Entry

An order was issued prohibiting the Annam envoys from bringing large quantities of private trade goods with them. Previously, Li Hao, the king of the country of Annam, had memorialized that the route by which his country sent tribute to the Court passed through Ping-xiang County and Long Subprefecture in Guang-xi, and that the attendant ministers whom he sent were often subject to extortion and obstruction by the native officials Li Guang-ning and Zhao Nan-jie. His attendant minister Chen Jin also spoke of this. The Emperor ordered the defense officials to conduct a thorough investigation. They subsequently memorialized that the Annam tribute envoys brought great amounts of goods with them, and there were insufficient people in the border area to transport them, which led to the wrangling. The memorial was sent to the Ministry of Rites, which deliberated and advised that the tribute envoys from that country carried many private goods for the purpose of profit-making and that this caused great suffering on the border. It requested that a prohibition be imposed, and accordingly this order was issued.