Chapter 110 Section 4 Chinese-Japanese Mixed Race

Fujian Province, across the Taiwan Strait, was once known for smuggling and smuggling.In fact, these two activities have deep traditions in this province.At least since the early Ming Dynasty, a large number of pirates have been active along the coast of Fujian. Although the Great Yuan Empire was a worldwide empire and famous for its well-developed overseas trade, Zhu Yuanzhang, a latecomer, was not at all interested in the outside world.Zhu Yuanzhang was terrified of the overseas trade that had brought great wealth to China, fearing that such activities would bring instability to his empire.Therefore, he not only banned overseas trade, but even banned fishermen from fishing in the sea, and moved all the residents of the island inward, "with a limit of three days, the latter will die."

Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, people in the southeast coast have long been accustomed to making a living by operating overseas trade, and Fujianese once enjoyed the highest standard of living in the empire.With the ban on the sea, the vibrant coastal economy suffered a devastating blow.Fujian people have always dared to take risks, and they were unwilling to sit still. Therefore, they either smuggled into foreign countries and opened up new states, or armed robbers, crossed the sea, or carried out smuggling and sailed thousands of miles. "The motivation to seek outward self-development was formed, and later it became a torrent, and formed a huge civilian armed force that could compete with the imperial court." (Tang Jintai's "Taiwan in the Age of Great Navigation") In that era, The line between "pirate" and "merchant" is so blurred.They "if the market is popular, bandits will turn into merchants, and if the market is banned, merchants will turn into robbers" ([Ming]

Xie Jie's "Qiantai Japanese Compilation").Once there is a possibility of business, the pirates will roll up the skull flag, hide their knives and guns below the deck, pile up smiles, and make money in a friendly manner.Only when there is no other way to go, do you rely on robbery to survive.And a well-behaved merchant who wants to run an ocean-going trade will find that he must be armed as a half-pirate.Because ocean commerce is actually armed smuggling, the sea in East Asia is full of crises, and without the backing of force, his fleet may be buried in the sea at any time. The reason why the competition at sea is so fierce is that the profits of the sea trade on that day are astonishing.Taking the bulk raw silk traded at that time as an example, the Dutch East India Company’s “Batavia City Diary” on April 6, the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625 A.D.) contained: Eighty-five taels or ninety to ninety-five taels, which is a very high price) Now China has jumped to 115 taels, and the Japanese bought it at 260 taels last year."

It is generally estimated that the profit rate of raw silk, a commodity exported to Japan by sea on that day, was 140%, the profit rate of oxtail medicine was the highest, reaching more than 450%, and the profit rate of brocade satin was the lowest, also 90%.According to this analysis, the profit margin of maritime trade at that time was about 150%.Therefore, if there is an opportunity to trade normally, being a merchant is far more profitable than being a pirate. In that era, pirates, or ocean-going traders, were the careers of choice for almost all ambitious and courageous men in Fujian Province.

Zheng Zhilong is from Nan'an, Fujian.From the map, you can see that this place is not far from the sea.According to historical records, the son of this petty official had a disposition, didn't like reading, had physical strength, and was good at boxing and clubs. He was born with a quack personality.Influenced by the region's tradition of traveling abroad, Zheng Zhilong ran away from home when he was only 18 years old and wandered in Macau, Japan, and the Philippines.Due to his long-term absence, he is proficient in Portuguese, Dutch and Japanese, worked as a shoemaker, cook and full-time translator, and became a Catholic.

During his stay in Japan, Zheng Zhilong married a Japanese woman named Tagawa.Zheng Chenggong thus became a Chinese-Japanese hybrid. Because of his cunning and heroism, Zheng Zhilong has been in the sea for more than ten years, becoming the most feared pirate leader in the southeast sea, and the largest international trader on the southeast coast.He owns hundreds of large merchant ships and tens of thousands of private armed forces, and other Chinese who operate overseas trade have to pay him protection fees. Like Zheng Zhilong, the Dutch merchants organized in the name of the East India Company were also pirates, and they had close contacts with Zheng Zhilong.Although they come from two different hemispheres, the nature of pirates is the same:

Bloodthirsty, greedy, unfaithful, no moral bottom line.Sometimes Zheng Zhilong would teach Chinese boxing to the Dutch during a feast one day, but the next day he would rob a Dutch ship, sweep up all his belongings, and secretly scuttle it to the bottom of the sea.The Dutchman also exudes a strong scent of jungle animals. German historian Weiter said in "History of Taiwan": "He (Zheng Zhilong) seemed to have a harmonious relationship with the Dutch in Taiwan. But at the end of the 1620s, when (Zheng) visited Zeelandia (Taiwan) for a friendly visit, he was Piet Neutz's treacherous arrest had to be redeemed for twenty bars of gold. But as the saying goes, a lowly man is easy to fight and easy to make up, and common commercial interests unite them."