The cost of Shaoxing's immigration to Portugal

The rising maritime powers in the west have realized in practice that flowing seawater can't stop people, and they must establish maritime strongholds to stay in a certain sea area forever. These countries are doing this in east indies in America, Africa and Asia, and coming to China is no exception. This is also the biggest change brought to the coastal situation of China after the Portuguese came in. In the past, no matter how many pirates came to harass, they only robbed food, property and men and women along the coast. Generally, they robbed and left, not staying, and even dared not go deep into the mainland easily. Most of them just had sex and changed places. They crowded in and dispersed in a hubbub. As soon as the Portuguese arrived, they rushed into the local government and went to the palace to see the emperor, pretending to be safe when they arrived. These Portuguese, whether pirates or maritime businessmen, have been repeatedly rejected by the local government or driven away by the garrison, but they have never given up the idea of taking a trading stronghold in China.

The Portuguese first took a fancy to an island called Shuangyu near Ningbo, Zhejiang. The island is mountainous, with lush trees and dangerous terrain. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, officers and men of the reorganization of coastal defense were stationed here. From then on, the world was peaceful, the military equipment of the imperial court was abandoned, and the original garrison on the island disappeared unconsciously, leaving only the roster of local officials who ate empty salaries. Two local pirate leaders, Li Guangtou of Fujian and Xu Dong of Shexian County of Anhui Province, took advantage of the situation and took the island as king. The Portuguese and the Japanese smell the fishy smell like flies, and the three forces will meet here soon. They not only control illegal business at sea, but also control all ships sailing overseas and all smuggling activities. At the same time, they fought with open fire as robbers, plundered wealthy villages and towns along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian, and even attacked the state capital to plunder the government against the government. Some local "most famous tycoons" want a piece of the action, and they are willing to take refuge in this Chinese and foreign bandit consortium. Some of them covered up, some tipped them off, stepped on the spot to show the way, and covered up the sale, causing chickens flying and dogs jumping along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang, and people's lives and property could not be guaranteed.

In the 26th year of Jiajing (1547), Zhu Wan, the governor of Gannan, went to Zhejiang to suppress bandits, and served as military affairs prefect in Fuzhou, Xinghua, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Jianning. When he came to eastern Zhejiang, he saw that Portuguese pirates, Japanese pirates and local pirates had formed a force, occupied Shuangyu, the source of disaster along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang, and decided to take Shuangyu as an action to destroy the robber cave in one fell swoop. He first ordered a lieutenant to clear the periphery and gradually besieged Shuangyu, waiting for an opportunity to close the net. The pirates on the island had nothing to hide, so they sent people to sing songs with the Japanese envoys who had just arrived in Ningbo in an attempt to catch the Ming army off guard. Zhu Wan intercepted the tip-off of the bandit leader, but only played along and launched a surprise attack in the middle of the night, kicking the bandit hole upside down. Li Guangtou, who was lucky enough to escape from the net during the Shuangyu encirclement and suppression war, fled back to Fujian, and soon he and a group of Portuguese people made an insurrection in their hometown, burning, killing, looting and committing many evils. Zhu Wan led his troops to Fujian, arrested Li Guangtou and 96 Portuguese thieves in Zhao 'an, which borders Fujian and Guangdong, and beheaded them all at the request of the victims. A group of local people who had an affair with Chinese and foreign bandits suddenly lost their interests after the Shuangyu War. They all held a grudge and waited for revenge. At this time, Zhu Wan was accused of "arbitrary murder", and some local officials bribed treacherous court official Yan Song, so that Master Jiajing ordered him to "commit a crime". Unwilling to be humiliated, Zhu Wan angrily committed suicide, leaving a deep sigh: "Suppress foreign pirates, suppress pirates; It's easy to suppress thieves on the beach, but it's still difficult to suppress thieves on clothes. "

Wang Shu, who succeeded Zhu Wan as the military prefect of the southeast coast, knew the dangers of collusion between thieves and bandits, and simply concentrated on cracking down on the big and small spies who colluded with Portuguese thieves and Japanese pirates and closely monitored the "dressed thieves" who had ties with foreign countries. Therefore, it is difficult for foreign bandits to find out the actual situation on the shore, and they often fall into disaster as soon as they land. The Portuguese's foothold in Fujian and Zhejiang was removed by Zhu Wan one after another. They were afraid of the aggressive situation of Wang Shu's men and had to quit Fujian and Zhejiang and return to Guangdong. However, Portuguese pirates are different from other robbers. In addition to murder, arson, rape and plunder, it also brought the bad habit of selling black people as slaves in Africa, plundering the population of China and reselling them. They are eager to find a safe place in Guangdong to hoard stolen goods and people. Macao Island, near the coast of Guangdong, soon became their key target.

