This great voyage was the largest and longest voyage in ancient China, with the largest number of ships and sailors. It not only indicates that China had the ability to sail in the ocean long before the great discovery of European geography, but also shows the "soft power" of the Ming Dynasty on the world stage and spreads its reputation overseas.
When the Ming people liked to come to Korea from all directions in the spotlight, Zheng He's voyage to the West caused quite a lot of controversy. For example, Liu Daxia, the driver of the Ming Dynasty, once questioned: "Three guarantees to the Western Ocean cost hundreds of thousands, and thousands of soldiers and civilians died. What's the use of getting the treasure back? "
With the fermentation of time, the saying that Zheng He lost money in the Western Ocean became more and more popular. For more than a hundred years, people have repeatedly ridiculed Zheng He's voyage to the West as just a scene project of Judy. So, what are the benefits of Zheng He's voyage to the West? Is this big voyage really "losing money and earning money"?
I. Purpose of navigation
Whether Zheng He made a profit or lost in his voyage depends on his purpose. According to "Ming History", "Cheng Zu suspected that Hui Di died overseas, and he wanted to remember it and show off his army in a foreign country to show China's prosperity".
The official seal of the Ming Dynasty proved Zheng He's two purposes of going to the West, one was to find Wen Jian, and the other was to establish diplomatic relations with neighboring countries.
From these two purposes alone, Zheng He didn't find Wen Jian, but he still spent a lot of money. Diplomacy with neighboring small countries looks more like a kind of complacency in the Ming Dynasty, and it is really a loss-making business.
However, the official records in a few words did not tell the whole purpose of Zheng He's voyage to the West. Behind the official records, there is another important purpose of his voyage to the West-economic development.
Second, economic benefits.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, handicraft industry ushered in vigorous development, and the rapidly increasing commodity output provided a solid material foundation for the Ming Dynasty to open up the consumer market. At that time, the most widely sold and profitable market was maritime trade. In this way, under the economic law, the Ming Dynasty turned its attention to the blue ocean.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty was not the first operation similar to "Westward Journey". For example, the Northern Song Dynasty, which attached great importance to overseas trade, also sailed to Song Taizong in 1987. It sent a large number of ships to visit Southeast Asian countries, and bought goods from other countries in a high-profile way, encouraging caravans from various countries to trade in China, and the Maritime Silk Road flourished in the Song Dynasty.
The foreign trade policy in the early Ming Dynasty was actually a continuation of the policy of "official monopoly of overseas trade" in the Song Dynasty. In order to enjoy the rich fruits of overseas trade, the Ming Dynasty also imposed strict maritime bans on the people and monopolized the huge maritime trade market to obtain high profits. Even Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor who carried out the folk policy of "not going to sea", had the idea of overseas trade. When Zhu Yuanzhang was in office, he had foreign trade with Ryukyu and other countries. However, due to the rampant Japanese pirates, the sea was in a mess, and the scale of trade at that time was also very limited.
In Yongle era, Daming's national strength was unprecedented, and the time was ripe to open the overseas trade market. Therefore, after the Yongle Emperor Judy ascended the throne, he immediately rebuilt the shipping company abandoned by the Japanese invasion and established a complete overseas trade management system. After everything was ready, the Ming court took Zheng He as the envoy, led the fleet to shuttle between countries, and carried out official trade under the banner of reward, which opened an economic blood transfusion artery for the Ming Dynasty after "Jingnan".
Silk and porcelain of the Ming Dynasty were exported overseas, which greatly promoted economic prosperity. At the same time, spices, jewelry and other commodities from overseas countries have been continuously imported into the Central Plains in the name of "tribute", enriching the lives of the people.
In these trade exchanges, the Ming government, as the only seller, made a lot of money by using the price difference of goods. For example, the price of pepper purchased by Zheng He in Suman is only 0.0 1 2/kg, which can be as high as 0.2/kg after being shipped back to the Ming Dynasty. Even with the freight, the profit is still considerable.
Moreover, because China's porcelain, silk and other commodities have always been hard currency in the international market, Zheng He's fleet with ships and goods certainly firmly holds the initiative. It has also become a common phenomenon for Zheng He's fleet to exchange China goods for overseas precious metals. Even today, some museums in China still collect gold souvenirs brought back by Zheng He's fleet, which is enough to witness its fiery degree.
