Timeline 1424-1500 (Zheng China)

Heaven's Judgement
On September 7, 1424, Zhu Gaoxi is crowned the Hongxi Emperor. His first order is to cease the voyages of the Treasure Ships and let them rot, despite the pleas of the court eunuchs. That night, a strange phenomena (most likely ball lightning) strikes the Emperor's quarters and sets it aflame. The Emperor, his Empress and virtually all his sons, perish in the flames, alongside key Confucian scholars.

The next day, Zhu Gaoxu, the Emperor's half-brother, is coronated, as the Tienjiang Emperor. Seeing the fire as Heaven's judgment, he overturns his brother's order to cease the voyages and plans to resume the voyages as soon as possible. Zheng He, his father's best friend and supporter, is commissioned to lead the fleet.

The New Fleet
By January 7th, 1425, the fleet is ready to resume her voyages. However, this time the fleet has a new mission: to magnify trade with the world to help China recover from the Yongle Emperor's extravagance. Accompanying the fleet are merchants to maximize the profits of the fleet's interactions.

Upon arrival in Indonesia, the fleet begins trading and brings back tremendous amounts of gold and silver to China. The Imperial treasury, finally beginning to recover, appeases the Confucians, who feared a similar waste of national resources like the Yongle Emperor. The profits are turned towards rebuilding the capital of Beijing, albeit on a smaller, more practical scale. This allows the Chinese to focus on more immediate concerns. Taxes were remitted on farmers to allow them to return to their lands, especially in the fertile South region. To help rebuild, the Emperor decided to reform the relationship between government and commerce, to make the former an active participant in the latter. Remembering the radical reformer Wang Anshi, the Emperor decides to more fully investigate his "New Policies", despite the pleas of the Confucians.

Limited at first, the reforms begin with replacing corvee laborers with paid workers. Initial results show a dramatic increase in productivity, as the city of Beijing, badly burned in the Hongxi Emperor's death, is repaired in almost record time. Intrigued, the Emperor begins implementing further reforms, including the reorganization of the village and household to improve the efficiency of weapon and goods manufacture and communal defense. The Emperor also forms a more cooperative relationship between the merchants and the government, hoping to increase national revenue by encouraging trade. During this time, however, the Treasure Fleets' voyages are limited in scope to bring up prices in foreign markets to bolster the Emperor's reforms.

Trial by Invasion
The reforms carried out by the Emperor, based upon Wang Anshi's radical ideas, produce a new form of empire. Where before, wealth rested upon the farmers and bountiful harvests, now it rests upon the merchants and rich, dynamic trade. These changes, however, are heavily resisted by the Confucian scholars, who cry out for the restoration of original Confucian ideals. This creates tension within the court and some are beginning to contemplate usurping the throne, using Zhu Zhanyin, the Hongxi Emperor's only surviving son, or even Zhu Gaosui, the Emperor's brother, as a rallying point for the people.

Developments on the frontier, however, quickly derail these plans as the Mongols, sensing weakness in the wake of the Beijing Fire, begin mobilizing to re-conquer China. On March 30th, they invade China. Taking the northwestern towns and villages off-guard, they quickly overrun the plains and head eastward. Realizing the need for unity, the Emperor personally mobilizes his troops and prepares to meet the invaders.

The Mongols, led by Adai Khan, are surprised at the swiftness of their success and begin contemplating taking Beijing, perhaps even restoring the Yuan Dynasty, Adai, realizing the opportunity, orders an immediate attack on the capital. However, as he rides eastward, he meets fiercer and stiffer resistance, though not enough to drive him back. Realizing the Chinese are mobilizing, he faces the difficult decision of going forward and losing his army or turning back and losing his status, a potentially even worse scenario. He decides to gamble it all and rides to the capital, this time, taking care to avoid open battle with the Chinese to conserve his forces for the final attack.

Meanwhile, the Emperor also plans his final attack. Knowing that pursuing the Mongols would get him nowhere, he decides to end it all in one battle. He mobilizes his army toward the capital, but not into it.

By mid-April, Adai has reached Beijing and begins planning the attack. Knowing that he does not have seige equipment, he buys time by raiding supply lines, namely the Grand Canal, giving him the tools he needs to build rams and rudimentary catapults. He plans an attack at sundown, with the sun at his back, effectively blinding them. This attack begins at 5:45 on April 20th, with a massive barrage against the walls, followed by rams against the gates. The Chinese soldiers, unable to see and tired after a long day, are forced to retreat, leaving the gates open to the Mongols. Adai pours in, issuing an order to find the Emperor at all costs.

The ensuing battle features some of the bloodiest fighting of all time, as soldiers fight street by street in a cramped, crowded city, negating the Mongols' advantage in mobility. Despite being outnumbered, the sudden ferocity of the attack combined with their higher energy levels give the Mongols the edge. As they fight their way in, though, they fail to find the Emperor and face increasingly fiercer resistance. Realizing the situation is hopeless, Adai decides to pull out and head northward, though stops to plunder, hoping to bribe other tribes to join him.

Upon exiting the city, he suffers another surprise as the Emperor and his cavalry launch an ambush. The Mongols, tired from their inter-city struggle and laden with valuables, are cut down in full stride. Adai is captured while attempting to organize his men into a more orderly retreat. The Battle of Beijing is over and Adai is taken prisoner. A new day has dawned.

A New China
The Battle of Beijing marks a turning point in Chinese history, as the Confucian scholars are presented clear proof of the effectiveness of the Emperor's reforms and lose any interest in resuming a power struggle. The Emperor offers Adai Khan the choice of defecting to China, in exchange for his expertise in breeding and training horses. To cover up any suspicion, a trial and execution are set up with a murderer in Adai's place, with the head sent to the Mongols to convince them that Esen is truly dead. This act sparks a bloody feud among the Mongols as the Four Oirats and other leaders compete for supremacy. Seeing an opportunity, the Emperor offers beleaguered Mongols the chance to immigrate and settle in the west and north if they use their horsemanship expertise as a shield against further incursion. To ensure their loyalty, the Emperor decrees that any child born on Chinese soil would be eligible for citizenship and would be allowed to rise through the ranks. This boosts the Chinese army by giving them more soldiers, providing a buffer zone, and adding more people to the census.

Confident of the new buffer zone, the Emperor resumes the voyages, hoping to bring in more revenue for the treasury. Upon arrival, however, the fleet discovers that in their absence, piracy has resumed and they nearly lose their precious cargo. Furious over the near loss, the Emperor orders Zheng He to find and destroy the pirates and their bases.

Over the next few months, Zheng He would repeatedly draw pirates into ambushes, luring them with the fleet's great wealth. Most of the pirates were killed during the battles, but some were captured, giving Zheng He key intelligence on the location of the pirate bases, located in Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia. Armed with this information, Zheng He lays siege to multiple bases and within three years, the threat of piracy virtually disappeared from the South China Seas.