Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Even Pirates Have Their Uses (9)
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There are certain truths that remain unchanged no matter how much the world evolves.
One of them is the saying that you can't fix—or repurpose—a person whom even their parents failed to mold into a decent human being.
No matter how much time passed, that held true. A man whom parents couldn't shape into a proper person—no, Soda Uemon Tarō, utterly addicted to the thrill of piracy—simply couldn't quit his pirate ways.
"Haha, at this rate, we'll hit Yeongpa soon! Jirō, how much farther until we get there?"
"From the North Star last night, we should arrive by this evening."
"This evening, eh? Perfect. We'll hack away to our hearts' content at dusk, down a cup of Ming liquor under the stars, and head back."
The Ming Dynasty focused all its efforts on blocking the Mongols and Jurchens to the north, leaving coastal defenses against Japanese pirates sorely neglected.
This wasn't just oversight. The sheer cost of fending off northern barbarians drained resources, leaving little for investing in anti-pirate measures down south.
The northern barbarians had the power to topple the Ming if unchecked, while the Japanese pirates, at worst, slaughtered a few thousand coastal villagers—hardly a national catastrophe.
Thus, for the sake of efficient budget allocation, the Ming treated pirate defense as a low priority.
"I heard from that pirate king operating out of Iki Island that the Ming blockheads have pine stakes jammed into their shipyards—they're not even building warships anymore."
"Is that true?"
"Not just me. Chiyoda, Takasugi, and Tanaka, who sail the deep seas with me, said they've never laid eyes on a Ming warship either. The deepest they dare go is when swarms of a thousand Ming troops come crawling out like ants to devour them."
During Zheng He's great voyages, a single shipyard in Beijing churned out over two thousand vessels in just over a decade.
But the Ming declared, "Nah, we'll only worry about the Mongols!" and let those warships rot with minimal maintenance. Their navy was effectively defunct.
As a result, Ming anti-pirate operations were like dispatching firefighters only after spotting the blaze.
Reports of severe pirate raids reached local garrisons, and only then did they sluggishly mobilize.
"Damn it, the sea bans make landing and looting a breeze, but there's not a single profitable Ming merchant ship in sight."
"You're telling me."
"Still, selling these Ming dogs as slaves in Jeju's Jeongui County should net us a tidy profit. Let's hit the nearest fishing village quick."
"Yes, sir."
The Ming might skimp on coastal village defenses, but their cities bristled with garrisons too large to ignore.
Greedily raiding rich urban households for luxuries could get you killed.
Soda Uemon Tarō was pondering safe, efficient profit strategies over a sip of sake when...
"Village sighted ahead!"
The call to commence their maritime self-sufficiency drive—the profitable relocation of Ming locals.
At those words, the pirates donned their shabby armor, and the entire crew armed up in seconds.
"Capture as many as we can, interrogate them, and scout nearby fishing villages and wealthy homes worth hitting!"
Soda Uemon Tarō was a samurai steeped in the wisdom of Tsushima raiding, indiscriminate against Joseon or Ming alike.
Naturally, his expertise far outstripped these pirate novices.
"Ditch the bows—grab swords and clubs only! Every one of those bastards is money and rice!"
"Yes, sir!"
"One week—that's it. We'll loot like kings and sail back to Tsushima!"
Lingering over a week in Ming territory risked drawing their armies.
What good was coming for profit if you left in a coffin?
"Stick to the plan. Charge!"
Soda Uemon Tarō successfully captured 121 Ming coastal residents deemed illegal squatters.
Combining with other like-minded pirate bands, over 1,500 Ming fishermen were abducted.
Word of this, naturally, reached the Ming Emperor.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Emperor Hongxi thundered at his ministers from the side hall of the Forbidden City.
"What the hell have you lot been doing all this time?"
Not a soul dared refute him.
Even if the emperor's rage was unjust, Ming tradition—much like Joseon's—meant voicing dissent got your head lopped off on the spot.
And in this case, his accusations were utterly justified.
Protesting now would turn you from minister to ministerial corpse.
"Forty-five fishing villages near Yeongpa in Fujian Province were raided by pirates. Over 2,000 Ming subjects abducted or slaughtered! What were Fujian's Regional Commanders and Provincial Commandants doing?!"
"We beg Your Majesty's forgiveness."
"Does begging solve it? Does it?!"
Hongxi was so furious he nearly shot to his feet.
But crippled without his palanquin, he abandoned the effort and slumped back.
"Emperor Hongwu said the pirate scourge stems from private trade luring Japanese with Ming treasures, breeding their greed and raids."
Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang despised commerce.
How much? He issued sea bans, outlawing maritime trade outright.
He even decried private artisans corrupting the masses with luxuries, forcibly conscripting them into government service at slave wages to ruin independent crafts.
The illiterate brute's warped beliefs, born of scant Confucian knowledge.
"The Great Ming is the world's center, self-sufficient in all needs. Private trade only stokes pirate greed, turning them into raiders—inevitable."
Some say if Ming emperors like Yongle had pursued commerce during Zheng He's expeditions, the Age of Exploration might have dawned in China, not Europe.
Yet, high on Sinocentrism, Yongle reached India and Africa, then quit after "exotic trinkets" bolstered his rule—job done.
"Hongwu decreed moving coastal folk inland to starve pirates of targets. Yet local officials shirk, failing proper evacuations."
Of course, complications abounded. Banning trade barely hurt Ming survival.
Smuggling luxury imports filled the gap, and the vast empire produced nearly everything.
But yanking fishermen inland left them destitute.
Starving masses might oblige by dying, but humans are weeds—tough. They'd turn bandit instead.
Thus, local officials turned blind eyes to coastal hamlets to avoid bandit surges on their watch.
"Minister of War."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Order all Regional Commanders and Provincial Commandants to relocate every coastal resident inland immediately."
"But Sire... these fishermen are far poorer than farmers. Uprooting them abruptly..."
"I know your concern—destitute folk breed bandits. But I have a solution."
Hongxi might be grossly obese, but he was no fool.
Blindly displacing folk would destabilize the realm, bandits or worse.
"Enroll them all as military households. They'll farm and serve. Liaodong Commandant pleads for troops—perfect."
"Your Majesty's mercy rivals the seas. Legally, these lawbreakers merit execution, yet Your grace grants them livelihoods. They will cry 'Long live the Emperor!'"
Living illegally in fishing villages was tough; military households were hell.
Any moment, you could be shipped to some godforsaken frontier for duty. Early on, they got land.
Now? Wasteland to reclaim—if any left.
Reclaim barren soil, dread your kin drafted, supply your own gear...
'It's absurd, but...'
The Minister of War prized his neck more.
"We'll turn every coastal resident into a military household."