Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1491 - 1040: Five Years of Prosperity, Korea’s Wealth and Rebellion, Wa Country’s Savage Plunder, Merciful Grace Descends

"Oh! Buddha bless! Go seize the wealthy Korea where they eat rice! ... However, Watanabe sir, since the Ming Dynasty has such a mighty force that can kill the wicked king of the Yuan Invasion. Wouldn’t the Samurai of Kyushu raiding Korea face attacks from the Ming forces? ..."

"Indeed! Maitreya Buddha bears witness! Korea is so prosperous, it must be a giant beast! Their Korean warriors eat rice every meal, it seems they should be hard to deal with... Would they risk their lives for rice? ..."

"Haha! Murakami-san, you don’t understand the mystery within. The Muromachi Shogun fears the Ming Dynasty, but the various Martial Families under the General are not as fearful. Especially, the smaller the Martial Family, the less they fear! Just like the Shoni Clan and Ouchi clan of Kyushu cannot act openly, but we, the Ryuzoji Clan... Ahem, but the Tsushima clan and Matsuura Clan of Hirado often go to the Korean coast... The rationale behind it is like how a giant beast can crush crabs but cannot crush the ants under its feet! ..."

The icy wind freezes the white Sea of Okhotsk, connecting through the narrow Sea of Japan with the vast Eastern Sea of China. The stories of struggles on the sea are buried like mottled weapons in the sand, silently engraved with death.

The historical "Japanese Pirates", or the Eastern Sea Pirate Group, can be roughly divided into three stages. The composition of pirate groups, the scale of pirates, and the level of ship technology differ markedly, closely related to the level of sea trade. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The first stage is the early 14th-15th century Ming period, also known as the Japanese Pirate period. Due to the clashes of Japan’s Southern and Northern Dynasties and the eventual defeat of the Southern Dynasty, a large number of Japanese rangers without masters emerged. These rangers traveled in small boats, rampaging and plundering, without engaging in any trade. Their most distinctive features were their simple small boats, poor equipment, and primitive navigation technology.

During this era, the Japanese Pirates were generally small in scale, consisting of several dozen to a hundred people and were not difficult to deal with. With Japan’s backward shipbuilding technology, the small early boats produced were no match for the Great Ming Navy. Hence, these rangers from the Southern Dynasty were antagonistic to both the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Dynasty Shogunate and were soon exterminated. Thereafter, the composition of Eastern Sea Pirates underwent noticeable change, entering the second stage.

The second stage is the mid-15th to early 16th century Ming period, an era about to connect the world, also known as the Chinese Pirate/sea merchant period. The Japanese Shogunate stabilized, the number of displaced rangers drastically declined, but the coastal gentry of the Ming Dynasty raised local pirates to control lucrative sea smuggling.

Because the Ming Dynasty implemented a sea ban, the profits from smuggling were enormous, but required overt disguise. Appearing as Japanese Pirates reduced the risk for the gentry during smuggling while enabling activities unsuitable for official attention. The rapid development of land annexation and wealth accumulation among Southeast Coastal gentry happened alongside the activity of "Japanese Pirates" during this period! The Eastern Sea Pirates had to resist the Great Ming Navy, necessitating fast ships that were much larger than the early Japanese boats. The good boats of these Chinese Pirates and sea merchants were impossible for Japan, lacking in shipbuilding skills, to produce at this time!

The imminent third stage was the mid-16th century Ming period, a merger of Chinese and Japanese Pirates, primarily directed by technologically advanced and militarily powerful Chinese Pirates/sea merchants. As global trade connected Asia and Europe through newly opened sea routes, the profits from sea trade became unimaginably high!

Originally under the control of powerful Ming figures, the Chinese Pirates and sea merchants quickly grew from sea trade, freeing themselves from the constraints of the gentry, and for the first time fully mastered the Chinese Sea and the Sea of Japan. In reality, the tremendous profits from sea trade far exceeded the inefficient and costly plundering. The pirates’ yearning for open sea trade even surpassed that of the coastal gambling gentry.

Half a century later, Five-Peak Ship Master Wang Zhi became the first Pirate King of the Eastern Sea of China. He brought the advanced shipbuilding technology, sophisticated navigation, and cannon usage from Ming Guangdong to the chaotic struggles of early Warring States Japan. He established a true pirate haven in Nagasaki-Hirado, built large ships, gathered Chinese and Japanese pirates, and broke Korean coastal defenses during the "Yi-mou Attack", capturing states and counties, and thoroughly establishing coastal hegemony.

Afterward, Wang Zhi controlled the "Thirty-Six Islands, tens of thousands of pirates", even establishing a kingdom called "Song", self-titled "Emperor Hui", monopolizing sea trade across the Eastern Sea and Sea of Japan! Following this, Wang Zhi was lured and killed by Hu Zongxian, leading the Ming Dynasty to completely sever sea trade, leaving tens of thousands of Chinese and Japanese pirates and sea merchants without order and livelihood, thus unfolding the long and brutal Jiajing Japanese Disturbances...

"Buddha bears witness! The Great Ming Navy would not patrol the Korean coast. Among the Ming Dynasty pirates, there are many heroes, and certainly, they would not always willingly serve as dogs for the powerful Daimyo! Forces like the Murakami Naval Forces will inevitably emerge..."

Monk Soldier Watanabe Masumi’s eyes glowed, recalling his fleeting encounter with the Ming Dynasty’s great sea pirate on the sea, gently shook his head. The sea power of that great pirate was far stronger than the Ryuzoji Clan with its tens of thousands of stones worth of territory. Moreover, with the densely populated Ming coastal areas, it’s easy to gather thousands or even more people! Fortunately, these formidable Ming pirate forces disregarded Kyushu’s coast and weren’t active on Korea’s coast, showing no intent to compete with the Kyushu pirates..."