I am Tang Di, a history enthusiast. Welcome everyone [Follow] me to talk about the past and the present together, and to discuss the general trend of the world. A gentleman is just learning and making friends for the rest of his life!
1 In early September 2024, Dutch moved to Taiwan. The old fortress where the Dutch built the new city tower, Orange, and later renamed Zeelandia in 1627, which is the ruins of Anping Anping Castle in Tainan today. here becomes the administrative center of the Dutch and is also the only trading port controlled by Dutch in the Northeast Asia waters. The Dutch's sphere of influence has also expanded from Anping, which is of great significance to Taiwan's development.
1. Who should I negotiate with?
In fact, since the Dutch moved to Anping, the number of Chinese people has increased sharply, but the greatest responsibility and purpose of the Chief Sun Ke is how to develop trade with China. He suggested that Batavia "send several families to come, which is beneficial to the company, but it must limit its ability to trade. This can increase the company's capital and attract Chinese people from other places to come to Taiwan (Anping). You can also completely seize Chinese trade from the enemies (Macau's Portuguese and Manila's 's Spanish ). "
It can be seen that monopolizing China's overseas trade is still the ultimate goal of the Dutch. However, in September 1625, the chief Sun Ke unfortunately died in a shipwreck accident in Taiwan. In August of the same year, Li Dan also died of illness in Hirado, Japan.
Remember when the Dutch evacuated Penghu, Li Dan would go to China as a Dutch negotiator to negotiate and seek a formal trade license issued by the Fujian authorities. 1 On November 14, 624, Li Dan returned to Taiwan and brought back only the book script sent by the Xiamen Governor ( General ). The Dutch were disappointed and accused Li Dan of being a harmful person. From the book script brought back by Li Dan, we can know that this is a private letter written by the general to Taiwan Chief Sun Ke, rather than an agreement document. In the letter, he said: he understands the Dutch's desire to trade with China in Batavia and Taiwan. He will forward the matter to the governor's meeting in Fuzhou for handling. The governor of said that the Chinese could go to Batavia freely to meet the trade needs, but he did not mention the possibility of trade in Taiwan at all. ”
It can be seen from this that when the Dutch retreated from Penghu, Yu Zigao seemed to have no promise to trade in Taiwan. Maybe he vaguely stated that trade could be carried out outside Penghu. His ultimate goal was to use Li Dan to deceive the Dutch from Penghu without using force.
The Dutch are becoming more and more clear about the Chinese's attitude towards doing things. It is worth mentioning that Chinese officials should not contact and negotiate directly with the Dutch as much as possible. Because since the Dutch forcibly breaking into Penghu to build a city, the Chinese have regarded the Dutch as a person like Japanese pirates . Therefore, it is impossible to have formal official interactions, so Chinese maritime merchants play an important role in intermediary , to coordinate misunderstandings between the two sides or as a communication channel. problem is that under the pressure of traditional authoritarian , the maritime merchants can only play the role of a submissive messenger under the pressure of traditional authoritarian , and cannot solve the problem at all. After Li Dan's death, his right-hand assistant Xu Xinsu became a messenger between China and the Netherlands.
2. Sudden variables
Since the Dutch moved to Taiwan, China has paid great attention to the movements of the Dutch. Fujian Governor Nan Juyi pointed out in an April memorial in the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625) that the Dutch:
"State several ships in East , and there will be something to do in Luzon. In Luzon, my country was vassal of me, and now many merchants and civilians took the spring water to go there, and they would not be lucky to be affected by foreign countries. There is one thing that can be Yu; the Eastern Band is the squad of Japanese pirates. Although it is temporarily different from the Yi, it will take advantage of the Yi and benefit from the Yi for a long time. The power will be reunited. If it is small, it will cause a robbery of foreign countries, and if it is large, it will cause a market. It is difficult to conquer it. There are two things that can be Yu."
Nanjuyi has some understanding of the situation in the Strait. He did not propose the idea of crossing the sea to drive the Dutch out of Taiwan. He only considered the traditional means of "using the branch", hoping to achieve the effect of "the barbarians and bandits will rob each other, and I will reap the benefits of fishermen." However, Nanjuyi still needs the central government to officially authorize the use of the branch politics. In order to avoid "the traitors of the party and the traitors, confusing and confusing the audio-visual." "
From this we can see that the political struggle between bureaucrats at that time, distrust and attacked each other, not only made good policies impossible to implement, but also affected the actual ruling effect.
