It is utter sophistry to discuss the correctness of ancestral systems without considering the historical context.
At the founding of the Great Ming, the Northern Yuan court, having retreated to the northern grasslands, still posed a threat to the Great Ming's security. Meanwhile, those short and ugly倭国倭国 pirates were also taking advantage of the situation to plunder the Great Ming's coast, which led to Zhu Yuanzhang's version of the "Maritime Prohibition Order."
What else could be done if not to prohibit maritime trade?
When the Mongol Yuan retreated north, they packed all the gold and silver from the Central Plains' coffers, forcing Zhu Yuanzhang to issue paper currency in lieu of precious metal transactions. At that time, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Great Ming was as poor as a beggar, or at least, pitiable in its poverty.
As the famous student Ma Chao once said, money creates happiness. Without money, what's the point? War is about money; only with money can you have soldiers, weapons, and logistics. The Great Ming, which had no money but plenty of stubbornness, wanted to thoroughly defeat the Northern Yuan, prevent倭国倭国 piracy, and also deal with Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen who had fled to islands or neighboring maritime countries. The cheapest solution, of course, was to implement a maritime ban.
Zhu Yuanzhang's decree of "not a single plank allowed to go to sea" was not only to prevent coastal residents from colluding with and aiding "rebels" who refused to surrender, but also specifically targeted certain fake倭国倭国 pirates. It was considered a temporary military order. The maritime trade that was incidentally affected was only a temporary measure of no ingress, no egress. Foreign trade with the Ming was not significantly impacted. Even the grain and supplies needed by Xu Da for his northern expedition and defense of Yan Jing were largely reliant on maritime transport.
By the Yongle era, the Northern Yuan could no longer pose a threat to the Great Ming. The recently risen Oirats and Tatars in the grasslands were frequently attacked by Zhu Laosi. At this time, those short and ugly倭国倭国 still wanted to come and extort, but they only ended up being taught a lesson once again.
In August of the second year of Yongle, due to another raid by倭国倭国 pirates on Southern Zhili and the coastal areas of Jiangzhe, Zhu Laosi, in his anger, simply sent Zheng He to negotiate with倭国倭国: "Go tell the倭国倭国 chief that if he cannot properly restrain his subordinates, I do not mind disciplining them for him!"
Incidentally, the title "倭国倭国 chief" did not carry any contempt for those short and ugly倭国倭国 people. This is because since the Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu had enfeoffed the King of Nu, allowing him to rule all the倭国倭国 people. As the Emperor of the Great Ming, Zhu Laosi had no idea who actually governed those short and ugly倭国倭国 people at the time, so he simply created the title "倭国倭国 chief."
As everyone knows, although Zheng He, Duke Zheng, was a eunuch, he was known for conquering countries and beheading kings overseas, possessing a typical fiery temper. When Zhu Laosi sent him to negotiate with倭国倭国, would Duke Zheng indulge those short and ugly倭国倭国 people?
Therefore, Duke Zheng directly led his fleet out of Taohua Ferry in Ningbo, crossed the East China Sea through the Jiushan Islands, and reached Hyogo Prefecture. He delivered an imperial edict to the third Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, urging him to "suppress the pirates himself and punish them according to the laws of your country."
Perhaps everyone is not familiar with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, but those who have watched the animated series "The Laughing Monk" should remember the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu who was often tricked by Ikkyu.
... Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu naturally knew that Zhu Di was short-tempered and also knew that the Tatars, whom倭国倭国 people had always feared, were thoroughly defeated by Zhu Di. Furthermore, if it weren't for the "divine wind," the倭国倭国 people would have long been wiped out by the Tatars. This is a simple deduction: Zhu Di could defeat the Tatars, the Tatars could defeat倭国倭国 people, and if the elder could beat the second, and the second could beat the third, then the elder could naturally easily beat the younger third.
倭国倭国 is that younger third.
What further worried and frightened Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was that if Emperor Zhu Laosi of the Great Ming truly intended to launch a cross-sea expedition to倭国倭国, he would not fear any "divine wind" or "demonic wind." It is estimated that without sending additional troops, Duke Zheng alone, with his large ships and his group of fierce fighters, would be enough to wreak havoc and destroy倭国倭国.
If Duke Zheng were to embark on a "Four Islands Half-Moon Tour,"倭国倭国 might face the risk of extinction.
Therefore, after assessing the situation, Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu gave a clear reply: "No need for you to worry, sir. I will personally eliminate those troublemakers."
This time, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did not dare to be negligent. He kept his word and directly mobilized the official army of倭国倭国 to conduct a thorough sweep, eradicating all the倭国倭国 pirates on the island. Subsequently, to show his sincerity, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu specially selected twenty ringleaders of the倭国倭国 pirates and sent them to the Great Ming.
