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Hello and welcome to the History

0:32

of China. Episode

0:37

two forty three, curse

0:40

you're sudden but inevitable the trail.

0:45

Product's weak, but, you know, it's

0:47

weak all over. The thing is, no

0:49

matter what we call it, it's gonna get sold.

0:52

Products strong, we're gonna sell it.

0:54

Products weak will sell twice as much.

0:57

You know why? because a fiend,

1:00

you're gonna chase it no matter what. It's

1:02

crazy, you know? We do worse

1:05

and we get paid more. Russell,

1:08

strainer, bell, the

1:10

wire. Why

1:13

you slimy, double crossing, no good

1:15

swindler? You got a lot

1:17

of guts coming here after what you

1:19

pulled. Lando

1:22

Calrissian, the Empire strikes

1:24

back. Combined,

1:27

there won't be room for not even like us to

1:29

slip out at all. This job

1:31

goes south, there may well not be another. But

1:33

here's us on the raggedy edge.

1:36

Don't push me and I won't push you.

1:39

Don't let me on. Malcolm

1:42

Reynolds, firefighter.

1:47

Last time, we traced the formation and consolidation

1:49

of piracy up and down the South China

1:51

coasts, and especially around the port of

1:53

Ningbo. We also looked at the

1:55

central government's response to such

1:57

enterprise. At first, laxatives

1:59

ago, but increasingly serious into

2:02

the 1540s. That had

2:04

culminated with the Ming dynasty's successful

2:06

raid against the Freebooter port of Shuang

2:08

Liu Anchorage, led by the Imperial

2:10

General, Zhuhan. who proved rather

2:12

overzealous in his bloodletting of captives

2:15

to his eventual downfall. Another

2:18

figure to play heavily into our last outing

2:20

was that of Wang Je. He

2:22

who had been largely responsible for introducing

2:24

the Japanese business consortiums from

2:26

pirate organizations to their mainland ports

2:29

of call all along the South Chinese minor

2:31

islands. WangJoon

2:33

was every bit of businessman and

2:35

his principal interest wasn't generating as much

2:37

profit as was possible. In

2:39

the short term, that may indeed mean having

2:41

to sell you one's hands with such quote

2:44

unquote illegal elements of trade

2:46

and importation. But in the long

2:48

run, what Wong wanted to be was

2:50

not a pirate lord, but a respectable

2:52

and here's the really important part,

2:54

filthy rich, business mogo.

2:57

As such, between fifteen forty nine

2:59

and fifteen fifty two, Wangzhi

3:01

did everything he could to cooperate

3:03

with the Ming's local and regional military

3:06

attendants and civil authorities.

3:08

This included, yes,

3:09

indeed, turning on his own

3:11

fellow pirates or put more

3:13

correctly, his direct business competitors.

3:16

for

3:16

arrest, prosecution,

3:17

and of course, punishment.

3:20

His objective and expectation

3:22

in his so doing was, of course, to

3:25

shore up his own position get in on

3:27

the good graces of the main authorities, and

3:29

then use that influence to get them to

3:31

relax the ban on overseas trade.

3:34

In this, he would wind up rather disappointed.

3:38

Rather than relaxing the ban, the

3:40

news tightened. In fifteen fifty

3:43

one for instance, a new decree came down

3:45

that even fishing boats, previously

3:47

excluded from the bands, were henceforth, forbidden

3:49

to go out to sea. any

3:52

and all overseas trade was to

3:54

be utterly forbidden. What

3:56

was a businessman to do? Well,

3:59

Wancha figured, if manners and

4:01

good graces couldn't do the trick, then perhaps

4:03

terror and pillage could. Thus,

4:06

casting off his amenable

4:08

CEO persona. He

4:10

and his fleets began in fifteen fifty

4:12

one, a campaign of plunder up and down

4:14

the Chinese coasts. From

4:16

Geis, quote,

4:17

raids after fifteen fifty one were large and

4:19

well organized attacks on official establishments,

4:22

greeneries, perpetual and district treasuries, and

4:24

incidentally, the surrounding countryside, which

4:27

was thoroughly pillaged. End quote.

4:30

This campaign of piracy would last from

4:32

late fifteen fifty one, all the way through

4:34

fifteen fifty six. And Guangzhou

4:36

had little trouble in finding cruise to

4:38

man his fleet of ships. The

4:41

prior decade had been extremely rough on the

4:43

Chinese populace of the coastal south.

4:45

The raids, quote, followed several years

4:47

of natural calamities in general unrest.

4:49

Fannins were reported in Zhejiang during fifteen

4:51

forty three and fifteen forty four, and there

4:53

were severe droughts in the Yangzhou basin during the

4:55

summer of fifteen forty five and fifteen forty

4:57

six. The thousands of people

4:59

who had lost their livelihoods and who were

5:01

roaming in search of food made ideal

5:03

recruits for raiding parties and bandit

5:05

gangs. And, quote, It

5:08

had become so bad and so

5:10

regularized that the towns and villages

5:13

along the Dejiang coast had taken to erecting

5:15

barricades and make shift walls around their settlements

5:17

just to try to dissuade such bans from

5:19

seeking to exploit them any further. In

5:22

the summer of fifteen fifty three, The

5:24

pirate fleet of Wanzhou launched the first

5:26

widespread and simultaneous attack all

5:28

along the Zijon coast from Taijao

5:31

Northward. It

5:33

involved hundreds of ships and thousands of

5:35

crewmen, and was by every measure

5:37

a great success. It's

5:39

several garrisons were briefly taken and held

5:41

by the pirate band, and even a few of

5:43

the district seats were put under siege.