Although Nanjuyi boasted of:
" has regained the country The lake is a territory that eliminates the hidden disasters of the Fujian people for a hundred years." However, in the fifth year of Tianqi, he was indeed accused of spending a lot of money and suffering from hidden disasters. He was accused of "suffering from the sacred ceremony of Wei Zhongxian and "who wants to confer a confession, and he would repel his own achievements when encountering border achievements. He hated his ministers (Nanjuyi) to call him beautiful, but to investigate the merits and follow the ministers." He was accused of spending a lot of money and being persecuted, and so as to "living in secret."
In such a political atmosphere, it seems impossible to take good measures for coastal defense. Penghu's governance is the most empty talk.
In May of the fifth year of Tianqi (1625), Zhu Qinxiang became the governor of Fujian. This year, the construction of Penghu was still in progress. For example, in June, "the deputy general of the Assistant Guard was in charge of Quannan, Penghu Second Guerrillas and Penghu New Guerrilla Pass". added red barbarian military pay in September, etc.
with the criticism of Nanjuyi, and Wei Zhongxian's power and search, the new defense policy in Fujian and Penghu offshore was severely destroyed.
This can be learned from the following incident:
In May of the sixth year of Tianqi (1626), Fujian Governor Zhu Qinxiang revealed: "According to the order, the new Qinyi, the Central Army, the Thousand General General Officers will be established in advance, and the use of names and colors will be used. The total reduction of 2,210 taels of 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 "
The so-called "new establishment" is to strengthen Penghu's defense. This weakening the coastal defense fund has greatly damaged the morale of Fujian's coastal areas, and thus affecting Penghu's status.
In other words, less than a year after the establishment of defense in Penghu, its defense funds were cut, and later, and were sacked in disguise. , and Nanjuyi, who insisted on building a city in Penghu, was accused of losing wages and being impeached by the eunuch party . The most unfortunate thing is that Fujian's defense reserves were also forced to transport them to Beijing. original Fujian Provincial Governor’s Xiku store 370,000 taels of silver, reserved for maritime defense.
Nanjuyi spent 170,000 taels of silver when expelling the red barbarians, and there were still more than 193,000 taels of silver. Wei Zhongxian actually ordered the Ministry of Works to relieve the accumulation of silver to help the major work. replaced it, all coastal defense funds were misappropriated due to Wei Zhongxian’s power, and the defense of Penghu and Fujian collapsed.
3, the collusion between pirates and the Dutch
In fact, the southeast coast was not peaceful in the sixth year of the Tianqi (1626): On April 9, two Dutch Shib ships (large ships) It appeared in Xiamen because of chasing the silk that the Chinese businessman Xu Xinsu owed them to order. At that time, the Dutch always paid the funds to maritime merchants in order to reach a trade. They paid 40,000 Le Al (Dutch Shing/Lier) when they ordered raw silk from Xu Xinsu in 1625. , the raw silk has not arrived for a long time. Therefore, this trip to Xiamen.
When they were in Xiamen, Xu Xinsu brought 200 dan of raw silk. The Dutch wrote a letter to the general complaining that Taiwan's trade was not carried out as agreed. The general said that because of the danger of pirates and no profit, the merchants were unwilling to go. The Dutch expressed his intention to sweep the pirates and increase profits, and wrote a letter to the emperor to obtain Taiwan's legal trade license, but the general asked the Dutch to leave immediately and not come again.
"The general was obviously perfunctory. In the sixth year of the Tianqi revelation, there were also "pirates Lin Qilao and others who joined forces with the Red Barbarians, pretended to be kings, set sail on the sea, and killed the enemy."
As early as the previous year, there were so-called pirates "using Kuanhe year names, marshals, generals and other flags, claiming to be the first post of the Red Barbarians, and convicted them. I am Tang Di, a history enthusiast. Welcome everyone [Follow] me to talk about the past and the present together, and to discuss the general trend of the world. A gentleman is just learning and making friends for the rest of his life! 1 In early September 2024, Dutch moved to Taiwan. The old fortress where the Dutch built the new city tower, Orange, and later renamed Zeelandia in 1627, which is the ruins of Anping Anping Castle in Tainan today. here becomes the administrative center of the Dutch and is also the only trading port controlled by Dutch in the Northeast Asia waters. The Dutch's sphere of influence has also expanded from Anping, which is of great significance to Taiwan's development. In fact, since the Dutch moved to Anping, the number of Chinese people has increased sharply, but the greatest responsibility and purpose of the Chief Sun Ke is how to develop trade with China. He suggested that Batavia "send several families to come, which is beneficial to the company, but it must limit its ability to trade. This can increase the company's capital and attract Chinese people from other places to come to Taiwan (Anping). You can also completely seize Chinese trade from the enemies (Macau's Portuguese and Manila's 's Spanish ). "1. Who should I negotiate with?