Macau was called "Hao Jing" in the Ming Dynasty, sometimes written as "Hao Jing", and most locals called it "Oyster Capital". There are plenty of oysters along the coast here. Raw food and soup are all the best in food. According to legend, they can also nourish yin and strengthen yang. Men eat aphrodisiacs and women eat beauty. People in Guangdong like this. From this perspective, "Hao Jing" should be "Hao Jing". Macao originally belonged to Xiangshan, Guangdong Province, which is now Zhongshan County, so it is also called "Xiangshan Bay". How did the Portuguese land in Macau and become a colony as they wished? It was not until the end of last century that they returned to the embrace of the motherland. There are many stories that have been circulated, all of which prove the cunning and persistence of Portuguese colonists, and they will never give up until they reach their goals.

There is a saying that the Portuguese used to dock on an island not far from Macao, but they thought that the territory was too small and there were many obstacles in maritime communication, which could not satisfy their growing appetite, so they began to occupy Macao. However, due to its poor record, the name "Franco machine" has almost become synonymous with the devil. Adults have heard of tooth fights, and children have heard of crying. They played a trick to trick China people into thinking that white people are all alike and can't tell which language is which, let alone how many countries there are in the world. He made up the name of a country at random, put on strange clothes and came to Macao, and sent a dazzling meeting gift to the local maritime ambassador, pretending to be a tribute of this nonexistent country. Due to the rough sea, the sea water flooded into the cabin and wet the tribute. He needed to dry it quickly and asked for permission to stay on the island for a few days. Haidao's deputy "took people's money to eliminate disasters" and nodded with a smile. The Portuguese swarmed, first set up a temporary tent to live temporarily, and packaged the poor with hard noodles in their arms. Seeing that Macao people are not vigilant, they cast sympathetic eyes from time to time, simply build houses to stock up, bury pots and stoves to bake bread and roast steaks, and stay on the island.

Another way of saying it is that Yu, a famous anti-Japanese soldier, was ordered to come to Guangdong to fight bandits. He used to implement the strategy of dividing and disintegrating Chinese and foreign bandits, figured out that surrender could save him from death, and let out the words of "winning his eyes." The cunning Portuguese took advantage of this loophole, betrayed a China pirate who had had friction with them, and informed the loyalist of the news, which was very accurate and timely, and won the favor of them. On another occasion, in pursuit of a pirate at sea, the pirate was cornered and begged the Portuguese to lend a helping hand. The Portuguese made a gesture of "appreciating each other" and immediately attracted the navy of the Ming army to wipe out the enemy. The Portuguese accumulated these "contributions" and asked the navy of the Ming army for a reward. They don't want gold, silver, grain and cloth. They only asked for formal approval of their temporary residence in Macau. They patted their chests and said that they would return to "Buddha Ji Lang" in the future. I thought he paid attention to faithfulness first, and these Portuguese people would keep their promises, so he agreed generously. Who knows that after they stayed, they never mentioned returning to China.

What is certain now is that after establishing a foothold in Macao, these Portuguese people quickly joined hands with Malacca and the Indian Ocean coast, and opened several important air routes with Macao as the transshipment center, including normal trade, smuggling and smuggling, and some plundered people, sent them back to their own countries as slaves, or transported them to other places for sale. The local government was angry to see that the Portuguese were so unscrupulous and increasingly arrogant. Armed men sent ships to block the sea routes in and out of Macao one by one, and Portuguese ships carrying goods and personnel were not allowed to enter or leave; A clerk wrote to the court, listing the crimes committed by the Portuguese in Macao, and asked the court to issue a decree to expel them from the country. At this time, Emperor Jiajing ate too much erysipelas, erysipelas broke out in the body, the whole body was hot and dry, and the deficiency fire was rising. He is busy with the concubines in the palace day and night, so he can't settle down to deal with the affairs of the court. All such Guangdong passbooks are left in the middle. When the Portuguese heard this news, they quickly put on smiling faces, arranged gifts for local officials, sent gold and silver jewelry to those who love money, sent foreign cigarettes and wine to those who crave enjoyment, and sent a few blonde girls who love beauty in order to live in peace.