5:46

The takeaway from such a probing

5:48

attack was clear, Coastal

5:50

Tejang was ripe for the taking,

5:52

and permanent coastal bases could be established.

5:56

From these camps, larger rating parties

5:58

comprised of sailors, pirates, Japanese

6:00

warriors, foreign adventurers, Chinese

6:02

bandits, and drifters set out on long

6:05

inland campaigns. and they made

6:07

rapid significant and worrisome

6:09

progress. By fifteen

6:11

fifty five, these bands of briggans were

6:13

approaching even the greatest strongholds of

6:15

the southlands, Hongzhou, Suzhou,

6:17

and even the southern capital itself,

6:19

Nanjing. And in the

6:21

year to follow, the whole region slipped out

6:23

of Imperial Control entirely in all but

6:25

name. By

6:27

fifteen fifty four, the pirate strongholds

6:29

contained as many as twenty thousand men

6:32

altogether. In an attempt

6:34

to combat this, the main government dispatched

6:36

Jiang Jiang, Nanjing's own minister

6:38

of war to be placed in charge of the military

6:40

deployment across the coastal southeast. as

6:43

well as being given, quote, discretionary powers

6:45

and made solely responsible for the suppression

6:47

of piracy. End quote. First

6:50

and foremost, of course, he would need to raise an

6:52

army capable of standing against the

6:54

truly phenomenal size of the pirate

6:56

forces. As such, he

6:58

recruited from among the original tribes of

7:00

Guangxi and Huquang in order to

7:02

supplement the imperial regulars already stationed

7:04

across Zhejiang. he was able

7:06

to supplement his local force with an additional

7:08

eleven thousand troops. However, they

7:11

would take a significant amount of time to

7:13

arrive and wouldn't be present and ready until the

7:15

spring of the following year, fifteen fifty

7:17

five. In the meantime, it

7:19

was to remain a pandemonium across the

7:21

provinces. The

7:23

imperial troops were only able to hold and

7:25

defend the walled cities and grain depots.

7:27

Everything else was by necessity left

7:29

for the pirates to pillage to their hearts content.

7:33

Dong adamantly refused to launch any kind of

7:35

counter offensive or even foray outside

7:37

of his well defended green zones

7:39

until all of his auxiliary troops arrived.

7:41

To the point that even when the pirate

7:43

army attacked the countryside immediately outside

7:46

of Hongzhou and massacred thousands

7:48

of peasants, he refused to let his troops

7:50

defend against such a brazen incursion and

7:52

slaughter. This

7:54

seemingly callous indifference to innocent

7:56

suffering and death raised more than a

7:58

few eyebrows across the realm. So

8:00

much so in fact, that it allows the

8:02

attention of the Imperial Sensor. In

8:05

March of fifteen fifty five, Sensor at

8:07

Zhao Wanhua was dispatched from Beijing

8:09

to see just what exactly was going on

8:11

with the military situation down south.

8:13

how was it for instance that the imperial

8:15

tombs surrounding Nanjing were under

8:18

threat by pirates? How

8:20

had the situation gotten so out of hand that imperial

8:22

grain barges transiting the Yang zedelta were

8:24

under threat of capture or destruction.

8:27

Sensor Zhao arrived in Zhejiang and

8:29

began his inquiry appropriately enough

8:31

by taking up the issue with the regional commander,

8:34

Zhang Jing himself. Commander

8:36

Zhang, for his part, seemed to think that there

8:38

was nothing to discuss. Citing

8:41

the fact that he technically outranked

8:43

the imperial sensor, he briskly

8:45

dismissed Chao and refused to so much

8:47

as even explain his long term strategy for dealing with

8:49

a pirate threat. As you

8:51

might well imagine, that does not wind

8:53

up going over very well for commander Zhang.

8:56

at

8:56

all. Senator Zhao

8:58

secretly sent his report back to Beijing that,

9:00

quote, Jiang Jiang had misappropriated funds and

9:02

had failed to defend the region.

9:04

End quote, This was

9:06

no small charge. And so

9:08

the capital followed up in order to reassess

9:11

and independently confirm this

9:13

high allegation. In the meantime,

9:16

apparently, having caught wind of the charges

9:18

now level against him, commander

9:20

Zhang at long last, ordered his army to

9:22

advance against the pirate strongholds.

9:24

Their target was a particularly large

9:26

raiding party that had encamped north of

9:28

Jaxxing City, The imperial

9:30

force surrounded and then defeated the

9:32

pirates, taking more than nineteen hundred

9:34

heads as proof. This was

9:37

in fact the first time that a Ming Imperial

9:39

Army had defeated such a large group of

9:41

marauders in a straight engagement. Under

9:44

typical circumstances, that would, of course, have

9:46

been considered a tremendous victory.

