Entry

Wan-li: Year 35, Month 11, Day 29

16 Jan 1608

Next Entry >>
<< Previous Entry

As the taxation supervisor Gao Cai had not forwarded the taxes which had been levied and had also submitted a memorial of slander against him, the Fu-jian Grand Coordinator Xu Xue-ju memorialized detailing Cai's various illegal activities. The memorial noted: "Over the last few years, Cai has squeezed all available benefit out of the mountains and seas, and his crimes and evil actions have been very serious... As the maritime prohibitions prevented contacts, local products [from abroad] did not arrive. Whenever an Eastern or Western Ocean ship privately conveyed a few jin of goods, he demanded ten times the amount. If they failed even slightly to meet his demands, he falsely claimed that they were avoiding taxes.... He also sent persons beyond the borders in the four directions to trade, and in their seeking out of precious things, they caused disturbances for years ... Most seriously is that in the 32nd year (1604/05), taking advantage of there being no grand coordinator or regional inspector, he ordered the evil merchant Pan Xiu and others to go and trade with the Dutch (和蘭), enticed the "red yi", and then deceitfully took 30,000 coins of silver from Wei Ma-lang for permitting him to trade at Peng-hu. We received orders and drove them off. Now I have retired. However, the "red yi" have come again, have slaughtered merchants and fisherman, and are looking to encroach upon the inner territory. Thus, the generals and troops along the coast cannot rest easily. Who started this? It began with Cai violating the maritime prohibitions and the various yi looking increasingly less respectfully towards China. This led to Luzon killing over 20,000 of our people and to Japan's declaration and attack on Ji-long and Dan-shui. The troubles at the gate were all brought by Cai. Your Majesty should make a firm decision and immediately order his recall. In this way, Cai will not be able, through his contemptuous and violent actions, to have China trading with the foreign yi." The memorial was submitted but there was no response. When Xue-ju was in Fu-jian, there was the incident by which he drove away the "red yi". This was actually beneficial to Fu-jian. However, accusations were made against him by Gao Cai, and he was not promoted by the Court. From the time of Gao Cai onwards, there was no year in which the "red yi" did not spy on Peng-hu.

Shen-zong: juan 440.17a-18a

Zhong-yang Yan-jiu yuan Ming Shi-lu, volume 116, page 8361/63

Next Entry >>
<< Previous Entry

Preferred form of citation for this entry:

Geoff Wade, translator, Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: an open access resource, Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/reign/wan-li/year-35-month-11-day-29, accessed January 22, 2019