It can be seen that monopolizing China's overseas trade is still the ultimate goal of the Dutch. However, in September 1625, the chief Sun Ke unfortunately died in a shipwreck accident in Taiwan. In August of the same year, Li Dan also died of illness in Hirado, Japan.
Remember when the Dutch evacuated Penghu, Li Dan would go to China as a Dutch negotiator to negotiate and seek a formal trade license issued by the Fujian authorities. 1 On November 14, 624, Li Dan returned to Taiwan and brought back only the book script sent by the Xiamen Governor ( General ). The Dutch were disappointed and accused Li Dan of being a harmful person. From the book script brought back by Li Dan, we can know that this is a private letter written by the general to Taiwan Chief Sun Ke, rather than an agreement document. In the letter, he said: he understands the Dutch's desire to trade with China in Batavia and Taiwan. He will forward the matter to the governor's meeting in Fuzhou for handling. The governor of said that the Chinese could go to Batavia freely to meet the trade needs, but he did not mention the possibility of trade in Taiwan at all. ”
It can be seen from this that when the Dutch retreated from Penghu, Yu Zigao seemed to have no promise to trade in Taiwan. Maybe he vaguely stated that trade could be carried out outside Penghu. His ultimate goal was to use Li Dan to deceive the Dutch from Penghu without using force.
The Dutch are becoming more and more clear about the Chinese's attitude towards doing things. It is worth mentioning that Chinese officials should not contact and negotiate directly with the Dutch as much as possible. Because since the Dutch forcibly breaking into Penghu to build a city, the Chinese have regarded the Dutch as a person like Japanese pirates . Therefore, it is impossible to have formal official interactions, so Chinese maritime merchants play an important role in intermediary , to coordinate misunderstandings between the two sides or as a communication channel. problem is that under the pressure of traditional authoritarian , the maritime merchants can only play the role of a submissive messenger under the pressure of traditional authoritarian , and cannot solve the problem at all. After Li Dan's death, his right-hand assistant Xu Xinsu became a messenger between China and the Netherlands.
2. Sudden variables
Since the Dutch moved to Taiwan, China has paid great attention to the movements of the Dutch. Fujian Governor Nan Juyi pointed out in an April memorial in the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625) that the Dutch:
"State several ships in East , and there will be something to do in Luzon. In Luzon, my country was vassal of me, and now many merchants and civilians took the spring water to go there, and they would not be lucky to be affected by foreign countries. There is one thing that can be Yu; the Eastern Band is the squad of Japanese pirates. Although it is temporarily different from the Yi, it will take advantage of the Yi and benefit from the Yi for a long time. The power will be reunited. If it is small, it will cause a robbery of foreign countries, and if it is large, it will cause a market. It is difficult to conquer it. There are two things that can be Yu."
Nanjuyi has some understanding of the situation in the Strait. He did not propose the idea of crossing the sea to drive the Dutch out of Taiwan. He only considered the traditional means of "using the branch", hoping to achieve the effect of "the barbarians and bandits will rob each other, and I will reap the benefits of fishermen." However, Nanjuyi still needs the central government to officially authorize the use of the branch politics. In order to avoid "the traitors of the party and the traitors, confusing and confusing the audio-visual." "
From this we can see that the political struggle between bureaucrats at that time, distrust and attacked each other, not only made good policies impossible to implement, but also affected the actual ruling effect.
Although Nanjuyi boasted of:
" has regained the country The lake is a territory that eliminates the hidden disasters of the Fujian people for a hundred years." However, in the fifth year of Tianqi, he was indeed accused of spending a lot of money and suffering from hidden disasters. He was accused of "suffering from the sacred ceremony of Wei Zhongxian and "who wants to confer a confession, and he would repel his own achievements when encountering border achievements. He hated his ministers (Nanjuyi) to call him beautiful, but to investigate the merits and follow the ministers." He was accused of spending a lot of money and being persecuted, and so as to "living in secret."