9:49

But, oh yeah, those pesky charges

9:51

of criminal negligence. When

9:53

the follow-up report came back affirming such

9:56

heinous allegations, that was all she

9:58

wrote for Zhangjing. He was

9:59

arrested by order of the emperor

10:01

himself. When reports of the victory at

10:03

Josh King came, the emperor began to question

10:05

the charges against this apparently

10:08

good commander. To

10:10

this, however, Grand Secretary, Yan Song,

10:13

who had ordered the Dispatch of Sensor Zhao in the

10:15

first place, explained that Dong had only

10:17

mobilized his forces after he found out

10:19

about the initial condemnation for his lack of

10:21

action and dereliction of duty.

10:24

Chancellor yen soons the judging emperor, that

10:26

actually the victory truly belonged to

10:28

sensor Zhao and another local

10:30

sensor, Hu Jong Sheein. Hu

10:32

Yan said had waited into the thick of

10:34

battle without even wearing armor.

10:36

This was, it would turn out a

10:38

pure fairytale as who Jiangxiad was

10:41

nowhere near the battle and actually much further south

10:43

in Hangzhou at the time. Nevertheless,

10:45

that was good enough for Jeju.

10:47

He thoroughly ignored Jeong Jeans' pleas for

10:49

clemency when he was slated for ign

10:51

igneous execution by Chancellor Yan

10:53

Song. and in due course, that very

10:55

fall of fifteen fifty five, his

10:57

body was relieved of its head.

11:00

With Dungeon gone, overall

11:03

control of the Southeast military command

11:05

fell to Zhao Wanhua and Huuzong

11:07

Sheehan. The two of them were actually rather

11:09

sympathetic to the underlying problem that

11:11

had produced such a piracy issue.

11:13

They recognized that such a menace

11:15

had not spring up whole cloth from nothing, but

11:17

was a symptom of and reaction

11:19

two, a market need not being

11:21

met. namely a reaction

11:23

against the total ban on overseas

11:25

trade. As

11:27

such, between fifteen fifty four and fifteen

11:29

fifty six, Jalen who pressured the central

11:31

government to relax its trade of prohibitions

11:33

and to send a delegation of envoy to

11:35

Japan ostensibly to request the

11:37

king of Japan's assistance in fighting

11:39

piracy. In truth,

11:41

however, the real reason behind the mission was to

11:43

seek out the pirate Lord Wanzhou and

11:45

solicit his surrender. The

11:47

pair of sensors understood that he was,

11:50

in many regards, the head of the

11:52

serpent. As such,

11:54

since he was clearly too slippery to grab a hold

11:56

of and simply cut off. They needed to

11:58

send him a love letter and get

11:59

him to agree to stop.

12:02

as

12:03

a proof of good intentions therefore, who had

12:05

Wong's family released from prison and

12:07

moved them to his headquarters that May of fifteen

12:09

fifty five, soon after he became the

12:11

governor of Jiangnan.

12:13

That was all well and good in itself.

12:15

But unfortunately, for Huuzong

12:17

Shen and his efforts to build trust between

12:19

himself and the pirate lord, The judging

12:21

emperor had other ideas.

12:24

Just before whose envoy to

12:26

Japan set out, the Imperial Court

12:28

issued an order renewing its bounty

12:30

on Wangzia's head. dead or

12:32

alive. Governor who

12:34

dispatched his envoy anyway. Even though

12:36

he was certainly aware,

12:38

he was doing so indirect contravention of the new

12:40

Imperial Order. The following

12:42

spring of fifteen fifty six, whose

12:44

envoy returned in the company of Wong's

12:46

adopted son who acted as a

12:48

tyrannical emissary of sorts.

12:50

He reported Wang's favorable reaction

12:52

to whose offer and gave his

12:54

reply saying that in exchange for a

12:56

full pardon and official permission to engage in

12:59

overseas trade for his organization, Wong

13:01

would see that all hybrid bands in and around

13:03

Jejang would be wiped out. As

13:06

a further measure of good faith, Wong

13:09

also conveyed a warning to governor who

13:11

that a certain captain within his syndicate,

13:13

won Shu High. was moving

13:15

ahead with a large scale raid on the

13:17

Zhejiang coastline and Wong had been

13:19

unable to stop him. Though this

13:21

warning was surely appreciated, it

13:23

did further complicate whose already precarious

13:26

plans. As such a raid would undoubtedly

13:28

cause a serious military crisis and

13:30

further imperial scrutiny of the

13:32

piracy situation. That senior,

13:35

Huzangshan was promoted to the very

13:37

succinctly named triple position

13:39

of supreme commander of the armies in the

13:41

Southern Metropolitan region Jia Jiang and

13:43

Fujian. This sounds

13:45

fine in Dandy, but he was actually stepping into

13:47

something of a disaster in progress. Guys,

13:50

puts it, quote, Imperial armies had

13:52

been badly defeated during the last months of

13:54

fifteen fifty five. The aboriginal

13:56

troops that Zhangjing had brought from the southwest

13:58

were attacking imperial troops

13:59

and pillaging the countryside. The

14:02

military

14:02

situation was deteriorating and

14:04

rating continued. quote In

14:08

fact, it had been Jiang Jiang's idea

14:10

to promote who

14:12

in the first place after he'd realized that

14:14

he'd hopefully lost control of the situation

14:16

and hadn't planned to stick around long enough to

14:18

be caught holding the bag when the whole

14:20

thing collapsed. In that sense

14:22

then, Hu Jiangshan's big promotion

14:24

was intended as little more than

14:26

setting him up to be the fall guy.

