Cutting the Waves

In the later years of the Ming Dynasty, due to the elimination of the land threat from the north, and after Zheng He's voyages to the West, the surge in land and sea traffic also brought about the increasing intrusion of Japanese pirates. Therefore, a maritime ban policy was implemented, and only the Kanhe trade was opened. However, in the second year of Jiajing, the Ningbo Rebellion broke out. In addition, the Portuguese invasion earlier led to the Battle of Tuenmen and the Battle of Xicaowan. Since then, coastal security has been in crisis many times. The Ming Dynasty announced the suspension of all trade, hoping to use containment policies to reduce the threat of Japanese pirates. However, it also cut off the livelihoods of many employees related to the trade industry chain, causing trade to go underground and commercial disputes unable to be resolved. Instead, they turned to armed retaliation. Japanese pirate rebellions increased instead of abating, resulting in the Jiajing Japanese Rebellion. In the 32nd year of Jiajing reign, Qi Jiguang was recommended by Zhang Juzheng and took up the post of commander of the military affairs department. He managed 25 guard posts in the three battalions of Dengzhou, Wendeng and Jimo, and began to defend against Japanese pirates along the coast of Shandong. During this period, Qi Jiguang established the Mingguang Guard, which was responsible for various secret military affairs such as intelligence probing and assassinations. All foreign forces in the Ming Dynasty must be swept away