Jiang concluded in the Economic Account of Zheng He's Sailing to the Western Seas: "It was Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas that earned a lot of gold and silver from overseas, which solved the shortage of precious metals in China since the Tang and Song Dynasties. Since then, silver has replaced inferior metals and paper money as the main currency in China. " In the ancient economic history of China, this is a remarkable achievement.
Such a profitable business can only be done by Zheng He's voyage to the West. It can be seen that Zheng He's voyages to the West not only failed to "lose money and earn money", but brought countless wealth to the Ming Dynasty like a cash cow. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, scholars were strict with simplicity, and even talked about the "win-win" effect of going to the West: "Strange goods can live in, and the treasures that the previous generation hoped for are full of storerooms, and the poor promised to buy more, or became rich, and the country envied their use", which is simply enriching the people and strengthening the country.
What is even more rare is that Zheng He's voyages to the West also promoted the local economic development. For example, Taicang, the first stop of Zheng He's voyage to the West, became the base camp for recruiting sailors and purchasing materials when Zheng He's mission set out. After Zheng He's mission returned to berth, Taicang became a transit point for welcoming foreign guests and all kinds of imported goods.
The prosperous maritime trade has provided sufficient impetus for the local economic development of Taicang, which has been upgraded to a golden port for China's overseas trade, so that "the treasures of all countries can be seen at a glance". Under the influence of Zheng He's voyage to the Western Ocean, Taicang became the first wharf in the world. The industrial and commercial towns near Liujiagang Wharf are developing rapidly. Half a century after Zheng He's voyage to the West, that is, during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, Liuhe Town, Wang Hecheng and other places became important commercial centers, and the scene was very lively.
Moreover, the purchase of a large number of materials needed for the voyage to the West stimulated the development of local industry and agriculture in Taicang: Taicang not only became an important granary in the south of the Yangtze River, cotton and other cash crops, but also showed a fiery scene of "planting cotton everywhere" driven by fierce trade. The cotton textile industry has become the brand of Taicang, and the unique "Taicang mixer" is world-renowned. Xiabu and cotton cloth have become Taicang specialties, which have been selling well for hundreds of years.
A Taicang is still like this. If placed in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the driving effect can be imagined. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the Ming Dynasty, which was highly closed at the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, experienced a new situation of commercial prosperity in the southeast during its decades of voyages to the West. It was Zheng He's fleet that hit a "shot in the arm" to boost the economy.
Third, the misunderstanding of future generations.
Flowers bloom and fall, and the tide rises and falls. Even though Zheng He's voyages to the West brought millions of wealth to the Ming Dynasty, he still could not escape from the invisible hand under the economic law. With Zheng He's trade across the ocean again and again, the imported goods in Ming Dynasty became increasingly rich, and the commodity market gradually became saturated, which directly led to the continuous decline in the prices of imported goods.
Pepper, which was originally worth 0.2 Liang/Jin, was heavily imported by Zheng He's mission, and its price plummeted to 0. 1 Liang/Jin. However, the Ming Dynasty was unwilling to give up high profits, so it came up with an internal dumping method to sell to officials.
The Ming Dynasty organized an internal procurement meeting for employees, but refused to give them a friendly price. Instead, it is sold to officials at a price higher than the market price of 0.2 Liang/Jin, which is equivalent to deducting wages. Officials, big and small, dare not say anything, and take Zheng He's voyage to the West as a punching bag for salary reduction.
As a result, under the criticism of many officials, Zheng He's feat of going to the West instantly turned into "wasting people and money". In fact, if the Ming Dynasty could respect the economic laws, this problem would not be unsolvable, but the Ming Dynasty simply and rudely left the "pot" on the "voyage to the West" because it choked on food. The vigorous The Journey to the West quietly ended.
Ironically, although Ming officials kept saying that Zheng He's voyage to the West was "a waste of people and money". However, in the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, the voyage to the Western Ocean stopped soon, and Huang Fu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty, began to suffer: during the Yongle period, the country was not short of money. Now that the voyage to the West has stopped, how can the country "help the economy" everywhere? It costs money to go west. How can you have no money if you don't go west?
After reading this sharp contrast, it may be hundreds of years before people can deeply understand Zheng He's words: If you want the country to be rich and strong, you can't ignore the ocean. Wealth comes from the sea, and danger comes from the sea.
This is a wise man who cuts waves. After seeing the world, he made a deafening sound, but unfortunately it was ignored by short-sighted descendants. If the Ming Dynasty had seen the value of the ocean earlier, many tragedies could have been avoided.