"Little man, so... thank you for helping me." Li Qizhao subconsciously kept smiling and bowing to thank him.
In the early summer of the 51st year of Qianlong (1786), in the early summer of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Yaeshan Port (now Ishigaki Island ), a group of refugees in ragged clothes with rat tails with money were counted on the remaining goods on the ship with the assistance of Ryukyu officials.
Li Qizhao is the leader of this group of people. He is 28 years old this year, a native of Nanhai County, Guangdong Province, Qing Dynasty, and is also the owner of a merchant ship. On July 9 of that year, this treasure ship, marked "New No. 185", encountered a storm for five consecutive days in the East China Sea, and was "discounted for a new rudder and cut off the large rudder." Fortunately, most of the people on the boat should not die. After drifting with the flow for 7 days, they were lucky enough to be docked in Yaede Mountain, Ryukyu Kingdom.
Kawahira Bay, one of the ports of Ishigaki Island, is the most remote place for criminal exile in the eyes of Ryukyu people. But there are often drifters from various countries who have similar circumstances to Li Qizhao in the area. Therefore, the officials in the Japanese Ageyama are very considerate and thoughtful about handling shipwreck accidents. Li Qizhao came to the "civilized island" under the rule of the Qing Dynasty's subordinate states with a well-regulated "Shengfan" settlement like the eastern part of Taiwan. It was a blessing in disgrace.
Ten days later, Yachyama asked him to submit a report including the purpose of sailing from the Qing Dynasty, the route, the lives and life and death of the crew.
Interestingly, after the Ryukyu Kingdom was annexed by Japan and abolished it as in Okinawa Prefecture, the lord of the old local nobleman, Miyagi Ramaki Kiri, donated all the administrative files hidden in his home to the new government, which is the famous "Miyagi Ramado Documents". The so-called Michi is a local administrative unit of Ryukyu, which is probably equivalent to the cities, towns and villages of Okinawa Prefecture today.
The content of the report written by Li Qizhao back then has been preserved to this day by chance. Let us also have a glimpse of the mental journey of this bumpy drifter.
In Gong Liang's palace, Gong Liang's house
"It will start from last year..." Perhaps Li Qizhao was whispering silently at that time, thinking about the organizational language, for fear that something would be missed and that he would cause trouble in a foreign country.
(The following is the general translation of the report)
"The ship of Xiaoren was originally a sea ship No. 18, Minxian Tianzi, which was listed in Fuzhou Prefecture, and was more than 80 meters long. In early May of the 50th year of Qianlong, we set off from Fuzhou and went to Guangzhou Prefecture for trade. Until the first day of November of that year, we repaired the bottom of the ship at Jiangmen Guangdong Customs, and bought local local products such as raw silk, white sugar, yellow sugar, fans, longan, and citrus cakes.
This year, it is now On the ninth day of the month, Guangdong Xinhui County re-hanged the new number 185 plate for us. Originally, we had 51 people in a boat, leaving Guangdong Customs on the 29th day of the first lunar month, and we were going to Zhejiang Ningbo to sell goods. As a result, we encountered a storm on the road and the old rudder was broken. On the third day of the March, the boat finally reached the shore, but it had arrived at the Brunei country. "
This time we went to sea and traveled around two foreign countries. I am afraid that Li Qizhao would find it funny at the beginning.
"We have many people in the Qing in Brunei, and the locals are also enthusiastic to help us repair the ships. Interestingly, there are still 30 crew members of Ningbo ships and 73 Xiamen ships in Brunei. Like us, they were stranded in the local area due to a shipwreck and no ship returned to China. It just so happened that our ship was repaired. They were all from the Qing Dynasty, so I promised to take them all and go back together."
