明初海外贸易制度变迁视野下的伪使问题

The Phenomenon of Impersonating Envoys and Institutional Changes in Oversea Trade in the Early Ming Dynasty

伪使现象普遍存在于明初中日交涉和南海国家的朝贡活动。这一现象反映了元末明初海外贸易制度变迁下海外商人的行为选择。明初实行海禁,宋元以来自由贸易制度自此向朝贡贸易制度转变。海外商人因应制度环境变化,采取假扮贡使或加入朝贡使团的方式来维持贸易,因此产生伪使现象。朱元璋最初采取禁止入贡手段解决伪使问题,但遭到胡惟庸等中书省官员抵制,禁止入贡因此有名无实。洪武十六年,朱元璋将明朝国内实行的勘合制度移用至朝贡领域,使朝贡贸易制度得以强化。但是,伪使现象产生的根源,在于朝贡贸易制度无法容纳实际的贸易需求,强化这一制度仍然不能解决制度与现实的矛盾,朝贡贸易制度面临内部自我衰败和外部走私贸易冲击的双重困境。

The phenomenon of impersonating envoys,which reflected the behavioral choices of foreign merchants under the changing trade system,was common in Sino-Japanese negotiations and tributary activities of South Sea countries in the early Ming dynasty.Ming's ban on maritime trade led to a shift from the free trade system of the Song and Yuan to a tributary trade system,Responding to the changing institutional environment,foreign merchants resorted to pretending to be envoys or joining tribute missions to maintain trade activities.Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang initially prohibited tributes from the countries involved to address this issue,but it was resisted by Hu Weiyong and other officials of Zhongshu Sheng(the Department of Imperial Secretariats),so the prohibition existed in name only.In 1383,Zhu Yuanzhang applied the Kanhe system practiced in the Ming Dynasty to the field of tribute,which strengthened the tributary trade system.However,the root cause of foreign merchants impersonating envoys was that the tributary trade system could not satisfy the actual trade demand,and strengthening the system could not solve the contradiction between the system and the reality.As a result,the tributary trade system was faced with both internal decline and external impact from smuggling.