"Pirates of the Caribbean" is no stranger to everyone, Captain Spike is a character who is both good and evil, but pirates are an outlaw profession, in the way to death, often mutilate innocents, loot property, and pirates naturally become criminals.
During the Ming Dynasty, with Zheng He's voyage to the West, the sea route was gradually opened up, and some Merchants in Guangdong also began to think about foreign maritime trade, but as Zheng He ended his trip to the West, the Ming Dynasty imposed a sea ban, but one person gathered a group of helpers to start smuggling muskets to Japan at sea.
This person is Wang Zhi, born in 1501, Wang Zhi was originally just a smuggling salt trader, but after being reported by his peers, all the private salt he hoarded was seized, fortunately, he ran fast, was not caught by the officers and soldiers, and after the failure of business, he began to roam the sea under the introduction of his fellow villagers.
In 1540, when Wang Zhi took advantage of the relaxation of the policy of sea prohibition, he and several merchants carried out overseas trade, they smuggled yellow silk cotton, saltpeter and other prohibited items with Japan, Siam and other Western countries to trade, Wang Zhi made a large profit from it and began to smuggle wildly.
However, horses have lost their hooves, people have lost their hands, in 1548, Wang Zhi once again smuggled goods to pirates in the process, in the port of Shuangyu was found by the Ming Army, most of the pirates were killed, Wang Zhi once again luckily escaped, but the officers and soldiers wanted him everywhere, he could not go on the land of the Ming Dynasty.
He spent money to buy a ship, ZhanmaJishan as a stronghold, co-opted maritime merchants, took in the remnants of pirates, and officially began his pirate career, in 1552, Wang Zhi annexed the pirates of the Zhejiang generation, he established himself as the king of Hui, began to confront the Ming Dynasty, he attacked the Ming fleet on the coast, and blackmailed the Ming Dynasty to open the port market to them.
With the arrival of Spanish and Portuguese fleets, China has become involved in the "globalization" of maritime trade, and the policy of sea ban has become incompatible with the present, but they cannot let Wang Zhi enter the market of the Ming Dynasty, and Wang Zhi occupies the geographical location of the sea and also begins to trade with Portugal and Spain.
Wang Zhi traded mainly Spanish and Portuguese artillery, which were sold exclusively to the Japanese, for which Wang Zhi was also visited by the Japanese emperor, these artillery were soon promoted in Japan, Wang Zhi also came to Japan many times to trade, he was deeply loved by the Japanese.
The Japanese with artillery can invade the Ming Dynasty, and rob the Ming Dynasty merchant ships, the Ming Emperor and the national merchants learned of this, fully funded the Ming Dynasty's maritime fleet, in many exchanges of fire, in 1559, Wang Zhi was finally captured and beheaded, the Japanese in order to commemorate him specially built a bronze statue.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Japanese also planned to build a bronze statue of Wang Zhi in China, but when the people saw it, they immediately smashed the bronze statue.