Illustrated Gazetteer of the Maritime Kingdoms, Volume 9

Volume 100 / Island Kingdoms of the Southeastern Seas V

The various counties of Xinning and Huilai were entirely burned and looted. The pirates then moved into the territories of the three commanderies of Leizhou, Lianzhou, and Qiongzhou modern-day Hainan Island and southwestern Guangdong, which also suffered from their predations. In the third year of the Wanli era 1575, they invaded the four commanderies of eastern Zhejiang—Ningbo, Shaoxing, Taizhou, and Wenzhou—and also captured the Haimen Guard a strategic coastal military station and the Shuangyu outpost in Guangdong.

In the third year, they invaded Dianbai; in the fourth year, they invaded Dinghai; in the eighth year, they invaded Jiushan in Zhejiang and the islands of Penghu and Dongyong in Fujian. In the tenth year, they invaded Wenzhou, and in that same year, they returned to Zhejiang.

At this time, the provincial officials, having learned from the disasters of the earlier Jiajing era, had significantly repaired and strengthened the coastal defenses. Whenever the rebels arrived, they were met with disadvantage. Those who invaded Guangdong were incited by a Dan a marginalized ethnic group known as "boat people" who lived primarily on the water pirate named Liang Benhao, whose power was particularly rampant. The Supreme Commander, Chen Rui, gathered his forces and raised a great military alarm; they beheaded over one thousand six hundred pirates and sank more than a hundred of their ships. Liang Benhao was also captured and executed. The Emperor offered a prayer of thanks at the Suburban Temple the Temple of Heaven, announced the victory, and received formal congratulations.

It is said that Japan originally had a King, but the person below him called the Kanpaku originally a title for the Imperial Regent, but here referring to the de facto military dictator was the most noble and prominent. At that time, Nobunaga Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582), the first "Great Unifier" of Japan of Yamashiro Province held this office.

One day, while out hunting, Nobunaga encountered a man sleeping under a tree. The man jumped up in surprise and collided with the hunting party. He was seized and questioned; he identified himself as Taira Hideyoshi Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598). The text uses the surname "Taira" because Hideyoshi claimed noble descent to legitimize his rule, a man from Satsuma Province.

Hideyoshi was strong, agile, and an eloquent speaker. Nobunaga was pleased with him and ordered him to tend the horses, giving him the name "Kinoshita" meaning "Under the Tree". Later, Hideyoshi gradually became involved in affairs of state, devising strategies for Nobunaga to seize and merge more than thirty provinces. He was eventually made the Great General defending Settsu.

There was a staff officer named Akechi Akechi Mitsuhide who offended Nobunaga. Nobunaga ordered Hideyoshi to lead troops to suppress his enemies elsewhere. Suddenly, Nobunaga was assassinated by his subordinate, Akechi. Hideyoshi, who was in the middle of a campaign with his generals such as Yukinaga Konishi Yukinaga, a Christian daimyo, took advantage of his momentum to return his army and punish the assassin. His prestige and fame shook the land.

Soon after, he deposed Nobunaga’s three sons and illegally assumed the title of Kanpaku, taking full command of the military forces. This occurred in the fourteenth year of the Wanli era 1586. Thereupon, he further trained his troops and conquered all sixty-six provinces of Japan. He also intimidated the Ryukyu Islands, Luzon the Philippines, Siam Thailand, and the Franks referring generally to the Portuguese or Spanish, forcing them all to send tribute. He then renamed the capital of Yamashiro, where the King resided, as the Taiko meaning "Retired Regent," Hideyoshi's later title; the text conflates the title with the seat of power, where he extensively built city walls and constructed palaces.