In such a political atmosphere, it seems impossible to take good measures for coastal defense. Penghu's governance is the most empty talk.
In May of the fifth year of Tianqi (1625), Zhu Qinxiang became the governor of Fujian. This year, the construction of Penghu was still in progress. For example, in June, "the deputy general of the Assistant Guard was in charge of Quannan, Penghu Second Guerrillas and Penghu New Guerrilla Pass". added red barbarian military pay in September, etc.
with the criticism of Nanjuyi, and Wei Zhongxian's power and search, the new defense policy in Fujian and Penghu offshore was severely destroyed.
This can be learned from the following incident:
In May of the sixth year of Tianqi (1626), Fujian Governor Zhu Qinxiang revealed: "According to the order, the new Qinyi, the Central Army, the Thousand General General Officers will be established in advance, and the use of names and colors will be used. The total reduction of 2,210 taels of 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 "
The so-called "new establishment" is to strengthen Penghu's defense. This weakening the coastal defense fund has greatly damaged the morale of Fujian's coastal areas, and thus affecting Penghu's status.
In other words, less than a year after the establishment of defense in Penghu, its defense funds were cut, and later, and were sacked in disguise. , and Nanjuyi, who insisted on building a city in Penghu, was accused of losing wages and being impeached by the eunuch party . The most unfortunate thing is that Fujian's defense reserves were also forced to transport them to Beijing. original Fujian Provincial Governor’s Xiku store 370,000 taels of silver, reserved for maritime defense.
Nanjuyi spent 170,000 taels of silver when expelling the red barbarians, and there were still more than 193,000 taels of silver. Wei Zhongxian actually ordered the Ministry of Works to relieve the accumulation of silver to help the major work. replaced it, all coastal defense funds were misappropriated due to Wei Zhongxian’s power, and the defense of Penghu and Fujian collapsed.
3, the collusion between pirates and the Dutch
In fact, the southeast coast was not peaceful in the sixth year of the Tianqi (1626): On April 9, two Dutch Shib ships (large ships) It appeared in Xiamen because of chasing the silk that the Chinese businessman Xu Xinsu owed them to order. At that time, the Dutch always paid the funds to maritime merchants in order to reach a trade. They paid 40,000 Le Al (Dutch Shing/Lier) when they ordered raw silk from Xu Xinsu in 1625. , the raw silk has not arrived for a long time. Therefore, this trip to Xiamen.
When they were in Xiamen, Xu Xinsu brought 200 dan of raw silk. The Dutch wrote a letter to the general complaining that Taiwan's trade was not carried out as agreed. The general said that because of the danger of pirates and no profit, the merchants were unwilling to go. The Dutch expressed his intention to sweep the pirates and increase profits, and wrote a letter to the emperor to obtain Taiwan's legal trade license, but the general asked the Dutch to leave immediately and not come again.
"The general was obviously perfunctory. In the sixth year of the Tianqi revelation, there were also "pirates Lin Qilao and others who joined forces with the Red Barbarians, pretended to be kings, set sail on the sea, and killed the enemy."
As early as the previous year, there were so-called pirates "using Kuanhe year names, marshals, generals and other flags, claiming to be the first post of the Red Barbarians, and convicted them.”
In November of this year, pirates along the coast of Fujian and Guangxi recruited disciples and formed a party, and they became kings and country. Among them, Yang Liu, Cai San, Zhong Liu and others were the strongest. Fujian and Guangdong Navy attacked north and south, so Cai San went to Japan, Zhong Liu went to the east, and Yang Liu led more than 3,000 people, and 72 warships of all sizes and large were begging for surrender to the Fujian General Yu Zigao, hoping to fight the thief to serve themselves.
This shows that the self-destruction After the Lan people moved from Penghu to Taiwan, the Maritime Merchant and Ship Gang waited for an opportunity to gather in an attempt to control maritime trade. Due to the close relationship between the Maritime Merchant and the Dutch and the Japanese, the Fujian authorities were extremely vigilant. China promised to travel to Batavia to arrive on January 31, 1626 as scheduled. It is said that there were about 100 small Junchant ships heading to Manila this year.
In other words, at that time, the foreign trade at Haicheng Yue Port was still in normal state, that is, Chinese sailing ships can go to Manila and Southeast Asia for trade, while traveling to Japan and Taiwan was still restricted. of course smuggling exists, that is, there has been no consensus on the negotiations between China and the Netherlands on trade in Taiwan. The Dutch thought that if they gave up Penghu, they could trade with China in Taiwan, which was obviously not realized. Therefore, The trade issues between Guanzhong and the Netherlands have not been resolved, and the conflict will surely occur again.