1582, Emperor Wanli came to power. Because he liked the western things brought by Matteo Ricci, the sea ban was released. Guangdong local officials and people have been getting along with the Portuguese for a long time, and they seem to be used to it, and gradually they don't take the Portuguese staying in Macao seriously. According to legend, when the Manchu Nuerhachi set out to attack Liaodong, the Ming court specially sent people to Macao to buy the "Folangji" artillery. With this as the capital, the Portuguese called on the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and asked for permanent residence in Macao. Later, the Dutch who came to China bullied the declining Portugal and wanted to take Macau as their own and seize the favorable position of China's trade. On the pretext of resisting the Dutch invasion, the Portuguese killed two birds with one stone by building walls, setting up forts and establishing their own defense system in Macao with great fanfare, which laid a solid foundation for the armed occupation of Macao. At this time, the only thing that the China government insisted on was that the Portuguese paid the rent and taxes in accordance with the regulations, and all the Portuguese who committed crimes here were handed over to the China government for disposal, which was regarded as preserving the basic sovereignty of the country.

In the 29th year of Daoguang in Qing Dynasty (1849), China experienced the Opium War, which revealed the demise of the oldest feudal empire. Portugal, which had already sunk, used British power to stop paying rent and taxes to Macao, expelled the officials of the Qing government in Macao, and did everything on this land belonging to China. 1887 12 1 day, the British intervention forced the Qing government to sign the so-called Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Friendship and Trade with Portugal, and Macao has since become a real colony of Portugal.

The loss of Macau is unforgettable, mainly because Portugal, a small country that has passed away, was squeezed by the maritime hegemons such as Britain and the Netherlands and withdrew from other occupied territories in the world, but it was incredible that it was able to plunder such a colony from China at will and occupy it for a century. It can't be said that the rulers of Ming and Qing dynasties didn't care about national security, but kept alert to the danger from the northwest border and ignored the frequent warnings from the sea. In particular, Zheng De and Jiajing did not take the Portuguese occupation of Malacca seriously. As a result, it became a funnel for the western powers to invade one by one, thus completely changing the fate of China. The outstanding achievement of the Portuguese in Macao is to turn this remote island into a world-famous casino. It is said that domestic residents who go to Macao for business or tourism now have to pay some money to gamble in casinos. I don't know if my compatriots who are interested in this will occasionally think about our national fortune in this land that was once a Portuguese colony. "He who has no long-term worries must have near worries". Losing Macao used to be a very tragic ending. Will it work in other places in the future? The author's little reminder naturally does not include those corrupt officials who go to Macau to gamble with public funds. The existence of these moths is itself a serious crisis for the country.

The enemy became the pain of the declining Ming empire.

Only 70 Japanese pirates crossed the state from Hangzhou Bay and killed them at the gates of Nanjing. Hundreds of Japanese knives created another massacre, and the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang were once caves of the Japanese army. The anti-Japanese army had to deal with the fierce "real Japanese" and the troublesome "holiday himself", which stumped many anti-Japanese famous soldiers for a while. Hu Zongxian compiled "Bei Tu", and Qi Jiguang worked hard to sort out "Ji Xiao Shu Xin", which described the secrets of anti-Japanese war, hoping to reverse the dangerous situation of no defense at sea. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was born in a rebellious position and was promoted to Guanbai and Zheng Tai, also planned to incorporate Beijing into Japanese territory. He directly ruled such a large China.

Wang Zhi, a businessman and thief, brought trouble to the Ming Dynasty.

A few years ago, there was an academic debate about the Japanese invasion of the Ming Dynasty in China. As a native of China, Wang Zhi, a coastal city in Fujian and Zhejiang, joined forces with Japanese aggression and became the focus of this debate.

