I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

Given the popularity of Cheng Sheng and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there is absolutely no need to do any special promotion.

However, Xing Aina still arranged for the main creators of "Three Kingdoms" to go to several TV stations to promote the show half a month in advance.

In a short time, almost all the artists from Shengli Film Company were sent out, since the company's artists had all participated in the filming of the "Three Kingdoms" movie.

Everyone in the company got busy, while Cheng Sheng buried himself in writing the script.

Before writing the script, Cheng Sheng also looked through another version of his own memories. There are many film and television works about the Ming Dynasty in another time and space, but very few about Zheng He.

I only remember one TV series related to Zheng He, which is "Zheng He's Voyages to the West".

"Zheng He's Voyages to the Western Ocean" is a historical drama depicting the prosperous Yongle era.

The drama depicts Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Ocean, highlighting the Ming Dynasty rulers' grand ambition to expand maritime borders and foreign exchanges.

At the same time, the drama also presents the grand undertaking of Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) in carrying out reforms and seeking innovations, with many commendable aspects.

The most difficult aspect of adapting historical dramas is naturally how to remain faithful to the facts while also innovating.

After all, historical dramas must first and foremost adhere to historical authenticity.

"Zheng He's Voyages to the Western Ocean" can be considered a masterpiece that conforms to historical truth.

For example, the Jingnan Campaign.

This is historically proven.

In order to oppose the reduction of the power of the princes, Zhu Di pretended to be crazy at the Prince of Beijing's residence to avoid the eyes and ears of Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen.

Zhu Yunwen was merciful and soft-hearted, and released Zhu Di's two sons who were being held hostage.

Zhu Di secretly recruited soldiers and horses, while at the same time joining forces with his seventeenth son Zhu Quan to raise an army, rebelling under the banner of "purging the emperor's corrupt advisors," and defeated the hundreds of thousands of troops sent by the court to suppress the rebellion.

They captured Nanjing.

Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen, fled to another place after his defeat.

In 1402, after Zhu Di usurped the throne, he executed Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng. He then ordered Fang Xiaoru to draft the edict of accession, but Fang Xiaoru verbally abused him. Enraged, Zhu Di executed Fang Xiaoru's entire clan.

It can be said that the drama is basically faithful to history.

Screenwriter Zhu Sujin has indeed adhered to the concept of historical materialism in this respect, which shows that "Zheng He's Voyages to the West" is a serious drama that conforms to historical truth.

Secondly, "Zheng He's Voyages to the West" is a grand drama with vivid and compelling characters.

It portrays many lifelike characters.

Zheng He was born in Yunnan, and his original surname was Ma and his given name was He.

His ancestors were illustrious. Later, due to a military defeat, he was sent to the imperial court to become a eunuch and was assigned to the residence of Prince Yan, Zhu Di.

Zheng He achieved numerous feats during the Jingnan Campaign and was deeply favored by Zhu Di.

He was both a witness to and a practitioner of Zhu Di's determination to open the country's doors and demonstrate his power to the world.

During his voyages to the Western Ocean, Zheng He valued harmony and brought the Ming Dynasty closer to the countries of the West, while also making a significant contribution to the prosperity and development of the Ming Dynasty's economy and trade.

Zheng He's voyages to Southeast Asia and East Asian countries resolved the differences and conflicts between them; he defeated the bandit Chen Zuyi and eradicated banditry; he established several trading transit stations; and he effectively implemented the Ming Dynasty's diplomatic policy of opening its doors to merchants from Southeast Asia.

Domestically, during patrols, he outwitted and outmaneuvered the antagonists, including Wu Xuan, demonstrating a strong sense of the bigger picture and understanding of the overall situation.

Demonstrates excellent leadership skills.

In terms of his character, he showed great respect to Li Lianxin, a maid in the household of Prince Yan, Zhu Di, and regarded her as his elder sister, which shows that he was a kind, righteous, responsible, and honest person.

