Entry

The minister Ruan Ru-lin, who had sent by Chen Shu-ming of Annam, came to Court, presented a memorial and offered a trained elephant as tribute. The Ministry of Rites had received the memorial and was about to present it when the Secretary Zeng Lu, looking at the duplicate, said: "Previously the king was Chen Ri-jian. This memorial has the name of [Chen] Shu-ming. There must be a reason." They quickly informed the Minister, who investigated this. It turned out that Shu-ming had brow-beaten Ri-jian into taking his own life and had then grabbed the throne. He feared that the Court would launch an attack against him and thus he sent tribute to observe Imperial reaction. Ru-lin did not dare to conceal things and spoke of this. The Emperor said: "How can the maritime yi (島夷) be as unscrupulous and fraudulent as this?" The tribute was refused rather than received.