14:28

And Boyo Boy did who started

14:30

tenure office supreme commander with

14:32

one doozy of a problem? The

14:35

first half of the year of the job would be

14:37

utterly consumed just trying to reign in and

14:39

contain the chaos of the pirate

14:41

Zhuhai's attacks along the Zhejiang

14:43

coast, which was launched as of

14:45

mid April.

14:48

Shuhai had not, of course, began his

14:50

life as a swashbuckler. He

14:52

seems to have been born and grew up in

14:54

or around Hong's in northern

14:56

Zhejiang. And when he reached adolescence,

14:58

started down the path of being a Buddhist

15:00

monk at a local monastery. As

15:02

of about fifteen fifty one however, Shu

15:05

decided that monastic life was not for

15:07

him, left the temple and took up a

15:09

position within his merchant uncles trading

15:11

consortium. This proved to

15:13

be quite the lucrative career path

15:15

in spite of or been deep

15:17

because of its gray area

15:19

legality. And between fifteen fifty

15:21

one and fifteen fifty four, Zhuhai

15:23

waged back and forth and back and forth

15:25

between Zhejiang and Japan. I'massing a

15:27

significant personal fortune in the

15:29

process. Things took a

15:31

turn for the far more serious and

15:33

dire in fifteen fifty five, however,

15:36

when she's uncle disappeared while on a trading

15:38

mission down south to Guangdong. Did

15:41

tragedy strike while at sea or perhaps

15:43

at port? or did dearest uncle

15:45

just pull a vanishing act? That

15:47

last one seems like a possibility because

15:49

it left Young Zhuhai holding

15:51

the bag. And in due

15:53

course then, who should come on knocking, but the

15:55

consortium's patronym creditor, Lord

15:57

Shimazu of Otsumi province,

15:59

on the southernmost tip of Qashu.

16:01

Lord Shimazu

16:03

demanded that Shuhai make good on his

16:05

vanished uncle's debts and obligations.

16:08

And if I make good on, he meant launch a

16:10

large scale raid on Jejang. What

16:13

else was there to do then? But go up

16:15

pirating. Just this one last

16:17

job, and then he would be out for

16:19

good. Meanwhile,

16:21

supreme commander, Huuzong Chen, had

16:23

made a study of the situation and determined

16:25

that he definitely very

16:27

much had exactly zero chance of being able

16:29

to stop Zhuhai from pillaging every

16:32

town, port and city from Hangzhou

16:34

all the way to Nanjing. He didn't

16:36

have anywhere near the manpower nor

16:38

the firepower to do anything other than get himself

16:40

badly routed and or killed.

16:43

And so it was time for a different strategy.

16:46

Diplomacy, that is to say,

16:48

convinced Zhuhai that it would be in his best

16:50

interest to simply surrender without a

16:52

fight. It was with that in mind

16:54

then that this military commander

16:56

ostensibly placed in charge of, you

16:58

know, getting rid of the pirates,

17:00

steadfastly refused to attack or

17:02

allow his subordinates to attack the pirate captain

17:05

Shuhai's forces over the course of fifteen

17:07

fifty six. Instead, he hold

17:09

them all up at his headquarters in

17:11

Hangzhou and waited for Shu to

17:13

reply favorably. Not

17:15

everyone was on board with commander who's sit and

17:17

wait approach however. One such

17:20

official, no less than the newly

17:22

installed governor of Dejiang province

17:24

himself named Ron O, decided that if

17:26

who was just gonna sit on his hands, well,

17:28

then that meant more glory and victory

17:31

for him. Such

17:33

delusions of grandeur didn't last terribly

17:36

long. Governor Ron's hastily

17:38

assembled anti pirate task force was

17:40

soundly defeated in its first encounter with

17:42

Shuhai's Marauder, and they were forced to

17:44

fight slash retreat their way into the

17:46

walled city of Tang Sheehan, which was then

17:48

put under siege by the

17:50

pirates. They're in, governor Ron and the remnants of his men

17:52

sat and waited and waited

17:54

and kept waiting for

17:56

more than a month. Meanwhile,

17:59

less than sixty miles away, Commander

18:01

Huuzong Shein had heard about all of this, but

18:03

decided that instead of sending relief or

18:06

reinforcements to the Harry Governor, he

18:08

would just rather not. He

18:11

justified this refusal to lift a finger in

18:13

aid of his fellow imperial official

18:15

by saying that the only resolution to such a tricky situation

18:17

was through a negotiated settlement

18:19

with captain Shoo and the other pirate

18:22

leaders. Who

18:24

sent yet another miss of Tushu

18:26

Hai informing him that

18:29

actually Wangzhi had already accepted his oh

18:31

so generous terms of surrender

18:33

and that since all the cool kids were doing it,

18:35

he should jump on board while the game was good.