Another example is Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan.

Zhu Di was ingenious in governing the country and changing the old system. He boldly reformed and trusted his subordinates. On the one hand, he actively responded to the criticisms and attacks from various conservative forces; on the other hand, he vigorously encouraged trade and cracked down on individual illegal vendors, making business regulated and orderly.

It is evident that he was exceptionally wise and shrewd in governing the country.

In the TV series, Zhu Di's wife, Empress Xu, is portrayed as exceptionally virtuous. She manages the harem with the same care and diligence she would show to a household.

To support her husband's career, she worked tirelessly and was especially concerned about the growth of her two sons.

She is gentle, kind, simple, and generous; she is a perfect woman.

Unfortunately, he passed away at the young age of fifty.

Zhu Di was deeply in love with his childhood sweetheart cousin, and after her death, he never appointed a new empress.

Another character is the old Zen master Yao Guangxiao, who is wise, unassuming, and has great ambitions.

He advised Zhu Di and encouraged him to rise from a local prince to achieve hegemony. The screenwriter almost portrayed him as a god-like figure.

The drama also successfully portrayed the opposing characters such as Prince Zhu Gaoxu, the seventeenth prince Zhu Quan, the bandit Chen Zuyi, and General Wu Xuan.

As a TV series, this show has many intriguing aspects in terms of the characters' dialogue.

The characters throughout the play are distinct, their language is vivid, their dialogues are brilliant, and they are full of insightful observations.

For example, when his ministers unanimously opposed the voyages to the Western Ocean, Zhu Di said, "Now we will deduct your salaries and replace them with goods from the provinces. There is no need for further discussion."

This fully demonstrates his wisdom in governing his ministers and his extraordinary courage.

Li Lianxin chased after her son, who was going on a voyage, and boarded the ship. By then, Zhu Di had already appointed Song Tian as a minor official on the ship.

"A ruler's word is law. How about this, let him accompany you for a while." This sentence highlights Zhu Di's personality as a ruler.

Li Lianxin said, "This servant begs Your Majesty not to let Song Tian go to the Western Ocean." Seeing that her pleas were in vain, Li Lianxin only wanted to become a nun, but Zen Master Yao Guangxiao did not agree to her request and instead told her to grow her hair long and practice Buddhism.

These dialogues are both dramatic and personal.

It is the result of careful script polishing, which shows the consideration and weighing of the screenwriter and director.

The entire series is full of brilliant touches in terms of character development, attention to detail, and polished language.

In terms of historical drama adaptations, the focus is on the historical evolution of the characters, while also creating relatively well-rounded character images.

As for the omission of mention of the third son, Zhu Gaosui, it was probably due to the editor's consideration of the plot.

As a grand drama depicting the Yongle era, "Zheng He's Voyages to the West" also demonstrates a well-thought-out design in terms of plot structure.

In the plot, Zheng He's travels to the West and the court's conflicts and duels are interspersed seamlessly, which well reflects the screenwriter's idea of ​​using two themes to tell the story, and at the same time, makes the plot more focused.

Cheng Sheng planned to draw inspiration from this TV series, then cut out most of the plot, leaving only the storylines related to Zheng He, and finally wrote a script about Zheng He.

As for Yao Guangxiao, who was like a mythical figure in the TV series, Cheng Sheng deleted him entirely.

As for the storyline involving Zhu Di, Cheng Sheng plans to keep only a few scenes and delete the rest, making Zheng He the absolute protagonist of the film.

Therefore, Cheng Sheng focused on depicting some of the events of Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean in the script.

However, Zheng He made seven voyages to the Western Ocean, which is far too long to describe.

The longest movie is only three hours long, which is far from enough to cover Zheng He's entire life.

Cheng Sheng plans to make Zheng He into a series, divided into seven parts.

This perfectly aligns with the theme of Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Ocean. (End of Chapter)