Li Qizhao's list of crew members, details The names, ages, origins, life and death of each person, and the crew members attached to Brunei were listed separately to distinguish
"But, since I came to Brunei by chance, I naturally couldn't come in vain. I replaced the original raw silk and sugar on the ship with ebony, pepper and fragrant. I thought I could make more money after returning to China, but who knew that after going to sea, I encountered strong winds again, and all the masts and rudders were destroyed. There were 25 people who fell into the sea and fed the fish.I hurriedly threw more than half of the cargo, and the ship was lucky enough not to sink. Later, I arrived at the shore of your country. Thanks to the great masters and leaders of Yachung Mountain, we can survive. "
" Originally, we had 1,750 dan of ebony, more than 100 dan of incense and 1,550 dan of pepper on our ship. Now, these things add up, only 1,200 burs left. "
" Two of the 51 people who followed us to the sea at the beginning died. One was Zhang Yasan from Guangzhou Prefecture, who was 21 years old this year. The other is Su Yi, who is 41 years old in Fujian Zhangzhou Prefecture. The rest of the dead were from the group of people who returned from Brunei and me, many of them were from Chaozhou , Xinghua and Quanzhou . "
" I beg your king to show kindness, the master of Yachung Mountain is the master of your land, and reward us poor people with wood, and wait until the ship is repaired to let us return home."
Li Qizhao's handbook on going out and the goods he took
Yachung Mountain's Ryukyu officials are not trying to covet the goods on their ships, it is almost an unconditional effort. The local area not only needs to do it for rafting The people provide food, clothing and medicine, and they also need to use a large amount of manual labor to help them salvage the remaining property on the ship and assist in preservation. The only thing drifters can do for Ryukyu is to pat their chests in the report, and there will be no people or things on their ship that will cause trouble for the Ryukyu Palace.
Li Qizhao swears at the end of the report that there is no " Nanman Monk pretending to be a Tang people " on the ship, nor "Xinshishi, Ban" "Ju (marathora) poisons and military weapons, if you lie, " is willing to accept national laws ".
Not to mention dangerous goods such as poisons and military weapons, the so-called "Nanban monk" is the "Catholic" who is ruled by Japan 1 Tokugawa Shogunate regarded as a "Catholic" who is thorny in the flesh in the eyes.
In fact, one of the responsibilities of Yaeyama Yasuan is to carefully examine the religious beliefs of drifters in various countries. Once Catholics were discovered, they had to report the major events of the royal palace immediately.
But the trouble is that in addition to the European colonies in Southeast Asia, Catholicism was also widely spread in the Qing Dynasty. In the early 19th century, a North Korean Catholic Huang Siyong even tried to contact Beijing Catholics with silk books, hoping that they would tell the Roman Catholic Church that they would send troops to North Korea and force the Korean royal family to cancel the Catholic ban. We must obey the orders of the Ryukyu Palace in the Satsuma vassal of Japan. Naturally, It is reasonable to strictly interrogate the beliefs of the drifters from the Qing Dynasty to implement the Tokugawa Shogunate ban in China.
Yae Mountain (red) and the Ryukyu main island in the northeast
may also be Ryukyu's fear of Catholicism, which made many Qing Dynasty drifters not only swear in the report that the crew had no faith in Catholicism, but also needed to list the names of the sea gods on the ship: "(Li Qizhao) The worship of Putuo Guanyin Bodhisattva and the Queen of Heaven's Holy Mother Yuanjun is always worshipped.
It feels like a child who is trying hard to deny that he is stealing snacks in front of his parents, and he also adds "I'm full after dinner."