The most amusing part is the fate of those twenty倭国倭国 pirate leaders.
Zhu Laosi was also troubled by these "war criminals" sent by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. If he executed them, it would appear inhumane; if he imprisoned them, they would occupy space and consume food. Although the Great Ming was not short of food for these few people, they would be too fortunate to eat and live well in prison. At that time, the food in the Great Ming prisons, consisting of coarse buns and cabbage soup, was much better than the toxic cycad that ordinary short and ugly倭国倭国 people usually ate.
So Zhu Laosi told the倭国倭国 envoy: "I don't want these people either. Let your Shogun handle them himself."
The倭国倭国 envoy was also in a dilemma. "We are envoys, and the Great Ming provides food for us. But we have to pay for these prisoners ourselves. We squeezed our heads to get this prestigious mission and want to earn some travel expenses to buy houses and land. How can we feed these death row inmates?"
When they reached Ningbo and looked at these倭国倭国 pirates who were about to bankrupt them, the envoys were filled with anger. As a result of this anger, they indeed lit a fire, prepared some large steaming pots, bound the twenty倭国倭国 pirates they were escorting into cages, and steamed them into pulp with a fierce fire.
Do you understand?
The maritime ban imposed during Zhu Yuanzhang's era was primarily for military purposes rather than political or economic ones. By the time Zhu Laosi no longer needed the maritime ban, it naturally fell into disuse, although it nominally still existed. To avoid violating ancestral traditions, Zhu Laosi played a trick by closing the ports and then releasing Zheng He, monopolizing maritime trade under the guise of searching for the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen.
Please note that Zhu Laosi's behavior of hoarding everything for himself was wrong.
Whether Duke Zheng's seven voyages to the West successfully found the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen is unknown. At least, no official or unofficial documents of the Great Ming record it. However, Duke Zheng did search for many tributary states and protectorates for the Great Ming, and also collected a large number of spices such as black pepper and white pepper, causing spices that were extremely valuable during the Tang and Song dynasties to be sold on the streets.
The historical records state: During the reign of Emperor Daizong of Tang, the Prime Minister Yuan Zai was executed for corruption and his property was confiscated. Among the spoils was eight hundred shi of pepper, which illustrates its value.
However, the historical records also state: Because Duke Zheng brought back so much spice, even if Zhu Laosi's family ate spices with every meal, they couldn't finish it all. In the end, they could only use spices to pay the salaries of the Great Ming officials.
"Emperor Taizong of Tang once said: By using history as a mirror, one can understand the rise and fall of dynasties. Any county library in our Great Ming has a large number of historical materials available. Don't you fools go and take a look?"
Especially when that fellow Watanabe Uemon intended to achieve "moving wood to establish credibility" by blockading villages...
Isn't this pure nonsense?
After Watanabe Uemon's words fell, Tokugawa Ienari felt as if a dark cloud had parted to reveal the bright moon.
Watanabe Uemon bowed and said, "Thank you for your praise, General. However, Watanabe only has a little wit and is far inferior to Your Excellency's great wisdom!"
After understanding the twists and turns, Ishikawa Iin and Todo Takayoshi looked at Mitsukuni Katsuhiro as if they were looking at an idiot.
What is this?
This is a useless person, a complete idiot who can't even catch up with the hot food!
Mitsukuni Katsuhiro and Kōmi Hitoshi's expressions were also extremely gloomy.
Mitsukuni Katsuhiro scanned the assembled daimyo and feudal lords, his face grim, and said, "Since things have come to this, do any of you have any good solutions?"
However, none of the daimyo and feudal lords present answered Mitsukuni Katsuhiro's question.
Ishikawa Iin then continued, "I believe that rather than passively responding, it would be better to... to actively accept the sick civilians from the Shogunate?"
The other daimyo and feudal lords also turned their attention to Ishikawa Iin.
Conversely, Mitsukuni Katsuhiro slammed the table and shouted, "Silence everyone! Ishikawa-kun, please continue?"
After pondering for a moment, Mitsukuni Katsuhiro said through gritted teeth, "I will find a way to solve the food problem. You only need to focus on the treatment of those leprosy patients."
Shimazu Hisamitsu and Matsudaira Nobunobu found it increasingly unsettling the more they thought about it.
After thinking for a long time without finding any answers, Shimazu Hisamitsu directly asked, "May I ask the General, are there any requirements for these quotas?"
Tokugawa Ienari was also expressing his feelings.