18:37

This turned out to be

18:40

super effective. And in June of fifteen fifty

18:42

six, Zhuhai replied back,

18:44

accepting whose terms and ordering is meant to

18:46

withdraw from the siege of Zhongshin as a

18:48

show of good faith. Hello,

18:50

everyone. My name is Westlake Liverset from

18:52

the history of the Second World War podcast.

18:54

My podcast is a mostly

18:56

chronological retelling of the Second World War

18:58

and I hope you will join me on a journey through the

19:00

most cataclysmic conflict in human

19:03

history as we try to answer the

19:05

questions of not just what and where,

19:07

but how and why. I

19:09

joined me on a journey not just through the famous

19:11

campaigns, battles, and events, but also

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on a trip around the globe as we broaden the

19:15

scope of second world war history beyond

19:17

the well known battlefields of Europe and the

19:19

Pacific. During weekly episodes,

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I seek to provide new insight for

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longtime students of the war while

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also being a great jumping on point for

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anyone seeking a deeper understanding of

19:29

the Second World War. This

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podcast has made it to the invasion of

19:33

Poland in nineteen thirty nine and start listening now

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You can find history of the second world war on all

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19:46

history of the second world

19:48

war. Now,

19:48

it might sound a bit like planning

19:51

to double cross otherwise screw over Zhuhai from

19:53

the start. But that doesn't really appear to

19:55

have been the case.

19:57

In

19:58

point of fact, much of the evidence points

19:59

to who operating at least

20:02

mostly in good faith and meaning to follow

20:04

through with all the promises and agreements that

20:06

he was making with these pirate leaders.

20:08

because at their

20:08

core, they were all businessmen. And

20:11

this was just a

20:11

big business agreement. Getting the

20:13

pirates to stop pirates was his

20:16

mission parameter. And he figured

20:18

out that negotiating with them was a far better use

20:20

of his and therefore the empire's

20:22

time and resources than trying to

20:24

duke it out on the high seas.

20:27

It's nothing personal,

20:27

sunny.

20:30

But alas, there

20:30

were goings on happening well

20:33

over even supreme commander Hu Jong

20:35

Sheehan's head and well outside of his

20:37

purview, all the way up in

20:39

Mary Old Beijing. Up

20:41

in the capital, who

20:43

and our good friend, since our

20:45

Zhao won Pois had suddenly found himself on the

20:47

outskirts of that most precious, mercurial,

20:49

and capacious of resources,

20:52

imperial

20:52

favor.

20:54

And

20:54

it all had to do with one tiny little exaggeration on

20:56

his part. Guys writes,

20:58

quote, early in fifteen

21:00

fifty six, he had reported

21:02

on his success in eradicating piracy.

21:04

But

21:05

in June, after reading reports of Zhuhai's

21:07

invasion and requests for reinforcement,

21:09

The emperor ordered Yan Song to explain what was

21:12

going on. Well,

21:13

if

21:14

you see your majesty,

21:16

when I said that the pirates were exterminated, I

21:19

wasn't being exactly literal,

21:21

more metaphorically aspirational.

21:24

It would seem

21:25

that the judging interpreted something to

21:27

the effect of roll his eyes at yet

21:29

another incompetent lying official

21:32

and told Jiao that he had better get his rear end back down

21:34

to Zhejiang on the double and

21:36

fix this pirate situation in a very

21:38

literal, immediate, and permanent

21:41

sense. It was ordered to use

21:43

all measures of aggression to eradicate

21:45

the c dogs without exception. And

21:48

so, Nasdaq would have it, All

21:50

of a sudden, all those deals and

21:52

guarantees promised to the likes of Guangzhou and

21:54

Zhuhai went up in a puff of

21:56

imperial smoke. Judging would

21:58

surely never agree to any such conditions at

21:59

this point.

22:01

So, yeah, that

22:02

was gonna be an awkward

22:05

explanation.

22:08

Meanwhile, still none the wiser. Shu

22:10

and who were busily hagging out the

22:12

specific terms of their deal.

22:14

Some of Schuh's fellow buccaneers were a bit

22:16

more wary of trusting the

22:18

government to actually follow through on its

22:20

end of the bargain once they'd place themselves

22:22

at its mercy. and side note

22:24

and possible spoiler here, good

22:27

thinking boys, they

22:29

wanted no

22:29

part of it. In fact, they wanted

22:32

out.

22:32

Well, alright, no problem.

22:35

It was agreed that those who didn't want a

22:37

main pardon and would rather return to

22:39

Japan would be given ships to

22:41

do so. and be seen off on their merry way.

