The massive crew moved slowly across the sea. Zhu Yunwen stood on the deck of the ship, exuding an imposing and domineering aura. Looking at the boundless ocean in the distance, he knew that countless countries would be located in this region.
Many of these countries were on friendly terms with the Ming Dynasty. They had previously come to know the Ming Dynasty through Ma Sanbao's overseas travels and sent people to the Ming Dynasty to establish friendly relations.
Furthermore, most of them still recognized the Ming Dynasty as their suzerain state, received rewards from the Ming Dynasty, and paid tribute and paid homage to the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, there are also some countries that are hostile to the Ming Dynasty, and they never believe that such a powerful country exists, nor do they believe that the Ming Dynasty is really almost the most powerful hegemon in the world today.
Therefore, it was inevitable that some countries would not accept this reality and would become enemies of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yunwen's attitude towards this was very clear. He looked at the vast ocean, and calmly said:
"Our Great Ming Dynasty, though unwilling to be enemies with others, is not a pushover to be bullied at will. In this voyage, our Great Ming Dynasty will adhere to the basic principle of being strong but not bullying, powerful but not domineering."
Therefore, we will only demonstrate our strength, but will never oppress the indigenous peoples and nations of any region. While we will also showcase the might of our Great Ming Dynasty, we will not engage in any domineering acts.
However, if some countries are blind to their own faults, then naturally they won't tolerate it.
Ma Sanbao excitedly said:
"His Highness the Crown Prince speaks well. What a wonderful statement: strong but not bullying, powerful but not domineering. This is the vision of our Great Ming team, the vision of His Highness the Crown Prince, and the vision of the entire Great Ming."
Zhu Yunwen and Ma Sanbao both laughed, while Zhao Qingzhu looked at Zhu Yunwen with admiration.
Zhu Yunwen's abilities, character, talent, and vision captivated her and drove her crazy.
After a moment of silence, Zhu Yunwen asked Ma Sanbao:
"So, where are we headed next?"
Upon hearing this, Ma Sanbao suddenly hesitated, and then said:
"Your Highness, our next destination is Calicut. Calicut is also a country, and like the Champa Kingdom we visited earlier, it is a very large port."
Moreover, it served as an important stop and resupply point for each of my voyages. At that time, the ruler of Calicut witnessed the size of our team and realized the power of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, he longed to visit the Ming Dynasty and had repeatedly expressed his desire to go there with the team. However, due to various circumstances and the local rulers, he was ultimately unable to accompany them.
However, I had previously sent envoys with me to Nanjing to pay tribute to His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty. A banquet was held in the palace to entertain them at that time.
Zhu Yunwen nodded and said:
"Of course I know about this."
Ma Sanbao continued:
"The ruler of this ancient city was very friendly to the Ming Dynasty and intended to make ancient city a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty."
There is only one problem: the ruler of this ancient place wants to ask the emperor or the grandson of the Ming dynasty to give him a title.
This would allow him to become the true ruler of Guli under the Ming Dynasty's bestowal of titles, making his claim legitimate.
Zhu Yunwen was not surprised to hear this, because such a request was quite normal for some small countries.
Some small countries have certain problems in consolidating their power, unlike the Ming Dynasty, where once a country was ruled by someone, power was usually relatively concentrated. Even if there was a change of dynasty, there was still an emperor, a court, and a central ruling class.
Power was also almost entirely centralized.
The succession of dynasties was also very mature, and there were basically no major problems.
However, for some small countries and special countries, although they have rulers, it is not an easy task to establish an army, a group of people, and a management system.
Perhaps it was because of their faith, perhaps because of their abilities, or perhaps for other reasons.
In short, it's not easy to accomplish this, but if there's a super-large country nearby, then that country can designate who in this small country will be the ruler.
In this way, the ruler would have a certain degree of influence. Although most of his influence came from other powerful nations.
But it's better than nothing. Therefore, if a small country has a bad domestic situation, or if the people in the country do not have much faith in the ruler and are not very willing to support him, then...
However, if the king of this small country can gain the support of neighboring countries with vested interests, then things are different.
The Ming Dynasty is clearly a good example. Just like Goryeo back then, because it was dependent on the Ming Dynasty, the people, officials and nobles in the country all understood that the Ming Dynasty was very powerful.
Therefore, all the kings of Goryeo who wanted to inherit the throne had to submit a petition to the emperor of China to ask for his consent.
Then, the emperor of China would issue an imperial edict appointing a certain king of Goryeo, thus making the king's title legitimate.
Therefore, Zhu Yunwen could basically deduce that although the country of Calicut was not small, they understood that there was a significant gap between them and the Ming Dynasty. The rulers of Calicut also hoped to use the reputation and strength of the Ming Dynasty to help them consolidate their position as rulers.
After thinking for a while, Zhu Yunwen said:
"If this ruler can get along well with my Great Ming and sincerely recognize my Great Ming as his suzerain state, he will definitely come to pay tribute and offer congratulations every year."
If he treats my Great Ming with sincerity, then my Great Ming is not incapable of bestowing upon him the title of king. In fact, I, the Crown Prince, can even do so. After all, I am now, in effect, the ruler of the Great Ming.”
Ma Sanbao, upon hearing this, naturally offered no rebuttal, not to mention that the one with the most real power in the Ming Dynasty was Zhu Yunwen.
Before the voyage, Ma Sanbao had personally heard Zhu Yuanzhang say in the imperial court that he would hand over all political power to Zhu Yunwen.
Zhu Yunwen was the de facto emperor, and Zhu Yuanzhang was the de facto retired emperor. Therefore, Zhu Yunwen had the full authority to make any decisions on these matters, including the matter of bestowing the title of King of the Kingdom of Calicut.
Therefore, Zhu Yunwen agreed to this matter outright.
Only then did Ma Sanbao feel relieved and quickened his pace towards Guli.
Nowadays, the ships of the Ming Dynasty are equipped with steam systems, making them very fast. In addition, since the distance from the southwest to Calicut is not very far, it only took Zhu Yunwen's team a little over a day to approach Calicut.
They then successfully landed on the beach in Guli. Once ashore, the Ming Dynasty's team was immediately spotted by people on the Guli side.
They immediately came to pay their respects. When Ma Sanbao of the Ming Dynasty team revealed his identity and mentioned that the Grandson of the Ming Dynasty was also on the ship, they arrived.
Those who came to find out what was going on were both shocked and excited, and then went to report the matter to the ruler of Guri as quickly as possible.
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