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Tian-qi: Year 3, Month 9, Day 5

28 Sep 1623

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The Ministry of War re-submitted a memorial by the Fu-jian Grand Coordinator Nan Ju-yi: "Through the great efforts of the previous Grand Coordinator Shang Zhou-zuo, and the arrangements he made, the 'red yi' tribe bowed their heads and surrendered, and made a vow to Heaven that they would dismantle their walls and move to a distant place. Why are they still constructing walls on Peng-hu like before? The continued arrival of yi ships shows that they want to rely on their power to forge links with evil persons and that their claims about wanting to trade are false and cannot be believed. These yi are the most crafty of all. Openly, they seize our merchants and discretely they buy over our evil people. They intercept the rice ships and the trading ships in the various oceans and induce the Japanese and the people of Patani to come to places nearby. How can we allow them to draw near? However, the defence facilities have become increasingly poor and it is difficult to make arrangements for troops rations. The grand coordinator wants to strengthen the garrisons and forts so as to ensure military power, and to deploy naval forces in order to show military strength. He also wants to link naval and land garrisons so as to guard against a sudden attack. However, because at present other provinces have made unprecedented demands for troops and horses, it is requested that the expenditure which has been saved by the province and which is held in silver in the provincial treasury be used for the raising of troops, so that troops can be deployed or conscripted quickly. These are the proposals which the grand coordinator felt forced to put forward." An Imperial order was issued noting: "The 'red yi' are crafty and guileful, and have brought great calamity. The grand coordinator is to supervise the generals and officials in putting all their efforts into defence and in swiftly driving the yi away. Those who do not obey orders are all to be punished in accordance with military law. Those evil rogues who have taken advantage of the situation to bring troubles to the localities are to be investigated and heavily punished. Expulsion and pacification measures can be taken as the situation requires. The silver in the Treasury can be expended in accordance with the previous Imperial orders, but the ministry is to be notified of this."

Xi-zong: juan 38.4b-5a

Zhong-yang Yan-jiu yuan Ming Shi-lu, volume 128, page 1942/43

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Preferred form of citation for this entry:

Geoff Wade, translator, Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: an open access resource, Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/reign/tian-qi/year-3-month-9-day-5, accessed January 22, 2019