Gentry-Merchants and Peasant-Peddlers 249
from Lin, since his private advisors were all Lin’s disciples, including
Yu Dayou, who later became an outstanding general at the forefront
in tackling the Wo problem. While Ke was on his way to Quanzhou to
have his audience with the xun’an (Regional Inspecting Censor), he paid
a visit to Lin at Tong’an. In the discussion of the current development,
they reached the conclusion that the Portuguese should be informed of
the xun’an’s intentions. This was done. As soon as Ke returned from his
meeting with the xun’an, he unexpectedly launched a lightning attack
on the Portuguese and the Chinese smugglers. This action reβlects the
uncompromising attitude adopted by Zhu Wan and the dilemma faced
by the local authorities. In retaliation, the hard-pressed Portuguese,
assisted by their Chinese allies, raided Zhao’an, but they were totally
routed at Zoumaxi and 96 of them, including the Fujianese pirate leader
Li Guangtou and many Chinese, were taken prisoners. In punishing
the smugglers, Zhu Wan showed no mercy. More than 90 of them were
executed immediately.^24
The enthusiasm of the South Fujianese for trade was also shown
in their contacts with the Japanese pirate-merchants. Despite the
government ban on trade, people still went out to negotiate with them.
Perhaps for the βirst time in Chinese history, the local shipbuilding
industry found its way onto the international market. Among other
things, the Japanese placed orders for seagoing vessels with the Fujianese.
It is said that it was less economical to build ships in Japan. Only the
daimyo or rich people could afford the prices charged there. The average
merchants preferred to place their orders with the Chinese. Ships built
either in Japan or in Fujian had about the same capacity. The large ones
could carry 300 passengers; the small ones, 40 or 50. But the Japanese
ships were βlat-bottomed and had their sails βixed to the central part of
the mast. Therefore their speed was much slower. Moreover, when they
ran up against the Chinese patrol ships, that were much more solid and
comparatively gigantic in size, the Japanese craft were often crushed to
pieces. Their only recourse was to sail close to shore where the water was
not deep enough for these big monsters to follow them. The Fujianese
vessels were more advanced in structure and design since they did not
depend too much on wind.^25
- Ming shi, 205: 3a. Refer also to Cruz’s account, in C.R. Boxer, China in the Sixteenth
Century, pp. 194‒203. A Portuguese prisoner, Galeote Pereira, gives us a very
interesting eyewitness account of the detention after the incident; see Boxer’s
book, pp. 1‒43. Also Zhangzhou fu-chih 漳州府志 [Gazetteer of Zhangzhou
Prefecture] (1877 ed.), 47: 21a; and Chapter 9 of this book for details. - Chouhai tubian, 2: 31.