Only in the Ming Dynasty did Japanese pirates roam rampant, and that was only for a short period of time in the Ming Dynasty. After Longqing opened the sea in the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates slowly disappeared along the southeast coast.
The reason why Japanese pirates were rampant in the Ming Dynasty was because of one word: "money". To be specific, it was two words: "smuggling". The financial backers behind the large-scale Japanese pirates are all Han Chinese. The Japanese among the Japanese pirates either collude with large smuggling groups to take advantage of the situation, or are forced to work for smuggling groups due to life constraints.
The rampant Japanese pirates are inseparable from the maritime ban policy implemented by the Ming Dynasty. There has always been a tradition of overseas trade on the southeast coast. The tea, porcelain and even ironware produced in China at that time were exported to Southeast Asia, Japan and other places. They are all in short supply, but the Ming Dynasty has had a no-sea policy since the founding of the country, and private people were not allowed to trade at sea.
The more the sea is closed, the higher the profits from overseas trade. Attracted by the huge profits, huge smuggling groups emerged along the southeast coast. In order to maintain smuggling, these smuggling groups hired people to use force to fight against the Ming government. The Jiaqing Dynasty was also the era when the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban policy was highly strengthened.
The policy of banning the sea is a policy that is completely harmful to the people. The policy of banning the sea that Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty took for granted has blocked the normal way of making a living for people in coastal areas. For example, "Xin Guogong Tanghe inspected the coastal cities of Zhejiang and Fujian and banned people from entering the sea for fishing."
The people along the coast have no other choice but to gather in the mountains and forests to fight with armed resistance. Gu Yanwu, a famous scholar of the Ming Dynasty, once said:
"The people on the seaside have no physical way out and suffer from hunger. The poor people often go to the sea to steal, and they gather to die." "Once the sea is closed and there is no food, they will turn to the seashore."
In addition, residents in coastal areas also adopted another method of struggle, fleeing and sneaking overseas.
The leaders of large smuggling groups, such as Wang Zhi, not only became kings in overseas territories, but also became isolated in the south. They even became guests of the Japanese Emperor and became the financial backers behind the Japanese invasion of China's southeastern coast.
Under the policy of strict sea ban, private overseas trade is regarded as illegal, forced to embark on the path of invisible development, and forced to turn to armed smuggling. During the Jiajing period, Wang Zhi, the leader of the largest armed smuggling group, became the worker leader of many smuggling groups. "The barbarians on the thirty-six islands all obeyed the command." With hundreds of thousands of followers, he was first called "King Jinghai" and later "Hui". King", even "called solitary in the south".
The Ming Dynasty launched military attacks on these armed smuggling groups. The smuggling groups resisted with arms and used money to hire Japanese pirates to fight against them. This resulted in the protracted so-called "Japanese pirate rebellion" in Jiajing for more than 40 years. On the surface it was a fight against the Japanese invaders, but in reality it was a civil war.
After the death of Emperor Jiajing, Emperor Longqing announced the lifting of the sea ban, which was known as the "Longqing Switch" in history. Although it only opened a small port in the initial stage, it had a huge impact. Since then, overseas trade has become legal, and the Japanese pirates have lost the sponsors behind the smuggling group and their ability to fight against the Ming government. Since then, the Japanese pirates have gradually calmed down.
The Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty all had yamen responsible for overseas trade. Overseas trade was frequent. At this time, Japan did not have the strength to confront the Chinese court. Naturally, there was no major problem of Japanese pirates. .
Japan in the Tang Dynasty could only look up to China, let alone dare to go to war with the Tang Dynasty. The Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty attached great importance to foreign commercial exchanges, which were huge. The Qing Dynasty also had institutions dedicated to managing foreign trade, the most famous of which was the "Guangzhou Thirteen Banks".
“Foreign ships docked, merchants gathered, and people were prosperous and prosperous.” This was the Thirteenth Line of Guangzhou in the eyes of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Before modern times, this commercial port far away from the imperial capital had an indissoluble bond with the royal life in the Forbidden City due to its unique commercial and cultural heritage. It was known as: "Jinshan Zhuhai, the Southern Treasury of the Emperor".