Entry

Imperial orders were sent to the Vice Commissioner-in-chief Ou Xin, deputy regional commander of Guang-dong, and others. The orders read: "After clarification through investigation of the case involving the four apprehended pearl-stealing bandits, including Fan Yuan, from Annam, Imperial orders of castigation were sent to the king of the country of Annam. Now, a memorial in reply has been received from the country of Annam. It states that Yuan and so on are from coastal villages in the East (迤東). They fish overseas and secretly have dealings with the merchants of Qin Subprefecture and Lian-zhou. They raid and dive (盜汆) on the pearl-beds and trade the pearls with the merchants. He has already punished the chieftains of those places for not having been able to restrain the pirates, and has now strictly enforced the prohibitions. When these orders arrive, you are to immediately post public notifications making known a prohibition against the merchants on the coasts of Qin Subprefecture and Lian-zhou having dealings with people from the country of Annam, and from leading these people to engage in raids on the pearl-beds. You are also to instruct the officials from Liu-zhou Prefecture and other prefectures and guards who have been sent to patrol the pearl-beds, that when they come across bandits stealing pearls, they must capture them and send them to your office. After investigating such cases, you are to memorialize the facts and request that arrangements be made. You are not to be lax or negligent or regard this as an ordinary matter. Offenders will be punished for their crime and not forgiven."