The twenty-four generals of Yue Gang (月港)

Several months ago I explored the story of Zhang Lian (張璉), self-appointed Flying Dragon Emperor, which provides us a rare and interesting case study of a Chinese-led rebellion during Jia Jing Da Wo Kou (嘉靖大倭寇), and how different it was compared to Japanese-style Wokou raids that happened contemporaneously. For this month we will be looking at Twenty-four generals of Yue Gang (月港, lit. 'Moon harbour'), who despite their fancy name were bona-fide smugglers, but of a very different nature to typical Chinese collaborators of Wokou.

A brief historical background of Yue Gang

The historical Yue Gang was located at the estuary of the Jiulong River, encompassing the large delta as well as nearby river banks. Named after the shape of the river resembling a crescent moon, Yue Gang was originally an insignificant fishing village, but quickly developed into a bustling sea port due to its strategic importance as the one of the entry points into China. Due to Ming Dynasty Haijin (海禁) policies that heavily restrict private maritime trading, Yue Gang had been a hotbed of smuggling activities since early Ming period, and its importance only grew after the destruction of other prominent smuggling ports such as Shuangyu during the anti-Wokou campaign.

For much of the Ming period, Yue Gang was under the jurisdiction of the relatively far Longxi County (龍溪縣) under Zhangzhou Prefecture, making administration and law enforcement extremely difficult. Ming government had made several attempts to rein in rampant criminal activities at Yue Gang, including introducing Baojia (保甲) system and setting up local administration offices. Unfortunately, due to the tyranny of distance, enforcement of Baojia system had to be entrusted on powerful local clans and gentries, who were themselves beneficiaries of the smuggling activities and thus paid only lip service to Baojia enforcement. Likewise, due to difficulties of supervision from central government, officials assigned to Yue Gang administration offices were easily bribed, or even became willing participants in the smuggling trade themselves.

The rebellion

The beginning of the so-called Twenty-four generals of Yue Gang was humble enough. In 1557, a man from Jiuduzhen (九都鎮, inside presend-day Nan'an City) named Zhang Wei (張維) pooled money with dozens of his friends to build a ship and began a lucrative smuggling business with Japan. Zhang Wei's fast-expanding smuggling operation soon caught the attention of the authorities, and in 1558 Shao Pian (邵楩), Superintendent of Coastal Defence (海道副使) of Fujian, dispatched thief catcher Lin Chun (林春) and 300 soldiers to apprehend him. To his dismay, Zhang Wei and his followers not only openly resisted arrest, but outright killed three government troops in the process. To make the matter worse, Zhang Wei's bravado encouraged others like him to also rise up in arms against the authorities. Before long, scores of smugglers at Yue Gang began reactivating existing fortresses or fortifying their home bases around the smuggling port, and even started styling themselves with fancy titles such as "Twenty-eight Mansions" and "Thirty-six Stalwarts" in imitation of Zhang Wei's "Twenty-four Generals".

As Yue Gang quickly became filled with fortified smuggler dens, Ming authorities also began to take the issue more seriously. In 1561, Shao Pian once again began preparation of a military expedition to defeat Zhang Wei and the Twenty-four Generals, and even put out a public notice to warn other smugglers to keep their distance. Unfortunately, the public notice had the exact opposite effect as Shao Pian intended, as disparate smuggler groups quickly banded together for mutual protection. The smuggler group coalition not only repulsed Ming army but also launched numerous raids into surrounding area, and even managed to breach Hudubao (虎渡堡), a military outpost, massacring more than 90 people from a local gentry clan. What was originally an unrest caused by violent criminals had now evolved into a full-blown uprising.

Set a thief to catch a thief

Despite both of his plans were abject failures, Shao Pian was quick to come out with yet another trick. He offered vast sums of money to hire ACTUAL Wokou to get rid of Twenty-four Generals of Yue Gang, confident in the knowledge that fearsome Japanese Wokou warriors could easily crush a rag-tag group of Chinese smugglers. The Wokou hired by Shao Pian was none other than Hong Di Zhen (洪迪珍), who was originally a smuggler just like Zhang Wei, but quickly grew in power and notoriety after he absorbed Wokou remnants formerly under the infamous Wokou lord Wang Zhi (王直). Having terrorised the coasts of Fujian for years, it was undoubtedly ironic that Hong Di Zhen was now being invited to Fujian instead. With approval of Ming authorities, the Wokou moved through Zhao'an and Zhangpu to attack the rebel holdouts at Baduzhen (八都鎮, inside present-day Ningde city) and Jiuduzhen. The two armies, both outlaws, finally met at the outskirt of Caobanchen (草坂城) of Baduzhen and fought. To everyone's surprise, the smugglers not only prevailed against the Wokou, but decisively crushed them, inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese pirates. The surprise defeat and panicked rout of the Wokou even caused the prefecture city of Zhangzhou to declare martial law.

Seeing that all attempts to eradicate smugglers by force resulted in disaster, Ming authorities had no other choice but to switch to a policy of appeasement. Under direct order of eminent anti-Wokou commander Tan Lun (譚綸), Shao Pian dispatched Officer of Coastal Defence (海防同知) Deng Shi Yuan (鄧士元) to offer amnesty to the smugglers, granting them government recognition and legitimacy. The appeasement process was not without issues and frictions, but it was for the most part successful. Intimidated by the fierce Wokou and fearing another attack from them, most of the smugglers, including Zhang Wei and the Twenty-four Generals, took up the offer. These former rebels even aided government force in repelling Zhang Lian's attack on Zhangzhou in 1562.

A dish served cold

Unfortunately, Zhang Wei quickly found out that being legitimate trader did not offer him any tangible benefit, as the only different of being a smuggler and a legitimate trader was that the latter was subject to countless government regulations, taxes, and red tapes. Greatly dissatisfied, the Twenty-four Generals of Yue Gang rose up in rebellion once again in 1564. However, this time a far more prepared Ming army under Deng Shi Yuan and another Superintendent of Coastal Defence Zhou Xian Xuan (周賢宣) quickly crushed the rebellion, captured Zhang Wei, and executed him shortly after.

Right up to his death, Zhang Wei never realised that the appeasement was but a delaying tactic to buy time and sow discord among the smugglers in order to finally eliminate him. Ming authorities acutely understood that the 1561 uprising was mostly a reactionary movement against Shao Pian's public notice, and the smuggler group coalition lacked a clear leadership, nor did they have any long-term objective or vision. In addition, among the smugglers there were many poor people being press-ganged to join the outlaws and still held some respect and fear towards Ming authorities despite being criminals for so long. Thus, it was only natural that quite a few (former) smuggler groups were willing to put up with government regulations, preferring stability over profit. This greatly diminished the support for the 1564 rebellion, making it far more easy to put down.

Aftermath

For all the chaos it caused, the rebellion of Twenty-Four Generals actually prompted Ming government to review its coastal defence and maritime trade policies, which greatly contributed to the eventual relaxing of Haijin policies and legalisation of maritime trade. As for Yue Gang, it was separated from Longxi county and became its own county—renamed Haicheng County (海澄縣)—in 1566, finally allowing a more hands-on approach to administration to be applied. The newfound Haicheng County would later become a major centre of international maritime trade as well as an important node in the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade network.