In April of the second year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, the city of Ningbo at this time was a good time for Yang Liuyi and the spring breeze to be intoxicating. Due to its unique geographical location, Ningbo City has been the only place where Japanese tributary missions have landed since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
Every few years, there would be a huge fleet of several or dozens of ships, carrying a full ship of tribute to the shore, and after being verified by the Municipal Shipping Division, these fleets would continue to go north to meet the Heavenly Son.
Above_ Merchant ships coming to Pay Tribute to China
The Ming Dynasty's tributary diplomacy degenerated into tributary trade
Tribute, the purpose of the tribute, the front and the tribute in the back, is to reaffirm the hierarchical order of the countries by paying tribute, and the number of gifts is secondary. In order to highlight its strength, the Ming Dynasty often gave several times as many gifts to the tributary state as the tribute. Although the Ming Dynasty, as a suzerainty, has always put the formal purpose of tribute first, the tributary states have long grasped the essence of the tributary trade in a realistic manner. In order to obtain economic benefits, tributary states headed by Korea, Ryukyu, and Japan continued to send tributary missions to the Ming Dynasty. Tributary diplomacy during the middle of the Ming Dynasty had degenerated into tributary trade.
In fact, the continuous succession of tributary missions was also a considerable financial burden for the Ming Dynasty. In order to show the style of a big country, after the tributary mission came, it was necessary to receive a good life, and whether it was food or accommodation, it must be higher than the average level of society. In the third year of Hongwu (1370 AD), the Ming court set up three municipal shipping divisions with the three port cities of Ningbo, Quanzhou and Guangzhou as treaty ports. Under the rule of the three municipal secretaries, three high-class hotels were also set up to receive tributary missions.
Above_Ningbo, the seat of the Municipal Shipping Division of Japan
Ningbo Province, Zhejiang Province, during the Ming Dynasty
In addition to the reception expenses, the imperial court also had to spend a high price to buy most of the goods brought by the mission. In order to spread the fame of the Heavenly Dynasty, the foreign countries of the Inclusive Fan State were also subjected to limited free trade with the mission after the official diplomatic ceremonies were completed. Generally speaking, this free trade lasted for three or five days, and only the most loyal tributary states of the Ming Dynasty, Korea and Ryukyu, were able to break through this restriction.
The tributary mission brought its own country's specialties to the Heavenly Dynasty to sell, and then exchanged the harvested copper coins for the Ming Dynasty commodities that were lacking in their own countries, which were brought back to China and sold to their own people. With several times more profitable than this, it is no wonder that tributary diplomacy has degenerated into tributary trade.
Above_ Ryukyu trading ships that came to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty
The Tributary Power Dispute between the Hosokawa clan and the Ouchi clan in Japan
The tribute is so lucrative that if it is not restricted, it will tear off the last fig leaf and turn it into a naked trade practice. At the same time, in order to reduce the financial burden of receiving missions, the Ming court formulated a survey system that limited the number of tributes. The Ming Dynasty Ministry of Rites would issue "surveys" to its authorities from time to time according to the specific conditions of each country, and only the missions holding the survey could be received by the Ming court, and the ocean-going merchant ships that did not have the survey were not allowed to dock in ports, let alone be allowed to trade ashore.
In the second year of Jiajing, Japan was in the Warring States period, and the domestic regime took turns one after another. Originally, Japan's tributary power was in the hands of Ashikaga Yoshinori Shogun, but after Ashikaga Yoshinori lost power, the Hosokawa clan and the Ouchi clan fought for tributary power.
In that year, the Ouchi clan took control of the tribute and sent three envoy ships to the port of Ningbo. I heard that after the Ouchi clan sent a mission, the Hosokawa clan was not happy, and the Hosokawa clan only had an expired Koji Kanhe in their hands. The Hosokawa clan also sent its own mission to Ningbo with the attitude of trying it out.
Above_ Japanese Hosokawa clan family pattern
Kaminojo_?Mr. Ouchi, Japan
The Hosokawa mission knew that it was not in line with the reason, so they bribed Lai En, the grand eunuch of ningbo City. Although the Hosokawa mission arrived later than the Ouchi mission, the inspection was earlier than the Ouchi mission, and at the welcome dinner, Ryan deliberately placed the seat of the Hosokawa mission on the Ouchi mission.
For the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, especially the Ming Dynasty officialdom, accepting bribes and favoritism was the same ordinary thing as raising his hand and throwing his hands and feet, but Lai En could never have imagined that his confusion would cause a terrible disaster.
