I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 65: Warning from Lu Tong, Admiral of the Ming Navy

As Lu Tong's military order was issued, Dinghai Camp surrounded Hirado Port tightly.

After more than two hours, a small boat slowly came into the harbor. On it sat a man. He was short and dressed in black clothes, like a monkey in a theatrical robe.

"I am Ishii Sanxing, the magistrate of Hirado Domain. I have come here on the orders of my domain lord Matsuura Takanobu to negotiate with the Ming navy." The man spoke in an awkward Ming official language.

"Bring it to the flagship."

Lu Tong said immediately after receiving the report.

Soon, the two sides held talks on the deck of the flagship, a 4,000-ton Fu ship.

Lu Tong said in a deep voice: "I am Lu Tong, the admiral of the Zhejiang Navy of the Ming Dynasty."

"Hello, Admiral Lu. I am Ishii Sanxing, the magistrate of Hirado Domain. I am here to negotiate on the orders of our lord, Matsuura Takanobu. May I ask what the navy of the upper country has to offer to our Hirado Domain?"

"There is a group of pirates in our Ming sea area, robbing merchant ships, killing people and stealing goods. My navy pursued them all the way. Now they have fled to Hirado Port."

"Pirates? Our Hirado Port is completely open, and people are free to come and go. We didn't know there were pirates coming in, and we can't control what they do outside.

If there really are pirates, could you please ask your country's Ministry of Rites to send a letter to inform our clan, and after we verify that they are correct, we will definitely arrest them and hand them over to your country."

"No need to bother." Lu Tong waved his hand and said, "My navy is following the order of the Ming Emperor to patrol the sea and protect the safety of merchant ships. All ships that travel to and from our Ming Dynasty and operate legally and pay taxes according to regulations are protected by our Ming Dynasty imperial law and our Ming Dynasty navy."

Ishii Sanxing was shocked: "Has your country lifted the maritime ban?"

"Maritime ban?" Lu Tong laughed. "My Great Ming has a maritime ban, which only bans private exchanges. Are official exchanges banned? If it is completely banned, how can you talk about your legitimate trade?

The emperor of our dynasty has eliminated the pirates in the southeast, and considering the difficulties faced by the people, he has granted maritime trade licenses, allowing them to trade freely at sea. It has been more than two years, don’t you know about this? "

Ishii Sanxing remained silent.

The trade between the Ming Dynasty and Eastern Japan has always been very complicated.

Starting from the Hongwu period, there was a comprehensive maritime ban, prohibiting trade with the Eastern Japanese. The Eastern Japanese merchants then began to collude with local forces in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty to engage in smuggling and looting.

Later, Emperor Taizu asked the Ashikaga Shogunate in Eastern Japan to wipe out the Japanese pirates.

The Shogun at the time, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, was doing a good job, so Emperor Taizu granted him Kan'ei, allowing trade to be conducted in the form of tribute.

After that, every emperor would grant the Kanhe. But the control was very strict, usually 100 Kanhe for the Rizi number and 100 Kanhe for the Benzi number.

Every time a new emperor ascended the throne, he would take back all the Kanhe granted by the previous emperor and grant two hundred new Kanhe. By then, there were six kinds of Kanhe: Yongle, Xuande, Jingtai, Chenghua, Hongzhi and Zhengde.

However, two hundred routes were far from enough for the trade between the Ming Dynasty and Eastern Japan.

In the early years of the Jiajing reign, Emperor Jiajing wanted to make more money, so he acquiesced to the lifting of the maritime ban. Japanese ships from the East flooded in, but the local authorities still implemented it according to the Kanhe.

As a result, many Eastern Japanese ships took out their old kanhe, such as the kanhe from the Jingtai, Chenghua, Hongzhi, and Zhengde dynasties that had not been recalled in time.

Anyway, there is no Kanhe from the Jiajing Dynasty, so it seems reasonable to use the Kanhe from the previous period.

Some East Japanese sea merchants were unable to produce the kanhe, so they simply robbed their companions'.

The local officials of the Ming Dynasty were conservative in their thinking and did not want to take responsibility. Faced with the chaos, they simply took a one-size-fits-all approach, refusing to recognize anyone and not allowing anyone to trade.

This really made the East Japanese merchants anxious.

They staked their entire fortunes and took huge risks to come to Ningbo in the Ming Dynasty just to make a fortune, but they were not allowed to trade.

Immediately, he became frightened.

