demanded tribute and submission, is controversial. Yung-lo's motives in sending Cheng Ho on these assignments provides another area of ethical inquiry, and Zhu Gaozhi's summary discontinuation of the expeditions provides still another.
Emperor Yung-lo usurped the throne in a bloody coup in 1402, in which his nephew, Emperor Hsien-wen, was supposedly burned to death. However, reports surfaced that Hsien-wen had actually escaped from the palace, and was living in exile in Southeast Asia. Thus, concerned for his position on the throne, Yung-lo commissioned Cheng Ho to search the region for Hsien-wen.
Although most scholars believe that Yung-lo wished to find and eliminate Hsien-wen, the expeditions were also motivated by a desire for glory on Yung-lo's part.
Probably the Yung-lo emperor, being a usurper, wanted to raise his reputation by sending out expeditions which, by inducing the peoples of foreign lands to pay him homag
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