Under abnormal trade conditions, smuggling maritime merchants and red barbarians appeared on the sea one after another, and Penghu defended the army under great pressure. However, in September of the sixth year of the Tianqi Dynasty, when the Governor Zhu Qinxiang discussed "stop tax deliberation" with the court, he mentioned that "now building a city (referring to Penghu) will increase troops, and garrison the distant sea for a long time, but it is a major city. The soldiers cannot be withdrawn, so they will give up foreign taxes and pay no money. "At that time, Penghu seemed to still need to guard the Ming army. In October of that year, Governor Zhu Qinxiang was replaced, and Zhu Yifeng was the new Governor of Fujian.
When Yang Liu surrendered to General Yu Zigao, the Minister of War Feng Jiahui discussed the policy of General Yu Zigao to use the policy of surrendering and killing the thieves:
"There is no more ruthless in the vassal treasury! Public and private notices are scarce. How to enrich the ranks? Where to buy equipment? Where to add ships? This is what is called "the difference between today's pirates and the pirates in the past". "It can be seen that Feng Jiahui felt helpless, and recruiting pirates became a temporary solution. What's more troublesome is that Feng Jiahui, the Minister of War, was completely unfamiliar with the coastal situation. He actually cut off the Penghu defense line that was hard-working during the Tianqi period."
This has a great impact on the morale of the Fujian coastal official army, especially the general Yu Zigao, who was praised by Nanjuyi as "the world's bidding for bronze" and is the son of the late anti-Japanese general Yu Dayou . Now he is an accomplice in the smuggling trade. Because of Penghu abandonment, low morale, shortage of defense, and unwillingness to fight, smuggling maritime merchants are even more rampant.
4, Zheng's Group's debut
In February of the seventh year of Tianqi (1627), a huge sea merchant ship gang was led by Zheng Zhilong (one official). "Gathering tens of thousands of people, hundreds of boats, invading the Zhongzuo House, and plundering the salary for three months."
In fact, Zheng Zhilong has become the newly emerged maritime overlord on the coast of Fujian. Zhu Yifeng, the newly appointed governor of Fujian, mentioned in August of this year that over the past year, the gangs of ships on the sea such as Sa Zima, Zhong Liu Lao, Niu Shit Lao and Cai San Lao were either captured or surrendered, and only Zheng Zhilong is the most worrying. Because Zheng Zhilong is special, they "give money to meet poor people, pay them back to help, and use them to bait spies with great strength to make ghosts and gods happy for everyone." As a result, "the thief and the thief are in the middle of the Fujian , the "deal thief and the thief" appeared.
ZhongzuoSou (Xiamen) belongs to Tong'an County . The magistrate at that time, Cao Lutai said that Zheng Zhilong "goes straight to the mainland, and there are about 200 ships running rampant. The most poisonous person searches the militia ships in various ports, and burns them together to prevent me from chasing them. "What's even more troublesome is Zheng Zhilong's false benevolence and righteousness. He went to the place where he was told to report water but never killed anyone. Some people were extremely poor and used money and rice to deal with it."
It can be seen that Zheng Zhilong's group has actually controlled the coastal situation. In August of this year, Ming Xizong died, and Ming Sizong succeeded to the throne.Although Emperor Sizong of Ming was quite independent and tried to cheer up, he was also a stubborn young emperor. Such a personality could not better understand the complex problem of pirates.
5. The international factor in the prevalence of pirates in the late Ming Dynasty
The problem of pirates has existed since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. During the Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty , was the most intense, but since Macau’s opening of port and Yuegang opened foreign trade, coastal trade activities were basically carried out in an orderly manner. Japan was satisfied with Chinese silk goods and other goods through the Portuguese in Macau, and Yuegang opened foreign trade to meet the Fujianese's willingness to go out to sea to make a living. Of course, China was also able to import a large amount of foreign silver from Macau and Yuegang, which also reduced the illegal activities of Japanese pirates due to the legal conduct of trade. The trade structure of
must be maintained by balancing all aspects. If one side changes, it will affect the whole body, and the normal trade order will be impacted. The first to challenge this trade structure during the Tianqi period of the late tomorrow was the Dutch. They occupied Penghu and wanted to monopolize trade with China. After several negotiations, the Dutch finally moved Taiwan Anping as a base for China-based China.