22:43

But those who did want in on this

22:45

sweet limited time offer would not

22:47

only be pardoned, said Hu

22:49

Jong Sheehan, but given

22:51

Primo military appointments to drive off

22:53

any other pirates who might give any zany

22:55

ideas to move into the territory.

22:57

And toward that directive, Zhuhai

22:59

and his cronies were to begin

23:01

right away. quote Meanwhile,

23:04

Shuhai's forces took part in campaigns to

23:07

wipe out pirates along the Wu Song River

23:09

between Suzhou and the Sea. And

23:11

this campaign was coordinated with attacks on

23:14

pirate strongholds along the coast carried out by Wong just

23:16

adopted sons. And quote, yeah,

23:19

great. We are totally planning on hiring

23:21

you, but we just like a

23:23

little unpaid probationary period

23:25

first just to see if you're a good

23:27

fit. Trust me.

23:29

And to

23:30

be perfectly fair, Had

23:32

things just kept on as such,

23:35

it seems likely that it all would

23:37

have worked out swell for the main

23:39

government and the pirates and everybody.

23:41

I mean, except for the pirates getting killed.

23:43

Quote, whose strategy seemed to

23:45

be working? The overseas merchants were doing

23:47

what Imperial troops could not. End

23:50

quote, Shuhai said

23:51

he'd have all his

23:52

forces withdrawn if he could be given

23:54

enough resources to pay off his debts to Lord

23:56

Shimazu of Otsumi. And

23:58

who agreed to this?

24:00

Everything was shaping up nicely. And

24:02

then,

24:03

Dal one Hava

24:03

turned and just ruined

24:06

everything.

24:07

Shortly after his arrival

24:10

back in Zhejiang, Zhejiang officially

24:12

and publicly repudiated commander

24:14

who's policy of appeasement by

24:16

Imperial Order. There was

24:18

really nothing after that. No

24:20

grand alternative strategy of,

24:22

well, then what should we do instead?

24:24

Nope. strategy

24:26

was officially a dead letter and the

24:28

whereabouts and the wences of what might replace

24:30

it? Well, that was who Jiangxi has problem

24:33

as well. Clearly, this left who in a

24:35

tight spot. Between his two

24:37

remaining options, betray his deal

24:39

with the pirates or go against

24:41

government directives, there

24:43

was really no choice at all. Obviously, it was going

24:45

to be the pirate's head that rolled, not

24:48

his. But that didn't

24:50

mean that he had to, you know,

24:52

like it. He worked

24:54

long and hard to hammer out this good and

24:56

equitable deal, and it had been

24:58

working. But

24:59

whatever, orders are orders.

25:02

and so

25:02

he got down to work. The pirates

25:05

hadn't heard of this change of circumstances

25:07

yet and so who knew that this

25:09

informational gap could be used against

25:11

them? at least to contain them

25:13

and keep them bottled up until a more

25:15

permanent solution could be devised.

25:18

Quote, by this time, the various groups in the rating

25:20

party had begun to fight among them cells

25:22

and who took advantage of this to

25:24

eliminate some of the leaders through various

25:26

defeats and ruses, end

25:28

quote. Meanwhile, Zhuhai himself,

25:30

still non noiser, continued

25:32

to cooperately play his part alongside

25:34

the government forces And even

25:37

after, the new set of orders were made known to

25:39

him, he still expected to be

25:41

permitted to at least be able to withdraw from

25:43

the Chinese coasts peacefully. It

25:46

was, however, not to be.

25:48

Zhao Wanhua had sent agents of his own

25:50

to inform Shu's remaining pirates that they

25:52

would be permitted to retreat back to

25:55

the coasts. but simultaneously ordered

25:57

another official to await their coming at

25:59

a predetermined

25:59

point and then ambushed them as they

26:02

traveled by. Shuhai was able

26:03

to take refuge in a nearby estate. Once

26:06

in sconce within, he then tried to

26:08

parlay with the government forces and work out

26:10

some new terms by which he

26:12

and his men would be allowed to leave and return to

26:15

sea. For his part, commander who

26:17

still vocally supported such an arrangement

26:19

with Schuh But Dalwa had his

26:21

marching orders and would not be

26:23

deterred. None of the pirates were to be

26:25

allowed to escape with their lives.

26:27

The Imperial Forces encircled

26:30

the estates and laid it to a siege that

26:32

would last for a week. Finally,

26:34

the assault came. The battle was

26:36

very evenly matched with the results up in the

26:39

air, right up until the final day of the

26:41

battle. When the main forces finally

26:43

breached the compound, and found

26:45

within it Shuhai faced down

26:47

and dead in a stream. Either having drowned

26:49

himself rather than faced capturing

26:51

execution or having simply been cut down

26:53

perhaps by his own men or perhaps by the

26:55

main attackers. As

26:57

for the others, several of the pirate leaders, including

26:59

Shu's brother, were taken alive

27:01

only to be executed thereafter,

27:03

and remaining pirate forces ruthlessly pursued

27:06

and exterminated.

27:07

Now, when it

27:10

came to the question of the big

27:12

Kahuna himself, Wang t, things

27:14

were still much more up in the air

27:16

in terms of his eventual fate.

