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[In the nineteenth year of Hongwu, Lin Xian, Commandant of the Mingzhou Guard, was exposed for colluding with the Japanese. The general meaning recorded in the History of Ming is that Hu Weiyong once took Lin Xian, the Commandant of the Ningbo Guard, into his confidence. Later he fabricated charges and had him demoted and sent to the land of the Japanese, when in reality Lin Xian was to operate there and secretly prepare matters for rebellion.
After Lin Xian had been active in this way for three years, Hu Weiyong simply waved his hand and restored him to his former office. Before leaving, Lin Xian had already reached an agreement with the Japanese king concerning the rebellion. Thus in the thirteenth year of Hongwu the Japanese king dispatched a tribute mission of four hundred people, secretly concealing gunpowder and blades.
Unexpectedly, by the time they arrived, Hu Weiyong had already lost his head, so the matter could only end without result.
Later, when Lin Xian's affair was exposed, Zhu Yuanzhang flew into a great rage and once again pursued the Hu Weiyong case. As a result another group of officials was implicated and executed. The case of collusion with the Japanese also implicated many powerful families of Jiangnan, who were executed together as accomplices.
Nowadays, it is generally believed that Hu Weiyong's collusion with the Japanese was entirely fabricated. In essence Zhu Yuanzhang used the matter as a pretext to purge political opponents.
However, if one studies the original text of the Lin Xian case, many interesting points emerge.
First, the source of the record of the Lin Xian case comes from the Da Gao, Third Compilation: Commandant Lin Xian, Member of the Hu Faction, Ninth, personally written by Zhu Yuanzhang. When the Qing court later compiled the History of Ming, it simply incorporated this record.
Therefore, doubts about whether the alleged collusion with Japan was genuine arise for several reasons.
First, Japan in ancient times was extremely distant. To rely upon it as a source of assistance would have been unreliable.
Second, the Da Gao represents only Zhu Yuanzhang's own statement. One might say he could write whatever he wished.
Most importantly, as we previously mentioned, during the Northern and Southern Courts period of Japan, which lasted until the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Japan did not even have a universally recognized king. The Prince Kanenaga whom Zhu Yuanzhang reprimanded had already been sent to the countryside to farm in the fifth year of Hongwu and had died of illness in the sixteenth year of Hongwu. It was therefore impossible for him to have been the "Japanese king" conspiring with Hu Weiyong.
Although the account of the Lin Xian case in the Da Gao contains loopholes, Zhu Yuanzhang's description of the case nevertheless reveals two clues.
During the Hongwu era, Japanese frequently "falsely claimed to be tribute envoys."
Within the Ming government there were indeed insiders colluding with the Japanese.
As for "falsely claiming tribute," we have previously explained that this was connected to the situation of Japan's Northern and Southern Courts. Local daimyo, as well as pirates and maritime merchants, often pretended to be official envoys, swaggering about under false pretenses. Though they possessed no diplomatic letters or tribute memorials, they were nevertheless received by the Ministry of Rites and even brought before Zhu Yuanzhang.
In the Da Gao, Zhu Yuanzhang reflected upon this matter. He believed that the Ministry of Rites had allowed any random people to enter because someone inside was interfering, using Japan's internal turmoil as an excuse. Thus anyone who claimed to be an envoy could freely come and go, making it convenient to carry out secret schemes.
Evidence supporting this view can be found in the writings of Shen Defu of the mid-Ming dynasty. In volume twelve of Wanli Yehuo Bian, he recorded the sudden closure of the Ningbo Maritime Trade Office. Since the Song dynasty, Mingzhou, renamed Ningbo in the fourteenth year of Hongwu, had played an important role in overseas trade. Its sudden closure was therefore unusual. Shen Defu recorded the reason as: "Ningbo lies close to the imperial domain, and precautions must be taken against treacherous people."
Looking back again, the central figure of the second stage of the Hu Weiyong case, Lin Xian, held the office of Commandant of the Ningbo Guard.
If one pushes the timeline further back to before the founding of the Ming, the rival powers that contested with Zhu Yuanzhang along the Yangtze River region, including Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, and Fang Guozhen, all attached great importance to Ningbo.
After these forces were eliminated by Zhu Yuanzhang, many of their remaining followers escaped to the sea through Ningbo. This eventually led to the phenomenon in the early Ming in which they "lured island Japanese to raid the coast."