Wang Zhi, a native of Shexian County, Anhui Province, traveled overseas with his parents since childhood, and also shoplifted. When I grew up, I wandered the Jianghu and defected to Xu Dong, the pirate leader of Shuangyu Island. I soon became the cabinet owner and took the second place. Xu Dong and Li Guangtou came into contact with Japanese and Portuguese. Wang Zhi seems to have a special preference for the Japanese, and soon he speaks Japanese, so his relationship with the Japanese is getting deeper and deeper. Zhu Wan led the troops into the suppression of Shuangyu Island. He escaped from the net and fled to five islands in Japan. He collected scattered remains, recruited Japanese samurai and ronin, reassembled large and small ships, continued to cooperate with nearby countries, and soon formed a scale. Famous in China and Japan, he was honored as the "old shipowner".

Some Japanese island owners and samurai groups value Wang Zhi's familiarity with the southeast coast of China, and they also have many insiders who directly enter the government. Whether smuggling goods at sea or robbing China ashore, they are very willing to cooperate with them. China's coastal thieves and clothes thieves, relying on foreign forces, took everything from the inside out and rushed to join. According to historical records, Wang Zhi, a "hot potato", "real Japanese" and "holiday person", is unwilling to make friends with him. "Real Japanese" refers to Japanese pirates, and "Holiday himself" refers to China people who mix with Japanese pirates. Wang Zhi led such an army of miscellaneous brands, and when he had the opportunity to be a convenience merchant and plunder, he became a robber. He was unable to make ends meet, his hand-eyes were sky-high, and his financial resources were rolling in, even the Japanese emperor had to look up. Therefore, he dared to clap his chest and call himself the "King of Emblems" and spread the rhetoric that "all 36 islands in Japan obey his command". Therefore, China's ruling and opposition parties regard it as the bane of the turmoil in the southeast coast. Japanese officials, from Emperor Jiajing to Hu Zongxian and Yu, gnashed their teeth and stayed in the southeast coast for many years.

How to give such a complicated figure a conclusion? Domestic academic circles are generally divided into two groups: one group thinks that he is the "leader of traitors and pirates" and should be knocked down to the ground, set foot on one foot and be nailed to the shame column of history forever; The other school thinks that he is a "maritime leader" and a "pioneer against maritime prohibitions", and should turn over the history of his conviction again. Two schools of scholars have their own opinions, and no one will agree with them. This debate also extended to Wang Zhi's hometown, Anhui, and evolved into a dispute between the establishment of monuments and the smashing of monuments. It was in 2005 that a Japanese volunteer funded the construction of a cemetery for Wang Zhi in Shexian County, Anhui Province, in recognition of his historical achievements in communicating Sino-Japanese trade, and remembered this historical figure who symbolized the "everlasting friendship" between the two countries. Nowadays, "celebrity effect" is prevalent, and the local government is keen on "celebrity economy". The local government soon came up with a plan of "building a stage with history and singing opera with economy", hoping to turn this cemetery into a new tourist attraction, so that the ghost Wang Zhi can earn money for his hometown today. Two young university teachers in Lishui and Nanjing, Zhejiang, were very angry after hearing the news. In today's China, the sky is clear, and some people dare to erect a monument for the great traitor and enemy. It is tolerable, and it is intolerable! They came to Anhui at their own expense and angrily smashed the newly erected tombstone of Wang Zhi. The news spread and there was a flood of hot comments in the society. Naturally, the local government was in a dilemma and quite embarrassed.

In fact, Wang Zhi is both a maritime businessman and a pirate. As I said before, if you have the opportunity to do business, do business, and if you have the opportunity to grab it, grab it. Compared with the great sailing movement in Europe, this seems to be a common phenomenon in that era, and it is not the original sin unique to Wang Zhi. It is very common for western countries to participate in geographical discoveries, and it is common for overseas businessmen, maritime businessmen and pirates to serve for two terms. Columbus, da? Gamma and Magellan are no exception. As for Japan at that time, Kiyoshi Inoue, a historian of that country, also bluntly said in the book History of Japan: "Warriors and ronins are the nature of robbers." This Japanese island country is small in land area and poor in resources, and has a strong impulse to expand outward. Since the world voyage, Japan has naturally followed the trend of the times. In his book, Kiyoshi Inoue described the situation at that time: "Pirates, both free traders and pirates, still used ships with the flag of the Great Bodhisattva, called the Eight Pagodas Ship, which was not afraid of stormy waves and ignored the ban of the shogunate and the Ming Dynasty."