27:18

Even with his recent heel

27:20

turn regarding Zhuhai, sensor

27:23

Zhao Wanhua was still convinced that Wong was

27:25

a different case and that he

27:27

could arrange a pardon for this, let's

27:30

call him freelance entrepreneur. Indeed,

27:33

in this, he also had the support

27:35

of Grand Secretary, Yan Song,

27:37

at the

27:37

Imperial Court. who

27:39

agreed with his overall analysis of the coastal

27:42

situation now that the great pirate rate

27:44

had been taken care of. The

27:45

rationale was thus,

27:48

quote, By partnering

27:48

people engaging in trade, by enlisting them

27:50

to attack pirates, and by allowing

27:52

them to pursue their livelihoods, the number

27:54

of people who were driven the piracy would

27:57

decline number of people willing to suppress

27:59

it would

27:59

grow.

28:00

What if we lift

28:03

the oppressive boot heel of the state off the necks of

28:05

the people? maybe they would be less inclined

28:07

to break the law then. Worth a

28:09

try at least a. As

28:11

such, Guangzhou was to be recruited into

28:13

the Ming military as the local chief

28:15

anti pirate fighter. Done

28:17

and done.

28:19

Until that is, just a few

28:21

weeks before Wong was scheduled to arrive

28:23

in Zhejiang to formally surrender that

28:26

following September of fifteen fifty

28:28

seven. When Zhao Wanhua found

28:30

himself quite unexpectedly and

28:32

unceremoniously dumped from his

28:34

post, details

28:35

of this are just

28:36

bizarre. So the

28:38

previous May, the main gate of

28:40

the Forbidden City had Yes.

28:43

Yes. Everyone together now

28:45

caught fire and burned to the ground. I

28:47

mean, we all know that's it.

28:49

The judging emperor had ordered that it be

28:52

reconstructed at once because,

28:54

of course, he did.

28:55

Now in addition to being

28:57

one of the chief sensors and in

29:00

charge of the military operations along the

29:02

southern coast, cellphonehua

29:04

was also the

29:06

minister of works and thus technically in charge

29:08

of such imperial construction projects.

29:11

Again, even though he was currently thirteen

29:13

hundred miles away in Hongzhou at

29:15

the moment. cut

29:17

two four months later, and the emperor

29:20

notices that the gate rebuild is

29:22

still unfinished and has something

29:24

of a connection fit. quote,

29:25

he told Yun Song

29:26

to inform Jiao that he should be asked

29:28

to retire and then reduce

29:30

Jiao to the status of a commoner and

29:32

exile him along with his son.

29:35

But Jiao

29:35

died before the sentencing could be imposed. End

29:38

quote,

29:38

and thus

29:39

exits Jiao Wanhua from our tale.

29:42

But it goes even further

29:44

than that. The emperor was royally

29:46

kicked off, not only at the slow

29:48

reconstruction of his precious gate, but

29:51

also that chancellor Yin Song hadn't

29:53

reported Jao's obvious malfeasance at

29:55

being so bad at gate building while suppressing

29:57

piracy thirteen hundred miles away.

29:59

As

29:59

such, in

29:59

spite of the fact that Chancellor Yan had a

30:02

long and spotless career

30:04

record of Imperial Service,

30:06

Jodging

30:06

began to rather loudly

30:08

wonder whether or not he was trustworthy

30:10

after all. Feeling

30:12

his own neck coming

30:14

dangerously close to the imperial act,

30:16

X. Jens Song felt that he was now in no position

30:18

to try to press the idea of sparing

30:21

Wangzuh or reversing the imperial policy

30:23

of total extermination on

30:25

all pirates. So,

30:26

yeah, to

30:27

sum it up, captain Wong's deal

30:29

with the government is about to totally come

30:32

undone at the cost of his and

30:34

all of his man's lives. of

30:36

the forbidden cities gates burned down and the

30:38

emperor was irked about how long it was taken

30:40

to rebuild. Life can be

30:42

pretty strange sometimes. And so

30:44

it was that in October of fifteen fifty

30:47

seven, Wangja and his crew,

30:49

none the wiser, arrived at the

30:51

prearranged meeting point off of

30:53

Joshan Island with his

30:55

large trading fleet. From there, he

30:56

sent forth a messenger to Huzongshan's

30:58

office to announce his surrender and get

31:00

in on that sweet, sweet anti piracy

31:03

task force action.

31:05

To this, who

31:07

wasn't quite sure how to respond?

31:09

So he just responded

31:12

with wait a moment. I'll I'll I'll be right

31:14

with you. Don't go anywhere. After thinking

31:16

it through though, who opted to

31:18

accept Wong's surrender? then keep his

31:20

fingers crossed that somehow or

31:23

another, the emperor could be brought around to

31:25

reversing his execution

31:27

order. It probably should have been

31:29

pretty clear which direction all that was gonna

31:31

go by the fact that the judging emperor

31:33

repeatedly referred to Wangzhi as

31:35

Chengal Wuxia meaning

31:37

banned its sorcerer. Nevertheless,

31:40

for the time being, he left

31:42

Wangzia temporarily up to who Zhou

31:44

Hao's personal discretion. As

31:46

such, Guangzhou would languish in prison for a

31:48

further two years until December fifteen

31:51

fifty nine, when who finally

31:53

received and then carried out an

31:55

imperial order to terminate him.

