Gentry-Merchants and Peasant-Peddlers 253
Acting to their own advantage, the prominent ofβicial families urged the
local administration to expel them by force. But they simultaneously
played the tricky game of deliberately informing their partners of the
imminent military attacks, just to make sure they could manage to
escape in time. The gratitude of the Japanese might bring them greater
beneβits in the future transactions. After several similar occasions, the
Japanese merchants realized that they were being duped and treated
their relationship with such inβluential families more cautiously. The
upshot was that they decided to launch relentless reprisals to recoup
their earlier investments. Subsequently the Wokou problem reached a
critical point.^42
The term “Wokou incursions” is somewhat over-generalized and
misleading. In fact, almost 70 per cent of the so-called Wo, especially in
southern Fujian in the Jiajing period (1522‒66), were local people, or the
“disguised Wo” rather than “real Wo”,^43 as a local gazetteer observes:
The tighter the restriction, the more people collaborate with the
foreigners. They even become the Wo’s guides. In retaliation,
the local authorities detain their families as hostages. Fearful of
coming back, they join the Wo bands and make frequent raids on
the area.^44Around 1559 and 1560, according to a gazetteer, there were so many
destitute Chinese joining the local bands in the guise of the Wo that Wo
could be found everywhere in South Fujian, with the exception of the
capital cities of the prefectures.^45 The local “Wo” varied in composition.
Quoting an eyewitness account by Magistrate Chou Junqing, a gazetteer
tells that:
Some of the pirates were those who had suffered grievances or
injustice; they joined the bands out of resentment. Some became
pirates because of their failure in trade. Some were induced to- Ming shi, 146: 4a‒6b and 12‒3; also in Chen Renxu, Huangming shifa lu, 75: 52.
- Ming shi, 322: 13b; also in Jiajing dong’nan pingwo tonglu, p. 10b; and in
Quanzhou fuzhi, 73: 29a. Another source claims that only 10‒20% were real
Wo (real Japanese pirates); see Mao Ruizheng (Ming) 毛瑞徵, Huangming
xiangxu lu 皇明象胥錄 [The interpreter's record of the Royal Ming], 2: 17. For
the percentage of the “disguised” Wo, Shizong shilu gives two different βigures
as 70% and 90%, see MSL: SZ, 403: 7a‒b, 426: 2a‒b. - Quanzhou fuzhi 泉州府志 [Gazetteer of Quanzhou Prefecture] (1870 ed.), 25:
10b‒11a. - He Qiaoyuan, Min shu, 146: 17a.