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Officials on board: An edict dated 10 November,
1421, and addressed to the eunuchs Zheng He, Kong He, Zhu Buhua,
and Tang Guanbao, instructed the Hong Bao, Zhou (Man?), Li Xing
(or Li Kai) to conduct the barbarian envoys home, and to provide
them with whatever they required. This edict seems to suggest that
Zheng He was still in China 10 November, 1421. If he returned to
the capital on 3 September, 1422, he must have sailed on a short
branch of the voyage, one that did not go all the way to Hormuz.
This was Ma Huan's second voyage. The eunuch Zhou (Man?) went to
Aden.
The Fleet: 41 ships, number of personnel unknown.
Visited: Malacca, Aru, Semudera, Lambri, Cape
Comorin, Kayal, Ceylon, the Maldive islands, Cochin, Calicut, Hormuz,
Dhufar, La'sa, Aden, Mogadishu, Brava, and Thailand (on the return
journey).
Tribute: The rulers of all these countries
presented local products as tribute even more abundantly than before.
The Ming historical records say that Siam, Semudera, Aden, and others
sent envoys to China in Zheng He's suite to present tribute; Aden's
ambassador probably came with the branch of the expedition led by
Zhou (Man?) instead.
Highlight: On this voyage, ambassadors from
Hormuz and the other countries were conducted home again. This expedition
was the first to go to the east coast of Africa.
The fleet divided at Semudera, with Zheng He's branch
covering a much shorter distance.
Sources
J. V. G. Mills, Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the
Ocean's Shores' [1433], Translated from the Chinese text ed. by
Feng Ch'eng-chün. Hakluyt Society, extra series, no. 42.
(Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1970); J. J. L.
Duyvendak, "The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expedition
in the Early 15th century", T'oung Pao 34 (1938), pp.
341-412.
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