The Fleet Goes East

I am about sure that this will get labeled as asb but I just cant stop dreaming of a Chinese presence in the Americas, the idea just fascinates me so i decided I should draw this one up.



So what Im going with this is that the conservative emperor gets a little cruel humor and decides to rid himself of those evil sailors by sending them on an impossible mission, by the time the remnants of the fleet return from their 5 year voyage, both Zeng He and the Xuande Emperor are dead.







1430- In an attempt to rid himself of Zeng He and the treasure fleets the Xuande Emperor sends the admiral into the east believing he will never be able to return

1430-1435- The treasure fleet setting off with some 234 ships is caught in the pacific currents and sails north to Alaska then down the West Coast of North America meeting various native tribes along the way. Several small Colonies are established in California ane Mexico There is dispute among the admirals concerning where they actually are, while some believe they are in “ barbarian Europe” In 1432 the fleet reaches the emerging Aztec Empire, and are worshiped as gods, after receiving much tribute of gold, the fleet goes into the South Pacific where Zeng He dies in April of 1433. In the remainder of their journey they sail by New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, the East Indies, Champa and the Philippines. Finally returning to the port of Nanjing In August with 57 surviving ships, The Xuande Emperor is surprised when he is told of lands to the west and of great treasure.

Mid 15th Century- the Zhentong Emperor Believing the east is a good place to send off undesirables, the island of Kodiak Island becomes a penal colony. Mass plagues desolate the native Americans of the west coast and the Aztecs. While the Mongol Wars and succession crisis takes place in the late 1440;s like OTL the attitude of the court is changed and the Eastern Expeditions are fully sponsored by the royal court.

1455- The Aztec Empire is officially extinguished- much of the Mesoamerican culture in the region is destroyed by the Chinese disgusted by their rituals of human sacrifice.
 
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Anaxagoras

Banned
Even in the golden age of China's explorations into the Indian Ocean, the Chinese were never in the business of establishing colonies. Why would this change if they happened to stumble upon the west coast of North America?
 
Even in the golden age of China's explorations into the Indian Ocean, the Chinese were never in the business of establishing colonies. Why would this change if they happened to stumble upon the west coast of North America?

Chinese Private Interests though were more then happy to. Though of course as I do in my own TL any Chinese discovery of the New World would be started and pushed by merchants with a high level of disdain from Imperial Court Confucians.
 
Going from America to Australia and New Zealand, puts the fleet up against one of the most powerful currents in the world in one of the most vicious oceans -the antarctic circumpolar. Or you end up in doldrums further north.

If you skip New Zealand, and the fleet turns back arond the equator, you'll have both prevailing winds and the Eqatorial current aiding. And the north coast of Australia can still be hit. The fleet needs a reason to attempt it just there, though.

I like the idea of a conservative emperor deciding to get rid of the fleet by sending it off on an impossible mission though. Actually a reasonable way to get a Chinese colony in the Americas.
 
I am about sure that this will get labeled as asb but I just cant stop dreaming of a Chinese presence in the Americas, the idea just fascinates me so i decided I should draw this one up.



So what Im going with this is that the conservative emperor gets a little cruel humor and decides to rid himself of those evil sailors by sending them on an impossible mission, by the time the remnants of the fleet return from their 5 year voyage, both Zeng He and the Xuande Emperor are dead.







1430- In an attempt to rid himself of Zeng He and the treasure fleets the Xuande Emperor sends the admiral into the east believing he will never be able to return

1430-1435- The treasure fleet setting off with some 234 ships is caught in the pacific currents and sails north to Alaska then down the West Coast of North America meeting various native tribes along the way. Several small Colonies are established in California ane Mexico There is dispute among the admirals concerning where they actually are, while some believe they are in “ barbarian Europe” In 1432 the fleet reaches the emerging Aztec Empire, and are worshiped as gods, after receiving much tribute of gold, the fleet goes into the South Pacific where Zeng He dies in April of 1433. In the remainder of their journey they sail by New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, the East Indies, Champa and the Philippines. Finally returning to the port of Nanjing In August with 57 surviving ships, The Xuande Emperor is surprised when he is told of lands to the west and of great treasure.

Mid 15th Century- the Zhentong Emperor Believing the east is a good place to send off undesirables, the island of Kodiak Island becomes a penal colony. Mass plagues desolate the native Americans of the west coast and the Aztecs. While the Mongol Wars and succession crisis takes place in the late 1440;s like OTL the attitude of the court is changed and the Eastern Expeditions are fully sponsored by the royal court.

How is any of this likely? If the Ming Emperors wanted to get rid of Zheng He the sailors, the Xuande Emperor could simply order them to be executed. Plus, even if the Xuande Emperor went through the expensive pretense of telling Zheng He to just sail east and never stop, why do you think the sailors would bother with such a blatant suicide mission? If they feel like they won't be welcome back in China, I'm sure they'd sail east and stop in Japan or Korea or some place like this, rather than sail around the entire circumference of the Pacific Ocean, which sounds implausible given the fact that the sailors wouldn't know where they are. And, as mentioned earlier, the Ming have no interest in establishing colonies.

And if the Emperors wanted to get rid of undesirables, they could just exile them beyond the fringes of the Ming Empire. Or these undesirables could just be executed.

Chinese Private Interests though were more then happy to. Though of course as I do in my own TL any Chinese discovery of the New World would be started and pushed by merchants with a high level of disdain from Imperial Court Confucians.

Your statement is ambiguous, but if you're suggesting merchants pressure the Ming Emperor into discovering and settling the New World over the objections of Confucians, you would be suggesting a scenario that's essentially impossible. In China during this time, merchants had no influence with the imperial court.

But if you're suggesting merchants who privately finance expeditions and settlements in the New World (similar to historical settlement of Chinese in Indonesia or Malaysia) you are slightly more possible but still not terribly plausible.
 
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