This is true of Japanese businessmen engaged in free trade, and so is the "tribute trade" or "survey trade" carried out by the shogunate. In the second year of Jiajing (1523), ouchi and Hosokawa Morihiro of Zhao Yin, Jing Zuo sent people to pay tribute to China at the same time. Two tributes brought their front feet and back feet to Ningbo, and there was a "tribute dispute" between the two sides, and they fought with each other. Song, the tribute emissary of Otani family, was ordered to hunt down the tribute emissary of Hosokawa Morihiro. From Ningbo to Shaoxing, he burned, killed and looted all the way, robbing money and population, and forcing the relatives of the captured people to take money to redeem them. Those who didn't redeem the money were taken back to Japan as slaves. The defenders of Ningbo stepped forward to intercept them, and both of them died under the Zongshe. There is also a Japanese tribute ambassador named Zhou Liang, who came to China to pay tribute too many times. City officials accused him of violating the agreement of "one tribute every ten years", taking people and goods out of Ningbo with his boat and letting him rest on a nearby island, waiting for the tribute period in three to five years. Worried about the damage to the goods, Zhou Liang secretly entrusted a "wealthy businessman's surname" in Ningbo to send his tribute to the market for sale. The money he didn't want to change was blacked out by the handlers and turned against him. In a rage, Zhou Liang led his men to land, plundered them with Japanese knives, and made Ningbo "double the reward" and returned to China to make a job with His Majesty.

If you think about it carefully, it is probably the inevitable chaos in the transition period of modern commodity economy, just as the primitive accumulation of capital is always accompanied by fraud, short weight, intrigue, trading power and money, and even making poisonous milk powder, poisonous rice and poisonous mushrooms for financial harm, and so on. This chaos is not only a severe challenge to social order, but also a rare opportunity for the Ming government to develop commodity economy at that time. If those in power at that time could face up to the ocean, properly handle it, curb illegal business, guide legal business, isolate and crack down on domestic and foreign pirates who threatened the lives and property of coastal people, it would be possible to turn the danger from the sea into a huge business opportunity at sea, and a different situation would certainly appear in the Ming Dynasty, and the history of China might be rewritten from then on. However, the feudal brain of the Ming emperor lacked political wisdom and economic mind to deal with this complex phenomenon of "stealing business". Or in our nature, they simply don't want to face the ocean with uncertain future, and flatly refuse to deal with the commodity economy in their hearts. Therefore, all complicated issues have been simplified, and several diplomatic negotiations with Japan have failed. Therefore, the "sea ban order" has been resolutely implemented, and all difficulties have been solved once it is banned.

However, the ocean is the most basic living resource and living space for coastal people. As the saying goes, "relying on mountains to eat mountains and relying on water to eat water", can it be banned? This indiscriminate sea ban results in "driving fish for nests and birds for irrigation", prohibiting maritime merchants from forcing people to engage in illegal business and pirates from forcing people to be thieves. Those who make a living by smuggling or stealing were driven out of their homes by the government forces off the coast of China, and they fled to some uninhabited islands. They should not only resist government inspections and prevent others from looting, but also look for opportunities to plunder money, food and property to make a living. Seeing that the situation is weak, there is no source of life, security is not guaranteed, and the heart is in an anxious state, always expecting someone to be incorporated. This is an important reason why Wang Zhi's reaction is getting bigger and bigger, and it is also the mystery why there are sometimes more "fake" pirates than "real" pirates. Of course, the "fake pirates" also include a large number of unemployed people who were robbed of their land by royal nobles, or "mountain thieves" who voluntarily gave up their land because of heavy taxes, or who became fugitives and were cornered by government forces. It was another crisis that the Ming Dynasty failed to properly handle civil strife, so I don't need to go into details here.

