122 Boundaries and Beyond
the dynasty. The Ming Code (Da Ming lü), he said, stated that those who
smuggled people and weapons to the sea or foreign lands or divulged
information to foreigners were to be executed by beheading. Moreover,
the regulations imposed capital punishment on ofβicials or civilians who
illegally built two-master vessels, shipped contraband goods to the sea,
went to trade in foreign lands, conspired with pirates or guided them in
plundering raids.^115
Zhu Wan explained that, in the present incident, the captives had been
taken off the coast and in battles. Some captives were “dark barbarians”,
and he was surprised by their ability to speak the Chinese language. At
the trial, the judges had accepted the captives’ contentions that they had
been either coerced into taking part or kidnapped by the sea bandits,
and imposed lighter sentences than Zhu wanted. Indeed, the judge
even released some of them. Zhu Wan submitted a list of 14 “principal
culprits” who were Chinese nationals and whose guilt was proven by
incontestable evidence, and requested that the Court approve their
immediate execution by beheading. He also asked permission to detain
the rest of the captives pending further scrutiny and endorsement of the
death sentences by the Court.^116
The Zoumaxi Incident and the Conspiracy Theory
In 1547, the Portuguese arrived in Zhangzhou, another smuggling center,
to trade as usual but turned instead to violence. As Higgins relates:
It must have been very shortly after Chu left southern Fukien that
it was reported [to the court that] the Fo-lang-chi barbarians had
invaded Chang-chou. The report, dated December 27, 1547, stated
the Portuguese were attacked and chased away by the coastal
circuit Surveillance Vice Commissioner K’o Ch’iao [Ke Qiao]. When
the Regional Inspector Censor Chin Ch’eng heard of it, he criticized
the Wu-yu Guard Commander Ting T’ung and also the [former]
Coastal Circuit Surveillance Vice Commissioner Yao Hsiang-
feng for having received bribes and goods and for having let the
Portuguese enter the frontier area.^117- MJSWB, 205/l: 10b‒11a.
- Ibid., 205: 12a‒b.
- Higgins, “Piracy”, p. 177. Chang Wei-hua also states that the clash occurred after
Zhu Wan’s departure from Zhangzhou (Ming shi ouzhou siguo juan, p. 30).
http://www.ebook3000.com