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Yong-le: Year 2, Month 4, Day 13

21 May 1404

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The envoys sent by the native officials of the pacification superintendencies of Lu-chuan/Ping-mian and Ava-Burma and of the prefectures of Mu-bang and Meng-yang, came to Court and offered tribute of local products. Paper money and silks were conferred upon them all. At this time, the chieftain Dao Men-lai, who had been sent by Si Lun-fa, the Lu-chuan/Ping-mian Pacification Superintendent, laid plaint that Meng-yang and Mu-bang had repeatedly invaded their territory. The officials of the Ministry of Rites said that it was appropriate that the tribute officials of Meng-yang and Mu-bang be handed over to the judicial offices for punishment of their crimes, in order that the man and yi would know fear and would not dare to transgress borders. The Emperor said: "The man and the yi have been attacking and seizing each other's land since ancient times. Punishing one or two crimes will not be sufficient to change their ways. Also, we are not sure who is right and who is wrong in this matter. If we hastily punish tribute envoys to the Court, it will only harm the desire of the distant people to move towards culture. The Xi-ping Marquis should be ordered to send people to instruct them."

Tai-zong: juan 30.7a

Zhong-yang Yan-jiu yuan Ming Shi-lu, volume 10, page 545

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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/yong-le/year-2-month-4-day-13, accessed January 22, 2019