unfortunately this reckless manner of dealing with evidence is typical of  vitiating all its extraordinary claims the voyages it describes never took place chinese information never reached prince henry and columbus and there is no evidence of the ming fleets in newly discovered lands the fundamental assumption of the book—that the yongle emperor dispatched the ming fleets because he had a "grand plan" a vision of charting the world and creating a maritime empire spanning the oceans—is simply asserted by menzies without a shred of proof  the reasoning of  is inexorably circular its evidence spurious its research derisory its borrowings unacknowledged its citations slipshod and its assertions preposterous  examination of the books central claims reveals they are uniformly without substance