It should be said that Fujian's purpose of equipping merchant ships with the sun and moon flag for trading at sea was mainly to facilitate identification. After all, ships flying the sun and moon flag generally have ship pilots, and the Ming navy can also make preliminary judgments about encounters.

The three big fortune ships quickly approached the port. Although their course was slightly off, they quickly adjusted their course and sailed towards the port after looking at the mainland and based on some reference objects.

On the dock on the shore, countless workers wearing shorts and shorts saw the ship approaching and gathered near the dock, hoping to find a job and earn money to support their families through labor.

Not long after, the ship approached the pier, the sailor threw the rope to the pier, and the people on the shore quickly fixed the rope to the boat squatting at the berth.

"bump"

The Dafu boat had already lowered its sails, and the final distance was relying on inertia to approach the pier. There was a sound of collision, and the ship leaned steadily against the pier.

Several more ropes were thrown down from the boat, and help from the shore secured the boat firmly. Several springboards were quickly set up. The captain of the big boat got off the boat first, followed by several followers.

"Go back quickly and report to the master, asking them to come over and inventory the goods."

He turned around and ordered the person next to him. After that person quickly ran towards Yuegang, he glanced at the other two lucky boats next to him from a distance.

The Dafu boat over there had also set up on the gangplank. Someone got off the boat and came to him quickly.

At this time, three men on the boat who were dressed obviously differently from other sailors hurriedly came down from the gangplank without saying a word. The leader just looked at each other and left with the other two men.

The workers in the distance took a few steps towards this side, but they did not dare to rush over. Instead, they could only stand and wait at a distance, waiting for the steward here to call them over to help unload the ship.

The three strong men quickly passed through the surrounding workers and headed towards the town, disappearing into the crowd after a while.

Their departure did not attract the attention of the people around them. After all, for those who sell their labor to make money, the people who come off the ship to take care of things are their food, clothing and parents. Whether they can make money today depends on their faces.

But 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 get dark.

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

In the capital, Nanxunfang, at the side entrance of the Wei Mansion, a large sedan stopped at the door, and the entourage started knocking on the door.

After a while, the door opened and the bearers carried the sedan in.

Not long after, Wei Guangde, who was already drunk, was helped out of the sedan by two attendants and walked to the backyard. Butler Zhang Ji had already hurried over to greet him.

"Master, are you okay? I'll let someone boil the water."

Zhang Ji saw Wei Guangde was drunk and said hurriedly.

"Well, burn more, I want to take a shower and then rest."

Wei Guangde said casually.

Soon, the group of people arrived at the backyard. At the entrance of the courtyard, the two attendants stepped down and were replaced by the maids in the backyard.

Now 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, so he was betrothed to them.

The ones in the house now were all newly bought by Xu Jianglan in the capital. After training for half a year, they were arranged to serve in the backyard.

"Let Xia He take care of the master's bath."

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

Xia He was also Xu Jianglan's original dowry maid. Together with her personal maid, she became Wei Guangde's mistress. Not long ago, she was given a separate courtyard. She was considered a concubine and half master 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.

Wei Guangde immediately stopped and asked, "Is something wrong?"

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

After all, it's so late, and it's not the rule to come later.

Of course, following Wei Guangde is another matter.

"Master, there is a letter from Governor Yu of Zhejiang Province. Seeing how the master is doing, 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 himself 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 Jiugang Xuanwei Office.

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 the counterattack of the Mongolian tribes, it was unwilling to use military force against the surrounding maritime countries. Therefore, in the 28th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, 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 the "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 sail west, passing through Sumatra, Nambili, 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 met with Ming Chengzu Zhu Di on behalf of the Srivijaya Chinese regime.

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

In the following decades, Jiugang Xuanweisi also became an important transit station for Zheng He's voyages to the West. Zheng He's subsequent voyages to the West basically all passed through Jiugang Xuanweisi.

After that, the Ming Dynasty officials no longer listed Jiugang Xuanweisi with other Southeast Asian regimes that came to pay tribute, but listed it separately, and always called it "Jiugang Xuanweisi".

Afterwards, after experiencing the dispute caused by Shi Jinqing's son Shi Jisun and daughter Shi Erjie's intention to inherit his official position, under Zheng He's intervention, it was decided that his daughter Shi Erjie would succeed him as the Jiugang Xuanweishi.

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

Starting from the period of Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, the Ming Dynasty adopted a comprehensive strategic contraction, stopped the activities of going to the Western Ocean, withdrew troops from Jiaozhi, and even abolished the Nurgan Dusi.

As the power of the Ming Dynasty disappeared at sea, the isolated Jiugang Xuanweisi also lost its biggest backer and became weaker and weaker.

During this period, the Jiugang Xuanweisi was under increasing pressure from the Majapahit regime and was forced to pay tribute to Majapahit at the same time.

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

The fifth year of Zhengtong

"Alas."

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

People in later generations may only know the history of Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen being captured in a panic after the failure of Tumubao, but they don’t know that during the Ming Yingzong period, he once wanted to change the national policy, end the contraction policy started by Ming Renzong, and actively expand his power outward again.

It was in the eighth year of Zhengtong that Ming Yingzong ordered Guo Yan to supervise the construction of ships needed for the voyage to the West, intending to send him and Fandu Commander Ma Yun to lead the fleet to the West again.

It was just at this time that widespread riots occurred in coastal areas and the pace of the voyage to the West had to be slowed down.

As a result, Ming Yingzong was captured during the Tumubao Incident. Even after re-ascending the throne through the Duomen Incident, Ming Yingzong still wanted to form a fleet to go to the West again, but he had to give up because of strong opposition from officials such as Zhang Zhao.

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

As a result, the voyage to the West was forced to stop, and the Jiugang Xuanwei Office was never restored, and disappeared forever in the documents of the Ming Dynasty.

"Majapahit. Tammu Sultanate."

Wei Guangde murmured.