A few years ago, the author wrote a long historical novel "Qi Jiguang, the Warrior of the Iron Blood Corps", and once came into contact with some historical materials of Wang Zhi, his pirates and maritime business groups. It is well documented that this man smuggled goods as a robber, collaborated with the Japanese pirates to invade the southeast coast of China, and injured many innocent compatriots. Even he himself admits that he is a "crime of ten thousand deaths", and it is not too much to label him as a "traitor" and "Japanese leader". However, it is an indisputable fact that he came from a maritime family. Even though he has done so many illegal businesses, he has always been worried about openly operating maritime trade. After Wang Zhi gradually became a big shot in the five Japanese islands, he repeatedly tried to attract the attention of the Ming court in one way or another, and even thought of "making amends and making meritorious deeds" to achieve the purpose of being accepted by the court. In the 29th year of Jiajing (1550), Qilu, a pirate, robbed warships in the east coast of Zhejiang, went straight to the rich towns near Hangzhou, robbed a large number of women's property and docked at Majishan Port in Hangzhou Bay, intending to escape by plane. Wang Zhi took the initiative to lead the fleet to attack, captured 13 pirate ship, killed more than a thousand pirates, and sent the thief Qilu and the rescued women to the governor's office alive. Since then, the local government was robbed by Japanese pirates and secretly asked them to send troops to help clean up, but they also readily agreed to their orders. Such people, taking advantage of the trend, may really be able to abandon evil and do good. However, in the eyes of court bureaucrats, "once a thief is a lifelong thief", no matter how well he behaves, he will send troops to suppress it and try to get rid of it quickly.

In the thirty-fifth year of Jiajing (1556), the Japanese invaders invaded the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, bringing not only a large number of "real Japanese" but also a large number of "holiday people" related to Wang Zhi, including their adopted son Wang Kui and nephew Wang Ruxian. Hu Zongxian, then the governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, fought several wars with him, but he always lost more and won less. Ruane, the governor of Zhejiang Province, was also besieged in Tongcheng, and was caught in an embarrassing situation that he needed money to redeem his head. Hu Zongxian had to send his staff to Japan to woo Wang Zhi. He also released his mother and wife from prison in advance and returned the copied materials from his hometown to create an atmosphere of wooing. Wang Zhi was overjoyed and proposed that "I will come back" as long as maritime trade is allowed. He also analyzed the current situation in Japan at that time. The old emperor is dead, the new emperor is still young, and the islands have not taken photos with each other. Civil strife continues, the people are living in poverty, and they are on the verge of collapse. As long as the Ming court promised to continue the "thick-to-thin" survey trade with Japan, pay taxes through customs, and not lose the tribute period, he was willing to send "two orders" to let the island owners block each other, so that the Japanese would not dare to go to China again to be domineering and violent. "So, the enemy will be defeated without fighting." It can be seen from these words that this man is still very knowledgeable and his obedience is beyond words. At that time, the messenger also readily promised, which made their doubts disappear and they came back.

Wang Zhi followed Hu Zongxian's cronies from Japan to cengang, Zhoushan. While preparing to open the market, he brought his adopted son, Wang Kui, and taught him a trick to cut the enemy. Wang Kui acted according to the plan. At first, he secretly instructed the loyalists to attack the "real Japanese invaders" who invaded Guazhou, Shanghai and Cixi, captured the leader of the Japanese invaders, Shikuke Shiro, and forced the remnants of the real Japanese invaders to flee to the sea. Then, by alienating each other, Chen Dong, Xu Hai and Ma were also divided into several pirate leaders, making them doubt each other and fighting among them. Hu Zongxian secretly mobilized military forces, caught the gang in the South Canal, immediately beheaded the enemy leader alive, and beheaded the pirate leaders Chen Dong, Xu Hai, Ma Ye and others who expressed their willingness to defect. Even those who voluntarily lifted the siege of Tongcheng and released it were not spared. Wang Zhi was shocked when he heard the news, and began to doubt the sincerity of the court. When Hu Zongxian sent Wang Kui to Zhoushan with gold and silver from the imperial court, he invited him to "return to his hometown", but he stuck to cengang and refused to move. Wang Kui told michel platini that Governor Hu still wanted to fulfill michel platini's submission, and the court gave him a great reward for his merits. Wang Zhi shook his head again and again and said, "You are such a fool! I am not in the hands of the government, of course they will treat you well; If I fall into the hands of the government, I will die! " However, the raw rice is ready, and there is no turning back. He proposed to take a "noble official" to cengang as a hostage to show that the court kept its promise. Hu Zongxian expressed his love to Xia Zheng, and Wang Zhi went to Hangzhou with confidence.