31:57

His own fate remained uncertain to him

31:59

right up until the day of his execution.

32:02

The aftermath of this grand

32:04

scale rug pull was pretty

32:06

much what one might expect. Wong

32:08

just adopted son and followers who had escaped

32:10

the Meng's clutches retreated to their

32:12

headquarters of Joe Sean Island and tried to work out

32:15

just what had gone so terribly

32:17

wrong. One thing

32:18

was certain. never

32:20

ever trust those government bastards about

32:23

anything. Peaceful trade, totally off the

32:25

menu. From that point on, what

32:27

remained of Wong's fleet resolved

32:29

to head back to Japan, re

32:31

equip, recruit, and rearm, and then

32:33

join up with another large rating

32:35

force to commence with a campaign of error including up and down

32:37

the coast of Zhejiang and

32:39

Zhejiang. The emperor,

32:41

upon the wildly overconfident promise

32:44

of Zhejiang Ordered in July of

32:46

fifteen fifty eight that all pirate activity

32:48

along the coast must be

32:50

totally wiped out within a

32:52

month. At that, unsurprisingly

32:54

ran a ground with the main fleet failed to take

32:56

Joe Sean Island by force taking heavy

32:58

casualties in the attempt.

33:02

This would surely have been the end of commander whose career

33:04

and possibly life. Had

33:06

he not lucked into finding and capturing

33:08

an albino deer while on the island?

33:12

When who presented this animal to the emperor, judging

33:14

was quite taken with it as an auspicious

33:16

sign from heaven and chose to

33:19

overlook whose ignorance failure to adequately

33:21

suppress piracy in the time allotted.

33:24

Instead, and in true judging

33:26

form, he turned his ire onto who's

33:28

sub commanders, Xi Jinping and

33:30

Yu value. Yu was arrested

33:32

in April of fifteen fifty nine for having

33:34

not sufficiently pursued the pirate ships

33:37

that had retreated from Joseon Island, even

33:39

though it had been at Huzong shipments' command

33:41

that they'd be allowed to

33:43

withdraw. who, sensing that this would

33:45

not go over well at the Imperial Court,

33:47

Judeoed his own order onto

33:50

YuDAU, impeaching him on the

33:52

same charges and then letting him for

33:54

it. Ew was dismissed from his

33:56

post in disgrace. Nice

33:59

going who? As

34:00

for Xi Jinping, he was likewise relieved

34:03

of his command in the summer of fifteen fifty

34:05

nine, but ordered to train up an army

34:07

and redeem himself via combat.

34:10

He would subsequently recruit some three thousand men from the countryside

34:12

at particular regions south of Hongzhou

34:14

infamous in its day for a large number

34:16

of, quote, unquote, troublesome farmers

34:20

and drilled them up on special tactics designed to counter

34:22

the fighting styles of Japanese warriors

34:24

specifically that she was

34:26

particularly intimidated by for

34:29

their swordsman. This army, which would come

34:31

to be known appropriately enough as the

34:33

Qi Army, would prove to be

34:35

exceedingly good at its job.

34:37

and would serve as one of the vanguards of anti piracy and ban

34:40

entry actions across the region for much

34:42

of the subsequent decade.

34:44

Across the fifteen

34:45

sixties, limiting anti piracy

34:47

efforts continue to improve upon their earlier blunders

34:49

and refine their actions. By

34:52

early fifteen

34:52

sixty three, for instance, the Qi Army was

34:54

able to eradicate the last major pirate bases

34:57

in the Fujianese coasts. A series of

34:59

campaigns from fifteen sixty four to

35:01

sixty six saw the pirate bands of

35:03

southern Jiangxi and Guangdong ground down

35:05

to almost nothing. as many as

35:07

eighty thousand peasants reclaimed by the

35:10

empire from pirate control,

35:12

which is to say, put back on the official

35:14

tax registers. In

35:16

fact, by fifteen sixty seven,

35:18

piracy was deemed to be no longer a

35:20

major problem along the

35:22

southeast coast. Though illicit overseas trade remained an

35:24

issue as the dodging emperor still refused

35:26

to budge on his staunch anti import

35:28

export stance.

35:30

It would take Jiajing's death

35:33

that very year to finally see the

35:35

ban on overseas trades substantively relaxed, and

35:37

the court debate on the issue that had raised

35:39

for some four decades at last favorably

35:41

resolved. The wild and woolly days of sixteenth

35:43

century piracy had at last wound themselves down

35:46

to something of a

35:48

conclusion. At

35:50

least, for now. And so next time, we'll

35:52

be headed back to the mighty northern capital

35:54

to inaugurate our first new emperor

35:56

in a very long time.

35:59

a long ting

35:59

emperor whose reign will

36:02

be, well, not all

36:05

that long. Thanks

36:07

for listening.