Japanese Silver Attracted Foreign Smugglers (6)

      Zhu Wan (1494-1550) tried to solve the conflict in a militant and authoritarian way.  In 1548, he sent a fleet to Shuanyu, the largest base of smugglers, in Zhoushan Islands, Zhejiang Province, felled the port, and captured and killed many smugglers including Xu Dong.  Li Guangtou and Wang Zhi narrowly  escaped from the perish though.

     Zhu’s achievements and the contribution to the country, however, angered utilitarian landed gentries, and he had to commit suicide in 1550.  After his death, in 1550’s, there came Jiajing wokou raids.  Was it because of Zhu’s success, which ironically scattered left-over smugglers along Zhejiang and Fujian coasts out of any control?  Or was it because of militants’ lost to utilitarians, which accordingly weakened the military actions against smugglers?  Who knows?  However, during the great wokou raids, even utilitarian landed gentries’ estates were attacked by wokou.  Those gentries were, accordingly, losers too.

      After the fall of Shuanyu in 1548, Wang Zhi (?-1560) moved his base to Lie Port, Jintang Island, still within Zhoushan Islands, Zhejiang Province.  The port was attacked by Yu Dayou (1503-579) in 1553, and Wang fled to Japan.