However, despite Hu Zongxian's intention to be kind to Wang Zhi, Emperor Jiajing refused to agree, and was anxious to pay homage to the imperial tomb with his thief's head and report to his ancestors the good news that "the country in Southeast Japan has been destroyed". Those dignitaries who had had an affair with Wang Zhi in the past refused to agree, because they were afraid that leaving this alive would expose their past shady situation. Please kill the king passbook snowflake and fly into the capital. Every sentence is sonorous. Tang Shu, a minister of punishments, supported Hu Zongxian and advocated keeping people with swords. In a letter, he said some words: "Wang Zhi volunteered to recruit pirates from the island, to control foreigners with barbarians, to make meritorious deeds and receive awards, to block the southeast tax fields and restore the old physiology. It seems to be inexpensive, but it is really a big benefit. " Hu Zongxian wants to protect Wang Zhi, but also witnessed the irreplaceable role of this man in Pingwa. At least he can sit in the position of Governor of Kangwa. However, the pressure of the ruling and opposition parties is too great, and the crime of "being a thief" may fall on your head at any time. He was afraid that he would be caught in crossfire, so he ignored Xia Zheng's life and death and "executed Wang Zhi on the spot". When Wang Zhi was tortured, he shouted, "What crime have I committed? What crime have I committed? If I die alone, I am afraid of suffering the people of Zhejiang. " Sure enough, unfortunately, he was right. Since then, Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces have been in constant turmoil, and half of the southeast has no peace.

It should be said that this is a typical case. In this incident, the Ming government could not tolerate not only a dissident, but also his desire for maritime trade. What the Ming government lost is not only a great reputation that a big country can never lose, but also an excellent opportunity to reverse the passive situation at sea. In the subsequent chaos in Japan, China not only stopped all trade with Japan, but also seriously affected its contacts with Ryukyu countries. Some envoys sent by the Ryukyu Kingdom to Daming China were actually plundered by the Japanese halfway, which made it an arduous task for Ryukyu people to travel to and from China. After Japanese businessmen disappeared in the waters of China, some adventurous Japanese contacted Portugal and Spain, opened up new communication lines and turned to seek development in other places on the sea. Businessmen from China also fled overseas and took root in some Southeast Asian countries. At this time, Europeans who came to the countries around the South China Sea were doing very prosperous business in spices, tea, silk and porcelain, and gained huge benefits from China's high-end products in commodity circulation. China's own maritime trade has been shrinking, and the original shipping companies are almost empty. When the marine wealth of western countries soared and gold and silver had to depreciate, the Ming court still stayed in measuring rice grains by barrels and paying salaries to officials at all levels. China, which is on the verge of the ocean, gave up the initiative at sea and tasted the bitter fruit again, but it was far from the final bitter fruit.

1564, Tan Lun, the governor of Fujian, said earnestly: "People who live by the sea in the world don't know why, but they can't eat unless they are born in the sea." A country at sea is thousands of miles away, and I don't know what it is. Without China's continuous threads, it can't be a country. The stricter the defense, the thicker its value, and the more it tends to be. Adultery is not allowed, that is, taking it away. It used to be said that the source of disadvantages is like a rat hole, and one must be left. If it is still plugged in, it will wear everywhere. That's what it means. "Tan Lun used a very popular metaphor here, that is, blocking all rat holes may lead to rat holes everywhere, which exposed the disadvantages of enforcing the maritime ban. Later, Xu Fuyuan, the governor of Fujian who succeeded Tan Lun, also lamented that "the general rules of the city were transformed into business, and the forbidden city was transformed into business" and called on the court to open the maritime ban. The imperial court only allowed limited opening of Yuegang in Quanzhou, Fujian, and prohibited foreigners from participating. Even the locals rely on "ship introduction" to control the total amount and want to open up. During the Apocalypse, the Dutch came to China to knock on the customs, and the court immediately issued a decree that "it is forbidden to go to sea with the red barbarians", which blocked the newly opened door.