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Conclusions 323 Conclusions: The Collapse of the Yuan, Rise of the Ming, and China as a Sea Power The Yuan navy gradually declined following the death of Qubilai Qan in 1294. His successors halted the preparations for further expeditions against Japan and Annam, and, despite rumors of Japanese plans to invade China, as happened in 1304, the Yuan paid little heed to the coastal defenses.1 A large share of the responsibility for the weakening of the coastal defense fleet rested with Manggudai. It was he who started the practice of using land forces on the sea and naval forces on land. For this, he had been reprimanded by Qubilai Qan who said: “To make the men of the navy learn the techniques of land fighting and to drive foot and mounted soldiers to fight [the type of] warfare [that depended] on wind and water is [something which is] difficult to achieve and easy [to end] in failure and would not serve our purpose.”2 But ignoring this wise council, the Yuan court did nothing to halt the deterioration of the Yuan navy. By the middle of the fourteenth century, an official named Wang Ssu-ch’eng 王思誠 pointed out in a memorial that in the days of Qubilai Qan, the government had a large fleet of “Sea Storks” (hai hsien-ho 海仙鶴) to patrol the maritime supply lines, but now (circa 1350) there were only about a dozen of these vessels left, and moreover, instead of going out to sea on cruises, they were all idle in the port of Liujiagang, permitting pirates to raid freely on the coast. The sailors of the warships, Wang went on, had married women of the port and were reluctant to leave their families to go on patrols.To strengthen coastal defenses, he suggested that the men of the navy be prohibited from 323 1 XWXTK, ch. 128, p. 3927, col. 3. 2 Ibid., p. 3938, col. 1. China_Sea Power Conclusion.indd 323 2/13/2012 1:26:55 PM 324 China as a Sea Power marrying local women, that the fleet should go out on cruises twice a year, and that the ships of foreign merchants be halted at sea for inspection.3 Many of the ministers in the Yuan court said that Wang’s proposals were good ones, but that the situation had deteriorated to such an extent that nothing could be done to remedy it. The Rise of Piracy The neglect of the navy and the slackening of coastal defenses were an invitation to sea rovers to molest shipping and to invade and plunder the opulent cities on the shore of the East China Sea. From abroad came Japanese pirates known as Wako 倭冦. In the half century since the Mongol invasion, Japan was again in the midst of civil war. There was the overthrow of the Hojo regency, the attempted restoration of imperial power, the rise of the Ashikaga shogunate, and the partition of the nation by the establishment of the Northern and the Southern Courts. By the middle of the fourteenth century the Wako raids on Korea became events of annual occurrence. The raids grew in scale and ferocity until in 1363, for example, one of the raids was carried out by as many as 263 ships.4 Their operations extended down to the China coast to as far as Shandong,5 until they were defeated by Yuan coast guards under Liu Hsien 劉暹 at P’eng-chou 蓬州 (possibly modern Penglai) in 1363.6 Hard-pressed for funds and for food, the Yuan government levied more taxes, thus increasing the already heavy burden of the people. Peasant revolts broke out in the region between the Yellow River and the Yangzi and in Hubei and Zhejiang, areas from which the Yuan government obtained a large portion of its food and revenue. Lawlessness became widespread. Chang Shih-ch’eng 張士誠, a smuggler and illicit dealer in salt, rose to power in Jiangsu, occupying not only the rice-producing center but also controlling the lower sections of the Grand Canal.7 Fang Kuo-chen 方國珍, a pirate, operating from the islands off the coast of Zhejiang, attacked merchant shipping and the grain transports 3 Yuan Shi, ch. 183, p. 2. 4 Takekoshi Yosaburo, Wako-ki (Tokyo: Hakuyōsha, 1939), pp. 75–6. 5 Goto Hideo, “Kiaochow-wan, the center of Wako activities in Shandong,” Shigaku Zasshi 25, 12 (Dec. 1914): 1519ff. 6 Yuan Shi, ch. 46, p. 6. 7 The middle section was opened in 1289, during...

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