Within the Lin Xian case, Zhu Yuanzhang most likely realized that the Japanese pirates were no longer scattered bands. They were familiar with the coastal geography and could freely advance and retreat around Ningbo. Furthermore, before Hu Weiyong's downfall, any random person claiming to be a Japanese envoy could be brought before the emperor by the Ministry of Rites. In Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, the problems of Ningbo had already become extremely serious.
As for why Zhu Yuanzhang ultimately concluded that Hu Weiyong had colluded with the Japanese, Shen Defu's explanation for the closure of the Ningbo Maritime Trade Office may offer the best commentary in eight words:
"Too close to the capital, perhaps engaged in reconnaissance."
In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, even if Hu Weiyong had not colluded with the Japanese, he must at least have used Lin Xian's position at Ningbo as a window to make contact with the remnants of Zhang Shicheng and other rebels.
This may also explain why, in the reflections on the Lin Xian case within the Da Gao, Third Compilation, Zhu Yuanzhang stated that Lin Xian had originally served under Zhang Shicheng.
Whether collusion with the Japanese or contact with remnants of anti-Ming rebels, to Zhu Yuanzhang the distinction made little difference. Both were ironclad evidence of treason. The charge of colluding with the Japanese was perhaps simply the most convenient label.
From this, the actual course of the Lin Xian case can roughly be pieced together.
Between the sixth and eighth years of Hongwu, Hu Weiyong, who held great power, took Lin Xian into his confidence. After Liu Bowen's death, Hu Weiyong's position became secure, and he began preparing contingencies.
In the ninth year of Hongwu, under Hu Weiyong's arrangements, Lin Xian was sent to Japan on the pretext of a minor offense. This assignment lasted three years. Lin Xian may truly have contacted forces in Japan, or perhaps he merely used Japan as a cover while contacting anti-Ming factions.
In the eleventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict that the various bureaus under the Six Ministries should present memorials directly to the emperor without passing through the Secretariat. In practice this already signaled that Zhu Yuanzhang was preparing to take action.
In the twelfth year of Hongwu, sensing danger, Hu Weiyong recalled Lin Xian and prepared to act. But in that same year the incidents of the Champa tribute mission, the private killing of the carriage driver, and the concubine of Wang Guangyang being a confiscated woman erupted one after another. The Hu faction quickly collapsed, and Lin Xian's contingency plan became useless.
Only after the establishment of the Jinyiwei in the fifteenth year of Hongwu did this hidden danger finally explode in the eighteenth year of Hongwu.
Zhu Yuanzhang then seized the opportunity to eliminate political opponents and turned it into a major case.]
In Huagai Hall, the busy commanders of the Jinyiwei felt a strange sense of wonder.
According to the words of later generations, the Jinyiwei had been established in the fifteenth year of Hongwu. Yet from their own experience, the organization had been formally created in the thirteenth year.
The difference between these two dates was difficult for them to perceive for the moment. However, hearing later generations speak of them, and seeing that in this account the exposure of the treacherous Commandant Lin Xian of the Mingzhou Guard seemed to have involved considerable effort from the Jinyiwei, gave them a peculiar sense of pride.
Nevertheless, all of them understood clearly that after this secret discussion ended, some among them would probably depart that very day for Mingzhou.
From the scattered hints of later generations, it was not difficult to see that the area around Mingzhou was filled with danger. Besides Lin Xian, the Commandant stationed there, there were also the remnants of anti-Ming forces vaguely mentioned by later generations, as well as the Japanese pirates who colluded with them.
There were also the powerful families of Jiangnan implicated in the Lin Xian case, who were likely hidden around the region of Mingzhou.
Yet even so, the several Jinyiwei commanders in Huagai Hall did not feel fear. Instead they felt their blood stir with excitement.
If it were not dangerous, how could the Jinyiwei display its reputation as the emperor's sharp blade?
Just as those commanders thought, Zhu Yuanzhang at this moment wore a dark expression. A layer of invisible frost seemed to cover the entire Huagai Hall.
"The Ministry of Rites colluding with outsiders, the coastal guards conspiring with rebels!"
"Outwardly obedient yet inwardly disloyal. Truly a band of traitors!"