Page 113 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

4 A Historical Review on the Social-Cultural Impact … 81

The Chap. 9 of Freangi of Shuyu Zhouzilu (Consulting References of the
Foreign Countries, !##$%)") of Ming Dynasty described Portuguese and
Spanish boats and !rearms:

The merchant boat of Ferangi was made of multi-layers of timber with 30 meters long and
10 meters wide, !xing with more than 40 pieces of long paddles and 34 !rearm cannons.
The large bronze cannons were casted in more than 500 kilograms, medium size in 250
kilograms and small size in 75 kilograms. The cannon tube was made of iron with 4
portable cells and the cell-ball was made of iron and lead. The Ferangi gunpowder was said
to be different from traditional Chinese one. The strongest cannons could shoot to 300
meters far away and smash wood and stone. (Yan 1993, pp. 321)
The description of these Ferangi cannons shared the same shape and structure of
breech loading with a large cannon tube attached 4 or 5 cells taking turns. The
Spanish and Portuguese merchant ships had been the main traders with the Chinese
junks in East and West Ocean since 16th century. The content of these !rearmed
merchant ships characterizing with the breech loading Ferangi cannons de!nitely
influenced both the weapon equipment of the south Chinese merchant junks and the
!rearm militarization of imperial army of Ming Dynasty.
The historical documents and archaeological artifacts have revealed that the
merchant junks of southern China of late Ming Dynasty had modeled the !rearm
cannons of the Ferangi.
Mingshizong Shilu (The True Account of Shizong Empire of Ming Dynasty, !!
%$%)"recorded the development of smuggling boats with the foreign type of
)
!rearm cannons in Jiajing (!#) 12th year (1533) of Ming Dynasty:
Zhangzhou merchants illegally built big boats with double masts and arbitrarily equipped
with !rearm cannons. They engaged in smuggling trade with foreigners. (Zhang et al. 1983,
pp. 3488–3489)
After !rst encountering the Spanish and Portuguese armed fleets in the coastal
region of southeastern China, the empire of!cials of Ming Dynasty realized the
strong power of the western artillery characterized with the breech loading cannons.
The historical documents recorded their inspections, imitations and utilizations of
Freangi cannons in imperial army, which increasing substantially the combat power
of the empire army.
An interesting case happened in Baisha (!() of Dongguan ("") county in
Guangdong province in Zhengde (!%, 1506–1521) period of Ming Dynasty, the
Coast Guard of!cer Ru He (#,) inspected the Freangi boats, got the method of
making cannon, imitated and re!ned the !rearm for the imperial navy. The story
was recorded in Chap. 9 of Freangi in Shuyu Zhouzilu ( Consulting References of
the Foreign Countries, !##$%)") of Ming Dynasty:
The Coast Guard of!cer Ru He at Baisha of Dongguan county visited Freangi boat for the
custom taxing. He met Chinese people San Yang ((,) and Ming Dai ($!) on the boat
who had lived in Freangi for many years and had been familiar with the method of building
boat, casting cannons and making gunpowder. Ru He was ordered to secretly board the boat
and inquire the method of making !rearm cannon. He dispatched spies disguising as wine
and rice traders to board the Freangi boat. They met San Yang and Ming Dai and asked