The Sun Never Sets: Records of the Ming Dynasty's Ocean Conquests

History is sometimes only three feet apart. In the autumn of 1520 AD, Emperor Zhu Houzhao of the Ming Dynasty was boating in a pond when his boat capsized. When the man was fished out, the water choked his lungs and he never became ill again. Six months later, he died in the Leopard Room at the age of thirty-one. The history books conclude that he is a ridiculous emperor. You all know the rest of the history—— After the new king succeeded to the throne, the sea ban became more and more strict, and no one was allowed to go to the sea. In the same years, Magellan's fleet was sailing around the earth; Portugal and Spain had already signed a treaty, dividing the world's oceans in two. The entire earth was divided up, and from beginning to end, no one asked China. Three hundred years later, in the same Pearl River estuary, Western gunboats appeared again. That time, we were the ones who got beaten. Now, back to that patch of water in the autumn of 1520. What if the boat didn't capsize? What if the emperor who had been scolded as "ridiculous" for five hundred years was the only person in the entire Ming Dynasty who understood what was happening in the world? If he hadn't died - where would the fleet that had just defeated the Portuguese in Tuen Mun sail to next stop? Who will take back the vassal Manlajia that was snatched away? Does the treaty to carve up the earth still count? On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in the new land filled with silver, will the cross of the Spanish or the dragon flag of the Ming Dynasty come first? This book starts from that uncaptured boat. History is only three feet away. This time, we pulled it back.