However, the trade not only failed to proceed as expected, but the reason was that the Dutch had been trying to stop trade between Manila and Yuegang, as well as between Macau and Japan, putting this effective trade framework under great pressure.
It is worth noting that the Japanese government's foreign policy changed during this period. Initially, , shogunate took laissez-faire attitude towards Christian Investigations, but in 1612, banning Christian orders and persecuting Christians, and Japan began to move towards the direction of locking the country.
1616, the shogunate prohibited European ships from entering ports outside Hirado and Nagasaki. In 1623, the British were banned from sailing, and in 1624, Spanish ships were also banned from Japan.
According to the Dutch records, the shogunate issued a ban on the Spanish and Portuguese living in Japan in 1626. The above facts will directly affect Macau's trade status and indirectly impact the above trade framework. As Japan's trade with Macau began to suffer setbacks, and the Dutch were still trusted by the Japanese because they did not involve Christian issues. Therefore, in order to seek a way out, maritime merchants returned to the coast of Fujian and formed a new wave of trade relations with the Dutch. The sea merchant ship gangs that appeared on the sea surface of Zhejiang and Fujian in 1625 were all related to the Red Barbarians, Eastern Bandits or Japan, which is the specific reflection of this period.
6. Domestic factors of the prevalence of pirates in the late Ming Dynasty
I remember that during the Tianqi period, Yu Zigao, who showed strong self-confidence, has become scared now. This general is really disappointing. Perhaps he has completely lost his direction in life. Cao Lutai, who served as the magistrate of Tong'an in the sixth year of Tianqi (1626), said very dissatisfied with Yu Zigao's actions: "General Yu had a Xu Xinsu in his stomach, and there was a Yang thief in his stomach."
Here "Xu Xinsu is the Chinese businessman Xu Xinsu who was about to be pursued by the Dutch. He was Li Dan's confidant and had made some achievements in the second Penghu negotiations. After Li Dan's death, Xu Xinsu became the contact between Yu Zigao and the Dutch. Whether there was any interest transfer between them, the Dutch and Xu Xinsu signed a trade contract, but it was time to go. At the end of 1626, Xu Xinsu had not delivered the silk thread because the stability of the coast had been severely disturbed and normal trade activities could no longer be carried out.
In April of this year, the smuggling maritime merchants Yang Liu (Lu) and Yang Qi had 72 warships of all sizes and large, and they ran around the sea, attacking and robbing. At that time, the censor Zhou Changjin of Jiangxi Road happened to go to Fujian to investigate and witness Yang Liu's rebellion. He also mentioned that when Fujian officials discussed the military suppression, General Yu Zigao actually "listened to the plan of the traitor Xu Xinsu, and lured him to surrender, and the governor Zhu Qinxiang used his power to kill other thieves and redeem himself. ”
After Yang Liu and others surrendered, Yu Zigao placed them on the sea, not "killing other thieves to redeem themselves", but engaged in trade activities.Zhou Changjin pointed out angrily, "If the traitor Xu Xinsu is a thief who is engaging in bandits outside and shallow military information inside, private goods are rushing to the sea, and the red barbarians break into the inner foreign countries, making the official army dare not ask." From this point of view, Yu Zigao, Yang Liu, Xu Xinsu and the Dutch became a structural smuggling trade group.
The nature of their nature can be seen from the fact that Cao Lutai, the magistrate of Tong'an, called Yang Liu a "Yang thief" and criticized him for being "restrained today and a bandit tomorrow".
In other words, foreign trade originally managed by the official has completely collapsed, and trade interests are completely controlled by the merchant ship gang. Zheng Zhilong's appearance was also to fight for the right to control the maritime trade.
(end of the text)
If you have other topics or opinions about the historical field, you can [Follow] me to chat privately, or you can leave a message in the comment section below and reply as soon as possible.