According to Li Qizhao's signature, we can know that this report was written on July 31 of that year. Just two days later, Li Qizhao submitted a second report to Yachongshan. Because a crew member named Li Yong died of illness in the fleet, Li Qizhao drafted his experience of illness to death and the various preferential treatments he received from Ryukyu into a text, which was regarded as a thank you to Bachong Mountain and the royal palace.
reported to the merchant Li Qizhao for his kindness and gratitude. Li Yongqi, Quanzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province, , Tong'an County, , aged 40 years old, , 9, was infected with dampness and phlegm and wind, and returned to the Tang Dynasty on June 29 this year, and drifted to your country on July 21st . The disease is getting worse and worse. Master Meng asked a doctor to treat the pulse and gave him medicine. He had no tests. The leader of Mengtong also asked for advice day and night, and he was very generous. Unexpectedly, the disease became worse and worse. Finally, on the first day of August, the master of the reported the case before the master. It was immediately confirmed that the was given a coffin, a shirt, a pair of trousers, a cave in the mountains, a pair of sacrifices, a pair of fragrant wine, paper and silk, and a burial utensil. It was at noon on the second day of the lunar month.The natives helped to bury the walls together, and erected the monument to steadily . I deeply felt that the king's kindness and kindness were vast and blessed with the people, so I always kindness underground, and my deity was quiet, so I envy you so that you can be envied by the beautiful and envious. The king is as kind as heaven, and he will be kind to death and help his life, and will never forget it forever. Maybe it will always be reborn. Be careful to play. purpose. On the second day of the eighth month of the 51st year of Qianlong, merchant Li Qizhao bowed and reported it to him.
Li Qizhao's article actually reveals a lot of interesting details, such as the existence of "common news" (translation). I think so. Yaeyama is indeed remote, but if he is not proficient in language translation, how can he handle so many drifting civil affairs? The article also specifically lists the characteristics of Li Yong who died of illness, that is, "not needed" and has no beard, which also echoes the verification below.
In addition, the Ryukyu Palace's care for the drifters who are sick is indeed humane. In addition to asking doctors to deliver medicine, the people who die of illness are also rewarded with shrines, coffins, livestock, wine and paper money and other sacrifices, and building monuments and tombs is no problem. Li Qizhao called the Ryukyu King "kind of kindness as heaven" and "benevolence and kindness", which may also be sincere praise and touching.
1786, when Li Qizhao drifted to Ryukyu, it was King Shangmu who reigned.
1786, when Li Qizhao drifted to Ryukyu, it was King Shangmu who reigned. In fact, this year was also an extremely important year in the history of Ryukyu legal system. The code "Ryukyu Science and Law" compiled by King Shangmu was officially promulgated nationwide
. However, Li Qizhao may not know that just 7 months ago, two groups of drifters from the Qing Dynasty came to Bachong Mountain only 4 days apart.
One of the ship owners was named Chen Taining, who was from Fuzhou, Fujian. His sea ship was listed as "Xingzi No. 64", which is six feet long and nine feet wide. Like Li Qizhao, Chen Taining was also asked to issue a report.
On the second day of June that year, Chen Taining led his crew to load fir trees in Nantai, went out to sea in Min'an Town on the 23rd, and arrived in Shandong on July 12th to sell goods. On the ninth day of November, Chen Taining carried a ship full of green beans to return to his hometown to sell them. On the first day of December, the sailing officially set off. Unexpectedly, two days later, it was "infected with hurricanes and waves" and the mast of the sea ship was damaged. Twelve days later, it drifted to Yaeshan Island. Yaeshan sent many small boats to guide Chen Taining in the Fan, and finally allowed him to be safely parked at Miyagi Harbor.
Myanogawa
Chen Taining's report also strives to ensure that there are no Catholics pretending to be Chinese among the crew, as well as poisonous weapons, and the words are exactly the same as Li Qizhao. It can be seen that Yaeyama must have given the report template to the drifters at that time.
As for the goods on Chen Taining's ship, they are far less interesting than Li Qizhao's local products in Brunei. They are almost all bean products, and there are only more than 90 cabbages:
1. 4,200 liters of green beans. 1. Five packs of bean powder total 400 kilograms. 1. Thirty slices of bean dregs, totaling 450 kilograms. 1. White japonica □ , 1. Two gongs 1. Two rice pots 1. Twenty empty jars.
