In the thirty years of Jiajing (155 1), Wang Zhi's private trade armed forces became the most powerful maritime commercial group along the coast of China, with more than 200,000 soldiers and more than 0/20 tons of ships 100. This scale is comparable to Zheng Zhilong and his son's maritime Zheng. During this period, Wang Zhi kept asking the government to open the maritime ban, hoping to become a legitimate businessman.
The imperial court not only refused, but sent the company commanders to panic in and retreat to Japan. Since then, Wang Zhi began to retaliate against the Ming Dynasty and plundered the coastal areas, but the Ming government could not resist. Later, Wang Zhi once again put forward the requirement of opening the maritime ban and mutual trade. It was difficult for the Ming government to defeat Wang Zhi militarily, so it adopted the strategy of luring and surrendering. Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang Province, took Wang Zhi's mother, wife and children as hostages, and Wang Zhi was ordered to surrender. The government turned its back on the people and imprisoned them before beheading them.
Zhu Jiude, an Amin scholar, commented on Wang Zhi in A Brief Account of the Enemy, saying: "Wang Zhi began to go to sea in violation of the prohibition of the Ming Dynasty, then forgot the meaning of China and went abroad as a traitor. Lure the enemy, attack and rob than the previous year, the sea and air shake, the southeast is ridiculous. There is a national policy in the world and a legacy in life. The evil is terrible, and God and man are angry together. " Until today, the mainstream public opinion is still such a caliber.
When Zhang, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, wrote The History of the Ming Dynasty, he called it "less lonely, chivalrous, strong and resourceful, good at giving, and trusted by old friends". The Biography of the King of Ming said that Wang Zhi was very prestigious among the people, and people ran for it together. Or feed the season, or feed rice, or give it to children. "Zhu Wan, a Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty, found that the" three-footed man "also regarded pirates as food and clothing parents and regarded the military gate as a feud.
As for "Xie Kejia in Hangzhou, knowing that pirates are rampant and coveting their profits, they are allowed to pile up goods and escort them". In short, the evaluation of Wang Zhi by the government and the people, the mainstream and the periphery can be said to be completely opposite.