The Ouchi mission, which was meant to be a victory ticket in hand, came to the port of Ningbo early with the only proof of survey, but it could not beat the silver that the Hosokawa mission gave to Ryan. Without Ryan's cooperation, the Hosokawa mission would not have been able to see The Sacred, let alone trade. Of course, it is impossible to complain, there is no place to complain. Either they returned to Japan in disgrace, or they fought hard, and the Ouchi mission chose the latter.
Above_ Eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty - Ningbo tribute incident
After the banquet, the Ouchi mission snatched the weapons from its ships from the Ming soldiers and began to attack the Hosokawa mission and fleet. Hosokawa was blindfolded by the surprise attack and had to hold his head and scurry. After the Ouchi mission finished fighting the Hosokawa mission, it did not stop and set fire to the banquet hall.
Although the eunuch Ryan was behind it, the Hosokawa mission was beaten down by the Ouchi mission. In the end, the envoys of the Hosokawa Mission fled to the city of Shaoxing, and the Ouchi Mission, after unsuccessfully demanding that Shaoxing hand over the enemy, burned and plundered all the way, and finally recaptured the ship and went to sea to return home.
Ming history records that the Ming Dynasty lost five officers, soldiers and civilians in this incident. The disaster caused the "great earthquake in central Zhejiang", and the people of Ningbo were overwhelmed.
This is the famous Ningbo tribute incident in the history of the Ming Dynasty, also known as the Battle of Tribute and the Mingzhou Rebellion. Originally, it was to show the style of a big country and enjoy the pleasure brought by power, but this time the two Japanese missions were mixed up without momentum. The two waves of Yi people fought fiercely on their own land, injured our officers and soldiers, and killed my people, where did Emperor Jiajing's face rest?
Above_ Jiajing Emperor, Zhu Houxi (16 September 1507 – 23 January 1567)
The cause of the Wokou Rebellion
The reason why the Ningbo incident is "famous in history" is not because of its ups and downs and dramatics, but because this incident directly led to the Wukou Rebellion that later continued the three dynasties of Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli.
The Wokou of the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli dynasties are known as the Late Wokou, unlike the japanese pirate Wokou that people usually think of, the Late Wokou were smuggling syndicates composed mainly of Chinese merchants, during which only a small number of Japanese and Koreans were employed. And this smuggling syndicate was forced out by Jiajing.
Above_ The image of the Ming army in the "Wokou Tu"
Due to the bad impact of the Ningbo tribute campaign, there were loud calls in the imperial court to strictly enforce the sea ban. After discussion among the courtiers, the Rebbe asked for a "strike of the city", that is, to close the Ningbo Municipal Shipping Division and cut off contact with Japan.
However, at this time, Japan had been trading with the Ming Dynasty for 122 years, and there were fifteen batches of merchant ships. Japan had a huge demand for silk fabrics, copperware, medicinal materials, sugar, porcelain, calligraphy and painting, lacquerware, cotton and other items produced by the Ming Dynasty, and had become dependent. The sudden closure of the Ningbo Shipping Division was tantamount to a catastrophe for Japan.
At the same time, a group of powerful merchants has also formed near Ningbo that relies on trade with Japan to survive. As the saying goes, cutting off people's financial roads is equivalent to killing parents, and the Ming government closed the Ningbo Municipal Shipping Department once and for all, and the two ends were not flattered.
On the one hand, Japan urgently needs Ming Dynasty commodities, and on the other hand, Ming merchants urgently need to export profits. As soon as the dry firewood and fire met, smuggling came into being. At the worst time, the Hao clan, the government, and the merchants along the coast of Ningbo colluded with each other, and because they were in the black zone and there was no official government to provide order, these smuggling gangs gradually formed their own armed forces.
Above_ The image of the Wokou in the "Wokou Tu"
These smuggling syndicates were fine when the wind and waves were calm, but as soon as the imperial court had a strong wind of strict sea prohibition, they harassed the coastal periphery, hoping to force the imperial court to abandon the seizure of smuggling by creating chaos.
The merchant Wang Zhi (also recorded as Wang Zhi) was the largest smuggling leader at that time, and he wrote to the imperial court to request the reopening of the sea ban before the closure of the Ningbo Shipping Department. Like the current underworld gangs, as long as the family sits up, it will be orderly, and the result of the leaderless group is chaos. After the Wang Zhi clique was crushed by Hu Zongxian, the various smuggling groups resumed war, and the coastal areas once again turned into scorched earth. And the origin of all this is the Ningbo tribute incident in the second year of Jiajing.
Text: Liu Chengcheng
Reference: "Myo history"
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author