Entry

Zheng Wei-liao and others of Annam, a total of 10 persons who had been sent by Li Ning, the due-heir grandson in the country of Annam, came to the capital and memorialized, as follows:

"In the 11th year of the Zheng-de reign (1516/17), the refractory minister Chen Hao rebelled and assassinated the ruler Li Zhou. The people of the country then jointly established [Li] Hui, the eldest son of Zhou's deceased elder brother, as provisional controller of state affairs. In the 16th year (1521/22), Hao was suppressed and executed. Then, the minister Mo Deng-yong and others plotted rebellion, thus forcing Hui to flee and reside beyond the border. They then forced the establishment of his juvenile younger brother [Li] Kuang, the son of a secondary wife, as a false controller of state affairs. Subsequently, they poisoned Kuang and Mo Deng-yong falsely enfeoffed his own son and called himself King of Heaven. From this time on, the roads were blocked and the tribute envoys did not pass. Due to this situation, Hui became mournful and vexed, fell ill and died. Our country then established [Li] Ning as the due-heir grandson to provisionally manage state affairs. Ning is Hui's son. Urgent letters were repeatedly sent to the regional commanders and grand defenders advising them of the troubles, but the messengers were all intercepted and killed en route by Deng-yong. Thus the advice did not arrive. Recently, by way of a Guang-dong trading ship, we secretly came and have made our way to the capital. It is requested that an army be raised to punish their crimes, so as to swiftly save the country from its difficulties."

The memorial was sent to the Ministry of Rites which responded:

"It is now over 20 years since an envoy has come from Annam. Now that the Court is planning to raise an army to punish the crimes, a memorial advising rebellion in that country has arrived. This is suspicious. Further, Wei-liao and so on attached themselves to a ship, sailed across the ocean, long remained in Champa, and only after two years came to Guang-dong. They did not go to the officials there to lay plaint or have them forward the memorial. It is difficult to place full trust in these people. For the present, we should keep Wei-liao and the others in the Institute and instruct the Embroidered-Uniform Guard officials and the other officials who have been sent to investigate into the situation in that country to memorialize their report swiftly. Arrangements can then be made."

The Emperor approved the ministry's proposal and commanded that the Embroidered-Uniform Guard detain Zheng Wei-liao and the others to await the report, and not allow them to have contact with outsiders. The Court of Imperial Entertainments was ordered to provide for them at the same level as the hospitality shown to the tribute envoys from Korea.