STSL 32/6 (June 1553):399.5a-b.

32

Ming lü chi chio.\r\ fu li

33 See Chu Shih-ch’ien,

Ch*uan-ch*eng chih

Ch*eng-ch*i-t*ang kao

Hai-yen höien

the town, attacking first the south and then the east gates. In their attempts to scale the walls they used doors taken from nearby houses as shields, but could not withstand the hail of missiles hurled at them, and they eventually left.34 It is reported that Kan-p*u was ill

equipped, with military equipment either in bad shape or non-existent. Their supplies were replenished by shipments sent from the prefect in an effort to prevent the town becoming "a fox's lair or a rat's hole."35 In charge of Kan-p*u at this time were the registrar of Hai-yen district, Li Mao, who had already fought pirates outside Hai-yen in 1553; a vice- magistrate of the same district; and the Guard Commander, Hsii Hsing- chien. The presence of both a Guard Commander and the district official who took particular responsibility, under the magistrate, for military affairs, is further reflection of the shared responsibility between the local civil administration and the military administration for the safety of walled towns.

Perhaps deterred by the city's defences, and with their main targets lying further inland, the pirate attacks on Hai-yen city grew less severe with each year. When several thousand pirates came ashore at Hai-yen on New Year's Eve, 1555, they did not attack the walls at all but camped in the surrounding countryside, stealing and indulging in the wine and food which the inhabitants had prepared for their New Year celebrations. The townspeople on the walls saw the sea glow red from the fires that the pirates left in their wake, but "not one soldier dared to go out of the city to oppose them."30 The soldiers and their commanders knew well enough now many troops had been killed in previous years by the pirates, and their policy was to retreat within the strong­ holds and secure their defence.

Although the pirates did not attempt to take Hai-yen again, Cha-p’u was less fortunate, for in 1556 it was laid under siege for ten days. Cha-p’u's fortifications had been strengthened since the town had fallen to the pirates in 1553, but it was nevertheless severely threatened when, late in the third month of 1556, the pirate leader Hsii Hai approached

34 Ts’ai:2.7b; Cheng Mao:6a-b. 35 Cheng Mao:6a-b.

the town with many thousands of followers. They burned their boats to indicate their determination, and surrounded the town. Requests for assistance which were smuggled through the pirate encirclement to military headquarters went unheeded, and the town was forced to with­ stand the siege alone until the pirates withdrew of their own accord. Inventive and energetic as they are often shown, the pirates tore down houses to build movable towers as high as the walls, and placed on top of them firewood covered in green wheat to produce smoke which blinded the defenders. Nevertheless, during the siege the defenders cut down or captured over two hundred scaling ladders.37

In contrast to the poor leadership of 1553 when the town had fallen, Cha-p’u this time was commanded by Liu T ’ao, who had been the Circuit Intendant for Military Affairs for northern Chekiang since 1554. Like T ’ang K ’o-k’uan in the first siege of Hai-yen, Liu T ’ao, although a civil official, had his own "household troops" (chia-ting) , a small force of experienced and loyal men whom he used to lead and supervise the regular government troops. Liu led "men and women" in throwing rocks down onto the heads of the pirates. Again the civilian population was essential in the defence, and for the first time women are mentioned as taking an active role. He picked groups of men to go out on sorties

38

by day and on missions to pick off pirates in their camps by night.

From the attention which the pirates paid to Cha-p’u on this

occasion — ten days was the longest sustained attack on any coastal town — it seems possible that they planned to take it as they had in 1553,

but this time meaning to stay and use it as a base.

Despite the energy and ingenuity of the pirates they did not this time succeed in breaking through the defence. As at Hai-yen, although the pirates could not take the city, the surrounding countryside was theirs to use as they pleased, and a group of pirates remained camped at Cha-p’u harbour until they were routed in the eighth month.