Although Emperor Sizong of Ming was quite independent and tried to cheer up, he was also a stubborn young emperor. Such a personality could not better understand the complex problem of pirates.5. The international factor in the prevalence of pirates in the late Ming Dynasty
The problem of pirates has existed since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. During the Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty , was the most intense, but since Macau’s opening of port and Yuegang opened foreign trade, coastal trade activities were basically carried out in an orderly manner. Japan was satisfied with Chinese silk goods and other goods through the Portuguese in Macau, and Yuegang opened foreign trade to meet the Fujianese's willingness to go out to sea to make a living. Of course, China was also able to import a large amount of foreign silver from Macau and Yuegang, which also reduced the illegal activities of Japanese pirates due to the legal conduct of trade. The trade structure of
must be maintained by balancing all aspects. If one side changes, it will affect the whole body, and the normal trade order will be impacted. The first to challenge this trade structure during the Tianqi period of the late tomorrow was the Dutch. They occupied Penghu and wanted to monopolize trade with China. After several negotiations, the Dutch finally moved Taiwan Anping as a base for China-based China.
However, the trade not only failed to proceed as expected, but the reason was that the Dutch had been trying to stop trade between Manila and Yuegang, as well as between Macau and Japan, putting this effective trade framework under great pressure.
It is worth noting that the Japanese government's foreign policy changed during this period. Initially, , shogunate took laissez-faire attitude towards Christian Investigations, but in 1612, banning Christian orders and persecuting Christians, and Japan began to move towards the direction of locking the country.
1616, the shogunate prohibited European ships from entering ports outside Hirado and Nagasaki. In 1623, the British were banned from sailing, and in 1624, Spanish ships were also banned from Japan.
According to the Dutch records, the shogunate issued a ban on the Spanish and Portuguese living in Japan in 1626. The above facts will directly affect Macau's trade status and indirectly impact the above trade framework. As Japan's trade with Macau began to suffer setbacks, and the Dutch were still trusted by the Japanese because they did not involve Christian issues. Therefore, in order to seek a way out, maritime merchants returned to the coast of Fujian and formed a new wave of trade relations with the Dutch. The sea merchant ship gangs that appeared on the sea surface of Zhejiang and Fujian in 1625 were all related to the Red Barbarians, Eastern Bandits or Japan, which is the specific reflection of this period.
6. Domestic factors of the prevalence of pirates in the late Ming Dynasty
I remember that during the Tianqi period, Yu Zigao, who showed strong self-confidence, has become scared now. This general is really disappointing. Perhaps he has completely lost his direction in life. Cao Lutai, who served as the magistrate of Tong'an in the sixth year of Tianqi (1626), said very dissatisfied with Yu Zigao's actions: "General Yu had a Xu Xinsu in his stomach, and there was a Yang thief in his stomach."
Here "Xu Xinsu is the Chinese businessman Xu Xinsu who was about to be pursued by the Dutch. He was Li Dan's confidant and had made some achievements in the second Penghu negotiations. After Li Dan's death, Xu Xinsu became the contact between Yu Zigao and the Dutch. Whether there was any interest transfer between them, the Dutch and Xu Xinsu signed a trade contract, but it was time to go. At the end of 1626, Xu Xinsu had not delivered the silk thread because the stability of the coast had been severely disturbed and normal trade activities could no longer be carried out.
In April of this year, the smuggling maritime merchants Yang Liu (Lu) and Yang Qi had 72 warships of all sizes and large, and they ran around the sea, attacking and robbing. At that time, the censor Zhou Changjin of Jiangxi Road happened to go to Fujian to investigate and witness Yang Liu's rebellion. He also mentioned that when Fujian officials discussed the military suppression, General Yu Zigao actually "listened to the plan of the traitor Xu Xinsu, and lured him to surrender, and the governor Zhu Qinxiang used his power to kill other thieves and redeem himself. ”
After Yang Liu and others surrendered, Yu Zigao placed them on the sea, not "killing other thieves to redeem themselves", but engaged in trade activities.Zhou Changjin pointed out angrily, "If the traitor Xu Xinsu is a thief who is engaging in bandits outside and shallow military information inside, private goods are rushing to the sea, and the red barbarians break into the inner foreign countries, making the official army dare not ask." From this point of view, Yu Zigao, Yang Liu, Xu Xinsu and the Dutch became a structural smuggling trade group.
The nature of their nature can be seen from the fact that Cao Lutai, the magistrate of Tong'an, called Yang Liu a "Yang thief" and criticized him for being "restrained today and a bandit tomorrow".
In other words, foreign trade originally managed by the official has completely collapsed, and trade interests are completely controlled by the merchant ship gang. Zheng Zhilong's appearance was also to fight for the right to control the maritime trade.
(end of the text)
If you have other topics or opinions about the historical field, you can [Follow] me to chat privately, or you can leave a message in the comment section below and reply as soon as possible.