In the eyes of many people, for things like going overseas for high-risk things, the goods handled must be treasures of extraordinary value. But the reports of Li Qizhao and Chen Taining reveal to us the other side of maritime trade. There are also such a large number of daily necessities, such as the green beans and cabbage on Chen Taining's ship, and the sugar and longan on Li Qizhao's ship.
From the Han Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the coastline was constantly changing, and merchant ships passing through the ocean were no longer limited to transporting treasures. The common people also have the opportunity to take advantage of the ocean, which is the greatest progress.
The thing that I found most interesting about this report is also at the end of Chen Taining's sentence " wishes the prince a great blessing and great blessing ". Such congratulations are full of the fireworks in the words of ordinary people in the Qing Dynasty. For the Ryukyu Palace, which is contaminated with the Japanese style, I think it is not very used to it.
Chen Taining reported
Chen Jie, a sailor who drifted to Yachong Mountain 4 days later than Chen Taining, may be the most miserable drifter in history. He was from Tong'an County, Quanzhou, Fujian. In June of the 49th year of Qianlong, he followed the ship owner to drive the ship in Xiamen and headed to Kanto for trade. It took about a whole year.Chen Jie's ship owner bought "full warehouse of red dates" to return.
But on the way, on the first day of December 1, the 50th year of Qianlong, the ship encountered a strong wind outside Ninghai County (Muping) in Shandong. Ten days later, the merchant ship could not withstand the blows of wind and waves, and most of the people on the ship drowned and died. Only Chen Jie and a partner named Lin Gong hid in the water cabinet where Danshui was placed, and then they survived. However, Lin Gong "suddenly suffered from hunger and cold", but he died of energy a day later.
Chen Jie, who had no food, could only do the same as Lin Gong's body squeezing in the water cabinet and waiting to die. Who knew that 7 days later, the water cabinet actually floated to Yaede Mountain. Chen Jie was able to save his life.
and a corpse are feeling like spending seven days together? I'm afraid most people cannot understand it now.
Chen Jie report
Chen Jie and Lin Gong hid in the water cabinet in a hurry, so naturally they could not carry any property. Apart from Lin Gong's body, there was indeed nothing in the water cabinet. However, even so, Chen Jie's report still showed the words "No Southern Barbarian Monk" and "Respectful worship of Guanyin Master", which shows that the Ryukyu Palace has strict regulations on the documents on the drifting people's institutes.
Because Chen Taining and Chen Jie arrived one after another, Chen Jie was alone and helpless, the Ryukyu officials in Bachong Mountain entrusted Chen Jie to Chen Taining. Chen Taining then made a second report and agreed to wait until the ship is repaired, and then wait for the good wind to bring Chen Jie back to China.
Chen Taining's second report
There is also a report of a drifter in the 36th year of Qianlong's reign (1771). Its author is Li Zhenchun, a native of Min County, Fuzhou, Fujian Province. This year, Emperor Qianlong held a grand welcoming ceremony for the Tuergut tribe who returned to the east at Chengde Summer Resort. However, this has no close relationship with Li Zhenchun.
Last year, in December of the 35th year of Qianlong, Li Zhenchun drove the "Shunzi No. 67" merchant ship, loaded fir trees under the Nantai Bridge, and went to sea from Min'an Town to Shandong. In June, Li Zhenchun arrived and in November, he bought a lot of beans in Shandong. On the second day of December, I drove out to the ocean. The bad luck was that I encountered strong wind the next day, and the masts of all sizes on the ship were destroyed. The ship could not move forward, so I could only see the will of heaven floating and arrived at Yachung Mountain in 19 days.
You may have discovered that although this gentleman arrived in Ryukyu 15 years earlier than Chen Taining, the route he went to sea in the Qing Dynasty and the goods he bought and sold were almost the same as Chen Taining. Both of them were lucky enough to stay in their report, which was really an indescribable fate.