In addition, they had close ties with local forces in the southeast, and after secretly conspiring, they started the Ningbo Rebellion.

Local officials only knew how to take a one-size-fits-all approach and did not know how to deal with the chaos. They simply reported to the court and abolished the Zhejiang and Fujian Maritime Customs, leaving only the Guangdong Maritime Customs.

However, this move of burying one's head in the sand and showing one's butt outside has instead stimulated further collusion between the East Japanese merchants and the local forces in the southeast. The trend of private transactions has become more and more serious. The local government has tried its best to suppress it and guard against it.

Finally, the contradictions intensified. In order to obtain huge profits, the local forces in the southeast colluded with the Japanese merchants in the east to cause chaos. The Japanese invasion was rampant and the southeastern coast suffered terribly.

Lu Tan and Ishii Sanxing were both aware of this period of history.

Lu Tong's answer made Ishii Sanxing stunned.

Is the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty about to change?
Previously, the so-called maritime merchant license was considered by East Japanese merchants to be just another way of obtaining a license. In addition, the Ming Dynasty's national policies were changeable and they liked to change things based on personal relationships, so they kept waiting and watching.

No one expected that the Ming navy would for the first time chase to the East Wo port, in the name of protecting merchant ships and hunting down pirates.

Ishii Sanxing now urgently needs to find out the true intentions of the Ming Dynasty.

"Admiral Lu, we have also heard about the maritime merchant license, but as far as we know, it is only for merchants from your country. It seems that it has not been issued to foreign vassals like us."

"If you don't apply for it, how do you know it can't be issued?"

Ishii Sanxing was shocked: "What! Admiral Lu, can we, the merchants from the Eastern Japan, also apply?"

Has the world really changed?
Did the Ming Dynasty government allow foreign merchant ships to travel freely and trade goods?

"The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty has granted the exclusive right to maritime trade to the Coordination Bureau, which has full authority to dispose of it. In the 41st year of Jiajing, the Coordination Bureau promulgated the Ming Dynasty's Overseas Trade Regulations.

In the 42nd year, it was revised. The regulations are very detailed. I happen to have a copy here, so I’ll give it to you to read.”

Lu Tong waved his hand and asked his subordinate to hand over a thin booklet.

Ishii Sanxing took it with a serious expression, then stood up and said respectfully: "Admiral Lu, this matter is of great importance. I need to go back and report to the Lord of our Domain."

"It's okay, you can go and report it yourself. But the sea area of ​​Hirado Port has been blocked by our navy. Only entry is allowed, not exit. Any ship that dares to leave the port will be seized. Those who resist will be sunk!"

Lu Tong's murderous words made Ishii Sanxing furious, but when he saw the densely packed Ming navy ships around him, he immediately suppressed his anger.

The Ming Dynasty is serious this time!

Go back and report first.

Ishii Sanxing returned to Hirado Domain and went straight into Honmaru, reported the situation to Matsuura Takanobu, and handed him the booklet.

"The Ming Coordinating Bureau is ordered to promulgate the Regulations on the Management of Maritime Trade."

When Matsuura Takanobu opened it, he saw dozens of densely written entries.

He flipped through it and found regulations related to East Japanese maritime merchants.

East Japanese merchants are temporarily only allowed to dock in Ningbo, Wenzhou and Quanzhou, while Southeast Asian merchants are only allowed to dock in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Zhangzhou. After arriving at the shore, they must immediately "declare customs" to the Maritime Customs Department of the Coordinating Bureau stationed in the six places and submit a list of the goods on board the ship.

Then, businesses with maritime trade licenses will bid and purchase the goods on the ship.

The goods that maritime merchants need to purchase can also be listed and quoted by licensed businesses.

Therefore, all transactions must be recorded clearly and conducted under the supervision of the Maritime Affairs Department. After the transaction is completed and the customs duties are paid, the Maritime Affairs Department will issue a voucher.

Merchants could go out to sea with this certificate and enjoy the safety protection of the Ming navy at sea.

After reading it, Matsuura Takanobu handed the booklet to the four trusted family elders sitting below him for circulation.

"Lord, it looks simple." The family elder said hesitantly.

The second elder of the family said angrily: "The Ming Dynasty forced us to sell the goods to a designated merchant. Is it intentionally lowering the price? Is it taking advantage of us?"

Everyone was silent, looking up at Matsuura Takanobu.

(End of this chapter)