Because of his unconventional style and the writing of absurd articles like "On Farting," Hiraga Gennai became increasingly unsuccessful.
The primary reason for this situation was that Hiraga Gennai came from a family of low-ranking samurai in the Takamatsu Domain.
However, the architectural drawing was not in Gennai's possession, but was exposed from a seam in his belt. Gennai subsequently lost his sanity and died in prison in Komaba-cho due to the cold.
The so-called "death of such an extraordinary nature" refers to Hiraga Gennai's unnecessary death for killing two carpenters.
Tokugawa Ienari, who had personally visited the Great Ming, was well aware of the importance of the steam engine.
However, Tokugawa Ienari also understood in his heart that the allocation of envoy quotas to the Ming could never be fair and just.
After inwardly lamenting, Tokugawa Ienari once again surveyed the daimyo and feudal lords and said sternly, "To put it bluntly, Japan, which is praised by countless incurable people, is actually similar to the situation in India. India has a caste system, and Japan also has social strata."
For example, why do ronin samurai who have lost their masters remain ronin instead of finding work?
This also means that if Tokugawa Ienari wants to complete the blockade thoroughly, he must first deal with those ronin.
The feudal lords of Chikuzen, Chikugo, Buzen, Bungo, Hizen, Tsushima, Hyuga, and others also responded accordingly, while the other daimyo and feudal lords couldn't help but frown.
These geographical differences naturally led to unbalanced development among the various domains. Some domains were relatively prosperous, while others were extremely poor.
The difference in wealth and poverty would directly reflect in the number of ronin within each domain.
The poorer the domain, the more ronin it had.
More importantly, Satsuma Domain and the feudal lords of Chikuzen and Chikugo had a common appellation: the Kyushu Domains.
These domains originally lived their lives on Kyushu Island. Satsuma Domain even sent troops to capture the Ryukyu Islands, forcing the Ryukyu king to pay tribute to Japan.
As for being willing, they were certainly not willing. Shimazu Hisamitsu and the feudal lords of Chikuzen and Chikugo had not considered resisting, at least to get a better location, right?
Then Shimazu Hisamitsu and the others nimbly moved to Ezo, completely ceding Kyushu Island.
More importantly, who should these samurai and ashigaru obey?
If they were to obey the commands of the feudal lords and ignore Tokugawa Ienari, what would the Shogunate think? If they hindered and bickered with each other, how could they clear out the ronin?
If they were to obey the commands of Tokugawa Ienari, wouldn't that be tantamount to handing over military power?
This was even more unacceptable to the feudal lords than directly providing financial support to Tokugawa Ienari!
When Tokugawa Ienari finished speaking, the assembled feudal lords breathed a sigh of relief, yet couldn't help but feel suspicious.
As everyone knows, besides his lecherousness, Tokugawa Ienari's biggest flaw is his greed. The avarice of his sons and daughters can be said to be inherited from Tokugawa Ienari.
Matsudaira Nobunobu immediately became alert.
As for dispatching ninjas or sending already infected leprosy patients to cause trouble in the territories of Mitsukuni Katsuhiro and his son, Tokugawa Ienari did not have such an idea for the time being.
This is because the current situation clearly favored Tokugawa Ienari, and his chances of successfully ascending to the throne were high. Tokugawa Ienari, who had already begun to dream of becoming a national leader, naturally did not want leprosy to spread in the Kinai region. After all, no matter how much of a "poverty disease" it was, leprosy was highly contagious, and no one could guarantee that they could escape it.
Unfortunately, Tokugawa Ienari's well-laid plans were now disrupted by those scoundrels Shimazu Hisamitsu and Matsudaira Nobunobu.
Tokugawa Ienari harbored deep resentment in his heart, but he managed to force a smile and said, "Then it's settled. For the ronin who cause trouble in the region, it is essential to conduct a vigorous crackdown. If you find it difficult, you can always send people to ask for help from the Shogunate. Do not force yourselves."
After the feudal lords thanked him, some willingly and some unwillingly, Tokugawa Ienari changed the topic and talked about his previous experiences in the Great Ming, saying, "As you all know, Ienari previously visited the Great Ming and stayed there for a long time."
The assembled feudal lords and daimyo were still bewildered – the Great Ming was the superior nation, the father of Japan, wasn't that only natural?
Shimazu Hisamitsu cautiously asked, "What does the General mean?"
Tokugawa Ienari did not directly answer Shimazu Hisamitsu's question. Instead, he clapped his hands and ordered someone outside the door, "Bring it here!"
The assembled feudal lords and daimyo were still bewildered – the Great Ming was the superior nation, the father of Japan, wasn't that only natural?