The cargo on Li Zhenchun's ship
I don't know if you still remember the report Li Qizhao submitted to Ryukyu when the crew member Li Yong died of illness, which also specifically described Li Yong's "needless" appearance. But in Li Zhenchun's era, when the report was submitted for the first time, the crew members had to be registered one by one.
However, there is no such statistics in the first report submitted by Li Qizhao and Chen Taining. In the past 15 years, perhaps Ryukyu has made fine adjustments to the format of drifting civilian documents and is not known?
Fortunately, the Nanman monk who should have appeared in Li Zhenchun's writing without any sign. It seems that Ryukyu's defense against Catholicism has never been relaxed.
Similarly, the preferential treatment of the Ryukyu Palace to drifters continued until the 19th century. In April of the sixth year of Jiaqing (1802), Xu Sanguan from Tong'an County, Quanzhou, Fujian, brought a total of 23 crew members to Guangdong to buy a "two-brig bird boat" and put the "Jingzi No. 192" sign in Haicheng County, Zhangzhou, Fujian. Xu Sanguan went to Guangdong to buy a lot of sugar and planned to send it to Tianjin for sale. On August 20, the ship arrived in Tianjin. Xu Sanguan bought red dates, black dates, walnuts and other groceries in Tianjin to return home. On October 16th, the ship set sail in Tianjin. When it arrived in the Shandong Ocean on November 11th, unfortunately the mast broke and "drifted with the wind". On December 4th, it arrived at Baecong Mountain.
It is worth mentioning that Xu Sanguan's ship was not seriously damaged until he approached Yachung Mountain.But when he arrived at the coast of Ryukyu, he was shaking a strong wind in the night. Xu Sanguan had just arrived and didn't know the depth of the harbor. Finally, the ship hit the reef at the time of Xu, and the red dates and walnuts in the cabin were washed out by the sea. Originally, Xu Sanguan also had two large iron cannons, one medium iron cannon, and a gunpowder bird gun on his ship, which were all sunk at this moment. The entire boat was left with the entire seat of the statue of the Buddha's Virgin and a small iron anchor.
The owner and passengers of the ship "both support the plate water cabinet", and then drifted to the sea in Uehara Village and landed on the shore and were rescued by local officials in Yaeshan. Because Xu Sanguan's ship disintegrated, the Yachung Mountain officials specially built houses for him to live in, and "rewarded winter and summer cloth to cover the body, and gave daily firewood, wood, vegetables and vegetables to be used for everyday use."
Xu Sanguan Report
The treatment of the victims is the same as before. In the 20th year of Jiajing (1815), Wu Qiuwan, a merchant ship owner in Chenghai County, Guangdong Province, drifted to Bachong Mountain, "the boat broke and lost eight guests, and drifted to the beach for five." Yaeyama Yasuka generously gave coffins and clothes to bury the victims with courtesy.
The Qing Dynasty refugees who drifted to Yachung Mountain have no right to appear in history. Only by relying on these Ryukyu reports that have survived to this day can future generations know these thrilling stories.
In fact, we should indeed reflect on the fact that many inappropriate expressions in history education represent the Qing Dynasty's theory of "close-off and locking in the country". It is an extremely inappropriate practice to refer to maritime trade almost entire Qing Dynasty using a sea ban that was actually only briefly implemented during the Kangxi period.
If the Qing Dynasty had taken the country seriously, how could Li Qizhao see so many Chinese in Brunei? How could these "uninvited guests" in Ryukyu appear one after another? Of course, since the 1980s, the academic community has long begun to reflect on the limitations of this statement, but textbook descriptions often find it difficult to keep up with the trend, which has led to many misunderstandings that have continued to this day.
The era of Ryukyu drifters is far away from us. But the records they left are enough to show us the true face of an era. Including Ryukyu, Chinese studies on Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and other countries have been increasingly valued since the new millennium. Doraemon's treasure bags have been opened, and the talents we see are deeper and farther than those of our predecessors.
